Lost Episode 5 Recap and Review

Lost Episode 5 Recap and Review
Disclaimer: Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers!
Sundown (a Sayid-centric episode)

Well, if you were looking for some hardcore action, this is certainly the episode you’ll get it in! I’d like to begin by stating that the promos for this episode promised us answers to our questions. Though a kickass episode it was, I felt slightly disappointed at my lack of answers after the episode. That being said, I have been considering Lost for some time now, and generated some theories. Looking back on this episode, IF some of my theories end up being correct (or even somewhat close to correct) then this episode actually may have answered some of my questions (in a subtle, hard to spot, LOST kind of way). At the end of my recap, I will give my thoughts, as well as my theories, AND MY PREDICTION FOR NEXTS WEEK EPISODE (which is sure to be STORY-CHANGING)!

Flashsideways Timeline

Sayid goes to visit a house with a nice bouquet of flowers with him. Nadia opens the door, and they have quite a romantic embrace. Two young children come bustling towards them, referring to Sayid as “Uncle Sayid”! Omar, Sayid’s brother is next to greet Sayid. Welcome to Sayid’s life, where Nadia married Sayid’s brother! Uncle Sayid, Nadia, and Omar sit and discuss life (Sayid works for an oil company, but we learn that he still served as an interrogator in the Iraqi Republic). Omar leaves the table to take what seems to be a pretty important business call, Nadia asks Sayid if he received any of her letters, and why hasn’t he written her back. The lovely little children interrupt and point out that Uncle Sayid carries a picture of young Nadia in his backpack. Omar overhears this.

In the middle of the night, Omar wakes Sayid and tells him of his troubles. Omar borrowed money from a man for his business, and although he has paid back the loan, the man threateningly insists that Omar continue to pay him interest so long as his business is open. Omar begs Sayid to basically “take care of the man” for him (making it all more potent by saying if Sayid truly cares about Nadia, then he will do it). But Sayid refuses, as he is “not that man anymore.

Lo and behold, Omar gets stabbed in a “seemingly random” mugging. Sayid and Nadia rush to the hospital (oh, why hello Dr. Jack Shepherd passing by in the hallway!). Nadia knows that this was no mugging, and begs Sayid not to go messing about with all this, and to just return home and watch the kids. He does so, and when she returns, she says that Omar is recovering. We then have our emotional moment, where Nadia wonders why Sayid pushed her towards Omar if he himself loves her. Sayid gets very intense and dramatic, stating that he has done many terrible things in his lifetime, and he does not deserve her. I could hear the Sayid/Nadia ‘ship fans crying there little eyes out over this.

The next day (possibly?) Sayid is walking to go pick the kids up at the bus stop, when a black SUV comes upon him. The men tell him to get in the car! They bring him to a restaurant kitchen, where a man is making some eggs. Now we get a serious blast from the past! It’s Martin Keamy, everyone’s favourite evil, super-jacked, freighter mercenary! While enjoying a nice plate of eggs, Keamy gets down to business and tells Sayid how his brother owes him money. Obviously Keamy orchestrated Omar’s stabbing, and he wants someone to freaking pay up! Unable to be wooed, Sayid pulls some ninja moves and kills the two sidekicks, before shooting Keamy to death. Right when we think shit’s over, Sayid hears someone gagged and struggling in a room somewhere close by. He follows the muffled sounds and opens the door. There, bound and gagged to a chair is our dear friend, Jin! How and why did Keamy have Jin tied up in a closet? Well, we have yet to find out the answer to that. I think we can all safely assume that it has something to do with all that mula Jin had with him when he was detained by airport security. Anyways, that’s our flashsideways of the week!

On The Island- Shit’s About to get Crazy

Sayid and Dogen have a little chat. This leads to THE GREATEST FIGHT SCENE EVER SHOWN ON LOST. We had some serious ninja versus trained soldier badass hand to hand combat, and it was fucking awesome. In the end, ninjas always win, and right as Dogen gets the upper hand, a baseball drops to the floor. Dogen lets Sayid go (basically banishing him) and picks the baseball up very carefully.

Out in the temple courtyard, our resident island nut job, Claire, shows up to deliver a message to Dogen. She says that “he” (being Flocke/Man in Black) wants Dogen to come talk to him. Dogen knows better than to leave, and decides to send someone else out for him (not before apprehending Claire, of course). He revokes his banishment on Sayid, and takes him aside for this mission. The terms are simple: Sayid must stab Flocke in the chest with the provided dagger, BUT he must stab him BEFORE Flocke is able to say anything.

Sayid travels out to into the jungle, passes by Kate on her way back to the temple, and of course stumbles upon Flocke. Flocke manages to say “Hello, Sayid”, right before Sayid plunges him with the dagger. A bit confused, and obviously unscathed, Flocke pulls the dagger out of himself. Sayid questions what he is. Flocke coyly answers, “Well Sayid you seem to have some idea about that seeing as you stabbed me in the chest without even saying hello.” Sayid recounts how he was told that Flocke was evil. Flocke turns the tables around and tells Sayid that Dogen sent Sayid out on this task with the intention that Flocke would kill Sayid. He then asks Sayid to “deliver a message” to Dogen, and if he does so, Sayid can have anything in the entire world. Sayid says, “The only thing I ever wanted died in my arms, and I will never see it again.” Flocke retorts by saying, “What if you could?” I’d like to mention that it is at this point where my theories begin to take shape.

Meanwhile, Kate returns to the temple and asks Miles what the flip is going on! Miles mentions that crazy Claire is back. “She just strolled in a few hours ago acting all weird. Still hot, though.” Well, it’s nice to know Miles has a thing for dirty, grungy nutters!

Sayid returns to the temple. He delivers his message loud and clear to everyone at the temple. He says in more or less words, “Jacob is dead. And because he is gone, none of you have to stay here any longer. You are free. The man that I met is leaving the island forever. Those of you who want to go with him have the choice. You have until sundown. At sundown, those who stay will die!” I feel the beginnings of an impending war!
Meanwhile in the temple, Kate comes across Lennon. Pinning him against the wall, she demands to see Claire. He brings her to the pit where Claire is being held. In a nice little aerial camera shot, Claire sings (in the creepiest way possible) “Catch a Falling Star”. Kate is thrilled to see Claire, and Claire is equally thrilled. She tells Kate that the Others have her son! Kate tells Claire that they don’t, but she does. She explains how she took Aaron off the island because they couldn’t find Claire, and that she has raised him. She also throws in that he is so beautiful. Kate says she came back to rescue Claire so that she and Aaron could be together. All of a sudden, Claire doesn’t seem so happy to see Kate anymore. In fact, she’s looking super pissed (and crazy). Lennon begins to pull Kate away. Crazy Claire, with a crazy smile on her face, says “He’s coming. He’s coming, Kate, and you can’t stop him.”

Outside in the temple courtyard, chaos and panic ensue. Lennon tries to assure people that everything will be fine. Even so, people begin to leave to join with Flocke, including Cindy the Stewardess and the kids.

Sayid joins Dogen at the fountain. They have a nice little chat. Dogen holds the baseball and reflects when he used to work at a bank. One Friday he was promoted and he got very drunk while celebrating. On Fridays, he would pick his son up from baseball. They had a very bad accident. Dogen survived, but his son… (trail off!) In the hospital, a man approached Dogen, and offered to save his son’s life, however he would have to come to the island and never see his child again. This man, of course was Jacob. It is now sundown by this point, and Dogen asks if Sayid will stay or go. Sayid says he would like to stay. The next second, he grabs Dogen and drowns him in the fountain. Rip Dogen. Lennon runs in and freaks out that Sayid “Just let it in!” Sayid grabs the dagger and says “I know”. He proceeds to kill Lennon. Outside the temple, shit gets hectic, so Miles and Kate decide to bounce. The Smoke Monster then enters the temple and starts killing the fuck out of people. Kate tells Miles to run, and that she will go get Claire. Miles runs into a room and slams the door. The door then slams open, and it is Ilana, Frank, Sun, and Ben! Kate returns to the pit to rescue Claire, but Claire says they’ll be much safer there, so Kate jumps into the pit just as the Smoke Monster flies on through.

Ben stumbles into the fountain room and comes across Sayid in hopes of saving him. Soon he sees what Sayid has done and sees that Sayid has been taken. In a silent, yet extremely powerful performance, a serious scared Ben backs away from Sayid and peaces out! Our friends run down a temple corridor (the same Hurley was in, in last week’s episode). Miles asks Sun where Jin is, and Sun is flabbergasted to know that he is still alive. Ilana searches the hieroglyphics on the corridor to find the secret passageway (how does she know this place so well?). They make it inside and slam the door just as Smokey ravages the corridor.

Outside, Sayid walks casually amongst all the dead bodies. Claire and Kate soon emerge, and Kate cannot believe what she is seeing! Claire and Sayid (who now is mad as a hatter himself) walk to the outskirts of the temple. Kate follows them, grabbing a gun off one of the bodies first. Flocke and the Others who have recently decided to join with him are waiting. Flocke gives Claire a nod of approval. He sees Kate, gives her an ominous look, then turns. She looks terrified, but follows anyways. Sayid, Claire, and Flocke all have fucking creepy grins on their faces. They begin to walk. FIN.

My Thoughts

Oh my, where to begin. This was a fantastic episode, first off! I think Losties have been waiting and waiting for something significant to happen, and this episode was the trigger. Last season we were told that war was coming to the island. This episode certainly sparked the match to light the fire of war. I have a few simple questions and thoughts to pose before I propose my theories/predictions for next week.

As I asked before, what is going on with Jin being tied up in the flashsideways?
Where is Jin on the island, since we last saw him with Claire and Flocke?
We last saw Sawyer with Flocke also, but where is he now?
Why must Kate always run around like a chicken with her head chopped off?
What is Ilana’s story?
Where is Richard?
I think it is safe to assume Claire is plotting against Kate.
What became of Dogen’s son?
I am assuming Hurley and Jack are still together, hanging at the lighthouse or on their way back to the temple.

Revelations
Disclaimer: My theories are by no means original, or solely my own. I spend time reading other fans’ opinions and theories about Lost, and have come to agree with some of them. So please do not think that everything I am saying is of my creation. Some is, and some are things that I’ve read and have come to side with. With an international hit show like Lost, many people are bound to have the same opinions.

The Man in Black is responsible for creating the flashsideways timeline!
So far, the Man in Black, aka Flocke, aka Smoke Monster, has promised to give those he has recruited something they want. He promised Claire to find Aaron. He promised Sawyer a way off the island. He promised Sayid that he could see what I can only assume to be Nadia, again. In the Flashsideways we have seen so far, we have seen these very promises play out. Claire’s potential adoptive parents for Aaron back out at the last second, and now Claire is given the opportunity to have and raise her son. We have yet to see Sawyer’s flashsideways sequence, but we sure do know he is off the island! Sayid wants to see Nadia again. In his flashsideways, he sees Nadia, but it is definitely at a price. She is alive and well, but married to Omar. This is inconsequential in a way, because Sayid already stated that he did not deserve her, thus erasing them being together. She is not dead, and that is good enough for him. We have yet to see Jack, Hurley, or Kate interact with the Man in Black, so we do not know for certain that they have been offered what they want, but we have seen some evidence. In his flashsideways, Jack has a son whom he builds a trust with, and gives the praise he wishes his father would have given to him. On a mere hunch, I would say Jack wants to get over some of his daddy issues. Kate (whom is not a candidate, remember she was crossed out as #51) wants to be free, and she certainly frees herself from custody in the premiere episode. Hurley is always looking out for everyone else. He would wish something along the lines of being able to help his friends. In “The Substitute”, we see Hurley very successful, his fortune bringing him luck, and he ultimately helps John procure a job. He also has given Rose a job as well. For argument sake, let’s take Locke under this theory as well. He may be dead, but can we not agree that he may with for problems solved with his father and a life with Helen if given the chance? In “The Substitute”, we see a picture of a happy Locke and his Father aside his work desk. He is also happily engaged to Helen. Continuing on, Dogen would want his son back more than anything (I would assume). In Jack’s flashsideways, we see Dogen with his son. There may be some kind of deception in these offers that we have yet to see, but this would explain the purpose of the Flashsideways Sequences, as well as establish them as actually happening, and not as an alternate reality, as the creators of the show have firmly denounced. Consider now, what would Ben want most of all in the world? Keep reading, because I’ve thought of that myself and will make a prediction about that very thing for next week’s episode. But first, another little theory.

JACOB AND THE MAN IN BLACK ARE ONE IN THE SAME!
Yessir, I went and said it! I’ve seen this theory here and there, but what pulled me over to this belief was something I heard in this episode (hence, those answers that we were promised). In the very beginning, Dogen tells Sayid, “In every man, there is a scale, and on one side is good and on the other, evil.” Dogen says that Sayid’s scale is tipped towards evil. So let’s consider that Jacob represents the “good” side of this “entity” (for lack of a better term) and the Man in Black represents the “evil” side. This would account for a lot. For instance, when we saw the Man in Black and Jacob talking on the beach in the finale of season 5, the Man in Black said he would find a “loophole” to kill Jacob. We know that the Man in Black, disguised as Locke, could not kill Jacob himself, so he had Ben do it. So why could he not kill Jacob? Why did he need a loophole? Maybe, it’s because Jacob is a part of him (that would be a bit suicidal if he killed Jacob!). Another piece of evidence is something we saw in the episode “The Substitute”. When Sawyer and Flocke enter the cave, we see a scale. Flocke takes the white stone from one side of the scale and chucks it. This scale could be a physical representation of the “scale inside every man”. The white stone represented “good” and the black stone “evil”. Since Jacob was killed, this “entity’s” internal scale has been tipped to the evil side (i.e. the Man in Black). Plus, the writers have been very clever about not revealing the Man in Black’s actual name. Could it be because it is, in fact, Jacob? Both these beings make offers to various characters. The Man in Black manipulates people, while Jacob gives them a choice. We saw Jacob visit various characters in the finale of season 5. In these visits, he gives them a “push” but in no particular direction. He allows them to have their free will to decide what to do (example, young James Ford writing the letter to the con artist, Sawyer). With a show like Lost, we must look beyond the sense of reason, and accept the paradox that Jacob and the Man in Black can be the same person, and at the same time are capable of existing as two separate beings.

A Prediction for Next Week
This is merely my prediction for next week’s flashsideways. I have no idea if it holds any weight, and I would be very surprised if it panned out in any way. In my theory about the Flashsideways being the characters achieving what they want most in the world, let’s consider what Ben could possibly want. Due to the promos, I am under the assumption that next week is a Ben-centric episode (yes!). If this is the case, then perhaps his flashsideways sequence will be what he would want most in his life. Think back long ago to the episode “The Man Behind the Curtain”, when we first met Young Ben Linus. This little boy had a childhood friend whom he cared for VERY deeply, named Annie. Annie carved two little dolls representing each of them, and gave him the Annie doll for his 12th birthday. We have seen Ben look at this doll with obvious deep emotion. The creators of the show said awhile ago that Annie will play a role in Ben’s life, though we have had yet to see her do so. So I predict that in this Flashsideways, Ben may have his perfect little life with Annie. We already know he is a high school European history teacher. Perhaps he is married to Annie. Also, I feel like he’s got to have a kid (maybe it is even Alex). There was a lot of fan speculation that the reason Ben was SO obsessed with the fertility issues of the women on the island, is not only because of his mother dying in childbirth, but also because perhaps he and Annie were to have a child, but she died during the pregnancy. Perhaps this is why he took Alex (to replace a child he lost) and why he was SO adamant about Karl not getting Alex pregnant (although, what Dad isn’t concerned with that?) Anyways, it’s just a thought. Either that or his mother is alive in his flashsideways. I think my main point is that, if Ben’s flashsideways is in some way or another something that Ben would want most, then it certainly gives my theory about the purpose of the flashsideways timelines some credit! In any case, Alex and (at least) Ben’s father, Roger, WILL be in next week’s episode in some shape or form.

Next Week: Tuesday, March 9 at 9pm/8c
Episode Title: Dr. Linus (a Ben-centric episode)
Summary: Ben deals with the consequences of an uncovered lie
Side note: In the promo for this episode, the announcer states that “the character who has caused the most suffering and torment will meet their demise” all while showing snippets of Ben. THIS WORRIES ME. Ben Linus is my FAVOURITE character (Desmond comes in at a close second). They cannot POSSIBLY kill Ben Linus, or a part of me will die too. On one hand, the promo seems very obvious about what is to come. On the other hand, I wonder if the promo would REALLY reveal and spoil a main character’s death like that. Why on earth would they tell us they were going to kill Ben a week before the episode premieres? Perhaps, someone else will be killed. The promo did not say “Ben will meet his demise”. They made no obvious references to a male or female. They just showed us images of Ben. It could be a trick (I hope!). In my opinion, the character who has caused the most suffering and torment is KATE! Maybe SHE will be killed (hopefully by Claire). Anyways, I have no idea what is to come, but I hope to GOD Ben does not die.