He's Our You

I don't have much to say about "He's Our You." Sure it was another solid episode that continued to show that season 5 may go down as the best season of Lost since season 1, but basically it just filled in some holes in Sayid's backstory. Up until the end, the entire episode had the feel of filler, but what fun filler it was.

He went back in time and shot Hitler
Let's start at the end, which is what most fans will focus on anyway. Anytime a TV show or movie focuses on time travel, one of the first questions they address is whether or not you can go back and kill Hitler. Well, we're about to see if that could happen in the Lost universe, since Sayid basically went back and killed the baddest guy on the island, one Ben Linus.

While the ending was meant to surprise, with last week's episode teasers and Sayid figuring out his purpose for being back in 1977 after meeting young Ben, there wasn't much surprise in him shooting Ben. It was still an amazing scene and a tough one to watch. After Sayid saw the life Ben had with his abusive father and how nice Ben had been to him in helping him escape, he still put a bullet in his chest.

I wasn't surprised he shot at him, but I expected him to miss (kind of like when Sawyer was shot at in "LaFleur") or for the bullet not to do anything (like when Michael couldn't kill himself). At any rate, Sayid definitely should have checked if he was dead.

We still need the show to address if these events always took place in DHARMA past or if this is a new time line. If this were Back to the Future, 2008 Ben would disappear. I don't think that will be the case, but I don't think Ben's dead either. So did teenage Ben always get shot in 1977? That is the question.

For those wonder what Sayid's motive would be in shooting Ben, just look at Sayid's flashbacks, look at his life off the island ... look at the crap Benry put the 815ers through on the island. If Sayid thinks all of that could be avoided, then why not shoot him?

More on Ben
Young Ben hates his life in the DHARMA initiative. His father puts him through hell. What a deadbeat dad Roger has proven to be. Look at the way he treated Ben when he found out he'd been bringing Sayid food.

The only thing keeping Ben going is the idea that he'll get to go live with the Hostiles. He lets Sayid know that he met Richard 4 years ago (so 1973, the year before LaFleur and company flashed to the past), and he's waiting his time, being patient.

He sprang Sayid from the joint, in hopes that it was his time to go with the Hostiles. Too bad he didn't see the real motive behind Sayid's actions.

Go Live Your Life
We are filled in on Sayid completing his work for Ben. Once he made his last kill in Moscow, Ben deemed that the Oceanic 6 are safe and Sayid could go about living his life. This devestated Sayid, as he didn't have a life to go back to. Ben said that all the people Sayid had killed were part of Widmore's group, so can we assume Widmore is The Economist? Were all those people really working for Widmore or did Ben set up the whole thing? (were those people ones that Ben had issues with or just people Ben located for Sayid to knock off?)

Sayid goes on to work for a Habitat for Humanity-type organization, when Ben meets up with him. Apparently Sayid was in hiding, but Ben was able to find him. He tells Sayid about Locke being dead and says that he was murdered, alluding that the Oceanic 6 are in trouble again. Ben tells Sayid about the man outside Hurley's institution (the man Sayid ends up killing). Again, I question whether Ben put the guy outside Hurley's room himself. Sayid refuses to go back to helping Ben.

To Flight 316
We were filled in on the events that put Sayid on Ajira Flight 316 as well. After the arguement at the marina from "This Place is Death," Sayid is drowning his sorrows with $120 per glass MacCutchen Whiskey (Charles Widmore's favorite). He meets Ilana, who double-crosses him and plans to bring him to Guam for the murder of Peter Avellino, the guy Sayid killed on the golf course.

She leads him to the airport and before they board Flight 316, Sayid sees Hurley, Jack and Kate. He doesn't want to get on the plane because he knows it's not going to end up in Guam. Ilana refuses to change flights. After seeing Sun and Ben onboard, Sayid is convinced that Ben set up the whole thing, but Ilana doesn't seem to know who Ben Linus is. Looks like it's just bad luck for Sayid ... of was it fate?

Trouble in Paradise
Looks like Juliette's not feeling Jack and Kate being back, and she can tell that their return is eating at Sawyer too. Juliette enjoys the life that she and Sawyer made for themselves and the return of Jack and Kate is throwing a big wrench in their lives.

Funny that Kate learned of Juliette/Sawyer from Hurley, who always gets some of the best lines. Sawyer went to see Kate to find out why they returned (after Sayid had figured out his purpose ... killing young Ben). Kate's not back to kill Ben. She said she didn't know why the rest came back, but before she was able to tell sawyer why she came back (which we assume is for him), a flaming DHARMA van comes through the barracks courtesy of one Ben Linus.

Other Tidbits
"He's Our You" refers to Oldham, who like Sayid was a torturer. But Oldham used drugs to get the truth out of Sayid. It was funny when Sayid gave them the truth and none of them believed what they were hearing because it was so far-fetched. Oldham figured he'd given him too much of the drug.

What song was that playing on Oldham's phonograph? Was that the same song that Hurley and Sayid heard back in season two (the one where Sayid said the transmission could be coming from anywhere and Hurley said or any time)?

The book that Ben brings to Sayid is "A Separate Reality."

Did you catch the mentioning of Ann Arbour during the vote on whether or not to kill Sayid? Ann Arbour is home of the University of Michigan, where the DeGroots founded DHARMA.

On the vote, it surprised me that Sawyer would go along with the rest and vote to kill Sayid. He'd been adimately against it, but changed his mind so Horace could say it was unanimous. Hmm.

Its always great to see Uncle Rico, aka Roger "Workman" Linus, but man was he a jerk.

Next on Lost: "Whatever Happened, Happened"

*Photos from GetLostPodcastMedia.com