Lost 6.04 The Substitute

[selenak]

You know years of fanfiction have irrevocably warped you when you think at one particular scene: OMG Ben and Locke have their very own canon high school AU now! More about that delightful moment later.



When they hand over an episode to Terry O'Quinn, you know you're in for a treat on this show, but everyone else with lines to say was fine as well. We finally got more of a sense of Gaia Ilana, mourning for her team mates and/or Jacob; Reboot!Rose was graceful and fantastic in her scene with Reboot!Locke, Richard Alpert has completely lost his cool, which was intriguing to see (that level of scared helps selling Smokey as a threat), and while Ben had only three scenes, they were awesome. First you get Ben-by-the-numbers, doing his usual stick of half truths when telling Ilana Smokey killed both her teammates and Jacob, but it comes across as routine, not long term plan manipulation; you can sense he's still shacken up by what happened. Then we get the eulogy for Locke. Which I think is that rare thing, Ben saying the unvarnished truth. (See also his "I'm going to miss you, John" after killing him last season when they really didn't have an audience to impress.) They had/have a connection, beyond and partly because of their rivalry for the island's attention, that was somewhat unique in Ben's life. John Locke was the one person in Ben's adult life who wasn't afraid of, hostile or vengeful towards him even after that first killing attempt and fully aware who Ben was; they got each other and what drove each other.

This was also when I started to acknowledge Locke Prime might be really gone for good, which hurts but not as much as I thought it would, because! Reboot!Locke is still there. And has just met Reboot!Ben omg. Whose life is in some ways better and in some ways not for the absence of island-related matters in his life. Let's recapitulate: he didn't lose Helen, he's still in contact with his father, which either means his father didn't cripple him in the Rebootverse - though clearly someone did - or that Anthony Cooper was able to do this in a manner that didn't look like attempted murder; on the other hand, he still couldn't go on a walkabout, and gets fired. His capacity for faith is in a crisis (a few months before Locke Prime had his on the island) as a result, but he meets Hurley, who gets him a job, Rose, who has a lesson about acceptance, and there is still the possibility of Jack working some spinal surgeon mo fo. I was a bit curious as to which job Rose would think was suited for Locke, having not wondered myself (clearly, the series of dead-end jobs he had in both verses were just frustrating), and then squeed when the high school sequence began, because, if you think about it: this actually works. Locke was great with Walt and with Boone (err, leaving aside how the relationship ended, ahem); he can interact with and teach younger people. (It's also what teenage!John basically ran away from when not wanting to go to a science camp because he was already ridiculed as a nerd, which has its own kind of poignancy.) And then of course my approving nods became something else when we heard that unmistakable voice in the teacher's room. I mean. I just.

THEY ARE SO DESTINY.

I'm just saying. No offense to Helen, who is lovely and very understanding with Reboot!Locke here despite the fact he lied to her about the Australia trip as well. I do hope she and John make it work in this 'verse. But! I was basically quoting the dragon from Merlin about two sides of the same coin re: John Locke and Benjamin Linus in any universe.

On to myth arc matters and revelations in the Primeverse. So, Jacob was looking for candidates to take over for him; Locke and the others were among them. That works with existing theories. Smokey was once human (unless he lied about that one, but right now there's no reason to), then became the Smoke Monster (and "trapped" on the island), then, as of the moment John Locke's body returned to the island, "locked", no pun intended, in John Locke's and the smoke shapes; apparantly he can't impersonate anyone else anymore. If Gina isn't wrong about that, it would mean that Christian Shephard is NOT another guise of Smokey, as he was talking to Sun and Frank while Not!Locke was already around. Unless the scriptwriters made a continuity mistake there; I suppose we'll find out. Taking over Locke's body seems to influence Smokey in mannerisms as well, see "don't tell me what I can't do", which is interesting because it opens up the possibility that he'll be influenced by Locke's memories and emotions later on, and would be the kind of irony this show loves to pull about any manipulative character.

Blond "these are the rules" boy: future Aaron? Or Jacob from the past. Or even whoever Smokey used to be, though I doubt that, since they cast Titus Welliver for pre-smoke Smokey and that kid looks nothing like him.

I like the word play the title of this episode provides: "The substitute" both goes for Reboot Locke, who ends up as a substitute teacher, for Smokey, who replaced Locke Prime, and for Jacob looking for a replacement for himself.


In conclusion: CANON HIGH SCHOOL AU!!! I AM SO AMUSED AND I LOVE IT.