The second Sayid episode of Lost's first season marked a minor milestone. It was the first time I ever talked about an episode of Lost here on my blog. But to call it a review would be glorifying it, and it's really not even worth offering up a link. Basically, a spent a few sentences going "duh, I kinda thought that was cool" before griping about Alias (which aired on the same night at the time).So let's do this proper.
"The Greater Good" was directed by David Grossman in his one and only time behind the camera for Lost. (Soon after, he'd wind up on Desperate Housewives as one of their go-to directors.) It was written by Leonard Dick, a staff writer for the first two seasons -- though interestingly, this was his only episode where he didn't share credit with another writer.
Where the first Sayid episode was concerned with giving us the backstory about Nadia, this episode filled in for us the reason why he was in Sydney for that fateful flight. But as it turns out, the episode had quite a lot to say about his character, with the full benefit of hindsight in considering it.
Sayid's flashbacks in this episode start with him being rounded up by a CIA agent and a member of British Intelligence. A one-time friend of his at university, Essam, is part of a terrorist cell. They want Sayid to infiltrate the cell, and in return, they'll tell Sayid where Nadia is now.
Whoosh... he's off to Sydney, where he arranges a "chance encounter" in a mosque with his old friend. And it's worth a note that we see a group of Muslims in prayer on a U.S. network TV show. It seems as though three-and-a-half years after the 9/11 attacks, it was thought that an audience could handle the important distinction between practicing Muslims and extremist terrorists, though some progress appears to have been lost since then.
Essam takes Sayid back to the apartment he's sharing with his two terrorist, Half-Life playing buds. (Wow, they aren't just Muslim -- they play video games! Evil!) Sayid worms his way into their good graces by discovering a bug hidden in their smoke detector, and soon they bring up that recurring theme of the series: fate. It's "fate" that Essam and Sayid met at the mosque.
As the two spend more time together, Essam confides that he is planning to martyr himself soon in an "operation," though he's unsure if he can go through with it. Sayid shares this information with his CIA handler, suggesting that Essam be brought in. But she disdainfully dismisses the notion. Essam doesn't really know anything; his only value is if he can be caught red-handed with the missing C4 so the good guys can reclaim it. Sayid's mission is made clear: he is actually going to convince Essam to go through with the bombing. And if he doesn't, then the CIA will arrest Nadia, who is living illegally in the United States.
You might suppose Sayid would feel conflicted about this situation, but here is the first way in which this episode is really revealing of his character -- he doesn't bat an eye. He pulls every string with Essam, telling him that any innocent deaths in a bombing will be sacrifices for "the greater good." Sayid himself makes no such considerations. There's what he wants, and he's going to justify anything to get it.
In short, I feel this is one more thread in the tapestry that shows us that Sayid was never really such a nice character, when you get down to it. Sure, there were times he did heroic things. There were even more times where he was very likable. But "being dark" was his alcohol, and he fell off the wagon on a very regular basis. From his background as a torturer, through these particular events in his past, and particularly during seasons four and six, Sayid could never stay good for long. And for reasons that this episode also demonstrates, as we'll get to momentarily.
The day comes, and Sayid and Essam are in a van wired with explosives, about to leave for their target. That's when Sayid confesses his link with the CIA, giving Essam 10 minutes to make an escape. He also explains his reasons for this deception, but it only enrages Essam: "You used me to find a woman?!" Essam threatens Sayid with a gun for a few moments before suddenly turning the weapon on himself and taking his own life.
The mission complete, the CIA honors its promise and tells Sayid that Nadia is living in L.A. They've even set up a direct flight out of Sydney for him to go see her. But finally feeling pangs of conscience and guilt, Sayid is more concerned about what will become of Essam's body. It's to be cremated, in defiance of Muslim custom, as there is no one to claim the body. So Sayid requests that his flight to L.A. be delayed for one day so he can claim the body and give his old friend proper rites.
And here is the other key piece of Sayid in this episode, and to my mind, the most significant one. Every time he tries to do something good, something selfless, the universe slaps him down. He tries to do right by a friend, and winds up in the plane crash that strands him on The Island. It's a pattern that repeats on the show again and again, right up to his very final moments, in fact, where he pays a very steep price indeed for saving the rest of the group on the sub.
So it leaves little room to question why Sayid always slips back into being the "bad guy." Or why he spends all of season six just automatically accepting the assertion that "he has come back wrong." Giving in to the dark side just comes so much more naturally. And with the universe serving up a gut punch every time he tries to walk the other path, who could blame him for giving up on it?
Mirroring the way the flashbacks in this episode have big resonance that would play well into Lost's future, the on-Island storyline had a big revelation to make about Lost's past, brief though it was at this point in time. It begins still very much in the aftermath of Boone's death in the previous hour. Shannon still sits a vigil over her brother's body, and won't answer when Sayid asks if he can do anything for her.
Jack's "I'm gonna go get Locke" determination that closed the last episode hasn't yielded much. He's stomped around the jungle in circles, and only gives it a break when Kate comes to find him for Boone's funeral.
Boone is buried on a small hill near the beach, and Sayid offers up a somewhat awkward but oddly poignant eulogy praising his courage. But then the moment gets truly strained when Locke shows up, shirt covered in blood. He tells everyone the truth about the plane, and confesses that Boone's death was his fault. There's a wonderful wide camera angle that puts Locke alone and tiny on the right side of the plane, while all the rest of the survivors seem like a mob on the left.
Then Jack hauls off and attacks Locke before Charlie and Sawyer pull him off. He still doesn't believe Locke is telling the truth, remembering Boone's murmurs about a "hatch." (Sayid is there to overhear this important detail.)
Later, Locke tries to console Shannon, bringing her Boone's bag, and saying he knows what it's like to lose family. Well, we know that his personal story of losing family -- his father -- is quite different indeed, but it's true that yes, he does. This attempt at conciliation only enrages Shannon, who goes straight to Sayid: "You asked if you could do anything for me. John Locke killed my brother. Will you do something about that?"
So Sayid goes to find Locke at the cave. (He shows up just moments after Walt leaves, shunning the man who so recently was like a hero -- or father -- to him.) The lies start in immediately; Locke is washing his bloody shirt, and when Sayid remarks about the scar from his kidney surgery, he passes it off as a "war wound." He wants Locke to take him to this crashed plane, where parts from the radio might be salvageable for the transmitter he plans to make for the raft. They head off into the woods, Sayid interrogating, Locke knowing he's being interrogated.
They reach the plane, still playing cat and mouse. Sayid notices Locke's secret gun Locke (taken off the Nigerian smuggler's corpse). Locke hands it over, asking if that earns him any trust. Sayid notes that since he was caught with it, it only earns him "adaptability." So Locke decides to reveal something Sayid doesn't know, the big dip into Lost's past this episode -- that when Sayid was trying to triangulate the French distress signal and wound up knocked out with his receiver smashed... that was Locke's doing.
So at last, we get to Locke's motives for doing such a thing. Or at least, we get his argument for doing so now. But given that seconds later, he'll lie when Sayid asks him about the Hatch, it's hard to give it a lot of weight. Locke says that tracking the source of a transmission that said repeatedly "they're dead; it killed them" was certainly not in everyone's best interest. A fair point, but was that really the best way to handle it?
I have to say that I'm disappointed about this little chapter, overall. I'm pretty sure this is it for this entire subplot. Why Sayid should let Locke off with such a feeble justification strikes me as lazy writing. That there are absolutely no further repercussions for this rather major betrayal on Locke's part strikes me as even lazier writing.
I'd even go so far as to say that it's a moment of inconsistency for Locke's character. Sure, he wants to bring as many people into the fold, on the side of "faith," as possible. But in every other case, he always presented it to someone as their choice. Here, in this one instance, he chose for everybody that staying on the Island (or staying away from the French radio transmission, if you accept his excuse) was best for everyone. If someone wants to go for the "no prize" and offer up an explanation for this, I'm all ears. Personally, I'm coming up blank.
In any case, back to the action. Sayid returns from his excursion with Locke to talk to Shannon. He believes Locke, in as much that Boone's death was indeed an accident, and that Locke didn't mean for it to happen. Shannon is furious at this. "That's it?"
And next thing you know, Jack (just waking up from a nap forced on him by Kate, who crushed sleeping pills in his juice) realizes that the key to the marshal's case of guns has gone missing. He's all set to stomp off accusing Locke, but Sayid intercedes, knowing the truth.
Rain always knows an opportunity for drama on Lost, and when Sayid comes upon Shannon, threatening Locke at gunpoint in the jungle, it's coming down in buckets. Sayid knows how much killing a man can change you. (Though perhaps, given a complete picture of his true nature, he doesn't quite understand it.) He tells Shannon that she doesn't want to go through with this, but can see that she does, so he tackles her impulsively. The gun goes off, and a bullet grazes Locke's forehead. Sayid is already apologizing, but Shannon stomps off, wanting nothing to do with him.
At night, back on the beach, Kate tries to reassure Sayid that Shannon "just needs time," but Sayid feels certain that "time won't make a difference." She tries a different approach, arguing that he couldn't have just let her kill Locke, that he had no choice, but Sayid argues, "there's always a choice." This is juxtaposed with the flashbacks involving Essam here in this episode, of course, but it does reflect on the larger issue of Sayid's character, the constant battle of choosing to do good, to be good.
Sayid then goes to Locke, the latter thankful, knowing what it cost to spare his life. Sayid coldly says he did it because he sensed Locke was the best hope of surviving the Island, but that he does not forgive. And this we know to be true.
Speaking of which, time for more truth: "Take me to the Hatch," Sayid demands. No more lies.
To offer relief from these two very dark storylines, the episode's other running plot is all comedy. Claire isn't getting any rest at all, so Charlie finally convinces her to let him watch little baby "Turniphead" for a while. Neither endless pacing nor Hurley's rousing rendition of James Brown will stop the baby's crying. What does the trick in the end is the soothing sound of Sawyer's voice -- whether it be complaining about how the baby won't shut up, or reading a car advertisement from a magazine.
Oh, and one other very brief runner -- keeping the "building the raft" plot alive, in anticipation of the upcoming season finale. It wouldn't even be worth mentioning in this episode, except that Walt is full of questions about the danger of a journey on the raft, following Boone's untimely death. Specifically, Walt imagines, "what if we get attacked by a shark?" And indeed, a Dharma-branded shark will accost the raft crew in just a few episodes.
It's interesting, but while the episode really works as a character study of Sayid, it somehow still manages to be less gripping than similarly deep character studies of Jack, Charlie, Sawyer, Locke -- well, frankly, a lot of the other characters -- from earlier in the season. I grade it a B overall, so it's not like I'm saying it falls flat by any stretch. Still, amidst a mostly stellar first season, I'd say this episode actually falls near the back of the pack.
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