The Substitute

The Man in Black — in Locke's form — goes to find Sawyer. At the barracks. Sawyer drinks. Alone. He doesn't care about anything. "I can see why you're here." — "You're dead." — "That's relative."

They walk through the jungle. The Man in Black shows him something. A ladder on a cliff. They climb down. At the bottom: a cave. Walls covered with names. Hundreds of them. Most crossed out. The ones that remain: Shephard. Reyes. Jarrah. Kwon. Ford. Locke — crossed out.

Numbers next to each name. 4 — Locke. 8 — Reyes. 15 — Ford. 16 — Jarrah. 23 — Shephard. 42 — Kwon. The numbers. From the beginning. Jacob chose them. As candidates. To replace him.

The Man in Black gives Sawyer three options. Accept the role of candidate. Do nothing and see what happens. Or leave. Get off the island. Together. Sawyer chooses the third. "Let's get the hell off this island."

In the other reality, Locke is a substitute teacher. In a wheelchair. He runs into Ben in the faculty lounge. Ben teaches history. They talk. Like two colleagues. Not like an executioner and his victim. A connection forms.

Locke comes home. Helen waits for him. They're together. Happy. She tells him to call the spinal surgeon whose card Jack gave him. Locke refuses. He's accepted his wheelchair. He's made peace. Something the island Locke never managed to do.