The Simple Things You See Are All Complicated, I Look Pretty Young But I’m Just Backdated, Yeah

(The Who, Substitute)

How cool was it to see the smoke monster’s perspective traversing over The Island, then later on to see Locke/Esau walking the same path.  I wonder if he hears that roller coastery clicking noise all the time.  That would be enough to drive a man crazy.

4 – Locke, 8 – Reyes, 15 – Ford, 16 – Jarrah, 23 – Shepard, 42 – Kwon

No Kate?  All men.  No Sun.  42 is Jin.  Locke, Hurley, Sawyer, Sayid, Jack, and Jin were “candidates” to be the next protector of The Island.  You might ask “why them?” but I think maybe a better question is, “why does The Island need a next in line?”  Haven’t Jacob and Esau (ok, maybe it’s becoming clear he’s not Esau, but you never know) been on The Island for a long time?  Centuries?  Millenia?  Why the need for an “in training?”  (And why does Jacob have a thing for these numbers?)

When Locke came upon Sawyer drinking in his house, he was listening to Iggy & The Stooges’ “Search & Destroy” on the record player.  First of all, awesome song.  Second of all, um, symbolism in the title much?  That seems to be exactly what Locke/Esau is doing.  And he’s recruiting, evidently. 

If we are to assume that Sawyer is now on his side (which is no different from what has happened every other time they have broken into two different groups on The Island), then we’ve already lost three of our six numbered candidates.  Locke is dead, Sawyer is on Locke/Esau’s side, and Sayid has been “claimed.”  That leaves Hurley, Jack and Jin.  However, you have to assume that Jin, given the choice, would much rather leave The Island with Sun (if either of them live long enough to make that choice), especially considering the fact that his daughter whom he has never met is alive and well off-Island.  That leaves Hurley and Jack.  And while of late, Hurley has “assumed a leadership role,” you know where I stand on this issue.  Jack is still my man in all of this.  It’s all coming down to the good doctor.  Number 23.

But still, why was Jacob looking for the next protector?  If we are to believe Locke/Esau (caveat emptor), Jacob was out there manipulating lives, bringing people to The Island who were candidates.  I wonder if Dogen and/or his squirrelly little friend are also candidates?  Was/is Richard a candidate?  And was everyone that Jacob brought to The Island involved in some sort of accidental shipwreck?  The Dharma folks sure seemed to have come there on their own, but the Black Rock shipwrecked.  Desmond shipwrecked.  Oceanic 815 crashed, as did Ajira 316. 

And here’s another question: If Locke/Esau just wants to be able to leave The Island, why did he have to kill Jacob in order to do that?  And here’s another question: Did Jacob want to leave also?  Is that why he was looking for candidates?  And here’s another question:

Who’s the creepy kid?  When Locke was talking to Richard and saw that kid, I nearly soiled myself.  He looked like one of the children of the corn.  OUTLANDER!!!  Anyway, why Richard couldn’t see him is not nearly as big a mystery as why Sawyer could see him.  That one completely escapes me.  I think that’s a bigger mystery even than the kid’s identity.  The leading contender for “who is that kid?” is probably Aaron, Claire’s son.  But I think we can cross him off the list right away, because even though he looks exactly like what Claire’s son would look like at age 11 or 12, Aaron would only be about 3 years old by that point.  (Maybe he grows fast like Walt?  Joke.)  So, who?  Maybe a young Jacob, coming to talk to Locke/Esau?  But then why could Sawyer see him and not Richard? 

Let’s look at Locke’s post-815 life for a minute.  To me, the 800-pound gorrilla in the room is not that he didn’t really go on the walkabout, not that he’s still dating Peg Bundy and planning to marry her, not that he was still working for the same crappy company for the same douchey boss, not that he met Hurley in the parking lot or Rose at the temp agency, and not even that he met Ben Linus, European History teacher at WTF High School.  To me, that 800-pound gorrilla was the comment Peg Bundy made about eloping: “Why don’t we just get my parents and your father and” yadda yadda yadda, have a small wedding.  Your father?  Locke’s father pushed him out of a window, paralyzing him, and that was AFTER stealing his kidney?  Look, I’m all for inviting as many people as you can to your wedding, but you have to make some cuts in the guest list, right?  That guy would have been one of them.  Unless …

Unless Locke’s dad DIDN’T push him out of a window, paralyzing him, after stealing his kidney.  Jack asked Locke in the “lost baggage” room at LAX how he came to be in a wheelchair, and Locke did not tell him.  He also didn’t tell us.  Maybe Locke was injured another way, having nothing at all to do with being manipulated by his dad.  Maybe his dad’s no longer the conning, lying, marriage destroying, pushing son out of a window guy we knew him to be.  Which immediately begs the question again, to paraphrase Jack: What DID happen to Locke?  I’d love to find out, but so far this season we haven’t had any pre-815 flashbacks, only post-815 storylines, so I’m not necessarily holding my breath.

Locke’s funeral on The Island cracked me up.  It made me think of the episode of Family Guy, when Stewie and Brian bury Brian’s mom, Ruby, after she had been stuffed and made into an end table.  (Ruby and Brian are dogs, btw.)  Stewie gives the eulogy and says, “I didn’t know Ruby as a dog.  But I did know her as a table.  Sturdy, all four legs the same length..”  Anyway, it cracked me up.  And thanks to Lapidus (a candidate himself, according to Ilana) for giving us the funniest line of the night, “Weirdest funeral I’ve ever been to.”  It’s almost like the writers are deliberately trying to insert one zinger into each episode.  Well done, writers.

Ben Linus once again proved to be possibly the best addition to the cast of this show.  His eulogy for John Locke and his teacher’s lounge persona were completely opposite in appearance, demeanor, and general levity of each scene, but he knocked both out of the park.  The guy can do so much with so little, it’s amazing.  Is off-Island Ben Linus really just a mild-mannered high school history teacher?  It seems possible.  But remember, just days before the “incident,” Ben was shot in the chest by Sayid and turned over to Richard and The Others.  The timeline before Juliet detonated the bomb remains the same.  So, are we going to find out anything about Ben’s post-1977 story, or are we just going to be left to our own devices to fill in the blanks?  Again, I’m not necessarily holding my breath. 

But I kind of think maybe he reunited with his friend Annie in Los Angeles, maybe did Teach for America or something, and is now happily married and has two kids, a mortgage, probably a mini-van, and no murderous tendencies.  That’s what I want for Ben.  That, and no tumor on his spine.  Because even the worst among us deserve a shot at redemption.

You know the drill.  Thoughts in the comments section.

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