S6E5 - Sundown

Awesome episode (says me). A little birdy (that I'm married to) brought to my attention that the first week of March is National Letter of Appreciation Week. If that doesn't scream recap theme, I don't know what does.

“Dear Uncle Sayid,
Thanks a lot for the cool boomerangs from Australia. They're so much fun! We really like having you around. Mommy does too--like times a hundred! Daddy, uh... not so much. Anyway, wish you could stick around. Of course we also wish you were our real dad, but you know... that's life.
Love Zack and Emma”

So, in Sayid's what-if, he pushed the love of his life into the arms of his brother because he thought he didn't deserve her? Again, another fairly significant discrepancy between the two time lines. More evidence of Jacob's influence? Anyway, despite her lack of single status, one thing is constant between the two realities and that is his love for her. Awwww... she's his "constant". Remember how Desmond was supposed to be Farraday's "constant"? Yeah... that didn't work out so well for ol' Daniel now did it?

“Hey Baseball,
Thanks for falling on the floor. If you hadn't, I'm pretty sure Dogen would have cut my throat. Anyway, I guess I owe you one, so... if you ever need your life saved or something... call me.
Sincerely,
Sayid Jarra”

Okay, may I start by saying that was a pretty sweet fight scene between Dogen and Sayid? Island-influenced Kung Fu meets Iraqi-style Kickboxing. While it's nice that Dogen got all sentimental and decided not to kill Sayid, it's strange that he didn't, especially since it's clear he thought he should die. Guess his conscience got the better of him? Hmm... bet he wishes he could take THAT decision back.

“Dear Claire,
I just wanted to give you a heartfelt thanks for delivering my message to the others. You know how I am with crowds. But just so you know, I might be sending a back up messenger in case things go south for you. You know, like if they throw you in a hole or something.
Your Friend,
Fake Locke”

I'm a little confused on one thing. We know the smoke monster can't enter those circles of ash. We've seen him/it stop short of them plenty of times before. He even did so at the temple while giving Claire her instructions. And yet Dogen's translator tells Sayid that Dogen was the one that had been preventing Fake Locke from coming and now that he was dead, Fake Locke could enter. So what? It was this one random dude being alive that prevented Fake Locke from entering the ash circles and not the ashes itself? I mean, not to get hung up on the details, but doesn't that seem like an overly complicated security system? That's like ADT Home Security giving you a bag of magic baby powder to spread around your house and all of your valuables claiming it will keep away thieves, but only if Marcus Sanchez—a toaster repairman from Sacramento, California—doesn't accidentally electrocute himself during the term of your contract.

“Sayid,
I know we've had our rough patches what with me torturing you, trying to poison you, then going all karate on you and almost slitting your throat. Oh, and of course there's that thing where I think you're evil. But hey, I've got an idea. If you want to show that there’s still goodness in your heart, why don't you prove it by murdering someone for me? Thanks!
Dogen”

The interesting thing was that Dogen specifically said that if "the enemy" talked to him, it would be too late. Sure enough, Fake Locke said, "Hello, Sayid" just before he was stabbed. I wonder if that's why he didn't die? Of course if it were that easy, surely someone would have done something about him long ago. It's probably exactly what Fake Locke said, Dogen couldn't bring himself to kill Sayid so he just sent him on a suicide mission, knowing the knife would be ineffective. Anyway, I thought it was an interesting thing to point out.

“Dearest Sayid,
Thank you so much for watching the kids AND for gluing the vase back together! Say, while you're at it, how about trying to glue my failing marriage back together, or better yet explain why you and I aren't the ones doing the horizontal mambo. Just curious...
Yours Forever,
Nadia”

Poor Sayid. Can’t catch a break in either reality. Hey, did you notice the brief shot of Jack at the hospital? It's like hunting Easter eggs.

“Dear Sayid,
No worries about trying to kill me. "No harm. No foul." is what I say. Anyway, if you want to make it up to me, I've written out some instructions on the back. Thanks, you're the best!
Your New Friend,
Fake Locke”

So Sayid passes on the warning to everyone at the temple then has a heart-to-heart with Dogen just before murdering him. Interesting final conversation. Jacob claimed he would save his son's life (bring him back from the dead, actually) if Dogen came to the island. Fake Locke made a similar promise to Sayid (about Nadia). And if you recall, Ben promised to cure Juliet's sister who had cancer (which is odd now that we know he didn’t work as closely with Jacob as we thought back then). I wonder if Jacob/Fake Locke truly have miraculous healing powers or is it all just smoke an mirrors? Instead of true healing, what if they can only “take” someone out of the alternate timeline and into the main one? Nadia’s dead? No problem! Just yank her from reality “B” where she’s married to your douchebag brother. Dead son? Got you covered! He’s more into piano than baseball in the alternate reality, but you know… beggars can’t be choosers. Anyway, I'm to the point where I don't think there even IS a good side anymore. Everybody's manipulating everybody to serve their own selfish agenda (or so it seems).

“Kate,
Thanks for raising Aaron for me. NOT! Ha Ha... Seriously, though. I think I might still kill you, but we can chat about that later.
P.S. He's coming and you can't stop him!
Claire”

Yikes. The future ain't so bright for those two.

“Dear Random Iraqi Guy I Just Met,
Oh man, I thought I'd NEVER be rescued! You won't believe how I got here. It's quite a tale if you have a minute. I tell you what, why don't we swap stories over a beer or two? I'm not much of a drinker, but anything's gotta be better than the taste of duct tape. Thanks a ton!
Sincerely,
Jin Kwon”

First off, $5 to my wife for calling Jin as the one locked up in the meat locker. It was awesome to see Keamy again (Widmore's militia leader from the freighter in reality "A"); he makes a good bad guy. Of course it wasn't for long. (Sidenote: Does anyone else think that actor looks exactly like Ed Robertson from Barenaked Ladies?) Anyway, as soon as Sayid sat down, I knew everyone was toast. I can't wait to see how Jin winds up there. Of course we know that Sun's father had him running some pretty shady deals in the US, so it's certainly not a stretch that he would be involved with some less-than-reputable people, but I'm still looking forward to how he gets from point A (LAX) to point B (tied up in a meat locker), if you dig.

“Dear Claire,
Thanks for sharing your hole! Your “friend” seems a little rough around the edges, but I'm sure we'll all learn to get along. Fingers crossed!
Your Friend (I Hope!),
Kate”

Again, yikes. It's interesting how Kate actually wound up with Fake Locke's new group by default. At least it seemed she was going with them there at the end. And is it just me, or is it weird how almost everyone in the temple so easily migrated to Fake Locke? Fake Locke made it seem like they were all trapped there and just stayed at the temple for lack of anything better to do. Well, that and also protection from him. And so now that Jacob is gone, they're not trapped anymore and he's suddenly not such a bad guy? That makes 0.00 sense to me. Anyway, while his motives (or the motives of the others for following him) are a little ambiguous, one thing is for certain... he did NOT seem too stoked about Kate tagging along. I'm only assuming she's sticking around to stay close to Claire, unaware of what a bad idea that might be. But geez, she must be really committed considering that she just witnessed the destruction of the temple and mass murder of a good chunk of its inhabitants. She knew the smoke monster was involved, and while she might not realize that Fake Locke = The Smoke Monster, she at least knows that he and Sayid were behind it to some degree considering they're the ones that walked out alive. And not to mention that Locke is supposed to be dead. That didn't even seem to phase her! I tell you what. That would phase me plenty and I'd high-tail it out of there in a heartbeat... sorry Claire.

“Ilana,
Thanks for saving my hide. Man, you just burst in, guns drawn, ready for action. Wanna go out or somethin'?
Miles”

I totally forgot that Ilana & company had been headed for the temple until they popped up at the end. The last words between Ben and Sayid were chilling. "Come with us, there's still time," to which Sayid replied, "Not for me." That's kind of what sealed the evil-deal for Sayid in my mind. Of course Sayid has his motivations (Nadia) and even Claire has hers (Aaron), so neither of them seem particularly "evil" if you study them on that level, but of course that's removing their actions from the equation. I guess if evil were so black and white then it would be a lot easier to identify in the real world (like if pedophiles were legally required to wear T-shirts identifying them as such), but alas, I'm slipping into sermon territory and that is not my domain. Mine is to make you laugh much and think some (we're talkin' maybe 60/40). And to that extent I hope I was successful.

Until next week, I'll leave you with my last thought as the episode closed. Is it me or is everyone super spread out now?

Sawyer - Jacob's cave (the last we saw)
Jin - Claire's hut (the last we saw)
Jack/Hurley - Kicking it at the lighthouse (the last we saw)
Ben/Sun/Frank/Ilana/Miles - Escaping the temple together
Sayid/Claire/Kate(maybe) - Following Fake Locke

I wonder who/how people will group back up?