Hello, we're Susan and Rachel. We've been friends for 12 years, are avid fans of LOST and now, also co-contributors of this blog. Keep checking back for weekly episode recaps, discussions and more!
The Substitute: The List
KEY MOMENTS
Flash-sideways Timeline
- Locke and Helen are engaged to be married. They mention inviting her parents and his father to the wedding.
- Locke gets fired from his job at the box company because he didn’t attend the conference; instead he tried to go on a walkabout but they wouldn’t let him.
- Meets Hurley who sends him to the temp agency he owns (where Rose is a supervisor!) to find a new job.
- Locke gets as job as a substitute teacher; Ben Linus is a teacher there as well.
- Throughout the episode, Locke debates calling Jack for the free consult but ultimately he & Helen rip up the business card.
Island Timeline
- A conversation between Richard and the MIB reveals that Richards wasn’t privy to all of Jacob’s plans. The MIB asks Richard to follow him but he refuses.
- Ben tells Ilana that FLocke transformed into Smokey and killed all her men, including Jacob. When Ilana finds out that Jacob’s body burned up in the fire, she takes his ashes.
- FLocke finds a drunk Sawyer who knows immediately that he’s not the real Locke. (“Locke was always scared, even when he pretended that he wasn’t.”) Sawyer leaves with FLocke after he promises to tell/show Sawyer why he’s on the island.
- Ben, Lapidus, Ilana and Sun head to the Temple for safety. But first they bury Locke and Ilana reveals that she’s aware that Sun is looking for Jin.
- FLocke keeps seeing a mysterious boy on the island who tells him: “You know the rules. You can’t kill him.”
- FLocke takes Sawyer to a cave (upon entering: small table with scale, one black & one white stone resting on each side). They go further into the cave and written on the walls are names, each assigned a number and many crossed out. Then we see certain Losties’ names: 4 - Locke, 8 - Reyes, 15 - Ford, 16 - Jarrah, 23 - Shephard, 42 - Kwon (Jin or Sun?).
- The names in the cave signify the people who are candidates to protect the Island in Jacob’s absence.
- FLocke says Sawyer has 3 choices: do nothing & see what happens, assume the role of island protector, or leave the Island with FLocke. Sawyer chooses the last option.
WTF
- Ben Linus is a European History teacher and (temporarily?) works with Locke.
- The MIB can’t change his form; he’s stuck as John Locke (according to Ilana)
- The Numbers and the “candidates” written and crossed out on the ceiling of a cave.
- Mysterious young boy on the island that seems to spook the Man in Black.
- Ilana takes Jacob’s ashes.
MEMORABLE QUOTES
Sawyer: Well, I guess I better put some pants on.
Man in Black: Jacob had a thing for numbers.
Man in Black: Sorry I hit you in the throat and dragged you off the beach.
Sawyer: I don’t give a damn if you’re dead, time traveling or the ghost of Christmas past.
Frank Lapidus: This is the weirdest damn funeral I’ve ever been to.
ANSWERED QUESTIONS (See original list)
7. What is the significance of Jacob’s touch?
Meant that the person touched would become a candidate to take his place as protector of the island.
12. What is the significance of the Numbers? Are they cursed or “magical” in some way?
According to the Man in Black, Jacob had a thing for numbers. We see the Numbers assigned to each of the Losties that are candidates.
