Well. That was some fucked up shit. G’night everybody!

(Kidding. Obvs.)

Dork observation: This season’s episodes have been repeating Season 1 in terms of who each episode centers around, they’ve both gone from Jack to Kate to Locke to Jack. Tuesday’s episode should have focused on Sun, then, but instead it focused on Sayid. And yet! S1E5 was called “House of the RISING Sun,” while S6E5 is called “SunDOWN.” Neato!

“Sundown” had the first Sideways world installment that didn’t feel as though it forced connections between people (yes, I noted the passing glance between Sayid and Jack, but at least Jack wasn’t the attending physician on his brother’s case). Keamy was the last person I would’ve expected to see back, but it made absolute random sense that he’d be the shark who’d loaned Sayid’s brother money. And that it was Jin locked up in the meat locker also made total sense — Keamy was the one who was going to get the watch from Mr. Paik. I think he’s wearing it, too. (I didn’t get to watch the previews for next week — does it look like it will focus on Sun? That would be nice, because what the hell happened to her when Jin was taken away?)

I was weirded out not that Nadia was married (the minute I saw the flowers in Sayid’s hand I knew that’s what would happen) but that she married Sayid’s brother, even though Sayid still loves her. The whole “I don’t deserve you” business was so Victorian romance literature, too, and I’m not sure I liked it. Also, remember that Sayid’s brother is the one their father berated and belittled for not killing a chicken. Then Sayid had stepped up and killed the chicken for his brother, so it stands to reason that his brother would turn to Sayid for help of the killing kind again.

I don’t think it much matters at this point, but was Sayid’s trip really to translate contracts for an oil company? Or is that a cover for what he was doing in the original timeline — which was to help the CIA capture his former friend-turned-terrorist. It was Nadia that the CIA dangled in front of Sayid as bait for helping them. But in this timeline he’s clearly been in contact with her already, so maybe the terrorist aspect doesn’t exist in the sideways world. (Doesn’t explain why he carries her photo around with him, unless it’s to always remind him that he’s not worthy. Sideways Sayid = Sydney Carton.)

Also, if you’re going to introduce a boomerang in Act One, you’re going to have to have it break a vase in Act Three.

On the island . . . DAMN. Two main things:

1. How many times in the last five seasons has Sayid either directly stated or implied that he was already dead? Something dark has been growing inside of him for a long time, I’d say from the time he tortured Sawyer.

2. Why is it that Sayid always has to prove himself through violence?

The initial fight between Sayid and Dogen was pretty fierce, but I was taken out of the moment when Dogen sees the baseball fall off the table. Like it’s his Rosebud or something. And when Sayid asks Dogen point blank why Dogen didn’t kill him then, Dogen responds indirectly with the story of how/why he’s on the island. I didn’t much care for that. And besides, I thought Dogen didn’t kill Sayid then because he’s not able to kill candidates any more than Smokey.

Do you think that Dogen knew Sayid wouldn’t be able to kill Smokey, or was Sayid not able to do it because Smokey managed to speak first? Was Dogen hoping that Smokey would kill Sayid instead? Because that makes no sense, as Dogen must know that Smokey’s not able to kill the candidates (or is that something that I made up?), and it’s an awfully big risk for Dogen to send out a man who will be easily corrupted because his scale tipped the wrong way. And when Sayid actually kills Dogen and Lennon (shades of Michael killing Ana Lucia and then Libby), in the miracle pool of healing where he had actually died as well, it was like Sayid had found a new source of strength. And he was so scary looking. The look he gives Ben? shudder.

And now because Dogen is dead, Smokey can enter the temple (I’m not sure why he can’t before, why Dogen’s breath somehow makes the ash work as protection). We see Smokey wreak the same sort of disaster that he did at Jacob’s place, only on a larger scale. Alana and Frank and Sun and Ben showed up out of nowhere (I missed you guys!) and I really thought that Sayid was going to kill Ben. Again. (“Why! Won’t! You! Die!”)

But everyone got out of the temple — we don’t see Ben actually leave though, which makes me wonder in a fuzzy sort of way — and Kate goes with Claire and Sayid and is TOTALLY PERPLEXED/creeped out when she sees Not-Locke. It would appear as though Smokey is perplexed as well, but I don’t think he’s going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Definitely curious to see what’s going to happen there.

“Catch a Falling Star” was never creepier.

So in terms of advancing the plot, this was a good episode. At least we got to see Frank and Sun et al, even if for a short time. Is Jin still at Claire’s camp? And where is Sawyer?

Related posts:

1. Thoughts on Lost – What They Died For
2. Thoughts on Lost – The Last Recruit
3. Thoughts on Lost – The Package