Have You Forgotten?
I have just finished re-watching "One of Them," the Sayid-centric episode that introduces us to Pre-Island Sayid, a member of Iraq's Republican Guard. I thought there were many interesting tidbits that I didn't necessarily catch the first time around. First and foremost, this episode was chock-full 'o' character connections. Not only do we see Kate's father (well, they guy she thought was her father, not the guy she blew up...) capturing and interacting with our favorite Iraqi, but we also catch a glimpse of pre-island Kelvin (remember the hatch dweller prior to Desmond? Yeah, that guy...) playing CO to the American troops there. One thing I didn't notice the first time around, (or maybe it's just actually settling in my brain this time) is that Sayid is brought in to torture and interrogate one of his own people under the pretense that he is the translator, the only one with the ability to speak fluent Arabic. Yet, toward the end of the episode, we see that Kelvin, too, speaks fluently, leading us to believe... well, what exactly? That they didn't want to do the dirty work themselves? Or are we to believe, instead, exactly what Kelvin tells Sayid, namely, that he has equipped Sayid with a necessary tool to use later in life? Um, not exactly sure, but either way, Sayid apparently became a professional torturer, honing his skills first on our favorite redneck, Sawyer, and later on the creepy Other, Fenry.
I felt like this episode was a turning point in the season, like this was the episode where things really began to happen. Up until this point in the season, things had happened, people had died, of course, but this was the climax of season 2, I feel. From here, everything began to snowball, and would eventually leave us staring as Michael and Walt (and Vincent? Have we figured that out yet?) sailed off into the wild blue yonder, Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were led off the dock, and Penny Widmore was flabbergasted by something.
On a final and more somber note, the closing scene of "One of Them" struck me in a way that is relatively difficult to put into words. In this scene, Sayid sits with Charlie on the beach justifying, in a way, his actions in torturing Fenry in the Hatch. He does this by bringing back to our memories the actions The Others have taken against our band of survivors. He refreshes Charlie's memory as well: "That you were strung up by your neck and left for dead. That Claire was taken and kept for days during which only god knows what happened to her. That these people -- these Others -- are merciless, and can take any one of us whenever they choose." The final line of this episode hit me hard as I watched on Monday night, the 5th anniversary of the worst terror attck on American soil: "So tell me, Charlie, have you forgotten?" It is my solemn hope that, as this 5th anniversary passes us by, that we, as a nation, realize that our pursuit of those who struck a blow to our nation on that day is a pursuit not of revenge, but rather one of justice. Now, I could quite possibly be the one person on Earth who could, (or would) relate our unstable present day society to a ficticious island drama, but I hope that the fiction to which I am addicted seeks the same justice. That may sound wicked corny, but, as I watched on Monday night, I found an undeniable parallel between our world and that of our island friends: we are all in search of peace, that we all are "one nation, under God, indivisible," endlessly searching for "liberty and justice for all." Ok, so I'm corny. Deal with it.
p.s. For those of you who don't already know, it's a boy. Maybe I'll name him Jack. :)
2 Comments:
Bree - I had no idea that you led this other "secret" life of Lost obsession. I'm actually pretty upset.. I've spent endless hours online searching for Lost stuff and I could have just been going to your blog all along! OH well, you live, you learn! ;o) - SDIAZ
I personally think "JACK" is a wicked cool name..... In lostielingo (the offical language of the island) it means "ZIGGY-MON" The master and ruler of all known and unknown. NO-SHOES NO-SHIRT NO-PROBLEM U ON D ISLE MON
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