Hot For Teacher - 6.04 "The Substitute"

So in the fourth hour of the final season we get a Locke-centric episode. I believe firmly now that last week's outcry over "What Kate Does" had more to do with the fact that people dislike Kate than anything that was going on in the show. Through about 45 minutes of last night's episode, nothing of note had really happened. It was very similar to "What Kate Does". But I like Locke a lot more and found his alternate timeline to be compelling. The MiB and Sawyer storyline was slow but really finished strong. With that, let's dive in.

Alternate Timeline

We open with a blue van driving into a nice suburban neighborhood. The handicap door opens to the van and out rolls John Locke. Of course the electronic mechanism that lowers his wheelchair gets stuck before the bottom and Locke tried to do a wheelie off the ramp and onto his front lawn. FAIL! So now he is sprawled out on his lawn and sure enough, the sprinkler system goes on. The alternate timeline does not appear to be much kinder to John Locke. His luggage gets lost, he's still handicapped, he falls out of his chair, he's getting soaked. Poor Locke. But wait, was that a slight smile I saw on his face. The door opens and out walks Helen. Finally it looks like something might be going Locke's way. Locke is in the bath and Helen is on the phone complaining and she relates to Locke that she is sick of picking out all of the wedding details. They're getting married! She doesn't want to deal with the hassle and wants to call her parents and Locke's father and do it shotgun style in Vegas. So apparently in the alt. timeline Locke and his father have at least some sort of a relationship. Which begs the question: how did Locke become paralyzed? I have a hard time believing that he was pushed out of a window by Anthony Cooper but then patched things up enough to think of inviting him to an intimate wedding. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. We'll see. Helen finds Jack's business card in Locke's pocket and and thinks it might be his destiny. Locke doesn't appear so convinced.

Locke is back to work at the box company. Randy comes over and seems pretty friendly. Maybe things are so bad for Locke in the alt. timeline. Nope. Randy is the same old dick or "huge douche". Locke is fired. After packing his stuff he heads out to his van which he refuses to park in handicap. There is a big yellow Hummer parked close to his van so he can't get in. Locke will show him. He starts to lower the ramp but of course it gets stuck. Locke bangs on the car and the alarm starts going off. Around the corner comes Hurley. Locke yells at him for parking so close to his space. Hurley apologizes and says a spot should have been reserved. He owns the place. John tells him he was just fired. Hurley gives him the number to a temp agency that he also owns and says they will hook him up. Cheer up, things are going to work out.

Locke goes in for an interview with the temp agency. Lynn Karnoff wants to know what kind of an animal he sees himself as. Instead of reading tarot cards in the alt. universe, she can see your future job depending on what type of animal you are. Locke gets agitated and wants to talk to a supervisor. It's Rose. Same old sassy Rose. Locke wants to work construction, but Rose says that's unrealistic. Nobody is going to tell Locke what he can't do. She wants him to be realistic. John wants to know what Rose knows about being realistic. Well Locke, she has terminal cancer. She has come to accept the reality of it and get on living what life she has left. Oh snap!

Locke gets out of bed and looks miserable. He calls Jack's office but hangs up. Helen wants to know who it was. It's Jack. Oh great, when are you meeting with him. NEVER! Knock at the door. It's Locke's lost luggage. Locke tells Helen he got fired because he lied about going to a conference. He went on a walkabout. They told him he couldn't do it. Of course he couldn't. He needs to stop expecting miracles because they aren't going to happen. Helen rips up Jack's business card and says there are miracles.

Locke is now a substitute. First it's gym class and then it's biology, teaching the reproductive system. Tough draw for a substitute. For lunch he heads to the teachers lounge and Ben Linus is complaining about emptying the coffee grounds. Ben teaches European History.

Now if you think for one second that I buy that Ben is a simple high school European History teacher you got another thing coming. If we assume the bomb as the point of divergence (this is a big assumption that could be proven wrong in the future, but let's start with this) then Ben would have been shot as a child, dipped in the magic waters, and "changed," lost his innocence. The bomb apparently does not blow up the island and Ben is able to make his way off the island. Now maybe he was able to domesticate himself, but I think there is more going on here with Ben. He's plotting and scheming something but I'm not sure what just yet. You heard it here first.

On Island Timeline

The MiB is floating around the island in smokey mode and apparently spying on Sawyer. He is now back in the jungle in bodily form and grabs his machete to cut Richard down. Locke wants what he has always wanted, for Richard to come with him. Richard wants to know why the MiB looks like Locke. Because he needed access to Jacob and Locke was a candidate. A candidate for what? Richard, you mean you don't know? Why were you following Jacob if you didn't know why? I would never had kept you in the dark. Come with me and I'll tell you everything. Richard refuses to go with him. MiB sees a little blonde boy in the jungle with bloody arms. He looks visibly shaken. He leaves Richard.

Illana is crying in the statue. Ben comes in and Illana wants to know what happened. Locke took the form of a pillar of smoke and killed them all. And Jacob? Yup. Where is his body? It burned up. Illana goes over and takes some of the ash from the fire and puts it in a bag. Ben wants to know why Locke took Richard? Because he is "recruiting."

Locke goes into Sawyer's house and Sawyer is drunk. I thought you were dead. I am. Sawyer pours him a drink. Sawyer recognizes that MiB is not Locke. Locke was scared even when he was pretending he wasn't. This guy isn't scared. Why is Sawyer not more upset at the fact that Locke is now alive? Because have you lived on this island for the past 3 years?! Sawyer needs to go with MiB because he can answer the most important question. Why are you on this island? Sawyer needs to put on pants.

Everyone else put Sun and Lapidus have gone to the Temple. Good idea, we should go there too, it's the safest place on the island and Jin is there if he is alive. We need to bury John. They carry him to the graveyard. Why did you bring his body to the Temple? We need to show the others what they're up against. Won't he just change shapes again? He is stuck in John's body (which I'm not sure I understand). Ben gives the eulogy. Locke was a believer, a man of faith. He was a better man than Ben will ever be and he regrets murdering him. Kind of sad, but probably the most honest Ben has ever been.

MiB and Sawyer are in the jungle and young boy appears again. Now Sawyer can see him. A chase ensues and MiB trips and falls at the boy's feet. "You know the rules, you can't kill him." This upsets Flocke who screams, "don't tell me what I can't do!" Richard runs out to grab Sawyer and says that the MiB wants to kill him and everyone he cares about. They need to get to the Temple. Sawyer refuses and Richard runs off before MiB returns. Who were you talking to? Nobody, did you find the kid? What kid? Riiiiight.

Sawyer asks if MiB has read "Of Mice and Men"? That was after his time. Sawyer explains the ending of the book and then pulls a gun on Locke and wants to know what happens if he shoots him. Let's find out. What are you MiB? He is trapped, but he was a man who felt all of those quintessential human emotions. James you are so close, it would be a shame to turn back now.

They get to a cliff and must climb down a ladder, perhaps you would call it a Jacob's ladder? (see what I did there?) Sawyer almost falls off but MiB saves him and they enter a cave. There is a scale with one black stone and one white stone. MiB throws the white stone into the water and the scale tips in favor of black. "It's an inside joke." He lights a torch and shows James the reason why he is on the island. There is a wall covered with names and numbers crossed out. Who wrote all of these? It was a man named Jacob. Was Jacob? He died yesterday. Not all the names are crossed out. Who remains?

4 - Locke
8 - Reyes
15 - Ford
16 - Jarrah
23 - Shephard
42 - Kwon

The numbers! Sawyer mentions that he never met Jacob, but Locke says that he did probably when he was very vulnerable. Jacob manipulated him into making choices that really weren't choices at all. Jacob was pushing him to the island. They were all candidates for Jacob's job protecting the island. Protect it from what? NOTHING, it's an island! Sawyer has three choices. Do nothing, see how it all plays out. Maybe his name will get crossed off like MiB does to Locke's. Do Jacob's job and protect the island from nothing. Or they could leave the island and never look back. Is Sawyer ready to go home? Hell Yes. Cut to black. No the most compelling cut to black, but the last scene was really cool.

So Lostpedia apparently took screencaps of these names and came up with a big list of as many names as they could. Some include :

20 - Rousseau; 31 - Rutherford; 55 - Burke; 70 - Faraday; 117 - Linus; 134 - Chang; 140 - Lewis; 171 - Straume; 195 - Pace; 313 - Littleton; and also a Goodspeed without a number.

WHERE IS KATE?! She was touched by Jacob but she isn't one of the Final Five. Hell she isn't even on the list (that we know of at least). So what is her deal? Maybe we'll get some more info on this someday. Is Jacob really protecting the island from anything or is the MiB right that it's just a damn island? Who is the little boy? Looks like it could be a young Jacob. The bloody arms are interesting. More interesting is that the island can apparently show visions even to the MiB. Again with the rules. I want to know what the rules are! Alright this has already dragged on a little long so I will leave it up to others to post questions and observations in the comments.

Next week: "Lighthouse" apparently a Jack-centric episode.