John Locke in suburbia with his van and his wheelchair ramp. Which is broken. Oops. That didn’t work out so well. And the sprinklers? That’s adding insult to injury. Parallels with Locke standing out in the rain in the jungle. Oh wow! It’s… um, what’s her name again? Helen! They’re getting married in October. And apparently, although he’s in the wheelchair, he’d be inviting his dad to the wedding. So… Cooper didn’t push him? Helen wants Locke to call Jack. What are the odds of him just running into a spinal surgeon? Maybe it’s destiny.
On the island.
Smokey is making the rounds. Weird Smokey POV heading into the Barracks. Decided to leave Sawyer alone while he was trashing his house. Went back to pick up the machete. Cut down… what? Oh… Richard. “Time to talk.”
At the box company.
Locke is now playing the role of cubicle monkey. And there’s his lovely boss, Randy. Apparently he went to a conference in Australia, but he canceled. He skipped the conference, and he got fired. Saw that coming.
Back on the island.
Fake Locke is giving Richard some water.
“Why do you look like John Locke?”
“Because he could get me access to Jacob. And he was a candidate, or at least he could be a candidate.”
Smokey Locke is promising to tell Richard everything, unlike Jacob, who kept him in the dark for years. Temptation is the devil’s tool. This was a Faustian offer for knowledge.
Um, was that a little blonde boy appearing in the jungle? And Smokey Locke saw him, but Richard didn’t?
Now Ilana is crying on the floor of Jacob’s room inside the foot of the statue. Ben almost told her the truth about what happened to Jacob and the rest of the men in there – except the part about how he killed Jacob. She says that Smokey Locke is recruiting.
And now he’s knocking on Sawyer’s door. What awful music is Sawyer blasting on the record player?
Sawyer is drinking in his underwear in a trashed room.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I am.”
Now Sawyer’s pouring two drinks. Nice to know that DHARMA had bottled beer, too. “Here’s to being dead.”
“I think you’re taking this extremely well.”
LOL. Ghost of Christmas past. Oh wait, it’s whiskey. That makes more sense. Sawyer would like the hard stuff.
“You just lived here for a while. This was never your house.”
Sawyer is smarter than everyone else on the island. He knows that Smokey Locke isn’t really Locke at all. Locke was afraid, and this man isn’t afraid. Smokey can tell Sawyer why he’s on the island if he follows him.
“Well, I guess I better put some pants on.”
In L.A.
A Hummer parked too close to Locke’s van. Oh, and it belongs to Hurley. “Actually, I own the company.” Hurley is going to get John a job with the temp agency he also owns. “Chin up. Things are gonna work out.” Huh. Locke is not the man of faith in L.A. that he was on the island.
The island.
Ilana, Ben, Frank, and Sun are on the beach. Ilana said that if Jin is alive and on the island, he’ll be at the Temple. Sun wants to bury Locke.
Smokey Locke is firing questions at Sawyer. “How about we just don’t talk?” There’s the blond kid again. Sawyer could see him, too. Not a Smokey manifestation.
The kid told him, “You know the rules. You can’t kill him.”
Smokey Locke replies, “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!” Much like real Locke.
Sawyer is shouting for Locke. He’s giving him 20 seconds before he’s outta here. Richard is trying to get Sawyer to go to the Temple with him. Yikes, twitchy Richard… not a good look for him. And Sawyer continues to go with him.
In L.A.
“What kind of animal would you describe yourself as?” Weird temp agency question. The woman’s supervisor is Rose! Locke wants to skip the hokey questions and get down to a job placement. He wants a construction supervisory job. She said it’s not realistic. She confesses that she has terminal cancer. She’s living the life she’s got left.
The island.
Sawyer’s favorite book is Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men. He brought this up back on the Hydra island with Ben. Except this time, Sawyer’s pulling the gun. Smokey Locke is daring him to shoot him in the head, says he’s trapped and doesn’t even remember what it is to be free. “You’re so close, James. It would be such a shame to turn back now.” Poor Sawyer, so easily succumbs to temptation.
On the beach. Ilana is explaining that Smokey is stuck looking like Locke now. Will we get a reason why? They’re burying Locke’s dead body now. Ilana has been crying a lot. No one wants to say anything. Except for Ben.
“John Locke was a… a believer. He was a man of faith. He was a much better man than I will ever be. And I’m very sorry I murdered him.”
“This is teh weirdest damn funeral I’ve ever been to,” says Frank. Yeah!
In L.A.
Locke’s alarm clock sounds like the alarm in the Swan station! He’s going to call Jack… but then he’s going to chicken out. Helen really wants him to go. He didn’t tell her he got fired until right now. They’re delivering Locke’s lost luggage. What is she going to think when she opens up a suitcase full of knives? He wants her to open it to explain how he got fired.
“What are these for?”
“My walkabout… But they wouldn’t let me go.”
This Locke is starting to accept what he can’t do. “I don’t want you to spend your life waiting for a miracle, Helen, because there’s no such thing.”
“There are miracles, John. And the only thing I was ever waiting for was you.” Aww! She’s ripping up Jack’s card to show him how much she loves him.
The island.
Smokey Locke wants Sawyer to go down the rocky cliff. It’s not a problem for him, since he already died. LOL! Please don’t get on the ladder, Sawyer… Smokey Locke just switched over to a rope ladder! Sawyer’s ladder fell, and he’s dangling! Smokey Locke helped him onto the other sea ladder. Really? It’s all well and good that they got down okay, but how are they going to get back up?
“What is this place?” Good question, Sawyer. There’s a white stone and a black stone on a balance scale. Smokey hurled the white rock into the ocean. “Inside joke.” LOL.
Lit a torch. Going further into the cave. “That’s why you’re here.” Their names are all written on the ceiling of the sea cave. Ford. Jarrah. Reyes. Written there by Jacob? Is that how he made his list? How did he come up with the names to put on his list? And there were numbers next to them. Why?
L.A.
Locke is a girls’ gym coach. And doing health class. Lucky him. It’s reproductive system day.
Ben is in the teacher’s lounge! European history teacher. “Earl Grey? Now that’s a gentleman’s drink.”
Island.
“His name was Jacob.”
“Was Jacob?”
“He died yesterday.”
“You don’t seem too upset about it.”
The names aren’t all crossed out. 23 – Shepard. 8 – Reyes. 16 – Jarrah. 42 – Kwon. 4 – Locke. 15 – Ford.
“Why would he write my name on this wall? I’ve never met the man.” Smokey is explaining how Jacob met him when he was young, manipulated him. Sawyer is a candidate to take over as protector of the island. Smokey is explaining Sawyer’s options. Crossed out Locke’s name. Smokey Locke wants to get off the island with Sawyer and never look back. Together.
“So what do you say, James? Are you ready to go home?”
“Hell yes.”
Uh oh.
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I think the blond kid on the island is Aaron. I think there is some parallel between Locke being given up for adoption and all the forces trying to reunite/keep Aaron with Claire in both timelines. Kate’s reason for going back to the island was to bring Claire back to the island and in the sideways timeline, she encourages Claire to keep Aaron. Besides, the blond kid they cast sure looked a lot like Claire.
We always thought that Jacob was “the Island” and that Smokey was maybe rivaling him for it, but the blond kid reveals that there is some law and enforcement above either of them. The laws of the Island universe or the rules of Smokey’s imprisonment.