More Questions ... Or Answers? A Look at "The Substitute"

     First of all, thank you to all my readers who have harassed me for a blog.  I am honored.  Honestly, there is not much for me to say.  I am truly "lost" with this season.  But I mean that in a fun way.  This season has taken me for a very satisfying ride and we are only on the third episode.  Well, I think it's clear to say that "The Substitute" was the first episode of the season that we know will be considered a classic.  Events such as Ben revealing himself as the European History teacher, the young stigmata child saying, "You know the rules.  You can't kill him," and even Helen suggesting inviting Locke's father to their eloping were even more satisfying than Jack sitting on the plane next to Rose in the first moments of the season.  But as I've been thinking what I want to say in this blog, I've come up with some questions and possibly some concerns about what we are going to see in the last thirteen hours of Lost.

    

The Stigmata Child ...

    Perhaps I am being too hasty by calling him the "Stigmata Child," but after many years of Catholic School, I know a Christ Allusion when I see one.  Though it's worth noting that the blood is running down his arms and not coming out of his hands.  Perhaps the child is actually bleeding from the heart (literally and figuratively).  Many are saying that the child is a young Jacob, which is completely possible.  Though one can't help but think that might be coming out of left field (that's a lot to say about a show that has a character who becomes a puff of smoke).  Why would a young Jacob be on the island?  Consider this: Aaron was wanted by the others because he was "special."  Could it be that a version of Aaron (perhaps the one that will eventually reunite with his mother, the rifle-baring Claire) is wandering the island making warnings to the Man in Black (and Jacob I would assume).  It seems to me that this specter is acting as a referee between the two opponents.  But who exactly is the "him" that the child speaks of?  Is is the already killed Jacob?  Is it Sawyer?  Or is it the already deceased and "ripe" John Locke?  

 

Is Jacob Dead? ...

    Was it just me or did Ilana look more upset about the death of her "What Lies Beneath the Shadow of the Statue" companion that she did about the death of Jacob?  It is my suspicion that the death of Jacob happens quite often and is the actual source of the white ash this group of followers uses to protect themselves from the Man in Black.  I also noticed that Ben doesn't even flinch when he watches her take the ashes.  To the naked eye, it seems that even Ben is out of the loop lately, but I am started to think more of our ambiguous friend.  Not to mention, he is a history teacher now ... those people are smart!

 

The Flight ... ¹

    Are we sure that the flight we saw Jack and Rose on is the same flight that we saw Locke and Boone on?  What about Claire?  It has been noticed by many that Claire's sonogram contained the date October 22, 2004, one month after the date of Flight 815.  Blooper?  No way!  The producers would never let that happen.  First I considered the possibility that the flight in the "non-island" world took off a month later.  But then Helen (portrayed beautifully by Katey Sagal) mentions to Locke that their wedding is coming up in October.  Assuming the producers would not blow something so important, I am going to go out on a limb (at the risk of falling off) and say that Claire and Locke were on two different flights.  Could the same be said for some of our other castaways?  We know that Kate and Claire were on the same flight.  We know Kate and Jack were on the same flight.  We know Charlie and Sayid were on the same flight with Jack.  But did we see Locke with anyone but Boone?  Also, it has been reported that Shannon will be returning to the series.  Perhaps she is on the same flight as Claire, Jack, Rose, Kate, and the rest of the gang, following her brother one month later.  One more note: If Rose works for Hugo and they were on the same flight, wouldn't they have said hello or something?  Not if they were on a completely different flight one month apart!

 

     There is so much going on.  We have Kate helping Claire after kidnapping Claire (I think there is a lot of symbolism in Claire giving Kate her credit card - talk about identity theft!!).  We have Sayid coming back to life but being affected by something.  We have Richard's confrontation with the Man in Black.  What is it that he wants from Richard?  Also, we are one step closer to finding out what the hell those damn numbers mean ... or did we take two steps back?  We'll soon find out!

 

notes

¹ It's worth noting that after some comments and further thought, there probably was only one flight.  A comment was made that the date on Claire's sonagram was most likely her due date.  That's a possibility.  I'm still wondering ...

"Look's Like We Made It ..."

 

    "It's okay.  We made it."

    "Looks like we made it."

    Occurring in the first minute of the Season Six Premiere in a conversation between Jack and Rose, these lines may be the key to the entire season - and the entire series.  The creators have introduced what seemed like alternate realities.  But is that what they are?  I'd rather not think of it so simply (despite the complexity of alternate realities).  But are they flash forwards?  Flashbacks?  Flash anything?  Notice that our normal sound initiating a flash did not occur last night.  The sound was different.  If we are dealing with alternate realities, perhaps we can call these "Flash-sideways.¹"  But again, I don't want to think of them as alternate, because that implies that one of them is not real.  They are both definitely real!

    The writers seem to be giving us a "What if?" look at the series.  Science Fiction often asks the question "What if?" concerning an aspect of humanity.  In an egotistical sense, the show is not asking about life, but asking about the series itself.  What if Oceanic 815 never crashed?  What if they "made it"?  Apparently, the castaways' lives would have merged together anyway.  We are left with so many bonding relationships in the premiere episode.  Jack meets Locke and offers to save him (I must admit, it had never occurred to me that Jack is a spinal surgeon and Locke broke his spinal cord - DUH!).  Kate meets Claire and "steals" her (and Aaron).  Sayid and Jack save Charlie's life - who is "supposed to die."

    The big question of the season will be how these two realities will come together - if they ever do.  According to Juliet (our tragic figure), the plan "worked."  She must know something.  I want to point out that she says something to Sawyer about meeting for coffee.  How much do you want to bet that somewhere along the way, the Sawyer who never got to the island meets Juliet at Starbucks at some point?  Juliet knows something.  She feels it.  Or she knows it.  Perhaps the group that is on the island in 2007 is actually the same group that did NOT crash in Oceanic 815.  Did they ever say that's how they landed?  No.  Maybe this group that landed safely will eventually get to the island in another fashion and will find themselves in the situation we are seeing on the island.

    It was not a shocking revelation to us when the "Man in Black" revealed he was the Smoke Monster.  Though Ben's realization of it was a great moment!  Go back now and watch all the moments where Smokey had influence.  Ask yourself why?  Why did he kill Eko?  Why did he kill the pilot in the pilot (ha)?  Could that pilot have gotten them home safely, so the MIB felt the need to kill him?  Does Lapidis not have the same talent for saving his passengers?

    I always love to look closely at the BOMP!  Last night's BOMP did not come to me as a surprise, but the symbolism behind it is fascinating.  Sayid was baptised and then rose from the dead.  I seem to remember someone doing that at some point.  I'm not sure.  I went to Catholic School for thirteen years, so maybe my information is a little scrambled.  The writers have given us characters like "Christian Shephard" and "Jacob," but none of us thought that the Middle-Eastern man would be the Christ Figure?  Again ... DUH!  I expect we will see more Christ-like action coming from our resurrected torturer.

    So many things to look at and there will be more viewing of the two-hour episode before next week.  For right now, I've asked a lot of questions and I hope to answer them with more theories as we get further into the season.  What a great start!  I can't wait to continue! 

    

notes

¹ For the record, I came up with this term BEFORE reading any other analyses of this episode.  So, suck it, Darlton!