Sundown At The Temple

Last week on Lost, after being told that Kate was the one who took her son Aaron, Crazy Claire promised that she’d kill Kate.

In tonight’s episode of Lost, Sundown, Kate admitted to Crazy Claire that she did take and raise Claire’s son as her own.  Crazy Claire glared and seethed from a hole in the ground in Kate’s general direction.  As everyone with a clue vacated the Temple before sundown, fLocke attacked and laid waste to the Temple inhabitants (saving two in particular for someone else).  Kate and Claire walked out of the Temple together following fLocke.  During last week’s promo for tonight’s episode, we were promised answers.  Here’s one question that I’d like answered in the wake of tonight’s Lost episode:

When will Claire kill Kate??

Despite my chagrin that my least favorite Lost character still has a pulse, I thought tonight’s episode, Sundown was solid and entertaining.  We got a few answers, even if they were colored by the points of view of the people giving them.  And the Sideways flash story seemed to hint that maybe the tales from this Sideways universe are going somewhere, as opposed to being mere slices in the alternate lives of the main cast of Lost.

To sum up what happened tonight:  Off-island, Sayid’s love, Nadia is married to his brother Omar.  Omar is in debt to a loan shark, the other Omar and his close personal friend Keamy (who’s still a creep).  Sayid kills Omar and Keamy, and rescues another one of their victims who they had hidden in a refrigerator.  This victim is no one other than Jin.

Meanwhile, back on the Island, Dogen tries to kill Sayid, but instead, orders him banished from the Temple.  But before Sayid leaves, Claire shows up, telling Dogen that her friend wants to talk.  Dogen tells Sayid that he can redeem himself by killing a person.  This person is taking the form of someone Sayid knows, but it is really evil incarnate in disguise.  Sayid ventures into the jungle, and meets fLocke, tries to kill him, but you can’t kill the undead.

fLocke convinces Sayid to join his cause, promising him anything he wants.  Sayid jumps aboard the fLocke train and tells everyone in the Temple to leave before the titular sundown, or bad things will happen.  Come sundown, Sayid kills Dogen and his interpretor.  Illana, Ben, Sun and Lapidus show up and rescue Miles.  fLocke (in the form of the Smoke Monster) kills pretty much everyone else and walks out of the temple with Crazy Claire, Sayid, Kate and a group of extra-scary Others.

The answers we got this week were not exactly objective ones (with the exception of Dogen’s backstory).  Dogen’s backstory was interesting, and it’s a shame (but understandable) that he had to die.  The only problem with both him and Lennon (the interpreter) dying is that we don’t have much of a clue as to the function of the Temple.  I think though, it’s pretty safe to assume that the ash doesn’t do that great a job at keeping out smoke monsters.

On the other hand, we heard more from Dogen’s point of view about fLocke.  In addition to the aforementioned “evil incarnate” line, Dogen claimed that to get what he wants, fLocke will kill every living thing on the Island (something we’ve heard before).  Prior to tonight, I was willing to go along with the idea that maybe Jacob is the bad guy and Smokey/fLocke, the moody, misunderstood good guy of this saga.  But after what fLocke told Sayid tonight, I’m not so sure.  In stories like this, it’s always the devil or evil force that promises one’s heart’s desire in exchange for one’s allegiance.  It’s no different here.  Besides, that whole being stabbed without bleeding thing is just freaky.

And I think (but I’m willing to be wrong) that we’ve gotten a huge clue about the Sideways universe.  Maybe this is what happens if fLocke were to win.  All the characters would get what they (thought they) really wanted deep down inside.

So far, that’s what we’ve seen.  The Island is underwater, and as far as we know, Jacob never entered the lives of the victims of Oceanic 815.  The subject of tonight’s story Sayid, has Nadia, the object of his affection, but because of the type of person he is, he has to play second fiddle to his brother.

Just like we saw with Jack and Locke’s stories, in a way, these characters are living the lives they want, but things are not perfect because of their own personalities. Maybe (hopefully) they’ll all converge and realize this is not the way things should be.  And possibly Jin meeting up with Sayid was the first step toward having that happen.

Of course, I’m probably wrong with all that.

Some other thoughts:

-I’ve always thought that Catch a Falling Star is one of the creepiest songs ever.  Just watch the last half hour of Love Actually and you’ll see where I’m coming from.  But as horrified as I was by that song, after hearing Claire sing it to herself and then in that awesome montage at the end, all I have to say is that I don’t think I’ll be falling asleep tonight.

-I really didn’t think Sayid was going to stab Flocke.  Of course, I was hoping that when he ran into Kate first that he’d stab her.  But that’s just me.

-Nice to see Miles survive the madness at the Temple.  Here’s hoping they actually do something with him soon.

-I was surprised to see Sayid kill Dogen.  I’m disappointed that he’s dead, but we’ve heard his story and we saw him exhibit some pretty cool samurai moves (as Hurley would say).  In a way, he went out like a punk.  But at least Sayid got some impressive air while taking him for a jump into the pool.

– I’m glad it looks like we’re getting a Ben episode soon.  I’m curious as to what his motivation is now, and actually thought he’d end up among the dead bodies at the Temple.

-I hate to admit it, but the pleasant surprise of the night was Keamy.  He’s still creepy, but at least he can cook!

What did you think?