LOST: The Substitute

Whoa... I had to watch Lost twice before I could even attempt to blog about it. Locke episodes always tug at my heart strings. I only cried once this time though. I'm not even sure where to begin. Let's start off island..

Locke arrived home from Australia and couldn't get out of his van. So he ended up flopping out of it and his wheelchair. He landed face down in this front yard and then the sprinklers came on. I felt so bad for John because once again something humiliating happened to him. But then Locke smiled and it was just like on the island when he would happily sit in the rain. I can't even tell you how freakin' excited I was when Helen opened the front door and came to John's rescue. I LOVE Locke and Helen! Even though I hate that John is still in the wheelchair in this timeline, at least he is marrying the love of his life. It was so great to see them back together and Locke in love. This version of John Locke wouldn't have wanted to crash on the island. The scene where he rips up Jack's card and Helen says the only thing she was waiting for was him is the one that made me cry. It was so sweet, but also sad because it doesn't look like Jack will be fixing Locke. I had really hoped that is where the Locke/Jack storyline was going. It was also sad to see that our man of faith doesn't believe in miracles here. Oh and Locke's dad is invited to the wedding. Is that biological dad Anthony Cooper? My theory is that he had a decent foster dad and that who is coming to the wedding. No way it's his bio dad, right?!

The coolest thing about the flash sideways is that the Oceanic passengers still interact with each other, even though they didn't crash on the island together. As soon as I saw the yellow Hummer parked too close to John's van, I knew it was Hurley's. Hurley seems so happy and together without that dang curse over his head. His heart of gold remained intact too as he offered to get Locke a new job. Then Locke encounters Rose at Hurley's temp agency. To help John come to terms with his limitations, Rose told him about her cancer. So she still has terminal cancer in this timeline. Rose, my dear, if you are dying, why the hell are you at work?! Your husband's a dentist, you can certainly afford to take the time off. If I was dying the first thing I'd do is quit my damn job! Rose said her name was Rose Nadler. In the original timeline, she didn't take Bernard's last name. Her name was Rose Henderson. It's probably not significant, but it's something I noticed. Locke ended up getting a job substituting teaching. He rolled into the teachers' lounge. Who's in there bitching about coffee filters? None Other then the evil Benjamin Linus, history teacher. Ben introduced himself to Locke and John got the biggest smile on his face. Did a part of him recognize Ben? If he did, why in the world would he be smiling about it?! Maybe Ben and Locke were always meant to be friends and can be in this timeline. All the things evil Ben were working towards don't exist here. He could be a completely different person this time around.

Now in 2007 back on the island, Ilana collected Jacob's ash, Ben lied about how Jacob died, and John Locke got buried. If Locke has to be dead, I am glad he's buried on the island with the other lost castaways. Then this group decided to head to the Temple. On the interesting side of the island, we get to see things from Old Smokey's perspective. How awesome was the shot where Smokey/FLocke was zooming around Dharmaville and we got to see the smoke reflection in the window of Sawyer's house?! FLocke tried to lure Richard to go with him by promising answers. I never thought Richard had any questions about the island. I hope we get the back story on Richard and FLocke's relationship soon. I also hope we find out who the creepy bloody kid is. Him showing up was very drenched Walt shows up and talks to Shannon. FLocke then headed back to the barracks to "recruit" Sawyer. They trek thought the jungle and the blonde Other kid appears again. FLocke is surprised that Sawyer (not James! Stop calling him that FLocke-face!) can see the kid too. Is it significant that Sawyer can see him too?

Here comes the crazy stuff... FLocke took Sawyer to a cave in the side of a rock. There's scales with black and white rocks. I wonder if Man in Black and Jacob once spent time here deciding people's fates. Inside the cave, there is a wall with names and numbers on it. Many names have been scratched off, but 8 remain for sure.
4 = Locke 8 = Hurley 15 = Sawyer 16 = Sayid 23 = Jack 42 = Jin or Sun
All Oceanic Six members, with the exception of Sawyer who almost made it off the island and Kate who didn't make the wall. Do people get crossed off when they die? Losteastereggs.blogspot.com has screencaps and a list of names that are on the wall. Among them are Burke, Littleton, Pace, Linus, Goodspeed, Lewis, Faraday, Straume. This show freakin' blows my mind! I have been questioning Lost and been lost for so long, that I don't even recognize answers when they are in my face. I was complaining that we are still answer-less when my friend Rachel pointed out that we know why they are on the island and what the numbers mean now. I know that seems true, but I have a hard time believing what anyone on the island says. Should we trust Old Smokey? We've been had so many times by people/creatures on this island. Do you think FLocke was telling the truth? Were the castaways really brought to the island to be candidates for Jacob's replacement? How did he know he would soon need a replacement? Maybe I should stop over thinking and take whatever happens at face value.

So my new major questions are:
- Will Sawyer and should Sawyer go with FLocke? Is Sawyer just playing along, so he can find out what Old Smokey really wants?
- Why wasn't Kate's name on the wall? Could it be because she left the island with Aaron and then tried to raise him as her own? That's my theory for why she's not on the wall.
- Who was the kid FLocke saw? Young Jacob? Aaron? ? Who was the kid referring to when he said, "You know the rules. You can't kill him?"
- Why did Ilana collect the ash? Was it for protection?

I do not know anything about next week's episode. Clairousseau was in the preview though, so it looks like we'll learn more of her story. Woo hoo!