Summary: Flashbacks show Sayid has always been ruthless since his childhood. Ben tells Sayid his work is done after another assassination. Later, Ben contacts Sayid to tell him that Hurley is beign watched. After leaving the marina, Ilana pretends to be interested in Sayid to lower his guard and capture him. She is taking him to Guam as a bounty hunter. In 1977, Sawyer tries to get Sayid out of captivity but Sayid doesn't cooperate. Horace takes Sayiod to Oldham who gives him a truth serum. They think Sayid is crazy when he says who he is, but Radzinski is convinced he's a spy when Sayid mentions The Swan. After a conference, it is agreed that they will kill Sayid. However, Ben breaks Sayid out and tries to go with him. Sayid is discovered by Jin and Sayid knocks him out. Sayid shoots Ben with Jin's gun.
The Good: The island story was tense and exciting, and it felt important. Sayid's imprisonment is a big problem, and seeing Sawyer attempt to resolve it as the situation gets worse and worse is really intense television. Sayid is difficult to work with here, but it makes sense as Sayid had no desire to be back on the island, and he wasn't afforded the same luxury as Kate, Hurley and Jack of slowly coming to accept that he's in 1977. Sayid is very much confused and alone in his journey, and that makes him feel isolated from his friends. I thought that all of Sayid's choices in this episode were very engrossing. There was very strong drama with every decision Sayid made. From choosing not to work with Sawyer, to deciding to murder Ben, the episode did a fantastic job of connecting us to Sayid's emotional state to make these choices have an emotional impact. Surprisingly, the episode really shined when Sayid's agency was stripped away and he was taken to Oldham. Once again we get the lovely irony of the torturer being tortured for information, and the set-up for the scene is intense. I genuinely didn't know what was going to happen when Oldham went to work with Sayid. Hearing Sayid speak the truth was excellent drama because you were never sure how much he would reveal. Luckily he was cut off when he started to reveal really bad stuff (like who Sawyer was), but the scene still maintained that intensity. It all built to a lovely climax as Sayid laughed at how he was talking with a bunch of people who are destined to die. Naveen Andrews did a terrific job here, and the scene was really well done. The flashbacks in this episode are quite good. I was surprised to get a deeper look at Sayid's childhood, especially since his childhood hasn't been mentioned at all for the entire series. It was interesting to see his upbringing, and it neatly tied into the idea of Sayid always being a natural killer. It was good to finally see how Sayid and Ben's professional relationship ended, and to also see what happened to Sayid after he left the marina. These flashbacks did well to fill in gaps in the story. But more than that, they also nicely set up Sayid's emotional story in this episode. We get to see Sayid grappling with himself about who he is and what his purpose is. He's good at killing, and torturing, and being ruthless, but we can see that he doesn't want any of that. He's very conflicted. And surprisingly, by the end of the episode, Sayid actually doubles down on being a killer. He doesn't better himself, he actually does worse than that. The episode seemed to be building towards Sayid sparing Ben, especially after Sayid witnessed how Roger abused Ben. But Sayid doesn't make that decision. Instead he finds purpose in his return to the island by killing Ben, and because of that he is able to pull the trigger. It's a stunning twist that leaves me really excited for what's to come in the next episode, and it raises lots of questions about how this will impact the world (see: The Unknown). I also really appreciate that Sayid is shown crying after killing Ben. One thing "Lost" always does well is that it roots its big moments in the emotional state of its characters, making it emotionally powerful on top of being significant to the plot. The Bad: I feel like Sayid needed a better motive to not work with Sawyer. It feels like Sawyer should have either tried harder to get Sayid to listen to him, or Sayid should have had a more convincing and personal argument as to why he isn't cooperating. It very much feels like he didn't listen to Sawyer because the plot demanded it, which is very poor writing. The story of the Oceanic Six remains a mess, even with this episode clarifying a lot of things. Even with the answers we received, I have way too many questions (see: The Unknown). I still don't understand who the people were that attacked the Oceanic Six. Did they work for Widmore or Ben? I have no idea. It was an interesting mystery at first, but now that the story is entirely complete and we still don't have answers, I can comfortably say that making this so mysterious was a mistake and weakened the story. I'm also not a fan of the idea of having key questions answered in flashbacks in the way that they were in this episode. The storytelling is non-linear in a way that disrupts the emotional experience that these characters are going through. It would have been much better for the story had we seen these moments between Sayid and Ben before Sayid went to get Hurley from the mental hospital. The Unknown: Sayid has a brother apparently. Where has he been the entire show? What's happened to him? So was the man outside Hurley's mental institution Widmore's man or Ben's man? I still have no idea, and we get conflicting information about this. On one hand, Ben tells us it's Widmore's man, but it's Ben so can we really trust him? Sayid certainly did not. Was Ilana taking Sayid on Ajira 316 really just a coincidence? Or is there something else at play with her? She didn't seem to know who Ben was, but maybe she was lying. Did Sayid just kill Ben? Does this mean that Daniel was wrong about the rules of time travel? How will this effect the world and the story? Is Ben actually dead? Or can he survive somehow? Best Moment: Sayid's interrogation by Oldham. Character of the Episode: Sayid. Conclusion: This was an excellent episode that had a wonderful central story for Sayid, and wove that into a suspenseful plot with a phenomenal cliffhanger that leaves you desperate for more. There were some problems, and they prevent this episode from scoring higher, but I still loved this episode. Score: 74
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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