Lost – “Enter 77”

7 Things I Learned About Lost from “Enter 77”

1. Locke + Computer = Bad

So, first he stops inputting the numbers and they lose the hatch, and now this time he blows up the Flame Station? I have to wonder how he managed not to blow up that box company he was working at in his flashbacks the second he touched their computers.

2. Cure to PTSD? Cats

The whole idea of cats being used to treat emotional wounds is really quite fascinating, and probably quite logical, but it seems a bit off for some reason. The flashback on the whole was fairly topical, if perhaps a little bit isolated and redundant based on past stories, but it certainly gave showcase to some lovable felines.

3. Absense…actually finds fondness quite the same

It’s been a while since we’ve spent decent time with Sayid and Locke this season, so it was good to finally return to these two characters. Their characters remain as interesting as ever, although I worry about redundancy of back stories (Locke’s should be coming up soon, though).

4. Hurley likes Sports

It always seems to be Hurley who suggests taking some randomly found objects and turning them into a game to liven up everyone’s spirits, including the episodes. This week’s ping pong match was almost entirely off-screen (Makes you wonder what was cut), but it served the same purpose as his golf game and the like.

5. Roger and…that girl are still utterly useless

Come on, Lindelof and Cuse, I want to know why it was necessary to add these people to the cast, especially since Kiele Sanchez has signed onto ABC’s Footballer’s Wives pilot which at this point has too many stars not to get picked up. If you’re just going to kill her, we better have a damn good reason for her existence.

6. The Purge

I like this idea of the purge, this idea that the Dharma people tried to eliminate the hostiles. When did this happen? Who of our current characters were involved? What role did Rousseau play in it all? I actually quite like the confusion it adds to her character; if she’d never been in this part of the island, where exactly has she gone? Has she really avoided them all this time, it seems quite unlikely. Either way, it certain adds lots of questions for which better answers can be provided when Jack returns in the upcoming weeks.

7. CTV’s Previews Are…Not Too Bad

The preview for this week’s episode seemed to reveal a lot, but it all went down within the first few minutes. Similarly, the preview for next week showed mainly just two scenes, as opposed to real plot twists and turns within the story. I’d still rather not see them, but as I was too lazy to turn to channel I was pleasantly surprised to see something I don’t mind watching. Kudos.

Oh…and, since I forgot to clarify, the episode was really quite good, and I think it really got things back on track compared to a few weeks of awkward attempts to regain past footing. That’s that: If you want a full recap of the episode, continue on.

We open on Sawyer looking Lost as he wanders on the beach, as Hurley notes that Jin has found a ping pong table in the woods. They’ve made a table, and they just need a ball; it came from the “exploded” hatch. Sawyer then meets up with…Roger? Was his name Roger? Anywho, it’s that Rodrigo guy, and he has his Guns ‘N Ammo. Sawyer, looking for Kate, gives up on fighting the “share” mentality of the castaways, and stalks off.

Speaking of stalking, Locke/Sayid/Kate/Rousseau are following the bearing of North 305, which Locke saw on Eko’s Jesus Stick as he buried him. They’re been walking for two days, and Sayid is unconvinced; however, when he takes a break from the group he stumbles upon a cow, and follows it to its home. The home’s owner: the one-eyed man from the camera in the pearl station.

Titles.

We return to the castaways spending some time preparing the ping pong table, and Sawyer agrees with us all: who ARE these two people? We still have no clue, but Sawyer is providing them an opportunity to assert themselves. He has the ping pong ball, and he wants to hold a match for his pilfered goods. If he loses: “No nicknames” (Sun). Everyone likes the idea, and we have our light-hearted plot of the week on its way.

Meanwhile, Rousseau has never been to this house before, which is utterly unbelievable but let’s go with it. Sayid decides to go in unarmed, which seems like a rather illogical approach. Rousseau agrees, and she has survived by avoiding these types of encounters. She decides to wait elsewhere for those who survive…harsh, Rousseau.

And back we head into Sayid’s past, as he chops up some vegetables in a restaurant. There’s a man out front who wishes to see him, and Sayid…or “Najif”. Sayid claims to not be an Iraqi, but the man calls him on it; he is offering him a job because of their outsider status.

Sayid, in the present, walks unarmed towards the house (Note: Episode was written by showrunners Cuse and Lindelof…good sign) while Kate and Locke cover him. There’s a cat on the steps, and- Sayid just got shot. The man says that there was a truce, that he didn’t go against it, that he didn’t cross the line. He tells Sayid to stay right there and starts to come out…which prompts Locke and Kate forward to capture him.

He appears to be unaware of the whole plane crash thing. His name is Mikail…something or other, and he is “the last surviving member of the Dharma Institute.” Now, this is interesting; it seems to imply that the Others have actually no connection to Dharma in the least, officially.

Sayid is brought in, and it appears our friend is Soviet and has experience with gunshot wounds. He asks for a medical kit, explaining that he served in Afghanistan.

“How did you get here?”

He grew up in Kiev, and was in Vladivostock; after the Cold War, his unit was decommissioned and he was dismissed from the military. After conducting unpleasant actions, he wanted to do something good. He applied to a newspaper advertisement: “Do you want to save the world?” He’s been there 11 years, and he’s a fan of communications equipment (Which is distracting Lost).

This is the Flame Station, the one designed to communicate with the outside world. A computer asks Locke if he’s ready to play: he says Yes to a game of chess. What happened to the Dharma Initiative? They foolishly committed a war against the hostiles, a “purge,” but he refused to participate. The hostiles allowed him to stay here, after offering a truce; they made him an imaginary line, and they said he would be left alone. They took two cows, and they never saw it again.

The satellite isn’t functioning, and the hostiles were on the island a very long time before Dharma was. Sayid, not quite so long ago, goes to check out the restaurant that offered him a position. Something about Sammy’s wife, however, is quite strange; suddenly people start punching him, and she confirms that “It’s him.” As he is kicked in the face by Sammy, we return to the present to see the bullet removed from his arm.

One of the cats is named Nadia, which Sayid finds quite interesting. Locke, meanwhile, finds the chess game interesting. He’s trying to defeat a game which was created by three grandmasters, and “it cheats” according to Mikhail. Kate finds things very strange, how they let him stay here: Sayid explains that he isn’t Dharma at all, that he is instead one of them. He is certain that this man is not alone, that he is just playing them; now it’s just a waiting game to see his next move.

We return to Hurley v. Sawyer, and it begins with Hurley 1, Sawyer 0. Back at Mikhail’s, he explains that from this hub wires run out into the sea (explaining the wire he found early on). Meanwhile, Sayid is playing “The Baiting Game,” which works as Mikhail decides to start attacking people. Sayid, however, kicks some Russian Other ass before Kate gets the finishing blow.

Back in the past, it looks like it’s Sayid’s torturous past which is getting him into trouble. Sammy’s wife, it appears, was the victim of such torture, and she’s convinced it was Sayid. Sayid cops to the fake name, admits he was such a person, but feels he does not know his victim (And he can remember them all, he’s quite empathetic that Sayid).

We return as Sayid notes that they lost communications, and that someone else is here: the horse is set up for someone much shorter. He lifts a carpet to find a secret passage…what is he, Monk?

Well, in the past he wasn’t quite as able to get his way out of sticky situations, especially not the one where a man is holding him hostage. He brings in his wife this time, and Sayid is getting nowhere with his “I am telling the truth” story. This is both an interesting commentary on the ethics of torture and a nice callback to Sayid’s use of it during the second season…or was it the first. Anyways, it’s just another timewasting scene, although the wife seems less convinced.

The basement of the Flame station is dark, mysterious. Locke has decided not to investigate, and is instead very much interested in the game of chess on the computer (Could there be a connection?). There’s a C4 block in the basement, let’s hope it’s not linked to that. Locke decides to go over to the computer, and start typing some buttons…and Sayid breaks through a door to find a whole lot of files. Like Operations Manuals and Food Drop Protocols.

Locke seems close to winning the chess game…and now he has. This seems bad, somehow. The music seems happy enough…but now there’s a video on the screen. Here’s our normal Dharma guy looking for instructions, and is trying to get Sonar access in some strange form. Sonar is also inoperable, and is there a hostiles incursion? “Enter 77” Mikhail is up, and asks him to put his hands in front of him. Kate, meanwhile, has found our other hostile…and it’s the woman from the fake camp, and the one who set Hurley free at the docks.

Kate decides to punch her in the face for it, which is kind of mean of her. They haven’t yet put together that Mikhail is upstairs running free and holding John hostage, so now we’re at a nice little standoff wouldn’t you say? Mikhail wants everyone to go their separate ways after a prisoner swap, but the woman’s Russian speak convinces him to murder her to keep the information from leaking out (Wow, that’s dedication). Mikhail, however, stays alive at the hands of Sayid.

We return to Sawyer coming to grips with an apparent loss, and yep: Hurley had been getting good in his mother’s basement and…”some place I stayed at”, aka a mental hospital. Hurley brings back some pornos and says that Kate will be fine. Sawyer is having trouble with the “No Nicknames” rule.

Locke is spending some time with the computer, and is of course very interested in it. The computer is asking him again: “Enter 77” if there has been an incursion on the station. Sayid escorts Mikhail outside, looking with Rousseau. The Purge was a group of scientists attacking their people, apparently, and he reiterates this. Sayid claims he has their ticket to where we need to go; it isn’t Mikhail, but Sayid has found a map to the Barracks, an entire community of people.

Mikhail prognosticates finding a chance to kill him, and Rousseau wonders why they’re keeping him alive if they have a map. Well, let’s refer back to our flashback to find out, as we find the wife (w/cat, I smell a theme) coming into the room. She explains that when they arrived in Paris, she was afraid and stared out her window at a cat looking for scraps. One day, children came by and tortured the cat with firecrackers, so she finally had a reason to leave her apartment and she rescued the cat. The moral of the story: She just wants respect, acknowledgement, and then she’ll be able to forgive him like she forgives the cat when it bites her. She just wants to be remembered.

Sayid remembers her, it appears. He remembers her face, and it has haunted him ever since he left Iraq. They share a moment of tears, and Sayid apologizes for his actions. She forgives him for his actions, and she promises to have him set free. She refuses to be like the cat torturers, and in the present so refuses Sayid even against all logic. He is his prisoner, and he will decide his fate.

Meanwhile, Kate and Locke have returned. And, unsurprisingly, Locke discovers that “Enter 77” kind of blows up the Flame Station (Luckily not immediately, they had time to get out). He’s a real smart one, that Locke, and Sayid notes that people might kind of notice the giant explosion. They walk away, and Sayid turns to find a solitary cat amongst the grass.

“Lost”