SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen the episode airing February 23, 2010, don't read this.
They shouldn't have named this episode Sundown. Instead, they should've called it If Looks Could Kill. At least three times this episode, we saw some SERIOUSLY nasty looks (and that's saying something, because Lost is definitely a show that has mastered the Artfully Menacing Extended Glare). First, there was the way Fake Locke looked at Sayid, after Sayid tried to stab him. Then there was the look Claire gave Kate when she realized Kate had taken Aaron from the Island. Then there were about 629 instances of Sayid (the king-daddy of the Artfully Menacing Extended Glare, except with puppy-dog eyes) staring down whoever dared to cross him. I had trouble sleeping after all those wicked looks.
I really liked this episode (then again, Sayid-centric episodes are always my favorite ones--he's one of the most fascinatingly conflicted heroes on the show). He's a man desperately trying to escape a wicked past, yet he finds himself again and again "forced" into old patterns. He's constantly faced with the question of whether it's acceptable to commit a wrong act for the right reasons--kind of the Jack Bauer of Lost. (Or maybe I'm just watching too much television.) Sayid's conversion to the Dark Side by the end of the show appeared to be complete.
Then again, this is Lost, where things change in an instant. Ben Linus appears to be growing into a good guy, which just turns my universe smack upside-down.
The most significant thing we learned in this episode is that, according to Dogen, The Artist Formerly Known As Locke is actually a man ("evil incarnate") who was trapped but is now (at least temporarily) freed to wreak havoc. Jacob's death has, somehow, also "freed" the temple crowd to leave, if they so choose.
I don't want to read too much into the religious imagery into the show, but the parallels are sometimes impossible to miss. Jacob dies (or appears to die), but he comes back, appearing in the flesh to some select followers who have been specifically called for their task. Remind you of Anyone? (At this rate, I'm guessing will see The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the last final episode.)
My favorite line of the night was when Sayid (speaking, I think, for all of us Lost fans) barged into Dogen's room demanding, "I want some answers!" (I shouted, "ME TOO!")
What did you think? Do you think Sayid has become irrevocably wicked? Will Ben Linus save the day? Is Kate about to get whacked in the jungle? What on earth will become of Claire?
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