Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Ben, The Two Of Us Need Look No More
By Cindy McLennan | Season 5 | Episode 10 | Aired on 03.25.2009
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Did that just happen? Can it? I mean, really. Where's Daniel with the playbook? We need rules -- borders -- an end zone. What am I talking about? Well hop aboard, I'll give you the starter tour.
The network description of this episode reads: "A survivor goes rogue, endangering the lives of everyone on the island." But by rogue, it seems they mean something far more interesting than Sarah Palin using campaign funds to buy some snazzy duds. We open on a scene in Tikrit, Iraq. A father berates his son into killing a chicken. The kid doesn't have the heart to do it, so once his father storms back into the house, his younger brother puts his hand on his shoulder, and shows the older boy his palm full of chicken feed. He then enters the coop, lures a chicken over, picks it up and snaps its neck. After he hands the carcass to big brother, the father comes out to congratulate him. The older child is a truthful child, and admits to his father that he didn't off the bird. As the old man scoffs at the older boy and looks fondly at the younger, the subtitles tell us he says, "At least one of you will be a man. Well done, Sayid." So, he's a natural born killer? Tell us something we don't know, Show.
Sayid has lots of visitors in his Dharmaville cell. Young Ben Linus brings him a chicken salad sandwich, and a book -- A Separate Reality, by Carlos Castenada, which I suspect is a clue and I hope to hit that in the full recap. He wants to know if Richard sent Sayid, and tells him how he wanted to join the others, but that he's had to be patient. He tells Sayid that if he, too, is patient, he thinks he can help him. Horace also visits, frees Sayid from his cuffs, and give him one hour to decide whether he will talk to them and explain whether he's a spy, or just a hostile who's on the outs with the Others. If Sayid doesn't talk, they'll take it to the "next level."
In later conversations involving Sawyer, we learn from Horace that someone named Oldham is the next level. And per Sawyer, Oldham is a maniac, so he asks for time with the prisoner. Alone with Sayid, Sawyer tries to convince him to fake up a defection, so that he can join their little party in Dharmaville. He warns him about Oldham, and really, Sayid should have been convinced to "defect" once Sawyer described Oldham by saying, "He's our you." But Sayid's all, Are you kidding me? I just got fed chicken salad by Benjamin Linus. This place is whack, yo, and besides, I've found my special purpose. So, Sawyer gives him the old cattle-prod-to-the-nuts treatment. No, really. I mean, I know Sawyer kind of owes Sayid one, but to the 'nads? Yeeeouch!
The Dharma Initiative turns Sayid over to Oldham, whom I wish had said, "I'm Larry. This is my brother Darryl; this is my other brother Darryl." Oldham, who lives in a tipi, drugs Sayid via a sugar cube laced with something I like to think of as LSD, but who knows? He then tries to get Sayid to confess how he's come to be there, but can't recognize the truth when he hears it. That is, when he tells all about Oceanic 815, Ajira 316, and that he's not a hostile, Oldham assumes he's given Sayid too much juice, but a tripping Sayid assures him it was the perfect amount. Du-huh-hude.
Later, the D.I. types have a meeting and Stu "Quick Draw" Radzinsky convinces everyone that Sayid is in need of killing. Horace persuades Sawyer to make the vote unanimous, so he does, but later, he tries to get Sayid to "overcome" him and escape. Sayid won't play along.
Ben, or possibly Harry Potter, sets a VW Bus afire, and rigs it to drive into the Dharmaville quad, where it crashes into a building. While Sawyer, Juliet, Kate, Jack and all the D.I. people try to extinguish the flames, young Ben lets Sayid out.
There are some Sayid-centric flashbacks along the way, including one that shows how current-day Ben cut him loose after a hit in Russia, and another that shows how Sayid met Ilana, who isn't a marshal, it seems, but rather -- a bounty hunter. We see her seduce Sayid and then capture him to bring him back to Guam to be charged for the murder of Peter Avillino -- Sayid's golf-course victim. Somewhere in there, Kate finds out from Hurley and Jack that Sawyer and Juliet are shacking up. There's then a scene between Juliet and Kate, who try to make nice, and a scene between Sawyer and Kate, who try not to make out.
Sayid and Ben escape the compound on foot. They run into Jin, so Sayid gives him a line about how Sawyer let him escape. When Jin says he just has to check with Sawyer about what to do, Sayid knocks him out. He then picks up Jin's gun, and looks at his unconscious form way too long for comfort, takes aim, fires and SHOOTS WEE BEN! And so I'm back to where I started. Did that just happen? Can it? I mean, really. Where's Daniel with the playbook? We need rules -- borders -- an end zone. This show is crazy sauce, I tell you what. I'll catch you on the flipside, with the full recap.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then see who beats Sayid in our list of the Best Lost Backstories! And check back soon for the full recap!
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Did that just happen? Can it? I mean, really. Where's Daniel with the playbook? We need rules - borders - an end zone. What am I talking about? Well, hop aboard. We're going off the rails on a crazy train.
Previously, on Lost: Baby Ben meets Richard in the jungle. Ben wants to go with Guyliner, who tells him he'll have to think about it and be patient. Adult Ben asks Sayid whether or not he wants to protect his friends. On a golf course, Sayid tells Peter Avellino, "I am Sayid Jarrah. [You did something that probably has nothing to do with killing my father.] Prepare to die." Then he shoots him. Jack sees bounty hunter Ilana leads a cuffed Sayid through the Ajira Air terminal. There's a FLASH! Jin finds Sayid wandering in Grid 325. Once Radzinsky catches up, Jin plays it all hard-ass. While languishing in a Dharma Initiative cell, wee Benjamin Linus brings Sayid a sandwich and a question. "Are you a hostile?" Sayid asks what the boy thinks. The boy asks his name. Sayid obliges and asks the same question. The boy says, "I'm Ben." Sayid says, "It's...nice to meet you, Ben."
Tikrit, Iraq; A Chicken Coop: No. Really. A big, mean father drags a pretty, soft-faced boy outside of a house and yells at him in what I presume to be Arabic, but I swear I heard a "sonnovabitchin" in there, so who knows? I can see it now. The producers were all, "They want how much for an Arabic speaking day player, and translator for our writers? Oh get out!" They grab the next tan extra they see. "We're making it for an American audience; they'll never know the difference, anyhow. Daddy issues are the universal language. If you believe what you're 'saying' they'll buy it." It seems the dad wants his son to act like a man and... choke the chicken. Boundaries, hello? Since the old guy has a big-ass meat cleaver in his hands, if I were the boy and in possession of boy-parts, I would be inclined to listen. But I'm getting unfairly transfer-y.
The father hands the boy the cleaver, and tells him he can't come back in the house until he's slain dinner, then stomps back inside, slamming the door behind him. Once the father's inside, the boy's younger brother approaches. He's smaller, slighter, and even prettier. He puts his hand on big brother's shoulder, and then shows him what he's got in his palm -- a handful of chicken feed. He enters the coop, lures an unsuspecting bird to him, picks it up like you would a kitten, and SNAPS ITS NECK. Like you would a kitten! As soon as he hands the carcass to his big brother, the father comes back outside and congratulates the older boy. The older child is a truthful child, and admits to his father that he didn't off the bird. As the old man scoffs at the older boy and looks fondly at the younger, the subtitles tell us he says, "At least one of you will be a man. Well done, Sayid." And we cut to...