I gave this ep 4 stars, though the acting by Naveen Andrews (Sayid) and Michael Emerson (Henry Gale) were so very 5 stars! They were both so amazing!
Phew, what an intense episode! And a new hot debate started with this one. Henry Gale... is he an Other or isn't he? He sure doesn't seem like it. He's immensely convincing of being a fellow victim stranded on the island. If he is indeed an Other, holy shit, that's some amazing act he's putting on. Could someone really be that convincing, that passionate, that terrorized and victimized appearing? Gah! I'm definitely leaning toward him not being an Other. But then that look he had on his face at the end when they shut the armory door gave me a seed of doubt.
Damn you, you wonderful, beautiful, brilliant Lost writers! Lol, I only say that mockingly, of course. I absolutely love how amazing they are at making you question yourself, going back and forth about an opinion several times just in one episode.
Whatever Henry Gale turns out to be, he's definitely an intriguing addition to the show. I didn't know who Michael Emerson was before this but ever since this performance, I became a lifelong fan and admirer. He was nominated four times for an Emmy and won once. He was nominated for several other awards as well. Most definitely well deserved!
Speaking of Henry Gale, the writers, as I've mentioned, love using special names and such to add layers and details to the show. Did the name Henry Gale sound familiar to you? That was the name of Dorothy's uncle in "The Wizard of Oz". The one who flew in the hot air balloon.
It's also the name of an American astrophysicist . I'll definitely be adding him to the Names thread.
We had another great character connection! Kate's father was the one to capture Sayid. We even see him holding a pic of Kate at the end.
We've already had Sayid and Kate connected from when Kate went to visit her dad at the army recruiting place and Sayid was on the TV in the background.
Hurley has a food stash! Fans were starting to make a big deal about Hurley not losing weight with the circumstance of being stranded on an island so the writers addressed that. Seriously though, some things need to be overlooked but people can persist. I understand that it would be logical that Hurley loses weight but you can't make the actor playing him change his lifestyle. It would have been totally neat if he had though! Still, that kind of drastic change is something actors usually only do for film roles because they're getting paid a crap ton of money and have all sort of dietitians and specialists hired to assist, which just isn't in the budget for a TV show.
It was heartbreaking to see Sayid's past and how he went from a seemingly innocent soldier to torturer. It was Kelvin Inman who turned him into one. He used his emotions against him by showing that footage of people in his village being gassed by the very man Sayid was serving under. I was so mad at Kelvin in the end when he speaks perfectly fluent Arabic.
He could have gone in there to interrogate Tariq himself. I guess you have to look at it from a tactical standpoint. It was more likely that Sayid could get answers out of Tariq than any of them could have. It's cold and calculating and cruel to turn someone into a torturer but this is war. Compassion does not win wars.
True, what Sayid did to Henry seems very wrong. It does appear he's acting out of pent up anger and pain from losing Shannon which he blames the Others, not Ana Lucia for. But on the other hand, he's a professional torturer and has learned to spot things in people. Locke and Jack have an interesting debate about it. Is it wrong, that they automatically imprison and interrogate Henry? Not necessarily. Jack says "What if he's not?" but the more important question is Locke's "What if he
is". When it comes to the Others, I think it's totally better to be safe than sorry.
Sayid talked about it at the end with Charlie. Yes, Sayid did start treating Henry like a punching bag and it was obviously venting pent up pain but Sayid truly believes Henry is lying. He's a torturer who is very good at his job so it's easy to think he's right.... then again, he's highly emotional at the moment, filled with pain for losing Shannon and maybe he just needs someone to fix all that blame on. Gah! *shakes fist at writers*
The whole scene right before he starts wailing on Henry is so amazing. The part where he asks Henry where he buried his wife and how deep and how many shovels full of dirt and when Henry says he doesn't know, Sayid accuses him of lying, saying that he would know exactly how deep and how many shovels of dirt he dug and the feeling of lowering that person into the ground. Wow. Sayid's pain is so heart wrenching that, at least for me, the beating he gave Henry didn't make me as upset with Sayid as it would have. In his eyes, at least, he has a strong point about the details of the traumatic experience of having to dig the grave of someone you love. He so obviously believes Henry is lying.
Was what he did wrong? Well, the innocent part of me who has never been through such a thing and has never been fighting in a war wants to say yes but then when I look at the reality of the situation they are in, perhaps it wasn't wrong. Locke did remind Jack that Jack was building an army, therefore believes there is or will be a war and getting information out of people is a horrible part of it. Sayid honestly believes Henry is lying and no matter how much he's tried to get him to confess or slip up, he doesn't really seem to be. So what then does a "communications officer" do when they're not getting answers or what they feel is the truth? Beatings and torture until the enemy cracks.
The plain and simple truth is, the Others are scary and have had an insane advantage over the Losties every single time. They took Walt and probably have Michael, too. They took a bunch of the Tailies and left the ones not taken traumatized. If Henry is an Other, they finally might have their first advantage. If he isn't, I'm sure after a lengthy explanation or after his first run-in with the Others, Henry would understand why they went to such lengths and after a time, will forgive Sayid. After all, look how the Tailies treated Sawyer, Jin, and Michael and how long it took the Tailies to trust them. They also beat them up a bit but Sawyer, Jin, and Michael didn't hold any grudges over it.
Omg, the button timer started beeping and Jack wouldn't let Locke input the numbers until he opened the armory! So intense! It seems he barely made it in time. Did you see the timer? After it ran out, it started flipping to hieroglyphs! Well guess what? No surprise, some fans did some research and came up with an interesting fact. As we all know, hieroglyphics are a form of writing. We got to only see four of the hieroglyphs but a fan came across a book called
A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian and found that if that fifth symbol is a spiral, the glyphs translate to "cause to die". My respect for the writers and the time and details they put into this show never stops growing!
So, we still have our other question; does the button really do anything?? We still don't know! Locke seemed to have caught it in time. The timer may have run out but he was still able to reset it. Maybe nothing would have happened. Maybe it would have taken a couple seconds for whatever happens to really be set in motion and he caught it or stopped whatever had set into motion. Gah! A part of me is like don't push it and let's see what happens! And when it gets down to like tonight, I'm like, "Hurry and push the button!!"
I agree, Sawyer was very harsh in this episode. I was totally surprised by him crushing that cute little frog, too. It seemed like you can see on Hurley's face that Hurley was worried about what Sawyer was going to do. I wonder if Sawyer would have done that if Hurley hadn't been there? I doubt it. I think he was trying to make a sick point or intimidate Hurley to show him that if you cross him, he will show no mercy. Not making excuses for him as I think it's totally wrong what he did, just saying what I think was going on in that twisted mind of his.
Favorite scenes/moments:Sayid and Henry Gale's scene. Amazing acting and very intriguing.
Hurley: This is how people get killed in scary movies.
Sawyer: If this was a scary movie I'd be with a hot chick not you, Barbar.
Sayid: I was 23 years old when the Americans came to my country. I was a good man. I was a soldier. And when they left, I was something different. For the next 6 years I did things I wish I could erase from my memory -- things which I never thought myself to be capable of. But I did come to learn this -- there was a part of me which was always capable. You want to know who I am? My name is Sayid Jarrah, and I am a torturer.
Sawyer: I hear with a little ranch they taste just like chicken. [Hands squished frog to Hurley]
Jack: You talked me into pushing that button once, John, but it's yours now. You're the one who won't risk it, you. Me? I don't think anything's going to happen when we get down to zero.
Locke: Jack!
Jack: You want to see what's going to happen? Let's just see what's going to happen!
Locke: He is one of them. To Rousseau, we're all Others. I guess it's all relative, huh?
Kelvin Inman: [to Sayid] Guess you're lucky you have a new skill set you can use.
Maybe not...
It's also the name of an American astrophysicist . I'll definitely be adding him to the Names thread.