4 stars from me as well!
I thought of you before starting the ep cuz I knew Ben would finally show in the flashsideways, and as a bitchy teacher, no less. XD
At first, it seemed Locke had a crappy flashsideways life just like the actual life we saw. Things weren't going his way, right down to his van glitching out, falling to the ground, then the ultimate topping of the sprinklers going off. Then Helen came rushing out. I was so happy for Locke!
It's definitely strange that it seems he gets along with Anthony (his father) in the flash sideways. At least to a certain extent. There was a pic on his desk of the two of them on that duck hunting trip they went on. They mention inviting him to the wedding. So then how did Locke end up in the wheelchair, I wonder? And does that mean that Anthony didn't con him out of a kidney? Maybe he still got the kidney but decided to stay and be a part of Locke's life. Well, because Locke wasn't conned out of his kidney, he didn't go to extremes that eventually led to him losing Helen. Another interesting change is that on the island, Locke proclaimed that a miracle happened to him. In the flashsideways, he tells Helen there's no such thing as miracles.
Randy is still a douche in the flashsideways but I honestly can't blame him for firing Locke. I mean, when you look at it, Locke basically stole from the company. He was sent to Australia, on the company's dime, to a work related seminar and to meet someone. He blew off both and tried to do the walkabout.
Lol, I agree it's odd seeing Hurley as a businessman. He seems to really have his shit together in the flashsideways. I think that's because of all the good luck he claims to have in this version of his life. It's given him confidence. He's no longer trying to outrun the numbers and the bad luck they brought him.
Oh!! I learned of a new character connection just today after reading the section of my companion book that went along with this episode! That looney woman who first interviewed Locke at the temp agency, asking him ridiculous questions like what animal he pictures himself as, that's the same lady from several seasons ago that Hurley's dad hired to play the part of a psychic who pretended to do that ritual to rid Hurley of his bad luck!
I liked the message in the flashsideways, helped along by Rose (yay, Rose!!!). About understanding and accepting your limitations. I was bummed about Helen tearing up Jack's card though. I really wanted to see more Jack/Locke interactions!
I love that Locke is working at the same place as Ben now. Ben as an anal, bitchy teacher is just hilarious! Looking forward to more of that, just like you are. XD
I loved the sequence toward the beginning where we got to travel and see the island through the eyes of Smokey. That was awesome! Agree that I also feel bad for James/Sawyer. Yah, he totally should have shot Smokey but then he and we wouldn't get the answers we want!
That whole cave thing was a big reveal of the purpose of Jacob leading them all to the island. First off, I love the scale with the dark rock and light rock. I just knew Smokey would chuck the light rock! Lol at his "It's an inside joke" comment about it. The whole light/dark, good/bad symbolism that's been laced throughout the show. Obviously, the dark one represented Smokey and the white one represented Jacob. He finally found his loophole to kill Jacob and now symbolically is tossing him aside. Man, what did Jacob ever do to Smokey? It was definitely such need symbolism to see that scale completely tip toward dark with the removal of the light rock. Does that mean darkness/bad is now reigning?
The inner cavern was really neat! Hundreds of names written over centuries, so many crossed out. All are what Smokey referred to as "Candidates". Interesting. We know Jacob talked about the importance of protecting the island so I can only assume these were candidates worthy of taking on the task once Jacob is gone. But Smokey doesn't want someone to take Jacob's place. He mentions getting off the island, that he's been stuck there. That seems to be all he wants. Um, yah. I don't think we want Smokey leaving that island.
Fans put together a whole list of all the names they saw on the cave walls! The writers, as usual, outdid themselves. Most importantly, Austen was up there. As in Kate. But her name was crossed out. That means that something happened at some point to make Jacob think she was no longer eligible as a Candidate. Practically all the others crossed out that are names we recognize are people we know died.
They are all assigned a number and the only ones that aren't crossed out just so happen to be THE numbers:
4 - Locke (which Smokey crosses out in the ep)
8 - Reyes
15 - Ford
16 - Jarrah
23 - Sheppard
42 - Kwon (though we don't know if it's Sun or Jin)
Other names we've seen around are (and I'm not bothering with the numbers associated as they aren't important numbers) and all were crossed out so either dead or Jacob no longer considered them Candidate worthy:
Mattingly (seen on an Others uniform when they were in the past)
Rousseau (we don't know if it was Danielle or Alex)
Rutherford (Shannon's last name)
Straume (Miles' last name)
Troup (as in Gary, the guy who was sucked into the jet engine in the pilot ep)
Linus (Ben, or less likely, Roger)
Pace (Charlie's last name)
Jones (name on soldier uniform that Widmore took and wore in the past)
Littleton (don't know if he meant Claire or Aaron)
Cunningham (another name on a soldier uniform worn by an Other)
Chang (Pierre's last name, Miles' dad and the guy from all the hatch videos)
Goodspeed (Ethan's last name as well as his family, Horace, Amy, and Olivia)
Burke (Juliet's last name)
Lewis (Charlotte's last name)
Faraday (Daniel's last name)
Phew! Okay, I know that's way more info than the general viewer wants but it's there for viewers like me who appreciate the hell out of the details and how much work these writers put into this!
Favorite Quotes/Moments:
Ben: John Locke was a... a believer. He was a man of faith. He was a much better man than I will ever be. And I'm very sorry I murdered him.
Frank: Weirdest damn funeral I've ever been to.
(Lol, I loved the look on everyone's face after Ben so nonchalantly reveals he murdered Locke and is totes sorry he did.)
