LOST DISCOVERIES

 

LOST:

The Greater Good

Created by: J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof

Story by: David Fury and Brent Fletcher

 

Air date: Wednesday, May 4th, 2005

 

 

The Greater Good: Day of Lies and Poses

A Soulful Spike Society Review

www.soulfulspike.com

 

 

This review is dedicated to Patti Thompson, friend, beta extraordinaire, sassy broad, and generally awesome person. Who could appreciate both the storytelling and the pecs on “Lost.” Thank you for your humor, keen eye, and encouragement, even while correcting my grammar. You were one of a kind, Patti, and we loved you.

 

There is quite the wicked web being woven throughout this episode: parallels, lies, tricks, games, deceit, and gun play. All this serves as a backdrop for Sayid and Locke facing the consequences of their actions. We also get more insight about what got Sayid on the Oceanic flight 815.

 

Four Square

Some obvious parallels are drawn between Sayid and Locke’s behavior, between Jack and Claire’s exhaustion and inability to rest, and between Boone and Assam’s misplaced trust in a “leader.” But each of these bounces off the other; we have the CIA agent pointing out Sayid’s proclivity for moving from place to place as either “running from something” or “searching for something” and cut immediately to Jack running through the woods looking for the elusive John Locke. We see Jack collapse and then cut to Charlie and Sun trying to convince Claire to rest and let someone else take care of the baby. Later, Sun teams up with Kate to convince Jack to do the same. Neither Claire nor Jack want to give up control: Charlie has to beg, and Kate has to resort to crushing sleeping pills into a drink.

Slightly less obvious parallels exist in the scenes of people asking questions: Sayid being interrogated by the CIA, Sayid asking the agents what they want from him, Assam asking Sayid why he’s in Sydney, and Sayid interrogating Locke. This underscores the focus on acting a role to bring about the greater good, the importance (or not) of trusting your leaders, the importance (or not) of truth vs. lies. Certain questions are answered (Locke did indeed hit Sayid over the head) and motives given (Locke says no one was ready to engage in reasoned debate), but more questions are raised. To veer for a moment into the political, using Sayid’s backstory to launch this debate is very deliberate on the part of Abrams and Co; the war in Iraq is a real life example of these very concerns. In both the real-life war, and the events on this island, no matter how many questions are asked and answered, the waters keep getting murkier and murkier as more and more issues square off.

Most important, we see the power of words: Sayid allays Assam’s fear over his motives by telling him about his own losses, and by putting the appropriate spin on revenge and religion. We see any words spoken in Sawyer’s voice have the power to calm an infant, whether he’s saying “Get the hell away from me” or reading about pistons and torque. Finally, we see the power of Jack’s words about Locke killing Boone leads Shannon to take her own revenge, ignoring everything that Sayid and Locke himself tried to say.

 

Truth vs. Lies

Both Locke and Sayid provide numerous examples of both lying and lying with the truth. First, the lies:

 

*Locke lied about Boone’s accident, potentially costing Boone his life.

*Locke lied about “the hatch” playing it off as referring to the plane hatch.

*Locke lied about the nature of his leg injury.

*Sayid lied by omission by letting Assam and his friends think that their meeting was an accident of fate.

*Sayid sort of lied when he said he “lost someone too” and understood Assam’s pain.

 

Both Sayid and Locke are gifted at telling just enough truth to gain trust. Sayid informs the “cell” that he was a communications officer and debugs their headquarters. Locke first hands Sayid his gun (proving his “adaptability”), then tells Sayid about hitting him.

But these half-truths and last minute confessions both cost someone’s life. Locke comes clean at Boone’s funeral about how Boone really died, too late to make any difference in the outcome. Sayid confesses his collusion with the CIA to Assam at a point where it would be difficult for Assam to back out, confusing an already conflicted Assam and bringing him to the breaking point. To further underscore their parallel, hurtful actions, Locke and Sayid are the only people to speak at the funeral. Both call Boone a hero. But how much is that really worth? Sayid called Assam a hero too, as he convinced Assam to kill himself and others so Sayid could be reunited with the woman he loves. One thing we can see is that Sayid did learn that lesson; he takes a level approach with Locke and tries to stop Shannon from killing him. It ends up being an either-or proposition in both cases: Sayid must sacrifice Assam’s life for Nadia’s in Sydney, and must sacrifice his budding relationship with Shannon to keep Locke alive. No easy choices exist.

 

Playing Games

When Sayid walks into the headquarters of the “terror cell,” he finds the men gathered playing some shoot-‘em-up video game. I couldn’t identify it, but with the focus on weaponry, I assume it’s a simulacrum of combat scenarios. A nice bit of irony, given the high tech nature of modern warfare. On a deeper level, it indicates that all of it, even deadly bombing, is on some level a game. Perhaps that is one way to cope with it. We see Sayid unwilling roped into a game of espionage by his pattern of moving from place to place, searching for the woman he lost. He “wins” by capturing the terrorist, but loses in the greater ethical sense, betraying and encouraging his friend into the ultimate sacrifice.

 

On the island, we see more than one instance of Walt and Locke playing backgammon, a game that pits white against black. Locke, in fact, teaches Walt how to play. When Walt tries to teach Hurley, Hurley displays absolutely no skill at it. This is meaningful; Locke and Walt are the only two who have been able to exert any kind of influence on their environment, and seem to live a different morality than anyone else on the island. In Locke’s mind, the entire island is a most dangerous game, in which people can die in horrible ways (Boone, Steve) or win and receive a great gift (the ability to walk again after years of being crippled). Whereas Jack is the de facto leader due to his healing skills and occasionally level head, Locke has been more stealthy, acting out of what he feels is “the greater good”; introducing Charlie (in a limited way) to some of the island’s mysteries, and making Boone a full-fledged minion through “choosing him” and some all-natural LSD. Sayid he cannot “play” by any of these conventional means; he’s been through too much to play games with Locke. Sayid wrests control directly: he demands information on the hatch. The episode significantly ends on the line: “No more lies.” Now that Sayid is in on the game, will the hatch reveal some of its secrets to the “communications specialist” as it did not to the box company employee?

 

What Worked?

·      Sawyer reading to Turnip Head was kind of adorable.

 

·      The moral ambiguity in both situations was nicely played.

 

 

What Didn’t?

 

 

 

Questions

·      ·One answered: Locke killed Lily Kane! Oh, wait, wrong show.

 

 

 

The Missing: Update

 

Jack – Matthew Fox

Unlike Claire, you actually did look kind of haggard and insane when you don’t sleep.

 

Kate – Evangeline Lilly

Smooth move with the drugged drink, Kate. And mad kudos on adding cry face to your increasing facial expression repertoire.

 

Sawyer – Josh Holloway

Awww, Sawyer, you’re all good with babies and stuff! There goes your tough guy cred.

Sayid – Naveen Andrews

You’re the real fool for love, aren’t you, Sayid?

 

Locke – Terry O’Quinn

Dude, reasoned debate? ‘Cause clocking someone on the noggin and destroying any chance of communication with the outside world is kind of southerly on the sane-o-meter.

Charley – Dominic Monaghan

Itsy-Bitsy Spider? I’m surprised you didn’t try “You All, Everybody.”

 

Claire – Emilie de Ravin

You look that put together after labor in the jungle, no sleep, and breastfeeding Turnip Head five times? Maybe you’re the one with superpowers.

 

Hurley – Jorge Garcia

Hurley, you got some pipes, I’ll give you that. But doing a rock ‘n’ roll woot at a baby will just frighten it. Nice try, though. 

Boone – Ian Somerhalder

and

Shannon – Maggie Grace

Boone: Still dead. Shannon, remind me not to piss you off. It’s kind of nice to see you not depending on a guy to do your dirty work. However, I’m nominating you for the Lovey Howell Clothing Award; I have not seen you repeat an outfit once.

 

Michael – Harold Perineau

and

Walt – Malcom David Kelley

Michael, good to see you making sort of friends with Jin. Whereas Walt seems to find his former Yoda kind of creepy. Then again, who hasn’t been creeped out by a guy washing out a bloody shirt? Just ask Sun.

 

Sun – Yunjin Kim

and

Jin – Daniel Dae Kim

Sun, you’re all kinds of helpful lately, aren’t you?. Jin, I want more of your story, but I’m going to have to wait ‘til next season, aren’t I?

 

Vincent – The Dog

Such an elusive puppy. You’re the real WMD, aren’t you boy? Yes, you are! Good boy!

 

 


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