Raise your hand if you were thinking that the cavern Locke showed Sawyer was going to turn out to be the control deck of a spaceship.

Raise your hand if, as the camera was panning to the reveal of the cave, you were saying to the TV, “Spaceship, spaceship, spaceship.”

No one?

Yeah, uh… me neither.

Okay so, Smokey is FLocke. And he was the Man in Black… and FAlex and FYemi… probably FChristian. After this episode there’s really very little to dispute it. Yes, it was odd that FLocke sort of ducked behind that pillar before Smokey arrived at the other end of Jacob’s chamber… but you have to remember, this show tries to stay away from complicated Digital FX as much as possible. And we should be glad for that. Because they’re not very good at them… in general, television doesn’t have the schedule to support cinema quality DFX yet.

Yes, other sci-fi shows can get by with goofy looking effects, but Lost wasn’t really sold to us as sci-fi. Not in the beginning. And so when we see something that looks more like a gummy bear than a polar bear, it takes us out of the moment. We want this show to feel real… even when someone’s turning a donkey wheel.

Which means we’re more likely to see Locke dashing into a telephone booth to change into Smokey before we’ll see a transformation before our eyes. Of course, since this show is a mystery, we’ll then be inclined to ask “Why a telephone booth? What’s the relationship to telephony?”

Well, I will give this episode some serious points on its creative approach to Smokey’s transformation. The POV of Smokey was great… although, I wish it would have shown us a bit more. How cool would it have been for him to travel to areas of the Island we haven’t seen? Quickly fly past something amazingly cryptic and fascinating? I feel like LOST would have done something like that in earlier seasons. I guess I’m still waiting for some of it this season.

Now, this might just be my own personal peve, but I am gonna have to take a couple points away from the episode for the addition of a “creepy-kid”. Seriously? A friggin “creepy-kid”? I mean, I know the writers love Stephen King, but does anyone really find “creepy-kids” creepy anymore? Yeah yeah, it’s probably a young Jacob… or an older Aaron. Or both. But still… enough with the “creepy kids”!………….. Sorry, I just had to vent there for a sec.

Anyway, I liked this episode. I wasn’t blown away. I still feel like this season is starting slow, but that may be a good thing. I’m hoping it means a rapid acceleration in the second half of the season and then a strong payoff at the end. I would definitely rather have that than the other way around.

It’s hard not to like Locke episodes. And it’s certainly nice to see him back in the real world again; the old Locke we love. But is it just me, or is there something missing from this new alti-Locke? I know we want all of these characters to find what they’ve been searching for… but part of why I found Locke so endearing was the constant uphill battle… the unfair obstacles he was always facing. And for me, so much of that was gone in this episode.

Sure, he’s still in a wheel chair, he’s still stubbornly facing off against the world… but having Helen in his life, the upcoming marriage, the Hugo job save, even the Rose lesson… it put this nice little bow on Locke that for me kind of watered down his journey a bit.

I’ll stop there. I gotta be careful how I talk about that character. I know there are some Lost fans who would jump in front of a bullet for that man.

So these were the questions I had watching the show:

1.) I’m gonna say that Ilana was in love with Jacob. I think that was pretty clear, right? The way she picked up his ashes. All those shared looks with Sun. So I’m wondering how old she is. Is it possible she’s as old as Richard? That they’re from the same era, actually? I guess now I’m trying to figure out why Ilana was injured in that Russian hospital at the end of last season… when Jacob came to her asking for help.

2.) @melbee85 tweeted yesterday asking whether I thought the creators planned from the beginning for Jack’s spinal surgeon occupation to come together with Locke’s paralysis. It’s funny, but I guess, since we’ve gotten to know Locke so much better on the Island than in his paralyzed state, I never really thought about the fact that those two story elements were so compatible. Now, I don’t think the season 1 writers knew the specifics of all this parallel universe stuff. It may have been tossed out as a possible direction for the series, but there’s no way they had it mapped out… especially not the inter-dynamics of some of the characters. However, it’s hard to imagine that the writers put a spinal surgeon and a paraplegic in the same story and didn’t expect their paths to eventually merge in that way. But I guess the question is: did the writers imagine from the beginning that Jack might eventually be Locke’s salvation in this way? To be honest, I’ve never considered it until now… it’s an interesting question. And yeah, I’d love to think the writers planned something like that from the beginning.

3.) Is there any significance to Ben’s new occupation as a European History teacher? In the original timeline, Ben has no real history off the Island. That would lead me to believe that most of the elements of his new alti-life are in some way tied to the history of Ben we do know. And so I guess that line sort of stuck out to me. What elements of European History have relevance to Ben’s story on the Island? The Black Rock?

4.) The names that were chalked on the cave ceiling: While I do kind of hope for more of an explanation to the numbers (4 8 15 16 23 42) than this, my guess is it’s all we’re getting. So, what I took from the scene is that everyone who’s come to the Island has been given a number. And it seems that these 6 are the most important to Jacob and, therefore, have some special… I don’t know, “lotto winning” power? I’m curious whether the crossed out names indicate a deceased person? Or is it simply someone who was not deemed worthy enough? But the bigger question is… where is Kate on that ceiling? Is this a hint that Kate’s life somehow hangs in the balance?

5.) Why were the scales tilted slightly towards the dark rock even before FLock chucked the white one? Are these scales supposed to represent the current balance between darkness and light? Has darkness been winning out even before Jacob’s death? Is that why Richard is so terrified? Does this mean a complete takeover by darkness?

6.) And I guess my biggest question deals with the essence of FLocke. We know this isn’t Locke… but… is taking this form, causing Smokey to partly think like Locke. “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!!” Even the way he jokes or persuades others. I know people keep noting that FLocke seems different than Locke. In this episode, Sawyer sees through Smokey’s disguise, saying that Locke was always scared, while FLocke seems fearless. But to me, they only seem slightly different on the surface. The essence still feels the same. Not really good or evil. Just driven. Ilana did say Smokey’s now stuck in this FLocke form. Does that have something to do with it?

There’s even a part of me that wonders… with all this time traveling and parallel universe stuff going on… is it possible that the Black Smoke is Locke.

I think I just confused myself.

So what about you? What are the questions you have after this episode? I mean, first of all, did you like this episode?

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