Lower Decks

I’m not sure if it was intentional, but on the sixth episode of the sixth season (not sure what the third six would be to complete the 666 metaphor) deals a lot with evil.  Characters are forced to face evil around them, evil in those close to them, and evil in themselves.  It’s one of the darker episodes in the show’s history, and it ends with one of the creepier scenes I’ve seen in a while.

In recent seasons, as characters began to shift and change, I’ve started to appreciate Sayid.  Because while Jack began to embrace the idea of faith, Sawyer loosened up a bit, and Locke grew more and more devoted to the Island, Sayid never changed.  He’s always tried to do the right thing, always put the group’s safety above his own, and he did whatever he could to get everyone off the Island.

Even some of the darker things he did (bounty hunting, torture, etc.) were all done in the name of helping everyone he cared about.  And at the end of the day, Sayid was used by everyone around him, and he ends up hating himself.

And that’s why “Sundown” was such a sad moment for me – as Sayid embraces his dark side (or simply allows the darkness to consume him).  I’m really hoping it’s something that will end up reversible because it’s simply unsettling to imagine the idea that one of our favorite characters will have to go head to head with Sayid.

I think it’s a testament to the acting of Naveen Andrews, who is able to convey a completely different version of Sayid as soon as he is finally “claimed.”  Emilie de Ravin is able to do the same thing, and I was a bit horrified (and certainly creeped out) as Dark Sayid and Dark Claire surveyed the damage inside the Temple.  Both have this serene darkness that just really makes you cringe.  You know that these are no longer the characters that you got to love – instead, they’re something twisted and different.

Of course, the creepy version of “Catch a Falling Star” didn’t hurt things.  I felt so bad for Kate, who simply believes she’s doing the right thing by sticking with her friends.  Unfortunately, she has no idea what she’s getting herself into.

Let’s talk a bit about the plot.  When the Monster shows up at the Temple, Dogen finally realizes that Jack and Hurley are gone.  With nothing else to do, he brings Sayid into his chamber with an offer.  He says that the “test” was to figure out if Sayid’s good/evil level was in balance.  And while the test proved that Sayid’s level tipped in the wrong direction, Sayid claims to be good.

And after a pretty cool fight between Dogen and Sayid (where Dogen almost kills Sayid but holds off at the last moment), Mr. Jarrah is offered a chance to prove that he’s still good.  He’s given a dagger and told to kill the Monster in the same way Jacob was killed.  And Sayid actually tries it, despite the fact that it doesn’t work.

The Mosnter tells Sayid that Dogen simply wanted the Monster to kill him.  That, like he tried with Jack, Dogen wanted someone else to kill Sayid so that he wouldn’t have to dirty his own hands.  The Monster spares Sayid, and he even offers the Arab man a chance to get back the one thing that he thought he’d never see again.

You have to respect what the Monster is able to do.  He’s going to everyone with the promise to grant their wishes – to get Sawyer home, to get Aaron back to Claire, and to bring Nadia back to Sayid.  With only five “candidates” left, the Monster has already grabbed two of them.  And with Jack and Hurley with Jacob at the Lighthouse, it seems like the important “Kwon” (either Jin or Sun) is the tie-breaking vote left unclaimed – pun intended.

Now we don’t know what will happen next, as the LockeMonster continues to recruit as many people as he can.  He claims that he’s going to take everyone off the Island, but it’s unknown why he even needs anyone’s help to do it.

And at the end of the day, things simply look dark.  The Temple has been destroyed, all of the Others are alongside the Monster, and everyone else is running for their lives.  Hopefully things will get a little brighter next week.

Of course, with Kate and Claire together, that might not happen.  Claire’s already proclaimed her intentions to kill Kate over what happened with Aaron, and like I said earlier, I feel bad for Kate.  At the end of the day, Kate’s done everything in the best interests of those around her.  She saved Aaron because she felt it was for the best, and when she realized the selfishness of it all, she tried to do the right thing by bringing his mother back to him.

You understand what Claire is going through, even the “dark” version of her, and hopefully Kate will be able to convey her intentions before she’s killed.

So I felt bad for Sayid, bad for Claire, and bad for the Others who stayed to defend the Temple.  But one of the people I felt the worst for was Dogen, who finally gets to tell his own story.  I thought the revelations about him were very interesting, and it adds a lot of depth to his character.

There’s a lot to look at with him, especially his obvious connection with Juliet.  Both were forced to come to the Island, seemingly against their will, to save someone they loved.  Dogen, after making a mistake that led to an automobile accident that injured his beloved son, is recruited by Jacob to lead the people at the Temple.  And, as we learn after his death, he’s also the Temple’s protector.

What’s interesting is that Dogen doesn’t seem to embrace the job, but he does seem to believe in the work.  I’ll admit that I was pretty sad to see him die.

The flash-sideways dealt with Sayid, who returns to Los Angeles to visit the family of his brother Omer.  We only briefly saw Omer in a Sayid flashback, where Sayid slaughtered a chicken so that his brother wouldn’t have to.

Here, it’s Omer who seems to have the upper hand, as he has married Nadia, the love of Sayid’s life.  Despite the marriage, Nadia and Sayid still have a connection, and Sayid simply explains to Nadia that he never made a move because he didn’t deserve to be with her.

And I found that to be pretty interesting – why would Sayid believe that he wasn’t worthy of Nadia in one world and actually marry her in another.  Was Sayid simply more sympathetic in the alternate timeline, or did he actually do worse things?  You also have to wonder how Nadia ended up with Omer, something that didn’t even seem to be a possibility in the original timeline.

Just like in a couple of Sayid’s original flashbacks, someone (Omer, in this case) is in trouble, and Sayid has to clean up their mess.  This time, Omer owes money to someone, and he asks his brother to “take care of it.”  Sayid refuses, but he’s forced into action when his brother is attacked after failing to make a payment.

The man who lent Omer the money turns out to be Martin Keamy, and it was another nod to the idea that these characters are simply destined to run into each other.  I’m not sure if there’s anything to read into Keamy’s different occupation (loan shark instead of mercenary), but I’m simply looking forward to seeing whether or not it has to do with Charles Widmore’s location in the alternate timeline.

And the flash-sideways ends with a twist, as it turns out that Keamy was also holding Jin hostage.  We don’t know what happened to Jin after he was questioned at the airport (about the watch and the money in his suitcase), but it seems likely that Jin was supposed to deliver the watch to Keamy.

And, along the way, the deal didn’t really go as planned.

I’m really enjoying these flash-sideways stories, as we get to see the same characters we know and love from a different perspective.  And now that Sayid is fully “claimed,” his flash-sideways might be his only chance at redemption.

All in all, it was another solid episode.  I continue to be impressed each week, and I continue to look forward to what they have for us next.