I've decided that since our time with Lost is limited, and it's basically all I talk about anyway, I might as well start writing up a little something after each episode to keep track of the solved/unsolved mysteries, allusions, and my insane theories. What better place to start than "The Substitute," which is chocked full of meaty stuff, relatively speaking for Lost. Since the show is basically split into two shows, I'll divide my observations along those lines.
TIMELINE WHERE 815 CRASHES
- The show begins with an odd Smokey POV ("Smokey Cam") in which he (it?) flutters about the forest and up to "New Otherton" (AKA "Dharmaville") to find Sawyer. Anyone else think it was strange how it flashed back and forth between points? Either cuts for editing sake, or maybe some sort of teleportation -- or ubiquity?
- Richard seems clueless. It's just him and Smokey, and Richard acts like he has no idea what Smokey's talking about when he says that Locke was a "candidate." Could it be that the none of the others have any idea what's going on? Richard tells Sawyer that Smokey wants everyone dead. That seems to be all he knows, and it seems to be at least partially incorrect -- Smokey saves Sawyer's life at the end of the episode.
- Do we all assume the little blond boy haunting Smokey is Jacob? Isn't it fun to see Smokey freaked out? Apparently it's not a hallucination, since Sawyer sees it too later on in the episode.
- Ilana collects the ashes of Jacob in a bag. Same kind of ashes that supposedly protect them from Smokey? Perhaps Jacob, like a Phoenix, rejuvenates himself periodically, and his ashes repel Smokey somehow.
- Ilana knows enough about Smokey to know "he's recruiting." Richard takes a pass, and it looks like Sawyer's on board. We know from last week that Sayid and Claire have been "infected" or "claimed." Perhaps this is related to being "recruited"?
- Smokey says he pre-dates Of Mice and Men (1937), and he claims to have been a regular dude once, with hopes and dreams, etc.
- Ilana says Smokey's stuck looking like Locke. But he obviously can still turn into black smoke. The implication is that if he's going to look like anyone, it has to be Locke, and not Yemi or Tall Walt or Christian Shephard. Ilana seems to know a lot.
- According to Smokey, Jacob wrote those names all over the cave walls, and they all have numbers in front of them, and most of them are crossed out (including one Claire "Littleton"). But six aren't crossed out: 4-Locke, 8-Reyes, 15-Ford, 16-Jarrah, 23-Shephard, 42-Kwon (Smokey says Jacob has "a thing for numbers"). I wonder if those numbers are significant?(!) But where's Austen (Kate)? I didn't see her name crossed out on the wall, and we know Jacob intervened in her childhood.
- According to the wall, Sawyer's a candidate! Smokey gives Sawyer three choices: (1) abstain and get your name crossed off the wall; (2) become the New Jacob and protect the island; or (3) just get the hell off the island. He picked door number three.
TIMELINE WHERE 815 DOESN'T CRASH
- Locke's living with and engaged to Helen, which means she never left him, which also means he probably did not become obsessed with his con-man daddy (that was the thing that ripped him and Helen apart, after all) -- Which maybe means his daddy didn't even steal his kidney and throw him out the window? Which may mean that's not how he became paralyzed?
- Speaking of Dear Old Dad (Anthony Cooper AKA Tom Sawyer), it seems he (or someone else who could be considered "dad") is an active member in Locke's life (Helen remarks that they should have a small ceremony with his Dad there).
- Locke rips up Jack's business card, which prematurely puts an apparent end to the story arc that I thought was going to dominate the new timeline - Jack successfully un-paralyzing Locke. It still could.
- It looks like Locke and Ben are going to be teachers' lounge buddies. Thank god we get Ben in both timelines. I expect that since we've already seen Ethan and Ben, we'll also be seeing other others (and/or other Dharmafolk) floating around the new timeline.
OBSERVATIONS RELEVANT TO BOTH TIMELINES
The Episode Title: The writers always enjoy playing games with the titles. "The Substitute" is no exception -- it 's meaningful on several levels: (1) Smoky has replaced Locke (in the sense that he walks around looking like Locke while real Locke is dead), and is therefore his substitute; (2) Smoky explains to Sawyer that Jacob's endgame is trying to find a "candidate," essentially a substitute for himself -- someone to guard the island; (3) and Locke ends up finding a job as a substitute teacher. There are probably other connections here. Perhaps Tom Berenger
fits in somewhere.
fits in somewhere. Time Running Out? Since half of each episode is devoted to one of the two timelines, and there are only twelve episodes left, can we assume that there are really only SIX episodes of Lost storyline left? That doesn't seem like enough time to put everything together.
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