Comme un boomerang
Spoilerish thoughts on "Sundown" under the cut...
Apparently Not!Locke's is gathering a confederacy of killers around him (James, Sayid, Kate, Claire, they are all killers)while on Jacob's side we've got people" who may have caused death but never murdered anyone (Jack, Hugo).
Jin pretends to be on Claire's side, but he might leave Not!Locke's group. Did Jin ever kill anyone? I am not sure. He did some dirty work for Sun's father, he beat people, but did it go to murder?
Ilana is Jacob's girl but some of her followers do have blood on their hands (Ben at least)...so they will either split or it's going to be a key element.
Because I think I've figured it out!
Lost isn't about Good vs Evil; the obvious two teams thing is nothing but a mislead IMO(well, I hope so). It isn't about what people are (because there's so much ambiguity in all the characters)but about what they think they are, how they see themselves. It's all about the characters, not about the external stuff. The island and its mythology, the games, the time-travel, the pseudo-scientific stuff, the poetical licences, the alternate universes, the whole mystery, it isn't what matters; they are plot devices to tell something about the characters and their journey.
Lost is about people who think they are good and right(Like Jacob or Not!Locke, or Claire, or the Dharma people or Mr Friendly and many of the Others like Eloïse) and people who'd like to be good but deep down think that they are not good...like Ben (hence his touching eulogy to Locke) or James/Sawyer (hence his borrowing the alias of the bad man who caused his parents' death and his sending Kate away)or Juliet, or of course Sayid, so they embraced the dark side, thinking it's too late for them, thinking they are no redemption for what they did anyway.
No matter what Sayid told Dogen or what Alt!Sayid told Omer, he doesn't think he is a good man. The altverse was pretty clear about it, Sayid thought he didn't deserve Nadia so he pushed her towards the good brother, Omer--by the way Sayid reminded me of Juliet in the episode, she also did a lot of things for her beloved ones (her sister first, James later); Sayid tried to be a good man for a while, struggling against the demons of his past,but eventually he resigned himself to being a killer in both universes. It's like he quit struggling and accepted his fate.
So did Dogen eventually when he let go the baseball...
Characters like Not!Locke don't resign themselves to fate hence his using Locke's signature"Don't tell me what I can't do!". Jacob didn't resign to fate either. He kept looking for new candidates and bringing them to the island.
What does Kate think of herself? It's hard to say because she mostly reacts to situation to get herself out of trouble...but I rather think that she belongs to the first group. She has done questionable things, and she may have had moments of introspection in the first seasons, but I think she believes that she is right and good hence her attraction to Jack who embodies her idea of a good guy, or her coming back to the island in order of getting Claire and Aaron reunited. She talked herself into doing the right thing. But what is good to one is bad to others.
"Sundown" wasn't the best episode we had so far this season but the ending was powerful, and it was nice to see Keamy again (and I was so not surprised to see that Jin, former hench man, was in the hands of Keamy's guys too!). The episode was based on the metaphor of the boomerang, a dangerous toy that alt!Sayid brought from Australia to his nephew. The dagger that Dogen gave Sayid was another avatar of the weapon, since Sayid used it to slit Lennon's throat in the temple. Dogen caused his son's death because he had drunk too much...so his death by drowning made sense (apart from having his men drown Sayid to save him of course).
I wonder if the show will use the boomerang as a metaphor for the whole characters' journey and follow it to the end, and if then, in the finale, we'll find ourselves back to the first scene from the pilot.
Nota Bene: the episode was also very Asian-oriented. I hadn't realised until now how many Asian characters/actors we had on Lost: Jin and Sun, Sayid and his family or foes, Miles, Dogen.
ETA: Where is my Desmond, damnit?! I miss him.
How did Dogen prevent the Smoke Monster from entering the temple. The ashes were symbolical, it's Dogen who were the real fence. What was so special about him?
Where was James? Shouldn't he be with not!Locke? Or is he taking care of his buddy, Jin?
Can Not!Locke really give Sayid what he wants? Like resurrecting Shannon maybe? After all she died in his arms too...
Where is Walt? The dog always knew better than anyone.
Apparently Not!Locke's is gathering a confederacy of killers around him (James, Sayid, Kate, Claire, they are all killers)while on Jacob's side we've got people" who may have caused death but never murdered anyone (Jack, Hugo).
Jin pretends to be on Claire's side, but he might leave Not!Locke's group. Did Jin ever kill anyone? I am not sure. He did some dirty work for Sun's father, he beat people, but did it go to murder?
Ilana is Jacob's girl but some of her followers do have blood on their hands (Ben at least)...so they will either split or it's going to be a key element.
Because I think I've figured it out!
Lost isn't about Good vs Evil; the obvious two teams thing is nothing but a mislead IMO(well, I hope so). It isn't about what people are (because there's so much ambiguity in all the characters)but about what they think they are, how they see themselves. It's all about the characters, not about the external stuff. The island and its mythology, the games, the time-travel, the pseudo-scientific stuff, the poetical licences, the alternate universes, the whole mystery, it isn't what matters; they are plot devices to tell something about the characters and their journey.
Lost is about people who think they are good and right(Like Jacob or Not!Locke, or Claire, or the Dharma people or Mr Friendly and many of the Others like Eloïse) and people who'd like to be good but deep down think that they are not good...like Ben (hence his touching eulogy to Locke) or James/Sawyer (hence his borrowing the alias of the bad man who caused his parents' death and his sending Kate away)or Juliet, or of course Sayid, so they embraced the dark side, thinking it's too late for them, thinking they are no redemption for what they did anyway.
No matter what Sayid told Dogen or what Alt!Sayid told Omer, he doesn't think he is a good man. The altverse was pretty clear about it, Sayid thought he didn't deserve Nadia so he pushed her towards the good brother, Omer--by the way Sayid reminded me of Juliet in the episode, she also did a lot of things for her beloved ones (her sister first, James later); Sayid tried to be a good man for a while, struggling against the demons of his past,but eventually he resigned himself to being a killer in both universes. It's like he quit struggling and accepted his fate.
So did Dogen eventually when he let go the baseball...
Characters like Not!Locke don't resign themselves to fate hence his using Locke's signature"Don't tell me what I can't do!". Jacob didn't resign to fate either. He kept looking for new candidates and bringing them to the island.
What does Kate think of herself? It's hard to say because she mostly reacts to situation to get herself out of trouble...but I rather think that she belongs to the first group. She has done questionable things, and she may have had moments of introspection in the first seasons, but I think she believes that she is right and good hence her attraction to Jack who embodies her idea of a good guy, or her coming back to the island in order of getting Claire and Aaron reunited. She talked herself into doing the right thing. But what is good to one is bad to others.
"Sundown" wasn't the best episode we had so far this season but the ending was powerful, and it was nice to see Keamy again (and I was so not surprised to see that Jin, former hench man, was in the hands of Keamy's guys too!). The episode was based on the metaphor of the boomerang, a dangerous toy that alt!Sayid brought from Australia to his nephew. The dagger that Dogen gave Sayid was another avatar of the weapon, since Sayid used it to slit Lennon's throat in the temple. Dogen caused his son's death because he had drunk too much...so his death by drowning made sense (apart from having his men drown Sayid to save him of course).
I wonder if the show will use the boomerang as a metaphor for the whole characters' journey and follow it to the end, and if then, in the finale, we'll find ourselves back to the first scene from the pilot.
Nota Bene: the episode was also very Asian-oriented. I hadn't realised until now how many Asian characters/actors we had on Lost: Jin and Sun, Sayid and his family or foes, Miles, Dogen.
ETA: Where is my Desmond, damnit?! I miss him.
How did Dogen prevent the Smoke Monster from entering the temple. The ashes were symbolical, it's Dogen who were the real fence. What was so special about him?
Where was James? Shouldn't he be with not!Locke? Or is he taking care of his buddy, Jin?
Can Not!Locke really give Sayid what he wants? Like resurrecting Shannon maybe? After all she died in his arms too...
Where is Walt? The dog always knew better than anyone.