Lost With LOST: Searching for a Substitute

We’re just beginning on our journey into LOST’s final season and while on the outside it’s very different, the inner workings of the show are very much the same. That’s not unlike FLocke who while on the outside is very different, on the inside, he’s the same Smoke Monster we’ve seen for many seasons. Actually, he’s like Ben Linus redux. He engages in double speak to a point you have no clue if he’s telling the truth or lying. He says he has lots of answers to give but you can’t tell if he’s bluffing or he really knows what’s going on...or if you’re ever going to get those answers. And while they seem to be very much in control, a bloody visage from inside the forest seems to control them in some way. Let’s leave Ben for a while though (I promise to get back to him) and let’s talk about this season and its parables to older seasons and the idea of a “Substitute” which I think is a central theme of LOST and was the title for this past episode.

Currently I’m rewatching LOST from the beginning with a non-LOST watcher. Why? I want to see everything again so I converge on the end when the show does (literally and figuratively) and I want to see her reactions to what goes on and see if I have different ones seeing it again. There are tiny things* I’ve noticed (like Rose saying that she’s “heard that sound before…I can’t place where” when she hears Smokey for the first time…hmmmmmm) but let’s focus on some of the big things. I think everyone on LOST is a substitute for someone else. The people change, but their roles stay the same. And because people always end up in the roles, the game keeps on playing. They’re all substitutes for someone who served before them.

*Side Note: Some of the less innocuous things I noticed: Charlie was singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" he sang "down came the rain and drowned the spider out" (Hurley corrected him that the correct lyrics were "and washed the spider out") which is a huge coincidence because, well, he drowned. And Hurley, when he hears Sayid's signal playing old music, Sayid says it could be coming from any place...to which Hurley replies "or time". Which well, was very prescient of him.

So who are the candidates for Jacob’s job? Well, according to FLocke (and, again, I don’t know whether to trust him fully or discredit everything he says) it’s Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, Sayid, and Jin/Sun. They have the numbers, they were all touched by Jacob* and FLocke claims that’s what brought them to The Island. But FLocke seems to be pretty dismissive that Jacob’s intentions were the least bit noble or that The Island is in need of saving, in the least.

*Side Note: The touching of Jacob is interesting considering the other time we saw someone touch people: Walt in Season 1. He touched John Locke and immediately told him “not to open it” and he touched Shannon when Walt gave her Vincent. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Walt showed up as visages to those two at times during the show. And I don’t think we’ve seen the end of Walt either…

Let’s address the first big question: where is Kate? There are a few possibilities here (and I’m still wondering why Sawyer didn’t ask about her). Maybe she’s just not one of the numbers so they didn’t show her. Maybe she’s not even up on the wall. My theory? Kate’s job is to replace Richard Alpert. Why? FLocke said to Richard at the beginning of the season that it was “good to see him out of his chains”. Guess who else was in chains coming to the Island but was freed of them? Yup, Kate. Her boring backstory (and the lesson from LOST is that every second episode and every Kate episode will suck to some degree) had one big reveal: she’s still on the run but she finds her way out of the chains. So did Jacob/The Island bring Kate out of her chains or was it fated to happen? But wouldn’t Kate make a fantastic Richard Alpert? She’s always on the run and trying to escape so wouldn’t keeping her on the island for her eternity be a perfect place for her to keep her in once place? Just a thought.

Next, what the heck is up with Sayid/Claire? Well let’s start with Claire. I think The Island sort of needs a crazy woman living on her own with a gun. There are a ton of parallels between the two: foreign ladies, brought to The Island, have their child taken from them, wandering around the Island by themselves, etc. I don’t know if that’s her final destiny, but I think she’s part of the group that helps patrol The Island. Like The Others, who continue to really confuse me now that there seems to be Others and Other Others*.

*Side Note: I still don't think we've got an answer of why the Other Others kidnapped the flight attendant and the kids. Will we? I hope. Why were these people "good" and worthy of being captured and others were not? Why are they still there willingly? It all has been left unanswered. As is why these Others were so separated from Ben's Others.

Sayid on the other hand is tricky. Remember in Season 1 when Rousseau first captured him and tortured him? The torturer ready to die for his empty life was again having the tides turned and being tortured himself. But this time, it’s after he died—or should have. But he came back to life when everyone had given up on him doing so*. And now he has the sickness, according to a weird Japanese man who has a baseball and seems to like to play Jack. But Jack is a different Jack. He’s not going to be played. Not this time. Jack literally came back from the brink of death (if he had swallowed that pill) and now he can begin his long trail to redemption. He didn’t stop Kate when she left, he was honest with Sayid about the pill, and he was brutally honest about not trusting himself while with Dogen. It’s about time we saw some of this from the man who was flying around the world a few seasons back trying to crash again.

*Side Note: Remember who else came back to life after he looked to be dead and had Jack beating upon his chest? Charlie in Season 1 after Ethan hung him, Michael in Season 2 after he almost drowned on the raft, etc. There were characters that had this happen to them. They all ended up dying semi-heroic deaths to make up for big mistakes they had made. Did the sickness make them do it? Charlie looked pretty sick when he was trying to Baptize Aaron in Season 2. Or was that really a vision? Who the heck knows?

I’ve gone back and forth on Sawyer throughout the entire show but I think this past Season and a half has been his best. He’s a broken man now but I think that a lot of it may be an act. FLocke has some John Locke to him when he said "don't tell me what I can't do!" but he's not John Locke and Sawyer knows it right away. He knows something is up with this FLocke (the only one who seems to) and one of the reasons this occurs is that Sawyer is a con man. I think his greatest con will come soon and it will not be pretty. To quote The Usual Suspects: “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he did not exist. And like that…he is gone.” I think that Sawyer is about to take out his rage in the way he was taught to: con someone else to hurt them as much as some con hurt him as a child. The ultimate long con.

Sawyer and FLocke in this episode was a sight to watch. When Sawyer pulled the gun on him, I knew he wouldn’t fire, but I wanted to see how FLocke would respond. And he sounded a lot like—Ben…especially when he saw the bloody visage of whoever that was* in the forest. And guess who else saw that kid in the forest? Sawyer, much to the surprise of FLocke. When else did Sawyer see something in the forest much to the surprise of someone else? Kate’s horse in the very revealing “What Kate Did” episode of Season 2. This is not a strange thing at times. Shannon saw wet Walt a few times and then was surprised when Sayid saw him too. Maybe the Castways have some sort of ability to see these visages. Hurley seems to be able to see them all the time. Jack sees his dad. Kate saw the horse. Sayid, Sawyer and Locke see those people too but they don’t come to them. Does that mean anything? I have no clue.

*Side Note: So who is this kid that FLocke saw and then talked to? The Otherness of him was sort of weird but here’s my order of likeliness of who I think it is: Jacob, ManInBlack’s son, Aaron, ManInBlack as a kid. There’s an outside chance he’s someone else. Someone mentioned he looked like Sawyer. Who knows. And can MIB really not morph out of this body like Ilana said? How would she know that? And does that mean MIB wasn't in Christian and everyone else's body before? That doesn't seem to make sense especially when Alex came to Ben's view last season.

My least favorite parts of this episode (and the season as a whole)? Where they tried to be too cutesy and appease the fourth wall (us). Listen, I’m not a big fan of the whole “sideways storylines” so far, but the worst part is where they just have everyone happen to come together. I don't have a problem with the "fate" angle or the idea of all their paths crossing, but this is beyond that in some ways. An example: Claire really gets into a cab with a woman who just held her at gunpoint? The Rose/Hurley/Locke episode was interesting and sort of touching but it was a little too much for me. The worst comment, though, was Locke’s “inside joke” comment. I should have laughed but it made me want to cringe. LOST loves to tickle the audience but this was too much even for me. I have a “Do No Harm” attitude about LOST but some of this irks me a bit and I don't love this season. But then again, I didn't love it when the Losties were time traveling but they found a way to get that to work. So I'm holding out hope.

Let’s get back to the candidates. Speaking of Sayid, I think we’ve lost him as a candidate. This whole infection thing doesn’t look so good for his chances and I don’t think Lapidus* is one despite the fact Ilana wanted him along for the ride. Walt, Desmond and Aaron are good candidates but they're not on The Island so I'm taking them off the table...for now. But I reserve to the right to bring them back. Widmore wants to have a play on this one I'm sure, but I doubt he's up to snuff. And Locke is dead and I'm not really up for more Jesus-like resurrections right now. Though I guess it could work. Maybe.

*Side Note: Lapidus had one of the best lines of last season (“We’re not going to Guam, are we?”) and the best line of the season so far when after Locke’s funeral and Ben’s eulogy he said it was “the weirdest damn funeral I’d ever been to”

So we're down to three: Hurley, Ben and Jack. I think Hurley is a great candidate. His lack of luck has a chance to be changed in a weird way: he can be the person who effects the luck of future people. Jacob has already reached out to him to help out Sayid and to bring Charlie's guitar case to The Island. Hurley seems to have the numbers following him around his whole life and this would come in handy numbering the people in the cave. But I don't think it will be him.

Ben is an interesting candidate also, but I don't think it's him. Jacob's answer to Ben ("what about you?") right before Ben got all stabby on Jacob didn't seem to indicate he was a candidate. I think he could be a candidate for ManInBlack's role. Or maybe he can manipulate him as well. Ben does not like to be screwed with (or, in the Sideways World, for his coffee machine to be screwed with) and hew as royally screwed with by FLocke. Imagine a scenario where Ben, Sawyer and FLocke are all in a room together: double speak, trickery, cons, and all type of trickery will ensue before everyone draws their guns on one another. Could Ben take ManInBlack's place? Possibly. But here's why Ben could end up as Jacob and Widmore as MIB: Remember that scene where Ben visited Widmore and said that he couldn't kill him but he could hurt him by getting to his daughter as well? I'm thinking that may be how the Jacob/MIB fued started? Maybe Jacob killed MIB's kid. Maybe that's who the boy is who visits FLocke? Who knows.

In the end, I think it comes down to Jack. I could see a scenario where Jack has to decide whether he'll take the role and keep the balance of The Island or give up the role and stop trying to fix everything and The Island sinks to the bottom of the ocean a la the Sideways World. I think that Jack's dad will have something to do with his choice as will his recovery from always trying to fix everything. Jack lost his marriage, his dad, Kate, and so much more. Maybe this is how his redemption occurs? Or maybe he needs to sacrifice in some way? In some way, I'm still convinced this comes down to Jack. I'm enjoying this ride and will be sad when it ends, but it has been a great ride so far.

Thoughts? Comments? Like it or dislike it? Have a theory? Leave your feelings in the comments below!

Picture from the New York Times