John Locke and the Man in Black, Smoke Monster or nemesis is who (or what) this episode is all about. Let’s start with the flash sideways of the still living John Locke.
After landing in Los Angeles and meeting Jack, John heads home to his fiancé Helen disappointed. He went to Sydney to participate in a Walkabout, but because of his disability they refused to let him. It’s quite obvious that he hates being confined to a wheelchair and does everything he can to not be seen as handicapped.
When he returns to work his boss fires him and he finds that his van has been blocked in. The owner of the car just happens to be Mr. Hugo Reyes (Hurley). John gives him a tongue lashing for parking too close and finds out that Hurley owns the company he was just fired from.
Hurley gives him the phone number of an employment agency he just happens to own. John goes to the agency and meets another survivor, Rose, who not only gives him a job, but lets him know that he needs to start living again.
Locke’s new job is a substitute teacher. At lunch he meets one of the history teachers; non other than Benjamin Linus. Is there a reason that these peoples’ lives are intertwined outside of the island? Could they come together at some point for good; or for bad?
Back on the island we see the fake Locke (message boards are calling him Flocke) as the smoke monster perusing the island. He frees Richard whom he’s held captive. He tries to convince Richard to join him. Richard refuses, but asks him why he now looks like Locke. He says that Locke was a candidate. He tells Richard there are no second chances and leaves. During the conversation Flocke sees a boy standing in the woods with bloody arms, but Richard can’t see him. The boy disappears.
Flocke then goes to visit Sawyer who is drowning himself in booze grieving for Juliette. He knows instantly that Flocke is not Locke. Flocke tells him that he can give him the one thing that he wants; the reason that he is on the island so Sawyer follows him. The boy appears again.
This time Sawyer can see him, too and Flocke races after him. The boy tells him “You know the rules. You can’t kill him”. Flocke answers with “You can’t tell me what I can’t do”. (This is the same line that Locke screamed at the travel agent in Sydney when he wasn’t allowed to participate in the Walkabout. Did some of the real Locke stay behind?) While Flocke is gone, Richard stumbles upon Sawyer and warns him to stay away from Flocke and tells him that he will kill everyone. Sawyer thinks twice, but is convinced by Flocke to continue on. They end up in a hidden cave. In the first chamber is a scale balanced by one black stone and one white stone. Flocke picks up the white stone and throws it out to sea. This leaves the scales tipped towards the black stone. Is this symbolism or much more? Flocke then leads Sawyer to another chamber where we see hundreds of names, most of which are crossed out.
There are only six names remaining; the last names of our beloved cast members; Sawyer, Jack, Hurley, Sayid, John, and either Sun or Jin. All of the names are preceded by numbers: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. These are the same numbers whose meaning has eluded us for years. Flocke tells Sawyer that the numbers mean nothing. But is this true? Flocke crosses off Locke’s name and tells Sawyer that the remaining names are all candidates, that Jacob chose them all and visited them during their lives. He tells Sawyer that he is the new Jacob and gives him three choices: 1 – lay low and see how this all plays out; 2 – stay and protect the island; 3 – leave the island. Then he tells him that they can both leave together. Sawyer picks the third choice. Is Flocke being held on this island for a reason? Is he the bringer of Armageddon or is that just what we are supposed to believe?
There is also a small part of the episode that includes Ilana, Ben, Sun and Frank. They are still at the statue. Ilana picks up some of Jacob’s ashes from the fire and takes them with her. Sun insists on burying John. Ben speaks at his gravesite about a man who is a believer and full of faith. The John we see in the flash sideways is certainly not a believer or full of faith. Ilana gives us a bit of important information that Flocke is stuck in the disguise of Locke and unable to change. Why is this?
One thing that I should not forget is the fact that Kate’s name was not on the wall even though Jacob visited her as he did the others. There are no remaining numbers to correspond with her name. Is this the reason we had a seemingly unnecessary episode of her last week? Is she the Trojan horse?
This was a very good episode filled with information. If the remaining episodes are anything like this one, we are in for one hell of a ride. Hold on tight boys and girls!
What is next on LOST this Tuesday? Hurley convinces Jack in ‘Lighthouse’
By April Starlett –
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LOST building audience last week – Jumping from its Lead-in and Building Throughout its Telecast, “Lost” Wins at 9pm and is Tuesday’s No. 1 Scripted Show in Adults 18-49 for the 2nd Straight Week – “Lost” is Up Substantially Over its Performance on the Same Week Last Year And Delivers Dramatic Year-to-Year Improvement for ABC in the Time Slot Generating its Strongest Numbers Since Fall ’09.
Tuesday
With its Tuesday lineup of a “Lost” replay, “Lost” and “the forgotten,” ABC was up over the same night last year (2/10/09) by 3.0 million viewers (7.3 vs. 4.3 million) and by 71% in Adults 18-49 (2.9/8 vs. 1.7/4).
“Lost” (9:00-10:00 p.m.)
Despite facing stiff, established time period competition on CBS (“NCIS: LA”) and NBC (“Biggest Loser”), as well as Fox’s “American Idol”-inflated series debut of “Past Life,” ABC self-starter “Lost” shot up from its lead-in by 6.3 million viewers (11.1 vs. 4.8 million) and by 194% in young adults
(5.0/12 vs. 1.7/4) and built its audience from start to finish (+5% in viewers/+6% in young adults). “Lost” dominated the 9 o’clock hour for its 2nd straight telecast in the key young Adult sales demo, defeating second-place CBS’ “NCIS: LA” by 22% (4.1/10), third-place NBC’s “Biggest Loser” by 25% (4.0/10) and fourth-place Fox’s “Past Life” by 79% (2.8/7).
“Lost” qualified as Tuesday’s No. 1 scripted TV show for the 2nd week in a row in Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and across key Men (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54).
“Lost” was up from its performance on the same week last year by 1.3 million viewers and by 14% in Adults 18-49 (9.8 million and 4.4/10, Wednesday 9:00 p.m. on 2/11/09).
“Lost” delivered enormous year-to-year time period improvement for ABC, boosting the hour by 6.7 million viewers and by 150% in Adults 18-49 over the year-ago night with original programming (4.4 million and 2.0/5 – originals of “Scrubs”).
Excluding only last week’s sixth-season premiere, “Lost” posted its highest-rated telecast in over 2 years among Adults 18-34 (5.1/14) – since 2/7/08.
