Well that was exciting...

Some follow-up to last week’s ep first:

When I rewatched, I realized that Jacob says that “they” were coming to the Island, not “he.” I wonder if this was just intentionally incorrect English designed to not give any clues or if multiple people need to find the Island. If so, I wonder if he meant the Sideways versions of those that he touched in “The Incident.”

Also, when rewatching the lighthouse scene, I noticed some other interesting names that I missed the first time: Rousseau at 20; Austen at 51; Dawson at 124; and, of course, Wallace at 108 (though I had actually read that before I rewatched). Who knows what that means (if anything) for Kate and #108.

So onto “Sundown”

Funnily enough, before watching, I assumed that this would be a Jin/Sun ep because of the punny-ness of the title.

That Dogen/Sayid fight at the beginning of the ep reminded me of the awesomeness of the Sayid/Keamy fight from back in Season 4. Sayid/Keamy still wins, but Sayid/Dogen was still pretty, pretty good.

The significance of the baseball. I wonder if it fell as a sign from Jacob to remind Dogen of his role.

“Apparently, I’m evil.” – Sayid to Miles

“You were dead for 2 hours.” – Miles. I gotta wonder what he heard in that time (if anything).

The second scene between Sayid and Dogen was very intense. Sayid put on his bad ass pants for this episode.

Dogen calls MIB “evil incarnate.” That seems a bit extreme, no? Everything on ‘Lost’ is shades of gray.

When Dogen tells Sayid that MIB will appear to him as someone who has died, does he know that he can no longer change his face (as Ilana said)? Is Ilana wrong? Or does it not matter because he was lying to him anyway?

“Now why’d you go and do that?” Oh, UnLocke, you crazy bastard. And that’s when I realized that Dogen sent Sayid to be killed by MIB.

“You stabbed me in the chest without even saying ‘Hello.’”

And now I’m wondering if the Sideways world is what happens if MIB wins. Perhaps he (it) creates it and it’s the wishes of the castaways granted. (Jack does not become his father; Kate reunites Claire and Aaron; Nadia is alive; Locke is with Helen and has found peace; Dogen is with his son) Of course, we’re probably heading to it not turning out to be exactly what everyone wanted if this is the case.

When Malkin, the psychic that Claire went to see in Season 1, told her that Aaron must not be “raised by another,” could this be the vision that he saw? (A crazy, dirty, maybe dead version of Claire trapped in a hole, as someone else says that she raised Aaron.) Or maybe he saw/felt the Sideways world and knew that it was “not right?”

Sayid doesn’t deserve Nadia. Is this the point of his Sideways story? He needs her to be happy (and alive), but he has to come to terms with his past before he can deserve her.

Damn, Keamy (Kevin Durand) is still awesome. It was good to see him again. Durand is ginormous, but he’s not just imposing because of his size. His size makes him seem dangerous, but his performance adds a bit of psychosis that make lines like “I make good eggs!” equal parts creepy, funny and (actually) believable.

I’m liking that these Sideways stories are bringing everyone together. Sayid is with Jin; Claire was with Kate and will soon be with Jack (I assume); Locke has contact with Jack, and I gotta wonder if Locke is the key to the Sideways world because of his importance in the Island world.

Dogen’s story about his son dying and his deal with Jacob reminded me of Juliet and her sister Rachel being cured of cancer because she came to the Island.

And the intensity and general awesomeness of the final scenes in the Temple can’t really be overstated. I don’t know if I’m supposed to, but I love DarkSayid and his killing of Dogen and cold-blooded throat slashing of Lennon was great.

Kudos to Naveen Andrews, who was great in both timelines, but especially in his final scenes. His response to Ben telling him that there was still time to escape (“Not for me”) was genuinely frightening.

Additional Random Thought:
So I don’t even know why I thought of this, but what if the Island’s healing power is why those that have died have come back to life? Maybe the healing comes from MIB, not Jacob. It may seem good, but it’s really just a way for MIB to show his power and exert his influence. Locke can walk again when he’s on the Island, but he’s not complete the way he is in the Sideways world off the Island. This could also explain Ben’s tumor: if Ben was (whether knowingly or not) working for MIB, Jacob could have given him the tumor and then brought Jack, the spinal surgeon to the Island. Honestly, all these conclusions make more sense in my head than when I write them out.

I certainly hope that I will be watching Lost in its regular Bat-time on its regular Bat-channel next week. Cablevision is threatening to take it away and that would upset me more than Smokey when he’s gone wild.