you can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill...
=flashsideways=
Sayid is bringing Nadia flowers – are they married? Oh they have kids... ah, no they don’t; he’s Uncle Sayid. The love of his life is married to his brother. Rough. Sayid is away a lot. “The world traveler off on his exotic business trips.”
“Translating contracts for an oil company is hardly exotic. It’s painfully dull.”
Sounds like a boring cover? His brother, who runs a dry cleaning company and just opened a new store, leaves the table to take a business call that seems to distress him. The kids, looking for gifts, find an old picture of Nadia in Uncle Sayid's luggage. He carries his baggage around the world. The brother peers around the corner and we know he knows what’s up.
=island=
Sayid busts into Dogen’s room demanding answers. He asks what the machine he was hooked up to was for.
“For every man there is a scale. On one side of the scale there is good, on the other side, evil. This machine tells us how the scale is balanced. And yours... tipped the wrong way.”
“And that’s why you tried to poison me?”
“Yes. I think it would be best if you were dead.”
"You think you now me but you don’t. I’m a good man, so if you’re trying to kill me...”
Dogen attacks. Nice long fight scene - I like these, long fight scenes are always cool cause its less to recap so i get to bed a little earlier. They’re beating on each other mercilessly until Dogen gets the upper hand. He holds his knife to Sayid’s throat and throws him against his desk, causing his baseball to fall and hit the floor.
Dogen looks over at it and suddenly gets himself under control, releasing Sayid and telling him to leave the temple and never come back. He tosses the knife away and picks up the baseball reverently as Sayid looks on. Dogen’s baggage?
Outside, UnLocke and Claire are looking at the entrance to the Temple, a thick grey line of ash laid at their feet. Claire wants to know why she has to do it.
“If I could do it myself I wouldn’t be asking you, Claire.”
She wants to be assured that he’ll do what he’s promised if she goes in there.
“I want my son back.”
“I always do what I say.”
“You gonna hurt them?”
“Only the ones who won’t listen.”
L O S T
=flashsideways=
Sayid’s brother wakes him in the middle of the night to tell him about the trouble he’s in with some men he borrowed money from. Sayid offers to pay them off, but that’s not the help his brother looking for.
“I need you to convince these people to leave me alone. I know what you did in the war. You were an interrogator for the republican guard. I know what kind of man you are. I know you care about Nadia. If you care about us, about her... you will do this, Sayid.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not that man anymore.”
Sayid NOT killing when asked? Huge Flashsideways difference here!
=island=
Sayid is explaining to Miles why he’s been banished.
“Apparently I’m evil. These people say I’m better off dead. Which is surprising, considering they were the ones who saved my life.”
Miles tells him that they just tried to save his life, but failed. He was dead for two hours.
“Trust me, when you sat up they were just as surprised as the rest of us. Whatever brought you back... it wasn’t them.”
Claire storms into the courtyard with her arms raised and walks straight up to Dogen.
“He wants to see you.”
Dogen starts to speak in Japanese and Claire interrupts, “Speak English.”
She tells him he’s right outside waiting.
“I’m not a fool. If I step outside this temple, he’ll kill me.”
“Then maybe you should send someone he won’t kill.”
Dogen, in Japanese, tells Lennon to put her in the hole until this is resolved, and to bring Shephard and Reyes to his room. Lennon tells him they’re missing and an angry Dogen tells him to look harder. He then approaches Sayid, and asks that he come with him.
“I thought you wanted me to leave?”
“Things have changed.”
Dogen unearths a box from one of the potted plants in his room, while explaining the new Claire to a curious Sayid.
“She’s a confused girl, under the influence of an angry man. For years he has been trapped, but now Jacob’s gone; he’s free. This man will not stop until he has destroyed every living thing on this island. He is evil incarnate.”
Dogen wants Sayid to kill UnLocke. He gives him some instructions and the knife he retrieved from the buried box.
“He will come to you as someone you know, someone who has died. As soon as you see him, plunge this deep into his chest. If you allow him to speak its already too late.”
“Since I’ve been here I’ve been drowned, tortured, and beaten - at your hands! Why would I ever do anything for you?”
“You said that there is still good in your soul. Then prove it.”
=flashsideways=
Sayid is walking the kids to the bus. I’m half expecting to see Locke face down in a lawn nearby, getting sprinkled on. Sayid tells them he’s only around for a couple of days, and then he’s off to Toronto for work. The kids like it better when Unc is around.
“Yeah, and mommy likes it too.” Worst part of the episode spoken by a little girl that looks suspiciously like Chaka. Is this the land of the Lost? Nadia rushes out of the house as the bus pulls away. Something’s happened to Omar. They go to St. Sebastian’s, where they pass Doctor Jack Shephard in the hall. No knowing/curious glances. Omar’s doc says it was a mugging but Sayid knows better and wants revenge. Nadia tells him she doesn’t want him to do that. She wants him to do this for her instead; go home and wait for the kids, and make them feel safe.
=island=
Kate finds Sayid in the jungle. Was I the only one thinking he was about to plunge the knife deep into her chest? Thank god he doesn’t think she’s dead. He brushes off her questions and tells her to ask Miles what’s happened before continuing on. Miles is playing solitaire in the temple courtyard when Kate gets there.
“Sawyer sent you packing, huh?”
It’s easy to forget that Kate knew Sawyer for a few months before leaving the island, while Miles was with him the past three years, and one of his closest friends too, it seemed.
“I thought about going after him too, but I knew he’d just end up berating me until I turned around and came back. That pretty much what happened?”
“Pretty much.”
He tells her the Australian chick that had the baby showed up acting all weird, but still hot.
Back in the jungle Sayid stops for a drink, and UnLocke puts on a wind and noise show before appearing to Sayid as Locke.
“Hello Sayid.”
Sayid plunges the knife deep into his chest. Unbleeding UnLocke pulls it back out.
“Now why’d you go and do that?”
He hands the knife back.
“Take it, I won’t bite.”
“What are you?”
“Well Sayid, you seem to have some idea about that considering you stabbed me in the chest without even saying hello.”
Sayid tells UnLocke he’s been told he is evil incarnate. Something UnLocke doesn’t deny. He tells Sayid that Dogen’s plan was to have UnLocke kill him, and knows he’d already tried it with someone else.
“…shame on you for being talked into it so easily.”
“And what is it you are trying to talk me into?”
UnLocke wants him to deliver a message.
“Sayid, if you’ll do this for me, what if I told you that you could have anything you wanted...anything in the entire world?”
“I would tell you the only thing I ever wanted died in my arms and I’ll never see it again.”
“What if you could?”
Soul sold.
Shannon and Nadia both died in his arms, so does this mean the only thing he ever wanted is love, and not Nadia specifically? Awww, Sayid. :(
=flashsideways=
Sayid is gluing together the pieces of a vase - the one that held his soul? Omar is going to be fine. Nadia seems like she wouldn’t mind if he had bit it, though. She’s miserable and would be happier with Sayid. This is the wrong life... for her. But at least she’s alive in it.
“If you care about me, why did you push me toward your brother?”
“For the last 12 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.”
The kids are in bed… you think they did it? So has world traveler sideways Sayid actually just been a translator these past 12 years? I think so. But old habits die hard, as we soon find out.
=island=
Sayid returns to the temple with a message for all the Others.
“There is a man in the jungle about a mile south of us by the outer wall. He sent me back here to give you a message; he wants you to know Jacob is dead, and because he’s gone none of you have to stay here anymore, you’re free. The man that I met is leaving the island forever. Those of you who want to go with him should leave the temple and join him. You have until sundown to decide. “
Cindy(andthekids) wants to know what will happen if they stay.
“You die.”
Smokey’s choice. Not quite free will at play here.
Kate and Lennon meet in the temple and she manhandles the scrawny Other (ha ha ha ha) into bringing her to Claire. He shows her to the pit and gives her two minutes. Claire is crazy singing at the bottom of the Silence of the Lambs well (how is it that Ted Levine hasn't been on Lost yet??) She’s excited to see Kate, who explains all about Aaron. Uh-oh.
“I took him off the island. You were gone and we couldn’t find you so i raised him, and he is the most beautiful amazing little boy. But I came back here to rescue you so that you could be with him, so that you guys could be together again.”
Raised by another... Great acting here by Emilie De Ravin – her face sells insanity well.
“I’m not the one that needs to be rescued…He’s coming, Kate. He’s coming and they can’t stop him!”
Lennon and some Others take Kate away.
Outside there’s a mass exodus happening that Lennon is powerless to stop. Miles asks Sayid if they’re leaving too. Sayid pulls out Dogen’s knife.
“Not yet. I have to return this.”
=flashsideways=
Some heavies pull up to Sayid outside Nadia’s house and threaten to get the kids involved if he doesn’t go with them. He gets in the car. The two men walk him into a restaurant kitchen, where a third man is making himself some eggs. He offers Sayid some, but is refused. It’s Keamy.
“Martin Keamy.”
He’s got a nice watch on. I wonder if he carried that uncomfortable hunk of metal... anyway, he does a good Walken creepy bad guy. He tells Sayid his brother still owes him money.
“And somebody is gonna pay me that money.”
“Did you put my brother in the hospital?”
“You think it was me? I didn’t do that. It’s a dangerous world, Sayid, you know that, you’re from Iraq; never know when somebody’s just gonna sneak up...”
BAM! Sayid takes out the two goons in a heartbeat. Keamy's eyes get really wide. Sideways Keamy sure is a pussy, aiight?
”The debt’s forgiven, aiight? Ok? Just relax and forget about it.”
“I can’t”
Sayid shoots him dead. He tried to take the high road, but ultimately was given no real choice. He hears someone kicking in the freezer and opens it up. Shocker - it’s a bound and beaten Jin.
“Who are you?”
No knowing/curious glances.
Also,”No English.”
=island=
Now we get about 8 minutes of the most exiting Lost to date. There are 12 more hours left?? This feels like the pulse-pounding third act of a fucking awesome movie. Dogen is reflecting by the reflecting pool, baseball in hand, when Sayid enters.
“That’s twice you’ve tried to have someone else kill me. You had the opportunity to do it yourself. Why didn’t you?”
Dogen tell his story; he was a businessman in Japan once. He had too much to drink on a Friday after a big promotion at work. He picked his son up from baseball later that night, like he did every Friday.
“He was 12. The accident was very bad. I survived. But my son... and then, in the hospital, a man came to me. A man I had never met. And he told me that he could save my sons life, but I would have to come here to this island where I would have a new job, and I could never see my boy again.”
Again, not much of a choice here.
“Who was this man?”
“His name was Jacob.”
“Jacob drives a hard bargain.”
“The man outside, I take it he offered you a similar bargain.”
“Yes.”
“It is sundown. Do you choose to stay or go?”
“Id like to stay.”
Sort of a Good Bad Ugly/Inglorious feel to this scene - more Walken even, him and Hopper in True Romance. True Romance more on the nose I think - in both cases the father is dying to save his son. Dogen knows this is it, I think. Sayid drowns him violently in the pool. Lennon rushes in to help but it’s too late.
“Do you realize what you just did? He was the only thing keeping it out. Idiot, you just let it in.”
Sayid slashes his throat.
“I know”
Will they be back as infected like Sayid became after dying in the pool? Why was Dogen the only thing keeping it out??
Outside Smokey arrives, and it is GOOD (I mean, bad, but shit… oh so good). Miles and Kate run for it, going their separate ways when Kate goes to get Claire. Ilana, Sun Ben and Lapidus meet up with Miles. Awesome.
“Where are Shephard and Reyes? And Ford?”
Why would she ask about Jack and Hurley, with Sawyer as an afterthought? The only real candidates remaining? He tells her they’re gone. Smokey’s getting closer. She asks about Jarrah and Miles tells her he’s in the pool room. Ben goes to get him.
Kate gets to Claire, who isn’t going anywhere.
“It's much safer here.”
Smokes rollercoasters by above their heads, carrying a load of screaming Others. Too fucking cool.
Ben finds Sayid and the dead men at the pool.
“I know a way out of here. There’s still time.”
Completely infected soul sold Sayid turns his blank eyes on Ben.
“Not for me.”
Ben backs away verrry slowly, not taking his bug eyes off of Sayid, then turns and runs.
Sun, Miles, Frank and Ilana are looking for the secret tunnel Jack and Hurley used. Miles tells Sun that Jin is alive. At least last he saw of him, he was. Again, these two have been friends for the past 3 years. Smokey is getting closer, making Godzilla sounds. Ilana finds the secret passage, and they enter and close it behind them just as Smokes rolls down the corridor.
Some slo-mo carnage in the temple courtyard set to Catch a Falling Star. Infected Sayid and Claire walk zombie-like to the entrance. Kate takes it all in and wisely arms herself before following them. I’m sure she’s thinking what we all are; how the fuck did she end up on this side? Free will, right? She had a choice to go with Miles or try to rescue Claire - a real choice, unlike quite a few of the others in this episode, and look where it landed her. UnLocke and the Others who left the temple earlier are waiting outside. Sayid, Claire and UnLocke share creepy looks and UnLocke regards Kate coolly (NOT good) when he sees her arrive. He turns and leads the flock away from the temple. Bad-ass Empire Strikes Back sort of vibe.
Great music, great directing, great everything except that little Chaka girls mommy line. This is one of the best seasons a television show has ever had.
Alright, I’ve been having a tough time wording this, so if it’s hard to understand I apologize. First off, I think it’s gone too far (on the basis of the final scene of this episode alone, even) for the powers that be to reveal that Smokey is the good guy. Smokey bad, Jacob good. But it gets twisty, because I’m pretty sure Smokey doesn’t think he’s bad (although he doesn’t deny he is evil incarnate). The best intentions and all that…
I think that we are definitely seeing the end of the show in the flashsidewayses as we watch the end of the island saga unfold at the same time. The trick here is to make sure that the ideal life we’re watching isn’t destroyed by UnLocke’s army. This, I think, explains Dogen’s actions, or inactions as the case may be. He says he killed his son, and Jacob came to him, at a time when he was “miserable and vulnerable” and offered him a deal to save his sons life, with the understanding that Dogen could never see him again. Dogen took this deal and has been at his ‘new job’ on the island since. Dogen KNOWS about the Flashsideways world, and knows that he and his son are alive and well there. (Sidetrack, covering my bases, maybe he isn’t alive there – did he interact with his son? – And just appeared to Jack to ‘push’ him in the right direction ala Jacob. No way, but still putting it out there) the only way to assure this realities continued existence (and not kill his son AGAIN) is to let the drama on the island play out with no interference on his part. i.e. not killing any of the possible candidates, whether they are ‘infected’ or not, and the Ankh list had Jarrah on it. So yeah, drowning him in the pool maybe not the best idea, but it was the only way they could think of to possibly save this candidates life?
Where it gets twisty for me is here: Sayid was offered a VERY similar deal. Nadia is alive in the sideways world, but Sayid cannot be with her because he needs to atone for his sins and is not worthy. This doesn’t explain why Dogen and his son ARE together, except that maybe God’s deals are a little better than the Devil’s? He is in the details, after all. Or even more simply, Sayid has much more to atone for than the others we’ve seen sideways so far, and that’s why his sidelife isn’t as rosy as the rest.
Sayid’s is also the only sideways story that didn’t contain a look into a mirror, at least not that I picked up on.
"it did have his reflection, in the door. But he looked through it at into Nadia which I thought was interesting." - Thanks Sara!
I heard there was a big spoiler voice-over at the end of the episode/during ‘next week on…’ please don’t repeat it here if you heard it. Thanks!!
Sayid is bringing Nadia flowers – are they married? Oh they have kids... ah, no they don’t; he’s Uncle Sayid. The love of his life is married to his brother. Rough. Sayid is away a lot. “The world traveler off on his exotic business trips.”
“Translating contracts for an oil company is hardly exotic. It’s painfully dull.”
Sounds like a boring cover? His brother, who runs a dry cleaning company and just opened a new store, leaves the table to take a business call that seems to distress him. The kids, looking for gifts, find an old picture of Nadia in Uncle Sayid's luggage. He carries his baggage around the world. The brother peers around the corner and we know he knows what’s up.
=island=
Sayid busts into Dogen’s room demanding answers. He asks what the machine he was hooked up to was for.
“For every man there is a scale. On one side of the scale there is good, on the other side, evil. This machine tells us how the scale is balanced. And yours... tipped the wrong way.”
“And that’s why you tried to poison me?”
“Yes. I think it would be best if you were dead.”
"You think you now me but you don’t. I’m a good man, so if you’re trying to kill me...”
Dogen attacks. Nice long fight scene - I like these, long fight scenes are always cool cause its less to recap so i get to bed a little earlier. They’re beating on each other mercilessly until Dogen gets the upper hand. He holds his knife to Sayid’s throat and throws him against his desk, causing his baseball to fall and hit the floor.
Dogen looks over at it and suddenly gets himself under control, releasing Sayid and telling him to leave the temple and never come back. He tosses the knife away and picks up the baseball reverently as Sayid looks on. Dogen’s baggage?
Outside, UnLocke and Claire are looking at the entrance to the Temple, a thick grey line of ash laid at their feet. Claire wants to know why she has to do it.
“If I could do it myself I wouldn’t be asking you, Claire.”
She wants to be assured that he’ll do what he’s promised if she goes in there.
“I want my son back.”
“I always do what I say.”
“You gonna hurt them?”
“Only the ones who won’t listen.”
L O S T
=flashsideways=
Sayid’s brother wakes him in the middle of the night to tell him about the trouble he’s in with some men he borrowed money from. Sayid offers to pay them off, but that’s not the help his brother looking for.
“I need you to convince these people to leave me alone. I know what you did in the war. You were an interrogator for the republican guard. I know what kind of man you are. I know you care about Nadia. If you care about us, about her... you will do this, Sayid.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not that man anymore.”
Sayid NOT killing when asked? Huge Flashsideways difference here!
=island=
Sayid is explaining to Miles why he’s been banished.
“Apparently I’m evil. These people say I’m better off dead. Which is surprising, considering they were the ones who saved my life.”
Miles tells him that they just tried to save his life, but failed. He was dead for two hours.
“Trust me, when you sat up they were just as surprised as the rest of us. Whatever brought you back... it wasn’t them.”
Claire storms into the courtyard with her arms raised and walks straight up to Dogen.
“He wants to see you.”
Dogen starts to speak in Japanese and Claire interrupts, “Speak English.”
She tells him he’s right outside waiting.
“I’m not a fool. If I step outside this temple, he’ll kill me.”
“Then maybe you should send someone he won’t kill.”
Dogen, in Japanese, tells Lennon to put her in the hole until this is resolved, and to bring Shephard and Reyes to his room. Lennon tells him they’re missing and an angry Dogen tells him to look harder. He then approaches Sayid, and asks that he come with him.
“I thought you wanted me to leave?”
“Things have changed.”
Dogen unearths a box from one of the potted plants in his room, while explaining the new Claire to a curious Sayid.
“She’s a confused girl, under the influence of an angry man. For years he has been trapped, but now Jacob’s gone; he’s free. This man will not stop until he has destroyed every living thing on this island. He is evil incarnate.”
Dogen wants Sayid to kill UnLocke. He gives him some instructions and the knife he retrieved from the buried box.
“He will come to you as someone you know, someone who has died. As soon as you see him, plunge this deep into his chest. If you allow him to speak its already too late.”
“Since I’ve been here I’ve been drowned, tortured, and beaten - at your hands! Why would I ever do anything for you?”
“You said that there is still good in your soul. Then prove it.”
=flashsideways=
Sayid is walking the kids to the bus. I’m half expecting to see Locke face down in a lawn nearby, getting sprinkled on. Sayid tells them he’s only around for a couple of days, and then he’s off to Toronto for work. The kids like it better when Unc is around.
“Yeah, and mommy likes it too.” Worst part of the episode spoken by a little girl that looks suspiciously like Chaka. Is this the land of the Lost? Nadia rushes out of the house as the bus pulls away. Something’s happened to Omar. They go to St. Sebastian’s, where they pass Doctor Jack Shephard in the hall. No knowing/curious glances. Omar’s doc says it was a mugging but Sayid knows better and wants revenge. Nadia tells him she doesn’t want him to do that. She wants him to do this for her instead; go home and wait for the kids, and make them feel safe.
=island=
Kate finds Sayid in the jungle. Was I the only one thinking he was about to plunge the knife deep into her chest? Thank god he doesn’t think she’s dead. He brushes off her questions and tells her to ask Miles what’s happened before continuing on. Miles is playing solitaire in the temple courtyard when Kate gets there.
“Sawyer sent you packing, huh?”
It’s easy to forget that Kate knew Sawyer for a few months before leaving the island, while Miles was with him the past three years, and one of his closest friends too, it seemed.
“I thought about going after him too, but I knew he’d just end up berating me until I turned around and came back. That pretty much what happened?”
“Pretty much.”
He tells her the Australian chick that had the baby showed up acting all weird, but still hot.
Back in the jungle Sayid stops for a drink, and UnLocke puts on a wind and noise show before appearing to Sayid as Locke.
“Hello Sayid.”
Sayid plunges the knife deep into his chest. Unbleeding UnLocke pulls it back out.
“Now why’d you go and do that?”
He hands the knife back.
“Take it, I won’t bite.”
“What are you?”
“Well Sayid, you seem to have some idea about that considering you stabbed me in the chest without even saying hello.”
Sayid tells UnLocke he’s been told he is evil incarnate. Something UnLocke doesn’t deny. He tells Sayid that Dogen’s plan was to have UnLocke kill him, and knows he’d already tried it with someone else.
“…shame on you for being talked into it so easily.”
“And what is it you are trying to talk me into?”
UnLocke wants him to deliver a message.
“Sayid, if you’ll do this for me, what if I told you that you could have anything you wanted...anything in the entire world?”
“I would tell you the only thing I ever wanted died in my arms and I’ll never see it again.”
“What if you could?”
Soul sold.
Shannon and Nadia both died in his arms, so does this mean the only thing he ever wanted is love, and not Nadia specifically? Awww, Sayid. :(
=flashsideways=
Sayid is gluing together the pieces of a vase - the one that held his soul? Omar is going to be fine. Nadia seems like she wouldn’t mind if he had bit it, though. She’s miserable and would be happier with Sayid. This is the wrong life... for her. But at least she’s alive in it.
“If you care about me, why did you push me toward your brother?”
“For the last 12 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.”
The kids are in bed… you think they did it? So has world traveler sideways Sayid actually just been a translator these past 12 years? I think so. But old habits die hard, as we soon find out.
=island=
Sayid returns to the temple with a message for all the Others.
“There is a man in the jungle about a mile south of us by the outer wall. He sent me back here to give you a message; he wants you to know Jacob is dead, and because he’s gone none of you have to stay here anymore, you’re free. The man that I met is leaving the island forever. Those of you who want to go with him should leave the temple and join him. You have until sundown to decide. “
Cindy(andthekids) wants to know what will happen if they stay.
“You die.”
Smokey’s choice. Not quite free will at play here.
Kate and Lennon meet in the temple and she manhandles the scrawny Other (ha ha ha ha) into bringing her to Claire. He shows her to the pit and gives her two minutes. Claire is crazy singing at the bottom of the Silence of the Lambs well (how is it that Ted Levine hasn't been on Lost yet??) She’s excited to see Kate, who explains all about Aaron. Uh-oh.
“I took him off the island. You were gone and we couldn’t find you so i raised him, and he is the most beautiful amazing little boy. But I came back here to rescue you so that you could be with him, so that you guys could be together again.”
Raised by another... Great acting here by Emilie De Ravin – her face sells insanity well.
“I’m not the one that needs to be rescued…He’s coming, Kate. He’s coming and they can’t stop him!”
Lennon and some Others take Kate away.
Outside there’s a mass exodus happening that Lennon is powerless to stop. Miles asks Sayid if they’re leaving too. Sayid pulls out Dogen’s knife.
“Not yet. I have to return this.”
=flashsideways=
Some heavies pull up to Sayid outside Nadia’s house and threaten to get the kids involved if he doesn’t go with them. He gets in the car. The two men walk him into a restaurant kitchen, where a third man is making himself some eggs. He offers Sayid some, but is refused. It’s Keamy.
“Martin Keamy.”
He’s got a nice watch on. I wonder if he carried that uncomfortable hunk of metal... anyway, he does a good Walken creepy bad guy. He tells Sayid his brother still owes him money.
“And somebody is gonna pay me that money.”
“Did you put my brother in the hospital?”
“You think it was me? I didn’t do that. It’s a dangerous world, Sayid, you know that, you’re from Iraq; never know when somebody’s just gonna sneak up...”
BAM! Sayid takes out the two goons in a heartbeat. Keamy's eyes get really wide. Sideways Keamy sure is a pussy, aiight?
”The debt’s forgiven, aiight? Ok? Just relax and forget about it.”
“I can’t”
Sayid shoots him dead. He tried to take the high road, but ultimately was given no real choice. He hears someone kicking in the freezer and opens it up. Shocker - it’s a bound and beaten Jin.
“Who are you?”
No knowing/curious glances.
Also,”No English.”
=island=
Now we get about 8 minutes of the most exiting Lost to date. There are 12 more hours left?? This feels like the pulse-pounding third act of a fucking awesome movie. Dogen is reflecting by the reflecting pool, baseball in hand, when Sayid enters.
“That’s twice you’ve tried to have someone else kill me. You had the opportunity to do it yourself. Why didn’t you?”
Dogen tell his story; he was a businessman in Japan once. He had too much to drink on a Friday after a big promotion at work. He picked his son up from baseball later that night, like he did every Friday.
“He was 12. The accident was very bad. I survived. But my son... and then, in the hospital, a man came to me. A man I had never met. And he told me that he could save my sons life, but I would have to come here to this island where I would have a new job, and I could never see my boy again.”
Again, not much of a choice here.
“Who was this man?”
“His name was Jacob.”
“Jacob drives a hard bargain.”
“The man outside, I take it he offered you a similar bargain.”
“Yes.”
“It is sundown. Do you choose to stay or go?”
“Id like to stay.”
Sort of a Good Bad Ugly/Inglorious feel to this scene - more Walken even, him and Hopper in True Romance. True Romance more on the nose I think - in both cases the father is dying to save his son. Dogen knows this is it, I think. Sayid drowns him violently in the pool. Lennon rushes in to help but it’s too late.
“Do you realize what you just did? He was the only thing keeping it out. Idiot, you just let it in.”
Sayid slashes his throat.
“I know”
Will they be back as infected like Sayid became after dying in the pool? Why was Dogen the only thing keeping it out??
Outside Smokey arrives, and it is GOOD (I mean, bad, but shit… oh so good). Miles and Kate run for it, going their separate ways when Kate goes to get Claire. Ilana, Sun Ben and Lapidus meet up with Miles. Awesome.
“Where are Shephard and Reyes? And Ford?”
Why would she ask about Jack and Hurley, with Sawyer as an afterthought? The only real candidates remaining? He tells her they’re gone. Smokey’s getting closer. She asks about Jarrah and Miles tells her he’s in the pool room. Ben goes to get him.
Kate gets to Claire, who isn’t going anywhere.
“It's much safer here.”
Smokes rollercoasters by above their heads, carrying a load of screaming Others. Too fucking cool.
Ben finds Sayid and the dead men at the pool.
“I know a way out of here. There’s still time.”
Completely infected soul sold Sayid turns his blank eyes on Ben.
“Not for me.”
Ben backs away verrry slowly, not taking his bug eyes off of Sayid, then turns and runs.
Sun, Miles, Frank and Ilana are looking for the secret tunnel Jack and Hurley used. Miles tells Sun that Jin is alive. At least last he saw of him, he was. Again, these two have been friends for the past 3 years. Smokey is getting closer, making Godzilla sounds. Ilana finds the secret passage, and they enter and close it behind them just as Smokes rolls down the corridor.
Some slo-mo carnage in the temple courtyard set to Catch a Falling Star. Infected Sayid and Claire walk zombie-like to the entrance. Kate takes it all in and wisely arms herself before following them. I’m sure she’s thinking what we all are; how the fuck did she end up on this side? Free will, right? She had a choice to go with Miles or try to rescue Claire - a real choice, unlike quite a few of the others in this episode, and look where it landed her. UnLocke and the Others who left the temple earlier are waiting outside. Sayid, Claire and UnLocke share creepy looks and UnLocke regards Kate coolly (NOT good) when he sees her arrive. He turns and leads the flock away from the temple. Bad-ass Empire Strikes Back sort of vibe.
Great music, great directing, great everything except that little Chaka girls mommy line. This is one of the best seasons a television show has ever had.
Alright, I’ve been having a tough time wording this, so if it’s hard to understand I apologize. First off, I think it’s gone too far (on the basis of the final scene of this episode alone, even) for the powers that be to reveal that Smokey is the good guy. Smokey bad, Jacob good. But it gets twisty, because I’m pretty sure Smokey doesn’t think he’s bad (although he doesn’t deny he is evil incarnate). The best intentions and all that…
I think that we are definitely seeing the end of the show in the flashsidewayses as we watch the end of the island saga unfold at the same time. The trick here is to make sure that the ideal life we’re watching isn’t destroyed by UnLocke’s army. This, I think, explains Dogen’s actions, or inactions as the case may be. He says he killed his son, and Jacob came to him, at a time when he was “miserable and vulnerable” and offered him a deal to save his sons life, with the understanding that Dogen could never see him again. Dogen took this deal and has been at his ‘new job’ on the island since. Dogen KNOWS about the Flashsideways world, and knows that he and his son are alive and well there. (Sidetrack, covering my bases, maybe he isn’t alive there – did he interact with his son? – And just appeared to Jack to ‘push’ him in the right direction ala Jacob. No way, but still putting it out there) the only way to assure this realities continued existence (and not kill his son AGAIN) is to let the drama on the island play out with no interference on his part. i.e. not killing any of the possible candidates, whether they are ‘infected’ or not, and the Ankh list had Jarrah on it. So yeah, drowning him in the pool maybe not the best idea, but it was the only way they could think of to possibly save this candidates life?
Where it gets twisty for me is here: Sayid was offered a VERY similar deal. Nadia is alive in the sideways world, but Sayid cannot be with her because he needs to atone for his sins and is not worthy. This doesn’t explain why Dogen and his son ARE together, except that maybe God’s deals are a little better than the Devil’s? He is in the details, after all. Or even more simply, Sayid has much more to atone for than the others we’ve seen sideways so far, and that’s why his sidelife isn’t as rosy as the rest.
Sayid’s is also the only sideways story that didn’t contain a look into a mirror, at least not that I picked up on.
"it did have his reflection, in the door. But he looked through it at into Nadia which I thought was interesting." - Thanks Sara!
I heard there was a big spoiler voice-over at the end of the episode/during ‘next week on…’ please don’t repeat it here if you heard it. Thanks!!
posted by karmacomedian at 9:46 AM
