Sayid is one of my favorite characters on "Lost" so I'm always up for a good episode which features him. And, not only was last night's episode a Sayid flashback, but it was pretty action-packed as well.

So, why was I so bored last night? I really don't want to lose interest in this show, but I can't help getting frustrated. Does anyone feel the same?

ON THE ISLAND:

Sayid, Locke, Kate, and Danielle are searching for the Others' "home" but stop to rest. Sayid goes to search for fruit and hears a cowbell clanging. He follows the noise and finds a building with a satellite dish on top and livestock outside (I suppose that now we know where Kate's horse came from). He also sees the man with the eyepatch who they saw on the video transmission when they were investigating the Pearl Station with Nikki and Paulo.

Sayid returns to his companions and they all check out the building through the binoculars. Sayid tells Kate his plan to approach unarmed, with the other three as backup in hiding. Danielle says that she had survived for so long by avoiding confrontation and will wait for them by the stream.

Sayid approaches the building with his hands in the air. Suddenly he is shot in the arm. Kate is restrained from acting by Locke. Patchy is pointing his gun through an open window shouting at Sayid. He yells that he didn't cross the line, that he had a truce and this is his land. Sayid says he isn't who Patchy thinks he is, that his plane crashed, and he's unarmed. Patchy comes out, wearing a DHARMA jump suit with a flame logo patch. Locke and Kate rush in and force him to drop his gun. He introduces himself as Mikhail Bakunin, the last surviving member of the DHARMA Initiative.

Mikhail and Kate help Sayid to the couch inside. Mikhail offers to help with Sayid's wound, having spent some time in the Soviet Army getting field medicine experience. Mikhail asks Kate to get a medical kit from the kitchen and starts to patch up Sayid. Mikhail says he was stationed at a listening post for the Soviet army but was decommissioned when the Cold War ended. He replied to a newspaper advertisement "would you like to save the world?" He joined the initiative and came to the island eleven years ago. He was put in this station, called the Flame, the purpose of which is to communicate with the outside world. He says that everyone else in the DHARMA initiative died in a foolish attack they called "the purge" on the Others, whom they called "Hostiles". Mikhail survived by not getting involved and agreeing to a truce according to which he would stay behind a designated line. He says they weren't interested in the satellite dish because it hadn't functioned in years. He doesn't know who the hostiles are, but they were on the island for a very long time before the Initiative.
inside the Flame Station
Locke finds another room in which is a computer displaying a chess game. Locke starts a new game.

Mikhail finishes the stitches and offers them iced tea. He enters the computer room and tells Locke that the chess game is too difficult to beat and even cheats.

Sayid tells Kate that he is suspicious of Mikhail and that he believes there is another person hiding in the Flame station

Mikhail brings them the iced tea and Sayid asks more questions about the Initiative. Mikhail reveals that the Flame station is a communications hub with wires running underground to the other stations on the island. One cable runs into the ocean leading to an underwater beacon that guides submarines to the island. He suspects the Hostiles have destroyed or commandeered one. He seems surprised to hear that Sayid's group had a sailboat but that it was taken by the Others. When Sayid mentions killing one of them, Mikhail drops his ruse and attacks Sayid and Kate. They struggle but Kate manages to subdue him as Locke comes in with his pistol.

They tie up Mikhail while Sayid explains his theory that the Others sent someone else to the station because they lost communications when the sky turned purple. Locke thinks the station is empty, but Sayid lifts the rug and reveals a hatch door.

Sayid and Kate climb down the hatch ladder while Locke watches Mikhail's unconscious body upstairs. Locke hears the computer speaking and goes to it. He starts to play another game of chess and wins. A video of Marvin Candle appears and says, "Manual override achieved. For pallet drop enter 2-4. For station up-link enter 3-2. For mainland communication enter 3-8". Locke enters 3-8. A new video clip of Marvin is called up saying "The satellite dish is inoperable. Communications are down. For sonar access enter 5-6". Locke enters 5-6. "Sonar is inoperable. Has there been an incursion on this station by the Hostiles? If so, enter 7-7". Locke's finger aims towards the 7 key when Mikhail puts a knife to hit neck from behind.

Sayid and Kate see explosives wired throughout the room. Sayid sees a shelf lined with binders, one of which is a food drop protocol and one of which is an operations manual. Kate investigates a closet area and is attacked from behind by Ms. Klugh. Sayid arrives and tells Klugh to drop her gun. Kate hits her, saying she helped kidnap them and knows where Jack is. Sayid asks Klugh if there are any others there, but she acts unafraid of the rifle.

They take her upstairs and outside, where Mikhail has Locke at gunpoint. Mikhail offers a hostage exchange but John claims Mikhail wouldn't kill him. Klugh talks to Mikhail in Russian but he argues with her.

Here is their conversation, translated into English:
Klugh: Mikhail. Mikhail! You know what to do.
Mikhail: We still have another way [out].
Klugh: We cannot risk. You know the conditions.
Mikhail: There is another way.
Klugh: They captured us. We will not give (or let, or betray) [unintelligible].
Klugh: You know what to do. It is an order.
Mikhail: We still have another way!
Klugh (in English): Just do it, Mikhail.
Mikhail: Forgive me.

Finally Mikhail he shoots her in the heart. Mikhail is knocked over and Sayid points his gun at him. Mikhail tells him to finish it but Sayid doesn't shoot.

Later when it's dark, Sayid takes Mikhail outside and calls for Danielle. Mikhail says that he was never a member of DHARMA but that everything else he said was true and that DHARMA did really attack the Others. He tells Danielle that Locke and Kate are gathering anything useful from the station and that now he has their ticket to the Others' location, where they will find Danielle's daughter and Jack, and perhaps a way home. Mikhail refuses to lead them, but Sayid says he has a map of the cables, which leads to an area called the barracks which he believes is where the Others are staying. Mikhail threatens to kill them the next time they let their guard down. Danielle says that since they don't need him, they should kill him.

Sayid takes responsibility for deciding Mikhail's fate and refuses to kill him. Locke and Kate join them and Locke says he knows why Mikhail didn't want him playing with the computer. Suddenly the station explodes. Sayid demands to know what Locke has done. Locke says the computer said if there was an incursion to enter 7-7, so he did. They leave the station.
BOOM! goes Flame Station

SAYID'S FLASHBACK:

Sayid is working in the kitchen of a restaurant in Paris.. A waiter enters, calling him Najeev, and tells him that a man outside is waiting for him. Sayid exits to the outdoor dining area and a man sitting at a table alone compliments Sayid's cooking and introduces himself as Sami. He offers Sayid the cook position at his restaurant.

Later, Sayid enters Sami's restaurant and asks for him. Sami introduces his wife Amira, who holds his hands, revealing burn scars on her arm. One of the men grabs Sayid's arm and the rest hold him down while Sami knocks him unconscious with a kick to the head.

Sayid wakes up on the floor of a locked room with his hands chained together. Sami enters and gives him a bowl of water. He asks Sayid if he was a torturer in the Republican Guard, and if he recognizes his wife as one of his victims. He says Amira was held and questioned for three months for harboring an enemy of the state. Sayid admits to everything except knowing his wife. Sami says that she recognized Sayid when she spotted him at the restaurant. Sami tells Sayid that he must admit to his crimes or he will be killed.

Amira enters and Sayid tells her he doesn't know her and wouldn't torture a woman. Sami hits him. He says that Amira confessed to a crime she didn't commit when her interrogators pours boiling oil on her arms. He goes to grab a metal bar to hit Sayid but Amira tells him that it is enough for today.

The next day, Amira enters, holding a cat similar to the one Sayid sees at the Flame station. She tells him that when she and her husband came to Paris, she was afraid to leave their apartment until she heard a cat being tortured by firecrackers and rescued it. She has kept him as a pet even though the cat sometimes bites her because she knows what it is like to never feel safe, because of Sayid. She asks him to show her the respect of acknowledging what he did, and that he remembers her. Sayid is stunned, and then tells her that he does remember her face, that it has haunted him. He starts to cry, and tells her that he is sorry for what he has done to her. Amira forgives him and tells Sayid she will tell her husband that she is mistaken and should release Sayid. Sayid asks why and she says that she does not want to be the same as him and her cat's torturers.

AT THE BEACH:

Sawyer is STILL pissed about everyone taking his stuff while he was gone. He argues with Paulo (who I officially HATE now) and then sees that Hurley and the rest of the gang are making a ping pong table. He offers them a ball and says that he'll play one of them. If he wins, he gets all his stuff back. Sun and Jin decide that if he loses, he doesn't get to call anyone a nickname for a week. He agrees, and plays Hurley, who kicks his sorry ass.

BEFORE the loss, however, he calls Hurley "Grimace," which made me laugh my ass off.

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