"One Of Them"

NOVEMBER 7, 2010

FOCUS: SAYID
EPISODE: 2.14
AIRED: FEBRUARY 15, 2006

Hey, did you know Sayid had to torture people while he was with the Republican Guard in Iraq? Of course you do, it’s been the subject of his other two flashback episodes, and it’s the focus of “One Of Them”, different only in that it’s about his FIRST experience with torture (on his commanding officer no less) and that it has a few Lost-centric links – we see him talk to Kate’s dad a couple of times, and he also meets Kelvin, who we will learn is yet another future Island resident.

It’s also, I think, the “oldest” flashback that they had that they were able to use the same actor. The makeup and hair folks on the show do a remarkable job of making Sayid look young (it takes place during the first Gulf War), and the photo of young Kate is a nice touch too. I remember thinking that the show would have more of these “old school” flashbacks that showed them at all different stages in their life, but Locke seems to be the only other one to get that privilege – everyone else’s seemed to be from the past 2-3 years (and even Locke’s don’t extend back to 1991, I don’t think). In fact, I was always pretty impressed by the difference in hairstyles and such when it came to flashbacks – Mr. Eko’s in particular was impressive.

I’m also not a big fan of the Sawyer “B” plot in this episode. Again, why are they going out of their way to make us hate this guy? He’s a scoundrel and a hothead, but there was still some humanity and sympathy there. But now, just after stealing all the guns and having poor Sun beat upside the head, he’s off to kill a damn tree frog. I mean, really, is there any more upsetting moment in the entire show then when he crushes the poor little guy in his bare hand? The look on Hurley’s face is soul crushing. And what purpose does it serve? Were the writers all angry at Josh Holloway this year or what? I do like the brief moment where Hurley stands up to him though, and he makes a good point – no one would care that he was hoarding food. Who could be mad at Hurley? Besides minor annoyances, did anyone EVER get mad at Hurley on this show? Hell even the Others couldn’t bear to hold him captive.

Overall it’s a good episode, a big step up from “The Long Con”. The characters are more consistent, the plot moves forward in an intriguing way, and most importantly we meet Ben. It’s funny, even with the answers in my head, I still found his interrogation scenes riveting, if not more so – his story is perfectly solid (score one for Sayid I guess, I totally would have believed him when he said he ran a mining company that specialized in non-metallic minerals – that’s just too damn boring to make up), so I had a further appreciation for his intelligence. I can’t remember though – do we ever find out if he intentionally got caught or if it was an accident?

The Jack/Locke rivalry comes to a pretty awesome head too, with Jack forcing him to choose between the button and Sayid’s ability to continue beating the piss out of “Henry” sans interruption. Locke, of course, chooses the button, but we were all sort of hoping he’d think Jack was bluffing or something (or he just wouldn’t make it – dude sure as hell took his time debating). I always love when Matthew Fox gets all crazy, he makes goofy faces and starts to resemble a bobblehead.

Tomorrow: Claire finally gets something to do!

Where are we?