The question of 'good and evil' has always been prevalent in the narrative of LOST. But there has never been as easy answer. Characters we thought were altruistically good revealed shades of darkness as time progressed. Characters we believed, without a shadow of a doubt, were essentially evil have displayed moments of moral integrity.
Since the beginning we've been trying to identify 'The Big Bad.' In film and television, 'The Big Bad' is the ultimate force of evil behind all others, sometimes not revealed until the final act of a story. A classic example would be Emperor Palpaltine in theStar Wars saga. In the Original Trilogy Darth Vader is first established as the main villain; the antagonist who stands in the way of our hero, Luke Skywalker. However, we soon find out that he receives his orders from a higher power, The Emperor. The Emperor is "The Man Behind The Curtain,' the true master of the dark side of the force.. or as Dogen says in this episode, 'Evil Incarnate.'
We first believed Ben to be our 'Big Bad.' After all, he was the leader of the merciless Others. They terrorized our survivors. Kidnapped them. Murdered them. Ben was the one standing in the way of Jack and company escaping from the island. The one who abducted Jack, Kate and Sawyer and coerced Jack into performing spinal surgery on him. Who shot John Locke and left him for dead after he heard a mysterious voice in The Cabin. Surely this man was a bad man. The ultimate force of evil on the island.
Until it turned out.. he wasn't. For even Benjamin Linus was just as flawed and lost as any other person on the island. As we learned more about him, it was hard to classify him as specifically 'evil' or the 'bad guy.' His mother died in childhood and his father hated him his whole life for it. And he had one true soft spot for his daughter, Alex. Sure, he kidnapped her from Rousseau as a baby, but only on orders from Charles Widemore. Further, Widemore told Benjamin to kill the child and he refused.
And so we come to Charles Widemore. Now when Season Four came around many were convinced that we had finally found the real 'Big Bad.' Ben was a 'good guy' now, fighting off those Freighter Mercenaries (more on the AWESOME return of Keamy later.. don't you love how everything in my notes connect?). And these freighter mercenaries were bad. They blew up DHARMAville. Killed Ben's daughter in cold blood. And they were hired by the former leader of the Others, Charles Widemore.
Widemore was banished by the island by Ben for breaking 'the rules' (which apparently incldued starting a company outside the island and starting a family). Widemore was desperate to return and gain back what he honestly thought Ben stole from him. He finally found a way back and sent the freighter to find the island with one goal in mind: extracting Benjamin Linus from the island, no matter the cost.
I was beginning to become convinced that Widemore was the ultimate force of evil on this show. And I was even ready to accept that Ben was truly one of the good guys. But then there was that scene back in the Season 4 episode, 'The Shape of Things To Come,' where Ben (days after moving the wheel to move the island and waking up in Tunisia) confronts Widemore in his London apartment in the middle of the night? You don't? It's a terrific scene which foreshadows so much to come in the episodes (and following season) to come. Ben sneaks into Widemore's apartment and wakes him up. He stands at a distance half of his face in the light, half shrouded in darkness.
Ben: I'm here, Charles, because you murdered my daughter.
Widemore: Don't stand there, looking at me with those horrible eyes of yours and lay the blame for the death of that poor girl on me, when we both know very well I didn't murder her at all, Benjamin. You did.
Ben: No, that's not true.
Widemore: Yes, Benjamin, it is. You creep into my bedroom in the dead of night, like a rat, and have the audacity to pretend that you're the victim? I know who you are, boy. What you are. I know that everything you have you took from me. So, once again I ask you: Why are you here?
Ben: I'm here, Charles, to tell you that I'm going to kill your daughter. Penelope, is it? And once she's gone, once she's dead... then you'll understand how I feel. And you'll wish you hadn't changed the rules.
We feel for Ben, because in this episode we see him in mourning for his daughter, Alex. But at the same time we're outraged that he's threatened t kill Penny, Desmond's Penny. And Widemore insinuates so much. Remember at the time we had no idea he was the former leader of the Others. But it is implied that Ben took something valuable from him. So who was this man?
In Season Five, deeper layers of Charles Widemore were revealed. He pleads with Desmond to keep Penny far away from all of this, fearing for her safety. He helped John find those who had left the island. He goes to the hospital to check on Desmond's health after Ben shot him.
Again, to define a person as strictly 'good' or 'evil' has never been an easy task on LOST.
This brings us to the Season Five finale, 'The Incident.' I've covered the opening scene before so I'll just write out the highlights here. Jacob, the leader of the Others (and the supposed force of good on the island) is finally shown. At the same time we meet his nemesis, The Man In Black, who threatens to one day find a loophole to kill him.
And this leads to the big question of the year: who is the 'good guy' and who is the 'bad guy.' Or in 'Twilight' terms (shout out to my little sis, Kimmy!.... who never reads these): are you on 'Team Jacob' or 'Team Man In Black.'
"For every man there is a scale. On one side of the scale there is good. On the other side, evil.'
I don't believe that when Dogen says this he means it all to be so black and white. I believe he is saying that inside all of us is the capacity to do good and the capacity to commit evil acts. This makes sense. How else can you explain a world that gave us both Ghandi and Hitler?
Unfortunately for Sayid, he has been claimed. And according to Dogen, he has been claimed by a force of evil incarnate: The Smoke Monster, or The Man in Black.
But here's the thing.. how do we necessarily know that The Man In Black is evil. Dogen sure seems to think he is. And so does Jacob. Then again, Jacob is the one who interfered in all of our character's lives in order to push them towards the island. The Man In Black told Sawyer himself that there lives have been wasted because of Jacob bringing them there. And if the flash-sideways have given us a look at a reality without any influence by Jacob, then this definitely seems to be true.. that was until 'Sundown.'
See, for the two weeks before we saw two characters, Jack and Locke, finally make progress with their lond-standing demons. They managed to reconcile their problems and move forward somewhat with their lives. Locke is still in the wheelchair in the flash-sideways, but he still has Helen and a job as a substitute teacher that makes him happy. Jack still loses his father before he can find any closure with him, but can come to terms with that through his relationship with his own son.
But poor, poor Sayid. No matter what reality he is in, there is one constant: he is a killer.
There's a lot of talk in this episode about what kind of man Sayid is. Whether he is good or evil and what he is capable of doing. By episode's end he unleashes the Monster upon the Temple after killing Dogen and Lennon. And in that moment he succumbs to The Sickness. He becomes a zombie in a way, fully claimed by The Man In Black.
So here's the question? Did Sayid turn evil because of The Sickness.. or was it always inside of him? Is this 'killer' Sayid's true instict and did he finally give into his dark side. We have always liked to think that no matter what Sayid has done, he is truly a good man.
He may have tortured in the past while he worked for The Republic Guard in Iraq, but he was sorry for what he did.
And then when he came to the island, he tortured again, this time on Sawyer. But he was sorry for what he did.
Then he became a killer for Ben when he left the island. But he was sorry for what he... see what I'm getting at?
In the flash-sideways, Sayid buys his niece and nephew boomerangs from Australia. Since this is LOST, the boomerang obviously has more meaning (or it doesn't and I wasted a few good hours last week analyzing a curved wooden stick... let's go with that it does have meaning).
What is the point of a boomerang? You throw it across a distance and then it travels back to where it started from. Sayid is a human boomerang.
He tries to distance himself from being a killer, believing that it is not his true nature. But over time (in whatever reality) Sayid always comes around to torturing and killing again. It's almost unavoidable.
When did this happen? Did he become this torturer, this killer, during the Gulf War? Originally we simply believed he tortured for the Republican Gaurd on anyone who opposed Saddam's regime. But we later find out it was Americans who taught him to torture in the first place, on his own commanding officer no less.
We find this out in the Season Two episode, 'One of Them.' In this episode, Rousseau brings Sayid into the jungle. When they get there, they find a man trapped in a net. This man claims his name is Henry Gale (he is later revealed to be the leader of the Others, Benjamin Linus), and that he crashed on the island. Rousseau responds that he is an Other and hands him over to Sayid.
Rousseau: He is one of them. Tie him up. You should take him to your doctor. He's no good to you dead.
Sayid: And then what?
Rousseau: You talk to him, Sayid. As I recall that is what you do.
Sayid made a vow weeks earlier, after torturing Sawyer, never to torture again (this of course broke an earlier vow to never torture again). But at this moment, Sayid is in a damaged state of mind. His latest love, Shannon, died in his arms weeks earlier. And if we know anything about Sayid, aside from the fact that he is a killer, it is also that he is deeply romantic. He is often betrayed and led astray by his feelings to women (this will come back around again during 'Sundown'').
Sayid soon becomes convinced that 'Henry' is an Other and demands answers from him. When he doesn't get them things turn ugly.
I was 23 years old when the Americans came to my country. I was a good man. I was a soldier. And when they left, I was something different. For the next 6 years I did things I wish I could erase from my memory; things which I never thought myself to be capable of. But I did come to learn this: there was a part of me which was always capable. You want to know who I am? My name is Sayid Jarrah, and I am a torturer. - Sayid
Is the essence of Sayid's that he is a killer. He says right here that he was ALWAYS capable of committing these horrible acts. In Season Five's, 'He's Our You,' we are given flashbacks to Sayid as a little boy. He is playing with his brother, Omer, outside his house. His father pulls Omer aside. He demands that Omer kill a chicken; that it is a rite of passafe in becoming a man. Omer refuses and their father leaves.
Sayid puts a hand on his older brother's shoulder. He lays down some chicken feed in front of him. The bird approaches and Sayid lifts him up into his arms. And then suddenly he snaps it's neck. The father walks back and commends Sayid, 'Well, at least one of you will be a man.'
Even at this age, the killer was always inside of Sayid. It was just waiting to be released. Later in this episode we find Sayid in Santa Domingo 2007. He is building homes for charity, trying to wash his hands clean of killing for Ben for the last three years. Ben approaches him to tell him that John has died (leaving out of course that he killed him). He lies to Sayid and tells him the people that killed him are now watching Hugo at his mental institution.
Sayid: And that's why you're here? You actually came all this way to suggest that I kill this man?
Ben: You don't want to?
Sayid: What makes you think I want to?
Ben: Because, Sayid... to put it simply, you're capable of things that most other men aren't. Every choice you've made in your life, whether it was to murder or to torture, it hasn't really been a choice at all, has it? It's in your nature. It's what you are. You're a killer, Sayid.
Sayid: I'm not what you think I am. I don't like killing.
BEN: Well, then I apologize. I was mistaken about you.
Later in the episode, we find Sayid drinking a very expensive glass of MacCutcheon at a bar. FUN FACT: McCutcheaon is the scotch that Widemore would not share with Desmond in Season Three's, 'Flashes Before Your Eyes.' Widemore tells Desmond that McCutcheon (the man the scotch was named after) was a great man and that Desmond will never be a great man; to share with him would be insulting.
Ilana, who we have seen a little more of this season (her of the infamous, 'Shadow of the Statue' question) approaches Sayid. They enter a discussion about their jobs:
Ilana: So what did you do?
Sayid: The only thing I was ever good at.
Ilana: Then why did you quit?
Sayid: I'm trying to change.
Ilana: I know why you're sad now.
Sayid: Do you?
Ilana: When you are that good at something, there are always going to be people who tempt you into staying the same.
Even though Sayid has always had the killer instinct inside of him, he is not a boomerang by choice. Someone has to throw him. Unfortunately for Sayid, he is thrown over and over again, pushed and pulled into giving into that side of him he so desperately wishes to forever put away.
And that is the tragedy of Sayid Jarrah.
"You said that there is still good in your soul. Then prove it."
Sayid finally confronts Dogen at the start of this episode and demands answers. Sayid has always been the character who pushed most for answers on this island. And since they now directly apply to him more than ever, he's even more direct. Dogen explains that the machine measures good and evil inside a person and that Sayid's tipped the wrong way.
What follows is the coolest fucking fight scene we've had on LOST since Sayid and Keamy came to blows in the Season 4 finale (KEAMY ROCKS). After two minutes of awesomeness, Dogen finally pins Sayid down and is about to stab him with a knife when his baseball falls off the desk. And suddenly, he let's Sayid go and tells him to leave.
Why did he stop? We later find out that the baseball belonged to his son. Before Dogen came to the island he was a very successful businessman and one day, after a big promotion, he went ut celebrating. He drank too much and then picked up his son from baseball. There was a car accident. Dogen survived, but his son was on the verge of death.
Jacob came to him. He told him he could save his son, but that Dogen would have to move to the island and would have a new job there. The baseball is Dogen's last link to his son and the outside world. It is also a reminder that he made a promise to Jacob. And part of that promise includes protecting that Candidates. It is against the rules for Dogen to kill Sayid. This is why he could not kill him himself. Why he tried to get Jack to kill Sayid at first and then (possibly, depending on who you believe) then The Monster to try to kill him.
Outside the Temple, Claire and Flocke (The Man In Black) stand at the edge of the ring of ash. Claire asks why Flocke is making her go inside to do what needs to be done. Flocke responds that if he could, he would not be asking her. Claire asks that if she goes in there, will she get her son back. Flocke answers, 'I always do what I say.' This is important. For all the talk of good and evil, The Man in Black is much more of a straight-shooter than Jacob ever is. He manipulates the truth to achieve his goals.
Claire asks if Flocke is going to hurt them. 'Only the ones who won't listen,' he replies.
Sayid packs up to leave as everyone around him continues to stare because, well, Sayid's technically a zombie. He tells Miles that he's leaving because the Others think he's evil. He finds it surprising they'd want him dead since they brought him back to life.
Miles explains to him that the Others didn't bring him back; that he was dead for two hours and that they were surprised as they were when he woke back up.. that whatever brought Sayid back, it wasn't them.
Suddenly, Claire enters the scene and announces that Flocke wants to see Dogen outside The Temple. Dogen states that he is not a fool and that the Monster will kill him if he goes outside. Claire suggests he send someone he won't kill.
Dogen brings Sayid back inside. He tells Sayid that Claire is under the influence of an 'angry man.' This man was trapped for years, but now that Jacob is gone, he is free. He says this man is evvilllllll: 'The Big Bad.'
He hands Sayid a dagger and tells him that he wants him to kill this man. He warns that this man will take the form of someone Sayid knows, someone that has died. And that in order to kill him, as soon as he appears the dagger must be plunged into his chest. If he allows him to speak, it is already too late.
"What if I told you that you could have anything you wanted. What if I said you can have anything in the entire world?"
Sayid marches into the jungle, because he is a good soldier who does what he is told. Kate approaches him and Sayid tells her to ask Miles to catch her up.
Miles gives her the 411, including the fact that that hottie-hot hot Australian chick is back. Kate gets super excited, not knowing that Claire has taken the train to crazy-town. Hmm, wonder where Claire would land on the 'Hot-Crazy' scale? Oh, you don't know what the 'Hot-Crazy' scale is? Barney Stinson will explain in this informative video:
http://www.youtube.com/wat
(yes, I am a shameless 'How I Met Your Mother' fan)
Anyway, Sayid's in the jungle and he's got his knife and he's ready to kill a bitch. Suddenly, the leaves start russling and that 'tikka-tikka' noise of the monster gets louder and louder. Sayid takes out his knife and then BOOM, Flocke appears. AND HE GETS OUT TWO WORDS BEFORE SAYID STABS HIM! Dammit, it's already too late.
Sayid stabs him, but to no avail. Terry O'Quinn plays this perfectly. First confused, then disgruntled and then just plain old mocking.
'Now, why'd you go and do that?
Haha, hillarious.
Sayid asks Flocke what he is. Flocke responds that he must have some idea since he stabbed him (without even saying, 'Hello.' How fucking rude, Sayid!). Sayid tells him that they referred to Flocke as 'evil incarnate.' Flocke brushes this off, almost insulted at that term. Again, Flocke does not see himself as evil. He truly believes Jacob is the bad guy in all this. He just wants to go home.
Flocke tells Sayid he feels sorry for him; that he believes Dogen knew he had no chance of killing Flocke and thought he would kill Sayid in retaliation. To further drive home his point, he guesses that this wasn't the first time this has happened, getting someone else to kill him.
Sayid responds, 'No,' and Flocke declares, 'Then SHAME on you for being talked into so easily.'
Sayid: And what is it you are trying to talk me into?
Flocke: Sorry?
Sayid: You haven't killed me, clearly there's something you want.
Flocke: I just want you to deliver a message, that's all.
Sayid: Then why didn't you just have Claire deliver it?
Flocke: Because it would mean a lot more coming from you. Sayid, if you'll do this for me... what if I told you that you could have anything you wanted. What if I said you can have anything in the entire world?
Sayid: I would tell you that the only thing I ever wanted, died in my arms, and I'll never see it again.
Flocke: What if you could?
THEORY OF THE WEEK: The flash-sideways are a result of a deal with the devil the characters make with Flocke. A deal with the devil. And if this is true, could 'home' for the Monster be this flash-sideways universe? What if these flash-sideways take place after the end of the show.
Essentially, Sayid is making his deal with The Devil. And as we know, there is always a catch to making a deal with the devil. The cost is usually your soul.
So what do you guys think? Did Dogen want Flocke to kill Sayid or did Flocke not die because Sayid allowed him to speak before he stabbed him.
It's kind of irrelevant at this point. Flocke is tempting him, just as Satan tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit. Sayid is already infected with The Sickness. A chance to give his lover another chance at life could very well be the thing to tip him over. In a way, he already considers himself a lost cause (more on that in the flash-forward section) and if the last noble thing he can do is to bring her back then he's going to take that chance. His soul is already lost. It means nothing to him to sell it.
He's coming, Kate! He's coming and they can't stop him!
Back at The Temple Kate finally gets to see Claire again after all these years... but it's not the reunion she was expecting. Our poor, delusional Claire is being held in a snake pit, singing 'Catch a Falling Star and Put It In Your Pocket' to herself. This is the song her father sang to her as a baby, the song she was going to sing to Aaron had she had more time to raise him. When the Others kidnapped her, this song played in the mobile above a crib in a nursery they made for her. Heck, even Kate ended up singing it for Aaron at one point.
This sweet, innocent song- Claire and Aaron's song- has become twisted and haunting. Again, Claire is just breaking my heart this season. To see the most innocent character on this show in this state is just so sad. Go back to this scene, look how she interacts with Kate before Kate tells her she took Aaron. She's like a little girl. Look at the way Emile de Ravin uses her hands. It's like an 8 year old. Good job, Emile.
The renunion of Aaron's mothers goes well at first- until Kate tells Claire that she 'took' Aaron. Not the best choice of words Kate. How about instead of saying you took Aaron and raised him and then gush about how he is the 'most beautiful, amazing little boy' you explain that Claire ran off into the jungle, abandoned Aaron and you had no choice but to take him with you. Oh, and that Aaron is safe in Los Angeles with Claire's mom.
Kate does her best to salvage this, explaining that she came back to rescue Claire so that her and Aaron could be together again, but it's too late. Claire is in full on, 'IMMA KILL KATE' mode and warns, 'I'm not the one that needs to be rescued... He's coming, Kate! He's coming and they can't stop him!'
Sayid returns to deliver Flocke's message. And it's simple: Jacob's dead. You are all free. Those that want to leave the island with him should leave the temple and join him. You have until sundown to decide. Oh, and if you stay, you die.
Lennon claims that Sayid is bluffing and that they are safe as long as they stay inside The Temple. But it creates a panic and many of the Others begin to leave. A light rain approaches as dusk begins to set in. All hell is about to break loose.
"I'm sorry. I'm not that man anymore."
Usually I finish with the flash-forwards but this week's ending was so damn epic, how can I finish with anything else?
So how has Sayid's story changed in the flash-sideways? For starters, his brother is married to Nadia and they have children. They tricked us at the start of the episode. Sayid walks out of the cab towards Nadia's house holding flowers, and we assume they are the ones that are married; that in this reality, Sayid would get his happy ending just like Locke and Jack did in the prior two episodes.
He rings the doorbell and we see his mirrored reflection in the window. Except he looks right through it. He can't even see his reflection. All he cares about is seeing Nadia. This, in a way, foreshadows his decision at the end of the episode. His time for self-reflection is over. He knows what he is and only cares about doing right by his love.
It turns out that Sayid's brother, Omer, is in a bit of trouble with a loan he took out from a loan shark to open up a second dry cleaning business. Omer is interrupted at dinner from a call telling him to pay up. While he is away on the phone, Nadia asks why Sayid never wrote her back after all the letters she sent. Before Sayid can answer, Nadia's kids come in the room carrying their boomerangs. But that's not all they have. Sayid's niece holds a picture of Nadia that they found in Sayid's bag.
Later that night, Omer wakes up Sayid and informs him of the bad business deal he made. He asks Sayid to convince these people to leave him alone (to deliver a message just like Flocke asked him to). The flash-sideways and the island story connected more than any other episode this season. In both timelines a character asks Sayid to 'deliver a message' and to revert back to being a killer.
Omer tells Sayid that he knows what he did in the war. He knows what kind of man he is and that if he cares about his family and Nadia, he will do this. Sayid solemnly replies, 'I'm not that man anymore.'
The following day, Nadia gets a phone call. Omer was mugged and rushed to the hosptal. At the hospital, Sayid makes brief eye contact with Jack before finding out Omer's state. He suffered a punctured lung and internal bleeding. Irate, Sayid goes to leave to find the men responsible for the attack, but Nadia pleads that Sayid go home and keep the kids safe.
And Sayid does. Nadia finds him later that night fixing a broken vase. An 'unfortunate accident involving a bommerang.' Those boomerangs, always causing damage. Nadia finally asks why Sayid didn't want to be with her and why he pushed her towards her brother.
He replies with the most IMPORTANT bit of dialog in the episode:
For the last twelve years I've been trying to wash my hands of all the horrible things I've done. I can't be with you, because I don't deserve you. - Sayid
Sayid is incapable of letting go of his past. He cannot move forward with his life because of all the horrible things he has done. Even if he can become a functioning member of society he can never, ever forgive himself. And in a way, he feels he deserves to be punished. He truly believes he does not deserve to find any kind of happiness with Nadia.
Even in this reality, one where Nadia is still alive, Sayid cannot find peace. He cannot come to terms with his inner demons.
Sayid is later confronted outside the house by the flash-sideways version of Omar (that is Omar, the bald dude with the goatee in this episode and from the freighter. NOT his brother, Omer). Omar was one of the mercenaries from the freighter in Season Four, the second in command of Martin Keamy. And wouldn't you know it, in this reality he still works for Keamy. And Keamy makes some good fucking eggs. Scrambled, fried, poached, Keamy can do it all!
I LOVED seeing Keamy again. I thought he was such a fun bastard of a character and it's nice to find out that in no matter the reality, Keamy will also be a heartless bastard. It's good to have some constants in life.
Keamy is a loan shark in this reality and claims that Sayid's brother owes him interest in his loan. He mocks Sayid with fake pity, feigning that he had nothing to do with his brother's attack. He's taunting Sayid, like a man poking a lion with a stick.
And after Sayid can't take no more, after it's clear Keamy will not back down, he strikes. He attacks Omar and uses his body as a shield when Keamy's other henchmen shoots. Sayid kills said henchmen with a shot to the head and then holds Keamy at gunpoint.
Finally, Keamy backs down. He tells Sayid it's done. His brother does not owe him anything. The debt's forgiven.
Keamy: Forget about it.
Sayid: ... I can't
The look on Sayid's face right before he shoots Keamy: UNBELIEVABLE. Naveen Andrews really delivered in this episode and that face, that expression said it all. In this moment, Sayid gives into the killer inside of him. He can't forget about it. He wants to, but it's impossible.
He is a killer.
This scene is so awesome, I'm just going to post it here:
http://www.youtube.com/wat
Then out of nowhere, Sayid finds Jin in the freezer, all beat up. What was Jin doing in there? Last time we saw him in the flash-sideways reality he was being taken away by customs. Is it possible that he was delivering the watch to Keamy? Keamy was wearing a very nice watch that looked very similar to the one Jin was carrying aboard 815. I'm sure this will be explored in Jin's flash-sideways episode.
"There's still time." "Not for me."
Okay, words cannot describe how incredible I thought the last ten minutes of this episode were. For me, this was not only the best ending of an episode all season, but one of my favorite endings of all time. It was epic, sweeping, creepy, bleak, dark and action-packed; basically EVERYTHING I want in this final season of the show.
After Sayid kills Dogen and Lennon (giving into his dark side in this reality) he unleashes The Monster on the Temple. Lennon says something interesting right before Sayid kills him. He says Dogen was the only thing keeping the Monster out... wait, I thought the ask kept the Monster out. Was it a combination of the two? I hope this gets explored further cause even I'm a little confused by this.
Again, go back and look at Sayid's face and body movement right after killing Dogen. He looks like a frakkin' zombie. There is no emotion in his eyes whatsoever. He is completely gone.
The Monster attacks and just massacres the place. Bodies go flying. Kate and Miles get seperated after she runs to rescue Claire. Miles is found by Ilana, Sun, Ben and Lapidus. I love that Miles and Lapidus are together again. Remember, this guys have not seen each other for three years. The last time Miles saw him was when Lapidus took Sayid and Desmond off the island to the freighter back in Season Four.
And Lapidus says it the best, 'We'll play catch up later. You wanna live, you better move your ass!'
Lapidus, you are the best.
Ben rushes to save Sayid, but it is too late. He sits at the temple pool, blood dripping from his knife. And there is this sick look on his face; a deranged smile. He says it's too late for him and Ben knows it. He gets out of there as soon as he can.
Can we talk abut the circularity of this moment? Sayid goes back in time to 1977. He shoots a young Ben for everything he is going to do to him in the future. Ben is brought to the Temple and the healing pool saves his life. Days later Ben's father shoots Sayid for shooting little Ben. Sayid is going to die until he is sent back to the future to 2007 where he is revived in the pool, but claimed by something darker.
And here these two ultimately connected characters stand. And in this moment it is Ben who is the good guy, trying to save Sayid.
Awesome.
Kate begs Claire to leave her hole, but Claire responds that they'd be safer in there. The Monster busts into the room and Kate leaps inside as the Monster passes overhead. If you look closely you can see a man violently passing through the smoke. Incredible.
So Frank, Miles, Ilana and Sun manage to escape through the secret exit. Ben is left behind.
And then comes the highlight of the episode. Sayid, Claire and Kate walk through the the courtyard which is littered with mangled corpses. The scene is shot in slow-motion and a creepy, slowed down and modulated version of Claire singing 'Catch A Falling Star' plays in the background. It's complete carnage, actually looking very similar to the DHARMA purge.
Smartly, Kate grabs a rifle off a dead Other and it looks like she's gonna need it. She follows zombie Sayid and zombie Claire outside who share knowing, creepy looks with Flocke. He stands in front of a large group of Others who have followed him. And as if Kate hasn't already been through enough crazy shit over the past week... John Locke is walking around when he's supposed to be dead.
We all give Kate a lot of crap, but man is Evangeline Lily great for these 'WTF' moments when they go to a close-up on her face. She has NO IDEA what is going on. And how great was that look that Flocke gave her? It's like he's sizing her up, determining whether or not she is going to be a problem.
He pays her no bother for the moment. He walks to the front of the crowd of Others and leads them off. Sundown has passed. For the first time since the Season Premier it is night. And this darkness does not look like it will pass for a while.
I want to label The Man In Black/Smoke Monster/Flocke as 'The Big Bad' on the show. I really, really do. After everything he's done, from manipulating Claire and Sayid to his attack on The Temple, how can we not think he's the bad guy.
Then I remember it is almost always impossible to label someone as 'good' or 'evil' on this show. That I want to believe that our characters have free will and eventually make the right choice.
But what about Sayid? If anything, this episode outright declared that Sayid gave into his evil side.
Although Jacob may have interfered with our character's lives, he always gave them a choice of who they are and what they could do.
With Flocke, he's a tempest. And all my mind can come back to when I hear 'Catch a Falling Star' is this verse from The Bible:
"How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world."- Isaiah 14:12
This verse refers to the first of the fallen angels, Lucifer. He who led a rebellion against God and was cast down into Hell.. like a falling star.
I CHOOSE TEAM JACOB. You're going down Flocke.
So I guess for now, all we can do is hope that somehow Sayid will be redeemed in the end. That he is a good man and can forgive himself for all the terrible things he's done. But I keep thinking about ten words he said to little Ben, right before he shot the innocent boy.
"You were right about me, Ben. I am a killer."
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