LOST Season 6, Episode 4 - "The Substitute" - Feb 16, 2010

http://en.wikipedia....ubstitute_(Lost)
"The Substitute" is the fourth television episode of the American Broadcasting Company's sixth season of the serial drama television series Lost and 107th episode overall. The episode aired on February 16, 2010 on ABC in the United States and will air 2 hours earlier on the A Channel in Canada due to the 2010 Winter Olympics. It will air Thursday, February 18, 2010, at 10:00 P.M. EST on Canada's Space Network. It was directed by Tucker Gates and written by Elizabeth Sarnoff and Melinda Hsu Taylor.


Plot

2004
John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) arrives at his home, after returning from Australia on Flight 815. He is greeted by his fiance, Helen Norwood (Katey Sagal), whom he is set to marry shortly. Locke returns to work, where his supervisor, Randy (Billy Ray Gallion), confronts Locke about Locke's failure to attend a company conference while in Sydney. Locke attempts to apologize, but Randy abruptly fires him. As he leaves the building, Locke finds that another car is parked very close to his, making it difficult to access the wheelchair lift on his van. Becoming frustrated, he lashes out at the car's owner, who turns out to be Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia). Taking Locke's anger in stride, Hurley reveals that he is the owner of the company. He refers to Randy as a "douche" and offers to give Locke his job back. Locke demurs, but Hurley refers Locke to a temp agency that he also owns. At the temp agency, Rose Nadler (L. Scott Caldwell) sympathizes with Locke's handicap because of her own battle with cancer. Locke asks to be a site coordinator at a construction company, but Rose assures him that his handicap will make this impossible. She eventually finds him work as a substitute teacher at a school where Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) also works, teaching European history. The two meet and bond briefly when Locke asks for Earl Grey tea, which Ben refers to approvingly as a "gentleman's drink." Meanwhile, Locke reveals to Helen why he lost his job, and admits that he went to Australia to go on his "walkabout" but was not allowed to do so. Helen encourages Locke to call Dr. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), who previously offered to evaluate Locke's condition. Locke declines to do so because he doesn't believe in miracles and wants Helen to love him for who he is; they reaffirm their love for one another.


2007
The Man in Black, in the form of Locke, attempts to recruit both Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell) and James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) for his quest to leave the island. He separately promises each of them answers about the island; Richard refuses and Sawyer agrees to travel with him. While in the jungle, they both see a young boy, whom the Man in Black chases. The boy tells him, "You know the rules; you can't kill him." At this, the Man in Black becomes angry and loudly declares "don't tell me what I can't do," a phrase that the real Locke used in the past. At this time, Richard speaks with Sawyer, claiming that the Man in Black's true intention is to kill everyone on the island, but is forced to leave before he can explain everything. Locke leads Sawyer to a cave, inside of which is a set of scales holding one black and one white stone. Locke takes the white stone and throws it into the sea, referring to it as an inside joke. Locke leads Sawyer deeper into the cave, where there are several surnames written on the ceiling and walls. The names include his own, Jarrah, Shephard, Reyes, and Kwon (either Sun or Jin). Several other names are scratched out and the Man in Black crosses out "Locke". Each of the six names corresponds to one of the numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42 for Locke, Reyes, Ford, Jarrah, Shephard and Kwon, respectively). He explains that they were brought to the island by Jacob because they are candidates to replace him as the guardian of the island. The Man in Black claims that at some point in his life, Sawyer was manipulated by Jacob, as were the others, and that what they thought were their own choices were determined by Jacob in order to lead them to the island. He tells Sawyer he now has three choices: to do nothing and "see how it all plays out," to accept the job and protect the island, or to leave the island with the Man in Black. When Sawyer asks what the island needs to be protected from, the Man in Black says "nothing," and that offering such protection is meaningless. Sawyer then agrees to leave with him.

Meanwhile, at the remains of the statue, Ilana (Zuleikha Robinson) asks Ben what happened to her companions. Ben describes how they were killed by the Man in Black. When Ilana asks if the Man in Black killed Jacob as well, Ben lies and says that he did. Ben tells her that Jacob then burned in the fire, and Ilana takes some of Jacob's ashes with her in a pouch. Upon questioning the wisdom of carrying Locke's corpse across the island, since he could just assume another form, Ilana claims that the Man in Black is now restricted to Locke's form. Outside, she tells the remaining group, Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim), Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey) and Ben Linus, that they must travel to the temple for protection. Sun insists that they must first bury Locke's body and travel to the survivors' original graveyard to do so. They hold an impromptu funeral, where Ben delivers a short eulogy. He calls Locke a "believer" and says that Locke was "a better man" than Ben. He then says that he is sorry for killing Locke.
 
*Spoilers ahead*

I thought this was a good episode, especially after last week where not a lot was revealed. The flash-sideways with Locke were interesting and the main thread of Sawyer joining forces with Smoky/Not John was intriguing. The nod to good and evil and finally getting back to the numbers was a nice addition as well, though I hope they start revealing more in the coming weeks.
 
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