Spoilers below!
In just a couple of hours, I’m leaving for WAM. So this post might be a bit more rushed than the others, but here goes . . .
RECAP
Last night’s episode marked a return to LOST’s mostly character-centric flashback formula, with a Sayid-centric episode. Indeed, we open up with a flashback — of a young Sayid killing a chicken, in an attempt to save his older brother from the wrath of their father. He seems unaffected by the killing.
Then in a flashback that comes soon after, we see Sayid doing more killing, as he brings sexy back in his hot assassin mode. (Hey, I can safely say that I don’t normally have a thing for trained/hired killers. But Sayid with the suit, straightened hair and gun out does it for me every time.) Seeming unaffected by this killing, like all of the others, he leaves the murder site and goes outside to see Ben, standing all shadily in the shadows. Sayid asks for his his next assignment, and Ben assures them that there are no more: mission accomplished, Sayid has officially murdered everyone in Widmore’s organization who posed a threat. Sayid reacts with shock and anger, asking “That’s it?” Ben confirms, tells him good work and begins to walk away. Looking forlorn, Sayid asks what he’s supposed to do now. Ben tells him to go back to his life, and this seems to not act as a reassurance.
Back on the island, Mini-Ben is still bringing Sayid sandwiches. We are reminded that Mini-Ben is sympathetic to Sayid precisely because he believes him to be a Hostile. Mini-Ben asks Sayid if Richard sent him, and then tells him if he’s patient, he will help him.
Horace then goes to see Sayid, with a pair of pliers no less. We think that he’s about to go all Sayid on Sayid, but he’s actually being nice and removing Sayid’s restraints. He then asks Sayid to talk, and Sayid refuses. So Horace gives him one more hour and goes to see Sawyer.
Sawyer is busy reassuring Juliet that everything is going to be okay, at the same time as Hurley is informing Kate that Sawyer and Juliet are a couple, when Horace comes in and tells Sawyer that they need to take Sayid to Oldham, whoever that is. Sawyer hates this idea, and says that if he can just talk to Sayid himself, this will all be sorted out.
But, that sadly doesn’t go so well, even though Sayid says the best line in show history, when Sawyer asks him how he’s doing: “I was just delivered a chicken salad sandwich by a 12-year-old Benjamin Linus. How do you think I’m doing?” Sawyer gives Sayid the option of his own plan, where Sayid eventually joins Dharma, or being left on his own. Sayid, seemingly going nuts, or just not wanting to live anywhere with Mini-Ben, chooses the latter.
We then see more of Mini-Ben when his mean, abusive, alcoholic father comes to mop up the prisoner area. After poorly attempting to mock Sayid, Mini-Ben suddenly appears with a new sandwich for Sayid, and not liking this, we see his father enact more abuse on him, this time physical as well as emotional.
Flashback to Sayid working for that Habitat for Humanity type organization, and Ben shows up in that creepy, sudden way that Ben always shows up. He tells Sayid that Locke is dead, and that Sayid needs to go protect Hurley. Sayid refuses, saying that he will not kill anyone else for Ben. Ben basically says “but that’s what you do — you’re a killer.” Sayid argues otherwise, and they part ways.
Another flashback, and Sayid is drinking very expensive scotch in a bar when Ilana starts chatting him up. Sayid bites, but when they end up in his hotel room, she kicks him in the face and pulls a gun on him. Turns out that she’s a bounty hunter, coming to take him back to Guam for the murder of that guy on the golf course forever ago.
Later, we see them in the airport together, as Sayid half-heartedly tries to convince her to take the next flight. She refuses, and makes a crack about how she’ll get him a rabbit’s foot from the gift shop. For some reason, Sayid does not respond with “Okay lady, that’s real cute, but here’s the thing. I’m a member of the Oceanic 6, remember? I was in a plane that crashed over the Pacific. Obviously you know that, or you are like the worst bounty hunter ever. Got it, good. Now see that guy over there? Also a member of the Oceanic 6! And that guy next to him? Oceanic 6! Oh hey, look at that woman in the sunglasses — Oceanic 6! And there’s that other woman over there! You guessed it — Oceanic 6! Now, you can keep joking about how superstitious I am all you like, but you look around and tell me that you want to get on this fucking plane.” Of course he doesn’t say that. It would make sense. Also, it would kind of ruin the trajectory of the show.
Oh, and when he asks her if she works for Ben, she says that she does not.
Back on the island, Sayid is taken to see Oldham, a man who lives in a tent and apparently has truth serum. Sayid asks Sawyer who he is, and Sawyer says “He’s our you.” They give the truth serum to Sayid via sugar cube, in the exact same way that one gives a pill to a cat. Sawyer looks worried, and we start to think that he really didn’t think this whole “you’re on your own” thing all the way through. But no mind, they don’t believe Sayid when he says he’s from the future anyway. Of course, they don’t take into account the fact that everything else Sayid says is true, and say “hey, wait, if that’s true, and he’s taken truth serum . . .” but luckily for Sawyer, the Dharma bunch aren’t the brightest crayons in the box.
Everyone then starts to debate whether or not to kill Sayid. Radzinsky of course insists that they should, and though Sawyer argues otherwise, everyone eventually agrees when Amy says that they need to kill him in order to protect their spawn of Satan, Ethan. Sawyer does try to save Sayid one last time, though, by telling Sayid to hit him, take the keys and the guard’s gun, and run away. Sayid refuses, saying that he’s exactly where he wants to be. We start to worry that he’s on some kind of suicide mission, feeling regretful about all of his murders.
But then it’s Mini-Ben to the rescue. A flaming Dharma van rips through Dharmaville, crashing into a house and exploding. Obviously this takes up everyone’s attention, while Mini-Ben goes to free Sayid, asking him to take him to Richard so that he can join the Hostiles. Sayid agrees, saying that is what he’s here to do.
In the jungle, they run into Jin. Sayid is forced to knock him unconscious, so that no one knows he has escaped. He then steals Jin’s gun, as Mini-Ben comments on how awesome his badass ninja skills are. Sayid looks at the ground with grief, and tells Mini-Ben that he was right: Sayid is a killer. He then lifts the gun, and shoots Mini-Ben, seemingly dead, and runs away.
ANALYSIS/THEORIES
Obviously killing a 12-year-old is not cool. At the same time, as I jokingly expressed in the last post, I certainly understand the sentiment. Yes, killing an innocent baby who has not yet done anything wrong seems horrific, and I think all of us can agree on that. But when you know that said baby is going to turn into Ethan, and that killing him now would save a lot of pain and suffering, especially on the part of your friends? Well, I imagine that we would all be split on the morality of that one. I think it’s a gray area (and thankfully one that we’re not likely to run into in real life). I understand that by killing Mini-Ben, Sayid thinks that he’s saving all of Dharmaville, the suffering of his friends, and getting a part of his own life back. Further, you could tell that he really didn’t want to do it, but felt that he had no choice. In short, my assessment is: fucked up, but understandable.
But here’s what I think. First of all, Mini-Ben is not dead. I imagine that most of us probably agree on that. Sayid is, of course, the one person who hasn’t yet gotten a primer in time travel, not even the shitty Sawyer primer, and obviously doesn’t understand that he can’t change things. Further, obviously having confidence in his abilities, he doesn’t check for a pulse, kick Mini-Ben, anything. And we know that the island has healing powers, at least when it wants to.
But my theory goes further than that. I think not only that Mini-Ben is alive, but that it is in fact Sayid that turned Mini-Ben evil. That act of violence and betrayal made Mini-Ben go from a mild-mannered, kind-hearted, abused kid, to the ruthless, evil murdering monster that he is today. In fact, I’m quite convinced of it.
Also, on other Sayid-Ben encounters. Ben’s telling Sayid that he thinks Locke was murdered gives us at least something of a clue as to why Ben might have done it: because he thought that it would lure Sayid back into “protecting” people for him.
I think that their encounter after Sayid did his “last” killing for Ben also tells us something about why Sayid now hates him (again). All of this time, I thought that Ben had stabbed Sayid in the back in some way. It seems that he did, only not in the way I had assumed. He betrayed Sayid by taking away his life yet again. Sayid had lost his wife, and had nothing left. Ben gave him a purpose again, and then when he declared that Sayid was done, he took it away. This enraged Sayid, broke him, and forced him to assess what he had been doing with his life. And that was more than enough to make Sayid turn against him.
What do you think?
Jesus, ME TOO. I’ve never really had a huge crush on an actor before, but that scene when Sayid was walking in the leather coat? Mmmm…
I think Zuleikha Robinson is the hottest thing since the face of the sun and Naveen can unzip my boots any time.
/shallowness
This was maybe the best episode this season. It has all the elements that made Lost’s first season outstanding: compelling characterizations, difficult ethical quandries, and MINDFUCKS. There’s no way Mini-Ben is dead, but it’s going to be interesting to see how he survives a gunshot to the chest.
Which makes me wonder, was Sayid *high*? Did he not remember that the island has a way of healing people? EMPTY THE CLIP, SAYID. EMPTY IT.
Word up. Sayid is a sex machine. The truth serum was lsd though, and thats why when sayid said he was from the future the guy was like opps, maybe i should only give them half a vile. haha. silly. also, HOLY CRAP SAYID SHOT BEN.
Agree 100%. I think a lot of the time travelers on the show are going to end up shaping their own futures. Locke did it when he blinked out in front of Richard after telling him he was his leader. Now Sayid has also done it with Ben.
Love this season, love this show. :)
OMG, the first time I saw him in that coat, in Germany (when he was picking up that woman who worked for Widmore)? I just about passed out from attraction overload and frantic panting. I’m just saying.
Haha, I totally agree. But think that if he had emptied the clip, it would have gone against his whole “I’m doing this even though I don’t really want to” thing.
Ah, that makes sense. I had no idea that LSD could act as a truth serum, though. Shows what I know about drugs.
Also, just thought of a further reason why Ben cannot be dead: Because they wouldn’t be there. If they never met Ben, the mercenaries would never have come to the island, the island never would have been moved, and they probably never would have gotten off of the island, but if they did they certainly wouldn’t have gone back.
Please, please, please, why can’t I find Sayid drinking in a bar alone?
I would glady go to a hotel room with him, but I would never kick him in the face.
That’s not how my fantasy ends.
i’m guessing that when jin wakes up, ben will be gone, taken by alpert and crew. maybe jacob will come into play in saving ben’s life (though i doubt we’ll see him on screen).
The same way Locke did, when Ben shot him in the chest. (Remember Ben’s shock that the island was letting him die of cancer? Here’s some context.) Does Juliet treat his wounds? That would help explain why he wanted her on the island.
If we’re going there, there’s a parallel element: Even as the survivors inadvertently create their own futures, at least one major player is deliberately creating his own past: Ben. And if Ben is to believed (i.e., as far as you can throw him) Charles Widmore. And possibly Richard Alpert.
Somebody sent Inman (Clancy Brown) to the desert to turn Sayid into a torturer. (We later see Inman in the Swan with Desmond, in a Dharma uniform, pretending the Island was contaminated; he’s ultimately killed by Desmond.) Was he sent by Widmore or by Ben – because that’s what set Sayid on his path to becoming Ben’s killer.
Later, after Sayid’s wife is killed, Ben shows up and accuses Widmore. We can assume it was Ben, who repeatedly uses Widmore as subterfuge for his own manipulations, such as pursuing custody of Aaron, but one way or the other it’s about orienting Sayid back toward being a killer and back to the Island. Ben then does his best to build Sayid into a more efficient, more ruthless killer, and doesn’t exploit opportunities to have Sayid killed or arrested. When Sayid is caught by the bounty hunter and taken on the plane, was she hired by Ben or Widmore? Either way, she was hired by someone who wanted to make sure that Sayid killed 12-year-old Ben.
I’m thinking he’s going to be back in the hands of the survivors at Dharma who, in a continuation of the “making their own futures” subplot, must then decide whether to save him or let him die.
The hint they dropped that Kate may have been inspired to return to the island by thoughts of Sawyer? I’m thinking it’s a red herring – her reason is to ensure herself a safe future with Aaron. How’s this for a choice for the next episode: Help Ben survive so that the future isn’t changed, or let him die and erase her future with Aaron?
Okay, I gotta point out one element of time-travel that everyone seems to miss: you can’t change the past or the future. Even if you change what happens in the time dimension that you’ve shifted to, that doesn’t mean that your past or your future is any different. The thing is, when you travel through time, you’re traveling to an alternate reality (of which there are an infinite number because each “time slice” as Brian Greene taught us, has its own reality and exists independent of other realities blah blah blah), not traveling back to a moment in your own history. Since all credible fictionalized sources on this phenomena (that is, all of them except Quantum Leap) have made this point, it would be a tragedy of fiction for the Lost writers to ignore this. That means that the Oceanic 5 are not in the past that shaped their lives or the lives of the Others, but an entirely different reality.
Of course, if we ignore all of that and figure it out Quantum Leap style (and hope that their next leap will be the leap home — but so help me if Scott Backula shows up, I’m gonna kill my teevee), yes they’re all shaping their futures. I guess nothing else makes sense from a scientific standpoint (and it is Sci-Fi afterall), so there’s really no reason to have the show be cohesive with the laws of physics, quantum or otherwise.
P.S. Peter said “wait, but if he kills Ben, then how did he get there the second time in the first place?”
P.P.S. Naveen Andrews rocks my world.
“Which makes me wonder, was Sayid *high*? Did he not remember that the island has a way of healing people?
Um, not so much.
One shot killed Anna Lucia, Libby and Shannon.
So…nope, he probably thought he killed him dead.
i am loving this show again. there were a couple questionable episodes this season, but it’s absolutely back now.
i think you’re probably right with your theory, cara. i wonder if there’s also another aspect of this: i wonder if one of ben’s mission’s in life is to mess up sayyid for doing this to him? it might be a bit of a stretch, but it could be very interesting to see how ben really wanted to destroy sayyid’s life after he shot him like that.
great stuff.
for the life of me, i will never get why anyone anywhere finds the dude who plays sayyid hot but it’s one of life’s many mysteries. it still bugs me to no end that they’ve been using an indian actor to play an arab man, as if brown people all just look the same or something.
well, at least naveen finally cut his nails.
@groovybroad: Two shots killed Libby. Just sayin’.
Cara, I think you’re right on that Sayid created the monster Ben becomes. So, so tragic!
What I’m waiting to find out is why it will take so long – from Ben at 12 years old – for the Purge to happen. What’s going to happen that he waits another 30 years or so at least with Dharma before killing them all and joining the Hostiles?
Lily,
I think the writers have said that the Purge happens in about 15 years (roughly the early 1990s). I was wondering what takes so long too. Do the Hostiles/Others make him wait that long? I can’t imagine Ben being that patient!
Also, does anyone else wonder what happened to Faraday? We could really use his expertise with all these time travel questions. :)
All I can say is I’m on pretty much the same page, here, and my tongue practically hung out when Sayyid was walking toward the camera in that leather coat.
One thing to note, according to what the show has established, Ben will not remember being shot by Sayid until present time. When Faraday knocked on the door to call out Desmond, Desmond did not have the memory until the present day. Ben will only remember being shot by Sayid in the present time-if the show stays consistent.
I did not know ahead of time that this was a Sayid-centric episode, but I knew what the episode title was. I assumed the title referred to some Sawyer/Jack leadership struggle, so when Sawyer uttered that line, well, it was awesome.
I’m hoping that Ben is rescued by the Hostiles and we see that Rose/Bernard/etc. have joined the Hostiles, or at least find out what happened to them. Maybe Vincent will even show up.
Rachel, there are different theories of time travel, and fictional works that deal with the topic handle it in one of a variety of ways. It’s definitely suggested that Lost is working with the one-timeline method — I’m sure they’ll stick to that. Which I certainly prefer to Heroes’ whatever-we-think-will-get-ratings method. :P
good point, thom. not sure if that’s exactly true since richard remembered meeting locke, but richard is something different so maybe the rules apply different for him.
Lily:
Either which way, others were killed by one shot and not healed. JUST SAYIN.
Point is, the whole “healing” properties of the island seem to pick and choose as it goes, for whatever reason. It does not “heal” everyone.
the truth serum is definitely lsd. the governement used lsd as a truth serum up until the 70′s.