Season 3, Episode 11: "Enter 77"

The title of this episode is "ENTER 77" - this is the key code that Locke entered which ultimately blew up the Flame station. This is the second time he has pushed buttons resulting in the hatches being destroyed.

MIKHAIL, THE EYEPATCH GUY
We are introduced to a new character, Mikhail Bakunin. We saw him once before when Sayid & Co. were exploring one of the abandoned hatch stations, and they saw him through the video monitor. Eyepatch guy looked right into the camera and covered it with his hand, as if he knew he was being watched. The significance of his name, as always with Lost, is important. "Mikhail Bakunin" was a well-known Russian philosopher who rejected governing systems in every name, shape and form. (what is up with all the philosophers?!! Locke, Rousseau, Bakunin)

When Sayid, Locke and Kate come across his "farm" he immediately attacks, then goes into a whole story about being the latest surviving member of Dharma. He tells them how he got there, what he does, and of his experience with the "hostiles" on the island. He is trying to convince him that he is not an Other. Only Sayid knows he is lying and that he is really an Other. The question is, why did he try to lie about it? My thought is he was trying to hold them off and maybe he was waiting for help to come so they could capture them.

THAT'S MY STORY AND I'M STICKING TO IT
I find it very interesting that the Others seem to always have a plan in case that they are captured or interrogated. Every time one of them has been captured, they have lied and given some elaborate story about who they are. Mikhail's story reminded me of when Ben (Henry Gale) was first captured, as well as Ethan, as well as Goodwin, etc. They always have a whole long "story" that seems somewhat believable at first. But Sayid seems to be the only one who is able to see through their lies. And although he regrets his previous torturing days in the Republican Guard, it has actually helped him because he is able to read people and he knows when they are lying.

DHARMA VS. THE HOSTILES
Through Mikhail's explanation of who he is, we do learn the truth about some things. For example, we finally know for sure that Dharma is definitely a different group than the Others (hostiles). I have thought for some time that the Others were not a part of Dharma, but this confirms it. The Others have been on the island long before Dharma ever showed up. It seems they went to war, and the Others eventually took over and now there are no Dharma members left. I do think that Danielle may have been an original Dharma member. Though she never said it, we do know she came there to do research, and everyone on her "team" is dead. The Others took her daughter, which implies that she is not one of them. Also she mentioned that she has no interest in finding out who was inside the Flame station - she seemed like she knew there was going to be a fight. If she was an original Dharma member, she would know to just stay away from the Others (hostiles) because they had already been to war and won. As she said, that is how she has survived on the island for so long, she stays away from them. It seems the Others have this rule about "crossing the line" and as long as people don't cross that line, they will stay out of their business. It is when they do cross that line that the Others become "hostile" and start attacking.

WE'RE THE GOOD GUYS
As far as this "war" between Dharma and the Others - this makes more sense now that Ben and the Others always refer to themselves as "the good guys." I have mentioned several times before that if they are the good guys, they must consider some other group the "bad guys." Who, though? I think they must be referring to the war they fought with Dharma, and of course they consider themselves the good ones. Perhaps, though, Dharma really was doing something bad, and the Others actually did have reason for killing them off? I'm sure we'll see more on this "war" in a future episode.

"JUST DO IT" (this week's Lost is apparently sponsored by Nike)
I thought one of the most important things in this episode was the fact that Mikhail killed Ms. Klugh (the black woman). The Others seem to have a strict policy against killing one of their own, so there must have been good reason for him to kill her. Once Sayid and Kate took them hostage, they started speaking back and forth to one another in Russian. She then tells him in English to just do it, and then he shoots her. A translation of what was said:

Klugh: Mikhail. Mikhail! You know what to do.
Mikhail: We still have another way [out].
Klugh: We cannot risk. You know the conditions.
Mikhail: There is another way.
Klugh: They captured us. We will not give (or let, or betray) [unintelligible].
Klugh: You know what to do. It is an order.
Mikhail: We still have another way!
Klugh (in English): Just do it, Mikhail.
Mikhail: Forgive me. (shoots)

Very interesting that they are willing to die rather than give up the Others secrets or their whereabouts. This is not the first time we have seen this with the Others. They seem not to fear death, and that they tend to keep their secrets very well, even if faced with death (Ethan, Goodwin, Ben). In fact, Mikhail tells Sayid to kill him - although Sayid's guilt over his past as an Iraqi torturer gets to him, and he cannot kill him. We have seen in the past that Sayid held guilt over his past (particularly with Nadia) but now we are able to see more of an explanation through his flashbacks and we see that he is truly remorseful for his actions, which is why he can no longer do it. (Although, he did torture Sawyer, and then Ben, so what was it that made him able to do it to them but not again now?)

ANOTHER HATCH BLOWN UP
Locke is playing the computer chess game in the Flame station, which he wins. He seems very happy about this, and then intrigued with Dr. Marvin Candle, from the Dharma videos, who appears on the screen and gives instructions. Locke, as always, is very curious and does not seem to think things through before he does them. He enters a series of numbers based on the instructions. When asked if hostiles have come in, Locke answers yes by entering 77. This in turn, blows up the hatch, although on a time delay as if giving him time to get out. My guess is that this monitoring station is the last remaining TRUE Dharma station, and is communicating with the Dharma people in the outside world. Dharma has no idea that their members have all been killed off and it is in fact an Other (hostile) who is maintaining their station. This is what keeps the food drops coming. Basically, the purpose of entering 77 is supposed to be a call for help for the Dharma people back in the outside world to know that something is wrong, and that the Others have taken over their station, so they can send help. So, hitting 77 and thus blowing up the hatch should have contacted the Dharma group to let them know that they were taken over, HOWEVER, the satellite is not working since "the day the sky turned purple" (when the first hatch blew up) so does this mean that the Dharma people have no idea what is happening on the island? Are they going to send help, or do they not even know that anything happened? Actually, I think that Locke may have done this on purpose - he is smarter than we think - and that maybe he KNEW that by hitting 77 it would contact the "real" Dharma group and send for help. But since the communication is down, who knows what will happen. Maybe, though, the Dharma people in the outside world will question why they have not received any communication for some time, and will send help anyway? We shall see......