If you're so good at killing people, take a crack at ol' Smokey for me, ok? Thanks.
Sayid's flash-sideways is a little less exciting than his Island timeline but it is revealing nonetheless. It focuses on a visit to his lifetime love Nadia, who, in this timeline, happens to be married to his brother Omer, and has two children. The romantic tension remains palpable, and since no Sayid episode should be devoid of some true ass-kicking, we also find his brother has gotten in deep with some unsavory individuals.
Naturally Omer figures his brother, given his predilection for violence, might be able to handle his money troubles. Little did we expect that of all the people to show up in the sideways-verse is all-around bad guy (and apparently part-time short order cook), Martin Keamy, played by Kevin Durand, clearly enjoying his brief, random return to Lost. What results is yet another fun Sayid battle that ends just how you wanted it to, and with a bonus cameo appearance from a tied up, "No English"-Jin at the end, leaving you more confused than you already might have been. Nonetheless it is clear in the flash-sideways we are once again seeing the show addressing the internal demons that Sayid faces on a daily basis given his history as an efficient torturer and killer of men, and asking whether or not he is a fundamentally good man.
Back on the Island, Sayid finds himself fed up with Dogen's antics, and demands answers (and thereby allowing ABC to tease us further in promotional clips). Dogen hedges but explains the contraption that shocked him was able to detect whether someone is more fundamentally good or rather more evil, and apparently Sayid's test tipped in the wrong direction. This leads into a welcome fight scene between the two: samurai vs. Iraqi militant, ending abruptly at the fall of a baseball, whose ultimate significance to Dogen sheds new light on a character that had up until recently been rather impenetrable.
Unexpectedly sparing his life, Dogen at first banishes Sayid from the Temple, only to stop him when Smokey Locke rears his head, demanding an audience. Instructing him to strike a dagger into the Smoke Monster's heart, he lets Sayid leave to deal with Locke. Without missing a beat, good ol' Sayid strikes the dagger straight through Locke, but to no avail. You have to admire Sayid's go-to attitude in potential game-changing moments. When the timing was right for him to kill young Ben, he actually took it, only for him to ultimately survive. Here, he potentially has a chance to kill the show's main antagonist, and he takes it. But that would be too easy, and ultimately Smokey Locke--who is more upset at Sayid's bad manners than anything--is given just enough time to promise Sayid a chance to be back with his beloved (and deceased) Nadia again. Sounds like a deal with the devil if I ever heard one. An interesting theory arises at this point: what if Smokey Locke actually isn't "evil incarnate" as Dogen states, but rather the instrument by which the flash-sideways timeline arises? In that timeline, he would have made his promise to Sayid that he and Nadia would be together again, although under considerably different circumstances. We'll have to see where this goes, but I'm increasingly wondering if it wasn't the nuclear device but rather something yet to occur that sets off the flash-sideways timeline.
What? You don't even say 'hello?'
In the interim, Claire, previously captured by the Others when she came to deliver the message from Smokey, is all too happily humming a lullaby in the "hole." Kate, alerted to her presence in the Temple previously by Sayid, finds her and tries to explain how she "raised" Aaron...probably not the smartest choice of words there, Kate.
Sayid ultimately appears to be recruited, returning to tell the Temple Others that by sundown they either join Smokey Locke outside, or face imminent death. Sayid then proceeds to drown the temple master in the same waters that he had attempted to use to save Sayid's life, but not before an increasingly sympathetic Dogen reveals his backstory on how Jacob struck a hard bargain with him: saving his dying son's life in exchange for coming to the island. Where a few episodes ago I would've gladly applauded the death of his opaque and generally unlikable character, I'm now a bit sad to see him go. I'm sure he had plenty more answers that we'll now have to continue to figure out in typical roundabout Lost fashion. Lennon, Dogen's loyal do-nothing assistant discovers the scene and is aghast: he informs Sayid that Dogen was the only reason Smokey was kept at bay. Too bad, because there goes your throat. It's good to see bad-ass Sayid back, even if it's part of an "evil" streak.
You mean I fatefully missed crossing paths with Jin again?!? It's been since Season 4 already folks!
Finally sundown approaches and all hell breaks loose in what is probably one of the most breathless and thrilling episode finales in recent memory. Smokey thrashes the remaining Others as he races through the Temple at breakneck speed. Miles and Kate make for an escape but Kate has to get Claire, who ultimately is much more content being crazy down in her hole. Miles runs into, at last, Ilana, Frank, Ben and Sun, who arrive just in time for all the action. They search for the secret passage that Hurley was snooping around last episode, but Ben Linus decides he had better go find Sayid first. At the waters, Ben finds Sayid eerily calm, knife in hand, blood dripping from its sharp edge. Sayid gives him one of the most disturbing looks we've ever seen flash across his face, and Ben instinctively backs away. If there's any argument about Sayid's "infected" state, well, I think it gets put to rest here. The episode ends with Smokey Locke leading a number of Others, an evil Sayid, Claire, and a very confused looking Kate, away from the Temple to destinations uncertain.
Yet another brilliant episode from the creators of Lost, and where we go from here is still happily anyone's guess.
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