LOST Episode 6 Recap: Sundown (Dum dum dum!)

March 4th, 2010

I AM SAYID.

Episode #6, Sundown! Unlike my best theory from last week, this was NOT a Sun-centric episode. Instead, we get to see a slice of Sayid’s alternate-past-future-sideways-present. This episode is about Sayid trying to be a good person, and how he’s going to… well, I won’t spoil it. But first:

Previously on LOST, Sayid is shot, drowned, dead for two hours, electrocuted, tortured, and nearly poisoned, in that order. But that’s okay, because in Alternate Universe Los Angeles, everything is happy. The fences are white and pickety, the flowers are in bloom, and Nadya, the love of Sayid’s life, is married with children. Married to Sayid’s brother. Yup, heartwarming.

The episode gets even cuter when Sayid’s brother wakes him up at 2am to reveal he’s borrowed money from a bad people who are charging him eternal interest, and wants Sayid to hurt somebody to stop them. Sayid refuses, because come on, that’s crazy talk, even if he did used to be an interrogator in the war.

I guess all this becomes moot when Sayid’s brother gets stabbed in the lungs the next day, and winds up in the hospital (Jack’s hospital!) Sayid is ready to go after these bad dudes for sure, but Nadya begs him not to, and sends him home to take care of her kids. Of course we could see A Moment coming from a mile away, and that night Nadya confronts Sayid about why he pushed her towards his brother, who is clearly not so bright. Sayid, trying to atone for what he did in the war, I guess, says he doesn’t deserve her. Yeah, because his Bad Decisions! brother Omar does. I’m not sure if this is better than Nadya’s hit and run last season or not.

Later! Sayid is on the way to get the kids from school, but two toughs in a nondescript car truck him off to the back of a restaurant where a creepy dude is cracking eggs. The guy introduces himself as Martin (remember this piece of work from season four? He shot Alex!), and tells Sayid that Omar still owes him money. But he doesn’t even have time to threaten Sayid before Sayid goes berserk, takes out the bodyguards, and shoots Creepy Egg Killer Guy. Good on you, Sayid! It’s only after this that he discovers Jin tied up in the vegetable freezer! (I guess that’s where he’s gone missing to in Island-Universe. WHAT.

Back on the Island, Sayid confronts Dogun about his shock treatment, aka “test”. Dogun tells him the machine measures good and evil, and Sayid’s scale “tipped the wrong way”, and that he “thinks it would be best” if Sayid was dead. Whoa, dude! Harsh words! Of course, this can only mean a fight to the death round of epic combat. Sayid almost gets shanked, but a random old baseball falling off a table somehow makes Dogun let Sayid go, telling him to go and never come back.

Sayid is about to head off to banished-dom, when Claire storms in the gate! She tells Dogun that Evil! Locke wants to see him, outside the temple. Dogun says no way can he leave the temple, so Claire tells him to send someone who can. Dogun orders Claire locked up, and then asks that Jack and Hurley be brought to see him in private, but ps: they’ve gone off into the jungle. So Dogun turns to his next choice, which, for some reason, is suddenly-not-banished Sayid.

Big surprise: Dogun wants Sayid to kill Evil! Locke, and gives him a big knife to do it with. So Sayid heads off into the jungle, and runs into Kate, who is on her way back to the temple (I guess things got boring since Sawyer has run off with Smokey). Kate finds out from Miles that Claire is at the temple too, and she completely wigs out. But back to Sayid. He finds Evil Locke in the jungle, and stabs him without hesitating.

But I think we were all really, really worried when the knife does absolutely NOTHING to “Evil Incarnate” Locke. Then, big shock, Evil Locke promises Sayid the world, even bringing dead Nadya back, if Sayid delivers a message to Dogun. The message, which Sayid returns to tell all the Temple Others, is that Jacob is dead, Evil Locke is leaving the island, and anyone who wants can go with him. Or, if they stay past sundown, they can die. Two decidedly pleasant options: Locke or Death. It looks like Sayid has made a deal with the Smoke Monster, because he tells Miles he has to return the knife, and sets off into the temple.

Meanwhile, Kate has snuck off to find Claire, who is singing to herself at the bottom of a pit. Claire tells Kate she is looking for Aaron, and that the TO’s have him, but Kate tells her the real story about her raising Claire’s son. Bizarrely, Claire seems to take no notice of this. The TO’s come to drag Kate away from the pit, and all Claire says as she leaves is “Tell them he’s coming, and there’s nothing they can do to stop him.” Ooookay.

Sayid finds Dogun in the temple, and listen’s to the man’s sad story about his sons car accident, and how Jacob swears to save his son if he goes to the island and never sees his son again. The men comment how Jacob drives a hard bargain, and then Sayid stabs Dogun and throws him in the temple spring. For good measure, Sayid kills Dogun’s translator too.

This is when it turns out Dogun was the only thing keeping Smokey out of the temple. (But Sayid knew that). It only takes seconds before all hell breaks loose!

1) Miles and Kate go to find Claire, but they get separated
2) The Smoke Monster starts causing mass destruction in the courtyard
3) Miles runs into Frank, Ben, Sun, and Ilana (the Ajira air woman).
4) Kate finds Claire, but has to hide in the pit with her when Smokey blows (literally) through the room.
5) Ben finds Sayid, who has become incredibly creepy. He tries to lead him out of the temple, but Sayid doesn’t want to go.
6) Nobody knows where Jin is!
7) Miles, Sun, Frank, and Ilana hide from Smokey inside the temple walls.
8) Outside in the courtyard, everybody dies. Why is there a burning cross?

When the smoke clears (hahahaha), Claire, Kate, and Sayid survey the bodies while creepy music plays (catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, tra la la la la la la…). They loot guns from some corpses, and go outside the temple, where Evil Locke is waiting with a bunch of mercenary-looking dudes. All dudes, no chicks. Everyone looks creepy. Even Kate. Evil Locke approves! Then they all march off into the jungle.

Dudes, I am sorry to say it, but this is about the point when even I stop understanding what the heck is going on. The next episode, titled Dr. Linus, means we are probably going to see more of Ben the History Teacher! But how does that relate to anything? Soooo… see you next week?

Tags: correspondents, LOST, recaps, tv, tv recaps