Lost Cubicle Chatter: The Substitute

In  an effort to focus our attention on something besides Phish for a change, we’ve decided at HT headquarters to (hopefully) drum up some good chatter about the final season of the greatest television show in the history of the idiot box. Check in on Wednesday of every week  during Season 6 to share your thoughts, theories, complaints and assessments of the previous night’s episode. Big time SPOILER alert for anyone didn‘t watch yet.

Synopsis: We teamed up with our favorite Lost fanatic, The Joker from Coventry, who came up with this great idea to break down the show via a Geronimo Jackson setlist.

Geronimo Jackson, 2/16/2010

Set I – (Off Island): Lawn Boy > Destiny Unbound (1), Working in The Coal Mine (2) > Workingman’s Blues #2 (3) > Working In The Coal Mine (4), Walkin’ Blues (5)

Set II – (On Island): Jungle Boogie (6) > Come As You Are (7) > Whiskey River (8) > Search and Destroy > (9) Come As You Are (10)> Jacob’s Ladder (11) Walls Of The Cave (12) > Candidate > (13)

E: Choices (14), Substitute (15)

(1) Phish; Locke on Bass, Helen on Vocals
(2) Allen Toussaint; Intro/Instrumental Locke on Keys
(3) Bob Dylan; Hurley- Vocals, Locke on Guitar
(4) Rose on vocals
(5) R.L. Burnside (Unfinished)
(6) Kool & the Gang; Smoke Monster Version
(7) Nirvana; Richard Alpert runs off stage
(8) Willie Nelson; Sawyer on vocals
(9) Iggy and the Stooges; Sawyer on vocals with special guest vocalist Iggy Pop
(10) Alternate Lyrics/ Steinbeck Reference
(11) Rush; MIB on vocals, Sawyer on drums
(12) Phish; Man In Locke + Sawyer on Vocals’ Backwards Down The Number Line tease
(13) David Bowie; Sawyer solo
(14) Geronimo Jackson Original, First Time Played
(15) The Who; Locke on vocals, Ben “the Loon” Linus on drums

Epic One Liner of the Week: This week we have a two way tie: 1) When Hurley meets Locke in the parking lot of the box company (which he now owns) and in talking about Locke’s dismissal, he says, “Randy Nations? That guy is a huge douche.”  And 2) “Jacob has a thing for numbers.”

Lost An Hour of My Life Moment: Sure, it’s funny to see Peg Bundy on the show, but it’s utterly impossible to take her emotional scenes with Locke seriously. Furthermore, even though it’s entirely clear the writers aim to contrast Locke’s lack of faith and disbelief in miracles off the island to his “man of faith” persona on the island, it’s also too overt.

Overall: This week, with just 18 hours left to go in the series, we saw the first episode that turned about face and headed straight towards the conclusion. I wouldn’t go as far as to say a whole lot actually happened, but the MIB (a.k.a., Fake Locke), with Sawyer in tow, clarified what Jacob actually wants from the remaining Oceanic 815 survivors as well as the fact that Jacob is in fact behind the infamous “numbers.” Interestingly, in explaining  to Sawyer that the Losties  are actually “candidates” to assume the role of protector for the island, MIB laid out three discreet options: 1) do nothing, 2) accept the “candidacy and become the heir to Jacob’s protectorate, or 3) “get the hell off this island and never look back.” Fake Locke and Sawyer choose option #3, but that raises the burning question…

Discussion Points: Which candidate do you think will take over for Jacob as Jacob’s heir as protector for the island? Also, why didn’t Fake Locke even remember the small boy after chasing, catching, and speaking to young Jacob (or did he simply claim to forget)?