I've been saying it since season one: Sayid is the best Lostie. He can do anything, he knows everything, and he is always right. I've never understood why everyone listens to Jack when Sayid always knows what's up. We get proof of that in the very beginning of this episode, when Sayid negotiates with Frank (the grizzled helicopter pilot) a ride on the helicopter: he'll get Charlotte back from Locke's group, and then they'll take him to the freighter. Now that's how you negotiate!
As we see in the flash-forward immediately after this, in the future, Sayid doesn't even bother to negotiate. Yes, that's right, Sayid is one of the Oceanic Six! And thanks to the large settlement from Oceanic Airlines, he spends his days playing golf in Europe, which, let's be honest, is probably what we'd all do rather than ride planes all the time like Jack does. When another guy shows up on the golf green, though, Sayid knows what's up. As soon as he tells the guy he's part of the Oceanic Six, the guy gets suspicious, but before he can make his escape, you know what Sayid does? Shoots him in the chest! Then he walks away as the golf course sprinklers come on. Ahh, class.
Sayid gets the flash-forward of the episode, but for the rest of the time he's in Berlin, courting a woman who seems to have no German accent at all. She works for an economist, who has given her a pager that means she has to be at his beck and call whenever he asks. As soon as Sayid meets her, though, he calls a mysterious voice on a cell phone and says “I have made contact.” Then he throws the cell phone away! As my co-watchers pointed out, Sayid is totally Jason Bourne, and we are loving it. So he's got ulterior motives with this lady, but what are they exactly?
Let's check in on the island first. Sayid, Kate and Miles trek out to find Charlotte, which leads them to the Others' barracks, a.k.a. New Otherton. It's weird to be back, seeing that swing set where Sayid was tied up, and the room where they locked up Kate. Anyway, they find Hurley tied up in a closet, who tells them Locke's group left him behind. But it turns out even Hurley is capable of double-crossing on this island, and he leads the group into a trap in Ben's house. Typical! Kate is guarded by Sawyer, Miles is taken off to an undisclosed location, and Sayid is brought in to hang with Ben, where Locke eventually joins him. Sayid explains that he'll find out who Ben's spy is on the boat if he can take Charlotte. And, he explains, he's willing to trade for her. Sayanora, Miles.
Hanging with Kate, Sawyer explains why he's sticking around on the island: there's nothing for him back in the real world, and hey Kate, weren't you on your way to jail? Thank you for bringing up the question we fans have been asking for weeks! Kate, though, asks him how long he thinks they can play house, and well, good point. That smoke monster is always angry, after all. Meanwhile back at the helicopter, Daniel tries to get a rocket sent to the island from the freighter-- uh, rocket? Bad plan-- but it doesn't go through. Until, uh, 30 minutes after it was supposed to arrive. And in the rocket there's a clock that bears a time from 30 minutes ago, when it was supposed to get there. Remember in Back to the Future, when Einstein traveled a minute into the future, so his stopwatch was still a minute behind? After months and months of speculations, ladies and gentlemen, I think we officially have time travel on our hands!
Sayid finally arrives back at the helicopter, with Charlotte in tow but no Miles or Kate. Jack looks not at all happy that one of his two ladyfriends has dared to ditch him. Sayid talks his way onto the helicopter, while Daniel and Charlotte stick around on the island with Jack and Juliette. Frank, Desmond, Sayid and Naomi's body take off; even after all the flashbacks in various locations, it's still surreal to see our Lostaways in a goddamn helicopter. Desmond's flashes are one thing, but this is real life! The triumphant music swells, Sayid and Desmond are on their way to solving the mystery of the freighters, is this the end of the episode?
Oh yeah, future Sayid. One day while he and German-American Lady Friend are lounging in bed, her boss finally pages. And Sayid finally fesses up what we've suspected all along-- he's here to kill her boss. But this lady is pretty much on to him as well, and before he can explain who he's working for or why he wants to kill her boss, who is not actually an economist, she strikes back and shoots him in the arm! She calls her boss, and tells him in German that she'll take Sayid to where he is. Before that can happen, though, Sayid shoots her dead. I mean, of course? The man didn't let Saddam Hussein get him down, why should a lady working for some sketchy organization trouble him?
But that's not all. Sayid goes to what appears to be the pound, full of dog cages, to get his wound treated. Speaking to him is a male voice that is starting to sound more and more familiar. And it turns out that the man behind this all, the man tending to his wounds, is the ultimate man behind the curtain: Ben Linus! YES!! Sorry, am I the only one who's always actively rooting for Ben? I'll just give you the choice quotes from this conversation, since I don't dare paraphrase the great Ben:
Ben: “Why are you crying? Because it hurts, or because you were stupid enough to care for her? These people don't deserve our sympathies.”
Sayid tells Ben he tricked him into working for him and killing for him. Ben counters, “Need I remind you what happened last time you used your heart instead of your gun?” What time is that??? Why are there always so many questions??
Ben asks Sayid the rhetorical question, “You want to protect your friends or not?” Wait, which friends are these? The rest of the Oceanic Six, or the friends who are presumably still left on the island?
Ben tells Sayid he has another name for him, a.k.a. another person for him to kill. “But they know I'm after them now,” responds the greatest Iraqi in the world. “Good,” replies the island's biggest bug-eyed badass.
Aaaand... Lost! That end title has started to be one of the best things about this show, a giant “Wham!” to jolt you and say “Yup, that's all we're giving you.”
My judgment on this episode is this: This is the first time in my entire memory of the show that my boyfriend has stood up and yelled at the screen in excitement. And that happened in the first five minutes. Every episode of this season has built upon the one before in terms of excitement, and now that we know that there will be 13 whole episodes, and the writers will end the season on their own terms, I'm not even worried. This show rules. Sayid rules. Ben rules. And because it's Valentine's Day and I'm too full of chocolate and too excited about half-price candy hearts to think much further. Goodnight!
