He's Our You

Slam On The Brakes And Steer Into The Skid

In a season that has been high on the action/drama/answers it seems the past few weeks we have hit the brakes a little. We had a week off, a midseason “let’s get everybody where they need to be” episode last week in Namaste, and now we had an episode that seemed to be going nowhere up until the somewhat shocking final minute. Let’s dissect “He’s Our You” what was quite possibly the less gooder episode of the season so far.

Who’s Going Chicken Huntin’?

We are introduced to a young boy that turns out to be Sayid who we find out was capable of killing from the start. Sayid not only kills the chicken but he does it with his bare hands. This scene reminded me of the Eko scene when we see Eko kill for his younger brother who was not capable of doing it. The we are shown a young Ben who is not yet the cold blooded killer we know he grows up to be bring Sayid a sandwich. A chicken salad sandwich at that. Ben gives Sayid his lunch, a book (more on that later), and the puppy dog “Will you take me with you to see Richard who is your leader, Right?” eyes. Back in snowy Russia, Sayid kills the last person on his list and Ben tells him he is done. He can go on with his life and is now free. Sayid has been Ben’s hired gun for so long he doesn’t know what else to do. After the murder of Andropow, Ben tells Sayid "You are free". Immediately after, we see Sayid behind bars in 1977. Horace cuts off the plastic(?) handcuffs and gives Sayid a chance to talk. Sayid remains quiet and is told that if he doesn’t talk that Horace will have to take it to the “next level”.

I Can Bring Home The Bacon

And burn it up in the pan. Juliette is preoccupied with watching Jack and Kate to notice she is burning breakfast. She asks Sawyer if “It’s over” and then adds “Us”. Sawyer reassures her that it is not. Sawyer visits Sayid and tells him the plan he has come up with to explain Sayid’s sudden appearance. Sayid doesn’t agree with the plan. Sayid says one of the best lines this week when he asks Sawyer; “A twelve-year-old Ben Linus brought me a chicken salad sandwich, how do you think I feel?” Sayid truly doesn’t know what to do he has been given a lot to digest in the past few hours.

If You Want To Keep A Secret, Don’t Tell The Fat Guy

Way back in season one we knew Hurley couldn’t keep a secret and often had some really bad timing when coming forward with the information. No time would have been the right time for Kate to find out about Juliette and Sawyer but Hurley fumbles around it and tells her. She is a little surprised to hear Jack knew and didn’t say anything about it. And check out the ’fro on the dude working the food line! Damn nice job by the costume department! Back in the Dharma jail, Roger Linus is mopping up and shares a few snide comments with Sayid who has one for him as well. Roger goes on to tell Sayid that he won’t be so snappy when he is taken to Oldham. Ben shows up with another sandwich and Roger manhandles Ben. Ben's dad becomes a lot easier to gas to death as we watch him Slam young Ben's head into the bars of Sayid's cell. "You never brought me a sandwich" - more time echoes, as this is the same line Ben gave Juliet back when she was bringing Jack all those great lunches in S3. Sayid feels some pity for the boy. Back in 200?, Ben once again visits Sayid and tells him he’s got more killing to do. He also tells Sayid Locke is dead and thinks he was murdered. Thinks? Hurley is being watched and we know how that turns out. Ben tells Sayid he is a killer, it’s his nature.

A Shocking Development

Occurs when Sawyer and company come back to Sayid’s cell. Damn did Sawyer zap Sayid right in the nuts? Ouchies! When the group arrived at the old Indian teepee I immediately thought they were at Jacob’s pre cabin abode. I even thought Horace called “Old One” instead of Oldham. Sawyer tells Sayid the episodes title line and we know that Oldham is a torturer. Sayid is tied to a tree and given truth serum on a sugar cube. Sayid pulls the restraints tight as he strains to get at his torturer, who turned out to not be much of a torturer. The guy was still creepy and Sawyer looked very worried.

What’s A Girl Like You Doing In A Place Like This?

Sayid meets Illana (or however you spell her name, I know, I’ll call her the new main female “Red Shirt”, how’s that?) in a bar while drinking $120 a glass McCutcheon’s (I don’t know how to spell that either, I feel lazy today) whiskey. This is what Sayid was up to after the group met at the marina. During the small talk at the bar I didn’t trust her for a second even though I knew the outcome even if I didn’t know I still wouldn’t have trusted her. Maybe it was the accent.

Tied To The Tree Of Woe

Sayid is fucked up! There’s no other way to put it, the guy was not feeling any pain. He spills the info that he has been on the island before. Tells about the two plane crashes. He also says to ask Sawyer and when Horace asks him who is Sawyer, Radzinsky interrupts. Ok, I guess Stewie has his uses after all. The subject is quickly changed to the Swan hatch and Sayid tells them he knows about it even before it is built. The drama gets ramped up a bit when Sayid sobers up a little when he says very dead pan “You are all going to die, you know?” Then he drops the bigger bomb as he tells them he is from the future. Sawyer literally shit in his Dharma jumpsuit, I believe. Sayid laughs as he tells Oldham that he used the exact dosage, meaning that what he is telling them is indeed the truth. Apparently they don’t believe it is though.

Keep Your Friends Close

And your enemies closer, especially if it’s the girl your live in lover used to have a thing for three years ago. Juliette gives Kate the grand tour of the motor pool and tells her that she is glad Hurley told her about Juliette and Sawyer. As the van pulls up and Sayid is taken back to his cell, Sawyer sees Juliette and Kate comparing notes. “Did he ever do you up against a cage?” Kate asked. You could see the worry on Sawyer’s face but it’s possible the worry was for Sayid and not from seeing his current and former flames with their heads together. I did however notice the camera panned to Kate and then to Juliette. I wonder if that was supposed to show us Sawyer’s order of importance and his POV. Inside the group decide they have to make a decision on what to do with Sayid. Radzinski leads the discussion with a lynch mob mentality. Horace and even Amy agree that Sayid must be killed. Sawyer does not want to go along with the plan but he votes with them. The scene had a very “12 Angry Men”/“The Lottery” feel to it.

Boot To The Head (Nya Nya)

Don’t worry if you didn’t get that chapter title reference, only one reader probably did and he knows who he is! Small talk leads to bedroom talk which leads to Sayid getting a kick in the face. The Red Shirt ho tells Sayid she was hired to take Sayid to Guam to answer for the murder of the guy on the golf course. I don’t even know if this is the truth. Back in 70’s Dharma, Sawyer goes to see Sayid and offers him his last chance for freedom. Sayid doesn’t take the chance and tells Sawyer he didn’t know what his purpose was when he came back to the island but now he does. It’s difficult for Sawyer to grasp the concept of Sayid not taking his cue and donning the Dharma jumpsuit like Kate, Hurley, and even Jack so easily have done. Sayid has had the worst life experiences of the rest of the O6, I will give him that. Ben fueled Sayid’s killing rage and gave it a purpose after Nadia’s death. Once Ben took that purpose away, Sayid numbly atoned for the terrible things in his life by trying to build something for once instead of destroying it. And now the island has taken that away from him as well... sucking him back in, forcing him to wake up to swaying bamboo trees and an all new cast of bullshit people and bullshit mysteries that it expects him to now play along with. Understandably, Sayid's position is simple: Fuck That.




You Just Hop On The Bus Gus, Make A New Plan Stan

In a frustrated huff, Sawyer goes over to see Kate. He asks her why she came back to the island. Put yourself in Sawyer's shoes. He has no idea what happened to his friends off-island, and he's even more clueless as to why they'd ever intentionally come back. Yet after 3+ months of hell, Sawyer gets to settle down and spend 3+ years living an actual life. Without having to con or grift or search for his father's killer, Sawyer's enjoyed having things and doing things that most people take for granted. Most important of all, by now he's spent 10x as much time with the Dharma Initiative as he has with his 815 friends. It's Juliet though, that really hits the nail on the head this episode: their fairy tale is coming to an end. Dharma is only a temporary dream to wake up from: there's a man behind a curtain somewhere pulling on levers of happiness and contentment. Sawyer and Juliet were never really responsible for building and establishing anything. They're nothing more than actors in the island's big show, playing this part in their cute little Dharma jumpsuits until the curtain closes. Anyway, Kate doesn’t get to really give an answer because one flaming Dharma van crashing into a house later Sawyer has to start the bucket brigade. Another child starts a fire to disrupt the plans of the adults reminds me of Walt setting the raft on fire way back in the first season The second best line of the night was delivered by Sawyer to Jack as Jack came out to see what was all the fuss. “Three years; no burning buses, you all are back one day!” Then Sawyer puts out an all points bulletin and Phil comes a running and leaves the “Prisoner” alone.




Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Dharmakhaban

Ben, who looks like Harry Potter, just add the lightning bolt scar, goes back to Sayid’s cell dressed like Anakin Skywalker. Sayid looked as if he was waiting for Ben in a very Silence of the Lambs stance. In hindsight I guess he was. Sayid tells Ben he will take him with him if Ben helps break him out. It is also obvious that Ben was abused more by his father after he was taken away from Sayid’s cell the last time. Sayid tells Ben that taking Ben with him to the group of Others is why Sayid is there. Flashing back to cover some scenes we had already seem parts of, we hear Sayid ask to go on a different plane after he sees Kate, Jack, and Hurley. On the plane Ben appears to be shocked to see Sayid on the plane also on the plane, but is he really? Could it be all part of the plan? Or does Ben know what will happen back in the 1970’s and did not want Sayid to make the journey? I thought we had to go with whatever happened, happened? Maybe Ben is starting to realize that now. Red Shirt chick with the accent tells Sayid that she does not know who Ben Linus is nor does she work for him. I still don’t believe her. Back on the island, Sayid and Ben escape into the jungle and Jin pulls up in a Dharma van. Sayid quickly dispatches Jin and takes Jin’s gun. Sayid tells Ben Linus, a young Ben Linus something that he wanted to be able to tell to the Ben Linus he has known for the past three years. “You’re right, I am a killer.” The big shock at the end of the episode is Sayid buries a bullet into the chest of a young Ben Linus

What It All Really Means?

In the grand scheme of things, we were shown forty plus minutes of Sayid being forged into the cold hearted killer that we know he is. It wasn’t for out benefit though, it was all for Sayid’s. He had to go through all of this in order for him to be able to do what he needed(?) to do in the last minute of the episode. Shooting a 12 year old boy in the chest in cold blood isn’t something that sits well, with most people. This is the same Ben that grown up to commit genocide as Sayid points out on the plane. We have to keep all of this in the back of our minds in order for it to be “okay” for Sayid to do it. But is it ok? The book Ben gives Sayid; A Separate Reality and written by Carlos Castaneda in 1971, is an allegedly non-fictional book about a man's experience working with a self-proclaimed sorcerer. The authenticity of the book, along with the rest of Castaneda's series, has been a topic of debate since they were published. Part of the story is about the effects of plants that caused mind alterations, like mushrooms, that help people "see." Other that that, I ain’t got nothin’.

Big props to Vozzek69 for some of the writing of this recap.