Nadia answers the door and is very happy to see him. She is married with two children; a boy and a girl. The children are happy to see that their Uncle Sayid is here.
The boy- "Where were you Uncle Sayid?"
Sayid shares he was in Sydney and when the girl asks "Where's Sydney?" a man replies that it's in Australia. The man remarks with intimidation about Sayid bringing flowers for his wife, but it was in fun as this is Sayid's brother, Omar.
Nadia pours tea and the little girl asks what he brought them from Australia. Sayid sends the children to look in his bag on the couch. Nadia feels it's good Sayid showed up, the children missed him.
Omar- "We're lucky he even showed up. The world traveler off on his exotic business trips."
Sayid- "Translating contracts for an oil company is hardly exotic...and it's painfully dull."
Omar mentions there's little adventure in the world of dry cleaning. Nadia feels Omar is being modest as he's just opened up a new store. Sayid congratulates him. Omar's cell rings and Nadia reminds him that they spoke about cell phones at the dinner table. Omar looks at the caller ID with wide eyes and determines dinner is over, "This is business."
Nadia asks Sayid if he received her letters. He did.
Nadia- "You never wrote back?" Sayid doesn't answer. The kids run in excited over the awesome gift Uncle Sayid brought them back... a Boomerang. {Really?! It comes back around.}
The little girl tells her mommy they found a picture of her in Uncle Sayid's bag. Omar hangs up the cell and looks over at Sayid and the family at the dinner table. Sayid sits "thinking."
{Air plane engine/sounds-rumble}
Sayid walks through the passageway and barges into Dogen's room. "I want to talk to you. I want some answers." Dogen is reading a book, "Answers to what?"
"Let's start with that machine. You hooked me up to this thing. You stuck needles in me. And you called it a test."
Dogen- "For every man there is a scale. On one side of the scale there is good. {holds up right hand} On the other side, evil. {holds up left black gloved hand} This machine tells us how the scale is balanced. And yours tipped the wrong way." {Which way?}
Sayid- "And that's why you tried to poison me." Dogen confirms and thinks it would be best if Sayid was dead. {He says that with great hatred.}
Sayid-"You think you know me but you don't. I'm a good man. So if you're trying to kill me..."
Dogen attacks him and they fight! Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting! They tear up the place until Dogen is about to plunge an artist's paint brush into his throat and the baseball rolls and off the table. {The ball doesn't really bounce like it should. It hits the ground in 4 perfect tiny hops in the same spot and stops dead on the rug.} This triggers Dogen to stop his attack. He tells Sayid, "Go. Leave this place. Never come back."
Locke asks Claire if she's ready. They are standing just beyond the reflecting pool of the temple. {Apparently they were able to get that close without upsetting the people in the temple.} Claire- "Why does it have to be me? You can send Sawyer or Jin...or you do it yourself."
If Locke could do it himself he wouldn't be asking Claire. If Claire goes in there she wants to be sure he will do what he said he would do; She wants her son back.
Locke- "I always do what I say." {That's true.}
Apparently that's good enough for her because she starts to head out. Claire asks him if he's gonna hurt them.
Locke-"Only the ones who won't listen." And that's good enough for Claire too so she heads in.
Omar approaches sleeping Sayid on the couch and Sayid bolts awake with a defensive maneuver. {Just like Kate did when she pulled the gun on Jack in Lighthouse.} It's 2:30 in the morning. {Sayid is wearing a blue tank top. Did he just favor his left shoulder?} Omar confesses he's in trouble with the man he borrowed money from to open the second store. {Didn't borrow it from a bank} Omar paid the loan back but the man says Omar still owes interest every month, "For as long as I own my business." Sayid offers to lend Omar money if that's what he needs. What Omar needs is for Sayid to convenience these people to leave him alone.
Sayid- "Convince them?"
Omar doesn't want Sayid to forget who he's talking to; he knows what Sayid did in the war. "You were an interrogator for the Republican Guard. I know what kind of man you are."
Sayid- "If you think I'm going to hurt someone just because you made a bad business decision..." Omar claims it's not about him; his life savings are gone and they could lose their home. He knows Sayid cares about Nadia and plays off that angle, "If you care about us, about her...you will do this Sayid." Sayid apologizes, "I'm sorry. I'm not that man anymore." Omar is annoyed.
{Air plane engine/sounds-rumble}
Tank top wearing Sayid walks through the courtyard and picks up a back pack to prepare for his "leaving." He explains to curious Miles, "I've been banished."
Miles-"Banished? For what?"
Sayid- "Apparently I'm evil. These people say I'm better off dead." He finds that surprising considering they were the ones who saved his life. Miles corrects him saying they tried to save him but "You were dead, man. For two hours." When Sayid sat up "they" were just as surprised as the rest of them. "So whatever brought you back...it wasn't them." Just like that Claire barges into the courtyard with her hands held high in surrender mode. Lennon tells the armed shoe-less Others not to shoot her and asks her, "What are you doing here?" Claire informs Dogen, "He wants to see you." {No one is freaking out that the crazy haired woman from the jungle is there. The one who they tortured.} Dogen says something to Lennon the translator, but Claire just tells him to speak English. {So she knows he can speak English too. Then what's the fucking point of having a translator when everyone can hear you speak English?!}
Dogen- "Who wants to see me?"
Claire smirks, "You know who."
Dogen- "If he wants to see me...then tell him to come in."
Claire- "No...He wants you to go to him. He's waiting outside beyond the outer wall."
Dogen isn't a fool, knowing if he steps outside the temple he'll kill him. Claire suggests he send someone he won't kill and she walks away, but Dogen has her stopped. In Japanese Dogen instructs Lennon to put the girl in the hole until this is resolved and then bring Shephard and Reyes to his room immediately. Lennon explains that will be difficult because they can't find them. Dogen yells in Japanese, "Look harder!"
Sayid and Miles watch as Claire is escorted away. Dogen says to Sayid, "Come with me." Sayid thought he wanted him to leave. Dogen looks frustrated and tells Sayid that things have changed. So Sayid follows him.
In Dogen room, Dogen digs in the dirt of a large boxed planter to unearth a rectangle carved wooden box. {Box within a box.} Dogen asks Sayid if he knows where his friends Shephard and Reyes went. Sayid does not know but asks what Claire is doing there and what was she talking about. Dogen dusts off the earth from the box by using a small paint brush.
Dogen- "She's a confused girl... under the influence of an angry man. {Sayid asks what man} For years he has been trapped... but now Jacobs' gone... he's free. This man will not stop until he has destroyed every living thing on this island. He is evil incarnate." Dogen doesn't want Sayid to speak to him; he wants him to kill him. "He will come to you as someone you know, someone who has died. As soon as you see him... plunge this {special dagger} deep into his chest. If you allow him to speak it is already too late."
Sayid- "Since I've been here I've been drowned, beaten and tortured all at your hands. Why would I ever do anything for you?"
Dogen- "You said there was still good in your soul- then prove it."
Uncle Sayid lovingly puts his niece and nephew on the yellow school bus. Nadia runs out of the house upset over something.
{Air plane engine/sounds-rumble}
Sayid walks through the jungle and Kate appears, "Hello, Sayid?" {Sayid knows Kate; did she die and come back?} Sayid says hello. Kate asks him if he's leaving but he's not exactly sure.
Kate- "What'd I miss?"
Sayid tells her to ask Miles and he walks on.
Kate enters the courtyard of the temple. {I thought she wasn't going back to the temple.}
Sayid walks through the jungle sporting his backpack and the Dogen issued "special dagger." He stops to take a drink and cool down. Wind and growls rustle the trees around him. The sounds of the monster clicks are heard so he readies himself with his "special dagger." John Locke steps out of the trees and says, "Hello Sayid." Sayid plunges the dagger into Locke's chest but we see the blade had no effect on him at all. Locke pulls the long blade out of his chest and asks, "Now why'd you go and do that?" {Gray shirt. No blood. I love the ash on the back of Locke's head!} Locke offers the dagger back to Sayid, "Take it. I won't bite."
Sayid-" What are you?"
Locke feels Sayid seems to have some idea about that considering he stabbed Locke in the chest without even saying hello. "What did they tell you?"
Sayid- "They said you were evil incarnate."
Locke-"Feel sorry for you."
Sayid-"Why?"
Locke- "Dogen, the man who sent you out here... knew that you had no chance of killing me. And he believed that I would kill you if you tried. {he smiles} And this wasn't the first time that he tried to get someone else to do it for him, was it?" {Is this Jacob, Locke or Sayid talking?} Sayid knowing the answer to that question says "No."
Locke- "Then shame on you... for being talked into it so easily."
Sayid wonders what Locke is trying to talk him into as he hasn't killed him. Clearly there's something he wants. Locke only wants him to deliver a message, that's all. Sayid asks why he didn't have Claire deliver the message. Locke feels it would mean a lot more coming from Sayid.
Locke- "Sayid, if you'll do this for me...{he is thinking and then says with sincerity} What if I told you that you could have anything you wanted? What if I said you can have anything in the entire world?"
Sensitive and hurting Sayid replies, "I would tell you that the only thing I ever wanted... died in my arms. And I'll never see it again."
Locke- "What if you could?"
He smiles as Sayid stares at him hopeful and hypnotized.
{Air plane engine/sounds-rumble}
Sayid is repairing a broken carved vase/vessel with an eye dropper/glue. He shows Nadia the result of an unfortunate incident involving a Boomerang.
Sayid- "For the last 12 years I've been trying to wash my hands of all the horrible things I've done. I can't be with you. Because I don't deserve you."
{Air plane engine/sounds-rumble}
Sayid walks through the jungle. He comes upon Dogen by the water; it is raining. Dogen asks him what happened but Sayid walks up to the Others and announces "There's a man in the jungle... about a mile south of us, by the outer wall. He sent me back here to give you a message. He wants you to know that Jacob is dead. And because he's gone... none of you have to stay here any longer, you're free. The man that I met... is leaving the island forever. And those of you who want to go with him should leave the temple and join him. You have until sundown to decide."
Cindy- "What happens at sundown if we stay?"
Sayid-"You die." {Like the pregnant women?}
Dogen, who remains quiet, shows concern.
Kate is hurrying through the Temple hall when she is stopped by Lennon, asking when she got back. "Are Ford and Kwon with you?"
Kate-"Where's Claire?"
He wants answers first but Kate pushes him up against the wall demanding to know where Claire is. Lennon gives in, "You should let go of me, okay?" He leads Kate to a deep hole/pit in the ground that is holding Claire; he gives her two minutes.
Kate- "Claire. It's me." She asks Claire if she's okay, and happy surprised Claire can't believe she's here. "Did they capture you too?"
Kate- "No. No. Why did they put you down here? What happened?" {Kate is/was not captured} Claire goes on about how the Others took and have Aaron. Kate explains to Claire that they don't have Aaron, "I took him....I took him off the island. You were gone and we couldn't find you so...I raised him. And he is the most beautiful amazing little boy. But I came back here to rescue you so that you could be with him. So that you guys could be together again." Pissed off Claire who switches to a smile tells her, "I'm not the one who needs to be rescued, Kate." Lennon tells Kate time's up and drags her away. "You wanted to see her. So Let's go!" From the bottom of her isolation hole Claire tells Kate, "He's coming and they can't stop him."
In the courtyard some Other's are leaving the temple while Lennon is trying to get people to hold on and calm down. He tells Sayid he created a panic here. Sayid was asked to deliver a message and he did, "What your people do now is up to them." {Free will.} Lennon tries to talk Cindy into her staying by telling her they're all safe here, "As long as we stay in the temple he can't touch us." Cindy- "You heard him. Jacob's dead. And if it isn't safe here anymore...We can't take that risk." She leaves with the kids in a Temple exodus. Lennon tries to get them to listen; this is a bluff, "He can't come in!"
Miles asks Sayid what happened out there, "One minute you're banished the next you're telling everyone they're gonna die." Sayid confirms that's the sum of it. They're not getting out of there yet. Sayid takes out the dagger and claims he has to return it.
{ Air plane engine/sounds-rumble}
Sayid is approached by men in a black SUV. The bald man asks if he's going to pick up the kids. He wants Sayid to get in the car and when he doesn't the man speaks Iraqi, saying they'll go pick up the kids together.
Keamy-"Sayid, that's a lie. Your brother does owe me and somebody is gonna pay me that money." Sayid- "Did you put my brother in the hospital?"
Keamy eats and wonders that Sayid thinks it was him and claims it wasn't. He feels it's a dangerous world, after all Sayid knows that as he's from Iraq. Sayid hits the thug behind him, uses him as a shield when the other thug fires the gun, killing his thug friend. Sayid has the gun and shoots the other thug and holds the gun on Keamy. Nervous Keamy tells Sayid "It's done. Your brother doesn't owe me anything, the debt's forgiven. Alright? Good? Kay? Just relax and forget about it."
Sayid- "Who are you?"
Jin- "No English."
Dogen sits on the steps of the spring holding the baseball. Sayid enters and Dogen speaks, "You let him talk to you." Sayid explains he stabbed him in the chest like you told me to. Then I let him talk to me.{drops the dagger on the ground} That's twice you've tried to have someone else kill me. You had the opportunity to do it yourself... why didn't you?"
Dogen- "I was a business man once, in Osak. I worked at a bank. I was good at my job. Very successful. And one Friday I was promoted. My associates took me out to celebrate. I had too much to drink. Every Friday I picked my son up from baseball, he was 12. The accident was very bad. I survived.... but my son...and then... in the hospital... a man came to me... a man I had never met. And he told me that he could save my sons life but I'll have to come here to this island... where I'd have a new job... and I could never see my boy again."
Compassionate Sayid asks, "Who was this man?"
Dogen- "His name was Jacob."
Sayid feels Jacob drives a hard bargain. Dogen wonders if the man outside offered Sayid a similar bargain; and he did.
Dogen- "It is sundown. Will you choose to stay or go?"
Sayid would like to stay and this surprises Dogen. Sayid grabs Dogen and pulls him into the spring, holding him under the water. Dogen appears to die; finally releasing the baseball from his hand. Lennon runs in asking Sayid what he did and pulls Dogen from the spring. Lennon asks Sayid if he realizes what he just did, "He was the only thing keeping it out! Idiot. You just let it in!" Sayid picks up the dagger and slits Lennon's throat. Sayid knows what he did.
The smoke monster sounds are heard. Miles hears it. The sound of trees snapping, metal and machine sounds are getting louder. Kate grabs Miles tells him to run. The smoke monster clicks and cranks its way, grabbing and tossing people in its path. Kate runs to get Claire while Miles seeks shelter in a room. With his back against the door something starts pushing at it. It's Ilana, Frank and Ben. Ilana asks where Shephard, Reyes and Ford are. Miles says they're gone; they're all gone and he's the only one that's left, he and Kate got separated. Miles doesn't know Ilana. Frank tells Miles they can play catch up later, if he wants to live he better move his ass. Ilana asks about Jarrah and Miles informs her he was headed to the pool room. Ben leaves to get him before Ilana could stop him.
Ben backs away seemingly afraid, and then runs.
As they run down the temple hallway Miles ask Sun where her husband is; he took off yesterday. Excited and surprised Sun says, "What? Jin was here? He's alive?"
Miles- "The last I saw of him, yeah."
Ilana is looking over the hieroglyphs on the wall. The monster is nearby. Nervous Frank wonders if she has a plan or is she gonna keep staring at the wall. Ilana pushes the glyph with the circle and it opens a hidden doorway and she gets everybody inside. The smoke monster rushes right past their escape route.
The "Island" has its very own Willy Wonka "Veruca Salt" Eggdicator to determine if residents are a good egg or a bad egg. Besides that, Keamy scared the shit out of me with his whole Christopher Walken delivery of the "eggstravaganza"! Are these glances of events “if” Oceanic didn't crash or just a peek down into the rabbit hole with Alice? But then we still need to ask if the "Island" exists and Oceanic didn't crash would Jacob still have visited and marked his replacements or would all that be moot?
Let's explore a couple of things...
Are there deals being made with the devil on one side? Does the possibility exist that one side is trying to guide with the hope of finally bidding good riddance to the past and also finding what is lost?
Jacob: He left the island and marked his potential replacements {Including Locke}. He went out of his way to recruit these people, and for Dogen in his weakest moment, promised him something but he had to sacrifice his "freedom" and go to the “Island”. Was that so he could protect Jacob on the "Island"?
Locke: Claims to be "freeing" people and their being bound to Jacob. At this point this seems to be his purpose. I love that Locke is invulnerable. But if he is invulnerable Jacob must be too. How else would they have been able to exist all these years. lol And shouldn't Locke be aware that Jacob isn't really "dead." He must know he really isn't dead and just using this temporary loss of Jacob to better his strategy.
Things to note...Questions to ask...
* Boomerang. Loop. Do over. Circle.
* Temple. Head. Mind. Brain. Wired.
* Machine. Being hooked up to a machine.Wires.
* Needles. Surgery. Hospital. Doctors.
* Accident. Incident.
* Games. Cards. Risk. Pool.
* Time. Late.
* Sayid with yellow roses. In The Long Con Sawyer refers to Sun as Tokyo Rose.
* Yellow. Blue.
* Kids.
* Two brothers.
* "This Place" a place to go to find yourself or to torture yourself?
* I believe drunk/druggie/broken Jack flew every Friday in his "Flashes" hoping to get back to the island.
* A few of the Castaways have been shown with children in their "Flashes" but Kate was only around Aaron in utero.
* Baseball. As much as I always come back to Christian and Jack with this reference, baseball was one of the "Island" references presented to young John Locke on the table.
* Deals. Business. Bargain. Loan. Debt.
* Bank.
* School. Learn. Tests. Challenges.
* War. Guard. Soldier.
* Sayid is to deliver a message. Jin delivered messages for Paik.
* According to Locke he tells Sayid Dogen "knew that you had no chance of killing me. And he believed that I would kill you if you tried". But Claire suggested sending someone out that "he" wouldn't kill and Dogen sent out Sayid. So he knew Sayid wouldn't be killed.
* I feel like when Sayid asks Locke "What are you?" he is really questioning himself.
* I sometimes feel like "Jacob" and Locke are the same being and at time switch places. I know that sounds confusing and weird, but...
* "Someone you know, someone who has died." Well, Sayid was dead for 2 hours.
* If Sayid is evil then why would Dogen ask if he will choose to stay or go. Wouldn't he want him gone no matter what?
* Killed Dogen in the "Spring". Will he come back to life as well?
* Where is Sawyer going to fit in all of this? How is his role going to play out? Maybe the "Island" needs a sheriff.
* Eggs.
* Catch a Falling Star was sung by Christian. A lullaby/to sooth a baby. The end scene with this was very dream-like. Not only dream-like but a bit nut house/sanitarium-like, delusional/hallucination.
* Sayid- "I would tell you that the only thing I ever wanted died in my arms. And I'll never see it again."Sayid does not say it's a person at all, only says "thing/it". If it is a person Shannon and Nadia died in Sayid's arms.
* Why is there is no mention about having to contain any electromagnetism at all, or any references to those issues anymore? Are they no longer important? Were they ever important?
* Wouldn't it be kinda cool if we discover when all this is over that the real names of the Castaways' are Jacob, David, Omar, etc..
* This episode connects to One of Them from season 2.
* Is someone finally being "awakened"?
* Is this Locke's way of bringing the family back together?
Vocabulary and Research...
* The Brain is located in the head, protected by the skull and close to the primary sensory apparatus of vision, hearing, balance, taste and smell.It controls sleep, actions, motor skills, sensory, neurotransmitter system, language,cognition/thought and so much more. The electrical activity of the brain can be described with spikes and waves.
* In medicine, sundowning, aka sundown syndrome, occurs in patients with certain forms of dementia and psychosis.
* Boomerang: a curved piece of wood used as a weapon and for sport. They come in many shapes and sizes depending on their geographic or tribal origins and intended function. Most recognizable type is the returning boomerang, which is a throwing stick that travels in an elliptical path and returns to its point of origin when thrown correctly. Returning boomerangs were also used as decoy birds of prey, thrown above long grass in order to frighten game birds into flight and into waiting nets. -Boomerang (programming language), for bidirectional transformations of text.
* Solitaire, aka Patience, often refers to single-player card game involving a layout of cards with a goal of sorting them. It is possible to play the same games competitively (often a head to head race) . The term solitaire is also used for single-player games of concentration and skill using a set layout of tiles, pegs or stones rather than cards. The game typically involve dealing cards from a shuffled deck into a prescribed arrangement on a tabletop, from which the player attempts to reorder the deck by suit and rank through a series of moves transferring cards from one place to another under prescribed restrictions.
Variations of Solitaire are: Above-Below, Apollo, Beehive, Black Hole, Brigade, Caesar, Casket, Clock Patience/Clock Solitaire, Chessboard, Concentration, Courtyard, Compass, Falling Star, Fly, Following, Fortress, Gate, Golf, Grandfather, Great wheel, Knaves, Labyrinth, Memory, Mirror, Parallels, Peek, Wish, Zodiac.
I hope we are finally getting to the core of Sun and Jin's role in the whole truth regarding the "Island". The moral of this episode is balance. As I've touched on in the past we all are made of good and bad, yes, even us good guys. Every day we are faced with simple and hard choices and decisions that our "scale" plays a part in. The battle for balance lives within all of us. This brings me back to times when we've seen Ben visit Widmore and he is literally half in the dark and the light. Locke uses the same imagery.
Balance: Every man has a scale, and here with the off "Island" events Sayid was being tempted by both sides of the scale. But I believe this is also reflected in the on "Island" events too. Sayid is a torturer or better yet a soldier. His brother Omar made it clear he was relieved Sayid showed up because he needed his skills to help battle an opponent but Nadia didn't want him to act upon the side to which she knew he would lean toward. On the "Island" Sayid skills seem to be needed by both sides. Can Sayid the sensitive soldier ever find true balance?
Light, dark and balance = Two halves of a whole.
Love to all who are "LOST"™
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? Good! 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! It will get very exciting as we progress into the story.
