Lost 6.4, “The Substitute”

Lost 6.4, “The Substitute”

Mar 03

Note: This isn’t a review of last night’s episode of Lost; it’s not even a review of last week’s episode of Lost, since our pal Jeff admirably wrote up that episode already. It’s a review of two episodes ago, done only to satisfy my anal need to make sure we’ve reviewed every episode here at Alert Nerd. In a few days I’ll write up the latest episode, Jeff will pick up next week’s, and all will be right with the world, such as it is.

“Don’t tell me what I can’t do,” “John Locke” yells. Of course, he’s not really Locke at all; he’s the creature we’ve known till now as the smoke monster and the Man in Black, taking Locke’s form, to what end we’re not sure. John Locke is dead, killed by Ben Linus.

Or is he? We still see him in the “sideways” universe, still in his wheelchair on the mainland, back from his trip to Australia. He’s living with Peg Bundy now (okay, Katey Segal, she’s a great actress, she deserves better than a lame joke) and as it happens, he’s also a bit hung up on being told what he can’t do.

We recall that back in season one’s notable Locke episode “The Walkabout,” his character’s arc hinged on being told what he couldn’t do, namely the titular exploration of the Australian outback. They wouldn’t let him do it because he was in a wheelchair.

Over the course of his time on the island, Locke became the man of faith, so much so that it’s easy to forget there was a time when he was as much of a control freak as Jack Shephard. Among other things, the island taught him to let go and allow himself to be told what to do. After the island mysteriously restored his ability to walk, he was happy to listen and obey.

The show has frequently framed its central conflict as that between faith and doubt; Jack was the doubter, and Locke was the man of nearly-blind faith, until those positions reversed near the end of Locke’s life. There seems to be a similar tension on the island between submission and control; when characters attempt to act of their own accord and pursue their own path, against the wishes of the island or these demigods, they are punished. They are firmly told what they can’t do.

What’s interesting is that it’s the “good guy,” Jacob, doing the controlling and the “bad guy,” Flocke/Man in Black/Smoke Monster, trying to escape that control. He only wants what our castaways have wanted for years, to leave the island. We don’t know why he can’t, but we know primarily why it enrages him: Because it’s not what he wants. He’s being told what he can’t do.

I think there’s going to end up being some interesting shades of grey in this final season of Lost, and I think we’ll look back on “The Substitute” as one of the early signs of that. If this Flocke is our devil figure, then like the biblical creature, his arguments make frequent sense.