"Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" - 6.06 Sundown

First, apologies that this is so late, but I was picking a jury today so there was a certain lack of internet access that was impeding an update. I enjoyed "Sundown" a lot. Right off the bat I was thrown for a loop as I was sure this was a Sun and Jin episode. I thought there was a lot more action in the sideways flashes and maybe even some possible hints at its connection (see below). The 2007 timeline was pretty eventful as well, so lets dive in.

Alternate Timeline

We open up with Sayid in a cab with some flowers apparently outside Nadia's place. He knocks on the door and Nadia answers. They share a nice hug and out jump a couple of rug rats. Sayid's brother, Omer walks in and it is revealed that Omer and Nadia are married. So sad for Sayid. Omer gives him some lip for bringing roses to Nadia. Apparently he's not the same sissy that couldn't kill a chicken. Sayid gets the kids some boomerangs from Australia where he was translating contracts and not luring his friend into killing himself. Sayid and Nadia share a moment and the kids find a picture of her that Sayid keeps. Omer gets off the phone and is not happy. Sayid is awoken by his brother in the middle of the night. I'm thinking we're gonna get a brother brawl over Nadia. Apparently Omer is still a sissy and needs his brother solve his problems again. He is in it deep with a loan shark and needs Sayid to get these guys off his back. Sayid says no.

The next day Sayid puts the kids on the bus. He looks genuinely happy. Nadia comes running out of the house crying about Omer and they head to the hospital. Of course its Jack's hospital. Sayid gets all upset and runs off to find the guys who did this. Nadia doesn't want him to be that man anymore and wants him to go take care of the kids and make them feel safe. Cut to later in the night and Sayid and Nadia talk about why Sayid isn't with her. Sayid says he has spent a long time dealing with what he had done and that he didn't deserve to be with her.

The next day a black SUV shows up and demands that Sayid get in with them. They bring him into some back room kitchen and we are reunited with Martin Keamy who makes great eggs. He wants money from Sayid's brother. Sayid asks if Keamy put his brother in the hospital and he denies it. Sayid steals one of the henchmen's guns, uses him as a shield, and kills the other henchmen. Keamy freaks out and tells Sayid that the debt is settled and he should just forget about it. Sayid say's he can't forget about it and shoots Keamy. We suddenly hear some yelling from the closet and find a tied up Jin. Jin can't speak english. Did Keamy and his boys take Jin from the airport? Are they the people that Jin is supposed to deliver the watch to? No answers on this yet.

Original Timeline

Sayid runs into Dogen's little lair and wants to know why they tried to kill him. Because the machine can tell what his balance is between good and evil. The balance tipped in the wrong direction. Dogen thinks it would be better if Sayid were dead. Sayid gets upset and says that Dogen doesn't even know him and that Sayid is really a good man. Then, because Dogen is asian, the writers feel that they need to throw in a martial arts scene. Dogen and Sayid have a pretty intense fight and Dogen comes very close to killing him. But apparently he can't or won't. I'm thinking can't because of the rules. He tells Sayid to leave and never come back.

Claire and Locke (I'm just going to call him Locke from now on but we all know what I mean) chat just outside a circle of ash. Locke needs Claire to deliver a message because he can't. Claire wants to make sure she gets her baby back and Locke says he always does what he says. Is he going to hurt the people at the temple? "Only those that don't listen." Locke does not seem to be such a fan of free will. Do what he wants or die.

On Sayid's way out he has a chat with Miles. Sayid doesn't understand why they wanted to kill him when they were the ones who saved him. Miles tells him that he was dead. I was hoping we'd get something about Miles communicating with him when he died, but instead he just says that Sayid was dead and then came back to life. It wasn't the Temple people who brought him back.

Claire marches into camp and has a message. She wants Dogen to go see Locke outside the Temple. Dogen isn't stupid and knows Locke will kill him when he's outside. Claire says that he should send someone that Locke won't kill. They throw Claire in a pit. Dogen then asks Sayid to kill Locke, because Locke is evil incarnate. He gives him a knife and says that he will appear as someone Sayid knows but who has died. Dogen says to stab him in the chest before he speaks. If he speaks, it is too late. Why should Sayid do this? Because if he still has some good in him he should prove it.

Sayid runs into Kate in the jungle. For a minute I was hoping that Sayid would think that Kate was the MIB and kill her. But he just says to go talk to Miles. Kate talks to Miles and finds out that Claire is back and rushes to see her.

Sayid is in the jungle and stops to rest. Then we hear the smoke monster noises and a few of the classic Season 1 smoke monster effects. Then Locke shows up and says, "Hello Sayid." Of course I'm thinking, "uh oh, he spoke, it's too late." Sayid stabs him in the chest, which I actually didn't expect, but it doesn't work. Sayid wants to know what Locke is, but Locke chooses not to answer and turns it back on Sayid. He says that Dogen sent Sayid to kill the MIB because he wanted Locke to kill Sayid. And its not the first time he's tried to kill Sayid. Hook, line, and sinker. Sayid is on team MIB. He wants Sayid to deliver a message and if he does he can give Sayid anything in the world that he wants. He just wants to see Nadia again. MIB implies that he can make this happen.

Sayid comes back to the Temple with a message. Jacob is dead and the people don't have to stay at the Temple anymore. Locke is leaving the island and those who want to go with him should leave the Temple before sundown. If not, they are going to die.

Kate throws Lennon around like a rag doll and wants to see Claire. Claire is singing "catch a falling star and put it in your pocket" (as seen at the Christmas pageant in "Love Actually"). She is happy to see Kate but is unhappy that they took Aaron. Kate says that she took Aaron and is pretty impressed with herself, expecting to be greeted as a hero. Claire looks like she will jump up from the pit and kill her. Kate came to rescue Claire, but Claire isn't the one who needs rescuing. He is coming and Kate can't stop him.

Temple folks are freaking out and leaving. Lennon insists that he is bluffing and if they stay at the Temple they are safe. Cindy and the kids aren't buying this and take off. Miles suggests that him and Sayid take off, but Sayid needs to return the dagger to Dogen. Dun Dun Duh.

Dogen is sitting on the steps by the pool looking at his baseball very longingly. Sayid wants to know why he didn't kill him when he had the chance. Dogen gives us his life story. He was a hard working Japanese man who got a promotion and then went out boozing with his buddies. He can't handle his liquor and decided that it was a good idea to go pick up his son at baseball. Obvi there was an accident and the boy dies. At the hospital Jacob shows up and says that if Dogen comes to the island and performs a new job his son will leave but he will never see him again. Jacob drives a hard bargain. But so does MIB says Dogen. Uh oh. It's sundown, what is Sayid going to do? He'd like to stay. But by stay he means that he wants to drown Dogen. That's sad. Lennon comes running in freaking out. What did Sayid do?! Dogen was the only thing keeping HIM out! Sayid knows this and slits Lennon's throat. Then smokey comes flowing into the Temple. Kate and Miles take off together while everyone else looks like a chicken with their head cut off.

All I could think of during the smokey scene was redshirts. As Boone explained in "All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues" in Star Trek, the crew guys who would go down to the planet with the main guys, they all wore red shirts and they always died. Lots of red shirts in the Temple who die. Of course our Losties seem to make it out ok.

Miles and Kate split up when Kate demands that she has to get Claire. Claire says that Kate would be safer down in the pit. As smokey comes in the room she jumps down and hangs onto the ladder. Smokey can't go down pits I guess.

Miles tries to barricade himself in one of the rooms but the door gets forced down. Not Smokey but Ilana, Frank, Sun, and Ben. Ilana wants to know where Shepard, Ford, and Reyes are. I know where Shepard and Reyes are but I too want to know where Ford is. Where is Jarrah? In the pool, don't worry Ben will get him. Ben finds Sayid and sees the bodies and says there is still time to escape. Sayid says, "Not for me," with a little smile. Ben looks genuinely terrified and runs away. Miles lets Sun know that Jin is still alive and he is not in the Temple. Ilana finds the secret passageway that Hurley was looking for in The Lighthouse and hides them inside.

After the carnage stops Claire and Sayid stroll out of the Temple with Kate following farther back. Kate looks pretty disgusted but Claire and Sayid have smirks on their face. Locke looks pretty satisfied with himself as well as he heads into the Jungle to lead his new band of followers. Cut to black.

Thoughts

So Sayid had been a really strange character as of late. After Nadia gets killed he lets himself get manipulated by Ben and just kills people because Ben says they are responsible for killing Nadia. He is apparently not very happy with Ben for this. I'm not sure why he is so crazed about this. It's not like Ben killed Nadia. Ilana makes sure that Sayid gets back to the island and Sayid is so overcome that he thinks he must shoot little Ben. Then we get his current "sickness" state where he has been really flakey. It's just been really strange. But one thing that has been consistent throughout and apparently in the other timeline is Sayid's struggle to be the good man that he believes he is and the man that he actually is. The struggle between good and evil. He is a torturer but he loves Nadia and wants to atone for those things. He promises to never do that again but breaks his promise and tortures Sawyer. He wants to be a good husband to Nadia but after she dies he wants to kill anyone involved. He wants to kill young Ben. He wants Dogen to believe he is a good person but in the end he snaps and kills Dogen and Lennon. In the ATL he wants to be the person the Nadia wants him to be and to atone for what he did, but he just can't let it go and kills Keamy. He can't fight who he is.

I am going on the record now. I know that things might change over the next few episodes and we still don't know the nature of Jacob and MIB, but I am firmly on Team Jacob. Hurley has always been a character that seems to speak for the audience at times. If Hurley is a solid Team Jacob, that is good enough for me. I think Jack will be Team Jacob as well. I want to be on that team. MIB seems to want to kill anybody who doesn't want to leave the island. Why not just live and let live. I just don't buy it. I'm going to believe that he is evil.

I don't like that Dogen and Lennon were killed off. They served very little purpose. I wanted to know more about them and especially Dogen. If he was the only reason that Locke couldn't enter the Temple I want to know why. But I guess we need to clean up loose ends and they didn't want to take away from the main characters.

So Jacob offered Dogen the chance to save his son but never see him again, MIB offered Claire a chance to have Aaron back and Sayid the chance for Nadia to be alive. All of this happens in the alternate flashes. Perhaps the outcome of our battle will lead to the alternate verse. I'm not happy with that explanation so ultimately I don't think that will be the whole story, but I could see that it could be a partial explanation. Maybe Claire will mind meld with her alternate self and be able to have Aaron again. Just throwing things against the wall. But both promised things that are seemingly impossible so it might be related to these flashes.

I was interested in the flashes this time probably because there was some action to it. But I still am finding it hard to emotionally invest. Next week is "Dr. Linus" so I assume it is Ben-centric. The preview intimated that Ben will face his demise. I hope not. I don't like how his arc has headed recently. I'd like to see a bit more to Ben's story. I'm sure I forgot a lot, so as always post thoughts, questions, comments.