Over the past two weeks, I’ve questioned—mildly, mind you—the effectiveness of Lost’s new “flash-sideways” story-structure, arguing that it’s difficult to get involved with the revised versions of the characters, especially when the separate storylines of a given episode don’t seem to have much to do with each other. Jump back a week, to “What Kate Does.” Unless Island Kate and Alterna-Kate turn out to be the same person (as has been speculated), then the story of these two Kates’ respective adventures with Claire and Sawyer don’t really connect, and thus don’t have much emotional resonance. (At least to me.)
“The Substitute,” though, is a whole different story. Even though we definitely (I think) got the story of two different characters—Alterna-Locke and Not-Locke—this episode resonated like a bastard for me, for a number of reasons. Let’s start with a significant one: The tenuous connection the two Lockes have to the “real” Locke. Y’know, the one who begins the episode dead on a beach? Lying next to a open box? With a crab scuttling on his ripening head?
The fate of Dead-Locke is dealt with in passing tonight, as Sun insists that he be buried, and she, Ilana, Frank and Ben haul the body up to lovely 815 Memorial Cemetery & Stick-Cross Emporium. There, Ben says a few words about Locke being “a believer” and “a better man,” before saying, “I’m sorry I murdered him.” (Frank: “This is the weirdest damn funeral I’ve ever been to.”) With that bit of business out of the way, we’re free to deal with Our Changed Lockes.
When last we saw Not-Locke, he was walking past the corpse of the man whose identity he stole, and heading into the jungle with Richard Alpert slung over his shoulder. We first encounter him in “The Substitute” via a wicked P.O.V. shot, as he Smokeys his way across The Island and then re-Lockes himself in order to talk to Richard, whom he bound in a tree-sack. He tries to recruit Richard, marveling that the devoted Mr. Alpert followed Jacob’s orders for so long without question, and insisting that he would always be frank about his plans. (Read: Faith sucks. Reason rules.) But Richard doesn’t trust Smokey, and though you and I might be inclined to listen to him because he appears to us in such a pleasing form, I have to wonder what I should make of The Little Blond Boy who appears as an apparition before Smokey, and reminds him that The Rules state that he can’t kill Jacob. (Smokey’s Locke-ian reply: “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!”)
So Not-Locke whooshes over to Sawyer, the world’s forgotten boy, who’s blaring The Stooges and getting himself good and drunk. Not-Locke rouses Sawyer by promising to answer “the most important question in the world.” (Sawyer: “Guess I better put some pants on.”) And while those two embark on their journey and talk about literature—including Steinbeck, who was “a little after” Smokey’s time—let’s take a moment to consider what it means that Jacob’s Nemesis has taken the form of a man who seemed destined to be Jacob’s Truest Disciple. It it ironic? A cruel joke that The Man In Black is playing on Jacob? Or are Locke and Not-Locke spiritual kin in some way?
After all, it’s not like those two don’t have anything in common. Smokey has a reputation for relying on others to accomplish his goals, and Locke has been known to do the same. (Getting Sawyer to kill Cooper, letting Ben turn the Donkey Wheel, etc.) And both have been, in some way, trapped: Smokey bound to The Island, and Locke stuck in a wheelchair. Stretching the analogy even further, it’s possible that both of the them are in their respective predicaments because they’ve been conned. There’s clearly a story behind how and why Jacob’s been able to keep The Man In Black in check for so long.
And what of Alterna-Locke? In the flash-sideways, we meet a man who seems to have a sense of humor about his condition: chuckling when his van-hydraulics get stuck, or when he falls out of his chair onto his lawn just as the sprinklers come on. And this version of Locke has a companion in Helen, who stuck with him in this reality, and is making their wedding plans. But the more time we spend with Alterna-Locke, the more we see some of the familiar dissatisfaction. His escapade in Australia costs Locke his job at the box company—because his boss Randy, as we all know, is a huge douche—though a chance encounter with Hugo in the parking lot opens new career opportunities, so it’s not like the Locke is cursed or anything. It’s more that he wants to be independent, and is frustrated by how much he needs people: Helen, his new employment counselor Rose, possibly Jack Shepherd. The story of Alterna-Locke—and maybe the actual Locke—seems to be about coming to accept that sometimes there are things he “can’t do.”
This is a lesson that Not-Locke is struggling with as well, though at least he knows from centuries of experience that he can only get what he wants if he’s willing to put other people in play on his behalf. As he leads Sawyer to the “answers,” Smokey talks about how he remembers being a flesh-and-blood man, with the same emotions as anyone. That sense of The Man In Black as a real person with flaws and aches—not just the cloudy embodiment of Eeeeeevillll—is another reason why I dug “The Substitute.” I know it’s late in the game for this show, but I like that these new characters—if Smokey counts as “new”—are being treated with the kind of care the writers have lavished on the people we’ve already gotten to know.
And of course, how could I not love the culmination of Sawyer and Not-Locke’s big adventure, which brings them to a rocky oceanside cliff, and then to a succession of rickety ladders (one of which breaks!), and then to a cave with familiar names scrawled on the ceiling, each with a familiar number beside it. That’s classic Lost right there—not just the answers that aren’t really answers, but that sense of being led by torchlight to the kind of secret room that all the best stories contain. And then, naturally, we get a little philosophical debate, though Not-Locke doesn’t present it as such. He tells Sawyer that Jacob had been manipulating him and all his friends, making them believe they were making choices when in fact Jacob was micro-managing their fates. It’s a convincing case that Smokey lays out, as he tells Sawyer that his real choice is to stay still and do nothing, or to try to fulfill Jacob’s demand for a new Island Protector, or to escape with Smokey by his side. But of course Smokey is a man with his own mission, and it’s hard to believe that he’s being any less manipulative than Jacob.