I thought the strangest moment in “The Substitute” was when fake Locke (aka Flocke, notLocke, unLocke, and the Locke-ness Monster) chases after the blond kid. Fake Locke falls (not unlike the way that Real Sideways Locke falls), and the kid stands over him, and says “You know the rules. You can’t kill him.”
"You know the rules. You can't kill him."
Then fake Locke says, “Don’t tell me what I can’t do.”
The kid shakes his head and walks away.
Then fake Locke points his finger and yells, loudly: “Dont tell me what I can’t do!”
"Don't tell me what I can't do!!"
So why does fake Locke sound exactly like real Locke here? Why is he repeating real Locke’s most famous signature line?
We’ve already seen leakage into the Sideways world. Could there also be leakage into the Island world? Is that what we saw in this scene?
Or is something else going on?
I listed the possibilities that occurred to me in the poll below. What do you think? Do you have any other ideas?
Here’s the clip:
Screencaps from lost-media.com.
Well…. Locke’s actual body is in the ground. So fLocke isn’t actually IN Locke’s body. He’s just taken on his appearance. *But* I do think that a part of rLocke’s personality/mannerisms have been … absorbed? … by fLocke. Which is why he can play himself off as rLocke to most people (except Sawyer) and has moments where he slips into saying things rLocke would say.
Here’s why I’m thinking that it’s possible that Fake Locke could really be Real Locke —
I think we’ve all been taking for granted that the body in the ground is Real Locke, and that Smokie-Locke is the fake one.
But what if it were the other way around? What if Smokie-Locke were the real Locke, and the body in the ground wasn’t Real Locke’s body, but just some kind of illusion? What if the bodies had been switched, somewhere along the line — and the body in the box was meant to be misdirection, like something a magician uses to distract and fool an audience?
Nobody, at least so far, has voted for the Smokie-Locke is really Real Locke option in the poll above, so it’s probably far-fetched.
But here’s what I offer in support of that idea, for whatever it’s worth:
— Real Locke had an instant bond with the Island … almost as if he had been there before. I don’t think any of the other LOST-ies adapted as quickly, right off the plane.
— When Richard Alpert visited Locke as a child, Locke had drawn something that was probably a picture of Smokie.
— Real Locke has gone through a lot of personality changes over the years. That might be inconsistent writing … or it might be something else.
— There’s been a doubling of Locke’s body, which we haven’t seen with any other character. (When fake? real? Christian showed up on the Island, his original body disappeared. Sayid is apparently on the verge of being possessed, but all that is going on in his one and only body.)
So I think that’s one possibility. It may be too convoluted, though. One thing I’m learning about LOST is that while the storylines are very complicated, they are usually only complicated up to a certain point.
I can kind of see what you’re saying.
Although when Sawyer said “I thought you were dead.” f?Locke said matter of factly, “I am.”
That makes me think that fLocke is *really* fLocke.
I think you’re probably right, but if you’ll indulge me for a moment while I play devil’s advocate, consider this — fLocke himself is actually *not* dead. So when he told Sawyer “I am (dead)” that wasn’t, strictly speaking, true. Maybe he was pulling Sawyer’s leg?
Anythings possible. 😀
Ha ha. Oh, ye of little faith. 😉 Seriously, I’m pretty sure you’re right, but I like to toy with the idea of how things might be in some, um, alternate universe where LOST had different writers. 😉
But then the question would be – Would Lost still be LOST! with different writer’s? Would different writers not recognize the awesomeness that is Terry O’Quinn and not give Locke/fLocke the kind of storyline he can shine in?
😀
Any writer in any timeline who wasn’t a total, um, zombie, would have to give O’Quinn/rLocke/fLocke a story where he/they could shine. I just think that a story where fLocke was really rLocke *would be* a bright and shiny story. 😉 Anyway, I am *totally* outvoted on this one, so I do concede defeat. 😉 Not that this is a question that can be decided by voting, but I do think that outlier LOST theories held by tiny minorities rarely turn out to be right.
I completely agree that Terry O’Quinn is amazing in all of his LOST roles.
And I do think the most *likely* explanation of what is going on is that there is some kind of leakage — either from one timeline to another, or from some kind of residue of “Lockeness” that had adhered to Locke’s body (or even just his image) and rubbed off, in some way, on SmokieLocke.