Highlights:
We get to see John Locke's would-be present day life. We find out that he was in Australia on a business trip that he never attended. There were meetings and seminars he thought a nonexistent walkabout would be more important than. He promptly gets fired.
John cleans out his desk and beats up a yellow Hummer 3 that parked too close to him. Hurley, the owner of the Hummer and John's company, comes out in a suit and assuages the situation. He gives John a number to a different company he owns and tells him to interview there.
We find out that he is still with Helen, and they are engaged to be married. Their relationship is adorable and caring. His obsession with his father isn't even an issue, and we get to see John Locke in a bathtub. LOLZ.
John interviews for a job at Hurley's temp agency, and meets Rose. She is a manager, and tells him of her terminal cancer. She tells him she had to be realistic about her options, just as he needs to be. John relaxes a little, and lets her give him more realistic options.John has insecurities and doubts about his condition, and says "Don't tell me what I can't do!" in one way or another at least three times in this episode. That made me happy. He tells Helen that he can't walk her down the aisle, and if she's waiting for a miracle, then she can leave if she wants. Helen tells him that he is a miracle, and a cute kissing scene ensues.
We see John Locke become a substitute teacher at a public school, and actually enjoy his life. I like this because he doesn't get crap from any smart-alick kids about his condition. He grabs a child's hand to ask him for directions that looks like Walt, but then is quickly revealed not to be him at all. I also liked this moment because we get so see someone out of their element. Someone so vile and manipulative and murderous is....
....anal about the use of coffee filters? When I heard his voice I had a mixed bag of emotions. Half of me was filled with glee, and the other half was nauseous.Ben Linus introduces himself to John as the Europoean History teacher after a five-minute long rant about coffee machine etiquette. John jokes with him, saying he only wanted some Earl Gray (Grey?) tea, and the two of them shake hands. Creepy!
On the island, we get to see life through the eyes of the smoke monster. The tick tick tick sounds ring through our ears as we get sick of rushing through the jungle like an off-kilter roller coaster ride.
Smokey cuts a parachute-looking thing down from a tree, and Richard falls to the ground all bloodied up. Smokey says "It's time to talk, Richard." But nothing gets said. Smokey just tells him he wants Richard on his side. Richard says that he won't go anywhere with him. He let's Richard go, but tells him that he will be seeing him very soon. Lame. No Richard back story or answers.
Smokey finds James in a drunken stupor listening to some loud music in his old house. Down and out, James gives Smokey a shot of whiskey and quickly recognizes a different person using John Locke's visage. Smokey tells him he has the answer to why he is on the island, and convinces him to follow him to the proof.
Ilana cries over Bram's body, gathers Jacob's ashes in a bag, and starts heading towards the Temple.
Ilana informs Sun and the audience that Smokey is stuck in the form of John Locke, and cannot change into any one else.
Sun convinces everyone that John Locke deserves to be buried, and Lapidus and Ben do the job. Ben ends up being the one to 'say a few words' since no one else really knew him. He admits in front of everyone that he was the one who murdered him.
Smokey sees the image of a young boy in the jungle while he is arguing with James over whether he should shoot him or not. He chases after the boy, and he falls to the ground before his feet.
"You know the rules. You know you can't kill him"
While Smokey is getting haunted, Richard finds James and begs him to come to the Temple with him. He says it is safe there, and looks more scared than my brother at the Alien Invasion ride at Disney world when he was 8. Sawyer thinks he is hotter than everyone else, and says he's already been to the Temple. Richard leaves.
Smokey leads James through the jungle and up and down some mountains and finally to the money shot we've all been seeing in the promos. There is a very unsteady ladder leading down a cliff face to get to "The reason James is on the island". He is skeptical, but follows.
They find a cave in the middle of the mountainside that rivals that of the horcrux sight in The Half Blood Prince, but who am I to judge? There is a scale inside with a white and a black rock, just like the ones found in the caves in season 1. Smokey throws the white one out and tells James it is an inside joke. Yeah. I am laughing already.
The Reason You Are On The Island is actually answered in this episode.... for the most part. Inside this cave are carvings (in the white rock I would assume) of each individuals names with a number in front of them. Jarrah, Kwon, Shephard, Ford, Reyes, and Locke are all written down. Smokey crosses Locke's name off. He says these people are all candidates. He said that they are candidates to protect the island, to be the next Jacob.
Notice that there is not "Austen" written on this cave's wall.
James asks what he would protect the island from. Smokey says "...nothing!". Clearly it's from him.Smokey says he doesn't know if Kwon means Jin, or Sun, or both of them.
He tells James that he can sit there and do nothing, become the next Jacob, or go with him and get the hell off of this island. James, being the renegade that he is, decides to go along with the adventure and try to get off the island.
Special Moments:
What I liked about this episode was that, first of all, it was a Locke-centric episode. That almost always guaruntees a good hour worth of television.
I liked that Kate was not in this episode at all.
I liked that Sawyer got drunk again.
I like that he was in a Dharma issued set of underwear.
I liked seeing life through Smokey's eyes.
I liked that Richard was really just mad that James stole a shirt from his wardrobe.
I liked seeing Locke happy.I liked finally getting an answer, even if it was only really 3/4 of an answer, about the Numbers.
I liked that this is the source of 'all those lists', and why the numbers are recurring.
I loved how Smokey explained to James that Jacob came to him in a vulnerable time in his life. The cinematography of Jacob visiting the Oceanic 6 while Smokey explained how Jacob works was both eerie and beautiful.
I like that Ben is caught off guard most of the time, and is rendered almost completely powerless.
I also liked seeing him in a Super Deep V-Neck shirt. Ha.
Theories/Speculation:
The first thing that brought up question marks in my brain in this episode was the child Smokey saw. For five years the people on this island have been seeing people from their past they believed to be dead. Kate saw a horse, Jack and others saw Christian, Ecko saw Yemi, etc. Once Locke's dead body was revealed at the end of last season, we all thought those visages were embodiments of The Smoke Monster. we figured he was manipulating these people to do certain things by portraying himself as someone from their past; someone that they trusted. It all made perfect sense that he pretended to be all of these people...until now.
Who is this child, if it is not Smokey? Is this child dead? Is this the spirit of Jacob roaming around the island in a slightly purgatorial state? His features and style of dress leads one to believe he is Jacob. The fear he strikes into Smokey's face when he sees him only furthers that argument. But that phrase, "You broke the rules... you can't kill him". What does that mean? You can't kill Jacob? Is he that much like Jesus that he will resurrect? Is Jacob just another vessel for a higher spirit to inhabit while on this earth? Is this child the human body speaking for the spirit that was inside of him? Who knows...... but my money is on Jacob.
The other set of questions I have surrounds the Numbers, of course. Each name had a number in front of it. When James asks Smokey about the numbers, he brushes it off like it is nothing. "Jacob had a thing with numbers." Doubt it. The combinations are as follows:
4-Locke
8-Reyes
15-Ford
16-Jarrah
23-Shephard
42-Kwon
These numbers are actually the result of the Valenzetti Equation, which is a real deal. It is the result of an equation as to what time (how many seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, etc.) until the world destroys itself with chemical warfare, natural disasters, plague, or whatever else. Since Locke has been crossed off, it makes me wonder that if these people need to be alive in order to keep the world from destroying itself. It makes me wonder if those are the only people in the world that can replace Jacob to protect the island. It also makes me wonder that if the island is not protected, then the end of the world will come on much quicker than these people have calculated. Will the world end in the "Flash-Maybes" because the island was destroyed?
And one more thing.... how does one "Become the new Jacob" exactly? Do you drink from the pool in the Temple to become unaging? Do you have to go through a training process? Is the pool the fountain of youth and that is why they have to protect it? Is that why Richard doesn't age because Jacob wanted him to be like him and see everything that happend over a long period of time?
Mull that over.
Goodnight.
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