The Substitute (S6X04)
Airdate: 16 February 2010
Written by: Elizabeth Sarnoff & Melinda Hsu Taylor Directed by: Tucker Gates
Running Time: 46 minutes
The epic scope of Lost is evident in many aspects, not least the sheer temporal endurance it demanded of its audience. One of the most poignant examples is the protracted farewell to its most iconic character. Viewers first glimpsed the casket holding his unrevealed corpse in the Season Three finale, Through the Looking Glass, in May 2007. Yet the formal, ritualistic farewell to his mortal remains did not occur until The Substitute, the fourth episode of the final series, aired in February 2010. For the dedicated viewer, it was a wait of a year and a half—or nearly three years from that first ominous coffin. It is a testament to the series’ labyrinthine structure that even a character’s funeral could be delayed by time travel, resurrection myths, and cosmic deception. Yet, as The Substitute asserts, all things must conclude, even in Lost.
The character in question is, of course, John Locke, the man of faith whose journey from paralysed office worker to Island mystic formed the emotional backbone of the early series. His apparent death in 2007 Los Angeles proved merely a prelude to further reappearances, facilitated by flashbacks and the time-skipping mechanics of Season Five. The finale of that series, ‘The Incident’, delivered the devastating revelation: the Locke who returned to the Island was not resurrected at all. He was a facsimile, a shapeshifting entity known only as the Man in Black—the same being manifest as the Island’s Smoke Monster—who had appropriated Locke’s form and history to manipulate Ben Linus into murdering Jacob, the Island’s ancient protector.
The Substitute finds the Man in Black, now irrevocably trapped in Locke’s visage as Ilana later explains, pursuing his own mysterious agenda. His goal appears to be recruitment. He first takes the ageless Richard Alpert captive, though Richard manages a desperate escape to the supposed safety of the Temple. His second target is James “Sawyer” Ford, now a brooding, alcoholic recluse in the abandoned Dharma barracks. In a beautifully played scene, the former conman instantly perceives the con; the man wearing Locke’s face does not have his essence. Yet, intrigued and with nothing left to lose, Sawyer agrees to follow him.
This leads to the episode’s mythological centrepiece: a treacherous descent down a seaside cliff to a hidden cave illuminated by a single shaft of light. Here, etched upon the wall, are the names of Jacob’s candidates—the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42—each corresponding to a surviving Oceanic passenger. In a compelling piece of villainous rhetoric, the Man in Black argues that the Island is not a sacred trust to be protected, but a prison to be escaped. He offers Sawyer a simple deal: help him, and they can both leave forever. It is a seductive pitch to a man drowning in guilt and loss, and after a moment’s hesitation, Sawyer accepts. This sequence is superbly directed by Tucker Gates, wringing genuine suspense from the physical climb and the chilling revelation of the names. The audience may guess the outcome, but the atmospheric execution and the weight of the revelation carry the scene.
Meanwhile, on the beach near the foot of the statue where Jacob was murdered, a quieter, more human drama unfolds. Ilana, the newly appointed protector of Jacob’s ashes, and a shell-shocked Ben Linus resolve to head for the Temple. First, however, they must inter Locke’s real body, which has been carried from Ajira 316. In a moment of startling vulnerability, Ben volunteers to speak. His improvised eulogy is one of the episode’s high points. “John Locke was a believer,” Ben begins, his voice trembling with a sincerity rarely seen. “He was a man of faith… and I murdered him.” In confessing his crime before Frank and Sun, Ben not only buries Locke but attempts to bury his own duplicity, praising Locke as “a better man” than he could ever be. It is a powerful, cathartic moment for a character defined by lies, and a fitting, if belated, funeral for the true Locke.
The episode’s flash-sideways narrative, set in an alternate timeline where Oceanic 815 never crashed, gives Terry O’Quinn a chance to portray a radically different John Locke. This Locke is alive, but still struggling. He is paralysed, yes, but more significantly, he is embittered by a life of small disappointments. He has just been fired for attempting his Australian walkabout on the company’s dime. Yet, crucially, this timeline offers glimmers of a better path. He lives contentedly with Helen, a relationship that had ended tragically in the original timeline. A chance meeting with Hugo Reyes leads him to a temp agency run by Rose Nadler, who calmly reveals she is living with terminal cancer. Her serenity in the face of mortality offers Locke a silent lesson. He secures work as a substitute teacher, where he meets a kindly, bespectacled European history teacher named Ben Linus. This strand, whilst suffering from the contrivance of having every major character coincidentally cross paths in Los Angeles, possesses a gentle charm. It provides levity, often through dark humour, as when this more pragmatically optimistic Locke tumbles from his wheelchair onto a lawn just as the sprinklers activate—a direct, poignant echo of his iconic moment with rain in the original 2004 Island timeline.
The Substitute is far from being among Lost’s finest hours. The plot mechanics are functional, moving pieces towards the endgame. Yet, the script by Elizabeth Sarnoff and Melinda Hsu Taylor performs an admirable, if workmanlike, job. It wraps up lingering threads (Locke’s burial), advances the core mythology (the cave of candidates), and provides answers, however cryptic. It also delivers a significant piece of fan service: granting John Locke a new lease on life, however alternate. The episode benefits immeasurably from Terry O’Quinn’s phenomenal dual performance. He effortlessly distinguishes between the malevolent, calculated stillness of the Man in Black and the weary, hopeful resilience of the sideways Locke. One can see the cruel intelligence behind the familiar eyes in one timeline, and the cautious warmth in the other.
Ultimately, The Substitute serves as a pivotal, if uneven, instalment. It is an episode of transitions: Sawyer transitions from lost soul to the Man in Black’s first recruit; Ben transitions towards a path of reluctant penitence; and the audience finally transitions from hoping for Locke’s resurrection to accepting his death. The flash-sideways offers emotional compensation, suggesting a universe where John Locke might yet find the purpose and peace that the Island so cruately promised and denied him.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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