Season 2, Episode 14: "One of Them"

The title of this episode was "ONE OF THEM." I think this is an obvious reference to the man they found tied up in the jungle. The question is, how did he get tied up? Was it an accident and he fell into his own trap, or did the Others plan this so as to bring him into the other camp to get more information? I think he is definitely one of the others. Here is why:

First, he said he has been there for 4 months. Yet, did you notice, he is clean shaven? No one could go that long without getting atleast a little stubble! That was honestly my first thought as soon as he said four months!

Secondly, his "story" about his name, where he came from, etc. - did anyone else notice it was oddly similar to the Wizard of Oz. He took the first story he could think of and made something up. He said his name was Henry Gale. (In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy's last name is Gale, and her uncle's name is Henry). Also he said he got there on a balloon (again, Wizard of Oz) - seriously, who travels by balloon? He said he was from Minnesota (Judy Garland was from Minnesota). So...I'm thinking to myself, why would the producers throw in the reference to Wizard of Oz, there has to be some reason behind that. Well, the movie is about a girl who travels to this faraway land, but in the end it turns out to be a dream, but she learns a lesson about who she is on this journey. So, that made me think that in last week's episode (The Long Con) when Locke was sorting the books in the hatch and he had "An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge" in his hand - well, in that book, the main character, at the end, realizes everything he has just been through was all a dream. I really can't imagine that the series LOST is just a dream (that would really piss me off!) but there has to be SOME reason why all the dream references. Thoughts, anyone?? Oh yeah, and when Sayid asked the guy why he was traveling on a balloon, he looks at him and says "it was my DREAM."

TRUST ISSUES
As we have seen, everyone has "trust issues" - In this episode, Danielle asks Sayid to come with her and says "Trust me." He won't trust her. Then, in the hatch, Locke goes behind Jack's back and changes the combination. Clearly a violation of trust between him and Jack (who shook hands that they would stick by one another with that). Broken trust. We also see the
whole back story of Sayid and his loyalty to the Republican Guard. At first he wouldn't cooperate, but in the end he turned on his commanding officer after finding out that it was him who was behind the terrorizing of Sayid's village. Sayid WAS a loyal
person, but war changed that. Interesting because the survivors are about to go to war, and that is basically what has made everyone else break their loyalty to one another (Jack, Locke, etc.) War will do that to a person. It can also make a person "sick" as in delirious, crazy, etc. Maybe this is the "sickness" that Danielle talked about. It was war that made everyone turn on one another and made them "sick" - perhaps this is foreshadowing of what is to come with the rest of the survivors.

GOOD vs. EVIL
We have seen SO much about good vs. evil, it is pretty much the major theme for every episode now. Last night, we find out that Sayid started out a good man, a loyal soldier who would do anything to protect his fellow officers. He tells Henry Gale that he was just 23 when the Americans came (the number 23 makes another appearance) and that he "was" good then, he
says this as if it were past tense. Then we see how he became a torturer. I think that deep down, Sayid IS a good person, but he was trained to be evil. And when provoked, that evil side is going to come out. Just like the U.S. Officer told him at the end, "Now you know what to do when you want information." And he was right. First with torturing Sawyer and now with Henry Gale, Sawyer has used those "skills" when he wanted information, even though he said he would never do it again. When he first starts interrogating Henry, he tells him his name and says "I am a torturer" as if that was the one word to describe who he is. Like Jack might say "I am a doctor," I thought it was interesting that he sees himself this way now. It is
like he has accepted that's who he is (kind of like last week when Sawyer told Charlie, "I am not a good man." It's who I am and I'm not going to change.)

THE CLOCK COUNTER
When Locke lets the numbers get down to zero, we see a strange formation of red and black panels with hyeroglyphics on them. Five symbols appear. According to a "translation" of Egyptian hyeroglyphics, it means "to cause to die."

Apparently swd 3 means "a command" and then the rest means "to die." I thought it strange that even though the counter hit
zero, after Locke hit execute it still reset to 108.


BLACK SMOKE
Another reference to black smoke - in the last flashback with Sayid in the jeep with the Americans, they are on a desolate road with nothing around them except in the distance you see a billowing of black smoke. On the island, black smoke represents evil, death, basically anything bad...and as we saw with Sayid, it was the US soldiers who got him to turn bad,
they made him become a torturer.

KATE'S DAD
Did you notice that in the last flashback, the US Soldier who is sitting across from him in the jeep is KATE'S DAD!! (well, step-dad if you want to get technical). He is looking at a picture of a girl, and though they only show it for a split second, it is definitely a younger Kate.


So, another connection between Kate-her dad-Sayid. Remember when she went to see him at his office when she was on the run, we saw Sayid on the TV in the background.

HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN?
The conversation between Sayid and Charlie at the end was very eerie. From what I gathered from it, Sayid is basically saying that he hasn't forgotten what the Others did and he is prepared to fight, to go to war. It was almost as if he was trying to get Charlie on "his" side. I think, clearly, we are going to see two sides emerge. Jack and Locke have already disagreed about this "war" as well as the rest of the survivors. If you remember back in season 1, there were lots of references to "we need to get so-and-so on "our side." Like Sayid said, he feels no remorse or guilt for what he did to Henry Gale. I think we are about to see a different side of Sayid. He is prepared for war.

Next week looks good!!! I am dying to see more about what happened to Claire while she was taken.