Summary: In flashbacks, the US military attacks where Sayid is working and want him to cooperate with them so they can find a pilot who was interrogated there. Sayid is used to get the information from his commanding officer, and Sayid is convinced to torture him to get the pilot's location. The pilot is already dead and the US military end up leaving Iraq. Sayid is released. On the island, Sayid finds Rousseau in the jungle. She takes him to a place where she has caught a man in a trap. The man claims to be named Henry Gale but Rousseau thinks he is an other. Sayid takes him back to the hatch and interrogates him. Locke changes the combination in the armory so that Jack can't stop Sayid. Jack convinces Locke to open the door when he prevents Locke from pushing the button. Sayid is convinced that Henry is an other and beats him up. Jack pulls him off. Sayid goes to Charlie and explains why he believed Henry is guilty. Sawyer enlists Hurley to help him find a tree frog.
The Good: The premise of this episode is fantastic. A mysterious person has been captured and it is the job of the survivors to determine if he is innocent or if he is an other. This is a fantastic way to create drama, and it leads into a lot of fascinating inter-character conflict and internal conflict towards the end of the episode. What makes this work so well is that it is unclear if Henry Gale is innocent or not. Since I can't predict the plot, I'm hooked the entire time by a drive to get answers. As a result of my total investment in this episode, the interrogation scenes end up being fantastic. I've always been a fan of Sayid's pragmatic approach so I loved seeing him go after Henry, trying to pry a lie out of anything he says. However, Henry seems solid and he has all the right answers. It's fascinating to follow Henry's actions as Sayid does, and it becomes clear what Sayid is looking for. Due to his experience as a torturer, Sayid knows that the way to get the truth is to search for a lack of emotion which would suggest that Henry is lying. Even though Henry has all of the right answers, the devil is in the details. It's apparent that Sayid believes that Henry's actions and emotions don't match up with what he is saying, and that is what makes Sayid believe he is guilty. But there's another angle to this: what if Sayid is wrong and is still too unstable following Shannon's death to make an unbiased decision? Sayid's questionable mental state still makes it unclear if Henry is telling the truth or not. This uncertainty keeps the drama, while Sayid's logical approach makes the interrogation satisfying. It's a brilliantly put together sequence. While all of this is happening, Jack and Locke further their conflict in an excellent way. Jack has always been bloodthirsty and demands revenge against the others. Even though Jack is emotionally driven and is always quick to grab the guns, he still has morals. We see that here as Jack doesn't wish to torture Henry Gale for fear that he's innocent. Evidently, he's still a little shaken from when Sayid tortured Sawyer back in "Confidence Man". Locke on the other hand, continues to behave in a more extreme manner following "Fire + Water", and he is willing to do what has to be done to ensure the safety of the survivors. It's an interesting change for the two of them, and it leads to some excellent conflict, particularly when Jack threatens to let the timer run out if Locke doesn't give him the combination (see: Best Moment). Sayid's flashbacks were very well done. The story was a joy to watch and it had a nice amount of depth to it. It's important for us to know how Sayid ended up as a torturer, and the story is quite compelling. It's sad to see the loyal soldier become a torturer due to his desire to do the right thing. The Bad: Unfortunately, the episode hurts itself badly in its final few minutes. Sayid goes to Charlie and explains why he believes Henry to be guilty. And the explanation is completely at odds with what we had just seen. Apparently Sayid believes Henry is an other because he doesn't feel any guilt when he beats him up. That seems like such a flimsy basis to make a decision off of, and it is completely at odds with the realism that I've come to expect from Sayid. It's a shame because this scene with Charlie could have been used to clarify the story of the episode but it only serves to confuse everything. It very nearly ruins a fantastic episode. This episode felt like it was padded with unnecessary filler outside of the scenes with Henry. The flashbacks are very good, but they are hardly essential for Sayid's character. The tree frog plotline in fine for comedy, but it is a complete waste of time. The change in Locke's character to make him more ruthless hasn't been conveyed well at all. It effects this episode too because Locke's decision to let Sayid torture Henry doesn't feel like something he would agree to. The Unknown: Who is Henry Gale? Is his story true? Or is he an other? It would have been nice if Sayid had been given more time to ask questions. Henry's wife apparently got sick and died. Is this the sickness that Rousseau was talking about? What were those hieroglyphs that appeared after the timer hit zero? Best Moment: As Sayid started punching Henry, the tension escalated dramatically and Jack went to the extreme to get inside the armory. His threats to Locke that he would let the timer run out were fantastic, and Jack looked almost deranged as he threatened Locke and got to exhibit some dominance over him. Then the tension ratchets up as we worry about both the timer and Sayid at the same time. It's brilliant stuff, and the scene concludes in wonderful fashion as we get a tantalizing hint about what happens when the button isn't pressed. Character of the Episode: Sayid. Conclusion: This was pretty great stuff for a lot of the episode, but a fair amount of little issues plagued this and prevent it from being one of the show's best episodes. But still, this is an excellent episode that I enjoyed very much. Score: 71
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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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