Questions From The Economist

Did Locke Make a Case for Jack? For Sayid?













I don't want to go home, Kate. I want you to know I made a strong case for you. I told them you are a good person. Reliable. Smart. Honest. And then they told me who you were and what you had done. Let's just say forgiveness isn't one of their strong suits. -- John Locke, Episode 3.15, Left Behind

So Locke thought Kate had communion with the Island? Or did he just have needs as Sawyer once suggested? But the real thing I want to know is what they told him about Jack. How is Jack not a good person? I still haven't seen anything other than poor judgment in his pre-Island flashbacks; no murder of fathers for example. And what about Sayid? Well hopefully we'll find out soon about Basra and know along with Juliet the full scope of Sayid's unforgivable crimes.

Sayid Rocks!


I think this is my favorite LOST scene of all time.

"But still I did not believe it to be true."

I'm looking for an opportunity to use this line. I'm
betting my son's teenage years will give me just that
chance.

Whatever Happened To The Love Shack?














Sayid is a regular Bob the Builder. This photo does
not do justice to the quality construction that was
the love shack Sayid built for Shannon. Wouldn't you
think that Nikki and Paolo would have dumped Arzt's
spider central for these palatial digs?

Sayid--The Only One With
Flashbacks Left?
























There still seem to be some significant gaps in
the back story of Sayid Jarrah. But he may be the
only original character you could say that of. For
example:

Sayid's father was a war hero, but we've never seen
him. Does Sayid have daddy issues like everyone else?

Where did Sayid learn to speak English? At Cairo
University? What did he major in there and did he
finish his degree?

He didn't leave Iraq until 1997, why did he leave?

What was Sayid doing in London when the CIA and
ASIS agent picked him up and took him to Sydney?

Why did Sayid tell Danielle that Nadia was dead? And
speaking of Nadia, is the medical testing company in
Irvine that she works for Mittelos Bioscience?

Justice or The Greater Good?














Episode 1.21, The Greater Good, is full of ethical
dilemmas.

First, we learn Boone wanted Jack to stop trying to save
him in part so that he, Boone, wouldn't use up the group's
antibiotics. Boone refused Jack's efforts for the greater
good of the group.

Jack in contrast is a man out for individual justice.
Locke lied to Jack, and in Jack's mind Locke must pay for
that. Jack's beatdown of Locke at the funeral and his
failure to offer medical care when Locke is shot reflects
his sense of justice and sets the tone for Jack and Locke's
interactions in Season 2.

In the flashback Assam, Sayid's friend, questions whether
the greater good of his cause and his desire for revenge for
his wife outweighs the innocent lives that will be lost in the
pursuit of those ends. Sayid in contrast has determined that
his chance to find Nadia outweighs the greater good of both
Assam's cause and Assam himself.

Locke tells Sayid that it was for the group's greater
good that Locke destroyed the transceiver and implies
that likewise putting hope in the raft is not in the
group's best interest.

Shannon like Jack is only concerned with revenge
against Locke in the form of eye for an eye justice.
(Maybe the Others should have taken her. :D)

And in the end, Sayid disagrees judging that Locke
and his skills are necessary for the greater good of the
group despite the possible injustice of Locke escaping the
consequences of Boone's death and even at the personal
cost to Sayid of Shannon's trust.

I kept expecting this notion of the greater good to
come up with respect to the Others in Season 3. But
we still haven't learned what possible greater good
Ben's Others represent in light of the actions they've
taken with respect to the survivors of Flight 815.

Their own system that we glimpsed with Juliet's trial
seemed to place higher value on justice than their own
greater good given that Juliet seems to be their last
doctor.

I know, I know, it's complicated. Still, will the Others
or the Island represent a greater good than living in
the real world? I can't wait to see.