Damn the number 77
Computer Compulsions ….
As we speak, there is a billboard being prepared. It’ll feature John Locke’s mug and bring awareness to video game addiction. The evils of video games are a plague on our society, and as we all learned last night, can lead to really big explosions that destroy valuable communication devices.
Damn the number 7-7. And damn Locke’s curiosity, which thankfully didn’t kill Nadia, Eye Patch Man’s cat.
In last night’s episode, “Enter 77,” we found out that Eye Patch Man is named Mikhail Bakunin, a Russian who told Sayid, Locke and Kate that he answered an ad to save the world and wound up isolated on Wacko Island.
After putting and then removing a bullet from Sayid’s shoulder, Mikhail claimed to be the last remaining member of the original Dharma Initiative, and said he was holed up in a station called The Flame.
That station, we found, has the means to communicate with the outside world and is the hub for all of the other stations. Unfortunately, said communications were down.
Mikhail revealed that all of the other Dharma members were killed in a war to “purge” the hostiles (which I assume we are to believe are The Others).
He survived by not participating.
Mikhail said he was offered the line deal (as in don’t cross it and we’re cool, pussycat) and after handing over a dowery of two cows to the hostiles, he was left alone.
Mensa candidate that he is, Sayid realized Mikhail wasn’t actually a Dharm-ite (based on the length of the stirrups on a horse outside The Flame), and he and Kate overtook the Russian.
And while all this went down, where was Locke? Logging time with the computer chess game.
Locke was supposed to be watching the unconscious Mikhail, but got drawn back in by the lure of the game while Sayid and Kate explored a downstairs chamber loaded with C4 and Dharma binders.
They also found a woman that Kate identified as being present when she and the others were kidnapped.
Upstairs, we find Locke still punching away at computer keys (you really would think he’d learn his lesson after the last time).
I suppose his persistence paid off – Locke triumphed – and found himself face to face with a great big Dharma manual override.
Hmmmm, what are the options … we’ve got a pallet uplink (number 2-4), station uplink (3-2), mainland uplink (3-8) and sonar access (5-6). Locke tried the latter two, only to find out for himself that everything is incommunicado.
And then we have the mystery number, 7-7, meant to be entered if there is an incursion by the hostiles.
Locke thought about punching it in, perhaps too long, because Mikhail managed to get back on his feet.
Segue to the obligatory hostage situation: Mikhail with a gun to John’s head. Sayid and Kate with the basement lady, who is apparently fluent in Russian and had a brief conversation with Mikhail before he shot and killed her – at her request.
Damn me for never learning a language.
Mikhail’s taken prisoner (again), as Locke and Kate headed into the house to loot.
Oh, and Locke, in his infinite wisdom and curiosity, punched in the 7-7. (Short aside, but 7 is the number of completion, also known as God’s perfect number. Discuss any and all potential religious inferences at will.)
Anyone want to venture a guess what the C4 was for? Queue the KABOOM!
But first, we find that Sayid has a diagram of data cables that pretty much map out a way to “The Barracks,” a.k.a. The Others’ lovely little gated community.
Oh yeah, and Patchy told Sayid he’s going to kill him.
So why, wondered pretty much anyone with half a brain, was Sayid leaving him alive?
Perhaps we find the answer in his flashback?
We find our torturer with the heart of gold captured by an Iraqi man whose wife recognized Sayid. He tortured her during his days in the Iraqi Republican Guard, pouring hot oil on her arms. Sayid initially denied having known her, but as Amira shared with him her pain, Sayid broke down in tears, apologizing for what he did.
Amira, we find, never feels safe, and for a long time, never left her apartment after relocating to France. It was a stray cat, being tortured by children in the street that made her leave.
Amira nursed the cat, loved it, and told Sayid, she forgives the animal when it scratches or bites her for no reason. The cat, she said, sometimes forgets it is safe. It is a feeling Amira understands as she lacks the same feeling of safety.
Not wanting to be like Sayid, she tells her husband she was mistaken about Sayid’s identity and he is freed.
With all that said, don’t even get me started on the Hurley-Sawyer Ping-Pong tourney.
So is Sayid trying to pay some compassion forward, or is he just a sentimental schmuck? How long will Sawyer actually be able to call people by their real names? And is Ping-Pong the new Rock, Paper, Scissors?
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