To open the episode, we join Sayid on the beach during his self-imposed time out as he takes a moment to reflect on what he's done. Only he doesn't seem to be concerned with Sawyer as much as he is moping over a photograph of the lovely Nadia. Moment of silence please. Okay. Flashback to Sayid as an officer in the Republican Guard whose forte includes getting suspects to talk either of their own volition or under duress. His position becomes a hardship for him when his commanding officers bring Nadia in as a person of interest and demand that Sayid get information from her. If he can't get it the easy way, he'll have to be more forceful. Nadia is unwilling to cooperate and knows the consequences of that. She has been interrogated by Saddam's henchmen before. As an old childhood friend, she is disappointed in Sayid for going against his values by aligning himself with such vicious people. Their shared past and mutual attraction cause Sayid to go soft, and he secretly takes care of her during her extended stay. But this is no hotel, and when his superiors determine that Nadia is never going to talk, they order her death. In a move that is eerily similar to Michael's rescue of Ben in Season 2, Sayid stages a prison break for Nadia in which it appears she has shot him in the leg and escaped. When Sayid's commanding officer (and friend) happens upon this hoax as it is going down, he gets taken out Libby style. Nadia leaves Sayid a picture to remember her by. Sayid's life has been dedicated to finding out if she is still alive somewhere and reuniting with her. She represents goodness to him, and the fact that she endured torture even when she was innocent opens his eyes to the nature of what he does for a living. Connecting that to his present, even if Sawyer was guilty like he and Jack believed, which he wasn't, reverting back to his old behavior as a torturer triggers painful memories and ultimately leads to self-loathing for him.
After these reflections, he gets up to move on down the shore and discovers a cable protruding from the sand. He follows it into the jungle, and gets himself caught in a trap. Rousseau has these traps set up all over the Island. She takes Sayid to her underground bunker and performs some karma in the form of electric shock on him. She think he is one of "them" and that he knows where Alex is. What he knows is that this woman is coo coo for cocoa puffs. She finds Nadia's picture and fixates on it. She strokes Sayid's face in an unsettling way, then later tranquilizes him with a very unsanitary needle so that she can move him into a position better suited to fixing her music box. Props to Sayid for actually being patient and caring. He figures out pretty quickly that she is the French woman that sent the distress call. He tells her about the crash of 815 and tries his best to get some sensible information on the Island's geography and details on what happened to her team. All the answers are foggy at best. They were stranded on the Island after a storm, but after two months her whole team was wiped out coming back from the Black Rock, whose origins and passengers have yet to be explained. Ricardus, I'm looking at you. "The Others" were the carriers of the sickness that her team contracted. Though she has never seen them she hears them whisper. Sayid manages to escape her digs after stealing some maps and a gun, but he ends up in a standoff with her. She confesses that she was the one who killed all the members of her team including her lover Robert. They were infected, and she could not risk them being rescued in that condition. Since Sayid is not sick, she lets him go but demands that he keep an eye on the other survivors. She also tells Sayid that the Alex she is looking for is her child. Sayid feels sorry for this wacky lady who has clearly gone round the bend due to excessive loneliness and trauma. Then he hears whispers in the jungle. Rousseau might be weird and crazy but not as weird and crazy as disembodied whispers in the jungle of mystery! WHAT ARE THEY??!!
Back at camp, Hurley decides to lighten the mood by designing a golf course and kicking off the first Island Open. Jack is humbled that Hurley has managed to do what he could not. Everyone finally feels safe and happy for the time being.
This episode was rich in Island mythology with the introduction of the Black Rock, the Others and the Whispers. But more importantly it was a portrait of a man who needs absolution. His life on and off the Island seems to revolve around violence and murder. Let's hope that Sayid can hang on long enough to get a chance at redemption.In other island developments:
- There is a hypochondriac on the Island who is more irritating than any rash. Where are those flaming arrows when you need them?
- Sawyer continues his love affair with stereotypes: "Doctor playin' golf!...What's next? Cop eatin' a doughnut?"
- Locke and Walt enjoy a nice game of Island Darts a.k.a. throwing razor sharp knives. Locke missed his calling. Should have been a babysitter.
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