(26) - And So It Begins....

Best episode of the season so far. The premiere opened with a bang, but this episode really got the ball rolling. It set the true foundation for how the season will pan out and how the series will conclude. Let's get to some of my past predictions.

• Sawyer will follow fake Locke only to turn on him towards the end
• Ummm, check! Well, we won't know until Sawyer turns on him, but come on, that's in the bag. I'll explain a little later on, but two words: LONG. CON.
• Dead Locke will come back to life
• Hmm. He was buried. But I truly believe he will be resurrected and must face "himself" aka LockeMonster in order for good to triumph (stole this name from my buddy Adam -- "There are rules, boy")

Now, let's digest this episode; The Substitute!
(EDITOR'S NOTE:  If you think I write too much, you can scroll to the end of this blog post for my Predictions and Recap and see my main points. Otherwise read on...)

1. I love the storylines the writers give us when Locke and Sawyer are paired up for an episode, and this storyline is no different. LockeMonster (for the rest of this post will be LM) after unsuccessfully attempting to "recruit" Richard went after Sawyer, just as I had thought. He found him drunk, sulking the loss of his future wife in his former house. Sawyer, after living through everything he's experienced, is not phased in the least that Locke is standing there talking to him. After a while though he knows that this man, this intruder, this substitute is not really John Locke. "Locke was scared, even when he was pretending he wasn't." (Sawyer and Locke were always an interesting duo. Not enemies in the sense that Locke and Jack are, but not friendly either. I feel like Sawyer was always trying to best Locke because Locke figured he had him pegged. He called him James when no one else would, and that pissed off Sawyer because he believes he needs to be alone and for no one to "get him," when actually, it is the relationships that Sawyer has that define him.)
      Intrigued, Sawyer follows LM to see what answers he can get. Why is he on this island? On their trek they encounter a young boy, but what's interesting about this is that Sawyer can see the boy. Before, when LM was trying to get Richard to follow him, Richard could NOT see this same boy. Sawyer can, hmmm. LM chases after the boy and trips. "You know the rules, you can't kill him," the boy says, before calmly walking off into the jungle. While this is happening, Richard catches up with Sawyer and tries to get him to come back to the Temple, but Sawyer "wants answers" even though he knows that it isn't Locke. This surprises Richard, and he tries to explain that he's going to kill EVERYONE, but then has to run off when LM comes back.

• How is LM seeing things? We were led to believe in the premiere episode of season six that LM was responsible for everything the characters were seeing because the smoke monster can take the forms of those dearest to us (see: Alex, Yemi, Dave, etc). So then, was the smoke monster NOT responsible for all of those hallucinations? Does the Island recognize that It is in serious danger and is sending out it's own messengers?
• This is when I came up with my LONG CON theory. Richard is pleading with Sawyer that LM is evil, and he won't budge. LM comes back from chasing the kid and Sawyer asked what happened to the kid. "What kid?" "Then lets get on with it." Sawyer is pulling the ultimate con job right now. It's not worth any money, but he needs to string LM along until he can find out exactly what he is planning. He will see exactly how LM is planning to destroy the Island (and world) and in the process find out how to stop him. I'm presuming it will have something to do with resurrecting dead Locke.
• Who is the boy? Young Jacob? Older Aaron? Young Sawyer? All interesting choices. But I like Jeff Jensen's theory the best: The boy is the first person LM killed. That was when LM chose his side, the side opposite Jacob. I really like this for obvious reasons, as it could show us a backstory to LM and how he became like this and why he and Jacob are enemies.
• What are the rules? We know LM needed a loop hole in order to kill Jacob, but we don't know why. What are these rules???
• And who is "him?" Is it Jacob? Sawyer?

2. So Sawyer was running for Savior of the Island and he didn't even know it. The final candidates have been revealed:

• 4 - Locke
• 8 - Reyes
• 15 - Ford
• 16 - Jarrah
• 23 - Shephard
• 42 - Kwon

Why the numbers? "Jacob has a thing for numbers." But the final candidates were specifically the "evil" numbers that have been present throughout all of LOST, of course they were. They had to be. LM crosses out Locke's name because now he is dead. We can presumably cross out Sayid's name because of the darkness growing inside of him. That leaves Reyes, Ford, Shephard and Kwon (Sun or Jin). I'm not willing to throw out Locke's name just yet, but he is currently dead. (Sidenote: Why are all the candidates male? Kwon could mean Sun, but presumably right now, they are all male. Do you need some balls, literally, to protect the Island?)

• Where is Austen? Why is Kate not listed. Jacob visited her just as he did Locke, Hurley, Sawyer, Sayid, Jack, Sun & Jin. Theory: Sawyer will pull off the Long Con on the LM, Jacob will make him like Richard, and he will live on the island with....KATE. Just a thought.

According to LM, Sawyer has three choices now that he knows he is a candidate.

• He can wait and see how this whole thing plays out, not choosing to do anything.
• He can accept the candidacy for protecting the Island. "From what?" "From nothing, James. That's the joke...it's just a 'damned' Island."
• He can get the hell off this island with LM, and go home. LM apparently needs him though to get off the Island. They need to do this "together."

Sawyer, wanting to pull off the Long Con, says he's ready to get the hell off this Island. I like LM's attempt at manipulation. "All the choices you thought you made weren't ever choices at all." Sawyer is doing that to you AS YOU SPEAK LM (sorta), watch out. Don't mess with the bull.
Clearly, the Island needs to be protected. The Island is special, it may be "damned" to LM because he his trapped there, but protecting the Island = saving the world. We were clued into this back in season 2. Kelvin was saving the world. Desmond was saving the world. Locke was saving the world. Eko was saving the world. Pushing the button = protecting the Island = saving the world.

3. There were a few camera angles in this episode that really caught my by surprise. At first I thought they were Point of View shots (POV - where the character looks directly into the camera, almost breaking the fourth wall and staring at us, the viewer), but they were just, and I mean just off-center.

• When Locke is screaming at Hurley in the parking lot, he turns around in his wheelchair and it looks as though he's staring at us when he says, "But I don't have to park there. I can park anywhere I want. You need to stay inside the lines." Very curious choice of words. We need to stay in the lines. Well don't you have to stay inside the lines LM? Aren't there rules that you cannot break? "You can't kill him."
• When Sawyer points the gun at Locke after talking about Of Mice and Men. It looks like Sawyer is pointing the gun at us, but again, we are just off-center.
• In the alternate world, when Locke is at the Temp agency talking to the agency rep, the rep looks directly at the camera when she says, "Of course. I'll go get her." Now, I cannot remember any significant LOST POV shots, so when one occurs I feel like it has to be for a certain reason. We've seen it when we are the smoke monster (occurred earlier in the episode), so why now? Why do we take the place of Locke in this alternate world at this temp agency? Maybe I'm reading too much into these things...

4. Final Random Thoughts

• How did Locke get injured in this alternate world? It wasn't when his dad shoved him out of a window, because we know by the pictures at his desk and Helen's mentioning of inviting his dad to the ceremony. So then how?
• In this alternate world, Locke is a man of science, not a man of faith. He doesn't believe in miracles, having not lived through a plane crash and being able to walk again. He doesn't believe any surgery will help him. He wants to start living his life the way it is, and not the way he thinks it should be. And finally to drive this point home, he is a substitute teacher teaching biology. BOOM. This is very interesting because in the real timeline the Locke vs Shephard, Faith vs Science has been a driving point since season one. Something is going to have to happen in this alternate timeline in order to get Locke back to being a man of faith.
• Why did Illana take Jacob's ashes out of the fire pit? What does she need them for? To make more ash for protection from the smoke monster? To drop into the Temple's spring in hopes of resurrecting Jacob?
• Ben's eulogy of Locke was amazingly truthful, to the point where he confessed murdering him. He even says Locke is a man of faith, "he was a believer."
• Locke's alarm clock in the alternate world was the exact sound of the alarm sounding in the hatch when they had to input the numbers. Awesome.
• Richard doesn't know about the candidates. Why? If he is supposedly Jacob's second in command, why doesn't he know this? We know he never talks to Jacob, but how come? STEALING A POINT: Jeff Jensen notes that Richard is treated like an angel. Jacob, the supreme deity on top, loves his creations (humans) more than he loves his followers (Angels/Richard). Love it.

5. Predictions/Recap

• Sawyer is pulling the ultimate Long Con on LockeMonster
• Dead Locke will be resurrected and face LockeMonster and defeat him in some capacity (not necessarily kill him)
• Who is the young boy? What are the rules? Who can't he kill? Why is LM seeing little boys?
• Why are the candidates numbered? all male (maybe)?
• Weird camera angles that were nearly POV -- are these important?
• LockeMonster leaving the Island is BAD for everyone and everything and every universe.
• The Island is special and needs to be protected. If the Island is not protected, the world will cease to exist (Parallel I just thought of -- in the movie Dogma, two of God's fallen angels want to return home and can do so by passing through holy arches. These arches will absolve every sin they've committed and because of this they can return to heaven. Doing this would prove God wrong, and since God can never be wrong the world would cease to exist). LockeMonster leaving the Island would mean he is no longer in a "damned" place and would prove God/Jacob/Higher Deity wrong, and this would destroy the world and alternate worlds.
• Prediction I just thought of: The Island is alive. Well duh, we've known this for a while. But I'm thinking the Island is the Higher Deity. Almost like in X-Men (the comics), Krakoa the Island is a mutant who is evil and is luring other mutants their and trapping them. This Island is not a mutant or evil, but the Higher Deity.

Another long one, sorry guys. Once I get started I can't stop. Onto next week! LOST