'Lost' season 6: answers answered, ep. 6

The latest episode of Lost followed around (candidate No. 16) Sayid Jarrah, who was drowned in the Temple's spring last we saw, then was miraculously resurrected, then subsequently tortured by the Temple's assistant managing editor Dogen. And more answers were answered. Read on, after the jump.

—Posted by Will Levith

  1) In the 2004 flash-sideways reality, Sayid arrives at the house of his brother, Omer, who is now married to Sayid's long-lost love Nadia. (Remember in the first Sayid origin story how he was able to kill the chicken instead of his brother? We can assume this guy is the grown version of that scared little boy. He's come a long way.)
  1a) It occurs to me that this "sideways reality," at least in Sayid's case, is not only the life he would've led had the plane not crashed on the island, but also the life the Smoke Monster "promised" him in the jungle (in the 2007 reality). If Smokey (in Locke's form) is truly "evil incarnate" (as Dogen described him), we can assume he's not the most reliable source. What he promised Sayid (i.e., being reunited with a live version of Nadia) may not have turned out exactly how Sayid thought it would.
  2) In the flash sideways, Sayid and his brother discuss his past in Iraq—in this reality, as in the 2007 one, he was a torturer for the Iraqi Guard. Maybe "evil" people can never truly escape their past, no matter what reality they're in?
  3) Dogen instructs the dead, infected and newly resurrected Sayid to kill the Smoke Monster. He must be killed before he speaks, or it won't work, says Dogen. Now, we can assume that Sayid was resurrected by the hand of the Smoke Monster, so it's sort of a shock when he attempts to murder Smokey. He, of course, fails miserably and is further "claimed" by the Smoke Monster.
  3a) We find out what "brought" Dogen to the island: He was drunk at the wheel and got into a fatal accident, which killed his son (whom we saw at the same conservatory audition as Jack's flash-sideways son David). The baseball that Dogen has been flipping around on his desk represents the memory of his son, who was a baseball player. He speaks of meeting and making a deal with the mysterious Jacob: Dogen must come to the island—and his son will survive—but the two can never meet again.
  3b) This sounds awfully similar to the Smoke Monster's bargain with Sayid—but as we see in the flash sideways, Dogen and his son are reunited (at the piano audition). Does Dogen's inherent goodness (or true remorse for killing his son?) grant him a clean slate in the flash-sideways reality? Was the payment Dogen got for working for Jacob at the Temple being able to see his son again in another reality?
  4) Sayid, upon returning to the Temple, delivers a message from the Smoke Monster: Jacob's dead, and the inhabitants are "free" to leave the Temple. They must leave by "sundown," though, or else they'll all die. Dead Sayid then murders Lennon and Dogen with a big knife. Question: If Jarrah were a candidate, how was the Smoke Monster able to get control of him? Certainly not in the same way he is controlling Sawyer. This remains unexplained.
  4a) The Dead Sayid is not much different from the Living Sayid; they're both, deep down, evil guys. But one main question looms: Why, if Sayid was one of Jacob's candidates, was Sayid not able to be saved (or turned good)? Was he an oversight by Jacob? Or was Ben's father shooting him back in the '70s the catalyst needed to set him in a NIN-style downward spiral?
  5) A major connection/reveal: The Smoke Monster says he's going to round up "anyone who will listen," and Dogen says that the Smoke Monster can be killed only if he doesn't speak first. So, the Smoke Monster can be destroyed! … but only by driving a dagger through his heart before he says anything. (A tall task, if you ask me.) Maybe Ilana has it in her to do it? Maybe Ben Linus? (Wouldn't that be ironic?!) Someone who hopefully has earplugs that drown out old Smokey.
  6) Feral Claire, who we now know is in league with the Smoke Monster, is sent into the Temple by Smokey. (This doesn't explain, however, why Dogen and the Temple Others didn't just kill her the first time they captured her and tortured her, as she noted previously.) Maybe she still has some good in her? Or maybe Temple dwellers are not allowed to kill anyone? (They drowned Sayid, but not because they were trying to kill him; they were trying to save him.)
  7) When the Smoke Monster finally infiltrates the Temple, all hell breaks loose. In his pillar-of-black-smoke form, he shoots around murdering everyone in sight. So, we know that at least Dogen was telling the truth when he said Smokey was "evil incarnate" and wanted all living things on the island dead. At least, all the living things that Smokey couldn't manipulate for his own end—i.e., his followers, who surround him at the end of the episode.
  8) Lapidus, Miles, Ben, Ilana and Sun show up at the Temple—while Smokey is on his path of destruction—and find cover in the wall passage, which leads outside of the Temple (the same one Hurley and Jack used to get to the Lighthouse). None of them are aware, yet, that Ben was actually Jacob's murderer. (This may or may not matter.) They do know that he strangled Locke, but he seems remorseful about it. If Ben is as evil as it appears he's been, how can he have been in league with the Temple good guys? How can he not be an agent of the Smoke Monster? This is still unexplained.
  9) In the flash-sideways reality, Martin Keamy—the paramilitary super-douche, who was working for Charles Widmore and murdered Ben's "daughter" Alex in cold blood—is shot and killed by Sayid. (Keamy had cut a bad loan deal with Sayid's brother and was extorting him. Keamy had taken Sayid hostage, too, in a kitchen area.) After killing Keamy, Sayid uncovers a beaten- and tied-up Jin Kwon in the kitchen's walk-in freezer. Question of the moment: Might Charles Widmore be behind all this evildoing in the flash sideways? Is Charles Widmore the Smoke Monster's off-island lackey?
  10) Kate, because she jumped into the pit with Feral Claire, seems to have been "claimed" by the Smoke Monster—because at the end of the episode, it appears she's in concert with the rest of the baddies. Did Claire kill her? Or is she pretending to be "claimed" so that she can mount a fierce counter-offensive for the goodies? This remains to be seen.

Previously:
'Lost' season 6: answers answered, ep. 5
'Lost' season 6: answers answered, ep. 4
'Lost' season 6: answers answered, ep. 3
'Lost' season 6: answers answered, ep. 1-2