Well, I guess I better put some pants on.

Locke takes a shower on his lawn. Hurley throws a little job stimulus Locke’s way. And then Locke gets his delivery of Ginsu Knives. (They can cut right through an aluminum can!) Sawyer does a little DIY home improvement. UnLocke plays hide and seek in the jungle with a child of the corn. And Sawyer and UnLocke enter a rock climbing challenge before UnLocke shows Sawyer some of his etchings.

Would you describe yourself as a people person? Hell yes!

LOST 6x04: The Substitute

There was a big delay on this recap due to work conferences and vacation. So we have, for the first time, a guest blogger – my brother Phil. Though in reality, I usually collaborate on theories with him into the wee hours after an episode airs, so he's getting credit for the first time even though he's critical in shaping my recaps. Glad we’re getting this up since it was a killer episode. (And he's gonna hate me for changing the name to UnLocke...)

Comment below with your thoughts!

2007, On the island:

We start out with Smokey searching the island for his machete, which then transforms into UnLocke. (Question: Does this mean all the times we saw Locke with the machete in earlier seasons it was actually Smokey? Has Smokey been – or has he been connected to – Locke since it first dragged him through the jungle after the crash of 815?)

He proceeds to cut down Alpert from the tree he had him trapped in. It seems as though UnLocke has always wanted Alpert to be on his side, however Jacob has kept Alpert’s favor with by stringing him along with dangling carrot. UnLocke tells Alpert he would never have kept him in the dark like that. As he is talking a young child appears bathed in light and UnLocke runs off after him.

Question: Was the boy an older Aaron?... Or a younger Jacob? Or could Aaron actually be Jacob? Aaron is descended from Jacob in the Bible.

Meanwhile Ben is in the foot of the statue with Ilana. He tells her that UnLocke had killed everyone including Jacob. Ilana then picks up Jacob’s ashes from the fire pit Ilana tells Ben that UnLocke is recruiting.

Question: So is the ash used to circle Jacob’s old cabin the ashes from previous Jacob’s replaced by new candidates?

Back in Dharmaville, UnLocke finds Sawyer drunk in the old house that he lived in with Juliet. It seems that UnLocke enjoys when people are at their darkest points (easier to recruit them then?). UnLocke convinces Sawyer he will tell him exactly why he is on the island.

Nerd alert: Sawyer was blasting an old album from his life with Juliet in 1977. Iggy & The Stooges' "Search and Destroy" was on. The lyrics are:

"I am the world's forgotten boy, the one who searches and destroys. Honey gotta help me please, Somebody gotta save my soul... I'm the world's forgotten boy
The one who's searchin', searchin' to destroy"

Meanwhile back at the batcave…errr..the beach, we find the rest of the Ajira flight standing over the body of Locke. (Question: Was that a spider on his face…the same paralyzing spider as Nikki and Paulo? Or just a crab or some other insect?). Ilana convinces Sun to follow her by telling her that Jin is at the Temple. But Sun insists on first burying Locke.

Sawyer and UnLocke are on the way to find out the answer to why Sawyer is on the island, when the run in to the young boy again. UnLocke is amazed that sawyer is able to see him, because Alpert hadn’t. UnLocke chases him into the jungle, where the boy tells UnLocke that he can’t kill Sawyer – it’s against the rules. And channeling John Locke himself, UnLocke says “don’t tell me what I can’t do!”

Sawyer who was left behind, is confronted by a scared Alpert, who tries to convince him to go to the Temple. Alpert tells him that UnLocke is going to kill everyone and runs off in to the jungle before UnLocke returns. Sawyer continues to follow UnLocke in to the jungle, as we find out that Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is a little after UnLocke’s time. (How old is he?). Sawyer pulls a gun on UnLocke, who then convinces him that he is trapped, just as Sawyer is. He promises Sawyer a way off the island, and On the beach Ilana explains that UnLocke cannot change into another person’s appearance now…he is stuck in UnLocke form. After Ben apologizes for having killed Locke, they bury him.

On the other side of the island, UnLocke is leading Sawyer down in to a cave positioned in the side of a steep cliff. In the cave, we see a scale with a black rock and a white rock on either side. The black rock is just slightly out-weighing the white rock.

Nerd alert: Black Rock – black rock

UnLocke throws the white rock in to the ocean. Inside joke, he says. UnLocke leads Sawyer in to the cave and shows him over a hundred names with numbers next to them, written on the walls and ceiling, most of which are crossed out. He tells Sawyer that this is the reason that they are all on the island. The only names not crossed out are 4 - Locke, 8 - Reyes, 15 - Ford, 16 - Jarrah, 23 - Sheppard, and 42 - Kwon. UnLocke lets Sawyer know that in some point in his life, he had met Jacob. And since that point Jacob has been in control of all of Sawyers decisions in life. UnLocke tells him that he now has three choices: die; become the new Jacob; or help UnLocke get off this island. Sawyer then chooses to help him leave the island. Despite Sawyer’s crappy life back in the real world, he gives a definitive “Hell yes!” to getting off the island.

Question: Was the white rock slightly less heavy because UnLocke had been using it to cross out the names of those on the cave walls?

Nerd alert: Again, due to the diligence of others, here is the full list that can be made out of names and corresponding numbers.

2004, Los Angeles:

We start out with Locke driving himself home from the airport, to a waiting Helen. Apparently she never left him in the sideways reality. She helps him out of the lawn shower and in to the bathtub, where we find out that they are in the middle of Wedding preparations. Helen wants to just make the wedding a family event, including John’s Father? (How did Locke become paralyzed in this sideways reality, if he’s still in contact with his father?) Helen finds out about Locke’s run in with Jack at the airport and tries to convince John to call him, saying that it might be “destiny”.

Nerd alert: While choosing fabrics for the wedding, Locke chooses the light fabric, but Helen convinces him to go with the dark choice.

Back to work at Hurley’s box company that had burnt down in the original timeline, Locke had lied to the company (and to Helen) about a seminar so he could go on his walkabout. He is promptly fired by Randy Nations (a huge douche). Lucky for John he is parked next to lucky Hurley, who promises him that his temp agency will set him up with any job he wants.

At the temp agency we see Locke is being questioned (much like the seemingly nonsense test questions he was given by Alpert when he was a child.) Locke, not understanding the line of questioning, asks to see the supervisor and in walks Rose! She proceeds coax Locke into accepting his life, as she did with her terminal cancer.

Question: Is it me, or does the painting behind Rose look vaguely similar to some of those in Widmore's office that Claire's ex, Thomas, painted?

Back at Locke’s crib, we see John trying to get up the courage to call Jack. Locke confesses to Helen he was fired and about what he was doing on his trip. Helen lets John know that all she cares about is him, and that she loves him just the way he is.

Nerd alert: Helen’s shirt says Peace & Karma on it. Also, she’s wearing black nail polish. Is this a sign – coupled with her pushing him to pick the dark fabric earlier - that this reality is shaped by the Man In Black/Smokey?

We next see Locke starting to accept his condition, by substitute teaching. Luckily he makes friends with a dweebie European History teacher (spit-take!) named Ben Linus.

Questions:

Is Jacob really protecting the island…or protecting the world from Smokey by keeping him trapped on the island?

Why isn’t Jarrah’s name crossed off the cave wall? Why wasn’t Kate’s name on the wall? Why are our 815ers' names so much bolder than the others'?

Was the Black Rock Smokey’s Flight 815, bringing his follower’s to the island? And that is why Smokey is so disappointed that Alpert chose to follow Jacob?

Hit us up with some comment love below.

- Phil Salo (and Sean Salo)