Television Review: He's Our You (Lost, S5X10, 2009)

He's Our You (S5X10)

Airdate: 25 March 2009

Written by: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz
Directed by: Greg Yaitanes

Running Time: 42 minutes

At the midpoint of its penultimate season, Lost appeared to be evolving into a far different entity from the survival thriller that captivated audiences in its early years. The general tone had lightened considerably, with many central mysteries resolved, the narrative focus shifting from survival to international intrigue, and air crashes losing their lethal edge. Most significantly, at least one group of characters had ended up living in what many would call paradise. Yet, beneath this veneer of serenity, there were ominous hints that the show was poised to become much darker, a promise fulfilled in the episode He’s Our You. This instalment signals a definitive turn away from the lighter, more optimistic phases of Season 5, resurrecting the narrative formula of the show’s earlier seasons with a focus on character depth and heavy reliance on flashback sequences. In this instance, the spotlight falls squarely on Sayid, whose life following his 2004 departure from the Island was arguably the most eventful of all the Oceanic Six members.

The episode cleverly utilises flashbacks that are technically flashforwards relative to the main plot’s 1977 setting, yet for Sayid, they function as a journey into his own past. It begins by travelling further back than ever before, to Sayid’s childhood in Tikrit. Here, we witness a young Sayid displaying a capacity for decisive violence, winning the approval of his father by snapping a chicken’s neck, unlike his hesitant older brother who cannot bring himself to do it. These specific qualities were not lost on Ben, who later employs him as a globe-trotting assassin, instructing him that certain individuals must be eliminated to protect the Oceanic Six. After a final killing in Moscow, Ben tells Sayid his services are no longer required, prompting him to seek redemption through humanitarian work in Santo Domingo. However, Ben visits him again to invite him back on the Island and reminnds him that deep down, he remains a killer, a nature he cannot change. Sayid initially refuses, but ultimately falls victim to a honey trap in a Los Angeles hotel orchestrated by Ilana, a bounty hunter revealed to be working for the family of Pietro Avellino, one of Sayid’s previous targets. She transports him to Guam, setting in motion his inevitable reunion with Ben and the rest of the Oceanic Six on Flight 316.

Returning to the “present day” of 1977, Sayid is a prisoner of the Dharma Initiative at the Barracks. Horace and the Dharma staff believe him to be a “hostile”, potentially part of the Others, despite Sawyer, aka James LaFleur, knowing the truth and desperately attempting to arrange a prison break. Sayid refuses, resigned to his fate. Instead, Horace arranges for him to be interrogated by a mysterious man named Oldham, played by veteran character actor William Sanderson, who is described by Sawyer as the Dharma equivalent to Sayid. Oldham reveals himself as an older man who, rather than relying on physical torture, utilises drugs and truth serums to extract information. Sayid confesses everything, but his claims about coming from the future are dismissed as madness, although his knowledge of the top-secret, unfinished Swan Station rattles the ever-paranoid Radzinsky.

Later, Sawyer attends a meeting where Radzinsky advocates for his execution, a decision made after a vote in which Sawyer reluctantly agreed with Horace’s view that such a decision must be unanimous. Sawyer appears determined to save his friend, but the rescue comes from an unexpected quarter: young Ben. Having befriended the captive, mistaking him for part of the Others and hoping Sayid would take him outside the Barracks where he is abused by his alcoholic father Roger, young Ben stages an arson attack as a distraction. This allows Sayid to escape to the jungle. Yet, in the wild, Sayid meets and incapacitates Jin, then, after admitting that he is a killer, shoots young Ben in the chest and escapes.

The episode concludes with one of the most shocking cliffhangers in the series' history. The fate of Ben is left agonisingly open-ended. One possibility, consistent with the time travel concept of the series, is that altering history is impossible; thus, young Ben must survive to grow into the Ben who eventually brings Sayid back to the Island. The other option allows Ben to die, creating an alternative timeline, a concept producers at the time resolutely refused as an option. Regardless of his fate, the act of shooting a minor in cold blood is shocking, representing Sayid crossing ethical lines previously unimaginable and marking the show’s descent into darker territory.

There were, of course, hints of darkness within the Dharma Initiative itself. The script by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz still depicts the organisation as hippie-like and naive idealists, yet the script also shows them turning into a lynch mob through the veneer of direct democracy. Oldham, played by Sanderson, uses psychedelic drugs where Sayid used violence, but the horror lies in the collective decision to kill. It is Amy, a woman like many others in the group, who becomes the main instigator of the killings, convincing the rest that they have no choice.

The episode also marks the end of the idyll for Sawyer, whose blissful life with Juliet is replaced with conflicting feelings towards Kate. The period feel is maintained by references to the works of Carlos Castaneda, an anthropologist whose books about the Yaqui sorcerer Don Juan Matus were immensely popular during the New Age trends of the 1970s. Ben gives Sayid the book A Separate Reality, hinting at the philosophical undercurrents of the narrative, linking the 1970s context with the show’s exploration of destiny and control.

He’s Our You serves as a critical turning point. It strips away the comforting illusions of redemption. Sayid is stuck in a loop of being aware of his misdeeds, taking steps to absolve guilt, and inevitably repeating them. Ben’s manipulation is clear; he convinces Sayid that every choice, whether murder or torture, isn’t really a choice at all, but simply his nature. This episode forces the audience to confront the moral ambiguity of the characters in ways the earlier, island-survival narrative of the first few seasons never did. ItThe contrast between Sawyer’s desperate attempt to maintain the status quo and Sayid’s acceptance of his violent destiny highlights the diverging paths the characters are taking. While Sawyer wants to let the Dharma experiment continue as long as possible, knowing his lover Juliet’s relationship with him faces the return of Jack and Kate, Sayid embraces his role as a killer once more. This episode sets the stage for the intense, morally grey final season, proving that Lost was far from finished with its darkest revelations.

The shock value of shooting a minor cannot be overstated. Fans expressed that it felt sorely and direly wrong, acknowledging the gravity of the act. It represents a moment where the protagonist effectively gives up on redemption and accepts his nature. This was one of the weaker episodes of Season 5 for some critics, yet the boldness of the storytelling cannot be ignored, as it put the characters’ actions into perspective regarding their inherent traits. The episode’s strength lies in this character exploration rather than just the plot mechanics, ensuring that even amidst the mystery of the Swan Station and the future implications of Ben’s survival, the human element remains central to the experience. The decision to have Sayid, a character defined by his desire for atonement, commit such an act of finality, recontextualises his entire arc from a man seeking forgiveness to a man who has fully embraced his darker impulses. This thematic pivot is essential for the show’s narrative integrity, preventing the characters from remaining static in their redemption arcs and forcing them to confront the reality of their past sins in a future they cannot easily escape.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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