1.21 The Greater Good

Sayid tries to comfort Shannon as she grieves over Boone’s body by telling her how brave Boone was in his last moments, how he sacrificed any chance he may have had to save the needless use of antibiotics in what he felt was a lost cause.

Kate finds Jack deep in the forest and convinces him to come back, to join with the group and help them through a difficult period. In the next scene, Jack is helping to bury Boone. At the ceremony, Shannon has no words to say, but Sayid makes a short, effective speech about Boone’s courage. The ceremony is interrupted by the arrival of Locke, who claims that Boone’s death is his fault. Boone tells the truth about the plane, but, tellingly, never mentions the hatch. Jack explodes, attacking Boone, barraging him repeatedly with the shouted question, "Where were you?" until he is restrained by the group. Jack tells Sayid, Kate and Sun about Boone’s mention of the hatch, but they ask him to please rest and attend to his own health as he is the only doctor on the island. Meanwhile, Sayid is eyeing Locke.

Claire has been taking care of her baby day and night. She is afraid to sleep for fear of losing it. But Sun and Charlie manage to convince her that she must rest, so she hands over ‘turnip-head’ to Charlie.

Shannon sits alone on the beach, grieving, and is approached by Locke, who gives her Boone’s backpack, and hopes that someday, she can forgive him.

Shannon asks Sayid to do something about the fact that Locke killed her brother.

Kate gets Jack to take a break in his quest to get the truth from Locke by crushing sleeping pills in his drink.

Locke is washing out the bloody shirt that he has been wearing since he emerged from the jungle. Sayid notices a large scar on Locke’s side and enquires about it. Locke says it is a war wound, but Sayid says it looks like a surgical scar. Sayid believes that parts from the radio could be useful to him for the transmitter he is building, and he asks Locke to lead him there. Locke agrees and leads him there.

Charlie and Hurley are having no success in trying to get the baby to stop crying; even Hurley’s Ray Charles imitation falls flat.

Sayid and Locke discuss ‘trust’. Sayid confronts Locke about his concealed weapon, which Locke hands over. Then, in an effort to build trust, Locke tells Sayid that he, Locke, was the one that hit Sayid from behind when he was just about to triangulate the signal. Sayid comes close to killing him. Locke said he did it because it was the right thing to do – the bad news about the signal would have been detrimental to the group. Sayid asks Locke about the hatch and gets a lie concerning plane hatches. This seems to placate Sayid, and he lowers the gun.

Sayid tells Shannon that he believes Boone’s death was an accident and was not caused by Locke. This does not placate Shannon; she wants an eye for an eye.

Michael has to deal with a series of questions from Walt about the dangers that face them on the raft. Boone’s death has set Walt a little on edge. Charlie arrives with the crying baby, looking for help, but neither Walt nor Jin can help. But every time Sawyer talks, the baby stops crying – so Charlie starts following Sawyer around.

Jack wakes up from his forced sleep to find the key to the gun case missing from around his neck. He suspects it was Locke, but Sayid tells him it was Shannon.

Sayid finds Shannon, training a gun on Locke. He tries to convince her that she is not thinking rationally. She shoots at Locke just as Sayid knocks her over. Locke is winged, nothing more, and he and Jack exchange looks to kill.

Locke thanks Sayid for saving his life, and, in return, Sayid says that John will take him to the hatch.

Sayid’s flashback backstory:

Sayid is at Melbourne airport, where the CIA and ASIS have detained him to help them get back a large quantity of explosives that have been stolen by a terrorist cell containing Sayid’s college roommate. The reward: the location of Nadia, the girl that Sayid loves – the girl he has been trying to find for years.

Sayid attends an Islamic prayer service where he (purposefully, you would think) runs into his old roommate Hassam. Sayid learns that Hassam’s wife died when a stray bomb hit her. Did this cause Hassam to become a terrorist? Hassam invites him back to his place to catch up; there, they play a shoot-em-up video game. Sayid meets Hassam two male roommates. He becomes suspicious of a smoke alarm that is not working even though one of the guys is smoking. When Sayid silently finds and deactivates a bugging device, he is accepted into the group.

Sayid learns that Hassam is going to be the martyr, but that he has second thoughts. When Sayid tries to get Hassam out, the agents are not interested in saving Hassam – they only want to find the explosives. When Sayid then tries to quit, they threaten to arrest Nadia as an enemy combatant. Sayid has to choose between condemning Nadia and killing Hassam. Sayid chooses to convince Hassam to go through with it, and in doing so, agrees to join Hassam and do it together.

The day has come. Sayid and Hassam sit in the back of an unmarked van, ready to die for the cause. They will drive a truckload of explosives. Sayid tells Hassam to leave now, and reveals his reasons for working with the CIA. Hassam is devastated, and first threatens to kill Sayid, then shoots himself.

Sayid insists on claiming the body of Hassam so it can be buried, even though it means changing his flight to the ill-fated one.

Comments

The episode starts with an unusually long series of clips from previous episodes, including a few shots of Boone, young, vibrant, and very alive, and it made me shocked to realize that he is dead.

If Sayid truly can tell when he is being lied to, then he knows that Locke lied about the hatch. I hoped that Sayid decided not to push for more information now, and to bide his time instead. Sure enough, he did know Locke was lying, and, at the end of the episode, he asks once more for the truth about the hatch.

Jin is learning a little English and starting to relax more. And has everyone noticed how helpful Sawyer has become? When Jack collapsed on the beach, it was Sawyer who was the first to yell for water.

Memorable Moments

• Sawyer reading to the baby, wearing his now-famous glasses

• The end of the episode, where Sayid reveals that he knows Locke was lying about the hatch

Quotable Quotes

Shannon: You asked if you could do anything for me.
Sayid: Anything.
Shannon: John Locke killed my brother. Will you do something about that?

Sayid: Why would I interrogate you, John?
Locke: Jack called me a liar in front of every man, woman, and child I’ve come to know over the past month. Maybe there’s a part of you that thinks maybe there isn’t a plane out here at all.
Sayid: I know when I’m being lied to. There’s a plane.

Charlie: Eeency weency spider, went up the water spout. Down came the rain, and drowned the spider out.
Hurley: Dude, it’s washed. Washed the spider out. Unless there’s some kind of British version.

Sayid: How’s your head?
Locke: It’ll heal.
Sayid: Another war wound.
Locke: I know what it cost you to do what you did. Thank you.
Sayid: I did it because I sense you may be our best hope of surviving here. But I don’t forgive what you did. And I certainly don’t trust you. And now, you’re going to take me to the hatch.
Locke: Hatch? I already showed you -
Sayid: John – no more lies.