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January 27, 2005
Lost 1x09 - "Solitary"
PREVIOUSLY, ON LOST...
John: Lost is back in repeats for a couple of weeks. Next week
is "Raised by Another," which
we've already recapped
so we'll be taking next week off. Unless we feel like recapping
it again, which ain't gonna happen. However, this week ABC aired
"Solitary," the episode centering around America's favorite
Iraqi Republican Guardsman. Up until we found out Boone and Shannon
were humping, this was my least favorite episode of Lost to date.
Sayid: Surely, that is not a reflection of my tragic past.
John: No, I just didn't like the Frenchy. Most of the other stuff
was good. Prior to this episode, Jack and Sayid tortured Sawyer
over his refusal to give up the inhalers he was hoarding so they
could save Shannon from her asthma attacks. Turns out, they didn't
need the inhalers anyway since Sun used her crazy Korean healing
powers, and some eucalyptus, to help Shannon breathe. The Sawyer
and Sayid went at it and Sawyer got stabbed.
Jack: It was an accident.
Kate: Well, accidents happen when you torture people, Jack.
John: Tortured over his reverting to his savage Iraqi ways, Sayid
exiled himself from his fellow castaways never to return. 'Never'
turned out to mean the very next episode.
Rob: I liked the episode well enough. Sayid's backstory was cool,
and it was fun to find out what other crazy tricks the island has
in store for the castaways. I wonder if everyone got stranded on
that island before the Abu Graib story broke. You'd think it would
make Sayid feel a little bit better about his torturing people after
he hears about that.
SLAP HER, SHE'S FRENCH
John: Sayid found a cable stretching from the beach into the magical
forest. It turns out to be a big trap and he gets captured and taken
prisoner. Thus we and Sayid meet Rousseau, the mad French woman
who has been marooned on Lost island and transmitting her downer
of a distress call for 16 years. Rousseau is what I'd imagine Mrs.
Howell would have become if the Professor had finally snapped, killed
Gilligan, killed the other castaways, and ran off into the jungle.
John: A half a coconut and a blender short of a smoothie, she abducts,
electrocutes, and interrogates Sayid about "Alex" and
all kinds of other crap. Then she asks Sayid to fix her music box.
Then she pulls a gun on him. I don't like her. However, vital information
was revealed thanks to Rousseau. She became aware of the 40+ survivors
of the plane crash and Sayid learned of the others on the island.
One of whom, Ethan, abducted Claire in the very next episode.
Rob: You just don't like Rousseau because she was on Babylon 5,
and you don't like Babylon 5 because you think Deep Space Nine is
better. And that's because you're stupid. In any event, it's entirely
possible that we never see Rousseau again. She might not even have
been real in the first place. Or maybe she'll come into camp someday,
riding a polar bear. You never know.
FORE PLAY
John: While I'm no fan of this episode as a whole, I would have
to say it does contain my favorite B-story of any episode thus far.
Hurley keenly observes that the castways are on pins and needles.
Hurley: Everyone's way tense. It'd be good if we had, I don't know,
something to do.
Jack: Things could be worse.
Hurley: HOW?!
John: Well, they could all be in dead or in purgutory or any of
the other gay theories floating around the Internet. Hurley finds
more wreckage from the plane crash and discovers something that
genuinely excites him. And it's not a baked ham.
Hurley: Aw c'mon, dude, that's totally not cool.
John: I kid because I love. Hurley labored in secret for a while
before he unveiled his creation: the Lost island golf course.
John: It was a big hit and created the first opportunity for nearly
all the castaways to gather for a happy occasion. Everyone was laughing
and smiling watching Michael, Hurley, Charlie and Jack play, it
was great. If this whole episode was about the golf course, I would
have been perfectly happy. The last place I wanted to go back to
was Rousseau's dark, dingy hut.
Rob: It's a good thing it was golf clubs and not some other sports
equipment that turned up on the island. They'd all look pretty faggy
playing croquet out there. If it had been lawn darts, Walt would've
been screwed - those things are clearly marked "Ages 12 and
up." Do they even let Walt play golf, or does he just get a
hole in one every time? It's nice that everyone has something fun
to do besides haul water from the caves though.
DOCTOR'S PAST TIME
John: I liked how Jack was reluctant to play golf at first, but
his doctor DNA kicked in and he was soon putting on the green. What
would have been really great is if Jack's Zombie Doctor Father was
drawn to the golf course and took his son on. Who'll caddy for the
zombie doctor?
Rob: Where is the zombie father anyway? Did Jack ever
tell anyone about that? He's probably off with Ethan and whatever
other evil wilikens haunt the island. Maybe Jack can play him for
Claire's baby.
ANOTHER KIND OF FORE PLAY
John: Like just about every woman who watches Lost, Kate is irrationally
attracted to Sawyer despite his many glaring flaws. Even under torture,
Sawyer refused to surrender the inhalers, Shannon needed, and extorted
a kiss from Kate. Turns out, he didn't have the inhalers after all
and he just wanted to get some play.
Sawyer: Aw, Freckles wanted it as much as I did.
Kate: You're disgusting.
John: If Kate was repulsed by Sawyer, she was also secretly flattered
he'd gone through all that to kiss her when Jack won't so much as
pat her on the ass. Overall, Kate sees something redeemable in Sawyer
that may or may not be there. But then Kate is herself a liar, a
thief and a murderer so she isn't one to cast harsh judgment. Kate
and Sawyer's pasts have a lot more in common than she does with
Jack. This was the episode where Kate implored Sawyer to stop being
a complete asshole and maybe tone it down a shade so he could be
accepted by the group. Sawyer eventually relented and showed up
at the golf course, making goo goo eyes at Kate while Jack was busy
trying to sink a hole. It's annoying that even after everything,
Sawyer will still probably get inside Kate's jeans before Jack will.
Rob: Sawyer acted like a mighty tough guy when Sayid
was torturing him. At that point in the show, we thought that maybe
Sawyer was a real hardcase in his previous life. Now we know he
was just a grifter, so the question is how he managed to stand up
under expert Iraqi torture without breaking. One answer is that
we haven't seen all of his backstory yet and he could prove to be
meaner than we ever thought he was. Another answer is that he has
become a man transformed since they've been stranded on the island.
And yet another answer is that any and all scenes with Sawyer are
overwraught, over the top, and poorly written. I'll let you all
judge for yourselves.
AS PRIMITIVE AS CAN BE
John: Though Michael still found time to yell at Walt and Locke
for wanting to hang out together, he did a spiffy bit of makeshift
engineering by designing plans for a plumbing system to get fresh
water out of the cave waterfall.
Jack: You drew this? I thought you were in construction.
Michael: I was. I am. Long story.
John: Thanks to Michael, the caves have running water and showers.
That's a big plus for Jack's argument that the caves are a better
shelter than staying on the beach. Eventually, since the tide began
to swallow up the beach, the beach dwellers all moved to the caves
anyway, so Jack got what he wanted.
Rob: They haven't all moved to the caves, they just moved further
up the beach to escape the rising tide. Or the tsunami, if you want
to inject some reality into your fiction. But Michael's quite the
innovator. If you add his feats of engineering and Sayid's ability
to repair sophisticated electronic equipment out of salvaged parts
from Game Boys and iPods, the castaways have their very own Professor.
OPERATION: IRAQI FREEDOM
John: Sayid's Flashbacks were very compelling. We saw him in his
past life as a Republican Guard interrogator well on his way to
a bright future of either dying with Saddam, dying at the hands
of the Americans, or supplicating himself to the Americans. Then
a woman ripped straight from that famous cover of National Geographic
came into his life.
Sayid: Of all the prisons in all the military bases in all of Iraq,
she had to come into mine.
John: This woman, Nadia, was a childhood friend of Sayid who later
became a freedom fighter or a terrorist. Sayid and Nadia fell for
each other but he would have no chance to get at what's under her
robes. Nadia was sentenced to die, and Sayid did all he could to
free her, but she was doomed regardless of his efforts. Somehow
Sayid ended up in Sidney, Australia on a plane to Los Angeles.
Rob: Poor Sayid. It's tough to be a Republican Guard member with
a conscience. I hope he had enough time between his flashback and
the beginning of the show to renounce his membership in the Iraqi
military, leave for America, embrace freedom and democracy, and
accept our Lord Jesus Christ as his personal savior. I'd hate to
see such a nice Arab go to Hell.
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