I have been putting this review off all day. Not because I wasn’t looking forward to typing up this review, to reliving the sheer awesomeness that was “The Substitute” once again. The episode was overwhelming in the absolute best kind of way. It delivered answers (while posing a whole new set of questions); the performances were incredible; I talked about nothing, once more, NOTHING but theories yesterday. It perplexed. It confounded. It was the best damn hour of television I’d seen in a while. Yesterday, I discussed the brilliance of the flash-sideways, as well as what transpired on the beach (the answer is an INCREDIBLE performance by Michael Emerson). But Locke coming to terms with his identity, Ben grieving for John in the most honest way possible – that was all nothing compared to the other half of the episode. Smokey, Not-Locke, Man in Black… Just holy crap. THIS is what Season Six should be. Absolutely mind-bending, mind-blowing television that forces you to overthink and overanalyze every piece of dialogue, every shot, every glance of the eye put on the screen. Just wow.
SPOILERS FOLLOW FOR LOST 604 THE SUBSTITUTE. WATCH OUT FOR THAT LADDER.
Smokey-Vision. How kickass was that? We experience the Island through Smokey’s eyes (or whatever he uses to see… Wait, I got it1 Point of view. We experience the Island through Smokey’s point of view. But that’s aside the point…). Broad sweeping shots of familiar Island locales are accompanied by those familiar Smokey sound effects – the tikka-tikka, the bellows – making a pit stop at the Barracks where we hear some rockin’ music coming out of one of the houses. Jaw drop as Smokey looks at his own freaking reflection in the window. He moves swiftly on to another location – random jungle with a machete conveniently laying on the ground. After a clever zoom and cut comes none other than Not-Locke. He cuts down a bag hanging from a tree (not quite a net sadly) and down comes Richard. “It’s time to talk.”
Not-Locke gives Richard a drink of water from a canteen. What does Not-Locke want? For Richard to come with him, he replies. It’s what he’s always wanted. Oh really?
Later in the episode, we gain the insight that Not-Locke was once a normal man, capable of emotions. And now he’s trapped, and he has been for so long he doesn’t even remember what it’s like to be free. In the season premiere, Not-Locke commented to Richard that it was “nice to see you out of those chains.” They both seem to have been slaves to some work of nature, a person even. Like Jacob, maybe?
One of the biggest theories being tossed around is that, in spite of his white garbs and knowledge of the Korean language, Jacob is the bad guy, not Not-Locke. The way I personally see it is that Jacob is potentially just worse than Not-Locke rather than Not-Locke being good. He keeps secrets, he tells no one anything. He himself however seems to be a slave to the forces of destiny, procuring his future candidates from some list, a list that for some reason he made up or, as I believe, a list given to him by a higher power, all just part of the game. I’ll likely go into a long discussion about this tomorrow. The point is, however, the bond that Not-Locke seems to propose he and Richard once had. As slaves of sorts, bound by the rules of the Island, ruled by Jacob? Perhaps Not-Locke escaped the reign and became the archetypal Man in Black? What he says in later scenes seems to imply that the role was bestowed upon him. So the two, Richard and Not-Locke, were bound by their loathing of Jacob?
However, Richard sold out to the principles of Jacob, the ideals he stood against, but he joined Jacob instead and was rewarded for his loyalty with the gift of immortality. This whole history has a bit of a fluke, however – the Black Rock. Though I hope against it, what if Richard really did come on that ship in the mid-1800s? Could that bond still be shared? Was Richard’s loyalty fought over by Jacob and Smokey? Forces of light and dark warring for control of humanity? Again, topics for tomorrow’s blog.
So back to Richard and Not-Locke, Richard asks Not-Locke why he took that form, the shape and memories of John Locke. Not-Locke says that his taking the shape of Locke allowed him to get close to Jacob, for John was a candidate. And Richard is absolutely confused. He has no idea what a candidate is. Freaking Bram seemed to have some vague idea of what a candidate was. And yet Richard Alpert, the never-aging man, leader of the Others, the man on the Island who was closest to Jacob, who one would think to know everything there is to know – he hasn’t a clue. Just like Ben, the carpet is suddenly pulled from underneath him, and he has no idea what is going on. Jacob told him nothing, he told Ben nothing. Is Jacob the man to be feared?
Not-Locke feeds Alpert full of crap, saying that unlike Jacob, he would never have kept Richard in the dark, he would have treated him with respect. Is this aside from the fact that you had Richard hanging in a bag from a tree only a minute ago? The Jacob / Not-Locke morality debate is not a question of good or evil, merely who is worse.
Once again, Not-Locke asks that Richard join him, saying that he’ll tell him everything, but Richard refuses. Right then, a creepy blonde boy appears in the woods with bloodied arms. Richard doesn’t seem to see this boy (though to give him some credit, he had his back turned, and you know how island apparitions are about disappearing). Not-Locke walks away, shaken by what he just saw. He’ll be seeing Richard sooner than he thinks. More on creepy blonde boy for his return appearance.
Not-Locke walks to a DHARMA house where he hears The Stooges on a record player. Unless Smokey just shifted from his Monster form to human the moment the director said action. Either way, he ends up in Sawyer’s house, where Sawyer is drunk, is drinking and is lacking pants. Upon seeing Terry O’Quinn step into his doorway, Sawyer says, “I thought you were dead.” “I am,” responds Not-Locke.
Sawyer is a good host and pours two glasses of whiskey, one for himself and one for the man that looks like Locke. A little whiskey splashes on Not-Locke’s finger and he tastes it, seemingly intrigued by the drink. How long has it been since he’s drank something? Can Not-Locke even taste? A strong part of me says no, that part of the curse that is Not-Locke’s role as the Man in Black, as the Smoke Monster, is that loss of humanity. No longer can he experience the joyous smells of the world, what it’s like to taste. He’s trapped from the sensations of being human.
Not-Locke sets his drink to the side as Sawyer tells him to get the hell out of his house. Not-Locke tells Sawyer is never was his house, but that he just lived there for a time. Sawyer, being the expert conman and people person he is, senses that the man before him isn’t Locke – Locke was always scared, this man isn’t. Not-Locke isn’t scared. In spite of the punishment he’ll face for his actions, for killing Jacob, for upsetting the balance of the Island, he’s not scared. Not-Locke baits Sawyer into joining him with the classic “your questions will be answered” shtick. He will show Sawyer the answer to the most important question there is: Why are you on this Island? Sawyer agrees. “I guess I better put on some pants, then.”
Not-Locke and Sawyer are walking through the jungle, where Not-Locke asks why Sawyer isn’t at the Temple. Before he gets a chance to answer (though likely not), the young boy appears in the jungle again, this time with clean arms devoid of blood or paint or jelly and jam. Sawyer mentions him, at which Not-Locke is shocked. Sawyer can see the boy.
Not-Locke chases the boy into the jungle, eventually tripping and finding himself at the knees of the boy standing above him. “You know the rules,” he says. “You can’t kill him.” With fear and shock and anger, Not-Locke practically becomes Locke, saying “Don’t tell me what I can’t do. Don’t tell me what I can’t do!”
The boy is probably one of the biggest bearer of questions in this episode. (Though not as much as what we see at the end.) For one, who is he? Many think young Jacob, many think perhaps an older version of Aaron. Both are blonde. However, I don’t believe it could be Jacob. To make up and enforce the rules to his own game is asinine at the least. I believe that if that was Jacob lying on the ground below the blonde boy, it would have gone down exactly the same. Perhaps this boy is a manifestation of the master force of the Island, a force that Jacob and Not-Locke are slaves to? The biggest player of this game, the one who makes and enforces the rules? And could Aaron, having been born on the Island, have a special connection to the Island?
With Walt, we definitely saw this level of creep factor. He told Mr. Locke not to open that thing. He talked backwards in some manifestation to Shannon. In “Through the Looking Glass,” he appeared to Locke, telling him he had work to do. Sadly, Walt’s special nature is one of those questions I don’t think will get answered, why he has such a connection to the Island, why he appears in places he shouldn’t be. But what if Aaron’s exception to those Island laws preventing on-Island birth, what if the highest power has embodied itself through creepy future Aaron?
Also, why is it that Sawyer could see him, but Richard apparently could not? My belief is that it comes down to candidacy. What exactly it means to be a candidate is something I’m going to detail tomorrow. However, candidates, as possible future major players of the Island, just as Jacob and Smokey are, can see the boy, the gamemaster, if you will. Richard is not one of these candidates, however, and therefore cannot see the boy.
Also, the topic of who exactly “him” was. Jacob? Sawyer? Both, I say. Both. Food for thought until tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Richard approaches Sawyer, battered, confused, and fearful of the power of Not-Locke. He urges Sawyer to go to the temple because Not-Locke wants him dead, he wants everyone dead. And the biggest questions that come out of this are: Does he? And if so, why?
Jacob is dead, and therefore, a candidate is needed more than ever. As displayed at the end of the episode, the list of possible replacements for Jacob was wearing thin, the list of names not crossed out down to a select few. Smokey is probably perfectly happy that the Island is now in his control, that he has won in killing Jacob. With the Island in his control, why hand it back over? He will do all he can to prevent someone from stepping forward and assuming the role of Jacob. However, I don’t believe that he can kill Sawyer, or Jack, or Sayid, that there are rules in place that prevent him from directly killing a candidate, though he is free to use all the loopholes he wants, resulting in the same endgame of maintaining control of the Island. Again, something I’ll be detailing tomorrow.
So Sawyer and Not-Locke continue on their island trek when Sawyer asks if Not-Locke reads (“Don’t we all?”). Sawyer’s favorite is Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men (Yay for callback to “Every Man for Himself”!), to which Not-Locke replies “A little after my time.” CLASSIC. Sawyer gives a rushed, somewhat inaccurate synopsis of the book, ending in a loose connection between George euthanizing Lennie and Sawyer pointing a gun to Not-Locke’s head out of frustration and curiosity. Not-Locke defuses the situation however and gets Sawyer to lower the gun.
Sawyer, like Ben in the premiere, asks Not-Locke what he is, and what follows is an absolutely incredible performance from Terry O’Quinn. Not-Locke explains the he “is trapped. And I’ve been trapped for so long that I don’t even remember what it feels like to be free.” Smokey was, however, once a man. He knows joy, he knows anger, fear, betrayal. He knows what it’s like to lose someone you love. He convinces Sawyer to go on, because he is so close now, and it would be a shame to turn back now.
So Smokey was once a man. And then, by some circumstance, he became trapped as this monster, trapped as the man in black. He had that human life before the Island, before Jacob, before any of it. And all he wants now is to return to that life, to rid himself of Island responsibilities, of rules. You can’t help but feel sympathetic toward this man who truly lost all he had, all he could have. Though perhaps he could be the devil in the mess, the expert conman who hides his terrible intentions with promise and need for sympathy. I’m sensing epic Smokey flashback episode.
My biggest question from this conversation is how Smokey became Smokey. It’s my belief that, like Jacob, Smokey had a candidate to choose. In this case, that candidate became the Smokey we know today. And the Smokey of today, Not-Locke, he may require a candidate as well to rid himself of responsibilities and finally escape from the wretched Island, his prison for hundreds of years (hopefully thousands).
Also accompanying the monologue was some soft, sympathetic Giacchino score, which caused me to realize something: Not-Locke’s theme is almost the same theme as presented at the end of “Deus Ex Machina,” the cue entitled “Locke’d Out Again.” Just listen, the ascension in the beginning of the Not-Locke theme is a direct reference to Locke’s. Which caused me to realize the similarities between the lives of these two men as presented in the episode. Both Locke X and Not-Locke were trapped, enslaved by their conditions, striving to return to the life they once had. My gosh, I’m feeling legitimate emotion towards the story of Not-Locke.
Not-Locke and Sawyer descend down Jacob’s Ladder in a thoroughly entertaining nail-biting sequence in which Sawyer concentrates a little too much weight on the rope ladder he’s dangling from as he descends the cliff. This results in the rope ladder breaking from the cliff wall, causing Sawyer to fall, possibly to his death. However, Sawyer does have the will to live, to survive, and Not-Locke also wants Sawyer alive. Perhaps he’s bound by the rules and cannot legally allow Sawyer to fall to his death. Perhaps he wants Sawyer on his side to cater to his larger goal and true motives. Regardless of thought process, Not-Locke saves Sawyer, and the two descend a little more down the cliff and enter a cave. So considering a ladder just broke off, exactly how will they get back up?
Inside the cave, balanced by two rocks, one white and one black. The white stone, presumably representing Jacob, is cast by Not-Locke into the sea, explained away as an “inside joke.” This causes the scale to shift in favor of the black rock, in favor of Not-Locke, the dark. The black rock representing Not-Locke? Such irony that I’ll detail tomorrow…
Something of note in the cave was… Well, I can’t recall the name of the instrument, so I’ll call it a minstrel’s guitar from ye olden days. Perhaps a clue as to how long Jacob has been around (if this really is his cave).
Not-Locke proceeds to light a torch and lead Sawyer into a cavern, where, chalked on all the walls are names preceded by numbers, many of which are crossed out. Shephard, Locke, Jarrah, Reyes, Kwon, Ford. Jacob’s List.
So Jacob apparently had a thing for numbers. He also died yesterday. On top of that, he was the one who chalked up all those names onto the walls and ceiling. And I cannot even begin to describe all my theories and observations on Jacob’s list without going overboard on the blog post. Hopefully, this isn’t depicted as a cop out as I save all the names, all the comments for Saturday. Because I can guarantee, there will be a long post concerning that list, and how Shephard, Locke and Sayid could be on it, why Kate isn’t on it, and exactly what the list means.
According to Not-Locke, the names are candidates. He explains how the remaining ones, Shephard, Reyes, Harrah, Kwon (he doesn’t know if it’s for Sun or Jin), and Locke, all of whom were touched by Jacob in their off-Island history, including Ford.
“At some point in your life he came to you when you were vulnerable or miserable; he came you, manipulated you, pulled your strings like you were a puppet and as a result the choices you thought you made were never really choices. He was pushing you, pushing you to the Island.”
They were all candidates for Jacob’s job as an apparent protector of the Island. There are three options as a name on that list:
1) “Do nothing. See how all this plays out. And possibly your name will get crossed out” (Like Locke, whose name proceeds to be crossed out by Not-Locke.)
2) Accept the job and protect the Island. From what? “From nothing. There’s nothing to protect it from, it’s just a damn island.” How familiar, Not-Locke. I seem to recall Jack saying the same exact thing at the end of Season Four to none other than John Locke.
3) “We just go. We get the hell off this Island and we never look back. We do that together.” And off the Island – THAT is Smokey’s home. Not the Temple, but off the Island, where he can be human, where he can once again experience humanity.
“Hell yes.”
And what a perfect way to end a near-perfect episode. Because that’s seriously all I could say at the end of the episode (aside from “holy crap” that is). In response to an incredible episode of Lost, one filled with incredible characters, amazing mythological developments, Jacob’s frakking list, there’s no response to an amazing episode of Lost other than that. And this is just the beginning of the season. If this is a sign of the amazingness to come, well, I just have two words.
Hell yes.
EPISODE RATING: (11/5)
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