Lost: Season 6, Episode 4 "The Substitute" Review

 "I'm very sorry I murdered him."

-Ben Linus

"The Substitute" picks up in the flash-sideways universe.  Locke (Terry O'Quinn) returns home where it is revealed he is engaged to Helen (Katey Sagal).  When she finds Jack's (Matthew Fox) business card, she encourages Locke to call him.  When Locke returns to work, he is fired because he flew to Australia on what was supposed to be a buisness trip, but didn't go to any of the events that he was supposed to go to and tried to go on a walkabout instead.  He runs into Hurley (Jorge Garcia) in the parking lot, who owns the company.  Hurley hooks Locke up with a temp agency and Locke talks to Rose (L. Scott Caldwell) about taking a job as a construction manager.  Rose is blunt with Locke and convinces him to be more realistic.

Locke tells Helen everything and that he can't wait for a miracle.  He needs to accept the way things are.  Helen reaffirms that she still loves him and rips up Jack's card.  Locke starts working as a substitute teacher and meets Ben (Michael Emerson), who is a teacher at the same school.

On the Island, the Man in Black (Terry O'Quinn) tries to convince Richard (Nestor Carbonell) to join him, but he refuses.  He then finds Sawyer (Josh Holloway) drunk at the barracks.  Sawyer quickly figures out that this isn't actually Locke.  The Man in Black offers to show Sawyer the true reason for him being on the Island and Sawyer agrees to go with.

On the way, they spot a kid (Kenton Duty) and the Man in Black chases him.  The kid warns him that he can't kill Sawyer.  It's against the rules.  Richard tries to convince Sawyer to run from the Man in Black, but Sawyer refuses.

They climb down some cliffs into a cave with names written on the walls.  Almost all of them are crossed out.  The Man in Black reveals that these are the candidate to take over Jacob's (Mark Pellegrino) job of protecting the Island.  Locke, Sawyer, Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), Hurley, and Jack are the only ones left, but the Man in Black crosses out Locke's name and offers Sawyer the chance to leave the Island instead.  Sawyer accepts.

Meanwhile, Ilana (Zuleikha Robinson) tries to convince Ben, Sun, and Frank (Jeff Fahey) to go to the Temple with her, like all of the Others have done.  Sun wants to bury Locke first and they take his body back to their original beach and bury him. 

What Works: 

I absolutely love the events of the flash-sideways in this episode.  It's been a while since we've had the real John Locke on this show and it's great to have him back.  Plus the connections to Hurley, Rose, and Ben are awesome and really exciting.  I think this episode does a much better job of setting up some intrigue for the flash-sideways stories than the previous episode did.

The peak is the discussion between Locke and Helen where he finally tells her the truth.  It's a very powerful and emotional moment where we finally see Locke accept reality and his limitations.  And Helen loves him anyway.  It's a great scene.

On the Island, I really enjoy Sawyer in this episode.  He sees through a lot of what the Man in Black is saying very quickly.  I love how he almost immediately figures out that this isn't the real Locke and he has some great reactions.

Finally, everything in the cave is fascinating.  The storyline is propelled forward far more than most episodes of this show.  We finally learn why these characters are here.  While the Man in Black is not truthful about everything, having seen the entire show and knowing that the stuff about the candidates is true makes this an even more massive episode on the rewatch.  It's here.  Almost everything the endgame is about is here.  And it's great.

What Sucks:

My only real problem with this episode comes from the burying Locke storyline.  Ben and Frank both have a funny line, but there really isn't anything else to this subplot.  It's just not very memorable or interesting.

Platinum Polar Bear:

The Platinum Polar Bear goes to the most competent character of the episode.  For "The Substitute," this award goes to the Man in Black for convincing Sawyer to go along with him and spinning a believable enough lie to get Sawyer to join him at the end of the episode.  This is the Man in Black's 8th time winning this award, which ties him for 4th place with Sawyer and Hurley.

Verdict:

"The Substitute" is a huge episode of Lost and that's even more evident on the rewatch.  I love the ending, the flash-sideways, and the performances of O'Quinn, Holloway, and Sagal.  The beach storyline isn't very interesting, but the rest of this episode has absolutely got it going on.

 9/10: Great