Welcome to the LOST Rewind for episode 3x11, "Enter 77"
Timestamp: Day 79, Saturday, December 8, 2004
In Enter 77, we see Sayid is going by the name Najeev and is working as a cook at a restaurant in Paris called "Portail d'Arabie" (The Gate of Arabia or The Portal of Arabia). A man currently eating at the restaurant asks for the chef so that he can compliment his cooking. Sayid comes out from kitchen and meets this man, Sami, and they talk. Sami ends up offering Sayid a job as a cook at his restaurant, "Le Jardin Croissant Fertile" (The Fertile Cresent Garden; a possible reference to the Garden of Eden in what is now known as Iraq...) and offers to pay him well for it.
Do the names of the restaurants mean anything more in terms of hints at what's going on on LOST? Possible hints - Do you need to get to the Island via some kind of portal? Is the Island supposed to be some kind of Garden of Eden? If so, by whom and for whom?
Well, as it turns out, Sami's motives behind hiring Sayid to be a cook at his restaurant aren't what they seem. According to Sami, Sayid tortured and burned Sami's wife, Amira, back when Sayid was member of the Iraqui Republican Guard. Initially, after being put in a room with Amira, Sayid says that he doesn't remember Amira and didn't torture her. Then, he says that he does remember her, but he didn't torture any women while he was in the National Guard. Then still, he breaks down and tells Amira that her face has haunted him and that he is very sorry for what he did to her. Amria forgives Sayid, saying that she is doing so because she doesn't want to be like Sayid or like the people who tortured her pet cat before she adopted it.
An interesting aspect of the Amira-Sayid relationship is that Sayid and his coworkers were supposedly trying to get Amira to admit committing a crime that she said that she didn't committ. They burnt her arms so badly that she ended up confessing to it, to the crime that she didn't committ.
Is it possible that Sayid is confessing to a crime that he didn't committ, too? Why wold he do that, especially considering that he didn't know that Amira was going to let him go until after he confessed? Did Sayid somehow feel responsible for her horrible emotional and spiritual state, even though he isn't responsible, possibly, for her physical state (the burns, etc...)? Was Sayid trying to release her from her emotional and physical pain? Explore the concepts of punishment and redemption and how they are the backbone of this intense episode...
Speaking of punishment and redemption, we see Hurley and Sawyer square off in a ping pong game for the rights to Sawyer's stash. As we know, Hurley beats the pants off Sawyer and Sawyer must stop calling people nicknames, even the mean ones.
Keeping a stash of important "stuff" that probably should have been community property wasn't very nice, obviously, of Sawyer. Was losing embarrassingly to Hurley in a game of ping pong and not being allowed to call people nicknames punishment enough for Sawyer? Why did he adhere to the punishment? Are we seeing some changes for the good in Sawyer? Does this punishment of sorts lead to a mini-redemption for Sawyer? Think about how he becomes more a part ot he group around this point in time, too, when you consider everything...
On the Island, Kate, Sayid, Locke and Danielle end up following the compass reading of 305 from Mr. Eko's stick on their way to find Jack. During their travels, they find the Flame Station and the infamous Mikhail Bakunin. Also at the Flame Staion is what seems to be the same cat as the pet belonging to Amira from Sayid's flashback. Ironically, Mikhail says that its name is Nadia. Coincidence? Does Mikhail know about Sayid's Nadia?
While playing with a chess game on Mikhail's computer in the Flame Station, which is a communication station with a satellite on it, Locke ends up "Entering 77". The Flame Station blows up. We know that there is dynamite in the basement of the Flame Sation and it's probable that this "Enter 77" initiated the blast. Does entering 77 on the computer do anything else in your opinion? Why was Mikhail so casual about Locke playing around with his computer? Is the computer and the Flame Station the only way to contact the outside world?
Random questions about this episode: Why did Danielle really opt to wait for Kate, Locke and Sayid away from the Flame Station? She gave an answer why in the episode, but do you believe her? Do you think that she knew Mikhail beforehand?
Why did Bea Klugh seem so willing to die for the Others' causes and so unafraid to die? Where do Mikhail's seemingly nine lives (or more...) come from? Was Mikhail really a member of the DI at one time?
Compare Sayid's cat with Kate's horse and Jack's "vision" of his father and Hurley's vision of Dave. Are they the same thing? What are they and where do they come from? What are the chances that the cat's name was really Nadia?
This was an intense episode. What are your thoughts about it? By the way, in real life, Mikhail Bakunin is considered to be one of the fathers of anarchism, which, apparently, was connected to the thoughts and philosophies of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Does this mean that we should think that Danielle Rousseau and the Other's Mikhail Bakunin are working together?
I think the cat was just a cat (as it doesn't even look like the cat in Sayid's FB). I really enjoyed this episode, but the actress who played Amira really annoyed me with her over-acting.
Junie...just a quick comment: I don't think the cat was really named "Nadia", unless she turned up after the Losties crashed on The Island. I think Mikhail said that because he knew Sayid's past after doing research (from his communications station) on all the Losties.
Alternatively, it's some type of psychological game or therapy, and that info was common knowledge to whomever "TPTB" are...
ETA: I may have to retract that because of the Nadia (gymnast) poster...
R.I.P. Keamy...wonderfully scary...I love him. Hope I don't have nightmares.
Favorite characters: Smokey and Vincent...TPTB killed my 5 previous favorites.
I wear ruby slippers to watch LOST.
I'm not obsessed with LOST...just very, very interested.
'“Curiouser and curiouser!” cried Alice...' (Lewis Carroll)
It's inter-dimensional time-travelling aliens invading the space station in Saturn's rings...
ETA: I may have to retract that because of the Nadia (gymnast) poster...
I was just going to comment that Mikhail was totally a hardcore fan and it makes perfect sense for a kid who grew up in Eastern Europe in the 70s. They used to send her fanmail by the truckloads.
The cat is my favorite animal ever used on Lost, by the way. Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
I was just going to comment that Mikhail was totally a hardcore fan and it makes perfect sense for a kid who grew up in Eastern Europe in the 70s. They used to send her fanmail by the truckloads.
The cat is my favorite animal ever used on Lost, by the way. Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
That last glimpse of her outside the Flame (after it exploded) was awesome...including Sayid looking back over his shoulder at her...
I also loved the scene with Amira and her cat...the cat was beautiful, and so was Amira, despite her physical and emotional scars (loved her dress and shawl, LOL). Her actress gave a fine performance, too (Amira's); and likewise, the cats!
I can "buy" that the cat and Sayid's childhood friend were both named "Nadia" by coincidence, but what about Amira's cat and Sayid's Nadia both having been tortured?
Hmmmmmm...
It's also interesting that we have Sayid, the former torturer who also reverted to his old ways on The Island (Sawyer), and Amira (in her past) having witnessed the cat being tortured and rescued him/her, and she did likewise with Sayid. Amira "became the torturer" by watching her husband beat Sayid, but she did stop him. It reminds me of the common advice given to victims of abuse...to "break the pattern" or "stop the cycle" (such as with their own children and other people, etc.).
R.I.P. Keamy...wonderfully scary...I love him. Hope I don't have nightmares.
Favorite characters: Smokey and Vincent...TPTB killed my 5 previous favorites.
I wear ruby slippers to watch LOST.
I'm not obsessed with LOST...just very, very interested.
'“Curiouser and curiouser!” cried Alice...' (Lewis Carroll)
It's inter-dimensional time-travelling aliens invading the space station in Saturn's rings...
Is it possible that Sayid is confessing to a crime that he didn't committ, too? Why wold he do that, especially considering that he didn't know that Amira was going to let him go until after he confessed? Did Sayid somehow feel responsible for her horrible emotional and spiritual state, even though he isn't responsible, possibly, for her physical state (the burns, etc...)? Was Sayid trying to release her from her emotional and physical pain? Explore the concepts of punishment and redemption and how they are the backbone of this intense episode...
I don't think that Sayid tortured Amira. I think he'd just been carrying this terrible guilt for so long, thought he was about to be killed, and confessed. It didn't matter to him at that point that she was not someone he personally tortured. He needed to bare his soul, she needed to hear a sincere apology for what had been done to her, and it was a perfect opportunity for both of them.
What I think it really gets back to is the idea of hope. Amira and Sayid at the time they meet are both hopeless. They are broken people, living in their pasts, their faith in humanity utterly broken.
But the interaction with the confession, and her offer of forgiveness, surprises them both, I think, And it gives them both hope that things can change.
Junie...just a quick comment: I don't think the cat was really named "Nadia", unless she turned up after the Losties crashed on The Island. I think Mikhail said that because he knew Sayid's past after doing research (from his communications station) on all the Losties.
Alternatively, it's some type of psychological game or therapy, and that info was common knowledge to whomever "TPTB" are...
ETA: I may have to retract that because of the Nadia (gymnast) poster...
TR - LOST is so good at making strange situations seem even stranger. I think that I go with the general idea that because there are so many seemingly coincidental things on LOST that they ALL can't be simple coincidences - or can they?! LOL!
On one hand, we know at this point that Ben had folders with information on the Losties, so things about Sayid are known by the Ben, Mikhail and the Others. But, and it's a BIG BUT, how would they know about something like Sayid and Amira...and her cat?
Alternatively, the cat is a pretty big symbol of Sayid's past, like Kate's horse is of her past, so if the Island itself can download memories from the Losties, well, they're you go. This would kind of mean that the day-to-day things from the Others' lives, like Mikhail's cat, are also things from the Losties' lives. How is that possible, even if the cat that we saw with Mikhail is not literally the same cat that belonged to Amira, but a lookalike (somehow)?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Claudia815
I was just going to comment that Mikhail was totally a hardcore fan and it makes perfect sense for a kid who grew up in Eastern Europe in the 70s. They used to send her fanmail by the truckloads.
The cat is my favorite animal ever used on Lost, by the way. Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
I totally agree with you, Claudia (and I'm also distracted by your avatar...). I think that the poster is there to reinforce the idea that Mikhail was honestly a big Nadia and gymnastics fan and as a result, named the cat Nadia. If we take that as a fact and take Sayid's relationship with his Nadia as a fact AND take his relationship/connection to Amira as a fact, it leaves us in a pretty strange place. This is too big of a coincidence for me to accept as just a coincidence, unless we have to look at every strange situation as an isolated coincidence and not heap all of the weirdness into one big pile. If we do, then the Losties as a whole, IMHO, have experienced too many coincidences for them all to be just coincidences...and...something is fishy...does that make sense?
So...are we supposed to take each Losties' backstories and look at them individually, strange coincidences and all? I ask that question because if we count the amount of supposed coincidences that have happened to and between all of the Losties, we come to a number that's too high to be normal...
Quote:
Originally Posted by TabbyRasa
It's also interesting that we have Sayid, the former torturer who also reverted to his old ways on The Island (Sawyer), and Amira (in her past) having witnessed the cat being tortured and rescued him/her, and she did likewise with Sayid. Amira "became the torturer" by watching her husband beat Sayid, but she did stop him. It reminds me of the common advice given to victims of abuse...to "break the pattern" or "stop the cycle" (such as with their own children and other people, etc.).
I think, TR, that seeing her husband beat Sayid made her realize for sure that she had to break the cycle of abuse. Afterall, her issue with Sayid was that she said that he beat her, etc. It had to end somewhere and she, Amira, made the Choice to end it by letting Sayid go...
Quote:
Originally Posted by KeepingAwake
I don't think that Sayid tortured Amira. I think he'd just been carrying this terrible guilt for so long, thought he was about to be killed, and confessed. It didn't matter to him at that point that she was not someone he personally tortured. He needed to bare his soul, she needed to hear a sincere apology for what had been done to her, and it was a perfect opportunity for both of them.
What I think it really gets back to is the idea of hope. Amira and Sayid at the time they meet are both hopeless. They are broken people, living in their pasts, their faith in humanity utterly broken.
But the interaction with the confession, and her offer of forgiveness, surprises them both, I think, And it gives them both hope that things can change.
I like this, KA. I think that it's about making Choices and I admire what Amira did, especially considering the amount of pain that she was going through, both emotionally and physically.
One interesting idea - Did Amira actually think, 100%, that Sayid was the person that burnt and tortured her or was she looking for an end to her situation by finding someone that fit the bill, so to speak? I remember going back and forth wondering what Amira and Sayid really believed and what each of them really did...
One interesting idea - Did Amira actually think, 100%, that Sayid was the person that burnt and tortured her or was she looking for an end to her situation by finding someone that fit the bill, so to speak? I remember going back and forth wondering what Amira and Sayid really believed and what each of them really did...
im absolutely sure it was sayid who tortured her.
neither of them could a mistake about such a thing. also if it wasn't true it would rob the story of some of its weight and impact.
neither of them could a mistake about such a thing. also if it wasn't true it would rob the story of some of its weight and impact.
I have to admit that my first reaction to Sayid seemingly breaking down and telling Amira, yes, I do remember you and I burnt and tortured you, was that he did do it. To use a pharse that I used in another thread recently, the stakes were too high for that not to be the truth...
However...I guess that what I meant was that was it possible that Amira did know, on some level, that Sayid was NOT the person who tortured her, but she needed closure, etc., so he became the one that tortured her?
Even though Sayid could see what type of a state of mind, etc., that she was in, it seems now that he did do it and he wasn't just appeasing her for the sake of her emotional closure. He was telling her the truth for the sake of her emotional closure and, it seems, for his own emotional well-being...
I'm with Black Lotus, I don't think that's something you forget. Sayid is perhaps the only character that comes close to Mr.Eko's level of cruelty in his past and like Mr.Eko I think he feels he lived the life he was given and made the best of it and now he's struggling with his decision of not "doing it" anymore.
I love the guy, but he's done some pretty atrocious things in his life.
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