Transcript
Speaker: Terrific. You're listening to the Lost with My Uncle podcast. I'm Aaron Diaz, and I'll be rewatching Lost, along with my nephew Nick, who will be watching it for the very first time.
Speaker: So come along with us and enjoy the journey.
Speaker: Let's get lost. let's get lost
Speaker: Hello and welcome back to The Lost With My Uncle, a Lost Rewatch and First Timers podcast. We are your 20th anniversary deep dive and into every episode of Lost.
Speaker: I'm Aaron, your millennial uncle who is rewatching Lost, and joining me as always is my Gen Z nephew, Nick. What's going on, Nick? Uh, nothing much.
Speaker: Just telling you about how I had a very chillaxing day. love it. We're going to be talking about season one, episode 21, The Greater Good.
Speaker: And this one mainly focuses on Saeed's past and what he has to deal with, sort of morally, especially as we get into the feud between John Locke and the rest of the island.
Speaker: Hmm. And it is some good moral dilemmas that he faces. Yeah, very good moral dilemmas.
Speaker: Awesome. Well, I can't wait to get into it. As always, listeners, feel free to send us your thoughts and theories. You can email us ah lost with my uncle pod at at gmail.com.
Speaker: Again, that's lostwithmyunclepod at gmail.com. It's hard to believe that we are already where we are, Nick. One more episode after this one, and then we're jumping into the three-part finale.
Speaker: Man, so fun, and seems like it's flown by. Yeah, I mean, it's literally like we're almost done with season one. and That's kind of crazy for me to to grasp.
Speaker: I feel like it might be because I'm not binging it. I'm kind of taking it in small chunks that it feels like it's so long yet so short at the same time. i really know how explain it. No, I hear you.
Speaker: And in our next episode, we're we'll talk a little bit about how we're going to handle the finale since it is longer. It's split into multiple parts. We'll also talk about what's next after the finale.
Speaker: So we'll spend a little bit of time on our next episode chatting through that. Yes, we will. But for now, let's get into another great episode of The Greater Good and let's get lost.
Speaker: Let's do it.
Speaker: So we start off on island in this episode, and Shannon's really struggling with Boone's death while she and Saeed sit with his body. Saeed's trying to comfort her and asks if there's anything he can do for Shannon, but she's basically non-responsive and just grieving.
Speaker: And Saeed's trying to tell her things to encourage her. He says Boone was brave to the end and that he wouldn't let Jack use up all the antibiotics. He also wouldn't let Jack take his leg.
Speaker: So a pretty emotional start to this one, Nick, or your favorite couple. Yeah, my my favorite couple. Yeah, obviously. i don't really know.
Speaker: I mean, like I said in very, very, very strongly in the last episode, I hate them as a couple. However, really at episode made me... Oh, you didn't really pick up on that? No, like that wasn't clear enough.
Speaker: Okay, well, just so you know, I hate them as a couple. All right well, thank you for clearing that up. Okay, you're you're welcome. i if you If you get con confused again, let me know.
Speaker: Thanks. I am a little bit older, so it's easy for me to, you know, stumble around and have some periods of confusion. Obviously, obviously. But this episode made me remember how much I actually do enjoy Saeed's character.
Speaker: I feel like we haven't been... i mean, we've been getting him, but he kind of went from like a Charlie kind of character where he's getting like constant screen time.
Speaker: And it's like, he's getting pretty like good sidelines. like he's a really good side character. he You could argue he's even a main character. And he went from that to almost like a... um almost like a Michael character where you're getting very, very, very little of him.
Speaker: i felt like, i felt like there was a really big drop off in the most recent couple of episodes. So this episode really did remind me about how much I enjoyed him. So it made me think, do I really hate them as a couple or do I just hate Shannon that much?
Speaker: o And the answer is, i just hate Shannon that much. All right. Oh, she makes me so mad. Yeah, the truth comes out. um This episode didn't help, as as we'll get into. No, it really didn't. I think the actress does an amazing job of making me hate her.
Speaker: I think I said a similar thing about Sawyer when we were talking more about Sawyer. i think I said something similar. But, I mean, even though she's grieving, and I get that she's grieving, right? It makes sense. Her her brother, not really her real brother, but her brother just died.
Speaker: So it makes sense. I still did not like any of her behavior in this episode.
Speaker: Yeah, agreed. and think you forgot a couple of words when you said her brother her brother with benefits.
Speaker: Oh, yes. Yeah, let me rephrase. Her brother with benefits. Ugh. Yeah. So bad. But yeah, to your point, Maggie Grace does an excellent job acting the role that was written for her.
Speaker: Yeah. She also, within recent years, was in... i mean, I'm sure she's been in a lot of other movies and shows. But within recent years, she was in... i don't know if you've watched anything in The Walking Dead universe.
Speaker: um No, I had it. She's in The Walking Dead. She's in Fear of the Walking Dead, which is one of the spinoffs. yeah Yeah, and she she was awesome in that.
Speaker: That's nice. Yeah.
Speaker: So in our first flashback of this episode, Saeed is led through an airport in handcuffs to an interrogation room. Inside, he's introduced to a couple of CIA agents, one of which includes Alyssa Cole,
Speaker: They tell him that 300 pounds of C4 explosives were stolen from an army base outside of Melbourne by a terrorist cell. They continue to tell him that he's going to get inside. He replies, i am Iraqi. I'm not a terrorist.
Speaker: They tell him they snatched him up because one of the members of this cell is Ism Tasir, Saeed's roommate from Cairo University. And Saeed's like, why should I care?
Speaker: And they replied that if Saeed will infiltrate this cell, that they will tell Saeed where he can find Nadia. So this is how Saeed ended up in Australia. Yeah, so i remember when the flashback started, i was kind of thinking to myself, like, okay, what time period are we in? I think that's also a really, really important thing, is finding out, like, because, for example, Locke's flashback episode,
Speaker: ah His first one was what? I would say, I don't know, I don't know what going to say. It was at a certain point. Then a second one was further in the past. This one seems to be ah in the future from our last one.
Speaker: That's why I was wondering about the handcuffs and stuff like that. um And obviously, he know we know about Nadia, so that had to make sense. Saeed has to make a lot of difficult decisions in this episode. And I feel like he does a really good job making the decisions that he does make.
Speaker: And it kind of comes back to the motif that they said towards the end of the episode, you always have a choice. It was like, it was a difficult choice you made there. I don't how you showed you, like, or whatever. He was like, you always have a choice or something like that.
Speaker: And I think that's a very good overview for this entire episode. And it really just explains Saeed and his dilemmas that he has debating on, okay, I have this to worry about. I have this to worry about. i only have enough attention for one.
Speaker: You know, I think he does a really good job of that. Absolutely, yeah.
Speaker: And then back on island for our first, what I call, chunk scene, where we have a lot of stuff going on here. Kate finds Jack, who is running erratically through the jungle, looking for Locke. And he's clearly sleep-deprived because he's low on blood from his treatment of Boone.
Speaker: And we've seen in other episodes, Jack's not very good at finding his way around the jungle, right? Yeah, he's not very bad. Yeah, he's good at lots of things.
Speaker: but he's not good at that. Jack is is just furious still. He feels that if he had been properly informed from the beginning that he might have been able to save Boone, and therefore he sees Locke as a murderer for lying.
Speaker: And Kate asks him to come back to camp because the group needs leadership and because Jack's just been running around in circles. And then in our next scene, Hurley and Jack are seen carrying Boone's remains to the burial site so they can have a funeral.
Speaker: The entire camp is present. It's a very somber scene. And Jack asks Shannon, do you want to say a few words about your brother? But she can't. And so after a lengthy pause, Saeed steps up and gives the following eulogy. He says, I didn't know Boone very well, and for that I'm sorry. On our sixth day here, a woman named Joanna died. She drowned, and Boone was the first one into the water.
Speaker: I didn't know him, but I remember his courage, and I know he will be missed. And as Saeed finishes, Locke arrives still covered in Boone's blood, and he takes the blame for Boone's death while trying to explain the circumstances.
Speaker: The beechcraft plane in the tree, his leg, the reason why he couldn't go up, the radio, the plane falling. He basically tells them almost everything, and he calls Boone a hero.
Speaker: But Jack is standing there the whole time. And, you know, and and it's interesting, too, because the rest of of the faces were just annoyance and anger when they were looking at Locke before they even had the seeds planted in their mind that, you know, he was a murderer.
Speaker: They were all angry at him. And so Jack starts running towards Locke screaming, where were you? Where were you? over and over again, and then he starts to he jumps on him, basically starts to pummel him and calls him a liar.
Speaker: And Sawyer and Charlie manage to pull him off, and then Jack gets back up and just collapses from sheer exhaustion. And then sometime later, Saeed, Kate, and Sun are walking Jack back to his tent, trying to calm him down, and Jack insists that Locke is hiding something.
Speaker: He tells them Boone's last words about the hatch and how Locke had told him not to tell. And they convince him it's more important for him at the moment as the doctor to be rested.
Speaker: Gosh, where to start? Yeah. we Well, we know. I'm just going to kind of go in order. I understand Shannon's lack of being able to to say something. But I feel like in that moment, you have to say, like, it doesn't have to be, like, inspiring. And it doesn't have to be, like, crazy. But I feel like she should have said at least something like, you know, like, it literally could have been just like, you were a great brother. Like, that would been info that would have been fine.
Speaker: Hmm. I feel like Shannon, we did get ah decent amount of Shannon this episode, and I actually kind of did enjoy that. Even though i didn't I don't enjoy her character, I did enjoy that we got more Shannon, because feel like we haven't been getting much of her, and if we are, it's literally just her and Saeed's relationship, which I hate, if you weren't aware.
Speaker: I am now. i I was kind of, I mean, like, I understand to a degree, but I also thought that she needed to say something, and her lack of saying something made Saeed step up. And I did really love what Saeed ended up saying.
Speaker: Very, very, very good. Especially, like, even starting with, I didn't know Boone very well. like that like Like, you're starting not very strong by saying that. And he makes it work. And it's it was really, it was that was the reason I remember liking, that was that made me realize like this is why I liked Said so much.
Speaker: Just his character. And I feel like, he like I said before, he's kind of gotten a little lost in the grand scheme of everything. So I'm really glad that we got this episode focused on him a little bit more to you know kind of portray that character.
Speaker: Locke, I mean, i still don't know what benefit he gets out of lying. Or not telling the truth. I still don't understand that. I mean, i i I get he's trying to keep the hatch a secret.
Speaker: But at the same time, like, lying is going to get you nowhere on this island. Having a secret, sure, that's fine. Plenty of characters have secrets.
Speaker: But when asked about it and lying, that's when you get in trouble. that is when you really start to, you know, i don't know what the word is, panic. Like, Kate is a criminal.
Speaker: And that's a secret. a lot of people don't know Kate's a criminal. But if Kate was asked, like, hey, are you a criminal? Right? And it in let's say it does have some relevance, Kate probably shouldn't lie.
Speaker: Yeah. So that's the way that I see it. Yeah, i agreed. And I loved... I loved that whole scene. And that's the scene that I was talking to you last night after we got done recording the other episode.
Speaker: I feel like that's yeah just such ah such a strong scene and way to start the episode. And i also like i like the fact that Locke, despite the fact that you know he is keeping the hatch of secrets,
Speaker: I feel like the things he said were not in that particular scene. We're not necessarily lies. He just didn't say anything about the hatch. No, not at all. Not at all. Exactly. i agree. And i feel like, I think Locke does a really good job of that.
Speaker: Yeah. And I, and I feel like he definitely meant the things that he said, both in that scene and in our upcoming scene that we'll talk about with Shannon.
Speaker: Yeah. Evil Jack. Yeah. We got Evil Jack this episode. We got we got Dark Evil Jack this episode. He was not happy. And i do want to call out, say his name is Matthew Fox.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. his acting and how he went from this, like, he kind of goes from this doctor, sort of like, sometimes fun character. Like I was kind of thinking about back to the Sawyer episode, or when, not the Sawyer episode, when Sawyer had the headache. I don't remember what, I can't recall what episode that was. When Sawyer had the headache and seeing that version of Jack where he's kind of like joking around and and that kind of stuff compared to this like, Sarah, were you?
Speaker: where were you is such a range and it's really, really, really impressive to see. Oh yeah. And I, and I also do like that everyone came, not everyone, but a lot of people were, were telling Jack like, Hey, it's in your best interest to take it easy right now.
Speaker: You, the last thing you need is to be insane and all over the place.
Speaker: And I was a really big fan of the, I guess I'll say the team i sort of um saying that and getting to that.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: And then in our next flashback, in Australia, Saeed is praying in a mosque and watching Isam, who is praying a few rows in front of him. Towards the end of the prayer, Isam turns and recognizes Saeed.
Speaker: And then catches up with Said outside of the mosque. And he's like, Said. they So they catch up a little bit. And then Said inquires about Zahra, if I'm pronouncing it correctly.
Speaker: And learns that she was killed some time ago by a stray bomb while shopping. That's Ism's wife. And so Said gives his condolences and Ism invites him to come back to his apartment.
Speaker: Then in his apartment, his roommates are playing a video game. Saeed is introduced to them. And during the course of small talk, he notices an electronic surveillance device in the smoke detector.
Speaker: So he borrows one of their cigarettes and you know notices that the detector is not going off when he puts it by it. And he finds a listening device. And then Issam explains to his roomies that Saeed knows a thing or two because of his past in the Iraqi Republican Guard.
Speaker: And one of them suggests it may have been fate that brought Said to them.
Speaker: This was really, really, really cool. ah This was really cool. I feel like I always forget that Said is a soldier. Yeah. I always forget. And it he kind of gets to show off his skill a little bit in this episode, not just here, but in different areas.
Speaker: But particularly here, I thought it was cool. And again, it just goes with, you know, Saeed wanting to actually catch up with his friend Esam. But he does have to carry out this mission.
Speaker: And that is the reason he's there. And again, This episode is really just decision after decision after decision and the weighing of those decisions.
Speaker: And then back on Island, Jack isn't the only one who really needs some rest as Charlie and son are trying to convince a worn out Claire that she needs to sleep. But she's afraid to in case something would happen to the baby. And she's not at all reassured when Charlie says, I'll look after turnip head.
Speaker: which is the loving nickname that he's given the baby since she hasn't named the baby yet. Right. And finally, Charlie convinces her by swearing that he will personally guard the baby until she wakes up.
Speaker: And then down the beach, a grieving Shannon sits alone. And this is the scene I alluded to where Locke walks over to her tentatively and offers her some of Boone's belongings. And they talk about how brave and how stubborn Boone was. Locke's like, I should never let him go with me the first time he asked.
Speaker: And Shannon was like, He would have gone anyway. And Locke said, yeah, I suppose you're right. Locke acknowledges Shannon's grief and anger and, you know, really tries to connect with her. He's like, I've lost family too.
Speaker: Not that it really helps you right now, but I've i've gone through this. And he asks her for forgiveness. He says, I hope you can forgive me. And then Shannon watches him walk away and begins to cry.
Speaker: And then back at Saeed's tent, Shannon reminds Saeed he offered to help her. She says, John Locke killed my brother. Can you do something about that? What do you think of that? I need to... That's what I need to go on about.
Speaker: Spoiler alert. Shannon's my least favorite character for this episode. All right. For obvious reasons. Yeah.
Speaker: let me Let me say, Locke was extremely genuine there. He was so genuine. Didn't tell a lie. didn't he didn't lie to her in any of that. He didn't lie to her. and he and And I believe he truly did feel for Boone.
Speaker: Boone was almost like his apprentice in a way. And I feel like they had definitely some sort of connection. And he kind of opened up to Shannon and was like, you know what? I, you know, I am so sorry, you know, whatever, whatever, whatever. And Shannon immediately afterwards is like, oh, what can you do about John Locke killing my brother?
Speaker: Like, what the heck? I know. What are we talking about? He just apologized and asked for your forgiveness. What are you doing? Pretty crazy. oh Yeah.
Speaker: Just annoying. Agreed. And then at the caves, Locke is trying to wash the blood out of his shirt when Saeed approaches and sees Locke's surgical scar. And Locke says, it's a war wound.
Speaker: Saeed asks Locke if he'd be willing to take him out to the plane under the pretext of retrieving any working parts from the radio. And Locke's like, yeah, i can do that. And as Saeed and Locke walk through the jungle towards the plane, Saeed asks several questions of Locke, feeling him out as they go.
Speaker: And Locke immediately picks up on the interrogation and suspects that it's because Jack called him a liar in front of everyone at the funeral. And Saeed asks why he would interrogate him, and Locke says, Jack called me a liar in front of every man, woman, and child I've come to know in the past month.
Speaker: Maybe you're thinking there's no plane? And Saeed replies, I know when I'm being lied to, and I believe that there's a plane. And he is shown to have good instincts once they arrive at the plane, Nick.
Speaker: First of all, his war wound is 100% not a war wound. That's when his father stole his kidney. I'm saying stole, even though Luck gave it to him willingly.
Speaker: Right. I'm still using stole. I really like the Saeed and Locke dynamic. I love it. like really, really, really love it. The tension that they have while also kind of being not really at each other's throats, but they're both willing to give a little bit in this conversation.
Speaker: Like, Saeed's interrogating him. Locke knows that Saeed's interrogating him. Saeed knows that Locke knows that he's interrogating him. yeah And they're kind of just going back and forth about questions and and answers and if the questions have the correct answers or if they're just made up ones.
Speaker: The only thing that I am very confused about is why wouldn't Locke tell more people that his legs, like, like he wasn't able to walk before and now he can't?
Speaker: Why wouldn't he? Okay. Part of me, part of me kind of gets it because downright saying that the island is supernatural is one thing. But yeah, why not tell more people?
Speaker: You know, like that's that's where I'm getting at. He could have explained like I don't know why he had to keep going on about the lie with Saeed about the Charlie horse, which was a horrible lie, by the way. one was a horrible one.
Speaker: ah I didn't understand that. Yeah, I mean, I guess it's probably just because Locke doesn't think that people are going to believe that it happened. Yeah.
Speaker: That checks out.
Speaker: And in our next flashback, Saeed and Issam are playing soccer in a park, and Issam tells Saeed that he is to murder himself as a suicide bomber. And he's tore up about it. He says, I don't think I can do it.
Speaker: As Saeed looks on sadly. And Saeed relays the information to CIA agent Cole and pleads with her to help Issam get out. But the agents refuse and instruct Saeed to convince Issam to go ahead with the mission.
Speaker: Saeed refuses and Agent Cole threatens to have the CIA arrest Nadia as an enemy combatant with a record of insurgency. And so Saeed ever wants to see Nadia again, he's going to have to convince his friend Assam to blow himself up.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: It's... Oh, God. I also hate Cole. Horrible. It's horrible that they're making him do this. And I kind of get it because 300 pounds of C4 explosives is a lot of C4 explosives.
Speaker: But still, I think it is really, really, really screwed up that they make him make that decision. Especially when we see how close Saeed and Issam are getting and how they're actually interacting and how Saeed wants the best for him, but he can't.
Speaker: Yeah. Difficult to watch.
Speaker: And then back on the beach, Charlie is watching over baby Turnip Head and having a hard time getting the baby to stop crying. And Hurley tries to help him out. He says, all right, it's time to pull out the big guns. And then he breaks out into a loud rendition of, I feel good. na and na and na and na But to no avail. It doesn't help. The baby keeps crying. But what what a fun...
Speaker: ah A little Hurley moment there. That was an amazing Hurley bit. And I just want to say that that was one of my favorite moments from the episode. By far.
Speaker: Yeah, this was a pretty intense episode. And, you know, there was a couple of of moments and most of them were around the baby.
Speaker: they were a little bit lighter, just lighten the mood a little bit.
Speaker: And then at the Beechcraft plane, Saeed inspects the wreckage, including the bags of heroin. And Locke asks, why don't you trust me, Saeed? And Saeed says, well, part of it is because you've had a gun hidden in your pocket.
Speaker: And Locke hands it over to him, tells Saeed where he got it from. And he says, does this earn me some trust? And Saeed says, no, that earns you adaptability. And Locke says, all right, I'll tell you something you don't know.
Speaker: And he admits that during the mission to triangulate Danielle's signal that it was Locke who knocked Saeed out. So we get, we finally get some resolution there. i freaking knew it.
Speaker: You did We can go back to when he got knocked out and I theorized that it could be Locke. You did theorize that. We can go back. I did theorize that. I tried to red herring you. Finally.
Speaker: Yeah, you did. You did. You did try to red herring me. Oh my goodness. i I was so happy. i was so, so happy. i was i started I paused and I started jumping for joy because I was like, yes, I figured it out. I figured it out.
Speaker: i was I was very excited. Anyway, carry on. Sorry. I just had to oh no you're good you're good play ah play the I was right game. Right. Yeah, you got to play that card when you can.
Speaker: Yeah. And then Saeed, upon hearing that, he grabs Locke by the throat in his one hand, and he's got the gun in into the other, and he puts the gun up to Locke, and Locke's like, I did it to protect the group.
Speaker: You guys had tunnel vision at that time. Everybody was so focused on getting off the island, and the message was saying it killed them all, and just wasn't a good idea. So Saeed finally you know backs down off of him, and he then asks, what is the hatch?
Speaker: And Locke's like, the hatch? What? And Saeed says, Boone mentioned the hatch. And Locke continues to be deceptive. And he says, well, there's two hatches on a plane, Saeed.
Speaker: The front and the rear aft or something to that effect.
Speaker: I like Locke telling Saeed the truth here, and I like that Saeed was actually able to get the information out of Locke. It proves that he is truly ah very good at his interrogation job.
Speaker: i mean, it proves a lot of things, and i really i am a really big fan of Saeed, and this kind of showcases his ability to piece together everything.
Speaker: From the plane to sort of Locke's, don't want to say like and like, kind of like his goal. he's He's basically just figuring it out. And he doesn't and probably won't fully trust Locke until Locke has told him 100% of truth. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah
Speaker: And then we cut to our next flashback, and Saeed is trying to talk Issam into doing it for the greater good. He tells him, I lost someone too. I will never be whole again. There has to be consequences. So do it for Zahra.
Speaker: And Issam says, Hadad was right. It was faith that brought us together. Saeed, will you do this with me? And Saeed responds, I will.
Speaker: He just locked himself in there. That was that was the... That was the nail in the coffin. Mm-hmm. Is he locked himself into that and he told him do it.
Speaker: I really, i think he should have done it his own way. I know he won probably couldn't because of the circumstances from the CIA.
Speaker: But still, I think it's really unfortunate. Yeah, tough, tough situation.
Speaker: Very tough situation and extremely tough decision. and that's the theme of this entire episode is just so decision, decision, decision, decision.
Speaker: Yep.
Speaker: And then back on Island later back at the beach, Saeed tells Shannon that he's spoken with Locke and he believes that Boone's death was honestly an accident. But Shannon is not satisfied and gets all kinds of pissed off at Saeed.
Speaker: And then at the raft, Walt has some questions that he's drilling his dad with about the safety of the raft and are there going to be shark attacks? So Michael is trying to reassure him. And while this is going on, Charlie walks up again with the crying baby and Sawyer expresses his irritation at the sound of the crying.
Speaker: But at the sound of Sawyer's voice, however, the baby immediately stops crying and Charlie starts to understand that Sawyer's voice is soothing the baby, and so he starts following Sawyer around awkwardly, which was hilarious.
Speaker: And then at Jack's tent... A groggy Jack wakes up as Kate watches over him. And this was something I didn't touch on earlier, but, you know, along with the conversation that everyone was telling Jack that they needed the doctor to be healthy, Kate had decided to give him some sleeping pills earlier and to get him some rest.
Speaker: And so in this scene, Jack is waking up from that. And he notices that the key to the gun case is missing from his necklace that he wears around his neck. And he starts looking around frantically.
Speaker: And Saeed notices and walks over to see what's going on. And Jack assumes that it's Locke that has taken it. And he's after the guns. But Saeed says, Jack, it wasn't Locke. And then as it starts pouring rain, we see Shannon pull a gun from the case.
Speaker: It's always the rain. It is. Always. It's always rain. guns and the rain together. always the rain. Always. Yep. Yep. Yeah, the guns the and the rain and the commotion come with the rain. Rain equals bad.
Speaker: I thought Shannon was really ungrateful here. Saeed did work and came to his conclusion and offered that to Shannon.
Speaker: And it kind of seemed like Shannon had made up her mind that Locke was the bad guy, even before she asked Saeed to do this thing for her. um She had made that up, and that's very apparent here.
Speaker: And that's the reason why she's down there for me is just I get she's grieving, But that doesn't that's no excuse to act the way that she acted. No, total total lack of reason.
Speaker: Yeah. Throughout the entire episode from Shannon. Sawyer and Charlie bit was amazing. i loved it. I thought that was hilarious. Frick you, Shannon. That's all I have to say.
Speaker: So the people want to know what you would have done, Nick, if your least favorite character had killed off your favorite character in this episode. ah stopped watching the show.
Speaker: That's what I figured. I think there would have been a lot of people. and i I'm not exaggerating at all. Yeah. I'm not exaggerating at all. I would be done. I would be so done.
Speaker: i that I need Hurley and I need Locke. If at any point I lose those two, I'm done. i don't think anyone watching the show actually thought that You know, when we get to that point later in the episode that Locke was going to die, but it made for some intense moments.
Speaker: i agree.
Speaker: And then in our next flashback, Saeed and Assam drive to a warehouse and get into a truck full of explosives. Haddad gives them some last-minute instructions and gives Assam a pistol in case of trouble.
Speaker: Then he leaves, and Assam starts the truck. Saeed admits to working with the CIA, and he offers Assam a 10-minute head start before he calls the authorities. Asam is furious at Saeed's betrayal and he holds a gun to his throat.
Speaker: He says, you talked me into this. You were supposed to be my brother and my friend. You said it was for the greater good, but it was just so you could find some woman that you love. And then he pauses and he says, well then, Saeed, I hope she makes you whole again as he turns the gun on himself. What a heavy, heavy scene here. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: It's, yeah. I mean, there's not really much else to say. Except it's just so intense. oh I mean, I feel for Issam.
Speaker: like if i Like, if I'm in that situation um and I learn that, i um I would just have so many emotions going on. And that's horrible for Saeed, too. To see that, like, right in front of him.
Speaker: And it's this guy that he tried to save and and wanted to care about. And just all down the drain is horrible. Fantastic flashbacks all around. I really did enjoy these.
Speaker: ah The set of flashbacks. um They were very intense and engaging. And I really did like that.
Speaker: They were, yeah.
Speaker: And what a difficult few minutes for Saeed. I mean, obviously he knows yeah he knows that in some capacity, despite the fact that he feels like he's doing the right thing to see Nadia again and to keep her out of trouble because they're basically blackmailing him.
Speaker: He also knows what he's doing to someone that he does consider a friend. Right. Right. And then when the gun was pulled on him, like you could just see the terror in his face as well. And probably the recognition that, man, I kind of deserve this really.
Speaker: So it was tough all the way around. Yeah, i agree.
Speaker: And then back on island, Saeed, Jack, and Kate sprint through the jungle in the rain, and they break into the clearing and find Shannon with the gun pointed at Locke. And Locke says, she doesn't believe me, Saeed.
Speaker: And they all try to talk her down, but she doesn't listen to them. And Saeed says, if you do it, you can never take it back. And then just as she is firing at Locke, Saeed tackles her to the ground.
Speaker: And Shannon is furious at Saeed and runs away. And Jack is just burning. i mean, burning a hole through Locke with the disgusted look on his face.
Speaker: And we see Locke and his head has been grazed by the bullet. And there's some blood trickling down, but he's okay. And man, if if looks could kill from Dark Jack here, we know what Locke would be, Nick.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Wow. I mean, i i think this also cemented Shannon's, oh, I hate you. For me, yeah i don't know. yeah I don't really know what the thought process was. I don't know what you're going to get out of killing him.
Speaker: and then also, Saeed saves his life, and then Shannon's like, oh, I'm so mad at you. You didn't let me kill someone. Like, what? Mm-hmm.
Speaker: It's dumb. I do find it interesting how Saeed goes, Shannon, you've never used a gun before, and she shoots the ground with a pristine aim, might I add.
Speaker: True, yeah. So, what kind of past does Shannon got going on here? You know, like... Good question. do Does Shannon got a pass that we don't know about?
Speaker: We'll see. But yeah, I really, i mean, another decision that Saeed had to make that moment and he delivered. He always, he always does. Yep.
Speaker: And then later on to lighten up the heaviness of what had just happened, we circle back to Charlie sitting in Sawyer's tent with the baby. And Sawyer is reading to the baby from an automotive magazine.
Speaker: And the sound of his voice is once again the only thing keeping the baby from crying. Claire walks up, you know, looking on curiously and then sits down with them as Charlie grins and says, keep going, keep going.
Speaker: And then that night on the beach, Saeed stares at a subdued Shannon from a distance. And Kate says, she just needs time. She's been through a lot. But Saeed wonders aloud if he didn't make a mistake. And Kate says, you couldn't let her kill Locke. You had no choice.
Speaker: And this is where he replies with, there's always a choice.
Speaker: else Such a good line. It's such a good line and such a good motif for this whole episode. Yeah, I know. It's so good.
Speaker: It's great. I think Shannon needing time is is really, really immature and stupid. and don't know why you would need time.
Speaker: mean, I get like he's dead and and you're grieving, but you almost just tried to kill a guy and now you're going to act upset. Yeah. You know, does that make sense?
Speaker: Yeah. I don't know. I just don't understand that.
Speaker: Yeah, she should be island public enemy number one after trying to kill someone on the island. Yeah. That's the I see it. Yeah, i and i I just love that line that Saeed says. There's always a choice. I think it's fantastic. I think it's great.
Speaker: So good.
Speaker: Yeah. And then in our last flashback of the episode, there are a lot of flashbacks in this one. Outside... a warehouse, Sam's covered body is being wheeled away, and Agent Cole is honoring her deal, telling Saeed that Nadia lives in Irvine, California.
Speaker: She gives him some money and a plane ticket for a flight to LA, which leaves in two hours. And Saeed is really concerned, though, about Sam's body, because he's told that unless someone claims it, it will be cremated. And this doesn't line up with Muslim tradition. And so Saeed demands that they push his flight back so that he may claim the body and make proper funeral arrangements.
Speaker: So the agents agree and he ends up booked the next day on Oceanic Flight 815. So very interesting how these little delays in our characters' stories, Nick, lead to all of our survivors being on Flight 815.
Speaker: Yeah, and i mean, just that like just that decision, and it was a great decision to make, I think, not knowing what would happen. It was a great decision to make, and it cost him this. But you know what this also means? is This also means that Isan does not get to be buried because Saeed is on this island and he cannot claim his body.
Speaker: Hmm. It's unfortunate. Yeah.
Speaker: And then back on island as we close out our episode, Locke sits at the fire putting a salve on his head and Saeed approaches and Locke thanks him for saving his life. Saeed explains that he did it because he senses that Locke will be their best hope of survival on the island, but that he doesn't forgive Locke and he certainly doesn't trust him.
Speaker: And then he says, and now you're going to take me to the hatch. And Locke tries to, once again, sidestep The hatch, I told you, what are you talking about? And Saeed says, John, no more lies.
Speaker: and then we fade to black and another great episode in the books.
Speaker: The one thing I did really want to mention about this scene in particular was the way the fire struck both of their faces um at the end of this episode. It makes them look so cool.
Speaker: And if Locke decides to tell the truth, and he does decide to let Saeed in on the secret, I hope that Locke and Saeed become a little dynamic duo. ie will love that duo with all my heart.
Speaker: So I'm very excited to see the next episode. Yeah, they are great together for sure. i think the challenge yeah at this point is when you talk about Locke versus Jack, Saeed is, at this point, he has spent most of his time on the island hanging around Jack, supporting Jack, believing in Jack.
Speaker: So I think that's where the challenge lies there. Yeah. But if they do become a little pair, I will enjoy that thoroughly. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: So where would you rank this one? oh I'm not going to say it's as good as the past three. i think I gave the most recent one an 8. What did I give it? A 9? No, IMDB gave it an 8.9.
Speaker: What did I give it? I think I gave it a 9.1. Yeah, somewhere in there. So I would give this one either... I'd probably give this one like... I think this would I would give this one an 8.8 or an 8.9, probably for this one.
Speaker: I did not quite enjoy as much as the past three. But I still did very... loved it. Yeah, it's a great episode. um I think you'll be surprised to hear what IMDb gave this one.
Speaker: me Let me pull it up make sure that I'm telling you the right thing. Yeah, IMDb only gave this one an 8.2.
Speaker: That's really interesting. Yeah, interestingly enough, like that really that's the same as Homecoming, and that's a little bit under what In Translation got. Wow.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't think I agree with that. I think this is a pretty solid episode all the way around. Like you said, the the flashbacks on this, especially the first time watching, it becomes harder to watch the flashbacks when you've seen the show five times like I have.
Speaker: For whatever reason. Like, I guess i I already know what's happened in the flashbacks and I care more about the on-island dynamics and and things. Sure. But I still think upon re-watching this that it's a really good episode. And I'm with you. it's not as it's It's nowhere near the previous three, or at least in my mind, it's nowhere near Numbers or Deus Ex Machina.
Speaker: Yeah. It's not far off for me from Do No Harm, though. like I think it's a really good episode. Yeah, I i agree. Do No Harm is was was great, but it wasn't to the extent... It wasn't to the Dussex Machina or to the numbers level.
Speaker: oh
Speaker: Awesome. Well, it's time for Most Love, Most Hated. This is Nick's favorite part of the show. I'm assuming this is also some of our listeners' favorite part of the show where we talk about... Who's trending up? Which characters are most loved and which characters are trending down or most hated?
Speaker: So cue us up, Nick. What do you got?
Speaker: Most hated Shannon. Yep. Pretty obviously. Second most hated, we have ah Agent Cole.
Speaker: Okay, that's fair. I did not like Agent Cole. A three slot is really difficult for me. I feel like we didn't get enough of everybody to you know, get ah get a three slot.
Speaker: So I'm compelled to put the baby again.
Speaker: Just as like a placeholder. Yeah. I mean, i didn't, I feel like there was no one to really hate in this episode. I guess I could say the other, the other guy, the other guy, the other CIA guy.
Speaker: Yeah. that That's what was going to say. Not cool, but the other. Those are mine. Exactly. shannon And then the two CIA agents are my three. Well, stated.
Speaker: Yeah. Most loved. Number one, we're going to go Saeed. That's a no brainer for me. Number two, we're going to go Locke. Even though he is sort of on the bad side, his character is just so interesting to me.
Speaker: And there's so many questions that I have. And his character is so well thought out that I kind of even if you hate him, I kind of got to put him at two. And I'm not saying I don't i do hate him. I love his character. I think it's extremely interesting.
Speaker: So I put him at two. Agreed. And then in my three slot, it's kind of a three-way tie. me see if I can really quickly come to a conclusion. Yeah, we're going to put a Sawyer there in the number three spot.
Speaker: All right. Kind of crazy take, maybe, but it was between him, Hurley, and Jack. I felt like Dark Jack wasn't really necessary.
Speaker: i think he kind of should have listened to Locke's point of view a little bit, kind of like Saeed did, and maybe he would understand. And Hurley just didn't have enough screen time for me to give him ah the number three slot.
Speaker: I did really enjoy Sawyer's reading to the baby. I thought that was extremely fun and showcased off Sawyer's true character, which is he's not really this tough kind of personality guy, but he is kind of like, he does have a soft side.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely. My most loved are similar. i agree with you. to go say number one on this one. Locke went from my bottom three last week back into most loved this week.
Speaker: You know, I felt like he was very genuine and his apologies, both on the beach and to Shannon. Yep. My number three is going to surprise you a little bit. but I am kind of going with somewhat of a three-way tie for number three this week.
Speaker: Okay. I am going with the combination of Charlie and Sawyer. I thought they were both great. Sure. I know Charlie's been in in your doghouse, but I thought that we got the lovable, chippy Charlie back again this episode, where he's also trying to look after Claire's baby and help out and let her get some rest.
Speaker: And I just thought it was great. Yeah. And then i also... I'm going to be the guy that disagrees with you on on Jack. Jack is a top character for me this episode. And hear me out. It's because he is he's one of the strongest characters on the island.
Speaker: He's a strong leader. Despite how much I like Locke, he absolutely has a right to be Dark Jack and pissed off at Locke for giving him incorrect information that caused someone that was under his medical care to die. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: That is fair. So that's my bold take. That's where I'm going with it. I guess that's not very bold. I do see your point.
Speaker: Well, that was easy. I roped you right in Yeah. Awesome. All right, well, let's talk theories and predictions. So this is the part of our episode where Nick lets you know what's going on in his mind. So where are you at right now?
Speaker: Obviously, we had a... a pretty big reveal this week with Locke telling that he was the one that knocked Saeed out earlier in the season. So we can cross that one off the list, yeah but anything else that really stuck out to you this week, theory or prediction wise?
Speaker: Um, not really. I mean, I got a confirmation of a theory. i don't think we have anything, any new theories. I mean, we talked about the raft a little bit. So, I mean, my theory is that they will not make it off the island with that raft.
Speaker: And I bet you something very, very bad will happen. that that's my That's my theory. Sharks? this week. I don't... No, I don't necessarily predict... um Maybe.
Speaker: It actually could be sharks. And the reason why might be because Walt is on the boat. And Walt is special. Oh, Walt conjures up the sharks? Oh, yeah. Interesting. Yeah.
Speaker: Because of his special properties. Mm-hmm. So... All right. Cool. Well, next up is episode 22 of season one, which is called Born to Run. And as I found out at the end of last episode, thanks to our friends at Hulu and the way that they lay out the episodes, Nick is aware that this is a Kate-centric episode.
Speaker: So this is the third episode to feature her in season one. So how you feeling about where we're at going into that episode and what we might find out? I'm excited, even though i i feel like I haven't been very big on Kate.
Speaker: And it's it's really not because I hate her. I i i hope it doesn't come off that way. I feel like just for me, Kate is a very good balance of annoying and a great character where she's kind of in this middle ground where, I mean, when she is annoying, it does kind of tick me off and i do put her in my bottom three.
Speaker: And when she's redeeming, I feel like She's not redeeming enough to be in my top three, but I do not hate her character at all. I actually, if I had to rank all the characters in the show, she would probably be and my number six spot.
Speaker: Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. Well, we're going to, and we'll talk about more about this next week, but we're at least going to rank our top five characters for season one when we do our,
Speaker: recap episode of season one once we get through the finale. So that'll give the listener something to get excited about as well. Yes. Yeah.
Speaker: Awesome. Well, another great episode in the books. Thank you so much for tuning in and listening, everyone. Be sure to watch the episode leading up to our next podcast episode. And don't forget to like, subscribe, and leave a review.
Speaker: And we'll see you next time. We will see you next time.
