"Loop, dude, Loop." Confidence Man, Solitary and Raised by Another.

Hi Losties!
I encourage you to read my original detailed notes for each of the episodes. That is where you may find the clues to very important things that set a thread for all the other episodes and it's really where you'll find the meat of the story. After all, it's all in the details!
So click here for detailed notes on...
✈ Confidence Man
✈ Solitary
✈ Raised by Another.
I hope you find them useful.

The following are the short "Readers Digest" versions for the re-watch.

Confidence Man is not only a wonderful look into Sawyer's "life" but touches on Jack and a few other Castaways.











Question: “How do I know this is real?”
Answer: Uh, you don't!

Here on the sandy shores of depression where the Castaway's condition is that they are carrying extra emotional baggage and they are trying to heal their suffering.
We are brought right into the concept of everything coming back around. Yes, the laws of Karma as well as the "loop" concept.

Sawyer is holding on to deep heartache he suffered in childhood with losing his parents to the cunning ways of a conman. The truth of the letter he clings so tightly to is finally brought to light.
Unfortunately Sawyer becomes the man he was hunting, complete with wooing the married rich lady, Jess, and convincing her and her husband, David to blindly get involved in a shady investment.
His suspicious "mark" David wonders if there is a loophole with this "too good to be true" deal he's getting into with Sawyer.
The con progresses until confident sharpie Sawyer gets a Flash of Conscience when he sees that the couple has an innocent young fair haired son. This seems to hit too close to home for Sawyer so he literally walks out on the transaction.

The "Island" events bring us right back, deep into the rabbit hole when it is revealed Sawyer is reading the book about bunnies; Watership Down. Apparently the book really belongs to Boone. Boone claims that book was in his bag along with Shannon's asthma inhalers, which are conveniently missing and assumed to be in Sawyer's stash of acquired goods.
Sadly Shannon is in the midst of a major asthma attack.

In an effort to retrieve the much needed medicine, Jack, Sayid and Kate take to strong arming Sawyer into giving the sick girl her medicine.  Sawyer goes with the flow of this, and even admits to knowing his torturing at Sayid's hands "has to happen".   So after some deal making with Kate and being tortured by a damn spinal surgeon and a genuine Iraqi, it is revealed Sawyer doesn't have nor ever had the inhalers. This triggers a fight between Sayid and Sawyer, where subsequently Sawyer is stabbed in the bicep.

As Jack is tending to bleeding Sawyer, Sawyer says to Jack, “Let go. I know you want to.”
Sawyer feels Jack has been waiting for this to happen so he can be a hero again, “Cause that’s what you do. Fix everything up all nice.”

It's all in your head!
Hmmm...Yeah, that's what I've been saying!  But I can't help but wonder if it's just a nod to consciousness or is it also a hint to how part of their adventurous "Island" journey is literally happening.

Jack tells suffering Shannon that "It's in your head"; the asthma attack is coupled with anxiety. Jack shows total confidence and "belief" in his task of getting Shannon to breathe through her asthma attack.   It really wasn't a Jedi moment as much as it was a glimpse into not only the power of believing things can happen in this magical and mystical place, but the power to believe in "you".

Charlie playfully convinces Claire she is enjoying creamy peanut butter by playing make-believe with an empty jar and the use of imagination.

Time out!
Sayid feels such shame for what he did that he decides to set off alone and map the "Island".  Kate shows concern for him as she warns him about "what is in the jungle", but Sayid feels there are worse things to fear than what is in the jungle.  That is true.   I feel Sayid fears the deeds he is capable of toward another human, and this is indeed worse than who/what is in the jungle.

Jack has got some major bottled-up emotional issues that seem to keep him on the verge of blowing up. I was unsettled by Dr Jack, a man who took the Hippocratic Oath to never do harm to anyone, actually admits to Kate that killing Sawyer would "feel good".  That is one disturbed physician!  But he is totally hot.
Over the years anytime we had a rabbit or bunny brought into the story regardless of trying to convince us they represent "something else",   I always connected the "rabbit" to the Alice in Wonderland/down the rabbit hole metaphor and not other mumbo jumbo.

Let's not ignore the wonderful title of this episode as it is no doubt a warning to be on the lookout for cons, tricks and razzle freakin dazzle.


Solitary.

Game on!
Sayid- “This isn’t a game, Nadia.”
Nadia- “Yet you keep playing it, Sayid. Pretending to be something I know you’re not.”

But while we're at it...how about a round of golf!  Yes, the ongoing game hint presents itself yet again.  It's not the first or last time you'll get the hint to playing a game, not by a long shot!

Hurley builds a golf course so the Castaways have something else to do with their time besides sitting around waiting for the next bad thing to happen.  Good call! 
The clue to the Castaway's being involved in a loop, do-over and/or another go-around on the "Island" is again reinforced when Charlie uses and explains the golf term "Mulligan".

AC/DC!
Sayid self imposes his own "time out" or better yet, some alone time. He heads off to think about his previous actions {and to find what he's looking for}, but so he's not totally without a purpose, he will map the "Island".   As he sits on a deserted beach looking over the photographs of a beautiful woman, something sticking out of the sand catches his eye.
Ah, the discovery of the cable that powers the "Island".
Apparently electricity runs from somewhere under the water and right through the jungle to juice up other points of interest on the "Island.  While following the cable into the jungle unfortunately Sayid is snagged by a trap that leaves him injured and hanging from a tree...unconscious.

Sayid wakes up in the hole in the ground that Danielle lives in.  Sayid is strapped down with wires attached to him.  Rousseau's makeshift machine uses battery power and cables to shock/zap Sayid as a means of interrogation.
The soldier who majors in communications interrogation for his army's prisoners is now the prisoner on the receiving end of torturous interrogation.

We're shown that while in the military Sayid was responsible for the woman we see in the photographs while she was his prisoner.  He had feelings for her and now is without her. Rousseau is without her love Robert, her science team and her child. Rousseau tells a tale and we learn a little bit about why she is solo in her rat hole. The lonely lady fears the "Island sickness".
It's important to note that Sayid states Nadia is dead 7 years, with no mention of him being on Oceanic flight 815 on his way to L.A. to go and find her alive. {Remember that for an upcoming episode.}

Sayid fixes Danielle's music box containing a tiny dancing couple.   It was in this episode that I really got a supported sense that there is someone/people involved in orchestrating the "Island" experience.

Class is in session.
Walt is impressed to see Mr. Locke's talents as a "hunter" and woodsman.  He shares with Locke, “I just want to learn how to do what you do.”
Locke and Walt share something very important and I can't help but wonder if Walt will follow in Locke's "Island" footprints.

An important item to note is Michael's comment regarding his role/job "In a previous life". There are other hints to this life and "another life" and/or the next life.  Yeah, that counts as another go-around too.

This episode reinforced the matter of mental and emotional heath.  Here with Sayid there is his need to come to terms with guilt and the deeds he knows he is frighteningly capable of.   This "Island" journey forces you to confront all the things that are contributing to the causes of your own suffering.

The hints and imagery to electricity, energy, power, juice, currents and electromagnetism throughout the story will and do tell us a lot about what goes on with the mysterious "Island". But let's not forget that we always need to keep in mind the word play LOST tends to do with what we're shown. Things will have more than one meaning.

Back to the matter at hand...For Sayid it seems he himself needs to "Admit what you've done and the pain will stop".
Metaphorically for him and the Castaways it is the emotional pain and thoughts they are hanging on to that is keeping them literally trapped.

I will share with you that through the years I have presented a few ideas as far as the actual "Island" experience.  With this episode title it relates to the "Island" residents feeling alone. But I had thoughts on the possibility Jack and the gang are not random visitors to "this place" {of course} and maybe they are prison inmates or mental patients that have been put into this situation as a means of therapy and enlightenment.   Or does the possibility exist that they are "native" to the "Island"?    And then of course I have my thoughts on that they can enter the "Island" journey whenever they want to; possibly with the help of science and technology.
We'll get into more on all of that as we progress.

No matter how it is occurring it is important to remember...there are whispers to be heard on the wind in the jungle, but there's no such thing as monsters. You should only fear the monster that lives inside of you.

Raised by Another.
This is a very important and informative episode!










Alright kiddo, its nap time!
Extremely lucid dreams, sleepwalking, and text book anxiety nightmares are the topic of the day.   Mind you there is a high pitched ring associated with said "dream".
All we hear throughout the episode are things like, “You’re dreaming" or "You were sleepwalking”.
Ahem...does this kind of thing qualify as one of those "happening in your head" types of occurrences?!  Yeah, that's what I thought.
By the way Claire may be a sleepwalker but Jack has been told he's a sleep talker.

Claire experiences a bizarre phenomenon while sleeping alongside of her fellow cave squatters.  Claire is awakened by the faint cry of a baby. When Claire looks down she sees that she is not pregnant.
Well, see the rest for yourself...

Claire wakes up screaming yet she doesn't feel the weird experienced events are a dream or nightmare, but they are very real.   So is the dream visions of future events or past events or memory?
In Claire's dream-like encounter Locke is in the role of the psychic; the psychic in this story plays a direct role in getting Claire to the "Island".   We also hear Locke say “He was your responsibility but you gave him away, Claire. Everyone pays the price now."
This is spoken as if it has already happened and there are consequences for this action.

In "Flash" events Claire is involved with artist Thomas. She learns that she and doubting Thomas are "pregnant".  The dialogue that the two have while taking and reviewing the "pee on a stick" pregnancy test is very important. There is also a clue to a wrong-bad diagnosis; which of course brings me right back to the "on Island" events of Claire noticing she's not pregnant.
Thomas the noble decides the two should give playing house a go.

"Flash" events take an interesting turn when Claire and her friend Rachel visit an Australian psychic, Richard Malkin. At first glance Malkin seems gifted, so much so that he aborts the reading as a means to not share that what he "sees" is blurry.

After a few months of Claire getting settled into domestic bliss, Thomas drops the bomb on her claiming he just can't do it.
Later Malkin seems genuinely concerned about Claire and her situation and even offers a few solutions. Claire makes up her own mind to put the baby up for adoption against Malkin's insistence; he feels Claire and only Claire need to raise this baby.

Make a wish on a falling star.
As pregnant Claire is in the attorney's office signing adoption papers, we learn she has an attachment to the song "Catch a Falling Star".    It is a song she claims her daddy sung to her when she was young.  Keep in mind we also learned in this episode Claire has daddy abandonment issues.
Claire happens to abandon her idea of putting the baby up for adoption only to let Malkin convince her to give the baby to a couple in L.A...  Malkin orchestrates all her arrangements to ensure the plan is brought to fruition.

While in the jungle with Charlie, Claire begins having labor pains but seems to be able to "wish" them away.

Head count!
Hurley decides to start a census.  He feels keeping tabs is a good way to police their "Island" home; "The point is we gotta find out who everyone is.”
It is interesting to see that Hurley mistakes Ethan for Lance, but more importantly to me was his moments spent with Locke at the beach.
Hurley tells Locke he thought it would be a good idea to get everyone’s name and place of residence.
Locke- “And who’s checking on you?”
Hurley- “Uhhh, me.”
Locke- ”It was a joke.”
John goes on to say, “You already know my name. I lived most of my life in Tustin California.”
Hurley inquires further, “Cool. Reason for travel. The reason you were in Australia.”
John- “I was looking for something.”
Hurley, seemingly baffled by that reason asks if he found it. As John looks up toward the jungle area he says, “No. It found me. Anything else?”
Nope.
So Hurley hurries away and up to someone he already talked to because he wanted to get away that person/Locke. {Interesting, huh.}

Sayid returns back to camp with a warning, "We're not alone".
And Hurley warns Jack the camp has an interloper!

Blurry is bad.
OK, according to Malkin the psychic, when he "sees" things "blurry" that means it's bad.   But there is no doubt that its clear to see on "Island", off "Island" and here with Claire's "real dream-like incident", events all blur together.   This draws a picture for me that the Castaways are never out of the confines of the "Island" experience.
But the metaphor to need to see things clearly is very important.  One of the reasons they are on the "Island" is because they can't see things clearly.

I personally don't believe in Psychics and I feel they fall under the category of conman.  They take advantage and mislead vulnerable, desperate and hopeless people. A Psychic shouldn't be the guide in your destiny.

I'll leave you with this...
Charlie- “It’s not all in her head”
Jack- "This place. It can kinda mess with your head a little and maybe make you see things that really aren’t actually there.  Now, I know it feels very real…”

Some overall clues for you to keep in mind:
ROM
Execute
Cable
Power
Hive- A hub or center.
Hive mind- one of several forms of collective consciousness.
Hive is an abstract strategy bug-themed table-top game.
The sounds of mechanical/machines.

As with all the episodes it is important to pay attention to the Flash Whoosh as it doesn't always segue into a "Flash".

Until next time...

Love to all who are "LOST"™

Solitary.

Let’s talk about LOST! Solitary.

Sayid sits alone on a beach looking at a picture of a woman. He turns it over to read the message written on the back. He looks lonely.

Something in the sand catches his eye; a cable. He picks up the cable and notes that it leads in to the sea as well in to the jungle.

He follows the cable into the jungle.


Jack rips of Sawyer’s bandages, as they need changing. Sawyer chats about the house call from “Dr. Quinn, “Trying to ease your conscience.”
Jack’s conscience is fine.
Sawyer- “Course, what do you got to feel guilty about? I mean you just let that damn Arab torture me. Stood by and watched. And you figured you’d patch me up, buy you a ticket into heaven. Only reason you’re here is...”
Jack interjects that he’s here because no one else wants anything to do with ya.”
Sawyer smiles because he feels, “She does.”
Jack gives a quiet laugh and tells Sawyer to change his own bandages.

Kate stands just starring down the beach.
Jack asks her if she’s looking for someone or just admiring the view.
Kate’s worried about Sayid; it’s been two days since Sayid took off on his own, “I keep looking up thinking I’m gonna see him coming back.”
Jack tells her that he’ll come back when he’s found what he’s looking for, “French transmission.”
Kate says he wasn’t looking for anything; he left because of what happened, because of what he did.
Jack shakes his head no, “It was an accident.”
Kate feels “accidents happen when you torture people, Jack.”
Jack feels Sayid’s a trained soldier; he’ll take care of himself. {That's Sayid's role.}
Kate still looks worried.

In the jungle Sayid continues to follow the cable. He comes upon a tripwire, carefully stepping over it. Unfortunately he still triggers a trap. The trap leaves him hanging upside down and while he’s swinging, a stick punctures his left thigh. He pulls out the stick but this makes him pass out.

Night in the jungle:
Sayid is still hanging upside down from the trap. He is mumbling something in Arabic; is not really coherent or fully conscious. He hears footsteps in the jungle and he calls out “Hello.”
Sayid is cut down from the trap and he falls to the ground. His vision is blurry and he tries to focus in on the person near him, unfortunately he passes out again.

At the cave infirmary Jack is tending to Sullivan; who has a rash. Jack hears voices outside {“Get him out of there! He’s drinking our water!”} and he asks Hurley what’s going on. Hurley tells him it’s the usual; people yelling at each other over nothing.
Sullivan {Wears Harry Potter glasses} is nervous about his rash; he thinks its tropical disease.
Jack’s diagnosis is its hives; a common rash brought on by heat and stress, “Just try to relax. It’ll clear up. Try to keep your mind off it.”
Sun gives him an aloe type remedy to help with the rash.
Jack shares with Hurley that he’s got enough on his plate without having to treat hypochondriacs.
Hurley feels that’s his point, “We’re all fried. I mean, have you taken a look at everybody out there? Everybody’s way tense. Dude, I’m just sayin it’d be sweet if we could have…I don’t know... something to do.”
Jack feels they’re surviving here; his main concern is keeping “us alive. Things could be worse.”
Hurley-“HOW?!”

A blurry light swings overhead. Distorted voices are heard asking in different languages “Where is Alex?”
The voices sound like whispers at times.  Sayid is knocked out but trying to regain consciousness. He tries to gain clarity of the voices and his surroundings.   The "voices" are revealed to come from only one woman.   Sayid realizes he is tied to a metal bed frame by wires tying his hands {near his head} and chains on his feet. {He has a bandage on his head.}
The woman paces behind a net as she repeatedly asks about Alex.  Sayid doesn’t know anything about Alex.  Sayid is physically shocked.{As a form of torture.}
He yells “STOP!!!”
{Flash Whoosh}
“STOP!”
Solider Sayid is beating up Falah. Omar watches. Sayid is questioning/interrogating Falah. {Sayid’s uniform shows two stars.}  In Arabic he assures his prisoner “We already know the truth. But we want you to admit it. (In English) And all the pain will stop...”
He goes on to tell the prisoner his Shiite friends have already implicated him in the bombing. Sayid grabs the man by the hair and yells, “You planted the device in the Baathist headquarters, didn't you? You killed two soldiers! Confess it. Confess it and perhaps it will only cost you your hands instead of your life.”
The prisoner pukes.
 
Solider Sayid is informing Omar that the prisoner doesn’t know anything; his sources were wrong. Omar is impressed by Sayid’s handling of the interrogation and reveals he put in for Sayid’s reassignment to the intelligence division; if he wishes.  Sayid shows respect for his superior by calling him sir, even though it’s just the two of them there.
Sayid anticipates becoming Omar’s superior. Sayid notes the hooded woman prisoner being escorted. Omar is talking to Sayid but his voice becomes very distant as Sayid and the woman make eye contact.
Omar- “That reminds me, Sayid. In addition to your increased responsibility...Communications officer...” {I can’t make it all out.}
Sayid seems to have heard him and replies with “I’m willing to make that sacrifice.”

In the caves Hurley is sleeping sitting up.
Ethan drops a couple of bags in front of him, waking him up. Locke tells Hurley the bags were in the jungle; they must have fallen from the plane. {Locke winks his right eye.}
Ethan informs Hurley night is the best time to hunt.
Locke adds that Ethan has some experience “Spotted some tracks look like they might be rabbit or some other rodent.”
Ethan figures people are starting to get tired eating boar meat. Hurley agrees and then looks through the bags for anything useful.

Locke puts his knife in its sheath as Walt wakes up to see him. Walt makes sure Michael is sleeping and goes over to ask Mr. Locke if he’s going back out to hunt because he wants to go with him, “I just want to learn how to do what you do.”
Michael has woken up and calls out for “Walt!”
Michael knows what Walt was doing, “Aint gonna happen, man. Just get back to bed.” {BED?! HA!}

Hurley opens a bag and discovers something that makes him light up and gives him an idea.

Prisoner Sayid is screaming out in pain as he is literally being shocked by electric current the woman has rigged as a form of interrogation.
He is pleading with his captor who is just a silhouette in front of a light bulb; he doesn’t know who Alex is, “I’m a survivor of a plane crash.  I found a wire on the beach. I followed it…I thought it might have something to do with a transmission we picked up on the receiver. A recording…a mayday. With a French woman repeating on a loop for 16 years.”

The woman in French says “Si quelqu'un m'entend, je vous en prie, venez à notre aide... Il les a tués. Il les a tous tués..” {“If someone hears me, I beg you, come to our aid ... He was killed. He killed them all ...”} she slowly comes out from the dark. Then in English she asks “16 years. Has it really been that long?”
Sayid sees the woman, “You.”
She wonders, “You just happen to hear my distress call? I know what you are.”
Sayid appears frightened.
The woman knocks him out.

The woman is looking through a book and the contents of the backpack.
Sayid is still bound to the bed frame; he wakes up.
He sees the name Rousseau and says it out loud. She wonders how he knows her name. Sayid tells her “I read it...There on the jacket. What is this place?”
He notes a bunch of batteries and mentions that they’re not enough to power her distress call all these years.
Rousseau-“I broadcast from somewhere else. But they control it now.”
Sayid wonders, “They?”
Rousseau- “You. And the Others like you.”
Sayid- “I don’t know who you think I am but I am not…”
Rousseau-“Sayid.”
His name is on the envelope he carries.
Rousseau inquires who  the woman in the photographs is.
Her name is Nadia.

{Flash Whoosh}
As they walk down the steps into a guarded area {appears to be below street level}, Omar fills Sayid in on them not being able to tie Noor Abed-Jazeem directly to the bombing but they know where her sympathies lie. She's a known associate of Kurdish and Shiite insurgents. As he looks through the files Sayid asks if she knows who orchestrated the bombing, but that is exactly what Sayid will find out. A guard opens the door to let Sayid inside.
“Noor Abed-Jazeem. I’m going to ask you some questions.”
Sayid warns her if she refuses to cooperate he will hurt her.
This woman tells Sayid nobody calls her Noor; she knows him. Does he remember her? Is she so different from the little girl in the schoolyard who used to push him in the mud? He remembers “Nadia.”
Their mothers knew each other and his mother would ask her mother why would you pick on little Sayid. Nadia says it’s because he ignore her. Sayid feels she had enough attention with her family’s wealth and her charm. Nadia knows such things matter little to children, “But then you always were older than your years. Weren’t you, Sayid?”
He wasn’t old enough to know that being pushed in the mud was a sign of affection. Now she’s a traitor to her country. Sayid again questions her about the bombing and threatens to hurt her. This is not her first interrogation by the Republican Guard. She shows him the burn scars on her chest from their acid torture and shows the palms of her hands where she they pierced her hands with a drill.
Nadia-“Would you like to see the soles of my feet? Where they filleted the skin off?”
These are handiworks of his friends; the people he swears allegiance to.
Sayid looks a bit troubled and apologizes if she is innocent, but this bombing is a different matter. Nadia encourages him to do his work; she’s not going to tell him anything. She accepts he’s going to hurt her.
{Flash Whoosh}
Danielle comments on Sayid bullet wound.
He admits he was a soldier a long time ago. Rousseau holds the photo of Nadia and wants to know more about her.
Sayid- “Alex. Who is he?”
Rousseau just gives him a look.

Michael has a large stick, pencil and spiral notebook; he’s working on something. Walt is very bored and Michael tells him he needs to figure out a way to entertain himself.
Hurley is looking for something, finds it and takes/borrows Michaels’ big stick and runs off. Jack asks him what he’s doing but Hurley only smiles and gives a mischievous laugh.

Sayid is still strapped to the bed frame and Rousseau questions him about hearing the transmission and looking for her. Sayid didn’t even know she was alive. She feels he’s still lying and even feels he’s lying about this plane crash he survived. Sayid admits there are more than 40 others.
Rousseau wonders why he’s alone. Sayid shares that he left them because he did something he’s ashamed of. {Listen to that voice.}
Rousseau-“And Nadia…you left her too?”
Sayid-“She wasn’t on the plane. She’s dead...Because of me.”
Danielle tenderly touches his face and says she’s so sorry. She all of a sudden feels motivated to show him something.

Michael shows Jack a drawing depicting a shower system they can build.
Michael says "HE WAS AN ARTIST IN A PREVIOUS LIFE."
Jack thought Michael was in construction.
Michael-“I am, I mean I was. Long story.”
Charlie tells Jack Hurley’s all worked up about something, said they should go see it.
Jack, Charlie and Michael see that Hurley built a golf course.

Hurley welcomes them to the first and hopefully last “Island Open.” {Crosses his fingers} It's two holes, for now, three par and no waiting. After all, rich idiots fly to tropical islands all the time to whack balls around. The guys feel he wasted his time doing that since they have other things to deal with. Hurley built this so the Castaways would feel safe and have something to keep their minds off the downer about being there. Everyone’s nerves are stretched to the max.
Hurley- “We’re lost on an “Island” running from boars and monsters, frickin polar bears.” Apparently Michael didn’t hear about the polar bear. Hurley wants them to have fun so they don’t go crazy waiting for the next bad thing to happen. They enjoy it and have lots of fun. Good times are had by all!

A tiny dancing couple is “made” to spin by Rousseau. Her music box has been broken for a long time. It was a gift from her love, Robert, for their anniversary. For her first few years there it was a comfort to her.
Sayid offers to fix it for her; if she frees his hands. He admits he’s very good with mechanical things.
Rousseau gets up and prepares a syringe. She asks Sayid what is written on the back of his photograph.
Sayid is nervous seeing her with the needle.
Rousseau-“Did she write it or did you?...Perhaps you don’t want to tell me because it causes too much pain.”
She injects Sayid with the old filthy needle.

Serious Jack and Michael are strategizing quietly about the problem. Jack asks Michael for the Seven Iron.
Jack yells over to the dancing duo {Hurley and Charlie} “Hey! Heads up over there!”  The distant duo aren’t worried; Jack won’t get anywhere near them.  As Jack is about to take his swing, over comes Sullivan; his rash is starting to spread.
As Sullivan describes his symptoms he snaps into the realization the guys are playing golf, “Can I play?”

Chained to a chair and sleeping with his head on the desk is Sayid. He jolts awake. Rousseau apologizes for the sedative, “It was the only safe way for me to move you.” {The mighty tiny woman can move this grown man across the room! I call fucking shenanigans!}
There are maps laid out behind him.
Sayid fixes her music box even after all the things she’s done to him; striking him, shocking him. Sayid wants to know her first name.
Her name is Danielle.
Sayid inquires, “And how did you come to be on this island,Danielle?”
He takes a couple of deep breathes before she begins her story.
Danielle-“We were part of a science team.”
Sayid- “A science team armed with rifles. Was Robert on the team?”
Yes he was.
Sayid- “And Alex, was he too?”
Danielle doesn’t look at him or even acknowledge he asked that question; she only continues on with her story, not missing a beat.
Danielle continues, ”Our vessel was three days out of Tahiti…but our instruments malfunctioned. It was night...the storm…the sounds…The ship slammed into rocks, ran aground. The hull breached beyond repair. So, we made camp, dug out this temporary shelter. Hah, temporary. Nearly two months we survived here. Two months before…”
Sayid cuts her off with, “Your distress signal, the message I heard… you said it killed them all.”
After a few seconds she continues her dramatic story, “We were coming back from the Black Rock {Sayid perks up here.} It was them…they were the carriers.”
Sayid excitedly asks who the carriers were.
Danielle whispers, “The Others.”
Sayid- “What Others? What is the Black Rock?...Have you seen other people on this island?”
She says she does not see them, but she hears them out there in the jungle, “They whisper...You think I’m insane.”
Sayid thinks she’s been alone for too long.
{Flash Whoosh}
A door opens to a pitch dark long narrow room.
Sayid has brought the prisoner Nadia some bread. He’ll try to bring her some food later, “Are you ready to talk?” he asks.
Apparently it depends on what he'd like to talk about. Her conversation will suffer because she’s been locked up in this cell for weeks.
Sayid whispers that they have two suspects in custody, and has her take a look at some photographs. All she needs to do is “nod”; if she’s willing to cooperate he thinks he can get them to free her.
Nadia tenderly touches his hand and says, “Then I won’t have these visits to look forward to anymore.”
Sayid- “This isn’t a game, Nadia.”
Nadia- “Yet you keep playing it, Sayid. Pretending to be something I know you’re not.”
{No Flash Whoosh}
Shannon sunbathes on the beach, reading a magazine. Boone comes over to tell her about somebody making a golf course.
Shannon asks, “Are you high?”
Kate {Carrying fire wood} overhears that Jack is golfing and go to check it out. Kate walks by Sawyer standing at the engine. “Doctor playing golf…Woo! Howdy…now I’ve heard everything. What’s next? Cop eating a donut?”
Sawyer will pass on checking out the golf game, as he and the “crowd” are not hot on each other.
Kate advises him,”One outcast to another…I’d think about making more of an effort.” It is duly noted.

The music box plays as its dancers dance.
Sayid-“You see...some things can be fixed.” {She didn’t acknowledge the playing music box until he brings it to her attention.}
Danielle is pleased and thanks him. As Sayid hands her the box he manages to hold on to a screwdriver. Sayid calmly asks her to please let him go back to the people he told her about. Danielle says he can’t go; it’s not safe.
Sayid wonders “What’s not safe?”
Danielle feels he needs her. On cue there is a very loud growl.
Nervous Sayid asks what that is. Danielle arms herself and tells him if they’re lucky it’s one of the bears.
Danielle heads up the stairs and opens the hatch to the pit/hole.
Sayid warns, “It might be that thing up there. The monster!”
Danielle tells him there’s no such thing as monsters.
Now alone, Sayid notes she left a rifle.
{Flash Whoosh}
“We have to execute her.” Omar tells Sayid the Jazeem woman has given them nothing; this will send a message to the others who will not talk.
Sayid feels he needs more time with her; although it’s been more than a month. Omar wants Sayid to bring her outside and shoot her, or he will.
The door opens to let bright daylight into the pitch dark cell.
Nadia shields hers eyes. Very weak Nadia is happy to see Sayid and asks, “What did you bring me today?”
He tosses a black hood at her and tells her to put it on.
Nadia- “Are you going to hurt me, Sayid?”

Sayid frees himself from Danielle’s restraints, puts her maps and papers in his backpack, takes the rifle and climbs up out of the hatch.
A photo of hooded Nadia is shown.

Lucky, lucky, Jack makes a great shot.
Kate wonders if he has a ladies team.
Jack-“When did you show up?”
Kate- “A while ago.” {How long? He wouldn’t have noticed her in the crowd?!}
Kate almost didn’t recognize him...because he’s smiling.
Jack jokes he will have to watch that.
Jack shares with Kate the person who came up with all this is Hurley.
Jack has been going crazy and hasn’t been sleeping trying to make everyone feel safe and Hurley builds a golf course and everyone feels safe.
Hurley tries to make a shot but doesn’t, “Ah, crap! Do over.”
Charlie corrects him by teaching him the proper word in this gentlemen’s sport is a Mulligan. He repeats the word Mulligan a few of times. Walt shows up; Dad left him alone at the caves. Michael says he left Walt with Claire.
Walt- “She’s sleeping.”
Michael apologizes, “I just got caught up.”
Dad screwed up and will make it up to him. Michael asks Walt if he wants to play. Hurley is not good at golf although he tries to make a shot. Walt notes other people are waiting to play so he declines. Charlie informs Michael it’s his shot so he tells Walt they’ll play later.   Excited Michael takes his shot.

Sayid makes his way through the jungle and hears twigs snap and stops.
Danielle is in the jungle and apparently hears something and holds up her rifle. She takes a few steps to investigate and armed Sayid comes up behind her.  He tells her to put the gun down on the ground but she defies him and aims it right at him.
They are in a standoff.
{No Flash Whoosh}
Worried Sayid leads two guards who are walking hooded and cuffed Nadia down the corridor. Sayid informs the soldiers he’ll take it from here.
Once the men are out, Sayid hurries Nadia to the door, un-cuffs her and tells her “Forty meters outside this door there’s a supply truck that will be leaving shortly. They don’t check them on the way out, only coming in. Get inside; cover yourself anyway that you can. They won’t reach the city for thirty minutes. That’s enough time for you to jump out and hide yourself.“
Nadia wants him to go with her.
Sayid can’t; desertion, they would kill his family, “I don’t have your courage.”
Nadia feels he has more than he knows. She takes the photo of herself and a pen out of his shirt pocket to write something.
Omar calls out to Sayid and sees something is up. He calls for the guard and Sayid shoots him.
Nadia feels now Sayid has to go with her or they’ll kill him.
Sayid won’t go, instead he makes up a story about her escape and how she stole his gun, shot Omar and Sayid. Sayid shoots himself in his left thigh to make it look like it was self defense. She takes the gun and runs out. Sayid looks at the written message.
{Flash Whoosh}
Sayid doesn’t wish to hurt her/Danielle.
Danielle- “You already have.” She aims as if to fire at him and Sayid fires, but no bullet is fired. Danielle admits the firing pin has been removed, “Robert didn’t notice it was missing either…When I shot him.”
Sayid thought she loved Robert. Danielle reveals he was sick, “Took them one after the other. I had no choice. They were already lost.”
Sayid-“You killed them.”
Danielle wonders what would have happened if they were rescued; she couldn’t let that happen, “I won’t!”
Sayid tosses the rifle and announces he’s not sick. She knows, so why kill him. Emotional Danielle says she can’t let him go, “Don’t you understand…to have someone to talk to…to touch…”
Sayid walks closer to her and says, “You’ll find me in the next life, if not in this one.” That’s the writing on the back of Nadia’s photograph.
He knows what it’s like to hold on to someone, “I’ve been holding on for the past 7 years to just the thought, a blind hope that somewhere she is still alive. But the more I hold on, the more I pull away from those around me. The only way off this…this place is with their help.” {Team work!}
Sayid offers her to go with him so she doesn’t have to be alone.
Danielle tenderly touches his face, gets up and says, “Your people, the ones you’re determined to get back to…watch them. Watch them closely.”
She walks away but Sayid asks her who Alex is.
Danielle, keeping her back to him says, “Alex was my child“, and she heads back into the jungle.

Charlie is lining up his shot and taking it very serious, “I’ve never made par on a course before.”
He doesn’t do it.
Michael tells Jack it’s all up to him, “You sink this you get to wear the blazer.”
Kate-“No pressure.”
Charlie-“Yeah, no pressure.”
Hurley bets 5 bucks Jack sinks it. Charlie is upset Hurley’s betting against him.
Boone bets 10.
Sullivan doesn’t have any cash but bets his dinner on the doc.
Sawyer shows up and says he’s got two tubes of sunscreen and a flashlight says he chokes. Jack and Kate seem happy to see Sawyer, but the rest of the crowd not so much.
Kate will take Sawyer’s “action”.
Boone changes his bet because he and the princess need the sunscreen.
Jack takes his swing. {Boone and Shannon “need” the sunscreen.}

A knife is thrown into a tree.
Locke is practicing. “Does your father know you’re here?” he asks out loud.
Walt is standing behind him, starring in amazement. He asks Locke to teach him how to do that.
Locke hands the knife over to the child.

Sayid walks through the darkening, windy, howling and whistling jungle. He uses a large walking stick. He stops because he hears whispers.




Solitary is a GREAT episode!
Claire isn't in this episode again.
Danielle uses the term 'the Others' here, but our Castaways have called each other that many times. Yep, go back check it out. If we're going to analyze everything then why not analyze the term The Others. {So, are they ALL Others? Wink, wink!} The Lostie's aren't alone on the “Island”...and with me questioning how Danielle cut him down and carried Sayid, did she have help?  Who could have helped her? How did “this woman” move a grown man around…really?

This episode gives us a look at Sayid's life as a soldier.  He falls in love with a prisoner who he has a past with, but tries to free her. His role as solider comes in handy again when he is taken prisoner by Danielle. Sayid is trying to free himself from something.  Do we believe Danielle's story of her arrival, the sickness, “them”, the monster, and the whispers. How does the Black Rock fit in here? Did Sayid finding Danielle's place open up a 'door' on the Island or trigger something?


Things to note...Questions to ask...
* Whispers.
* Sleep. Knocked out. Drugged up. Wake up.
* Danielle speaks many languages. HA! Maybe she’s a protocol droid like C3PO. Lol!
* Danielle appears to be the only one in the bunker. I point this out because this woman is about 100lbs if that… You're going to tell me she cut him down a grown man from the hanging trap, carried or dragged him through the jungle to her lair, tied him up etc....
* Sayid told Danielle he was in a plane crash....Wouldn't Miss Jungle have HEARD a plane crash?
* Why is “Rousseau” pushing so hard for Sayid to talk about Nadia, really?
* What is the security system there to guard?
* No real identifying names on uniforms.
* Locke is hanging out with Ethan in the jungle.
* In Pilot part 2, Shannon interprets the distress looped dialog to be “I'm alone now. Uhmmm... on the island alone. Please, someone come. The others they're... they're dead. I-it killed them. It killed them all.” Then note the translation above. It says "HE"
* Rabbits, rats, mice and Danielle live in a hole in the ground.
* Music Box. Dance. Orchestrate.
* Wires. Cables. Battery. Maps. Files. Execute. Escape. Sounds like a computer to me!
* Electrical current.
* Sayid shoots his left thigh and a branch punctures his left thigh when he is trapped.
* Mulligan. Do Over.
* A “game” they keep playing over and over.

Vocabulary and Research...
* Solitary: Alone, single, secluded. This word is a shortened form of solitary confinement in jail.
* Vessel- In Buddhism: The Treasure Vase (Bumpa) is a sign of the inexhaustible riches available in the Buddhist teachings, but also symbolizes long life, wealth, prosperity and all the benefits of this world.



This episode is a Sayid centric, although ALL of our Lostie's fit the definition of secluded. Do they keep playing this “game” but assume different roles in it?
Do we ignore or embrace the references to the past, previous life, older than your years, a long time ago, etc. I myself can't ignore these clues at this point. They are there right in front of our eyes to shape our story.
It seems as though our Castaways have to face the truth about themselves or something, deep emotional hurt, addictions, wrongs, depression, or whatever is making them feel “lost”, and when they come to terms with those things, all of their pain will stop. Is this being accomplished by playing this “game”? Then I need to find out who is the creator, the master mind of such a “Soul searching adventure game”.   After all rich idiots fly to tropical islands...Hey, maybe they're all rich idiots! lol

Love to all who are "Lost"™

Posted on MySpace 2007.



Disclaimer: I never claim to know everything about the show and my thoughts by no means make me right! The things I share here are my views and/or opinions. I don't claim to catch every single detail either! You all know I hate spoilers! And I stand clear of reading certain sites as to not take me off my own course of research. The one thing I don't need to do here is rehash all of the obvious clues from an episode; we all know what they are. Understood? Let the fun begin! I'll only note things that I know come up as clues later, but need to be noted when they first show up and things I find that will be of importance.