Showing posts with label Sundown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sundown. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
ODI LOSTcast 54 - Episode 6x06 Recap and 6x07 Preview
Hey All,Happy LOST Day!
So last week's episode Sundown had some interesting moments both on and off island. I preferred the on island action over the ALT timeline this week but as always we cover every detail.
I am not sure what happened with the audio this morning and the transcoding today but it took the hosting site over two hours today to process the audio. The podcast was finally posted to iTunes earlier today, but for those that can not access iTunes below is a link to an Audio Player and download link.
Hope you all enjoy!
ODI LOSTcast 54 - Episode 6x06 Recap and 6x07 Preview
NOTE: Spoilers segment starts at 129 Minute Mark
http://the-odi.blogspot.com/2010/03/odi-lostcast-54-episode-6x05-recap-and.html
Lost Fantasy League: Week 5 Update!
What an explosive episode! As I said last week, 6.06 is a turning point for the Lost Fantasy League. Listen to the audio here (video next week!) to see if I have ruled out any of your characters as a contender for their group. From now on, the videos will feature a quick rundown of the League Leaders and breakdowns for each character group, focusing on who has the momentum and what it will take for the other characters to catch them.
All of the action was fun to watch, but it took its toll on the episode total. "Sundown" is the lowest-scoring episode so far this season (after an adjustment for "Lighthouse"). The episode scored only 490 points, despite hitting 19 of our point categories. The biggest blow came from death deductions. There were 13 of them! That's 260 points down the drain! In the end, though, "Sundown" wouldn't have been as awesome without them.
Check out all of the stats and data below and let me know if I missed something!
Lost Fantasy Team Lookup Table | LFL on Facebook | G-Man on Twitter | Email G-Man
All of the action was fun to watch, but it took its toll on the episode total. "Sundown" is the lowest-scoring episode so far this season (after an adjustment for "Lighthouse"). The episode scored only 490 points, despite hitting 19 of our point categories. The biggest blow came from death deductions. There were 13 of them! That's 260 points down the drain! In the end, though, "Sundown" wouldn't have been as awesome without them.
Check out all of the stats and data below and let me know if I missed something!
Lost Fantasy Team Lookup Table | LFL on Facebook | G-Man on Twitter | Email G-Man
Monday, March 8, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Episode 6x06 Sundown - LOSTometer Episode Grade Chart
Hey All,
So this week in the ALT time line we find out Nadia is married to Killer Uncle Sayid's brotha' and Jin was being captive by Egg Chef Keamy. While on island, we learn that Dogen is a ninja warrior that was brought to the island by Jacob, that the temple is not protected by the ash after all, we see badass Darth Sayid, Crazy ummm "hot" Silence of the Lambs Claire, Confused Hypnotized Kate all join Team MiB. Not to mention the last 5 minutes all play out with a creepy Catch a Falling Star lullaby playing in the background.
Nice to know you Temple Others.
Boy. I have been struggling with this episode since I watched it on Tuesday night and still can't put my finger on why it is bothering me. I ended up giving it a B+, but the "+" was a bonus for the last five minutes alone.
I think the flash sideways is what did not seem to work for me. There are a ton of interesting things I picked up on after a second viewing but on the first watch all I got out of it was well looks like Sayid is still a killer and of course Jin is now connected to his story line. I will discuss more about my thoughts in our podcast.
The grades this week were quite interesting ranging from A+++ to D? A very interesting range as we are all watching the same episode, but goes to show how different we all take it in even this late in the game. All about perception.
The average for this week ended up being a B, but I know many fans loved this week.
Quote of the Week via Crit at F***YeahLOST:
The last few minutes of the episode were fantastic and the accompanying score was flawless, but most everything leading up to it felt a bit flat. I'm still finding it difficult to invest in the flash-sideways, and until we know just what is going on I think it will continue to be difficult.
However, I have a great deal of hope for what's to come. As the Flocke Army marched off, I felt like we just closed one chapter of this season, and next week we'll turn the page to a brand new chapter in the buildup to whatever showdown is to take place on/for the island.
Once again thanks to all that are participating and don't forget to check out their sites and recaps at the following links:
DarkUFO | b3rt4 | Karen's LOST Notebook | Vozzek | Jeff Jensen - EW | Ryan McGee - Zap2it | Peter - SlashFilm | Cultural Learnings | Congested | Jay and Jack Podcast | FourToedFoot | DocArzt | SL-LOST | Jopinionated | Sawyer840 | LOSTzilla | LOST-Media | LOST-Forum | AV Club | Lyly Ford | LOST Mythos Podcast | LOST Blog | F***YeahLOST | Luhks | LOST in Portugal | LOST-Board.de | Seat42F | Rap Basement LOSTIES
NOTE: A++ grades were scored as an A+
Source: The ODI
So this week in the ALT time line we find out Nadia is married to Killer Uncle Sayid's brotha' and Jin was being captive by Egg Chef Keamy. While on island, we learn that Dogen is a ninja warrior that was brought to the island by Jacob, that the temple is not protected by the ash after all, we see badass Darth Sayid, Crazy ummm "hot" Silence of the Lambs Claire, Confused Hypnotized Kate all join Team MiB. Not to mention the last 5 minutes all play out with a creepy Catch a Falling Star lullaby playing in the background.
Nice to know you Temple Others.
Boy. I have been struggling with this episode since I watched it on Tuesday night and still can't put my finger on why it is bothering me. I ended up giving it a B+, but the "+" was a bonus for the last five minutes alone.
I think the flash sideways is what did not seem to work for me. There are a ton of interesting things I picked up on after a second viewing but on the first watch all I got out of it was well looks like Sayid is still a killer and of course Jin is now connected to his story line. I will discuss more about my thoughts in our podcast.
The grades this week were quite interesting ranging from A+++ to D? A very interesting range as we are all watching the same episode, but goes to show how different we all take it in even this late in the game. All about perception.
The average for this week ended up being a B, but I know many fans loved this week.
Quote of the Week via Crit at F***YeahLOST:
The last few minutes of the episode were fantastic and the accompanying score was flawless, but most everything leading up to it felt a bit flat. I'm still finding it difficult to invest in the flash-sideways, and until we know just what is going on I think it will continue to be difficult.
However, I have a great deal of hope for what's to come. As the Flocke Army marched off, I felt like we just closed one chapter of this season, and next week we'll turn the page to a brand new chapter in the buildup to whatever showdown is to take place on/for the island.
Once again thanks to all that are participating and don't forget to check out their sites and recaps at the following links:
DarkUFO | b3rt4 | Karen's LOST Notebook | Vozzek | Jeff Jensen - EW | Ryan McGee - Zap2it | Peter - SlashFilm | Cultural Learnings | Congested | Jay and Jack Podcast | FourToedFoot | DocArzt | SL-LOST | Jopinionated | Sawyer840 | LOSTzilla | LOST-Media | LOST-Forum | AV Club | Lyly Ford | LOST Mythos Podcast | LOST Blog | F***YeahLOST | Luhks | LOST in Portugal | LOST-Board.de | Seat42F | Rap Basement LOSTIES
NOTE: A++ grades were scored as an A+
Source: The ODI
UK Viewers - What did you think of Episode 6.06 - Sundown
Discuss, Comment and Vote in the Poll in the sidebar.
Also check out our recaps of Lighthouse
Robz888
Vozzek
Erika
Sky One - Lost Initiative - Sundown
Other "Lighthouse Related Items
Spoiler Accuracy Thread
US Ratings News
Jorge Garcia Podcast
The Lostometer Ratings
Lost Untangled
Prediction League Update
MISC
Sundown - New Mysteries
Sundown - Episode Screencaps
Sundown - Related Polls
You can also discuss it further in our Official Episode Discussion here.
Also check out our recaps of Lighthouse
Robz888
Vozzek
Erika
Sky One - Lost Initiative - Sundown
Other "Lighthouse Related Items
Spoiler Accuracy Thread
US Ratings News
Jorge Garcia Podcast
The Lostometer Ratings
Lost Untangled
Prediction League Update
MISC
Sundown - New Mysteries
Sundown - Episode Screencaps
Sundown - Related Polls
You can also discuss it further in our Official Episode Discussion here.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
"Sundown" Analysis and Recap, by Erika
Here is the Episode 6.06 recap from Erika Olson (aka "e") from LongLiveLocke.com.
No time for small talk this week! Let's get right to it... flashes first.
DON'T YOU TELL ME TO DENY IT
I'VE DONE WRONG
AND I WANNA SUFFER
FOR MY SINS
Remember last week when I mentioned that most of the 815ers' lives seemed better in the sideways timeline? Uh, scratch that for Sayid. We'd assumed he was gazing upon a picture of his wife Nadia on the rebooted flight... but it turns out that she married and has two children with Sayid's brother, Omer. D'oh! It sucks because otherwise I was really digging the kids calling him "Uncle Sayid."
Yet just because she married his bro doesn't mean Nadia's over her feelings for He of the Black Tank Top ... and vice versa. In fact, the flashes were quickly devolving into some sort of stolen glance and angst-filled rival to the Edward-Bella-Jacob triangle when Omer finally visited Sayid in the dead of the night and informed him that he was in the kind of trouble that heaps of cash can't remedy. Seems he'd taken a loan from some Bad Dudes. Cue the wheels to start spinning in all of our heads... surely it was going to be someone we knew, right? Omer says matter-of-factly, "Can you just kill these guys for me, 'cause, like, that's what you do?" and Sayid was all, "NO! Stop reducing me to nothing but a cold-blooded murderer! I have changed!!!" M'kay...
Next thing we know, Omer's in the hospital (Hi, Jack!) and Sayid's about to throw the beat-down on someone, but Nadia pleads with him to just go back and take care of the kids. When we later saw him fixing the vase -- even after he explained that its destruction was caused by a "boomerang incident" -- I was still confident that he'd already taken care of business and hoofed it back before school was out. But I was wrong. He didn't make the pain rain down on anyone just yet, and was finally able to explain to Nadia why he couldn't be with her. It's because he doesn't feel he deserves her -- he just can't get over all of that torturing in his past. The torturer is now the tortured. And... scene.
HE HAD A NASTY REPUTATION
AS A CRUEL DUDE
THEY SAID HE WAS RUTHLESS
SAID HE WAS CRUDE
I was forewarned there was going to be a surprise guest star in this episode, so I watched the first ten minutes or so with a magazine held up to block the bottom of the screen until my husband told me the credits were over. There must be too much other Lost info in my brain, because I failed to recognize Omar the thug from the freighter team when he rolled up to take Sayid on a ride to meet the Head Bad Dude, and therefore still had no idea who the Head Bad Dude might turn out to be. My best guess was Widmore.
So imagine my surprise when it turned out to be the meathead we all love to hate, Martin Keamy. Unable to hide his buffness, even when frying up eggs. Sayid could stand about two minutes of his cockiness before springing into Badass Mode, disarming the nearby goons and then pointing the gun at Keamy. And then pulling the trigger. At least Sayid got to be the one to kill Keamy in this timeline, huh?
Oh, but the surprises weren't over. There was some commotion in the freezer, and then all of us immediately starting ticking through the various characters we suspected might be in there.
I was still thinking Widmore, but had Mr. Paik (Sun's dad) and Ben on my list, too -- figuring that maybe Ben was a European History teacher by day and still mixed up in sketchy stuff at night. In no way did I expect it to be Jin, though I guess I shouldn't have been surprised because with all that cash in his bag at the airport, it was pretty clear that he wasn't just planning a quick Vegas retreat.
So the flashes ended by confirming that 1) things are not coming up all puppy dogs and roses for Sayid and Jin in the No Crash timeline, and 2) that any way you slice it, Sayid's gonna kill some mo-fo's dead. I still love him, though.
There's much more to discuss in the on-Island events, so here we go...
BETTER OFF DEAD
YEAH, BETTER OFF DEAD
WHY DON'T YOU TRY
PUSHING DAISIES INSTEAD?
Sayid, no longer able to deal with all of the Others continuing to give him the stink-eye, busts into Dogen's lair and demands to know what's going on. Dogen explains that Sayid's inner pendulum has swung to the "Beyond Bad" side and that it would be best if he ceased to exist. Now, remember that when Sayid thought he was a goner back at the Swan site, he basically told Hurley that there was nothing that could save him because of all the horrible things he'd done in his life. Yet once he took a dip in the Temple's spring, died and came back to life, all of a sudden he's claiming to be a good person. Methinks he doth protest too much, and that, sadly enough, the darkness was in fact already winning out within Sayid at that point.
Dogen knew this, and so it was a total Battle Royale in that little chamber with random pots flying and shelving units crashing and broomsticks being used as defense weapons and all sorts of ninja moves. I LOVED IT. Sayid had finally met his match, and Dogen could've ended it all once he had Sayid pinned, but then that damned baseball dropped onto the floor and snapped Dogen out of his rage. At this point I must admit that I was just proud of myself for noticing how weird it was that we saw Dogen twirling that same ball a few episodes back. And then I immediately became obsessed with understanding the meaning behind it.
I started thinking it was some sort of Magic Eight Ball and when it rolled a certain way that meant something to Dogen. As we found out later, I was wrong yet again.
But before we learned the history of the baseball, Dogen and Sayid had unfinished business. Dogen was like, "I totally pwned you, but I'm letting you go so get out of here before I change my mind." Humiliated, Sayid does just that, but first he stops to tell Miles of his plans. Miles sets him straight on the fact that he was in fact dead for a full two hours, and that whatever brought him back to life was NOT the Others' magic water.
YOU KNOW, SHE'S A LITTLE BIT DANGEROUS
Around the same time, Fake Locke and Claire have left Jin back at Claire's makeshift abode (I assume) and are now standing on the ash perimeter outside the Temple. Claire's whining about not wanting to go inside and Fake Locke's like, "For the last freakin' time, do you want your kid back or not?" He reminds her that he always does what he says and notes that he's only going to hurt "the ones who don't listen." That was apparently a good enough answer for her and so she sullenly trots off.
The Others are all, "Aww, crap, HER again???" when Claire stomps onto the grounds and starts talking smack to Dogen about his penchant for speaking Japanese. She tells Dogen that "you know who" wants to see him out back, and Dogen replies, "Do you seriously think I would fall for that?" He orders Claire to be thrown in a holding pit and then taps an about-to-leave Sayid on the shoulder and says, "Remember that little brawl we had earlier today? Are you man enough to put that behind you and place yourself in harm's way to prove how 'good' you are? Yes? Excellent! Follow me."
They go back into the lair, where Dogen proceeds to pull out some sort of box that got me ALL excited because I thought it was the same weird case that Ben took out of the ventilation system last season in "The Lie." Remember that? What in the hell was in that thing?
That's definitely an answer I'm expecting to get because it was too random to have in that episode otherwise.
But anyway, Dogen's box contained some sort of magical knife and was too ornate and long to be the same thing Ben had been toting around off-Island. He tells Sayid that if he really wants to prove he's a hero, he's got to stab the guy who's "evil incarnate" through the heart before he says anything, and that this baddie is most likely going to appear to him as someone he knows who has died. Finally, Dogen made like Padma on Top Chef and ordered Sayid to "pack his knife and go."
DON'T SPEAK
At this point I was beside myself with fear that either Sayid or Fake Locke was going to kick the bucket. Yes, I of course prefer Real Locke to Fake Locke, but we all know that Fake Locke is still an absolute trip to watch. Then I was scared that Sayid was going to forget that Kate wasn't dead and stab her when she appeared out of nowhere in the jungle. But he didn't, phew. She continued on to finally be reunited with Claire, he paused for a drink of water, and then the wind kicked up and the ticker sound started and...
... out came Fake Locke. In that split-second my true loyalty was revealed, because I screamed at the TV, "STAB HIM YOU FOOL BOOB, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?!?!" Alas, Fake Locke got out two words before Sayid was able to act. I had interpreted Dogen's instructions literally -- meaning that if Fake Locke said anything whatsoever, then the whole plan was foiled. So that's why Sayid's stabbing attempt didn't work. I've talked to a few people who don't share that opinion -- they think maybe Sayid didn't actually hit Fake Locke's heart (we know he's had issues with his aim in the past from his assassination attempt on Little Ben), or that Dogen was just setting Sayid up, or that it was a last-ditch effort that Dogen wasn't really sure would work at all (did you notice Fake Locke didn't even bleed?). Either way, Fake Locke pulled out the knife and was like, "Really, Sayid?"
You can bet that at this point I feared the worst for Mr. Jarrah. Because here's the thing, the ABC Promo Monkeys had promised us that this episode was going to be SO CRAZY that they couldn't even show us more than three seconds of it in the previews before it aired. Therefore, I had really worked myself up into a lather and was confident that one of the main characters was going to be killed off. Since Fake Locke survived, I figured the goner had to be Sayid. Yet I was wrong AGAIN (I actually like being wrong when it comes to this show, so it's all good) and Fake Locke did nothing more than lambaste Sayid for being so gullible. "So you believed that random samurai you've known for like, what, a few days? The same guy who already tried to kill you twice? Reeeaaaal smart, Sayid, way to go. I, on the other hand, can offer you anything you want -- anything. No really, ANYTHING. Yep, even that."
TAKE MY ADVICE
AND LISTEN UP
Sayid strolls back to the Others' territory and shouts, "Hear ye, hear ye! Your man Jacob is dead, and Smokey will be coming to kill you all at sundown unless you agree to leave the Island with the man who looks and sounds like but is not John Locke. Best of luck, suckas!"
Miles try to ask Sayid what they should do next, but Sayid's on a mission and heads into the Temple. Meanwhile, Kate had found Claire and did not get quite the reaction she was expecting when she was finally able to share the good news that Aaron was safe back in the real world. Claire was all, "Hey sister, I've got bigger problems -- like this natty weave!!! And you're about to have a big problem too, in that Smokey is going to barrel through here at any moment and leave you dangling on the rope ladder, fearing for your life. Think about THAT."
AND YOU REALLY DIDN'T THINK IT WOULD HAPPEN
BUT IT REALLY IS THE END OF THE LINE
While Kate's getting the sinking feeling that something's not quite right about Claire, Sayid has gone to "return Dogen's knife" (that's the new code phrase for "kill people"). But first, the Lost gods put me out of my misery and revealed the meaning behind the baseball. Turns out that back in the real world, Dogen had too much to drink before picking up his son after baseball practice, crashed his car, and his son died. When Dogen said that a man showed up at the hospital and promised that he'd save his son in return for Dogen coming to the Island and never seeing the boy again, I was SURE the man was Ben, since that's pretty much exactly the same story Ben gave to Juliet to get her to come work for him on the Island (substitute "son" for "sister"). But it turns out that it was Jacob himself who drove the hard bargain with Dogen. Sayid's like, "That sucks. Now I must drown you."
I SO did not see that whole scene coming, either. Did I not just admit in the last post that Dogen was growing on me? Damn.
I'll console myself with the thought that he appears to be sober and with a very much alive son in the alternate timeline. Next to be shown no mercy was Lennon, who had never really connected with me, but who I did have a moment of true sadness for after he starting crying, "What have you done!?!? Do you know what you've done!?!?!" once he found Dead Dogen in the spring.
It turns out that the ash alone wasn't enough to stop Smokey. It was Ash + Alive Dogen that was necessary to keep the Man in Black at bay (I'm not even questioning that at this point -- no energy). And the second Dogen's ticker stopped ticking, Smokey began wreaking all sorts of vengeance on the Others.
BUT WHAT I REALLY WANT TO KNOW IS
ARE YOU GONNA GO MY WAY?
Just in time for the Spectacular Smoketacular, Ilana, Lapidus, Sun and Ben arrive at the Temple. Sun gives us her requisite "Where is Jin?!!?" plea and Lapidus gives us another few snarky one-liners and then Ilana hauls everyone (plus Miles) into a secret room to wait out the mayhem. Ben tried to get Sayid to come along, and let me just tell you that I was ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED that Sayid was going to kill Ben right then and there. Remember, I was still under the impression that something SO CRAZY was going to go down in this episode because of that freakin' non-preview. Instead, Ben told Sayid that there was still time to escape, which led to the #1 Freakiest Moment of the Night: Sayid's haunting "Not for me." I can barely even stand to look at this screencap, his face is just so creepy. Aaaahhhhh!!!!
So the splinter group of good guys is in the depths of the Temple, Jin's presumably still in the jungle with a gaping ankle wound, Jack and Hurley are probably on their way back from the lighthouse, Richard is MIA, Sawyer is MIA (remember, last we saw of him he'd agreed to "get the hell of this rock" with Fake Locke), and Kate... oops. See what happens when you change up your routine and DON'T tag along with Jack, girl? You get thrown in with a bunch of undead freaks, fraidy-cat Others and Evil Incarnate himself, aka Fake Locke. I have to say that Kate's face when she realized what she'd gotten herself into was one of the only light points in an otherwise extremely tense hour.
What was just as interesting was Fake Locke's reaction to seeing her among his troops. Here are the progressions of his face: 1) What tha? 2) Oh, this is precious. 3) Hmm, could she be trouble? 4) Nah, she's just a girl. Maybe I could even use her as Jack or Sawyer Bait if need be. That seemed to work for my friends the Others back on the Hydra, I do believe.
They all marched off of the grounds in slo-mo, set to a way-too-unnerving version of Claire's "Catch a Falling Star." When I realized exactly what it was I was hearing, I got chills.
YOU MUST NOT KNOW 'BOUT ME
YOU MUST NOT KNOW 'BOUT ME
So before I wrap things up, let's talk about who's good, who's bad, and who's something that we can't quite put our finger on yet. Here's where I stand: I think the Man in Black/Fake Locke is bad. I think Dogen calling him "evil incarnate" is the closest this show is ever going to come to hinting that he is actually Satan, the Devil, Beelzebub, or whatever you want to call him. In no way do I believe that we'll ever actually learn his "name." We don't really need to. We just need to make up our minds whether or not we think he's the bad guy, and I've made up my mind.
Here's exactly why I think the Man in Black is "bad": 1) He's Smokey. Smokey's killed a lot of people just for the hell of it at this point. 2) He offered Sayid "anything he wanted," but in exchange for an evil act. 3) He's a very slick talker -- claiming to always "do what he says" and all that. I'm not the most religious person in the world, but I'm pretty sure that those are some of the devil's traits as well... spinning lies that sound like the truth. 4) He's saying he wants to "go home" and leave the Island, but since we know he's extremely old, there's no way he has any sort of off-Island life to return to. I think the only way he can break free of whatever took him out of his original form is to destroy the Island. He probably just wants to die at this point. 5) He is clearly trying to pick off Jacob's Chosen Ones. 6) This face:
7) And this face:
As for Jacob, well, I'm not so sure. I don't think he's supposed to be God or anything like that, nor do I believe that he's supposed to represent 100% Goodness, Not from Concentrate. For those who draw parallels between the deal Fake Locke made Sayid and the deal Jacob made Dogen, I say: Fake Locke required an act of evil (killing Dogen) in return for Sayid to get something that HE wanted -- something selfish.
Jacob required Dogen to perform a selfless act (coming to the Island) in order to save someone else. Yes, it still put Dogen in an awful situation, but once again, to draw parallels to the Bible, there were a whole lot of sacrifices that had to be made by those who were following someone who they weren't even really sure existed. That's basically the definition of "faith." Plus, to be totally practical, I just can't fathom that the writers would have this evil awful guy be the one to bring our Losties to the Island. I have to believe that Jacob knew they were special and that whatever they did on the Island would have the most positive impact on the world at large, versus if they never crashed there at all.
BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE
KEAMY: I make good eggs!
I really, really enjoyed this episode. Here's hoping for more of the same next week!
Until then,
- e
No time for small talk this week! Let's get right to it... flashes first.
DON'T YOU TELL ME TO DENY IT
I'VE DONE WRONG
AND I WANNA SUFFER
FOR MY SINS
Remember last week when I mentioned that most of the 815ers' lives seemed better in the sideways timeline? Uh, scratch that for Sayid. We'd assumed he was gazing upon a picture of his wife Nadia on the rebooted flight... but it turns out that she married and has two children with Sayid's brother, Omer. D'oh! It sucks because otherwise I was really digging the kids calling him "Uncle Sayid."Yet just because she married his bro doesn't mean Nadia's over her feelings for He of the Black Tank Top ... and vice versa. In fact, the flashes were quickly devolving into some sort of stolen glance and angst-filled rival to the Edward-Bella-Jacob triangle when Omer finally visited Sayid in the dead of the night and informed him that he was in the kind of trouble that heaps of cash can't remedy. Seems he'd taken a loan from some Bad Dudes. Cue the wheels to start spinning in all of our heads... surely it was going to be someone we knew, right? Omer says matter-of-factly, "Can you just kill these guys for me, 'cause, like, that's what you do?" and Sayid was all, "NO! Stop reducing me to nothing but a cold-blooded murderer! I have changed!!!" M'kay...
Next thing we know, Omer's in the hospital (Hi, Jack!) and Sayid's about to throw the beat-down on someone, but Nadia pleads with him to just go back and take care of the kids. When we later saw him fixing the vase -- even after he explained that its destruction was caused by a "boomerang incident" -- I was still confident that he'd already taken care of business and hoofed it back before school was out. But I was wrong. He didn't make the pain rain down on anyone just yet, and was finally able to explain to Nadia why he couldn't be with her. It's because he doesn't feel he deserves her -- he just can't get over all of that torturing in his past. The torturer is now the tortured. And... scene.HE HAD A NASTY REPUTATION
AS A CRUEL DUDE
THEY SAID HE WAS RUTHLESS
SAID HE WAS CRUDE
I was forewarned there was going to be a surprise guest star in this episode, so I watched the first ten minutes or so with a magazine held up to block the bottom of the screen until my husband told me the credits were over. There must be too much other Lost info in my brain, because I failed to recognize Omar the thug from the freighter team when he rolled up to take Sayid on a ride to meet the Head Bad Dude, and therefore still had no idea who the Head Bad Dude might turn out to be. My best guess was Widmore.So imagine my surprise when it turned out to be the meathead we all love to hate, Martin Keamy. Unable to hide his buffness, even when frying up eggs. Sayid could stand about two minutes of his cockiness before springing into Badass Mode, disarming the nearby goons and then pointing the gun at Keamy. And then pulling the trigger. At least Sayid got to be the one to kill Keamy in this timeline, huh?
Oh, but the surprises weren't over. There was some commotion in the freezer, and then all of us immediately starting ticking through the various characters we suspected might be in there.
I was still thinking Widmore, but had Mr. Paik (Sun's dad) and Ben on my list, too -- figuring that maybe Ben was a European History teacher by day and still mixed up in sketchy stuff at night. In no way did I expect it to be Jin, though I guess I shouldn't have been surprised because with all that cash in his bag at the airport, it was pretty clear that he wasn't just planning a quick Vegas retreat.So the flashes ended by confirming that 1) things are not coming up all puppy dogs and roses for Sayid and Jin in the No Crash timeline, and 2) that any way you slice it, Sayid's gonna kill some mo-fo's dead. I still love him, though.
There's much more to discuss in the on-Island events, so here we go...
BETTER OFF DEAD
YEAH, BETTER OFF DEAD
WHY DON'T YOU TRY
PUSHING DAISIES INSTEAD?
Sayid, no longer able to deal with all of the Others continuing to give him the stink-eye, busts into Dogen's lair and demands to know what's going on. Dogen explains that Sayid's inner pendulum has swung to the "Beyond Bad" side and that it would be best if he ceased to exist. Now, remember that when Sayid thought he was a goner back at the Swan site, he basically told Hurley that there was nothing that could save him because of all the horrible things he'd done in his life. Yet once he took a dip in the Temple's spring, died and came back to life, all of a sudden he's claiming to be a good person. Methinks he doth protest too much, and that, sadly enough, the darkness was in fact already winning out within Sayid at that point.Dogen knew this, and so it was a total Battle Royale in that little chamber with random pots flying and shelving units crashing and broomsticks being used as defense weapons and all sorts of ninja moves. I LOVED IT. Sayid had finally met his match, and Dogen could've ended it all once he had Sayid pinned, but then that damned baseball dropped onto the floor and snapped Dogen out of his rage. At this point I must admit that I was just proud of myself for noticing how weird it was that we saw Dogen twirling that same ball a few episodes back. And then I immediately became obsessed with understanding the meaning behind it.
I started thinking it was some sort of Magic Eight Ball and when it rolled a certain way that meant something to Dogen. As we found out later, I was wrong yet again.But before we learned the history of the baseball, Dogen and Sayid had unfinished business. Dogen was like, "I totally pwned you, but I'm letting you go so get out of here before I change my mind." Humiliated, Sayid does just that, but first he stops to tell Miles of his plans. Miles sets him straight on the fact that he was in fact dead for a full two hours, and that whatever brought him back to life was NOT the Others' magic water.
YOU KNOW, SHE'S A LITTLE BIT DANGEROUS
Around the same time, Fake Locke and Claire have left Jin back at Claire's makeshift abode (I assume) and are now standing on the ash perimeter outside the Temple. Claire's whining about not wanting to go inside and Fake Locke's like, "For the last freakin' time, do you want your kid back or not?" He reminds her that he always does what he says and notes that he's only going to hurt "the ones who don't listen." That was apparently a good enough answer for her and so she sullenly trots off.The Others are all, "Aww, crap, HER again???" when Claire stomps onto the grounds and starts talking smack to Dogen about his penchant for speaking Japanese. She tells Dogen that "you know who" wants to see him out back, and Dogen replies, "Do you seriously think I would fall for that?" He orders Claire to be thrown in a holding pit and then taps an about-to-leave Sayid on the shoulder and says, "Remember that little brawl we had earlier today? Are you man enough to put that behind you and place yourself in harm's way to prove how 'good' you are? Yes? Excellent! Follow me."
They go back into the lair, where Dogen proceeds to pull out some sort of box that got me ALL excited because I thought it was the same weird case that Ben took out of the ventilation system last season in "The Lie." Remember that? What in the hell was in that thing?
That's definitely an answer I'm expecting to get because it was too random to have in that episode otherwise.
But anyway, Dogen's box contained some sort of magical knife and was too ornate and long to be the same thing Ben had been toting around off-Island. He tells Sayid that if he really wants to prove he's a hero, he's got to stab the guy who's "evil incarnate" through the heart before he says anything, and that this baddie is most likely going to appear to him as someone he knows who has died. Finally, Dogen made like Padma on Top Chef and ordered Sayid to "pack his knife and go."DON'T SPEAK
At this point I was beside myself with fear that either Sayid or Fake Locke was going to kick the bucket. Yes, I of course prefer Real Locke to Fake Locke, but we all know that Fake Locke is still an absolute trip to watch. Then I was scared that Sayid was going to forget that Kate wasn't dead and stab her when she appeared out of nowhere in the jungle. But he didn't, phew. She continued on to finally be reunited with Claire, he paused for a drink of water, and then the wind kicked up and the ticker sound started and...
... out came Fake Locke. In that split-second my true loyalty was revealed, because I screamed at the TV, "STAB HIM YOU FOOL BOOB, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?!?!" Alas, Fake Locke got out two words before Sayid was able to act. I had interpreted Dogen's instructions literally -- meaning that if Fake Locke said anything whatsoever, then the whole plan was foiled. So that's why Sayid's stabbing attempt didn't work. I've talked to a few people who don't share that opinion -- they think maybe Sayid didn't actually hit Fake Locke's heart (we know he's had issues with his aim in the past from his assassination attempt on Little Ben), or that Dogen was just setting Sayid up, or that it was a last-ditch effort that Dogen wasn't really sure would work at all (did you notice Fake Locke didn't even bleed?). Either way, Fake Locke pulled out the knife and was like, "Really, Sayid?"
You can bet that at this point I feared the worst for Mr. Jarrah. Because here's the thing, the ABC Promo Monkeys had promised us that this episode was going to be SO CRAZY that they couldn't even show us more than three seconds of it in the previews before it aired. Therefore, I had really worked myself up into a lather and was confident that one of the main characters was going to be killed off. Since Fake Locke survived, I figured the goner had to be Sayid. Yet I was wrong AGAIN (I actually like being wrong when it comes to this show, so it's all good) and Fake Locke did nothing more than lambaste Sayid for being so gullible. "So you believed that random samurai you've known for like, what, a few days? The same guy who already tried to kill you twice? Reeeaaaal smart, Sayid, way to go. I, on the other hand, can offer you anything you want -- anything. No really, ANYTHING. Yep, even that."TAKE MY ADVICE
AND LISTEN UP
Sayid strolls back to the Others' territory and shouts, "Hear ye, hear ye! Your man Jacob is dead, and Smokey will be coming to kill you all at sundown unless you agree to leave the Island with the man who looks and sounds like but is not John Locke. Best of luck, suckas!"
Miles try to ask Sayid what they should do next, but Sayid's on a mission and heads into the Temple. Meanwhile, Kate had found Claire and did not get quite the reaction she was expecting when she was finally able to share the good news that Aaron was safe back in the real world. Claire was all, "Hey sister, I've got bigger problems -- like this natty weave!!! And you're about to have a big problem too, in that Smokey is going to barrel through here at any moment and leave you dangling on the rope ladder, fearing for your life. Think about THAT."AND YOU REALLY DIDN'T THINK IT WOULD HAPPEN
BUT IT REALLY IS THE END OF THE LINE
While Kate's getting the sinking feeling that something's not quite right about Claire, Sayid has gone to "return Dogen's knife" (that's the new code phrase for "kill people"). But first, the Lost gods put me out of my misery and revealed the meaning behind the baseball. Turns out that back in the real world, Dogen had too much to drink before picking up his son after baseball practice, crashed his car, and his son died. When Dogen said that a man showed up at the hospital and promised that he'd save his son in return for Dogen coming to the Island and never seeing the boy again, I was SURE the man was Ben, since that's pretty much exactly the same story Ben gave to Juliet to get her to come work for him on the Island (substitute "son" for "sister"). But it turns out that it was Jacob himself who drove the hard bargain with Dogen. Sayid's like, "That sucks. Now I must drown you."I SO did not see that whole scene coming, either. Did I not just admit in the last post that Dogen was growing on me? Damn.
I'll console myself with the thought that he appears to be sober and with a very much alive son in the alternate timeline. Next to be shown no mercy was Lennon, who had never really connected with me, but who I did have a moment of true sadness for after he starting crying, "What have you done!?!? Do you know what you've done!?!?!" once he found Dead Dogen in the spring.It turns out that the ash alone wasn't enough to stop Smokey. It was Ash + Alive Dogen that was necessary to keep the Man in Black at bay (I'm not even questioning that at this point -- no energy). And the second Dogen's ticker stopped ticking, Smokey began wreaking all sorts of vengeance on the Others.
BUT WHAT I REALLY WANT TO KNOW IS
ARE YOU GONNA GO MY WAY?
Just in time for the Spectacular Smoketacular, Ilana, Lapidus, Sun and Ben arrive at the Temple. Sun gives us her requisite "Where is Jin?!!?" plea and Lapidus gives us another few snarky one-liners and then Ilana hauls everyone (plus Miles) into a secret room to wait out the mayhem. Ben tried to get Sayid to come along, and let me just tell you that I was ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED that Sayid was going to kill Ben right then and there. Remember, I was still under the impression that something SO CRAZY was going to go down in this episode because of that freakin' non-preview. Instead, Ben told Sayid that there was still time to escape, which led to the #1 Freakiest Moment of the Night: Sayid's haunting "Not for me." I can barely even stand to look at this screencap, his face is just so creepy. Aaaahhhhh!!!!
So the splinter group of good guys is in the depths of the Temple, Jin's presumably still in the jungle with a gaping ankle wound, Jack and Hurley are probably on their way back from the lighthouse, Richard is MIA, Sawyer is MIA (remember, last we saw of him he'd agreed to "get the hell of this rock" with Fake Locke), and Kate... oops. See what happens when you change up your routine and DON'T tag along with Jack, girl? You get thrown in with a bunch of undead freaks, fraidy-cat Others and Evil Incarnate himself, aka Fake Locke. I have to say that Kate's face when she realized what she'd gotten herself into was one of the only light points in an otherwise extremely tense hour.
What was just as interesting was Fake Locke's reaction to seeing her among his troops. Here are the progressions of his face: 1) What tha? 2) Oh, this is precious. 3) Hmm, could she be trouble? 4) Nah, she's just a girl. Maybe I could even use her as Jack or Sawyer Bait if need be. That seemed to work for my friends the Others back on the Hydra, I do believe.
They all marched off of the grounds in slo-mo, set to a way-too-unnerving version of Claire's "Catch a Falling Star." When I realized exactly what it was I was hearing, I got chills.
YOU MUST NOT KNOW 'BOUT ME
YOU MUST NOT KNOW 'BOUT ME
So before I wrap things up, let's talk about who's good, who's bad, and who's something that we can't quite put our finger on yet. Here's where I stand: I think the Man in Black/Fake Locke is bad. I think Dogen calling him "evil incarnate" is the closest this show is ever going to come to hinting that he is actually Satan, the Devil, Beelzebub, or whatever you want to call him. In no way do I believe that we'll ever actually learn his "name." We don't really need to. We just need to make up our minds whether or not we think he's the bad guy, and I've made up my mind.Here's exactly why I think the Man in Black is "bad": 1) He's Smokey. Smokey's killed a lot of people just for the hell of it at this point. 2) He offered Sayid "anything he wanted," but in exchange for an evil act. 3) He's a very slick talker -- claiming to always "do what he says" and all that. I'm not the most religious person in the world, but I'm pretty sure that those are some of the devil's traits as well... spinning lies that sound like the truth. 4) He's saying he wants to "go home" and leave the Island, but since we know he's extremely old, there's no way he has any sort of off-Island life to return to. I think the only way he can break free of whatever took him out of his original form is to destroy the Island. He probably just wants to die at this point. 5) He is clearly trying to pick off Jacob's Chosen Ones. 6) This face:
7) And this face:
As for Jacob, well, I'm not so sure. I don't think he's supposed to be God or anything like that, nor do I believe that he's supposed to represent 100% Goodness, Not from Concentrate. For those who draw parallels between the deal Fake Locke made Sayid and the deal Jacob made Dogen, I say: Fake Locke required an act of evil (killing Dogen) in return for Sayid to get something that HE wanted -- something selfish.
Jacob required Dogen to perform a selfless act (coming to the Island) in order to save someone else. Yes, it still put Dogen in an awful situation, but once again, to draw parallels to the Bible, there were a whole lot of sacrifices that had to be made by those who were following someone who they weren't even really sure existed. That's basically the definition of "faith." Plus, to be totally practical, I just can't fathom that the writers would have this evil awful guy be the one to bring our Losties to the Island. I have to believe that Jacob knew they were special and that whatever they did on the Island would have the most positive impact on the world at large, versus if they never crashed there at all.BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE
MILES: You know the blonde? One that had the baby?
KATE: Claire?
MILES: Right. Claire. She just strolled in here a couple hours ago, acting all weird. Still hot though.
KEAMY: I make good eggs!
I really, really enjoyed this episode. Here's hoping for more of the same next week!
Until then,
- e
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Things I Noticed - "Sundown" by Vozzek69
THINGS I NOTICED - SUNDOWN
In stark contrast to last week's calm journey, this episode brought down the hammer and smashed much of what was built over the last six episodes into oblivion. Sundown also saw the demise of one of the most popular and awesome of all characters: Sayid. But hey, don't get too emotional. Week by week the sun is setting on LOST, and in order to have some finality we need to see the explosive end of certain things: the styrofoam temple included. Things I Noticed:
Yellow Roses? C'mon... You NEVER Buy a Chick Yellow Roses!
What could possibly be Sayid's last centric episode started, predictibly enough, with a Nadia reunion. This time around however, we find out that as a couple, Sayid and Nadia just weren't meant to be. Yellow roses, unanswered letters, and nauseating amounts of self-sacrifice have pushed goody-two-shoes Sayid so far away that not even a love forged in the smoldering cauldron of an Iraqi torture chamber could bring them back together again.
Take a good look at Sayid's reflection in the glass as he waits for Nadia to answer the door. Half his face is visible, but the other half falls into the darkness of a different reflection. This light/dark imagry is a direct reference to the growing darkness that is right now consuming Sayid on the island. Although we've seen flashes of memory or apparent recollections from various LAX characters, this is the first time we've seen a direct parallel to island events actually affecting the off-island timeline. More on that later, when Keamy makes some awesome eggs.
Go Into My Bag, Just Past the Automatic Pistol and Cyanide Capsules...
The boomeraangs that Sayid gives to his niece and nephew are perfect metaphors for LOST itself: each throw following the same path and returning to the point of origin. At least in theory, anyway. Every time I've ever thrown a boomeraang it's ended up 50 yards away stuck in the ground.
Sayid and Dogen Bust Up the Bonsai Shop
While the fight between Dogen and Sayid was pretty epic, I was a little disappointed when Sayid didn't win. Then again, by this time we weren't watching 100% Sayid either. Small flashes of a darker, more sinister version of Sayid kept pushing their way through - something that Dogen immediately recognized during their brief conversation.
"I think it would be best if you were dead" was Dogen's way of testing Sayid, to see if he really had his friends' best interests at heart. Old Sayid would've recognized himself as a danger to everyone and walked away from the temple. In fact, Sayid did this exact thing back in season one during Solitary after torturing Sawyer and declaring himself a hazard to the beach camp. New Sayid however does the opposite - he ignores Dogens words and still wants to hang around.
"You think you know me but you don't" is once again something Sayid has said many times before... but then he slips up by telling Dogen "I'm a good man". At this point in his life, the real Sayid would never try to convince someone that he's a good man - especially after confessing to Hurley on his deathbed about how he's done so many terrible things. This is where Dogen smirks; Sayid's words are indicitive of him being corrupted, and he knows he has to act quickly before the Iraqi is fully claimed. Next stop? A swift rabbit punch to the solar plexus.
As per the rules however, Dogen can't kill Sayid. Instead, the fight was initiated as a way to scare him off or get him out of the temple. Maybe Dogen was trying to put him to sleep with that Vulcan neck pinch, I don't really know. But as he finally does get the upper hand, the baseball rolling off that table was Jacob's subtle way of reminding Dogen of his promise, and that harming a candidate was out of the question.
Evil Incarnate Never Lies
Claire seems a little apprehensive about going into the temple, but presses on after receiving Flocke's solemn promise that he'll get Aaron back for her. This might be the MIB's first mistake, because I can definitely see Claire going axe-crazy once she finds out that her baby's not even on the island at all. Maybe.
"I always do what I say"... these words seemed pretty genuine, even coming from the man in black. Through all the deception he used to get Ben to kill Jacob, there was also a sort of direct honesty to Flocke's character all last season. He told Richard exactly where they were going, and he told Ben who was going to kill Jacob even before he got there. Maybe on some level he's honor-bound, but more likely the dark man is still following some version of the rules. Either way, his promise to deliver Claire's baby to her had me thinking that maybe he can keep his word. If Aaron is exactly where he's "supposed to be", maybe the MIB tucked him away safely at smoke monster day care before the Oceanic Six ever left the island in that chopper with FAaron.
The LAX Timeline... Turning Over a New Leaf Since 2010
Sayid is trying to be a good man in the new timeline. His brother using Nadia as leverage to solve his financial problems outright disgusts him, and Sayid flat out refuses to kick his normal quota of ass this episode. "I'm not that man anymore", he tells his brother, and this time Sayid really, really means it.
As I mentioned last week, the alternate timeline seems to be a place for correction. It's a realm where our characters can break their cycles of bad behavior and move forward with hope a different outcome. Here, halfway through this episode, it would appear as if LAX_Sayid is following the same pattern as LAX Kate, Locke, and Jack. We see Sayid turning over a new leaf... at least up until later on, when Keamy places Sayid at gunpoint and fries himself a nice pair of sunny-side up.
Three Years In The Jungle With No Soap or Deodorant... But Miles Would Still Hit That
In one of Sayid's 'good' moments, Miles informs him of the manner of his death. This gets Sayid to reexamine the situation, and he begins to realize that Dogen may be right. If he's already on the road to darkness, the good part of Sayid knows it would be dangerous for everyone if he stuck around any longer. Yet before he can leave, Claire's arrival results in a second meeting with Dogen.
Claire was much cooler this episode than she was during Lighthouse. She seemed more evil and less kooky. I loved the way she demanded that Dogen speak English, and got him to immediately comply. And once more, the opportunity to finally name the man in black is provided... but Claire refers to him only as "you know who". Check the end of the podcast I did last week with The ODI and Jeff Jensen for a really cool theory on why we haven't learned the MIB's name yet, and probably never will.
That's Not a Knife... Now That's a Knife
Dogen's ancient blade of death rocked the bonsai shop, and for a minute I thought Sayid might have a chance against the MIB. As he handed it over, it also occured to me that this is probably the 2,473rd time somebody has asked Sayid to kill someone.
"He will come to you as someone you know... someone who has died." WOW. This kind of information would've been pretty fucking useful last season, no? Dogen's intel on the dark man's operation is a thousand times better than Ben or Richard's. You'd think if they're sharing personnel with the barracks crew that Dogen could somehow educate his allies against what looks to be the island's greatest potential enemy. Instead, he keeps that knowledge to himself and hides ancient mystic weaponry in the soil of common houseplants. Not a smart move.
Dogen appeals to the last remaining good within Sayid, sending him on an unlikely suicide mission. Is he just trying to get Sayid to willingly leave the temple? Sure, but I also got the impression that if Sayid had struck John Locke before he had the chance to speak, Dogen's plan would've probably worked. In other words, I don't think Dogen was sending Sayid off to get killed here. Not without a shot at redemption, anyway.
Another important exchange occurs when Dogen tells Sayid that the dark man was imprisoned for several years. This suggests that the MIB was most likely the person Locke and Ben saw in Jacob's cabin, and that this person was trapped by the ash instead of protected. Stuck in the cabin, maybe the MIB/smoke monster was still able to operate but his powers had limitations... explaining why we didn't see so much of him at first. Once the ash was broken perhaps those restrictions were lifted, because that's when things got a little more nuts.
Nadia... Cute Iraqi Chick or Secret Agent of Free Will?
Nadia's necklace this episode consisted of a circle within a circle. It struck me that maybe this represented the alternate timeline being a subset of the larger story we've been watching for these past five years. Each would be without a beginning or an end, which of course would be very LOST-ish.
More references to the season one episode Solitary sprang up here, as Nadia tells Sayid: "Whatever you're thinking of doing... don't do it". LAX_Nadia wants Sayid to stay pure in this timeline, almost as if she somehow knows he's about to be corrupted. Actually, she's one of the first people to try and steer Sayid on the right path. Back in season one, when he first got his job/promotion to torturer, Nadia went out of her way to let Sayid know he was "pretending" and that this new person wasn't who he really was. All throughout LOST we've seen Sayid struggle against his role of assassin and killer, trying not to play this particularly bad role but always getting sucked back into it.
Now Why'd You Go And Do That?
Don't ignore the fact that Smokey/MIB's arrival is preceded by Sayid stopping, drinking some water, and then splashing more water on the back of his neck. Not gonna beat on the dead water horse here, but I'm just sayin'.
The faces Terry O'Quinn comes up with for these MIB scenes are absolutely incredible. He goes from looking automaton-ish (when stabbed) to confused (seeing the knife), disgusted (when Sayid repeats Dogen's words about him being 'evil incarnate'), and finally gives Sayid a look of persuasive wonderment while promising him "anything you want". It's easy to see that the MIB doesn't see himself as evil or wrong, but more along the lines of being constantly misconstrued. In his eyes, he's gotten a bad reputation from Jacob's people - one that's completely unfounded and unwarranted.
Flocke offers Sayid's knife back to him, an offer that Sayid accepts. I'm not sure if this sealed the deal for Sayid, but it definitely lined him up for the dark man's sales pitch. He expertly turns the Dogen situation around, easily convincing a half-dark Sayid that this is the 2nd time Dogen has tried to kill him. He ices the cake nicely with a "shame on you" before putting the cherry on top: Sayid can have whatever it is that his little heart desires. Yes, even Nadia. 'Dead' is rapidly losing credibility around here.
In all likelihood, the dark man is referring to the island's "magic box". We've seen anything and everything appear on the island, from pregnancy tests to dynamite... from Anthony Cooper to Amira's cat. Taking the MIB at his word, maybe he can provide some sort of holodeck fantasy for Sayid by Xeroxing a nice juicy copy of Nadia for him. Or maybe he's just bullshitting Sayid into delivering his message and emptying the temple. Or maybe you guys still don't believe there's a magic box at all. Pick one.
Gimmie Evil Claire Over Crazy Claire Any Day Of The Week
Few things in LOST will be remembered as creepier than Claire's haunting rendition of "catch a falling star" here at the Silence of the Lambs pit. Even better were her final words to Kate: "He's coming Kate... He's coming and you can't stop him!" Simply awesome.
Kate's reunion with Aaron's true mother didn't go exactly as she planned, and it doesn't appear as if she'll be getting any babysitting money. The point of this scene was to set up Claire's venomous "Katred" for the woman who took her baby away, a crazed loathing that will undoubtedly dominate any future Claire scenes to come. Do you smell a catfight? Hell yeah you do.
We Had An Unfortunate Incident Involving a Boomerrang
In lots of ways, this pretty much explains the sum total of LOST. (Cue moment of silence). Okay, let's continue.
You Can't Make an Omelette Without Emptying a Clip Into Someone's Chest
Hell yeah, it was great to see Keamy again. "I make good eggs!" has to go down as one of the best out-of-left-field LOST lines since Fake Henry Gale asked "You guys got any milk?"
The kitchen where Keamy is cooking up such a fantastic breakfast instantly reminded me of Miles meeting Naomi in a similar kitchen in Some Like It Hoth. I've looked at some screencaps and it's difficult to tell, so maybe someone else can verify or discredit the similarity.
LAX_Martin Keamy is every bit the same awesome character he was on the island during season four. Omar is every bit his lackey, too. These are the constants, at least in this alternate version of events. The variable here however, is Sayid.
As I said earlier, we've seen characters like LAX Jack and Kate 'remember' or somewhat be affected by what may have happened on the island. Here though, we see the opposite: LAX_Sayid is directly affected by what's going on in the island timeline... namely, his metamorphisis from good to evil.
Alternate Sayid is the nice guy, the pacifist, the man who wants to solve his brother's crisis diplomatically. Without thinking his reflexes take over, and he's forced to shoot Keamy's men. Letting Keamy go would've been easy at this point, especially considering what Sayid has told Nadia (and his brother) about being an entirely different person. Yet on the island, Sayid's internal pendulum is swinging over into darker, more evil territory. This rubs off on LAX_Sayid, causing him to shoot Keamy in cold blood.
And so right here and now, Sayid breaks our 3-episode long tradition of people being able to change. He's still the assassin, and he gets claimed by the MIB both on the island and off. Sayid is unable break the circle of violence that causes him to kill and destroy - he gives in to who he "really" is, and is not able to shatter the mold.
What all this means is uncertain. Up until now, our LAX characters have all been setting up some happy endings, which is why people have theorized that this new timeline might be the true "end" one. Yet here we have a much darker version of off-island Sayid - one with an itchy trigger finger and a soul mate who married his brother a decade ago. I'm not sure how that can play out to a happy ending, but then again, Sayid was never really lucky in love.
Cold Storage
I have absolutely NO CLUE what Jin's doing in Keamy's meat locker, but I will say this: this is the second time we've seen Jin in a walk-in fridge (Everyone Hates Hugo). Actually, this is the second time we've seen Sayid in one too (Enter 77). If anyone has any walk-in fridge theories, I'm open to them.
Jacob The Imaginary Guy We've Never Seen Before Is DEAD? Screw It, I'm Going Home
Similar to when Jack stared into it last episode, Dogen's reflecting pool is distorted by droplets of rain. His plans for protection have rapidly failed. The candidates have walked in and out of the place like a college frathouse, and his temple is emptying faster than a Mariah Carey concert. Thanks to Sayid's speech, shit has hit the fan.
Flocke has finally tricked Dogen's people into leaving him. He's done this by stating simple fact (that Jacob is dead), and then allowing each of the temple-dwellers to make their own choice. He promised Claire to hurt only the ones who defied him, and the dark man keeps this promise. By using Claire and Sayid as emissaries, Flocke has hamstrung Dogen's army and finally conquered the Other's one last stronghold - all without firing a single shot.
The coup de grâce involves Sayid putting Dogen out of his misery, and as we can all see, it certainly was misery. What happened to get Dogen to the island is one of the saddest tales in all of LOST, and it made me look at Jacob in an all new light. After all, promising to save one's son but then telling that person they can never see their child again is pretty much stretching the limits of cruelty.
Jacob's offer is exactly the same as Ben's promise back in season three. Made ironically enough under the pretense of "Jacob's word", Ben promised to cure Juliet's sister's cancer if she herself were to stay on the island. Stuck there, unable to leave, Juliet was miserable from that point forward... just as Dogen was miserable throughout his duty as stoic temple leader. His baseball was the only thing he had left to remember his son, and his only tie to the off-island life he once led.
Jacob's ability to make things right in the 'real world' via miracles which couldn't happen on island seems more than a bit fishy to me. What's real and unreal may be nothing more than a blind promise you can never check up on, or a 2-minute video showing your sister pushing your nephew on a swing. Jacob's method of recruiting people is the basest form of blackmail, almost like making a deal with the devil. As Fayid (sadly by this point he's no longer our Sayid) says, speaking through the MIB's mouth: "Jacob drives a hard bargain".
The fact that Dogen is drowned in the brown Jacob-water... does this mean he'll come back like Sayid did? If so, will he be 'claimed' immediately or will he have moments of clarity first where he'll be able to help team Jacob before being converted? These things are hard to say. But for poor Lennon who can now smile using his neck, it's safe to assume it's pretty much the end.
Into The Garbage Chute, Fly Boy!
I've finally figured out Illana's role: she's Princess Leia. Lapidus is Han Solo, Ben is Luke Skywalker, and I guess that makes Sun Chewbacca. The secret passage is the garbage chute, and the smoke monster represents the ineffective group of stormtroopers mystified by the David Blaine-like disappearance of three people and a giant wookie from a narrow hallway.
Illana knows stuff. She hasn't shared much with us, but apparently she's important. Hopefully her role will get fleshed out pretty soon, because it's getting harder and harder for me to care about her - especially after the pitiful display of ineptitude Bram & company put on back at the four-toed foot.
And I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting sick of the Others trying to fight off the smoke monster with guns. You'd think if they stayed at the temple in fear of him all their lives, they might have some idea on how to battle him more effectively. Any idea at all would be nice, rather than standing around with rifles and getting dragged all over the place by smoke tendrils.
I'm also getting pissed about Sun. "Jin was here? He's alive?" Since the freighter blew up, her role has been reduced to something very small and insignificant. She's fallen by the wayside, and it's hard to keep watching her included in each episode only by definition of her obligatory one-liners. She was once a pretty great character, and hopefully finding Jin will help her return to that role.
Although it seems like I did nothing but complain in this section, I have to say these are all fairly minor issues. The overall storyline still rocks, and (especially after this episode) season six is moving along at an accelerated pace. It just seems like all the big characters have been separated from the little ones, and the little ones have banded together to form their own dysfunctional group that gets 5-minutes of airtime each episode. "You wanna live, you'd better move your ass!"
Sayid Jarrah May Be Gone... But I'm Betting The Ass-Kicking Will Live On
Ben's scene with Sayid was for our own benefit, not his. It was the last glimpse we'd get of the old Sayid - the loveable yet deadly guy we've been good buddies with since S1E1. Sayid even seems to say goodbye to himself, using the last shred of his old persona to deny Ben's assertion that there's "still time" for him. "Not for me", he says sadly, embracing his fate.
Behold - The Army of Darkness... Plus Kate
We haven't had a really good slow montage in a long while, and Sundown helped out with that. Watching Locke's army march forward from the ruined temple, accompanied by that really creepy music, totally gave the impression that the sun had finally set on Jacob and his people. Not since Dead is Dead have we seen gloom like this.
Sayid emerges from the temple fully 'claimed' and converted, and John Locke smiles at him. He knows that Sayid has done exactly what he set him out to do, and he's converted yet another one of Jacob's all-important candidates.
The dark man's attention turns next to Claire, and he nods approvingly at her for a job well done. Maybe either of both of them still feel that father-daughter bond that John Locke and Claire developed during season two, when he made a cradle for Aaron on her birthday.
But then Flocke's brow furrows slightly, as he sees Kate come out next. He cocks his head to the side, as if to say Really? You, Kate? Although the MIB considers her a little more carefully then everyone else, he still accepts her into his army. He does this because Kate could prove useful in converting other candidates... and because simply, he believes he can kill her at the first sign of trouble.
Prediction: this will end up biting the MIB right in the ass - HARD. Recruiting Kate into his army will be one of the dark man's biggest mistakes, because even though Austen-51 may not be one of Jacob's favorite six numbers, Kate is definitely still a candidate. As mentioned a few episodes back, Kate is Jacob's dirty little secret. Now that secret has infiltrated Flocke's own dark army, and placed herself in a position of power.
Kate is the one recruit who hasn't made a deal with the man in black, taken anything from him, or chosen to join him of her own free will. This will be big. Crossing Kate's name out on his lighthouse wheel might've been Jacob's own little power-play, especially if the MIB had access to the ultimate list of people Jacob deemed important.
Sundown was awesome. I'm glad the temple storyline didn't drag on longer than a half-dozen episodes. As Jacob and the dark man choose up sides, it's time to ramp up the action and built up momentum for the second half of the season. Let's see how fast the ride goes.
In stark contrast to last week's calm journey, this episode brought down the hammer and smashed much of what was built over the last six episodes into oblivion. Sundown also saw the demise of one of the most popular and awesome of all characters: Sayid. But hey, don't get too emotional. Week by week the sun is setting on LOST, and in order to have some finality we need to see the explosive end of certain things: the styrofoam temple included. Things I Noticed:
Yellow Roses? C'mon... You NEVER Buy a Chick Yellow Roses!
What could possibly be Sayid's last centric episode started, predictibly enough, with a Nadia reunion. This time around however, we find out that as a couple, Sayid and Nadia just weren't meant to be. Yellow roses, unanswered letters, and nauseating amounts of self-sacrifice have pushed goody-two-shoes Sayid so far away that not even a love forged in the smoldering cauldron of an Iraqi torture chamber could bring them back together again.
Take a good look at Sayid's reflection in the glass as he waits for Nadia to answer the door. Half his face is visible, but the other half falls into the darkness of a different reflection. This light/dark imagry is a direct reference to the growing darkness that is right now consuming Sayid on the island. Although we've seen flashes of memory or apparent recollections from various LAX characters, this is the first time we've seen a direct parallel to island events actually affecting the off-island timeline. More on that later, when Keamy makes some awesome eggs.
Go Into My Bag, Just Past the Automatic Pistol and Cyanide Capsules...
The boomeraangs that Sayid gives to his niece and nephew are perfect metaphors for LOST itself: each throw following the same path and returning to the point of origin. At least in theory, anyway. Every time I've ever thrown a boomeraang it's ended up 50 yards away stuck in the ground.
Sayid and Dogen Bust Up the Bonsai Shop
While the fight between Dogen and Sayid was pretty epic, I was a little disappointed when Sayid didn't win. Then again, by this time we weren't watching 100% Sayid either. Small flashes of a darker, more sinister version of Sayid kept pushing their way through - something that Dogen immediately recognized during their brief conversation.
"I think it would be best if you were dead" was Dogen's way of testing Sayid, to see if he really had his friends' best interests at heart. Old Sayid would've recognized himself as a danger to everyone and walked away from the temple. In fact, Sayid did this exact thing back in season one during Solitary after torturing Sawyer and declaring himself a hazard to the beach camp. New Sayid however does the opposite - he ignores Dogens words and still wants to hang around.
"You think you know me but you don't" is once again something Sayid has said many times before... but then he slips up by telling Dogen "I'm a good man". At this point in his life, the real Sayid would never try to convince someone that he's a good man - especially after confessing to Hurley on his deathbed about how he's done so many terrible things. This is where Dogen smirks; Sayid's words are indicitive of him being corrupted, and he knows he has to act quickly before the Iraqi is fully claimed. Next stop? A swift rabbit punch to the solar plexus.
As per the rules however, Dogen can't kill Sayid. Instead, the fight was initiated as a way to scare him off or get him out of the temple. Maybe Dogen was trying to put him to sleep with that Vulcan neck pinch, I don't really know. But as he finally does get the upper hand, the baseball rolling off that table was Jacob's subtle way of reminding Dogen of his promise, and that harming a candidate was out of the question.
Evil Incarnate Never Lies
Claire seems a little apprehensive about going into the temple, but presses on after receiving Flocke's solemn promise that he'll get Aaron back for her. This might be the MIB's first mistake, because I can definitely see Claire going axe-crazy once she finds out that her baby's not even on the island at all. Maybe.
"I always do what I say"... these words seemed pretty genuine, even coming from the man in black. Through all the deception he used to get Ben to kill Jacob, there was also a sort of direct honesty to Flocke's character all last season. He told Richard exactly where they were going, and he told Ben who was going to kill Jacob even before he got there. Maybe on some level he's honor-bound, but more likely the dark man is still following some version of the rules. Either way, his promise to deliver Claire's baby to her had me thinking that maybe he can keep his word. If Aaron is exactly where he's "supposed to be", maybe the MIB tucked him away safely at smoke monster day care before the Oceanic Six ever left the island in that chopper with FAaron.
The LAX Timeline... Turning Over a New Leaf Since 2010
Sayid is trying to be a good man in the new timeline. His brother using Nadia as leverage to solve his financial problems outright disgusts him, and Sayid flat out refuses to kick his normal quota of ass this episode. "I'm not that man anymore", he tells his brother, and this time Sayid really, really means it.
As I mentioned last week, the alternate timeline seems to be a place for correction. It's a realm where our characters can break their cycles of bad behavior and move forward with hope a different outcome. Here, halfway through this episode, it would appear as if LAX_Sayid is following the same pattern as LAX Kate, Locke, and Jack. We see Sayid turning over a new leaf... at least up until later on, when Keamy places Sayid at gunpoint and fries himself a nice pair of sunny-side up.
Three Years In The Jungle With No Soap or Deodorant... But Miles Would Still Hit That
In one of Sayid's 'good' moments, Miles informs him of the manner of his death. This gets Sayid to reexamine the situation, and he begins to realize that Dogen may be right. If he's already on the road to darkness, the good part of Sayid knows it would be dangerous for everyone if he stuck around any longer. Yet before he can leave, Claire's arrival results in a second meeting with Dogen.
Claire was much cooler this episode than she was during Lighthouse. She seemed more evil and less kooky. I loved the way she demanded that Dogen speak English, and got him to immediately comply. And once more, the opportunity to finally name the man in black is provided... but Claire refers to him only as "you know who". Check the end of the podcast I did last week with The ODI and Jeff Jensen for a really cool theory on why we haven't learned the MIB's name yet, and probably never will.
That's Not a Knife... Now That's a Knife
Dogen's ancient blade of death rocked the bonsai shop, and for a minute I thought Sayid might have a chance against the MIB. As he handed it over, it also occured to me that this is probably the 2,473rd time somebody has asked Sayid to kill someone.
"He will come to you as someone you know... someone who has died." WOW. This kind of information would've been pretty fucking useful last season, no? Dogen's intel on the dark man's operation is a thousand times better than Ben or Richard's. You'd think if they're sharing personnel with the barracks crew that Dogen could somehow educate his allies against what looks to be the island's greatest potential enemy. Instead, he keeps that knowledge to himself and hides ancient mystic weaponry in the soil of common houseplants. Not a smart move.
Dogen appeals to the last remaining good within Sayid, sending him on an unlikely suicide mission. Is he just trying to get Sayid to willingly leave the temple? Sure, but I also got the impression that if Sayid had struck John Locke before he had the chance to speak, Dogen's plan would've probably worked. In other words, I don't think Dogen was sending Sayid off to get killed here. Not without a shot at redemption, anyway.
Another important exchange occurs when Dogen tells Sayid that the dark man was imprisoned for several years. This suggests that the MIB was most likely the person Locke and Ben saw in Jacob's cabin, and that this person was trapped by the ash instead of protected. Stuck in the cabin, maybe the MIB/smoke monster was still able to operate but his powers had limitations... explaining why we didn't see so much of him at first. Once the ash was broken perhaps those restrictions were lifted, because that's when things got a little more nuts.
Nadia... Cute Iraqi Chick or Secret Agent of Free Will?
Nadia's necklace this episode consisted of a circle within a circle. It struck me that maybe this represented the alternate timeline being a subset of the larger story we've been watching for these past five years. Each would be without a beginning or an end, which of course would be very LOST-ish.
More references to the season one episode Solitary sprang up here, as Nadia tells Sayid: "Whatever you're thinking of doing... don't do it". LAX_Nadia wants Sayid to stay pure in this timeline, almost as if she somehow knows he's about to be corrupted. Actually, she's one of the first people to try and steer Sayid on the right path. Back in season one, when he first got his job/promotion to torturer, Nadia went out of her way to let Sayid know he was "pretending" and that this new person wasn't who he really was. All throughout LOST we've seen Sayid struggle against his role of assassin and killer, trying not to play this particularly bad role but always getting sucked back into it.
Now Why'd You Go And Do That?
Don't ignore the fact that Smokey/MIB's arrival is preceded by Sayid stopping, drinking some water, and then splashing more water on the back of his neck. Not gonna beat on the dead water horse here, but I'm just sayin'.
The faces Terry O'Quinn comes up with for these MIB scenes are absolutely incredible. He goes from looking automaton-ish (when stabbed) to confused (seeing the knife), disgusted (when Sayid repeats Dogen's words about him being 'evil incarnate'), and finally gives Sayid a look of persuasive wonderment while promising him "anything you want". It's easy to see that the MIB doesn't see himself as evil or wrong, but more along the lines of being constantly misconstrued. In his eyes, he's gotten a bad reputation from Jacob's people - one that's completely unfounded and unwarranted.
Flocke offers Sayid's knife back to him, an offer that Sayid accepts. I'm not sure if this sealed the deal for Sayid, but it definitely lined him up for the dark man's sales pitch. He expertly turns the Dogen situation around, easily convincing a half-dark Sayid that this is the 2nd time Dogen has tried to kill him. He ices the cake nicely with a "shame on you" before putting the cherry on top: Sayid can have whatever it is that his little heart desires. Yes, even Nadia. 'Dead' is rapidly losing credibility around here.
In all likelihood, the dark man is referring to the island's "magic box". We've seen anything and everything appear on the island, from pregnancy tests to dynamite... from Anthony Cooper to Amira's cat. Taking the MIB at his word, maybe he can provide some sort of holodeck fantasy for Sayid by Xeroxing a nice juicy copy of Nadia for him. Or maybe he's just bullshitting Sayid into delivering his message and emptying the temple. Or maybe you guys still don't believe there's a magic box at all. Pick one.
Gimmie Evil Claire Over Crazy Claire Any Day Of The Week
Few things in LOST will be remembered as creepier than Claire's haunting rendition of "catch a falling star" here at the Silence of the Lambs pit. Even better were her final words to Kate: "He's coming Kate... He's coming and you can't stop him!" Simply awesome.
Kate's reunion with Aaron's true mother didn't go exactly as she planned, and it doesn't appear as if she'll be getting any babysitting money. The point of this scene was to set up Claire's venomous "Katred" for the woman who took her baby away, a crazed loathing that will undoubtedly dominate any future Claire scenes to come. Do you smell a catfight? Hell yeah you do.
We Had An Unfortunate Incident Involving a Boomerrang
In lots of ways, this pretty much explains the sum total of LOST. (Cue moment of silence). Okay, let's continue.
You Can't Make an Omelette Without Emptying a Clip Into Someone's Chest
Hell yeah, it was great to see Keamy again. "I make good eggs!" has to go down as one of the best out-of-left-field LOST lines since Fake Henry Gale asked "You guys got any milk?"
The kitchen where Keamy is cooking up such a fantastic breakfast instantly reminded me of Miles meeting Naomi in a similar kitchen in Some Like It Hoth. I've looked at some screencaps and it's difficult to tell, so maybe someone else can verify or discredit the similarity.
LAX_Martin Keamy is every bit the same awesome character he was on the island during season four. Omar is every bit his lackey, too. These are the constants, at least in this alternate version of events. The variable here however, is Sayid.
As I said earlier, we've seen characters like LAX Jack and Kate 'remember' or somewhat be affected by what may have happened on the island. Here though, we see the opposite: LAX_Sayid is directly affected by what's going on in the island timeline... namely, his metamorphisis from good to evil.
Alternate Sayid is the nice guy, the pacifist, the man who wants to solve his brother's crisis diplomatically. Without thinking his reflexes take over, and he's forced to shoot Keamy's men. Letting Keamy go would've been easy at this point, especially considering what Sayid has told Nadia (and his brother) about being an entirely different person. Yet on the island, Sayid's internal pendulum is swinging over into darker, more evil territory. This rubs off on LAX_Sayid, causing him to shoot Keamy in cold blood.
And so right here and now, Sayid breaks our 3-episode long tradition of people being able to change. He's still the assassin, and he gets claimed by the MIB both on the island and off. Sayid is unable break the circle of violence that causes him to kill and destroy - he gives in to who he "really" is, and is not able to shatter the mold.
What all this means is uncertain. Up until now, our LAX characters have all been setting up some happy endings, which is why people have theorized that this new timeline might be the true "end" one. Yet here we have a much darker version of off-island Sayid - one with an itchy trigger finger and a soul mate who married his brother a decade ago. I'm not sure how that can play out to a happy ending, but then again, Sayid was never really lucky in love.
Cold Storage
I have absolutely NO CLUE what Jin's doing in Keamy's meat locker, but I will say this: this is the second time we've seen Jin in a walk-in fridge (Everyone Hates Hugo). Actually, this is the second time we've seen Sayid in one too (Enter 77). If anyone has any walk-in fridge theories, I'm open to them.
Jacob The Imaginary Guy We've Never Seen Before Is DEAD? Screw It, I'm Going Home
Similar to when Jack stared into it last episode, Dogen's reflecting pool is distorted by droplets of rain. His plans for protection have rapidly failed. The candidates have walked in and out of the place like a college frathouse, and his temple is emptying faster than a Mariah Carey concert. Thanks to Sayid's speech, shit has hit the fan.
Flocke has finally tricked Dogen's people into leaving him. He's done this by stating simple fact (that Jacob is dead), and then allowing each of the temple-dwellers to make their own choice. He promised Claire to hurt only the ones who defied him, and the dark man keeps this promise. By using Claire and Sayid as emissaries, Flocke has hamstrung Dogen's army and finally conquered the Other's one last stronghold - all without firing a single shot.
The coup de grâce involves Sayid putting Dogen out of his misery, and as we can all see, it certainly was misery. What happened to get Dogen to the island is one of the saddest tales in all of LOST, and it made me look at Jacob in an all new light. After all, promising to save one's son but then telling that person they can never see their child again is pretty much stretching the limits of cruelty.
Jacob's offer is exactly the same as Ben's promise back in season three. Made ironically enough under the pretense of "Jacob's word", Ben promised to cure Juliet's sister's cancer if she herself were to stay on the island. Stuck there, unable to leave, Juliet was miserable from that point forward... just as Dogen was miserable throughout his duty as stoic temple leader. His baseball was the only thing he had left to remember his son, and his only tie to the off-island life he once led.
Jacob's ability to make things right in the 'real world' via miracles which couldn't happen on island seems more than a bit fishy to me. What's real and unreal may be nothing more than a blind promise you can never check up on, or a 2-minute video showing your sister pushing your nephew on a swing. Jacob's method of recruiting people is the basest form of blackmail, almost like making a deal with the devil. As Fayid (sadly by this point he's no longer our Sayid) says, speaking through the MIB's mouth: "Jacob drives a hard bargain".
The fact that Dogen is drowned in the brown Jacob-water... does this mean he'll come back like Sayid did? If so, will he be 'claimed' immediately or will he have moments of clarity first where he'll be able to help team Jacob before being converted? These things are hard to say. But for poor Lennon who can now smile using his neck, it's safe to assume it's pretty much the end.
Into The Garbage Chute, Fly Boy!
I've finally figured out Illana's role: she's Princess Leia. Lapidus is Han Solo, Ben is Luke Skywalker, and I guess that makes Sun Chewbacca. The secret passage is the garbage chute, and the smoke monster represents the ineffective group of stormtroopers mystified by the David Blaine-like disappearance of three people and a giant wookie from a narrow hallway.
Illana knows stuff. She hasn't shared much with us, but apparently she's important. Hopefully her role will get fleshed out pretty soon, because it's getting harder and harder for me to care about her - especially after the pitiful display of ineptitude Bram & company put on back at the four-toed foot.
And I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting sick of the Others trying to fight off the smoke monster with guns. You'd think if they stayed at the temple in fear of him all their lives, they might have some idea on how to battle him more effectively. Any idea at all would be nice, rather than standing around with rifles and getting dragged all over the place by smoke tendrils.
I'm also getting pissed about Sun. "Jin was here? He's alive?" Since the freighter blew up, her role has been reduced to something very small and insignificant. She's fallen by the wayside, and it's hard to keep watching her included in each episode only by definition of her obligatory one-liners. She was once a pretty great character, and hopefully finding Jin will help her return to that role.
Although it seems like I did nothing but complain in this section, I have to say these are all fairly minor issues. The overall storyline still rocks, and (especially after this episode) season six is moving along at an accelerated pace. It just seems like all the big characters have been separated from the little ones, and the little ones have banded together to form their own dysfunctional group that gets 5-minutes of airtime each episode. "You wanna live, you'd better move your ass!"
Sayid Jarrah May Be Gone... But I'm Betting The Ass-Kicking Will Live On
Ben's scene with Sayid was for our own benefit, not his. It was the last glimpse we'd get of the old Sayid - the loveable yet deadly guy we've been good buddies with since S1E1. Sayid even seems to say goodbye to himself, using the last shred of his old persona to deny Ben's assertion that there's "still time" for him. "Not for me", he says sadly, embracing his fate.
Behold - The Army of Darkness... Plus Kate
We haven't had a really good slow montage in a long while, and Sundown helped out with that. Watching Locke's army march forward from the ruined temple, accompanied by that really creepy music, totally gave the impression that the sun had finally set on Jacob and his people. Not since Dead is Dead have we seen gloom like this.
Sayid emerges from the temple fully 'claimed' and converted, and John Locke smiles at him. He knows that Sayid has done exactly what he set him out to do, and he's converted yet another one of Jacob's all-important candidates.
The dark man's attention turns next to Claire, and he nods approvingly at her for a job well done. Maybe either of both of them still feel that father-daughter bond that John Locke and Claire developed during season two, when he made a cradle for Aaron on her birthday.
But then Flocke's brow furrows slightly, as he sees Kate come out next. He cocks his head to the side, as if to say Really? You, Kate? Although the MIB considers her a little more carefully then everyone else, he still accepts her into his army. He does this because Kate could prove useful in converting other candidates... and because simply, he believes he can kill her at the first sign of trouble.
Prediction: this will end up biting the MIB right in the ass - HARD. Recruiting Kate into his army will be one of the dark man's biggest mistakes, because even though Austen-51 may not be one of Jacob's favorite six numbers, Kate is definitely still a candidate. As mentioned a few episodes back, Kate is Jacob's dirty little secret. Now that secret has infiltrated Flocke's own dark army, and placed herself in a position of power.
Kate is the one recruit who hasn't made a deal with the man in black, taken anything from him, or chosen to join him of her own free will. This will be big. Crossing Kate's name out on his lighthouse wheel might've been Jacob's own little power-play, especially if the MIB had access to the ultimate list of people Jacob deemed important.
Sundown was awesome. I'm glad the temple storyline didn't drag on longer than a half-dozen episodes. As Jacob and the dark man choose up sides, it's time to ramp up the action and built up momentum for the second half of the season. Let's see how fast the ride goes.
He Drives a Hard Bargain: "Sundown" - Recap by Robz888
"What if I said you could have anything in the entire world?" - the Man in Black
The offer is an alluring one, though not exactly new territory. Remember in "The Man From Tallahassee" when Ben tempted John with a seemingly imaginary magic box in which you would find whatever you desired?
Whether these Faustian bargains will lead to our characters getting what they desire is one matter, but Lost's various fan communities are certainly having their every wish fulfilled. So far in season 6, we've spent time on the romantic plots (Sawyer and Juliet's tearful farewell, Locke and Helen), advanced the mythology (the wall of numbers and candidates, the Smoke Monster), and even experienced some old-fashioned season 1-esque character bonding in the jungle. That's something for just about every Lost fan. But if anything's been missing so far, it was action.
Well, not anymore. Similar to the way "The Shape of Things to Come" (an hour of Lost that had much in common with last night's episode) greatly picked up the pace of season 4, "Sundown" gave the show a much-appreciated adrenaline shot as well as a decisive (dare I say cathartic?) end to the first third of season 6.
While many of the episode's best moments were in the last 10 minutes, I found a great deal to like throughout the entire hour of "Sundown". I'm tempted to rank this as my favorite hour of the season so far - quite an accomplishment for a Sayid episode on the heels of Jack and John episodes (which I usually prefer).
Just like last week, I'm going to jump around a bit. Let's start in the ATL (Alternate Timeline). Note: I know some people are bothered by referring to it as an "alternate" timeline because the producers don't want us to think of it as less important than the on-island stuff. I don't mean to reduce its significance by referring to it as such, I'm simply thinking of it as a reality that is "alternate" to the one we've known for five seasons. And just because Damon and Carlton insist that these are the same characters doesn't mean that reality bears out that statement.
In any case, the happenings in the ATL kept me considerably interested and entertained this week. Without further ado, Sayid and Nadia...
The offer is an alluring one, though not exactly new territory. Remember in "The Man From Tallahassee" when Ben tempted John with a seemingly imaginary magic box in which you would find whatever you desired?
Whether these Faustian bargains will lead to our characters getting what they desire is one matter, but Lost's various fan communities are certainly having their every wish fulfilled. So far in season 6, we've spent time on the romantic plots (Sawyer and Juliet's tearful farewell, Locke and Helen), advanced the mythology (the wall of numbers and candidates, the Smoke Monster), and even experienced some old-fashioned season 1-esque character bonding in the jungle. That's something for just about every Lost fan. But if anything's been missing so far, it was action.
Well, not anymore. Similar to the way "The Shape of Things to Come" (an hour of Lost that had much in common with last night's episode) greatly picked up the pace of season 4, "Sundown" gave the show a much-appreciated adrenaline shot as well as a decisive (dare I say cathartic?) end to the first third of season 6.
While many of the episode's best moments were in the last 10 minutes, I found a great deal to like throughout the entire hour of "Sundown". I'm tempted to rank this as my favorite hour of the season so far - quite an accomplishment for a Sayid episode on the heels of Jack and John episodes (which I usually prefer).
Just like last week, I'm going to jump around a bit. Let's start in the ATL (Alternate Timeline). Note: I know some people are bothered by referring to it as an "alternate" timeline because the producers don't want us to think of it as less important than the on-island stuff. I don't mean to reduce its significance by referring to it as such, I'm simply thinking of it as a reality that is "alternate" to the one we've known for five seasons. And just because Damon and Carlton insist that these are the same characters doesn't mean that reality bears out that statement.
In any case, the happenings in the ATL kept me considerably interested and entertained this week. Without further ado, Sayid and Nadia...
AT LEAST ONE OF YOU WILL BE MARRIED TO NADIA
Whoa, no way! In the ATL, Sayid's brother - who, if you'll remember, couldn't even snap the neck of a chicken to win his father's approval when they were kids - is married to Nadia. They have two children who really like their Uncle Sayid, mainly because he brings them cool Australian presents like a boomerang. Nadia is really, really happy to see Sayid, and so is brother Omer, though he seems on to the fact that Nadia and Sayid are in to each other in more than a sister-and-brother-in-law sort of way.
Sayid claims to have been in Australia on business - boring, regular business, not assassin or torturing business - but is he telling the truth? There seemed to be a hint of falseness when he mentioned it at the dinner table. Also, he later claims that his job is taking him to Toronto next, and whenever someone on Lost mentions Canada, they're lying. You can look it up on Lostpedia if you don't believe me, but there are way too many cases of this for it be a coincidence (Ethan claimed to be from Canada, Bonnie and Greta claimed to be on assignment in Canada, Anthony Cooper claimed to be from Canada, Sawyer claimed to have a Canadian business partner as part of a con, the list goes on and on).
The reason I'm troubled by what Sayid was doing in Australia is the picture of Nadia the kids found in his bag.
I couldn't find anything online to confirm it, but I'm almost positive that this is the same picture that the intelligence agents give Sayid in return for him infiltrating the terrorist cell. Did Sayid do the same thing in Australia in this reality as he did in the other? It wouldn't really make sense, because he wouldn't need the CIA's help finding Nadia. He would have to know that she was with his brother, and since he seems to have a relationship with the nephew and niece, I would suspect that he's visited before and knows where the are. Still, it's a little weird to use the same photo. Then again, photos in the ATL have been pretty weird (the one of John and Cooper sitting on John's desk was straight out of the hunting flashback scene in Deus Ex Machina, after all).
Anyway, we soon learn that Omer has bigger things to worry about than whether his wife would prefer a Jarrah who's man enough to kill chickens. Omer loaned money from somebody shady ("Sawyer! Or Gordy! Or Anthony Cooper! Or Charles Widmore! Or Mr. Paik!" every Lost fan was thinking) and is in serious danger. So he asks Sayid to channel his old Iraqi Republican Guard self and work things out for the family.
Poor Sayid. He tries to be a good person but is constantly manipulated into doing bad things in the name of supposed good. Just as Ben conned Sayid into doing his dirty work for him under the guise of protecting his friends and avenging Nadia, Sayid's brother is now conning him into cleaning up the mess he made in order to save Nadia and the kids. How guilty is Sayid of wrongdoing when so much of what he does is against his better judgment?
These questions surrounding Sayid's goodness or badness so perfectly mirrored what was happening on the island that we should switch gears for a bit.
Sayid claims to have been in Australia on business - boring, regular business, not assassin or torturing business - but is he telling the truth? There seemed to be a hint of falseness when he mentioned it at the dinner table. Also, he later claims that his job is taking him to Toronto next, and whenever someone on Lost mentions Canada, they're lying. You can look it up on Lostpedia if you don't believe me, but there are way too many cases of this for it be a coincidence (Ethan claimed to be from Canada, Bonnie and Greta claimed to be on assignment in Canada, Anthony Cooper claimed to be from Canada, Sawyer claimed to have a Canadian business partner as part of a con, the list goes on and on).
The reason I'm troubled by what Sayid was doing in Australia is the picture of Nadia the kids found in his bag.
I couldn't find anything online to confirm it, but I'm almost positive that this is the same picture that the intelligence agents give Sayid in return for him infiltrating the terrorist cell. Did Sayid do the same thing in Australia in this reality as he did in the other? It wouldn't really make sense, because he wouldn't need the CIA's help finding Nadia. He would have to know that she was with his brother, and since he seems to have a relationship with the nephew and niece, I would suspect that he's visited before and knows where the are. Still, it's a little weird to use the same photo. Then again, photos in the ATL have been pretty weird (the one of John and Cooper sitting on John's desk was straight out of the hunting flashback scene in Deus Ex Machina, after all).
Anyway, we soon learn that Omer has bigger things to worry about than whether his wife would prefer a Jarrah who's man enough to kill chickens. Omer loaned money from somebody shady ("Sawyer! Or Gordy! Or Anthony Cooper! Or Charles Widmore! Or Mr. Paik!" every Lost fan was thinking) and is in serious danger. So he asks Sayid to channel his old Iraqi Republican Guard self and work things out for the family.
Poor Sayid. He tries to be a good person but is constantly manipulated into doing bad things in the name of supposed good. Just as Ben conned Sayid into doing his dirty work for him under the guise of protecting his friends and avenging Nadia, Sayid's brother is now conning him into cleaning up the mess he made in order to save Nadia and the kids. How guilty is Sayid of wrongdoing when so much of what he does is against his better judgment?
These questions surrounding Sayid's goodness or badness so perfectly mirrored what was happening on the island that we should switch gears for a bit.
THE ONLY GOOD SAYID IS A DEAD SAYID
That's what Dogen thinks, at least - and he tells Sayid as much when they have a chat in the samurai's office/garden/library.
Questions about Sayid's inner goodness have of course abounded since he first tortured Sawyer for an inhaler that Sawyer didn't actually have (and thanks to "Lighthouse", we now know it was on the floor of the Caves all along!). But even then, he only did it to help Shannon. And of course, whenever Sayid tortures someone, he mentally tortures himself by never letting go of his guilt, and then he usually gets actually, physically tortured by someone else, whether it be Rousseau, the restaurant owner in the flashbacks of "Enter 77", Oldham or Dogen.
"Why were you in handcuffs when we found you?" - Oldham
"Because I am a bad man." - Sayid
But is Sayid a bad man? Do the the things he does make him evil when he regrets them, and only did them to protect other people?
It's clear of course where Dogen stands: Sayid is so bad that he's better off dead. According to what he tells Sayid, he's basing this off the torture test in "What Kate Does". He explains that the test weighed how much of Sayid was good and how much was bad. But I thought the test determined whether someone was "infected" or not. Does this mean that all bad people, even ones who haven't been "claimed" would fail the test? Or does being claimed simply mean that the victim becomes "evil"? I thought claiming had to do more with who was controlling a person rather than the objective quantity of good or evil in that person. The latter explanation is a little harder for me to swallow.
I really have to wonder whether Sayid would have failed the test under any circumstance, or whether he failed it because he's been brought back to life by the Man in Black and is in some way possessed like the French team and possibly Claire. This is important for trying to determine whether the Sayid who's up and walking around is the same Sayid we've always known and loved, or whether it's some sort of brainwashed evil Sayid. I know what you're thinking, "Duh! Did you even WATCH the rest of the episode? He's so brainwashed and evil!" Eh, I hear you, but I actually don't think that anything Sayid did in this episode was out of character or needed to be explained by brainwashing. And I'll make that case as events transpire.
But just to humor people who think it's really a different Sayid, I think your best evidence might be the Iraqi's current physical state. Let's take a look at him again.
It's a little difficult to notice in this picture, but if you watch the episode closely you'll see that Sayid has a red rash on his face and neck. I don't remember him getting punched in the face repeatedly and I doubt that he gets sunburned easily, so a strong case can be made that this rash is the physical manifestation of "infection". Maybe there's some other explanation, but with all the talk of infections going around, that rash is pretty conspicuous.
(Speaking of skin ailments - did ATL Nadia have scars from scalding water and burns on her arms as she does in the Main Timeline? It looked to me like she did not. I wonder, then, if she was ever tortured by Sayid or anyone else.)
Questions about Sayid's inner goodness have of course abounded since he first tortured Sawyer for an inhaler that Sawyer didn't actually have (and thanks to "Lighthouse", we now know it was on the floor of the Caves all along!). But even then, he only did it to help Shannon. And of course, whenever Sayid tortures someone, he mentally tortures himself by never letting go of his guilt, and then he usually gets actually, physically tortured by someone else, whether it be Rousseau, the restaurant owner in the flashbacks of "Enter 77", Oldham or Dogen.
"Why were you in handcuffs when we found you?" - Oldham
"Because I am a bad man." - Sayid
But is Sayid a bad man? Do the the things he does make him evil when he regrets them, and only did them to protect other people?
It's clear of course where Dogen stands: Sayid is so bad that he's better off dead. According to what he tells Sayid, he's basing this off the torture test in "What Kate Does". He explains that the test weighed how much of Sayid was good and how much was bad. But I thought the test determined whether someone was "infected" or not. Does this mean that all bad people, even ones who haven't been "claimed" would fail the test? Or does being claimed simply mean that the victim becomes "evil"? I thought claiming had to do more with who was controlling a person rather than the objective quantity of good or evil in that person. The latter explanation is a little harder for me to swallow.
I really have to wonder whether Sayid would have failed the test under any circumstance, or whether he failed it because he's been brought back to life by the Man in Black and is in some way possessed like the French team and possibly Claire. This is important for trying to determine whether the Sayid who's up and walking around is the same Sayid we've always known and loved, or whether it's some sort of brainwashed evil Sayid. I know what you're thinking, "Duh! Did you even WATCH the rest of the episode? He's so brainwashed and evil!" Eh, I hear you, but I actually don't think that anything Sayid did in this episode was out of character or needed to be explained by brainwashing. And I'll make that case as events transpire.
But just to humor people who think it's really a different Sayid, I think your best evidence might be the Iraqi's current physical state. Let's take a look at him again.
It's a little difficult to notice in this picture, but if you watch the episode closely you'll see that Sayid has a red rash on his face and neck. I don't remember him getting punched in the face repeatedly and I doubt that he gets sunburned easily, so a strong case can be made that this rash is the physical manifestation of "infection". Maybe there's some other explanation, but with all the talk of infections going around, that rash is pretty conspicuous.
(Speaking of skin ailments - did ATL Nadia have scars from scalding water and burns on her arms as she does in the Main Timeline? It looked to me like she did not. I wonder, then, if she was ever tortured by Sayid or anyone else.)
THE MASTER SWORD - BLADE OF EVIL'S BANE
Sayid and Dogen end up trying to kill each other, but Dogen gives up the fight after contemplating his strange baseball. I could launch into a whole rant on "Well if he has the ability to kill Sayid, why did he bother unstrapping him from the machine and try to get Jack to do it?" but I've given the Others enough criticism lately and, based on the conclusion of "Sundown", there's little point in doing so now.
Meanwhile, the Man in Black designates Claire to deliver his message to the Temple. It seems he can't go in himself, and maybe this is why:
Though it's later suggested that Dogen's existence is the only think that prevents Flocke from entering. In any case, Claire strolls right into the Temple and asks Dogen to join Flocke for a chat. Dogen wisely refuses and has Claire thrown in a pit. He then appears to reconsider his position on Sayid and recruits him for a mission to kill Flocke with a seemingly special blade.
The irony is of course that to prove he's a "good person", Sayid must do a bad thing - he must kill. And, like most of his other acts of obedient violence, stabbing Flocke doesn't accomplish anything worthwhile.
A strong emphasis is placed on speech. Dogen warns Sayid not to let Flocke - an angry man who is the very incarnation of evil, according to Dogen - say one word. A question we should be asking ourselves is whether Flocke is just a very, very persuasive talker (much like Walter/Randall Flagg, of whom my recap two weeks ago compared to the Man in Black) or if his words actually have a controlling effect (more like Saruman of The Lord of the Rings). Which way you answer that question has to do with whether you think the "infection" is real or it's a phony Others thing and Sayid is actually exercising free will. And that of course, is one of Lost's central conflicts.
Flocke explains to Sayid that Dogen was trying to trick him into getting killed once again, which actually seems like exactly what Dogen was trying to do. For recruitment purposes, Flocke has no greater ally than the Temple Others and their baseball-loving leader. They have single-handedly driven Sayid and Claire directly into the arms of the adversary, and they're certainly a contributing factor in Jin and Sawyer (possibly) going over to the perceived dark side.
Dogen's plan backfires and instead Flocke offers Sayid an opportunity. He can have anything he wants. Anything in the world. Anything at all. And what Sayid wants is Nadia (though I should mention it's conceivable that he was referring to Shannon).
As I noted in my intro, Lost has had no shortage of such offers. In addition to Jacob and MIB making theirs, the island itself has granted its visitors the things they most desperately wanted: Kate - to be free, John - to walk again, Jin and Sun - another chance at love, Sawyer - redemption, Rose and Bernard - a long, happy life together, and so on and so forth. I wonder if Jacob and MIB can grant wishes as well as the island itself, or whether the island is powerless and it's all been the doing of these entities.
Despite his rhetoric, does anyone actually believe that Flocke will restore Sayid's beloved Nadia? I don't see that happening.
Meanwhile, the Man in Black designates Claire to deliver his message to the Temple. It seems he can't go in himself, and maybe this is why:
Though it's later suggested that Dogen's existence is the only think that prevents Flocke from entering. In any case, Claire strolls right into the Temple and asks Dogen to join Flocke for a chat. Dogen wisely refuses and has Claire thrown in a pit. He then appears to reconsider his position on Sayid and recruits him for a mission to kill Flocke with a seemingly special blade.
The irony is of course that to prove he's a "good person", Sayid must do a bad thing - he must kill. And, like most of his other acts of obedient violence, stabbing Flocke doesn't accomplish anything worthwhile.
A strong emphasis is placed on speech. Dogen warns Sayid not to let Flocke - an angry man who is the very incarnation of evil, according to Dogen - say one word. A question we should be asking ourselves is whether Flocke is just a very, very persuasive talker (much like Walter/Randall Flagg, of whom my recap two weeks ago compared to the Man in Black) or if his words actually have a controlling effect (more like Saruman of The Lord of the Rings). Which way you answer that question has to do with whether you think the "infection" is real or it's a phony Others thing and Sayid is actually exercising free will. And that of course, is one of Lost's central conflicts.
Flocke explains to Sayid that Dogen was trying to trick him into getting killed once again, which actually seems like exactly what Dogen was trying to do. For recruitment purposes, Flocke has no greater ally than the Temple Others and their baseball-loving leader. They have single-handedly driven Sayid and Claire directly into the arms of the adversary, and they're certainly a contributing factor in Jin and Sawyer (possibly) going over to the perceived dark side.
Dogen's plan backfires and instead Flocke offers Sayid an opportunity. He can have anything he wants. Anything in the world. Anything at all. And what Sayid wants is Nadia (though I should mention it's conceivable that he was referring to Shannon).
As I noted in my intro, Lost has had no shortage of such offers. In addition to Jacob and MIB making theirs, the island itself has granted its visitors the things they most desperately wanted: Kate - to be free, John - to walk again, Jin and Sun - another chance at love, Sawyer - redemption, Rose and Bernard - a long, happy life together, and so on and so forth. I wonder if Jacob and MIB can grant wishes as well as the island itself, or whether the island is powerless and it's all been the doing of these entities.
Despite his rhetoric, does anyone actually believe that Flocke will restore Sayid's beloved Nadia? I don't see that happening.
WHO COULD FORGET KEAMY?
Let's finish up the ATL. Sayid learns that his brother has been seriously wounded by the thugs he owes money to. During the hospital scene, a really funny thing happened while I was watching the episode with my family. I was so completely fixated on the African American orderly, whom I was convinced was Matthew Abbadon, that I totally missed the fact that Jack was on screen. So when I shouted, "It's Matthew Abbadon!" (and it wasn't), my girlfriend, mom and brother looked at me like I was totally nuts. Fun stuff.
Sayid, clearly still in love with Nadia, actually wants to help his brother now, but Nadia says no. She's just about the only person not encouraging Sayid to commit violence, which probably makes her the perfect romantic match for him. It's too bad that the memory of the things that he's done kept him from being with her in the ATL. I do really wonder if they shared the same history in this reality as they did in the other one.
But when Sayid utilizes his free will and makes a decision not to do something bad, destiny says differently. Omar of Widmore's mercenary team picks him up and forces him to meet with the money-lender who harmed his brother - none other than ATL Omar's mercenary team leader, Martin Christopher Keamy!
Keamy is really great. Maybe it's just me, but Kevin Durand does a terrific job in this role (both the ATL and MTL versions). Keamy is one of the few Lost characters who totally scares me. He's so off-kilter, so wildly cold and cruel. Too bad MIB can't change forms. John Locke makes sense for the recruitment phase, but once that's over I would choose to appear as Keamy if I was a disembodied cloud of smoke.
This version of Keamy is just as menacing, though he makes some good eggs (Lostpedia informs me that this is a reference to Eggtown - really?). He also wants money from Sayid's brother, leaving Sayid little choice but to grab Omar's gun and kill them both along with a nameless thug. Nadia didn't want him to do it, but it was necessary to protect her and the kids. This is Sayid's constant contradiction.
Locked in the freezer, Sayid stumbles across one of the episode's most exciting plot developments - Keamy has been holding Jin prisoner! This raises all sorts of intriguing possibilities. Jin is working for Mr. Paik, and we know that Keamy has worked for Charles Widmore, and we know that the two are semi-connected. Maybe Jin is being held prisoner due to a feud between the two? If you take a close look at the screencaps, I'm pretty sure that Keamy is wearing the gold watch that Jin was supposed to deliver.
I don't think Keamy is definitely dead. For one thing, he could still play a role if Jin's ATL storyline has to do with Widmore. Also, a fight between Keamy and Sayid on the island resulted in Keamy being shot, and he ended up surviving it that time, so maybe he will again.
Sayid, clearly still in love with Nadia, actually wants to help his brother now, but Nadia says no. She's just about the only person not encouraging Sayid to commit violence, which probably makes her the perfect romantic match for him. It's too bad that the memory of the things that he's done kept him from being with her in the ATL. I do really wonder if they shared the same history in this reality as they did in the other one.
But when Sayid utilizes his free will and makes a decision not to do something bad, destiny says differently. Omar of Widmore's mercenary team picks him up and forces him to meet with the money-lender who harmed his brother - none other than ATL Omar's mercenary team leader, Martin Christopher Keamy!
Keamy is really great. Maybe it's just me, but Kevin Durand does a terrific job in this role (both the ATL and MTL versions). Keamy is one of the few Lost characters who totally scares me. He's so off-kilter, so wildly cold and cruel. Too bad MIB can't change forms. John Locke makes sense for the recruitment phase, but once that's over I would choose to appear as Keamy if I was a disembodied cloud of smoke.
This version of Keamy is just as menacing, though he makes some good eggs (Lostpedia informs me that this is a reference to Eggtown - really?). He also wants money from Sayid's brother, leaving Sayid little choice but to grab Omar's gun and kill them both along with a nameless thug. Nadia didn't want him to do it, but it was necessary to protect her and the kids. This is Sayid's constant contradiction.
Locked in the freezer, Sayid stumbles across one of the episode's most exciting plot developments - Keamy has been holding Jin prisoner! This raises all sorts of intriguing possibilities. Jin is working for Mr. Paik, and we know that Keamy has worked for Charles Widmore, and we know that the two are semi-connected. Maybe Jin is being held prisoner due to a feud between the two? If you take a close look at the screencaps, I'm pretty sure that Keamy is wearing the gold watch that Jin was supposed to deliver.
I don't think Keamy is definitely dead. For one thing, he could still play a role if Jin's ATL storyline has to do with Widmore. Also, a fight between Keamy and Sayid on the island resulted in Keamy being shot, and he ended up surviving it that time, so maybe he will again.
THE KILL KATE PLAN IS BACK ON!
Kate returns to the Temple and receives some info from Miles, who finally had more than two lines in an episode. As soon as Kate hears about Claire, she's off to the Temple's holding cell and Miles is left wondering why no one wants to hang out with him.
The long-awaited reunion between Kate and Claire was a little underwhelming for me, and maybe the night's weakest moment. Just like Jin, Kate doesn't really lay out the Aaron situation to Claire very well. At the very least, she should have mentioned that Claire's mom is no longer in a coma and is taking care of Aaron. That might have put the Aussie at ease a bit more.
At first I thought that the giant hole was the only reason Claire didn't immediately kill Kate, but once she's within striking distance, no murder takes place, so maybe Evil Claire is all talk, no action.
The long-awaited reunion between Kate and Claire was a little underwhelming for me, and maybe the night's weakest moment. Just like Jin, Kate doesn't really lay out the Aaron situation to Claire very well. At the very least, she should have mentioned that Claire's mom is no longer in a coma and is taking care of Aaron. That might have put the Aussie at ease a bit more.
At first I thought that the giant hole was the only reason Claire didn't immediately kill Kate, but once she's within striking distance, no murder takes place, so maybe Evil Claire is all talk, no action.
IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, YOU NEED TO COME WITH ME
Sayid delivers his message to the denizens of the Temple: Jacob is dead and they have until sundown to defect to Flocke. Anyone left in the Temple will perish.
The nameless redshirt Others have never seemed particularly loyal to their masters when faced with an actual challenge to that authority. Ben spent the majority of season 3 trying to stay in power, and Flocke quickly convinced Richard's group on the beach in "Follow the Leader" that they shouldn't take orders from Jacob without meeting him. So it was no surprise to me that many of the Others (I don't know what percent - it's impossible to tell how many of these people there actually are since it changes based on the show's needs) defected without hesitation.
Still, this is a little strange. Why was it so easy for them to renounce Jacob and leave the Temple that was their home for so long? I really do wonder how much the average Other knows about Jacob or the island. How devoutly do they believe in this weird cult religion they've been following? Evidently, not very. Maybe the Others are more like the 815 survivors than we previously thought. They can't leave the island, even if they want to, they've long since given up on asking questions because people like Dogen, Richard and Ben don't give out answers, and all they want to do now is survive as best they can.
The only background Others we really care about at this point, though, are Cindy, Zach and Emma, who all leave to join Flocke. I was a little disappointed that Cindy made it out alive, not because I have anything against her, but because I really need her to die a senseless, violent death for the sake of my advancement in the Lost Fantasy League (and then for Pierre Chang to become a series regular - come on, Dharma Man!).
Speaking of the LFL, Miles (who is on my team and has had me worried for weeks now) actually got something of a reprieve last night, but I was very worried about him right until the end, just because of all the shunning he's been getting from the other Losties. When he asks Sayid if they should leave the Temple, he's completely blown off, and Sayid heads to return the Master Sword to its owner inside the Temple of Time, who is unfortunately Dogen rather than Princess Zelda.
The nameless redshirt Others have never seemed particularly loyal to their masters when faced with an actual challenge to that authority. Ben spent the majority of season 3 trying to stay in power, and Flocke quickly convinced Richard's group on the beach in "Follow the Leader" that they shouldn't take orders from Jacob without meeting him. So it was no surprise to me that many of the Others (I don't know what percent - it's impossible to tell how many of these people there actually are since it changes based on the show's needs) defected without hesitation.
Still, this is a little strange. Why was it so easy for them to renounce Jacob and leave the Temple that was their home for so long? I really do wonder how much the average Other knows about Jacob or the island. How devoutly do they believe in this weird cult religion they've been following? Evidently, not very. Maybe the Others are more like the 815 survivors than we previously thought. They can't leave the island, even if they want to, they've long since given up on asking questions because people like Dogen, Richard and Ben don't give out answers, and all they want to do now is survive as best they can.
The only background Others we really care about at this point, though, are Cindy, Zach and Emma, who all leave to join Flocke. I was a little disappointed that Cindy made it out alive, not because I have anything against her, but because I really need her to die a senseless, violent death for the sake of my advancement in the Lost Fantasy League (and then for Pierre Chang to become a series regular - come on, Dharma Man!).
Speaking of the LFL, Miles (who is on my team and has had me worried for weeks now) actually got something of a reprieve last night, but I was very worried about him right until the end, just because of all the shunning he's been getting from the other Losties. When he asks Sayid if they should leave the Temple, he's completely blown off, and Sayid heads to return the Master Sword to its owner inside the Temple of Time, who is unfortunately Dogen rather than Princess Zelda.
SPRING FORWARD, FALL BACK
The last 10 minutes of "Sundown" should be remembered as one of the strongest sequences of events in Lost history. It starts with a terrific exchange between Dogen and Sayid on the steps of the Spring. Dogen knows instantly that Sayid allowed Flocke to speak, which had me half-wondering if maybe Sayid really could have killed him if he hadn't utter any words yet (Flocke manages "Hello Sayid" before he's stabbed).
We are then treated to the closest thing we'll probably ever get to a flashback for Dogen. The man simply explains how he came to be on the island. A former banker in Japan, Dogen had too much to drink and was in a car accident with his 12-year-old son. Remember that we've actually met this son before - he was with his father at David Shephard's concert. It was implied that, like David, he had a musical gift and was also a "candidate" of sorts.
Dogen implies that his son was killed but doesn't actually say so. Jacob then came to see him and promised that his son would live, but Dogen had to work for Jacob and never see his son again (which closely reminded me of Ben's deal with Juliet to save her sister - doesn't that seem so long ago?). If the boy was seriously injured but not quite dead, Jacob could probably have brought him to the Spring in the Temple to save him. But I found myself thinking that if the boy was actually dead, maybe Jacob meant he would save him by setting into motion a chain of events that would lead to an alternate reality where his son was still alive.
Actually, maybe that will be the ultimate manner of wish fulfillment: everything the Losties desire, we will see them gain it in the ATL.
Dogen's story seems to win the sympathy of Sayid, who says, "Jacob drives a hard bargain." This was an episode about hard bargains - about difficult choices and desperate hopes for distant second chances. Sure, it's free will, but does free will really matter when one choice is so undesirable? Does Sayid really have a choice to do the things he does if he believes not doing them will harm the people he cares about?
But just as Sayid seemed to make peace with who he truly is at the end of "He's Our You" when he shot young Ben, he does so again, seizing Dogen, throwing him into the Spring and drowning him. As Dogen dies, the baseball - his son's baseball, evidently - slips from his hand and floats to the surface of the water. It was a very intriguing image that made me think that Dogen's son wasn't saved until that moment. Maybe part of Dogen's deal with Jacob was that the samurai would have to die before his son's life would be secure. I can't reason through why Jacob would have wanted Dogen to die, though, as it ends up resulting in the Temple massacre. Then again, Jacob clearly saw the massacre coming a mile away and did nothing to prevent it, only working to save the two people he absolutely needed. Is this really the good guy?
In any case, Lennon lasts about ten seconds longer than his master before Sayid slits his throat and tosses him into the Spring like a piece of trash. He would have to be dead before he hit the water, though, in order to stay dead, wouldn't he? The healing Spring isn't exactly the best place to leave the dying bodies of your enemies. If the Spring is truly broken (which it probably is) it won't matter, but there's definitely a chance that either Dogen or Lennon won't stay dead for long.
Then comes the hour's greatest irony - Benjamin Linus appears to rescue Sayid. This is absolutely brilliant storytelling. Ben confronts Sayid, the man who captured and tortured him in 2004, who then joined forces with him shortly after they both left the island. Sayid killed for Ben to avenge Nadia's death and to protect his friends, eventually returning to the island 30 years in the past to once again meet Ben for the first time, a younger Ben who hadn't yet become a monster. Sayid shot him with the intention of killing him and preventing his dark future, but instead only guaranteed that it would happen the same way. Ben was healed of his gunshot wound in the Spring, the very Spring that Dogen later drowned Sayid in, the same Spring at which Sayid now sits, overlooking the men he has murdered in it for a chance at saving Nadia. And there stands Ben, promising a chance to escape, but it's as if he's saying there's still time left to change it all, to fix everything, for goodness to prevail. "Not for me," Sayid answers, a slightly demonic look about him.
This look, in addition to the weird rash, is pretty much the only thing that led me to believe Sayid is possessed or not actually Sayid. Everything he did this episode could be explained without an "infection" explanation. The point of his ATL flashes was to remind us that Sayid is willing to kill people in an instant if it means protecting Nadia. Sayid murdering Dogen and Lennon - who had repeatedly harmed, lied and attempted to kill him - in order to have a chance at Flocke restoring Nadia in some way, made perfect sense to me even without a brainwashing explanation.
We are then treated to the closest thing we'll probably ever get to a flashback for Dogen. The man simply explains how he came to be on the island. A former banker in Japan, Dogen had too much to drink and was in a car accident with his 12-year-old son. Remember that we've actually met this son before - he was with his father at David Shephard's concert. It was implied that, like David, he had a musical gift and was also a "candidate" of sorts.
Dogen implies that his son was killed but doesn't actually say so. Jacob then came to see him and promised that his son would live, but Dogen had to work for Jacob and never see his son again (which closely reminded me of Ben's deal with Juliet to save her sister - doesn't that seem so long ago?). If the boy was seriously injured but not quite dead, Jacob could probably have brought him to the Spring in the Temple to save him. But I found myself thinking that if the boy was actually dead, maybe Jacob meant he would save him by setting into motion a chain of events that would lead to an alternate reality where his son was still alive.
Actually, maybe that will be the ultimate manner of wish fulfillment: everything the Losties desire, we will see them gain it in the ATL.
Dogen's story seems to win the sympathy of Sayid, who says, "Jacob drives a hard bargain." This was an episode about hard bargains - about difficult choices and desperate hopes for distant second chances. Sure, it's free will, but does free will really matter when one choice is so undesirable? Does Sayid really have a choice to do the things he does if he believes not doing them will harm the people he cares about?
But just as Sayid seemed to make peace with who he truly is at the end of "He's Our You" when he shot young Ben, he does so again, seizing Dogen, throwing him into the Spring and drowning him. As Dogen dies, the baseball - his son's baseball, evidently - slips from his hand and floats to the surface of the water. It was a very intriguing image that made me think that Dogen's son wasn't saved until that moment. Maybe part of Dogen's deal with Jacob was that the samurai would have to die before his son's life would be secure. I can't reason through why Jacob would have wanted Dogen to die, though, as it ends up resulting in the Temple massacre. Then again, Jacob clearly saw the massacre coming a mile away and did nothing to prevent it, only working to save the two people he absolutely needed. Is this really the good guy?
In any case, Lennon lasts about ten seconds longer than his master before Sayid slits his throat and tosses him into the Spring like a piece of trash. He would have to be dead before he hit the water, though, in order to stay dead, wouldn't he? The healing Spring isn't exactly the best place to leave the dying bodies of your enemies. If the Spring is truly broken (which it probably is) it won't matter, but there's definitely a chance that either Dogen or Lennon won't stay dead for long.
Then comes the hour's greatest irony - Benjamin Linus appears to rescue Sayid. This is absolutely brilliant storytelling. Ben confronts Sayid, the man who captured and tortured him in 2004, who then joined forces with him shortly after they both left the island. Sayid killed for Ben to avenge Nadia's death and to protect his friends, eventually returning to the island 30 years in the past to once again meet Ben for the first time, a younger Ben who hadn't yet become a monster. Sayid shot him with the intention of killing him and preventing his dark future, but instead only guaranteed that it would happen the same way. Ben was healed of his gunshot wound in the Spring, the very Spring that Dogen later drowned Sayid in, the same Spring at which Sayid now sits, overlooking the men he has murdered in it for a chance at saving Nadia. And there stands Ben, promising a chance to escape, but it's as if he's saying there's still time left to change it all, to fix everything, for goodness to prevail. "Not for me," Sayid answers, a slightly demonic look about him.
This look, in addition to the weird rash, is pretty much the only thing that led me to believe Sayid is possessed or not actually Sayid. Everything he did this episode could be explained without an "infection" explanation. The point of his ATL flashes was to remind us that Sayid is willing to kill people in an instant if it means protecting Nadia. Sayid murdering Dogen and Lennon - who had repeatedly harmed, lied and attempted to kill him - in order to have a chance at Flocke restoring Nadia in some way, made perfect sense to me even without a brainwashing explanation.
TEMPLE TEMPEST
More evidence that Lost is going Biblical: just like the Temple of Jerusalem in the Old Testament, the Others' Temple is laid to waste and its followers scattered. The Smoke Monster obliterates every last living person who dared to remain there in defiance of him.
If the Dharma Initiative, the 815 survivors, and the Others are the three major groups of people we've come to know over the past 109 hours of Lost, we have now witnessed the systematic destruction of all three of those groups. While it's more difficult to emotionally connect with the deaths of the Others than it was with the DI during the Purge or Losties after the flaming arrow attack, I couldn't help but feel some sympathy for these hopelessly confused and manipulated people as the Smoke Monster tore them apart.
Kate and Miles begin fleeing together but are quickly separated. I thought this was absolutely going to be the end for Miles. When he trapped himself in that room and there was banging on the other side of the door, I really thought it was over for him. So when Ilana busted through the door, I was totally shocked and relieved. And if memory serves me right, Miles and Ilana have never met, meaning the fact that Ilana clearly recognized or knew of him is significant. Perhaps he's on some list of Jacob's after all.
Frank, Sun and Ben are there, too, and Miles quickly confirms for Sun that she's just about the only person who hasn't run into Jin yet. I'm thinking the Sun and Jin reunion can't be more than a few hours away.
As this group - possibly the only group of definitively good guys left, other than Hurley and possibly Jack - leaves the Temple, another stands proudly in its wake. And as a super-creepy, super-effective version of Claire and Aaron's favorite song, "Catch A Falling Star", commenses, Sayid, Claire and Kate meet up with Flocke and his recruits (where are Sawyer and Jin, I wonder? Oh, and Richard, for that matter?). Sayid and Claire are happy to be with him and definitely bad. Kate, though, was totally a fish out of water. She had no idea what was going on.
But to her credit, Flocke didn't seem to quite know what to do with her, either. The look he gave her said one of two things to me.
1) "Eh, she's already crossed off, so I don't really care about her. Whatever!"
Or,
2) "What? Kate! I forgot all about her/never even knew about her! She has been totally neglected in my cosmic battle with Jacob!"
I think the producers are really messing with us on the whole Kate thing this season. We'll have to wait to see what significance she ends up having, if any.
If the Dharma Initiative, the 815 survivors, and the Others are the three major groups of people we've come to know over the past 109 hours of Lost, we have now witnessed the systematic destruction of all three of those groups. While it's more difficult to emotionally connect with the deaths of the Others than it was with the DI during the Purge or Losties after the flaming arrow attack, I couldn't help but feel some sympathy for these hopelessly confused and manipulated people as the Smoke Monster tore them apart.
Kate and Miles begin fleeing together but are quickly separated. I thought this was absolutely going to be the end for Miles. When he trapped himself in that room and there was banging on the other side of the door, I really thought it was over for him. So when Ilana busted through the door, I was totally shocked and relieved. And if memory serves me right, Miles and Ilana have never met, meaning the fact that Ilana clearly recognized or knew of him is significant. Perhaps he's on some list of Jacob's after all.
Frank, Sun and Ben are there, too, and Miles quickly confirms for Sun that she's just about the only person who hasn't run into Jin yet. I'm thinking the Sun and Jin reunion can't be more than a few hours away.
As this group - possibly the only group of definitively good guys left, other than Hurley and possibly Jack - leaves the Temple, another stands proudly in its wake. And as a super-creepy, super-effective version of Claire and Aaron's favorite song, "Catch A Falling Star", commenses, Sayid, Claire and Kate meet up with Flocke and his recruits (where are Sawyer and Jin, I wonder? Oh, and Richard, for that matter?). Sayid and Claire are happy to be with him and definitely bad. Kate, though, was totally a fish out of water. She had no idea what was going on.
But to her credit, Flocke didn't seem to quite know what to do with her, either. The look he gave her said one of two things to me.
1) "Eh, she's already crossed off, so I don't really care about her. Whatever!"
Or,
2) "What? Kate! I forgot all about her/never even knew about her! She has been totally neglected in my cosmic battle with Jacob!"
I think the producers are really messing with us on the whole Kate thing this season. We'll have to wait to see what significance she ends up having, if any.
ONE OF US, ONE OF THEM
The narrative of Lost has always been one of opposed factions. Dharma, the Others. The fuselage, the tail section. The beach, the caves. Man of science, man of faith. Fate, free will. John's group, Jack's group. The Oceanic 6, those left behind. 1977, 2007. Good, evil. Light, dark. Black, white. Jacob, the Man in Black. But it's past sundown now, and wherever our characters have aligned could very well be where they stay for the rest of the story.
Will those who have cast their lot with the Man in Black reap the rewards he has promised each and every one of them? Or will loyalty to Jacob prove to be the best course of action, despite his track record of wasting the lives of his followers as if they hardly mattered? Or will some new alternative present itself that escapes the rigid "two sides" dichotomy into which Lost always tries to fit itself?
A hard bargain, indeed.
Until next week, thanks for reading.
- Robby "Robz888"
Will those who have cast their lot with the Man in Black reap the rewards he has promised each and every one of them? Or will loyalty to Jacob prove to be the best course of action, despite his track record of wasting the lives of his followers as if they hardly mattered? Or will some new alternative present itself that escapes the rigid "two sides" dichotomy into which Lost always tries to fit itself?
A hard bargain, indeed.
Until next week, thanks for reading.
- Robby "Robz888"
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