One Guy’s Ruminations on the Fate of Sayid

Among the many mysteries introduced by LA X (1-2) is the fate of our favorite war criminal/torturer/electronics handyman/Shannon-schtupper/Nadia fetishist, Sayid Jarrah. Recall from Season 5’s concluding episode that Sayid, in the course of smuggling Jughead’s core through the Dharma suburbs on the way to the Swan station was shot in the gut by Roger Linus.
As our castaway friends come to around the remains of the Swan station (and what it is exactly that happened there is the subject of another blog to come shortly- stay tuned) and struggle to free Juliet from the remains of – something- at the Swan, Sayid remains in the (not) capable hands of Hurley. Hurley, you’ll remember, who is visited by an imaginary best friend, who has bad luck, and who has bounced in and out of mental institutions. Not exactly the guy I’d trust to administer medical care. However, something distinctively Lost happens- Jacob, recently seen being stabbed and kicked into a fire by the Man In Black/Smokey/Fake Locke appears to Hurley, telling him to take Sayid to the Temple to be saved. Not in so many words- this is Lost, after all- but I’m trying to be brief.

Note the symmetry here:

In 1977, young Ben Linus, helping Sayid escape from Dharma, is shot by Sayid and is brought to the Others to be saved at the advice of former-Other Juliet who said young Ben’s life could be saved by the Others at the Temple.

In 1977, Sayid, helping the castaways escape from the Island (and hopefully reset the island timeline), is shot by Roger Linus (aka Ben’s dad) and is brought to the Temple by the castaways (in 2007) at the advice of head Other Jacob who said Sayid's life could be saved by the Others at the Temple.

Ignoring the absurdly large Ankh, the Japanese speaking leader of the Temple crew, Hurley taking charge when Jack, again, doubts himself, and the apparent assimilation of the passengers/stewardess from the 2004 Oceanic crash into Temple society, Sayid, Hurley, Jack, Kate and Miles are brought to the temple’s “spring.” Was a hot stone massage and facial to follow? Perhaps some mint-cucumber infused martinis? Nope. Instead, the Temple Others after noting the unusually murky character of the spring waters, proceeded to dunk, then apparently drown Sayid. It played out very ritualistically- timing by hourglass, etc. The castaways looked stunned and dejected. Dogen, the Japanese-speaking leader of the Temple Others pronounced Sayid dead, and went off attend to other Other matters, which apparently consists of botany. Then, while the castaway crew sits in shocked dejection at the death of Sayid, Sayid pops to life, gasping “What happened?”

So, is Sayid-
(A) a ghost?
(B) evil?
(C) a follower of the island?
(D) memory wiped?
(E) Jacob?

A. Is Sayid a Ghost?
We can agree that Sayid is not a ghost. Everyone saw him, including people who don’t see dead people….wait a second… Everyone has seen dead people or other living things that don’t belong on the island. Jack has seen his father Christian. Kate saw her horse. Sayid saw Nadia’s cat outside Bakunin’s house. Hurley sees dead people everywhere. Miles has long conversations with dead people. So our crew is not a good yardstick. However, Miles holds the key- he speaks to dead people, but the shots of Miles indicated that something wasn’t right. He appeared to be straining- not for a lack of fiber, but perhaps he was trying to talk to Sayid and…wasn’t able. Because Sayid wasn’t dead. Ghost? I’d think Miles would be all over it. And its not a “freshness” issue. Miles was able to relay Juliet’s message to Sawyer lickity split- as soon as she hit the ground. So ghost is out. (Say, Ben, when you said “Dead is Dead,” did you forget that you were once dead too?)

B. Is Sayid now Evil?
Arguably this would be gilding the lily- he was a torturer and sadistic and really didn’t mind it. Granted, during his time on the island he certainly felt bad and was a loyal team player (including torturing "Henry Gale" nee Ben Linus), but off-island he went right back to it at Ben’s urging- see the golfer in the Seychelles Islands, the assistant to the Economist in “The Economist” or the Russian pharmacist staffing “Oldham’s Pharmacy” (Written in Russian over the door of the building, in the same episode when Oldham, working for Dharma, drugs Sayid to get him to tell the truth- our producers are pretty slick like that). So how much more evil can he get? It may not be in terms of how much more evil, but more on the focus of the evil.

C. Is Sayid now a follower of the island?
Evil it seems is a matter of loyalty. I’m sure Saddam would not have thought Sayid evil when he was torturing in the name of the Iraqi Government. Sayid’s victims, they likely thought different. Likewise, Ben’s actions toward the castaways have been manipulative, sadistic, condescending and pretty damn evil. However, to the island, he’s apparently just taking care of business. Maybe Sayid is “turned.” Of what effect will this have on our crew currently hanging out in the Temple? Probably too early to tell, but it seems that both Alpert, the Ajira crew, Ben and the Temple Others appear to be converging on the same team. Against Smokey.

D. Is Sayid an amnesiac?
The answer is “probably.” But again does it matter? In previous uses of the “Temple” – see Ben Linus- the affect of the amnesia was probably to allow the Temple Others to lay their “imprint” on the recently revived- likely to drill into the recently saved that the island is their master. But in this case, we have our castaways and our Temple Others seemingly converging into the same team. Do the Temple Others reprogram him? Does Jack take him and remind him of his crazy story? Does anyone remind him, oh yea, buddy, you used to pull off toenails for a crazy dictator for a living? I say no. Or there’s no memory loss. Either one is too complicated and thematically, not interesting. Unless it’s the “learn on the run” variety which would get tiresome.

E. Is Sayid actually the reincarnated Jacob?
A resounding maybe. Jacob (aka Rita’s ex from Dexter) appears to leave the island, to live on the island (in the best real estate), and to have been there a long, long time. He also has an enemy in the Man In Black/Smokey/Fake Locke who apparently can’t directly kill him. (to be discussed in the upcoming post- “Drew’s Unified Theory of Lost”). But he got stabbed by an angry, under appreciated servant- we’ll call him “Ben,” kicked into a fire, and “disappeared.”

His return would certainly evoke shades of Obi-Won Kenobi- “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” But, if you are a G-d (sorry, I’m jewish, deal with it) how do you come back? Answer- through a corporeal form. So, did Jacob murk up his spring waters so the next guy to be sent into the spring waters would carry his spirit and basically be him again? And then send Hurley to put someone on the “good team” in there first? Will we pan to the waters and see them cleared, and have Sayid suddenly say, where’s Dogen, we need to fortify the Temple? It’s an attractive idea.

But, if it is a yes, the Temple Others would be just as surprised as anyone. They paid no attention to Sayid being dead. The Temple Others wigged out when they heard Jacob was dead, battening the proverbial hatches, laying black powder rings and generally boarding up their ziggurat as if a hurricane was approaching. If they knew they could just dip a friendly dead guy into the dirty water, no worries, right? So if Sayid does in fact become Jacob, egg on everyone’s face.

My vote: C, then E.
As always I reserve the right to be wrong. What do you think?
-Drew