Dear Sayid,
OMGYOUKILLEDALLTHOSEPEOPLETHATSCRAZYBUTYOUKICKSOMUCHBUTTANDRHOTSORUEVILNOW?
Um, yeah. So, I hope you get this letter and all, but you don’t have to send me one back. You’re kinda scary now. And not it a brooding anti-hero kinda way.
We’ve known you were bad ass for a long time now. You and Keamy had that great fight two seasons ago. Now you and samurai Dogen have another one. But I’ve always held out hope that you were trying to use your powers for good. Even though we’ve had some setbacks, I kept telling myself you were either forced into it or at least looking out for the greater good — like that time you shot 10 year old Ben. That wasn’t very good, but at least I could understand why. Now, though, you don’t seem good AT ALL anymore. You made that deal with Locke, drowned Dogen (ah, poetic justice), cut Lennon up, and directly led to everyone in the Temple getting killed. At least all those who didn’t join up with Locke’s Army of Darkness. That’s all, officially, Not Cool. I can’t say I blame you that much, though. That Dogen guy drowned you, tortured you, then lied to you in the hopes that Locke would kill you. I know your principle character arc has been about struggling with your nature as a killer and it looks like you’ve figured all that out. It’s too late for you, just like you told Ben:
“There’s still time to escape.”
“Not for me.”
Creepy and sad all at the same time.
But, wait a minute. Seeing you in action this episode made me really think about the Others, Jacob, and that whole group. They don’t seem all that nice, either. There was the whole torture thing (sure, they were “testing” you, but maybe some multiple choice questions would have been better:
2. When Locke says hello, you _______
A. Say “what’s up”
B. Reply “I’m not that man anymore”
C. Stab him in the chest with a ceremonial dagger
D. Pledge to join his army of darkness
The Others, who presumably were following Jacob the whole time, have also kidnapped kids, killed Losties, tortured Claire, done God knows what to polar bears, and (via Ben) wiped out most of the Dharma initiative with poison gas. All of that stuff is Not Cool. So if they were doing it for Jacob, then Jacob isn’t exactly Santa Clause, either. Which means that you aren’t really evil after all. That’s good, because you’re too hot to be evil.
I’m beginning to hope Hurley just tells Jacob and Locke to piss off.
Love,
me
Tags: Lost
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funny you use the Santa Clause reference, and, if intentional, well done – the history of religion on this planet is one of groups doing less-than-benevolent acts in the name of “good” or “God” or “Allah.” Perhaps this is an elaborate morality tale attempting to answer the question – what happens when God stops wanting to be God?
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It was intentional, though I just realized I misspelled “Claus”. Woops.
For the ending to be successful, at least in my eyes, we have to get some “third way”, ideally from Hurley. Not Jacob, not Locke, but something that recognizes the worth of the people whom, we have seen, are being used by both sides.
What was so interesting about this last episode was that Sayid apparently surrendered to his “nature” as a killer, even though he’s been fighting it for 5 seasons now. Jacob seems to be trying to get Jack to surrender to his nature as a leader, despite Jack resisting that for 5 seasons. It’s the free will question again. The show seems to be playing with that question from both Jacob and Locke’s sides. Can you argue that one of them is giving the Losties more freedom than the other? Well, plenty of people ARE arguing that, but I’m not sure.
Within that context, I like your point about a morality tale. Will Lost (or does Lost, because I don’t want too much to hinge on the ending) give us a radical humanist viewpoint — that Fate/Destiny/God is simply manipulation that infringes upon human freedom?
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