1.9 Solitary

Sayid, off on his own, finds a cable on the beach. One end trails off into the water. He follows the other end into the jungle and finds a trip wire. He carefully steps over it, but is caught in a leg trap and suspended in the air.

Jack visits Sawyer to change his bandages, but after Sawyer is his usual mean self, including taunting that Kate is interested in him, Jack tells him to change his own bandages.

Sayid is captured in a hut somewhere and tied up, and is asked repeatedly about ‘Alex’ by a woman who we cannot identify. When he says he does not know, he is given painful shocks. We flash back to Sayid torturing a suspected Shiite bomber.

Sayid is being held by the woman who made the 16 year old transmission. She is quite mad – or at least highly paranoid – and suspects Sayid of something sinister. She is interested in Sayid’s past, so he tells her of Nadia, a woman he played with when they were children together. They met again when she was accused of being an accomplice to the bomber, and Sayid’s role is to torture her for information. Sayid tries to help her, but Nadia refuses to capitulate and take the easy way out, preferring to remain true to her cause. Faced with having to execute Nadia, Sayid arranges for her escape.

Meanwhile, to relieve tension, Hurley builds a two-hole golf course.

Back in reality, the woman (Danielle) seems to be warming to Sayid, but then injects him with an un-named drug. When he comes to, he is seated but still chained.

Danielle tells of how her science vessel went off course and stranded the team on the island. Danielle is the only survivor – she hears voices of ‘The Others’ but has not seen them. Is she crazy? Sayid takes the opportunity to escape, then ends up in a showdown with Danielle in the jungle – except his gun does not work. At the point of a gun, Sayid manages to talk his way out of the situation. Danielle will not return with Sayid, leaving him to walk through the windy, spooky, jungle alone – where he hears mysterious voices.

In other events: Sawyer joins in at the golf course, betting against the doc making the final putt, of course; Walt, ignored by Michael, finds Locke, and gets a lesson in throwing a big knife.

Comments

This episode nicely combines two diverse storylines.

I wonder if the plot will allow for Sayid to make it back to the other survivors to share all the information he has received. It would be more typical for him to either die on the way back or at least lose his memory.

Just as I was unsure why this show was originally so compelling, I have now reached the point where I have just started to lose interest in the fate of the characters. Hopefully the next episode can bring that back.

Nits

Although I twice listened to Sayid’s argument when he convinces Danielle not to shoot him, I still don’t understand why Danielle was going to shoot him, or how he convinced her not to do it.

Quotable Quotes

Hurley: We’re lost on an island! Running from boars, and monsters – freakin’ polar bears!
Michael: Polar bears?
Charlie: You didn’t hear about the polar bear?

"Doctor playing golf! Whoof! Boy howdy! Now I’ve heard everything. What’s next? Cop eating a donut?"
- Sawyer