Summary: In flashbacks, the CIA recruit Sayid to locate a large amount of C4 taken by a group terrorists. Sayid agrees because the CIA will take him to Nadia if he complies. Sayid agrees and is forced to convince Essam to become a martyr despite his reservations. Sayid reveals the truth after they are given the C4 and Essam, dejected, shoots himself. Sayid gives Essam a funeral. On the island, Locke returns for Boone's funeral. Jack angrily attacks him but passes out. Kate forces Jack to rest. Sayid interrogates Locke, who takes him to the plane. Locke reveals he was the one who knocked out Sayid. Sayid is ultimately convinced of Locke's innocence. Shannon is angry and tries to kill Locke herself with a gun. Sayid prevents this and Shannon storms away. Sayid goes to Locke, declaring that he will show him the hatch.
The Good: This is an episode where the flashbacks completely steal the show. The flashback story fantastically resumed Sayid's story from where it left off in "Solitary". We get to see a summation of what Sayid has been up to since Nadia's escape all the way up until he boarded Flight 815, giving us big answers about what he went through and what happened to Nadia while still leaving behind a lot of mystery (see: The Unknown). This episode fixates on Sayid infiltrating a terrorist group for the CIA in order to obtain some missing C4. The story is interesting and Sayid is given plenty of scenes to shine, giving him a strong moral conflict to deal with as the CIA order Sayid to be a horrid friend to Essam. The highlight of the episode was Sayid and Essam's relationship. It was sad seeing Sayid force himself to convince Essam to become a martyr for his own selfish desires, and Essam's distraught realization about Sayid's true motives was a heartbreaking moment (see: Best Moment). These moments work so well because the flashbacks gave us a chance to understand Sayid and Essam's friendship and importance to each other. By the time the two of them are together in the truck, we fully understand what is motivating them and we also understand why Essam would feel so betrayed when he learned about Sayid's secret mission. It shouldn't be understated how impressive of a feat this is. The flashback storylines typically take up only 15 minutes or less in an episode, so it's really impressive that the writers were able to tell such a compelling story in a short amount of time. I also really liked the conclusion of the story. After being forced to go against his morals for much of the episode, Sayid is finally able to do something good by honouring Essam and giving him a proper burial. So Sayid takes the opportunity, and as a result he ends up on the flight that crashes him on the island, once again separating him from Nadia right before they were about to reunite. It's pretty tragic that Sayid sticking to his beliefs and his heart is what caused him to be on Flight 815. The island story has some really good moments. The episode starts off on the right foot with a major conflict brewing between Locke and Jack in the wake of Boone's death. Jack is fittingly exhausted after donating blood and staying up the entire night, and Locke is fittingly shaken after Boone died because of his faith in the island. Both of these characters are wonderfully flawed in this episode. Jack is rash as he attacks Locke in front of everybody. Locke is unable to say anything to make people calm down and trust him because Boone's death has actually impacted him. Plus there was a really good scene featuring Locke and Shannon that showed us more of Locke's unease. The episode did a god job of dealing with Locke and Jack despite this being a Sayid episode. Sayid had a good episode too. He is spotlighted in several scenes, the best of which being his interrogation of Locke. That scene was intriguing and there was drama in wondering what Sayid would learn from Locke. Plus it's always awesome to see Sayid's logical approach in contrast to Jack's highly emotional approach in the previous episode. Their dialogue was well-written, and it led to the great cliffhanger of Sayid demanding Locke take him to the hatch. Sayid was given a few other strong scenes where he speaks about Boone following his death and also saved Locke's life when Shannon tried to kill him. The side stories are fine and there is some good comedy there. Turnip Head (yes I'm calling him that until I get a name) being soothed by Sawyer's voice is silly, but it is harmless humour. I also got a kick out of Hurley singing to Turnip Head. The Bad: The biggest development of the episode was unfortunately really bad. And that was Shannon's decision to kill Locke. First of all, it seems completely ridiculous for her to want to murder somebody because Boone died. Even with the mystery surrounding his death, I find it hard to buy that Shannon would actually decide that Locke needed to die. Going to Sayid to get him to kill Locke did make sense, but what didn't make any sense was Shannon deciding to pull the trigger herself. This is a character who has always turned to somebody else to solve her problems, and you're telling me that the one time she chooses to do something herself is to kill somebody? That makes no sense. The writers seem to think that just because a character is grieving, that means that they are suddenly plot devices that can make a bunch of stupid decisions. Furthermore there is a serious plot hole here. Jack did reveal to everyone that he had guns, but the only person he showed the location of the guns to was Locke. So how did Shannon know where to look to find the guns? And how did she know that Jack had a key that she needed in order to open the case containing the guns? She only knows this because the plot needs her to know it in order to run this clichéd storyline of Shannon trying to kill Locke. Locke revealing that he hit Sayid was a very awkward reveal. Locke needed Sayid to trust him, so why would he bring up the fact that he was secretly responsible for denting the survivors' chances of escaping the island. I understand that the writers were trying to go for Sayid being convinced not to kill Locke because Locke is smart and offers their best chance of survival. But the dialogue that was chosen to present this point was very strange and it certainly didn't take me to the same conclusion that Sayid ended up reaching. This was a rare moment where I thought the dialogue really let down the story. The Unknown: I thought Sayid said that Nadia was dead back in "Solitary". Why did he say that if he knew she was alive? Or could it be that he suspects that the CIA people lied to manipulate him to do their bidding? I would put this in The Bad, but there may be something to explain this. Will Locke actually take Sayid to the hatch now? Will Sayid tell everybody else about the hatch? How will the group respond to this? Best Moment: Essam learning of Sayid's betrayal was a damn good scene. Essam went from shocked to angry very quickly as the feelings of betrayal swamped him. But realizing that he no longer knew what to believe and that he had nothing in the world to stay around for was too much for him to take. He heartbreakingly chose to spare Sayid and instead take his own life in what was a wonderful moment of television. Character of the Episode: Sayid. Conclusion: This was an episode of two halves. Off the island, we got some of the most compelling flashbacks yet. But on the island, we had a very by-the-numbers TV drama storyline filled with plot holes and surprisingly weak writing. In the end, I would still consider this a good episode, but not one of "Lost"'s best. Score: 67
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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