"The Substitute (Season 6, Episode 4)

The title of tonight's episode, "The Substitute", is perfect with its double meaning: Locke the substitute teacher in 2004 and the Man in Black/Smoke Monster substituting for the real Locke. Actor Terry O'Quinn gave another amazing performance as the two incarnations. This episode was so far above last week's.

Best Line

• "This is the weirdest damn funeral I've ever been to." Lapidus mumbling to himself after Ben's eulogy/murder confession.
  

Did You Notice? - 2004 Parallel Time Line

• In the original timeline, Helen (Katey Sagal from "Married with Children") had broken up with Locke over his obsession with his father. Here, things are much different. She and Locke are planning on getting married and Locke's dad is even invited to the wedding. With this being the case, it's likely Locke had not been pushed out an eighth floor window and his paralysis was caused by some other trauma.
• Since Helen mentions that the wedding is planned for October, I have to believe that the date of 10/22/04 on Claire's ultrasound picture last week was an error. If not, this would mean Locke and Helen would be getting married in less than 10 days. I do not believe Helen would have then referred to the upcoming nuptials as "in October" but "this month" or "at the end of the month". And I don't think Locke would have gone to Australian so soon to the date. I believe then that Flight 815 arrived on 9/22/04 as originally scheduled and we're dealing with an error on the prop picture and not a timeline deviation.
• The coffee cup Locke is drinking from in the bathtub is black on one side and white on the other. This has been a recurring theme since the pilot when Locke explained backgammon to Walt and Claire dreamed of Locke with one white eye and one black eye.
• Helen's comment on destiny ties into this season's theme. What is meant to happen will happen.
• Randy was not only Locke's boss in the original timeline but also Hurley's at the chicken restaurant.
  
• The nickname of "Colonel" that Randy calls Locke refers to Locke spending his lunchtime playing the board game of Axis and Allies as seen in Season 1.
• In Locke's cubicle, there are pictures of Locke and Helen on a beach and another of Locke (with hair) and his dad out hunting. In both cases, it appears Locke is standing, indicating his injury occurred after these pictures were taken.
• Hurley's Humvee is the same as he had in the original timeline when he took his mother to see her new house (right before it caught on fire).
  
• This time line's Hurley's good luck continues as Locke's attempt to scratch his Hummer fails when the ramp jams.
• The box of personal items that Locke has on his lap in the parking lot contains a statue of a polar bear.
• Hurley also owned the box company in the original timeline.
• The word "dream" appears predominately on two of the job posters in the temp agency.
• The temp agency woman is the same actress who played the fortune teller Hurley visited in Season 3.
• Nadler is Rose's married name so presumably she and Bernard are still together in this timeline.
• Locke's alarm clock sounds very similar to the Hatch's alarm when the countdown clock had ticked down.
  
• This season's theme of parallel timeline characters in front of mirrors continues with Locke and his bathroom mirror. Although, he is not seen actually looking at himself.
  
• Helen's t-shirt has the phrases "Peace and Karma" and "Joy and Tranquility" on it.
• Any significance to Helen wearing black fingernail polish?
  
• Now that Locke is teaching biology does that make him a "man of science"?
• How funny to see Ben as a European history teacher complaining about an empty coffee pot! How the mighty have fallen.
  

Did You Notice? - 2007 Island Time Line

• The smoke monster sounded very roller coaster-ish as it moved over the island.
• Smokey could be seen in the reflection of the Dharma cabin's window.
• The song Sawyer was listening to was "Search and Destroy" by Iggy Pop and the Stooges. The song is about a "forgotten boy" who wants someone to "save my soul".
• Did the blond-haired boy run away before Richard could see him or was he truly only visible to UnLocke at that moment and later to Sawyer? And what was the significance of the literal blood on his hands?
• Will the ashes of Jacob that Ilena took from the fire pit serve the same purpose as the other ash does?
• I strongly believe that the boy in the jungle is an older version of Aaron. His eyes and mouth were strongly reminiscent of Claire's. The producers have previously said that Aaron is a key to the mystery of the island. I would also not be surprised if Aaron and Jacob turn out to be one and the same due to some crazy space/time circularity.
• Is Aaron's reminder to UnLocke that the rules state he "can't kill him" referring only to Sawyer or all of the candidates? We already know that UnLocke was unable to kill Jacob and needed to trick Ben into doing it.
  
• UnLocke's exclamation "Don't tell me what I can't do!" was exactly what Locke told the walkabout tour guide in Season 1. Does this mean some of Locke's personality still can influence UnLocke?
• In Season 3, we saw Sawyer reading John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men in prison and he later referenced it to Ben, who quoted from it. The book was published in 1937. Since we saw the Man in Black 140 years earlier on the beach with Jacob in last season's finale, this definitely would be "after his time" as UnLocke puts it.
• Since we have seen the smoke monster become Christian, Eko's brother, and Alex, why is he now "trapped" and "struck" in Locke? Is this due to the death of Jacob?
• The hill of graves where Locke is buried contains the remains of Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia, and Libby as well as other casualties of the island.
• Both the bamboo and rope ladders led to Jacob's cave, in other words, Jacob's ladder. Biblically, Jacob's Ladder is a ladder to Heaven, described in the Book of Genesis, which the patriarch Jacob envisioned during his flight from his brother Esau (who some believe is the name of the Man in Black). A Jacob's Ladder has significance in both the Jewish and Christian religions, having many interpretations, among them that it is a bridge between Heaven and Earth. Saint John Climacus (also known as John of the Ladder) wrote a book called "Ladder of the Divine Ascent" which uses Jacob's Ladder as an analogy for the ascetic life. (Interesting then that "John" and Sawyer descended it.) It is frequently read by Orthodox Christians during the season before Easter. This episode aired the night before the start of non-Orthodox Lent Ash Wednesday. Jacob's Ladder is also the title of a movie starring Tim Robbins about a man who experiences an entire series of events that then turns out to have been (SPOILER ALERT) a hallucination as he lie dying. Jacob's experiences appear to have been a form of Purgatory in which he releases himself from his earthly attachments.
• The scale with the white and black rocks again carry through the theme of light and dark, good and evil. The scale is balanced until UnLocke removes the white stone. The inside joke that UnLocke refers is apparently the representation of the white rock as Jacob and UnLocke pitching it into the ocean symbolic of Jacob's death.
• We finally know the significance of the Numbers: 4-Locke, 8-Reyes, 15-Ford, 16-Jarrah, 23-Shephard, and 42-Kwon. That, and Jacob likes numbers. Although Kate as a child had been "touched" by Jacob like the others, why was her name not included? And UnLocke says he doesn't know if Kwon refers to Jin or Sun, but Jacob touched them both. Does this mean they're candidates as a pair? Are they the Adam and Eve skeletons from the cave in Season 1?
• Other names on the ceiling included 10-Faraday and 313-Littleton (Claire). Less well known names: 291-Domingo, 222-O'Toole, 119-Almeida (perhaps an inside joke referring to "24" character Tony Almeida who went from good guy to bad guy and whose TV wife also played Ethan Rom's mom), 90-Troupe, and 10-Mattingley (which may be a reference to Don Mattingly, who played as number 23 for the New York Yankees, which has retired jersey numbers for all of Lost's numbers coincidentally).
• How much of what UnLocke told Sawyer can we believe? That these names refer to candidates for protector of the island? Yes. That the island is nothing but an island. No.
• And if the Man in Black is so powerful, why do he and Sawyer need to leave the island together? I'm reminded of Star Trek 5 (probably the worst in the series thanks to director William Shatner), where "God" supposedly needs the Enterprise to get him off of the planet where he is marooned. Dr. McCoy questions the supposedly omnipotent being: "Why does God need a starship?"
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• 823 is on the side of the airline cargo box which carried Locke's body.
• Substitute teacher Locke tells his students to turn to chapter 4 in their textbooks.
• UnLocke informs Sawyer that he has 3 choices.

Next week, this episode will be replayed as the enhanced version (comments along the bottom of the screen) at 8 p.m. ET followed by the new episode, "Lighthouse" which features Jack.