And this was a primo episode even without that big reveal. It may have something to do with the fact that Sayid is one of my favourite characters on the show, but I thought that this one had what a lot of this season's episodes have been lacking. Namely, a sense of personal investment in the overall plot. Lost can throw out off-kilter twists and shifting allegiances like nobody's business (and I'll still be at least intrigued) but what separates, in my mind, a merely good Lost episode from a truly great one is that I get into it on an emotional level as well as an intellectual one. Not to say that this has been a bad season (in terms of plot, it's one of the best so far) but, in all honesty, I haven't really felt all that much watching these episodes. Even "Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham", which I thought I would love as it was a Locke episode, worked more as a piece-mover than a human drama; Ben killing Locke was surprising and thought-provoking, sure, but I was more intrigued than truly frightened by it. There's been no episode in season 5 as richly romantic as "The Glass Ballerina" or "The Constant" or one as tragic as "Through The Looking Glass" or, for that matter, as action-packed as "The Economist".
"He's Our You" worked for a few reasons but the biggest one was the emotion invested in the story by Sayid. Special credit for this episode to Naveen Andrews as he really convinced me here, giving just enough levity to his character (I loved his conversation in the bar and his reaction to be drugged) to let his somber tones hit that much harder. At the heart of Sayid is this grand conflict, addressed head-on in this episode, that he's a man who is basically built to be violent, and is very good at it, but who desperately wants to change. But, the theme of this year of Lost being destiny, he can't escape his nature, he's a killer: always has been (as shown in a great flashback to his childhood), always will be.
I was sorta disappointed at the appearance of the DHARMA torturer (the "our you" mentioned in the title), mostly because the payoff fell short of the set-up (though he could make some more appearances to confirm his supposed psychopathy in later episodes) and, as always, many unanswered questions remain (chiefly, what the hell was up with that flaming van?). Also, this is something that's been bugging me for a while: Does every male character (with the exception of Hurley) need to have father issues? It seems that all the guy's dads were either abusive or abandoned their children or were corrupt or weren't their real dad or something. I understand (and, to a degree, can relate) that the generation of the characters/writers on the show was largely failed by its male role models in general and its fathers in specific but it's a bit much. However, I'm much more willing to forgive plot annoyances and dramatic flat notes when I have a genuine caring for the people involved, as I did here.
One of the reasons I like Lost as much as I do is because it crosses genres freely and non-intrusively: pop-sci-fi and romantic drama and island-survival tale and human interest and mystic incantation all exist on the same level here and, when it all comes together just right, it's quite a beautiful result. And even when the mix is a little off, it's still better than almost anything else on TV.
But, about that twist: Sayid shoots Ben in 1977, Ben may or may not be dead. The message boards have lit up with discussion over this but I'm gonna take a "wait and see" attitude towards it until next week when we see the full result. For all we know, Ben could get up and be just fine (remember how the Island healed Locke?) but, if he is dead, it introduces a lot of fascinating possibilities. Also, here's something interesting: the episode description for two weeks from now reads as follows: "To atone for sins of the past, Ben must attempt to summon the smoke monster in order to be judged". That would suggest that Ben lives but the episode's title is "Dead Is Dead". Anyways, the only thing tempering my excitement for next week is that "Whatever Happened, Happened" is a Kate-centric episode and I don't really like that character. Even so, I'm back into the groove with Lost and I hope it keeps itself to this level of storytelling.
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