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Lost - 5x10 - He's Our You
Summary:
Sayid's separation from Jack, Kate and Hurley upon arrival in 1977
forces Sawyer to imprison him as a Hostile. While Dharma try to
decide what to do about their supposedly broken truce, Sawyer and
Sayid take strikingly different approaches to resolving matters. In
flashback, Sayid recalls how Ben shaped his post-island life by
bringing an innate talent to the surface.
Likes: So very
glad the traditional flashback structure hasn't been forgotten
about. Whether or not this is the beginning of a resurgence or just
a convenient relapse I wouldn't like to guess, but it bodes
reasonably well for Daniel and Miles who have each yet to have
their solo moment in the sun (I think we can probably say
Charlotte's chances are slim to none...). Gaps in the narrative are
efficiently plugged with each fragment of backstory, showing the
changing face of Sayid Jarrah along the way while also managing to
squeeze in a little homage to classic Eko ep
The 23rd
Psalm. The on-island A-plot has its moments too, in particular
a chilling reappearance for Roger 'Workman' Linus and of course the
final scene in which Sayid decides to test the universe's
proficiency in course correction. Dharma stalwarts Radzinsky and
Horace are both excellent in their supporting roles, and our
fore-knowledge of their grim futures makes Sayid's drug-induced
confession all the more satisfying and believably unbelievable.
A quantum of solace?
Dislikes:
Conventional flashbacks may be back, but as for their actual
effectiveness the jury is out. I was never particularly convinced
by Sayid's transformation into 007-esque assassin, despite
The
Economist being a highlight of last season.
He's Our
You seeks to establish via flashback that Sayid has always
been a killer, even if a reluctant one, but to my mind the
cumulative flashback content of the first three seasons doesn't
give this impression at all. He was a soldier, yes, but a far cry
from a cold-blooded killer. He was a torturer, yes, but it was
neither something he sought out nor something he revelled in. His
one on-screen kill pre-island is to facilitate the escape of the
love of his life. Fair enough, the death of said love of his life
was supposed to be the motivation for his future killings, but
given his normal sceptical stance it's hard to believe anything Ben
could say would have convinced him to go off the rails. In other
bad news, Sawyer's comment to Sayid that Oldham is 'our you' rings
somewhat false given that his sole contribution to proceedings was
to feed Sayid a drugged sugar cube. You'd think Sawyer would be
able to make a better comparison after experiencing the old
bamboo-behind-the-fingernails routine firsthand. And one final
quibble: no Desmond for the third ep running and, more
surprisingly, no Locke for the second ep running
Musings: The
first time I saw this episode it hadn't occured to me that Sayid
didn't know he was in 1977 until meeting young Ben at the end of
Namaste, which just goes to show that even the most ardent
fans can miss massive plot details if they're not concentrating. As
far as where things can go from here, I'd say the two most likely
options are for Ben to be cured by the island or for Jin to wake up
and whisk him back to Dharmaville just in time for Jack to bust out
some mad surgery skills. Option 2 is probably the current
frontrunner for me, not least because it echoes Jack reluctantly
operating on Ben in season 3 and the Lost writers will seize upon
any excuse for a little echoing. On the other hand, Jack has just
been inducted as a janitor, so maybe the good Dharma folks won't be
too quick to let him loose on mini-Ben with scalpel in hand. Either
way, I can only presume our Losties will continue to ride the
deterministic wave, secure in the knowledge that Whatever
Happened, Happened.
Overall: A
solid episode, providing a logical continuation of Namaste
while at the same time throwing us off into an exciting new
tangent.
Rating: It's been so long since my last review
the station count is now up to a nice round 10. Applying a suitably
convoluted alogrithm to upscale from 7 to 10 means that He's
Our You receives 6 out of 10 DHARMA Stations
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