Dr. Linus teaches about Elba, Locke encourages him to take on Principal Reynolds

In the flash sideways, Ben, or Dr. Linus, is teaching his students about Elba in his class, calling in an island where everything changed. That certainly sounds familiar. He also says that Napoleon may has well have been dead without his power, which mirrors Ben's island story in this episode.

As class ends, Principal Donald Reynolds tells Ben that he'll have to cover detention after school all week even though Ben protests because he'll have to cancel his history club meeting. Reynolds makes him feel small and powerless.

In the teacher's lounge, Ben gets his thoroughly marked lunch of cucumber sushi out of the fridge and sits next to Leslie Arzt, who shockingly, is complaining about formaldehyde stains on his shirt and the school's lack of decent educational tools. As Ben chimes in, complaining about Reynolds not caring about teaching the kids, Locke, who is sitting at the next table, says that maybe Ben should be the principle. In another ironic bit of dialogue, Locke says that he would be interested in supporting Ben. This exchange clearly gets the wheels in Ben's head spinning.