Natural Born Killer - 5x10: "He's Our You"

Since I’m writing this after watching a few episodes after “He’s Our You,” some of the questions or theories I would’ve had have already been addressed by later episodes. I’ll comment on anything that is still left hanging where I can.

The episode opens with a flashback. A boy is being forced by his father to kill a chicken by chopping its head off to prove that he will grow up to be a man, but the boy resists. The father tells the boy that he will have to stay outside all night until he kills the chicken and walks away in anger. Another boy walks over, who we assume is the first boy’s younger brother. The young boy picks up the chicken and without remorse snaps its neck with his bare hands. The younger boy hands the chicken to his brother just as the father comes back and begins to praise the older boy, but the boy says that he didn’t do it. The father is angry with him again. He squats down to tell the younger boy that he is proud of him and that at least he knows that he will grow up to be a man. The younger boy is Sayid.

This scene was very reminiscent of the Mr. Eko flashback, when his brother was being forced to kill someone in his village by the sadistic local drug dealers, but Eko killed them instead to save his brother’s innocence. It also has echoes in the episode when Locke is told by Ben that he has to kill his father to prove his worth to the Others. In that case, he gets Sawyer to do it for him.

Sayid kills the chicken with no remorse, no difficulty, and with his bare hands. Is it to please his father, or is he really just a cold-blooded killer? This is a theme that comes up again, especially at the end of this episode.

Young Ben brings a chicken salad sandwich to Sayid. On his way in, Phil asks him why he’s doing this for a Hostile. Ben says that just because he’s a Hostile, that doesn’t mean he’s not hungry. Ben brings the sandwich in to Sayid along with a book, called A Separate Reality. Ben says, “I’ve been patient, and if you’re patient too, I think I can help you.”

A Separate Reality is the purportedly non-fiction story of the author’s time with a self-proclaimed sorcerer, and involves the use of plants to provide mind-altering experiences. In other words, he did a lot of drugs with the dude and wrote a book about it. But besides this, is the title a hint at what’s to come, or are the writers just playing with us, knowing that some people suspect that there will be alternate realities in the show?

Next we see Sayid in an apartment building in Moscow, making what turns out to be his last kill for Ben: a man named Andropov, who tries to bribe Sayid with money before he shoots him dead. When Sayid meets Ben outside the building, Ben says that he has killed the last of the people in Widmore’s organization that poses a threat to his friends, and tells Sayid to “go live your life.” Sayid questions him: you had me kill all these people just to walk away from me? Ben corrects him, saying that he didn’t have Sayid kill them; he’s the one who asked for their names.

One interesting “Easter egg” in this scene: when Sayid meets Ben outside the building, there is a sign in Cyrillic on the side of a building that in English reads “Oldham Phamaceuticals.” Oldham is a name we will hear later this episode…

Horace and Radzinsky come to Sayid’s cell, and Horace has a pair of heavy duty-looking scissors or clippers, which look menacing considering the situation. However, he uses them to clip off Sayid’s handcuffs. Sayid thanks him, but still won’t answer any of his questions. Radzinsky insists that Horace asks him about the model, but Horace tells him to cool it. He tells Sayid, “Either you’re in some kind of disagreement with your people, or you’re a spy.” Sayid remains silent. Horace gives him an ultimatum: he has one hour to decide to talk, or else “we have to take this to the next level.”

In Juliet and Sawyer’s house, Juliet is staring out the window at Jack and Kate walking out of the house next door while bacon burns on the stovetop. Sawyer comes in and tells her that the bacon is probably ready. He sees what she’s looking at, and she says, “This is all over, isn’t it? Us, playing house. All of it…I never actually thought they’d come back.” Sawyer tells her that nothing has changed, and not to worry because Sayid isn’t talking; he’s got everything under control. Horace comes by and tells Sawyer that they need to find out why the prisoner violated the truce, and that if he isn’t talking, they will have to have someone named Oldham “do his thing” on him. Sawyer is taken aback: “That psychopath? No way.” But Horace asks what choice he has. Sawyer wants to “have a go at him alone,” and Horace agrees, but doesn’t think it will work.

Sawyer goes to the security station and tells Phil to take his lunch break, but has to tell him twice because Phil resists at first: he’s going to go in there by himself? Once Phil leaves, Sawyer goes in and asks Sayid how he’s doing. Sayid utters the best line of the episode: “A 12-year Ben Linus brought me a chicken salad sandwich. How do you think I’m doing?” Sawyer replies, “Sweet kid, huh?” Sayid asks Sawyer how he can live with Ben there, and Sawyer says he doesn’t have a choice. He then head butts him and apologizes immediately after: “If I’m telling them I got your confession, they need to believe you didn’t give it up easily.” But Sayid doesn’t want to confess – he just tells Sawyer to let him go. Sawyer says that he can’t. “These people trust me…I’ve built a life here.” He tells Sayid that he can either cooperate, or he’s on his own. Sayid replies, “Then I guess I’m on my own.”

It’s clear at this point, with hindsight at least, that Sayid knows exactly what he’s going to do with Ben. I wonder if he ever considered telling Sawyer what his plan is, or trying to bring Sawyer in on it. He must suspect that Sawyer would never do that to one of “his people,” even if it was Ben, because it would ruin things if they ever found out.

Next, we see Hurley bringing a plate of waffles and ham to a table where Jack and Kate are sitting, and sits down next to them. They are in the Dharma cafeteria, where Hurley is now a chef according to the Dharma logo on his jumpsuit, and there is a Geronimo Jackson poster hanging on a wall in the background. Hurley tells them, “Don’t forget to try the dipping sauces – they really bring out the flavor of the ham.” Hurley asks what Jack knows about what’s happening with Sayid, and Jack says he doesn’t know anything; he went to Sawyer who told him to mind his own business. Kate offers to talk to Juliet but Hurley says why bother trying if Sawyer isn’t saying anything. This comment lets the cat out of the bag: Kate asks Hurley what he means, and Hurley tells them that Sawyer and Juliet are living together, and not the roommate kind of living together. Kate seems surprised, but Hurley says, “Who couldn’t see that coming?” But he sees that things aren’t so comfortable at the table anymore, so he leaves to make more waffles.

Another new Dharma logo, another Geronimo Jackson reference. Apparently, the poster lists the band as appearing at Woodstock, or at least playing a show on the same dates as Woodstock.

And you just know that the ham dipping sauces were Hurley’s idea. With his love of Dharma ranch dressing, dipping sauces must be right up his alley.

Roger Linus comes in to clean the jail area. He sees Sayid behind bars, laughs, and asks him, “How dumb are you that you got caught by these idiots?” But Sayid makes a stinging comeback – “And you’re the one mopping up after them.” Ben comes in with a sandwich and is startled to see his father there. He stammers out, “I was bringing you a sandwich,” but Roger isn’t buying the lie. “You never made me a sandwich in your life,” and Ben admits that he was bringing it for the prisoner. Roger pushes Ben into the bars of the cell as Sayid reacts but can only helplessly watch. Roger dismisses Ben and tells him to go home, and then flings the tray with the sandwich against the wall.

People love to point out how dumb a move it was for Roger to throw the sandwich against the wall, making a mess on the wall and floor, since he’s the one who has to clean it up, so I thought I would point it out as well.

We then see a flashback of when Sayid was working in Santo Domingo at the Build Our World site. Sayid is working, but then stops and senses something. He turns around and Ben is standing there. Ben tells him that John Locke is dead, and that he “thinks he was murdered” as retribution for the “work” he and Sayid were doing. He tells Sayid that he is in danger because if they could find Locke, they can find him, and adds that at that moment there is a man sitting outside Hurley’s mental institution, probably waiting for Ben and Sayid to show up. Sayid makes it clear that he isn’t interested, though. We have seen that he obviously is trying to turn over a new leaf by doing the work he is doing now. Ben asks how he could possibly not want to kill the man, though, and when Sayid asks why Ben thought he would, Ben answers, “Because you’re capable of things most men aren’t. Every choice you’ve had in your life, to murder or not to murder, hasn’t really been a choice at all, has it? It’s in your nature. It’s what you are. You’re a killer, Sayid.” Sayid replies, “I’m not what you think I am. I don’t like killing.” Ben apologizes, saying “I guess I was mistaken about you.”

Here we see Sayid struggling mightily to turn over a new leaf and leave his murderous past behind, but Ben is like that guy in the heist movies: ‘just one more job.’ It appears from this scene that he is winning the battle, but…

Back in Sayid’s cell in 1977, Sawyer, Radzinsky, Horace, and Phil return. Sawyer tells him that this is his last chance to speak. When Sayid doesn’t, Sawyer is forced to give him a shock, and Sayid falls to the ground. We then see them taking Sayid in a Dharma van to Oldham. Oldham apparently lives in a tipi in the jungle, and there is a Victorola-style turntable playing “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” as performed by Billie Holliday. When Sayid asks who Oldham is, Sawyer tells him, “He’s our you.” Oldham takes a dropper with some sort of liquid and places it on a sugar cube. They put him in restraints which are tied to a tree. Oldham tells him it’s “for your protection. There are side effects for what I’m giving you.” They force the sugar cube into his mouth so it will dissolve. “Don’t be afraid,” Oldham says, “just turn your mind off, let it take effect. One thing’s for sure, friend – you will tell us the truth.”

Next, we see a replay of the Pier 23 scene yet again, but for some reason, it’s slightly different this time: when Ben tells the assembled O6 about returning to the island, Sayid says that if he ever sees Ben again, it’ll be extremely unpleasant for us both. When we’ve seen this scene before, he says this, but to Jack and Ben together. Regardless of why the producers/writers changed this, Sayid leaves the pier and goes to a bar, where he is drinking McCutcheons (of course). A woman sits down next to him – it’s Ilana. She asks him how much the Scotch is, and Sayid tells her it’s $120 a glass. She orders a ribeye from the bartender, “bloody.” Sayid then asks her, “Are you a professional?” She is slightly indignant about being accused of being a prostitute, but then says, “I’m not a professional anything. I just thought you looked sad. I like sad men.” She questions what Sayid does, and he tells her that he’s in between jobs at the moment, but that he used to do “the only thing I was ever good at.” She asks him why he quit, and he says that he’s trying to change. She tells him that now she knows why he is so sad – “When you’re good at something, there will always be people who tempt you into staying the same.”

What is left for Sayid? Is that what he’s thinking about at the bar? What does he have to return to? Maybe this is the sadness – not seeing where else to turn and sticking with the one familiar thing in your life. Unfortunately for Sayid, that thing is killing.

Back in 1977, Sayid is dazed under the influence of Oldham’s magic sugar cube. Oldham questions him about his name and why he is in handcuffs. With a very sad, almost child-like expression, he says, “Because I am a bad man.” Sayid tells them that he is not a Hostile; he was actually on a plane, Ajira flight 316, which returned him to the island. “You mean you’ve been here before?” they ask. “Yes. The first time I was on Oceanic flight 815, and it crashed. I was here for 100 days, and then I left,” he tells them, and then adds, “Ask Sawyer.” Sawyer looks worried. Oldham asks him who Sawyer is, but before Sayid can answer, Radzinsky yells, “Who cares?! None of this matters! Ask him about the Flame!” Oldham more calmly asks Sayid what he knows about their stations, and he says, “I know the Flame was a communications station, the Pearl was to observe other stations, the Swan was to study electromagnetism, but of course that was before the incident…” At the mention of the Swan, Radzinsky freaks out. “The swan?! How would he know what we were going to name it? We haven’t even built it yet! I told you, he saw the model.” Horace tells Radzinsky to cool it. Then Sayid says, “You’re all going to die, you know. You are going to be killed.” They ask how he knows this, and Sayid tells them, “Because I am from the future.” At this, Oldham turns away from Sayid and sheepishly says, “Maybe I should’ve used half a dropper? Oops.” Sayid then laughs maniacially – “You used exactly enough! Ha ha ha ha ha!”

This was a really creepy but great scene. I love how he’s telling them the honest truth – after all, that’s what Oldham said would happen – but the truth is so out there and insane-sounding, Oldham believes he gave him too high a dose of the “medication.” It’s the same reaction we get when we try to explain LOST to people who don’t watch it.

Speaking of the drugs, I think they make it very clear that it is an LSD/acid-like drug. An interesting connection is that the real-life Richard Alpert (who later changed his name to Ram Das) was either an acquaintance of, or a co-researcher with, Timothy Leary, who was a pioneer in studying the effects of LSD. LOST’s Richard Alpert isn’t in this scene, but nonetheless, an interesting connection to the show.

Juliet is orienting Kate to the motor pool, telling her all about flat four engines and such, which Kate knows nothing about. They then start talking about relationship stuff, and Juliet asks Kate if she knows about her and Sawyer, and Kate says that Hurley told her about it. Juliet tells Kate that she wasn’t sure how to bring the topic up without making it sound like she was telling Kate to stay away. Then the Dharma van with Sayid and the others returns, and they walk Sayid back to the cell.

Later that evening, in someone’s living room in the Barracks, the Dharma people are gathered together for a meeting. They are taking a vote about what to do with the prisoner. Radzinsky desperately wants to kill Sayid, but Sawyer wants to talk to him again. Someone calls Radzinsky by his first name, Stew, which we haven’t heard before. He tells Horace, “We make a decision, or I call Ann Arbor and they make it for us,” which seems like a threat to Horace’s leadership. Finally, Amy chimes in and says that she “can’t sleep with one eye open.” They have to think about Ethan, and all the children; how are they going to feel safe with this man around? She sides with Radzinsky, which of course carries huge weight with Horace. He finally takes a vote, and everyone votes to kill Sayid except Sawyer. Horace turns to him and says that he really wants the vote to be unanimous, and so Sawyer, seemingly in trying to keep the trust of “his people,” raises his hand in agreement.

Many fans are now suspecting that Amy is really an Other who has infiltrated Dharma. The mysterious picnic with Paul is the main piece of evidence for this, but some have also mentioned this scene as further proof. The theory is that she wants Sayid dead so that he can’t rat her out as a Hostile. The only problem I have with this idea is this: wouldn’t she know Sayid? And wouldn’t he have to know her to rat her out? And wouldn’t he just say something about her before they kill him as a way to escape a death sentence? I don’t know – there are some strange things about Amy, though, I’ll admit to that.

We go back to Sayid and Ilana, who have moved things to a hotel room. They are getting ready for a magical evening, and Ilana lays on the bed and lifts her leg in the air for Sayid to unzip her thigh-high boot. But when he begins to take her boot off, she suddenly kicks him in the face and pulls a gun on him. She explains that she is a bounty hunter hired by the Avellino family to take him in for killing Peter Avellino on the golf course in the Seshelles (?) She is going to take him to Guam.

Ahhh, now we know why they got on the Ajira flight to Guam! Who had “She’s a bounty hunter” in their office LOST pool?

In 1977, Sawyer goes to Sayid’s cell and tells Sayid to hit him in the face, take the keys from his pocket, and run away, which is what Sayid wanted earlier. But now Sayid tells him that he is fine right where he is, despite the news from Sawyer that the Dharma people, “even the new mom” voted to kill him; “I know now exactly why I’m here.”

Sawyer then charges off to Kate’s house, and when she comes out, he asks her why they all came back. “I don’t know why anyone else did, but I know why I did,” she answers. Just as we suspected – it was to reunite with him…right? But before he can ask her to explain, a flaming Dharma van comes flying through the Barracks and crashes into a house, setting it ablaze. Sawyer goes into security mode and runs to a nearby water tower to start putting out the fire. Jack comes over to help, and Sawyer says, “Three years, no burning buses. Y’all come back for one day...” He then makes a call over the walkie for all security personnel to come help with the fire. This includes Phil, who gets the call in the security station and leaves immediately. The minute he leaves, a hooded Ben comes out of the shadows and goes to Sayid’s cell. Sayid notices that Ben’s glasses are taped up. “I know,” he says, “my father was a hard man as well.” Ben tells him that he hates it there. “If I let you out, will you take me with you? To your people?” he asks. “Yes, Ben, I will,” Sayid answers. “That’s why I’m here.” Ben unlocks the cell and lets Sayid out.

In the next scene, Ilana is leading Sayid through the airport. Sayid looks around and sees Hurley, then Jack, and then Kate, and gets a really bad feeling. He asks Ilana if they can take the next plane – “I’m superstitious.” “I’ll buy you a rabbit’s foot,” she answers.

On the plane, he sees Sun. And then Ben walks on. They make eye contact, but neither one make is obvious that they know each other. As Hurley freaks out about Ben’s presence on the plane in the background, Sayid turns to Ilana and asks her if she’s working for Benjamin Linus. She says she doesn’t know who Ben is. Sayid tells her, “He’s a liar, a manipulator, a man who allowed his own daughter to die to save himself. A monster responsible for nothing short of genocide.” She asks him, “Why would I work for somebody like that?” And Sayid quietly says, “I did.”

So if we are to believe Ilana, she is not working for Ben, as many have suspected. So that must mean she is working for Widmore, right? Or maybe the story she’s telling is that simple: she’s working for the Avellino family and needed to bring him back for justice. ..Nah, nothing is meaningless in LOST! Trust no one!

Sayid and Young Ben are running through the jungle. They come across a road, where a Dharma van drives by, and they momentarily get caught in its headlights. The van stops, and Jin walks out. Sayid emerges from the darkness to talk to Jin. Sayid tells him that Sawyer let him go because the other Dharma people were going to kill him. Then Jin’s walkie crackles with the sound of someone alerting everyone that the prisoner has escaped. Jin and Sayid both know what this means, and Sayid begs Jin to let him keep moving. “Okay,” Jin says, but adds, “let me talk to him first.” He goes to the walkie and begins to send a message, but Sayid makes a quick move to knock him out. Ben who has been looking on says what every 12 year-old boy would say: “Whoah, where did you learn how to do that?” Sayid is crouched on the ground next to Jin. He takes Jin’s gun, and almost to himself says, “You were right about me.” Ben is confused. “I am a killer.” Sayid then raises the gun at Ben and shoots him once in the chest. Ben falls to the ground. Sayid walks over to Ben’s body and seems to pause for a moment, and then runs away.

LOST

That was certainly one of the most shocking endings in LOST ever. This got so much talk going among fans about what this would mean – if Ben dies, what happens to the future (post-1977, I mean)? Does it change? Or (and most people thought this), he’s still alive because he has to be – we already know he grows up, so there’s no way he can die as a child. So how does he survive? How does he get healed?

We already know the answer to most of this by now, but here’s one that maybe we don’t have an answer for: why would the island allow Ben to be saved?

Next up is “Whatever Happened, Happened.” Until then, enjoy!