Plot

On the island, the being now occupying Locke's body turns to Sawyer and promises to tell him why he's on the island. Back in Los Angeles, Locke loses his job and encounters a number of familiar faces.

On the island, John Locke tries to convince Richard to follow him. Meanwhile Ilana asks Ben what happened to Jacob and to her friends and Ben tells that Locke turned into the smoke monster and killed all of them and burnt Jacob; Ilana takes his ashes. Locke meets Sawyer and he asks who he is since John was a frightened guy. Sawyer follows Locke and they see a boy in the woods. When Locke chases the kid, Richard warns Sawyer about Locke. But Sawyer follows him to a cave in a cliff by the sea and Locke shows the reason why they are in the island. Ilana summons Sun, Frank and Ben to go with her to the temple and they bury John Locke first. In the parallel reality, John Locke lies about a conference in Sidney that he missed and is fired by his chief, Randy. When he is leaving the company, he meets Hugo, who owns the company and offers him to call an employment agency that also belongs to him to find a new position. John has an interview with the supervisor of the agency, Rose, and asks her a position in a construction site. John tells to Helen that he was fired and he begins to work as a substitute teacher in a school where Ben Linus is the European History teacher.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Previously on...: Juliet died and after blaming Jack, Sawyer blamed himself because he convinced her to stay on the island. Claimed Locke turned into the smoke monster and killed folks, then he gave Alpert a shot to the throat and told everyone on the beach he was "very disappointed" in all of them. When Oceanic 815 landed safely in L.A., Locke was still paralyzed and had lied to Boone during the flight about having gone on a walkabout in Australia.

Still the same: Locke came home and his wheelchair lift malfunctioned as he tried to get out of his car, and he fell to his front lawn and needed Helen to rescue him. Helen was planning their wedding. She asked about the conference he was supposed to attend in Australia and Locke said it was boring. She found Jack's business card in Locke's pants and he told her about Jack's offer for a free consult. She told him to get in touch with Jack, saying "maybe it's destiny" that brought Locke and Jack together.

Back on the island, we got the P.O.V. of the smoke monster going through the abandoned Dharma village and other parts of the island until it found a machete. The smoke monster vanished and Claimed Locke (a.k.a. the Man in Black) appeared, picking up the machete and cutting a trap down from where it was suspended above the ground.

"Alright, Richard," Claimed Locke said. "Time to talk."

Back in L.A., Locke returned to his cubicle and his boss asked about the conference he was supposed to be attending. Locke didn't want to talk about where he was, saying it was personal, and he was fired.

Back on the island, Claimed Locke told Alpert he wanted him to come with him, which he said was what he'd always wanted. He told Alpert he looked like Locke because he knew Locke could get him access to Jacob, "because John's a candidate -- or at least he was a candidate." Richard didn't know what Claimed Locke was talking about. Claimed Locke said he wouldn't have kept Richard in the dark that way. He offered to have Richard come with him, and he would tell him everything. Alpert refused to go anywhere with him. Claimed Locke became distracted by the sight of a young blond boy in the background, standing still, but Alpert couldn't see the boy. Claimed Locke left.

Inside the statue, Ben found Ilana crying and attempted to explain to her what happened to Bram and the other men inside the statue. He told her about Locke turning into the smoke monster; then he lied and said that Claimed Locke killed Jacob and threw his body into the fire. She grabbed some ashes and put them in a bag. Ben asked Ilana if she knew why "Locke" grabbed Alpert and took him into the jungle.

"He's recruiting," she said.

Claimed Locke went into an old Dharma house where Iggy & the Stooges' "Search and Destroy" was playing on a record player. In a bedroom, Claimed Locke found Sawyer drinking Dharma whiskey. He said hello, and when Sawyer said, "I thought you were dead," Claimed Locke said, "I am."

Sawyer poured more shots -- big ones -- and toasted, "Here's to being dead." Sawyer said he no longer cared if Claimed Locke was dead, or time traveling, "or the ghost of Christmas past."

"All I care about is this whiskey," Sawyer said. "So, bottoms up. Get the hell out of my house."

Claimed Locke told Sawyer that was never his house. Sawyer knew Claimed Locke wasn't the real Locke, "because John Locke was scared, even when he was pretending he wasn't. But you -- you ain't scared."

Claimed Locke told Sawyer he could answer the most important question in the world: "Why are you on this island?"

He told Sawyer that if he came with him, he could prove there was a reason for him being on the island.

Back in L.A., Locke was wheeling himself back to his van when he found a Hummer parked right next to it, blocking his wheelchair lift from unfolding. The Hummer's owner came out and they argued over the parking situation. It was Hurley, who said he owned the company John worked for, and introduced himself as Hugo Reyes. Locke told Hugo he'd just been fired. Hugo offered to talk to John's boss Randy, but John didn't want him to do that, so Hugo gave him a phone number and told him to call and tell them Hugo said to hook him up with a new job. "Chin up," Hugo said. "It's gonna work out."

Back on the beach, Locke's body was "getting pretty ripe," according to Frank. Ilana was preparing to head to the temple, which she called the safest place on the island. Ilana told Sun to come with her, because if Jin was on the island, he'd be at the temple. Sun said they needed to bury Locke.

Sawyer told Claimed Locke his friends were at the temple. Claimed Locke saw the young boy again, and Sawyer saw him, too. The kid ran away and Claimed Locke gave chase until he tripped. The boy stood over Claimed Locke and said, "You know the rules. You can't kill him."

"Don't tell me what I can't do," Claimed Locke said, before shouting it again.

Sawyer shouted for Claimed Locke, but found no one but Alpert, who came out of the bushes and tried to get Sawyer to come back to the temple with him quickly. Sawyer said he was going to stick with "Locke" because he was going to tell him why they were on the island. Alpert tried to tell Sawyer that Claimed Locke wasn't going to tell him anything and was going to kill everyone. Alpert ran away when Claimed Locke came back. Sawyer asked Claimed Locke if he ever caught up with the kid.

"What kid?" Claimed Locke said.

Back in L.A., Locke was in a job interview, answering odd questions from the interviewer. He asked to speak to her supervisor. The supervisor was Rose Nadler. Locke wanted to work as a construction site supervisor, but Rose didn't think it was a good fit because of his wheelchair situation. Rose confided in Locke that she had terminal cancer and had a hard time accepting her disease, but she got past the denial and got back to living. "So, how about we find you a job you can do?" she asked.

Back on the island, Sawyer asked Claimed Locke if he read books, and asked him if he knew John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men." Claimed Locke said it was "a little after my time." Sawyer when on to tell Claimed Locke the book's plot, which ends with George shooting Lenny in the back of the head. Then Sawyer pulled a gun on Claimed Locke.

"What are you?" Sawyer asked.

"What I am is trapped," Claimed Locke said. "And I've been trapped for so long that I don't even remember what it feels like to be free."

He said before he was trapped, he was a man just like Sawyer, and knew joy, anger, fear, betrayal, and loss. He told Sawyer he could shoot him if he wanted to, "but you are so close, James, it would be a shame to turn back now." And Claimed Locke walked away.

Back on the beach, Ben and Ilana carried Locke's body and Ben asked her why she and the other men brought Locke's body to the statue in the first place. She said the people there needed to see the face of what they're up against. Ben asked what's to stop the Man in Black from changing his face and Ilana said, "He can't -- not anymore. He's stuck this way," gesturing toward Locke's corpse.

They came upon the burial ground and started shoveling. Ilana asked if anyone wanted to say anything, and Ben was the only person to step up. "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 muttered to himself, "Weirdest damn funeral I've ever been to."

Back in L.A., Locke dragged himself out of bed and called Jack's office, but when the receptionist answered, he hung up. He told Helen he wasn't going to see Jack, then he told her he got fired. The doorbell rang and it was Oceanic delivering Locke's lost luggage. Locke went on to explain to Helen that he got fired because he didn't go to the conference in Sydney. He told her to open the case that was delivered. It was packed with knives. He told her they were for his walkabout, "but they wouldn't let me go." He said he was sick of imaging what his life would be out of his wheelchair, "because it's not going to happen." He told Helen that he didn't want her to spend her life waiting for a miracle, "because there is no such thing."

"There are miracles, John," she told him. "And the only thing I was ever waiting for was you."

She ripped up Jack's business card and kissed him.

Back on the island, Claimed Locke took Sawyer a cliff's edge and they climbed down a series of rope ladders toward the water. As Sawyer climbed down, his ladder snapped and he swung, perilously, for a moment before Locke grabbed him and they went down another ladder together.

They came to a cave where a scale sat with a black stone on one side and a white one on the other. Claimed Locke picked up the white stone and tossed it into the ocean.

"What the hell's that all about?" Sawyer asked.

"Inside joke," Claimed Locke said.

Sawyer asked if that was all Claimed Locke wanted him to see. "No," Claimed Locke said, lighting a torch and taking him further into the depths of the cave.

"That's why you're here," Claimed Locke said, pointing to a wall that had names scrawled on it and a number assigned to each name, most of which were crossed out. "That is why you're all here," Claimed Locke said. Some noticeable names: "8 Reyes," "15 Ford," "16 Jarrah," "42 Kwon," "4 Locke," and "23 Shephard."

Back in L.A., Locke was working as a school teacher and basketball coach. He went to the teachers' lounge, where we heard an instantly recognizable voice complaining about other teachers failing to remove the used filter from the coffee pot. He introduced himself as "Ben Linus, European History."

Back in the cave, Sawyer asked Claimed Locke who wrote all the names. He said Jacob did, and Jacob died the day before. Claimed Locked pointed out that not all the names were crossed out, and Sawyer found "23 Shephard" on the wall, and spotted "8 Reyes." He asked what the 8 meant and Claimed Locke said, "I don't know, Jacob had a thing for numbers."

Finally, Claimed Locke spotted "4 Locke," and said, "I believe we both know him."

(Wonder if the numbers "4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42" are sounding familiar right about now?)

Claimed Locke showed Sawyer "15 Ford" and explained to him that at some point he'd met Jacob and since then, "he was pushing you, James -- pushing you to the island."

Claimed Locke said Sawyer was a "candidate" to take over the job of protecting the island, in Jacob's mind.

Claimed Locke told Sawyer he had three choices:

"First, you can do nothing and see how all this plays out, and possibly, your name will get crossed out," he said, as he crossed out Locke's name.

"Second option, you can accept the job, become the new Jacob, and protect the island," Claimed Locke said. But when Sawyer asked what he'd be protecting it from, Claimed Locke said, "nothing," and that was the joke. "There's nothing to protect it from, it's just a damn island, and it will be perfectly fine without Jacob or you or any of the other people whose lives he wasted."

"The third choice, James, is that we just go. We just get the hell of this island. We never look back," Claimed Locke said. He added they'd do that together.

"So, what do you say, James? Are you ready to go home?" Claimed Locke asked.

"Hell yes," Sawyer said.

Boom.