Last night on LOST, we went to Tikrit, Moscow, Los Angeles, Santo Domingo and the island... not bad for an hour, minus commercials. Oldham ("I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl") feeds Sayid’s sweet tooth. Juliet thinks it’s time to stop playing house. Little Ben serves Sayid a chicken salad sammich; and Sayid serves Ben up a dish of cold revenge.
Lost 5x10: He’s Our You
Last night’s episode of LOST was a strange one. We’ve come to see Saywer in the last few episodes as in control. That control seemed to be on the verge of falling apart with both his love life and “playing house” with Juliet because Kate is back, and with his control of the island’s security between not getting Sayid to comply, a flaming DHARMA bus and barracks fire. And we saw Sayid go from confident, strategic and suave alpha male to captured (by a woman), imprisoned, emotional and vengeful. It’s an uncomfortable place as a viewer. But LOST is certainly known for challenging our comfort.
Putting the big questions of the episode up front. Comment with your thoughts/answers below.
Questions:
We don’t really believe Little Ben is dead, do we? Seems that would create a paradox which Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof have been adamant would not be the case. Faraday’s assertions that the future is the future – how can the future for all those folks move forward without Ben?
So did Ben HAVE to die? In order to lead the Others, even to go to the Others, did Ben have to die, like Locke or perhaps others before him (Christian, Jacob, Richard)? And if so, did Richard tell Ben that he had to die during that initial meeting four years earlier?
------
Tikrit, Iraq (early 1970s?):
A father pushes his boy to slaughter a chicken, and his younger brother, Sayid, comes to his brother’s aid and breaks a chicken’s neck. His father praises the act as that of a man. An honest to goodness early character flashback!
Moscow:
Post-Oceanix 6 Sayid pulls off one last kill for Ben. Andropov, the target, offers Sayid cash, but he shoots him. Meeting Ben afterwards, Ben tells him he’s done – they’ve eliminated everyone in Widmore’s organization. Sayid is seemingly distraught and asks Ben what he should do now and Ben tells him he’s free to live his life. (Call backs to when Ben told Walt and Michael they were free, or when he told Juliet she was free to leave the island.)
Geek alert: Russian license plate was E608PC 158.
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic:
Sayid’s working for Build Our World after being set “free” by Ben. Ben shows up there and says that Locke’s been killed and they’re in danger. He says that Widmore’s worker has been waiting for Ben or Sayid outside of Hurley’s hospital. Ben entices Sayid to kill the man and says that it’s in his nature to be a killer. Sayid says he’s not a killer, but manipulator Ben knows what buttons to push.
Los Angeles 2007: Sayid is at a bar drinking $120/glass MacCutcheon whiskey. He says he’s trying to change, but she says that when you are good at something, people will always try to convince you to stay the same.
Sayid and Ilana are in a hotel room and she thwacks him and reveals she’s a bounty hunter working for the family of Peter Avalino, the man Sayid shot on the golf course in the Seychelles. She has been hired to bring him back to Guam.
At LAX, Sayid sees Hurley and Kate, and flips out. We see Ben walk onto the plane, and Sayid asks if Ilana works for Ben. She says no, and Sayid’s emotions continue to take over.
Geek alert: A bit of a stretch, perhaps, but does the Ajira logo looks like Eye of Horus? (Thanks, Phil, for this one.)Island, 1977: Phil of the Eyebrows is cleaning a gun at his security post outside the cell where Sayid is being held. Little Ben shows up with another sandwich. Little Ben asks Sayid if Richard sent him. He tells him that he met Richard four years ago and he promised to help Ben. He offers to help Sayid if he’s patient.
Geek alert: Ben offers Sayid a book by anthropologist Carlos Castaneda called A Separate Reality. The allegedly non-fiction book details Castenada’s apprenticeship under a sorcerer named Don Juan Matus while under the influences of peyote and a smoked form of mushrooms. The purpose of these trips was to allow him to “See”, or “perceive energy directly as it flows through the universe”. Castenada also claimed that Don Juan had identified him as having the aura of a “nagual” who could become a leader of a party of “Seers”. This realm was referred to as nonordinary reality, a reality that was a different state than those of humans going about their everyday lives. (Sounds a lot like what Locke went through in the sweat lodge he built in season three.)Horace and Radzinsky question Sayid. Sayid, master at interrogation, gives up nothing.
Juliet realizes she and Sawyer aren’t going to be able to play house any more. (A call back to Kate’s conversation with Sawyer before the Oceanic 6 were rescued.) Horace tells Sawyer that he’s going to have to turn Sayid over to Oldham for answers.
Sawyer goes to the jail cell and head butts Sayid hoping that he will pretend to be a hostile defector. Sayid says no, threatening Sawyer’s con. Sawyer’s game of house/house of cards is falling.
At the commissary, Chef Hurley has served up some waffles and ham with delicious dipping sauces. Hurley metaphorically kicks Kate in the gut by clueing her in to the painfully obvious fact that Saywer and Juliet were living together, like not as roommates.
Geek alert: Geronimo Jackson poster in the background of the mess hall. Also, go to iTunes to download a free track from Geronimo Jackson that’s rumored to actually be by a California retro rock band called the Donkeys.Roger Linus, Ben’s father, is mopping outside Sayid’s cell and taunts him that he wasn’t smart enough to not get caught, not realizing Sayid could shut down that argument by pointing out that he was mopping up the floor. Little Ben walked in with a sammich for Sayid and Roger flipped out.
Saywer zaps Sayid and they take him into the jungle where Oldham - a creepy old dude played by William Sanderson who played Larry, of Newhart’s Larry, Darryl and Darryl fame – has Sayid restrained to a tree. He gives Sayid a sugarcube dosed with a truth serum.
Sayid’s truth serum has kicked in. He starts spouting out the truth and they seem to think they overdosed him. He reveals what he knows about The Flame, The Pearl and The Swan stations and that they are all going to be killed in the future.
Juliet’s talking to Kate in the auto shop when they bring Sayid back. A DHARMA panel converges to decide what to do with him and they agree – unanimously, including Sawyer – to kill Sayid.
Sawyer tries to free Sayid, who refuses. Sayid says he is fine there and he knows his purpose there. (Sayid's sugarcube incident seems to have given him clarity about the island and his purpose - like the sweat lodge experience. Did he encounter anyone (Jacob? Richard? Christian?) while he was tripping?)
Sawyer reluctantly goes to seek the help of Jack, but Kate answers the door. He asks her why they came back and before she can answer, a flaming DHARMA van goes careening into building 15.
Little Ben set up the diversion so he could free Sayid. Ben had been beaten by Roger and he frees Sayid when he promises to take him to the Others.
Little Ben lets Sayid out of the jail and they run. In the jungle, Jin finds them and Sayid knocks him out, takes his gun and shoots Little Ben. Sayid was a prisoner and feels he's a prisoner of his own destiny, as spelled out by Ben.
No comments:
Post a Comment