Knowing Sayid like we do, seeing him confront Dogen like he did, you know, "demanding answers" and all (welcome to the friggin' club), I knew that this was going to be an episode full of Sayid kicking ass and taking names. And yes, in perfect Sayid fashion, he kills a lot of people. But in perfect Lost fashion, we see a Sayid who is questioning his right to have a place in this world; a Sayid who is having trouble with his own personal demons. One side must win, and in the end Sayid is overcome by his "dark" side, in both the real world and the bizarro world. We say that it is darkness, but what was Sayid really doing in this episode? Was he acting as a harbinger of death and destruction? Or was he liberating these people from an oppressive leader? I'm sure we can all say the whole, "Two players, two sides. One is light, and one is dark" quote for memory. But in my mind, even though I know they want us to take the bait and say that obviously this smoke/Locke monster is evil, I'm still voting that these aren't necessarily sides of light and dark. All I'm saying for now is that they are merely sides. The growing theme of this show has been taking sides. What's amazing to me is that the show's pacing has been marvelous about the whole process. There are still people who are on the fence! Ben is sorry for killing Locke, but hasn't shown much remorse for killing Jacob. Kate wants to reunite Claire with Aaron, but isn't in the game for "choosing sides", I don't think. Jin and Sun are both seemingly a part of Camp Jacob, but I don't think they've committed to fighting for him. Their only interest is being reunited with each other. And Sawyer...where was he this episode? Although I think he is on Smoke/Locke's side, I don't think he cares about defeating any of the opposition. He just wants to GTFO. And I don't blame him. The Island has put him through a lot. Still, I find it odd that his part in this growing Smoke vs. Jake conflict hasn't been addressed.
It's probably just because the meat of this episode was focused solely on Sayid. Which is GREAT. Even the flash sideways tapped into the things that make Sayid great - and the parts of Sayid that we didn't know existed. Like his new "family first" attitude. And his new "I don't deserve Nadiya" credo. Even though he carries a picture of her in his wallet still? ANYWAYS, he comes to Los Angeles to visit his bro, who is married to Nadiya, and has a couple kids. Sayid is of course the cool Uncle and gets the kids a boomerang from Australia (a typical tourist buy). The kids are like, "We want you to be our new daddy." Nadiya's like "I want you to be babies' daddy." CREEPY. He won't have any of it. After a crazy boomerang incident involving an obviously inexpensive piece of pottery from Target (a typical childhood accident), Sayid explains to Nadiya that he's a bad, bad man, and that they can't be together. Why? No one knows. Apparently love is reserved for people who haven't tortured men ceaselessly in the time of war. And that disqualifies lots of men, I'm sure. Oh and they probably can't be together because, you know, SHE'S MARRIED.
While this is going on, Sayid's bro is having financial issues with the mob. They loaned him money, he paid them back, they want more money, if you give a mouse a cookie, etc. Sayid also wants no part his brother's escapades, but for whatever reason the mob tracks him down and invites him for lunch. Breakfast for lunch, in fact, with the dude who shot Alex back on the island (insert WTF moment). They discuss his brother's finances and then BLAMO Sayid shoots 'em all. And then he finds Jin locked in the freezer. No speak English (insert another WTF moment).
Back in Island Times Sayid is demanding answers from Dogen. Dogen detests answers. He thinks that Sayid is better off dead. So they fight, and what a fight it is! Opening segment pwned! Dogen almost kills Sayid, but when the baseball falls off his desk, he's reminded of something and stays his hand. BAD MOVE NUMBER ONE. So then he tells Sayid to "get out ma' house", so Sayid starts to leave. Well then CRAZY LITTLE(TON) SHIT comes in and tells them they need to send someone to talk with "you know who". So then Dogen accosts Sayid yet again to go and talk to "him". He tells Sayid to go meet with him, and to kill him by thrusting the Dagger of Time into his chest before he can speak. BAD MOVE NUMBER TWO. Smoke/Locke orders Sayid to deliver a message, with the promise that he would be reunited with the love of his life, Nadiya. That message remains unclear until Sayid returns to the Temple to tell everyone who doesn't leave and join Locke that they will surely die.
Meanwhile, Kate returns to the temple and discovers that Claire has been taken into captivity after delivering her message to Dogen. She informs Claire that she's there to rescue her (I'm Kate Austen, I'm here to rescue you!) and reunite her with Aaron. Then Claire's like creepo singing lullabies and saying, "I'm not the one who needs saving." It's all very 90s alternate rock band of her to say, but either way Claire's obviously not going anywhere.
While everyone's packing up to leave, it's getting close to sundown, and Sayid and Dogen are talking in the pool room. Dogen reveals that he was once a business man, and that the baseball he carries around is from his son, who he killed while driving drunk. He says that Jacob brought him to the island with the promise of bringing back his son in return for his service. "Hard bargain," notes Sayid. Dogen asks if Smoke/Locke offered a similar bargain, and Sayid's like, "Bro! Of course he did." Then when Dogen asks if Sayid will stay, Sayid wigs out and WTF drowns the DUI murderer in epic fashion. Then the fifth Beatle walks in and is all, "DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE?"
Long story short, Smoke/Locke is able to get into the temple once Dogen is dead, and he kills everyone. Our heroes narrowly escape, aided by the beach folk, fresh from their funeral service. Ben tries to go back for Sayid, who claims to be beyond saving. Kate tries to go back for Claire again, but winds up joining her in captivity momentarily, only to go up with her, Sayid, Smoke/Locke and his band of merry men. Miles does his usual gig of mitigating main characters towards one another, and runs like a bat out of hell from the Smoke Monster's raging slaughter.
It was a very typical Lost episode, but uncharacteristically pesemistic and violent. Overall, I thought the episode was great, but it has a very dark tone to it. Of course, this is to make sure everybody thinks of Smoke/Locke is evil. And I mean, going around killing just about everyone in his path definitely seems evil. But like I said, this is a war between factions, and I'm just not sure that it's all about light and dark. Both sides exist within us at all times; warring for our allegience. Sayid may be on the "dark side" now, but something tells me this battle for our characters isn't over. 10 more weeks to answer all our questions, Lost writers! Hop to it!
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