okay, so the latest episode of Lost is still on everyone’s mind i’m sure… and this time around, i’ve got my episode summary typed up and i’m gonna post it sooner rather than later… i’ll get back to this topic later in the week to talk about what i think is going on and what is worth considering and there is a lot, but i wanted to be fresh and out of the gates with this week’s recap… again, it’s lengthy and filled with sarcasm and random comments, but it should help you remember what happened and point out some key moments to think about… off we go…

LOST 6.04: The Substitute (how it happened)

now playing: Centerfield – Stellar Kart

Previously on Lost… Juliet dies… Sawyer blames himself… Smokey/Locke/MIB crushes Jacob’s detail, Ben stares, MIB clocks Richard in the throat and carries him off to the jungle, disappointed in “all of you”… Ben stares… dead-Locke has something of a smirk on his face… new Locke lies to Boone about going on a walk-about before getting wheeled off the new plane…

we open to a neighborhood… a van pulls up to a house… it’s Locke’s van, wheelchair ramp gets stuck… Locke pops a wheelie then takes a header… face-first in the grass and the sprinklers come on… newLocke chuckles at what oldLocke would’ve cried about… Helen… oh, they’re planning a wedding… and they’re planning on inviting Locke’s dad… he picks a fabric while in the tub and talks about Jack’s business card… the magic word… “destiny”…

smokey is patroling the island… headed to the barracks… glass smashing… loud rock music… back out to the jungle, machete… smokeLocke cuts Richard out of a trap and says it’s time to talk…

– L – O – S – T –

newLocke heads to his cubicle… and is greeted by Randy… they’re talking about the conference… busted!… he skipped out of the conference… Randy is such a putz… oh, newLocke is fired…

SmokeLocke offers Richard some water… Richard is terrified… SmokeLocke wants Richard to be his teammate… Richard is terrified… SmokeLocke promises to treat him with respect and tell him everything… “people seldom get a second chance”… Richard won’t go anywhere with him… what? random blonde kid posing like an angel?… SmokeLocke is freaked out… Richard sees it not… “sooner than you think”

Ben creeps back into the statue’s foot… Ilana is crying and wants to know what happened to the troops… “you probably won’t believe me”… “try me”… John Locke turned into a “pillar of black smoke” and killed them all… “Did it kill Jacob as well?”… “yes”… LIAR!… “he burned away”… Ilana grabs some ashes and puts it into a little sack… Ben asks why SmokeLocke carried Richard away… “He’s recruiting”…

SmokeLocke returns to the barracks… same loud rawk music blaring from the house… “the one who’s searchin’ is searchin’ to destroy”… Sawyer is drinking and throwing a pity party when SmokeLocke walks in… “Thought you were dead”… “I am”….

Sawyer’s doing dishes? no, pouring drinks (from the bottle he was just swigging?)… shuffles back through the house handing off a glass to SmokeLocke, who doesn’t seem to know what to do with it… a toast to being dead… Sawyer’s clearly fried… “I don’t care if you’re dead, or time-travelling, or the ghost of Christmas past”… classic… he tells SmokeLocke to get out of his house… “this was never your house”… you ain’t John Locke, you ain’t scared… what if i told you why you’re on this island?… “I guess I better put some pants on”…

newLocke wheels out of the office building into the parking lot… past the handicap spot, to find that he’s boxed in by a Hummer… Vengence fails when his chair lift malfunctions just shy of scratching the heck out of the Hummer, so he sets off the alarm to alert the owner… DUDE! it’s Hugo… newLocke starts yelling and griping about not having to park in the handicap spot and don’t you know how to park?… Hurley is apologetic and Locke is framed in a weird camera angle, kind of reminiscent of when he was beating on the hatch door… Hurley has chops… cooler heads prevail and the formal introductions commence… Hurley doesn’t like Randy either, but “hooks” newLocke up with a temp job… “chin up, things are gonna work out”…

back on the beach… deadLocke with a smirk on his dead face and a smudge on his neck… GAH! it’s a giant spider!… apparently he’s ripe… Ilana comes out asking where everyone went (to the temple)… she takes command and tells everyone to mount up and move out… Sun balks, Ilana pulls the Jin card… “what do you know about my husband?”… if he’s here and alive, he’s at the temple… Sun wants to bury deadLocke…

SmokeLocke and Sawyer walking through the forest… where are all your friends? let’s not talk… random blonde kid… Sawyer sees him too… SmokeLocke is gonna catch him… Run Forest Run… SmokeLocke trips… that’s so unlike him… “You know the rules. You can’t kill him”… “Don’t tell me what I can’t DO!”…

Sawyer wondering where SmokeLocke ran off to… Richard, emerges from the shadows, whispering and trying to steal Sawyer off to the temple… no, Richard, Sawyer wants answers… Answers? SmokeLocke is gonna kill you sucka!… SmokeLocke wants everyone dead and he won’t stop until they’re all gone… *snap* Richard, terrified, flees… SmokeLocke returns… Sawyer denies talking to Richard, SmokeLocke denies seeing a kid… they “get on with it”…

newLocke is not an animal… he’s getting screened for a temp job, and he doesn’t like it… “would you describe yourself as a people person?”… clearly not… Rose is the supervisor… creepy music everytime the characters interact… newLocke wants to work construction… Rose calmly explains that he’s just being stubborn… she still has cancer…

Sawyer and SmokeLocke walking again… suddenly, Sawyer wants to talk about books… Steinbeck again… “it’s a little after my time”… Sawyer pulls a gun on SmokeLocke… “I’ve been trapped for so long, that I’ve forgotten what it feels like to be free”… “Before I was trapped, I was a man, just like you”… SmokeLocke is the ultimate manipulator…

beach… burying deadLocke…. “the people needed to see the face of what they’re up against”… can’t he change his face again?… “he’s stuck this way”… no one wants to eulogize deadLocke… Ben steps up to the plate… “John Locke was a believer, a man of faith. . . a much better man than I will ever be. And I’m very sorry I murdered him”… Sun is stunned… Ilana is perturbed… Frank is weirded out…

push the buttons the alarm is going off… oh, it’s an alarm clock… glad mine doesn’t sound like that… newLocke is getting out of bed and dressed for… work?… pulls out Jack’s card… what’s with the weird spacing? is that a heart between St. and Sebastian or a smudge?… (looks like a heart logo or something)… newLocke backs out… Helen asks him about it… saved by the doorbell… John, your knives are here… now they discuss newLocke’s firing… newLocke talks about the walkabout… and how he wants to just accept that he’s never gonna walk again… “there is no such thing (as miracles)”… (except for moving the island)… ripped up Jack’s card and kiss… black nail polish… does that matter?

Sawyer and SmokeLocke on the cliff… let’s climb down this crazy series of ladders that are bound to break at some point… SmokeLocke goes first… Sawyer follows and… oh, SNAP! it broke… that would probably be fun if he wasn’t about to die… safe again… they continue down to a cave… scales balanced by one black rock and one white rock… SmokeLocke tosses the white rock into the ocean and calls it an inside joke… but the cave goes further… and everybody’s name is scrawled into the ceiling with a number… 8-Reyes, 16-Jarrah… oh… 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42… interesting…

newLocke coaching a basketball team? teaching sex-ed… wheeling through the halls looking for the teacher’s lounge… newBen is rambling on and on about the classic rule of community: Kill it, fill it… newLocke asks for Earl Grey tea… Ben Linus, European History… John Locke, Substitute… clever…

back in the cave… SmokeLocke explains that Jacob wrote the names… Sawyer wants to know about the names… 23-Shepherd… “he’s not the only one”… 8-Reyes… “Jacob had a thing about numbers”… 16-Jarrah… (scenes of Jacob touching everyone)… 42-Kwon… Jin or Sun? 4-Locke… “we both know him”… last but not least, 15-Ford… “I never met him”… “choices that you thought you made were never choices at all”… this term “candidate” is used again… a candidate to be the protector of the island… SmokeLocke crosses out Locke’s name… this “three choices” speech will need to be revisited… Let’s get off the island together and never look back…

LOST

alrighty, that’s what happened… i’ll be back later to talk about this episode AND last episode, trying to sort out all the storylines, and figure out how we’ve moved closer to the “end game”… it’s getting interesting, that’s for sure…

peace… love… bdg…