>: 92 HE'S OUR YOU
Seeing Young Ben and Richard on that PREVIOUSLY is a little freaky if you just rewatched 3.20 this weekend. I figured that we were already at the Ben episode and it was over for Penny. But no, what a weird dynamic, we get a continuation of the Ben flashback in the story’s present, since it’s in ’77. And really a Sayid episode.
That opening mirrors Mr. Eko’s earliest scene pretty closely. A boy doesn’t want to kill, but his brother steps up to do the job. And, dust. At first, when it was just the one kid, I was thinking “Wow, quite a journey old Sayid’s been on,” but as soon as you see the little bro roll up and drop the “I got this” with a pat on his brother’s back, it’s pretty obvious which one Sayid is and that he hasn’t really come that far, after all this time.
Then Young Ben brings Sayid a chicken salad sandwich. That kid is incredible, completely channels the Emerson Creepy. I could actually picture the older model delivering most of those lines, “If you’re patient, too . . .” and what not. And more literary taunts with the Castenada. A SEPARATE REALITY. Unless that’s what we really find ourselves in by episode’s end.
One last scene of Sayid as stone-cold assassin. The Russian guy should know that a bribe wouldn’t work. Apparently, that Russian marquee that Sayid walks by later that night to meet Ben says Oldham Pharmaceuticals. Funny times. Sayid’s “What do I now?” to Ben is a callback to the show’s theme of fulfilling one’s destiny (see: any time Locke or Jack drops the word “supposed”). Purpose.
And Horace, Mathematician is looking tough. Hard not to laugh at him trying to lay it down on Sayid. Oh no, Horace! Not the next level! Never imagined all this time that Radzinsky would be such a dick.
Weird to only get like a minute of Jack. The three of them played that soap-opera moment well. I liked Kate’s “huh.”
Young Ben crushes the terrified-of-Roger-Workman-face. Hell, I was scared for him. You would think that the father parallel would punch through and make an impact on our caged bird.
I thought Sawyer was going to slip that taser to Sayid, not slip it to him in the Republican Guard! Youch! Tingly-tangly.
That scene between Sayid and Ben scans so differently on the rewatch, the You’re a killer bit. If the Island does bring the kid back and Ben knows firsthand just how much of a killer Sayid is . . . just too much.
And then out in the jungle, there was all of a sudden a real DELIVERANCE vibe, filtered through Dale Cooper’s unforgettable rock-throwing scene from the second episode of TWIN PEAKS. That Billy Holiday on the old-school gramophone was perfect, made everything so so damn creepy. And then E.B. Farnum is Oldham! That’s why I shield the bottom third of the screen from my eyes when the guest star credits roll. He gave an excellent performance, defied expectations, they set him up the entire episode as this terrifying inquisitor (and I’m sure he will drop some horror later on) but he didn’t have to get particularly ugly with Sayid. I feel like it would have taken more than Radzinsky and Phil to get Sayid in the straps, though, hunger strike or no.
And I know they’re just giving us context, but I really didn’t need to see an entire minute from the top of 5.5. Just show Sayid walking off, I think anyone who’s stuck around can make the leap. Chick does a great job of cozying up to our boy, even gets a glass of MacCutcheon and a ribeye out of him.
What a scene, when Sayid starts talking.
You know as soon as he says his name that it’s going to be something serious. Andrews played it to perfection, the bliss, the sadness at being a bad man (again with the good and bad, can’t wait to really get down to the heart of what’s going on there). The look on his face opposite Sawyer’s concern makes for an excellent juxtaposition. Oldham drops “been here before”, quite the charged phrase by now (when Baltar dropped it at the climax of the Passacaglia opera house madness, I almost swallowed all my teeth)(but that was thousands of years ago). “Ask Sawyer,” how tense! And Sayid’s breakdown of the stations, classic, especially since they cut him off right as he’s going into the Incident (not that, I guess, he really knows any more about it)(we don’t even have a date, right? for THE Incident, seems like there’s one in ’83). But oh my God, Sayid’s insane laughter along with “You used exactly enough!” is maybe my favorite thing of this entire insane season, serious serious acting.
Did Sawyer refer to Radzinsky as Stew? Wow, even the new mama wants Sayid’s blood. Was sure that THE RADZINKY SOLUTION was going to be the title of the episode, just the right Ludlum touch to this tale of assassin’s guilt. Bet it made the final cut, at least.
And man, Horace has been kind of rubbing me the wrong way this entire season, but after that “I’d really like to say it’s unanimous,” it’s hard to even feel bad about the old Purge at all. Fugg’em! Such a shame to see Sawyer buckle, too. He got built into such heroic leading man mode in LAFLEUR but, no, he’ll keep his head down and sell out his compadre in order to preserve this little bubble that he’s built for himself. More realistic, perhaps, but unfortunate. There are finer things in life than bacon with Juliet.
Sayid got kicked in the face! That’s what happens when you let the Republican Guard run the show.
Aw, Kate was about to tell Sawyer she loved him. Then the burning bus! Pretty sure just about no one saw that coming. It takes Sawyer maybe half a second to formulate the perfect quip for Jack. Was pretty sure that Sawyer was responsible for that bus, just another con to break Sayid out. The keys to the motor pool are in his cabin, after all. So, was actually surprised for just a second to see Ben in the Jedi robes making his way back to the cell.
Oh, and Sayid’s “Yes I will, Ben. That’s why I’m here.” Could not be any better.
Back at the Ajira terminal! Sayid’s reaction to seeing his old friends is some kind of funny. And exchanging the look with Ben as he walks on the plane. Madness. Surely she was working for Ben and just didn’t realize it.
Thought Sayid was going to break Ben’s neck as soon as the kid turned his back on him. That kind of threw me, made me think I was imagining it, even thought “Oh, if this WAS the sickest show of all time, then he would totally take out the kid and break time, Emmett Brown b’damned.” At least Sayid didn’t kill Jin, that would have been awful. I got tricked again, though, as Sayid was hunched over with the gun telling Ben that he had been right about him, all of a sudden I thought Sayid was going to off himself rather than take out the kid, didn’t have what it took to smother Baby Hitler in his crib, as the saying goes. And yeah, it was a Sayid-centric, all of a sudden I thought it was suicide time. But no, just working himself up to shoot the kid stone dead.
And he died. That was a kill shot. The light went out of his eyes. If he was just unconscious and Jack was able to save him in the first fifteen minutes next week, that would be a ripoff. However, we’ve certainly seen that dead doesn’t necessarily mean dead on this island. So. Either the Island is going to resurrect young Benjamin Lazarus . . .
Or Sayid just broke time.
Which is a very attractive notion, and plays back into that Castenada, all of a sudden our crew finding itself in a Darko tangent universe. But I’m betting that this is exactly how things have always gone down (and that trapped new character scene in 2.14 is one of the sickest hidden meaning encounters of all time).
So yeah, let’s have predictions!
-All of this has happened before
-We’re going to need to go find Faraday to tell us this, and maybe we’ll get his long-awaited flashback.
-The last stand of Sayid Jarrah.
I really really hope not. But he was just so brilliant in this episode, as a character and actor, and that’s never a good sign. And I didn’t realize that he was doomed until I remembered that this is exactly what they did with Chahlie, set it all up one episode, made us think that he was toast and then surprised us with gun-toting girls! Belying the fact that he was out the following week. + he’s a bad man. Like Eko.
It doesn’t look good, soulful-eyed soft-spoken Arab assassin fans.
That opening mirrors Mr. Eko’s earliest scene pretty closely. A boy doesn’t want to kill, but his brother steps up to do the job. And, dust. At first, when it was just the one kid, I was thinking “Wow, quite a journey old Sayid’s been on,” but as soon as you see the little bro roll up and drop the “I got this” with a pat on his brother’s back, it’s pretty obvious which one Sayid is and that he hasn’t really come that far, after all this time.
Then Young Ben brings Sayid a chicken salad sandwich. That kid is incredible, completely channels the Emerson Creepy. I could actually picture the older model delivering most of those lines, “If you’re patient, too . . .” and what not. And more literary taunts with the Castenada. A SEPARATE REALITY. Unless that’s what we really find ourselves in by episode’s end.
One last scene of Sayid as stone-cold assassin. The Russian guy should know that a bribe wouldn’t work. Apparently, that Russian marquee that Sayid walks by later that night to meet Ben says Oldham Pharmaceuticals. Funny times. Sayid’s “What do I now?” to Ben is a callback to the show’s theme of fulfilling one’s destiny (see: any time Locke or Jack drops the word “supposed”). Purpose.
And Horace, Mathematician is looking tough. Hard not to laugh at him trying to lay it down on Sayid. Oh no, Horace! Not the next level! Never imagined all this time that Radzinsky would be such a dick.
Weird to only get like a minute of Jack. The three of them played that soap-opera moment well. I liked Kate’s “huh.”
Young Ben crushes the terrified-of-Roger-Workman-face. Hell, I was scared for him. You would think that the father parallel would punch through and make an impact on our caged bird.
I thought Sawyer was going to slip that taser to Sayid, not slip it to him in the Republican Guard! Youch! Tingly-tangly.
That scene between Sayid and Ben scans so differently on the rewatch, the You’re a killer bit. If the Island does bring the kid back and Ben knows firsthand just how much of a killer Sayid is . . . just too much.
And then out in the jungle, there was all of a sudden a real DELIVERANCE vibe, filtered through Dale Cooper’s unforgettable rock-throwing scene from the second episode of TWIN PEAKS. That Billy Holiday on the old-school gramophone was perfect, made everything so so damn creepy. And then E.B. Farnum is Oldham! That’s why I shield the bottom third of the screen from my eyes when the guest star credits roll. He gave an excellent performance, defied expectations, they set him up the entire episode as this terrifying inquisitor (and I’m sure he will drop some horror later on) but he didn’t have to get particularly ugly with Sayid. I feel like it would have taken more than Radzinsky and Phil to get Sayid in the straps, though, hunger strike or no.
And I know they’re just giving us context, but I really didn’t need to see an entire minute from the top of 5.5. Just show Sayid walking off, I think anyone who’s stuck around can make the leap. Chick does a great job of cozying up to our boy, even gets a glass of MacCutcheon and a ribeye out of him.
What a scene, when Sayid starts talking.
You know as soon as he says his name that it’s going to be something serious. Andrews played it to perfection, the bliss, the sadness at being a bad man (again with the good and bad, can’t wait to really get down to the heart of what’s going on there). The look on his face opposite Sawyer’s concern makes for an excellent juxtaposition. Oldham drops “been here before”, quite the charged phrase by now (when Baltar dropped it at the climax of the Passacaglia opera house madness, I almost swallowed all my teeth)(but that was thousands of years ago). “Ask Sawyer,” how tense! And Sayid’s breakdown of the stations, classic, especially since they cut him off right as he’s going into the Incident (not that, I guess, he really knows any more about it)(we don’t even have a date, right? for THE Incident, seems like there’s one in ’83). But oh my God, Sayid’s insane laughter along with “You used exactly enough!” is maybe my favorite thing of this entire insane season, serious serious acting.
Did Sawyer refer to Radzinsky as Stew? Wow, even the new mama wants Sayid’s blood. Was sure that THE RADZINKY SOLUTION was going to be the title of the episode, just the right Ludlum touch to this tale of assassin’s guilt. Bet it made the final cut, at least.
And man, Horace has been kind of rubbing me the wrong way this entire season, but after that “I’d really like to say it’s unanimous,” it’s hard to even feel bad about the old Purge at all. Fugg’em! Such a shame to see Sawyer buckle, too. He got built into such heroic leading man mode in LAFLEUR but, no, he’ll keep his head down and sell out his compadre in order to preserve this little bubble that he’s built for himself. More realistic, perhaps, but unfortunate. There are finer things in life than bacon with Juliet.
Sayid got kicked in the face! That’s what happens when you let the Republican Guard run the show.
Aw, Kate was about to tell Sawyer she loved him. Then the burning bus! Pretty sure just about no one saw that coming. It takes Sawyer maybe half a second to formulate the perfect quip for Jack. Was pretty sure that Sawyer was responsible for that bus, just another con to break Sayid out. The keys to the motor pool are in his cabin, after all. So, was actually surprised for just a second to see Ben in the Jedi robes making his way back to the cell.
Oh, and Sayid’s “Yes I will, Ben. That’s why I’m here.” Could not be any better.
Back at the Ajira terminal! Sayid’s reaction to seeing his old friends is some kind of funny. And exchanging the look with Ben as he walks on the plane. Madness. Surely she was working for Ben and just didn’t realize it.
Thought Sayid was going to break Ben’s neck as soon as the kid turned his back on him. That kind of threw me, made me think I was imagining it, even thought “Oh, if this WAS the sickest show of all time, then he would totally take out the kid and break time, Emmett Brown b’damned.” At least Sayid didn’t kill Jin, that would have been awful. I got tricked again, though, as Sayid was hunched over with the gun telling Ben that he had been right about him, all of a sudden I thought Sayid was going to off himself rather than take out the kid, didn’t have what it took to smother Baby Hitler in his crib, as the saying goes. And yeah, it was a Sayid-centric, all of a sudden I thought it was suicide time. But no, just working himself up to shoot the kid stone dead.
And he died. That was a kill shot. The light went out of his eyes. If he was just unconscious and Jack was able to save him in the first fifteen minutes next week, that would be a ripoff. However, we’ve certainly seen that dead doesn’t necessarily mean dead on this island. So. Either the Island is going to resurrect young Benjamin Lazarus . . .
Or Sayid just broke time.
Which is a very attractive notion, and plays back into that Castenada, all of a sudden our crew finding itself in a Darko tangent universe. But I’m betting that this is exactly how things have always gone down (and that trapped new character scene in 2.14 is one of the sickest hidden meaning encounters of all time).
So yeah, let’s have predictions!
-All of this has happened before
-We’re going to need to go find Faraday to tell us this, and maybe we’ll get his long-awaited flashback.
-The last stand of Sayid Jarrah.
I really really hope not. But he was just so brilliant in this episode, as a character and actor, and that’s never a good sign. And I didn’t realize that he was doomed until I remembered that this is exactly what they did with Chahlie, set it all up one episode, made us think that he was toast and then surprised us with gun-toting girls! Belying the fact that he was out the following week. + he’s a bad man. Like Eko.
It doesn’t look good, soulful-eyed soft-spoken Arab assassin fans.
posted by rb at 11:42 AM
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