The Sayid Ultimatum

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This week’s “Lost” was called “The Economist,” and the series is continuing on its trajectory of pure awesomeness. I genuinely feel bad for the people who’ve given up on the show, because I feel like my patience has paid off. They’re doing exactly what I was hoping they’d do, but better than I imagined they’d be able to pull it off: questions are getting answered. Stuff is really happening. But they’re not just tying together loose ends; they’re still playing with the format, introducing new characters, throwing in tons of new questions, and always feeling like it’s going somewhere instead of stalling for time.

The opening of this episode is my second favorite in a series that’s had some killer openings (my favorite is still Desmond’s introduction, with “Make Your Own Kind of Music”). They’re finally taking advantage of Sayid’s bad-assery, and somehow finding ways to make what could’ve been a cliched, predictable espionage story and keeping me genuinely surprised. It feels like the flash-forwards have blown the series wide open, and the writers have been rejuvenated with the potential to do whatever they want.

(Wouldn’t anyone get bored spending four years to tell a story that takes place over 100 days, with characters who’ve been mostly “set” from the beginning? Isn’t it easy to understand why they keep trying stuff like introducing the tail end, Nikki and Paolo, and the “natives?”)

Big questions raised in this episode: Who’s the “R.C.” in Naomi’s bracelet? Was Sayid’s girlfriend wearing an identical bracelet? What’s with the time difference in the rocket sent from the ship? In particular, am I the only one expecting there to be a greater time difference, or the rocket not to show up at all? What are they going to do with angry ghostbuster Miles? What happened to Jacob’s cabin? Why is Sayid such a puss who keeps falling weepily in love at the drop of a hat? And we’re seeing a lot more of Naomi than we have of other dead people: can we expect her to be coming back?