Lost Episode 6:04: "The Substitute" Review

The Lost fanbase can be a fickle bunch sometimes, as demonstrated after last week. After last week's roundly panned Kate-centric episode, fans started to panic about the final season. They became afraid that the show was still stalling, that the flash-sideways technique wouldn't work, and that Lost still had no clear direction. But people should never judge the direction of Lost by a Kate episode - especially when a Locke episode is a week away. "The Substitute" not only silenced most new doubters, it also may have given the biggest answers/clues in years.

"The Substitute" is a loaded phrase, as are most Lost episode titles. In the island reality, Locke's form is a substitute for the smoke monster/Man in Black. In the sideways reality, it took a while for Locke to get that label as well. But on a more grander scale, all of the survivors may be candidates to be substitutes. That became clear in one of the most illuminating Lost sequences in a long time, although "The Substitute" had a lot to cover and go over first.

There are now three Lockes to consider on Lost - the sideways reality version, the version embodied by the smoke monster, and the real dead one we've known for five years. The dead version finally got laid to rest - complete with an eulogy by the increasingly weak Ben. The sideways version continued the new Lost tradition of being both similar to the real version, and quite different at the same time.

When Kate got the flash-sideways treatment, fans complained that it was boring, illogical and time wasting. "The Substitute" tried to show that the format works better with a character we care about. Lost presented a Locke that is now engaged to Helen, that may actually have a good relationship with his dad, and that still dreams of life outside the wheelchair. But unlike the real Locke, this one has less faith in miracles - and is actually given help and support from some of his fellow 815 passengers.

The deep similarities and differences in the sideways world are as maddening as ever, and Lost fans will probably be more confident in this world than they were last week. With Locke in this flash-sideways, along with Helen and three important figures, "The Substitute" sideways is sure to get more approval than Kate's. But it may take the entire season to judge whether they really work, or if they were just time fillers - so it is still hard to review them just yet.

The major Lost developments in "The Substitute" were on the island, however. But after spending most of our island time in the Temple, the show finally focused on what really matters - fake Locke, Sawyer, Richard, Ben, and Jacob. Now more than ever, the quality gap between Jack and company's plots, and Locke and company's plots, is quite wide. After decidedly mixed results so far at the Temple, one full episode with the monster, Sawyer, and their discoveries may make up for all that.

For Sawyer, he now no longer has to carry Jack, Kate and the Temple on his back, and has graduated to the varsity team with monster Locke. Terry O'Quinn and Josh Holloway have been the acting MVP's of Season 6 by a landslide, which makes their first major pairing since "The Brig" even more notable.

"The Substitute" fully capitalizes on the thrill, and mystery, of finally hearing the monster speak for himself and defend himself, in the form of Locke. As for Sawyer, his return to the dark side took some major steps, but he's not a mindless, angry zombie yet. Richard continued his own slide from a calm leader to a scared little man in the presence of the monster. And Ilana may now be ready to show her importance, while Ben looks more beaten than ever, and Frank rose up the ranks of Lost's funniest figures.

But the major talking point of "The Substitute" may come from the final 10 minutes, both in island and sideways time. The final sideways revelation further threw that timeline for a loop - and teased what may be an important flash-sideways to come. Yet on the island, a cave held perhaps the biggest secrets in Lost history.

Season Six is the year where we supposedly find out what the island is, why these characters were chosen to come here, and what their importance is to the war between Jacob and the monster. In one long sequence, "The Substitute" may have done no less than answer everything - or provide the final clues that will lead to everything being revealed. Lost has provided some TiVo worthy moment before, but the cave may be the biggest of them all. Yet of course, the more things are revealed, the more questions get raised - but they are the major ones of this whole show.

After an episode last week that was slammed as filler, Lost will not get those complaints anymore - at least until the next episode that stars a character fans hate. "The Substitute" got us closer to the core questions of the island than we could have imagined at this early stage. Fans have been asking those questions for years, and now it appears the base and the show are getting closer towards the same page.

Of course, Lost found it easer to get there with the real stars of the show, which are the multiple Lockes, Sawyer, Ben, Richard and Hurley. When they go back to the divisive Temple next week, and to Jack's less effective group of survivors and the Temple Others, will there be reasons to complain once again?

In some way, there probably will be, since any scene without Terry O'Quinn, Michael Emerson, Josh Holloway and Jorge Garcia is already behind the eight-ball. But if they finally start to address what we found out last night, Lost may not need to be bailed out by "Team Smokey" as much - although "The Substitute" showed that isn't a bad thing in one plot line.