Lost: Season 1 Episode 9 "Solitary" Review
"Rich idiots fly to tropical islands all the time to whack balls around."
-Hugo "Hurley" Reyes
The 9th episode of Lost picks up with Sayid (Naveen Andrews) as he walks the shore of the island alone. He notices a cable on the beach and follows it into the jungle, where he manages to avoid a trip wire, but gets caught in a rope trap. He is freed and knocked out before waking up in a underground shelter. He discovers he is the prisoner of the French woman who's distress call they had picked up, Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan). She repeatedly asks him the whereabouts of someone named Alex and when Sayid is unable to answer her questions, she electrocutes him.
Sayid is eventually able to convince her about being a survivor of a plane crash and offers to help fix her music box. He tries to get information out of her, but only learns that there is a place called the Black Rock and that she believes there are other people on the island. She has never seen them, but has heard them whisper. After he fixes the music box, Danielle refuses to let Sayid go. When they hear the roar of a beast in the jungle, Danielle leaves the shelter and Sayid manages to free himself. He takes her second rifle and some papers, including a map of the island. He confronts her in the jungle and is forced to pull the trigger when she points her rifle at him, bu learns the firing pin has been removed and that she murdered her entire team, including her husband, because they were apparently sick.
Sayid eventually convinces Danielle to let him go back to his people, but she refuses to go with him. She informs him that Alex was her child before leaving. On his way back to camp, Sayid hears whispers in the jungle
Tensions are rising between the rest of the survivors. After some golf balls are found in the jungle, Hurley (Jorge Garcia) builds a two-hole course and manages to convince Jack (Matthew Fox), Charlie (Dominic Monaghan), and Michael (Harold Perrineau) to play. As the other castaways hear about the game, they all turn out to watch Jack and Charlie face off. Even Sawyer (Josh Holloway) shows up and everyone has a good time betting on the game.
Meanwhile, Walt (Malcolm David Kelly) starts to spend time with Locke (Terry O'Quinn).
In flashbacks, we get a closer look at Sayid's time as an interrogator with the Republican Guard. He is well respected in this position and good at his job until one of the people he has to interrogate is a childhood friend of his, Nadia (Andrea Gabriel). Over the weeks, the two fall in love, but when Sayid is ordered to execute her, he decides to help her escape instead. His commanding officer catches them and Sayid is force to kill him and shoot himself to make it look like Nadia stole his gun. She flees the base and that was the last time Sayid saw her.
What Works:
Sayid is one of my favorite characters on the show and his first centric-episode is certainly memorable. This is the first episode since the pilot to expand on the mythology of the island as we learn more about Rousseau and get the cable and the Black Rock for the first time. Both of these have really exciting payoffs and I love that they were both introduced this early in the show's run. Naveen Andrews is also great and does a good job of being both sympathetic and terrifying.
Mira Furlan will make many more appearances on the show as Danielle Rousseau, but, without question, this is her best episode. She is perfectly unhinged here, but still a very sympathetic character. She is extremely dangerous and turns out to be more than a match for Sayid. She does a brilliant job in the role and delivers in every scene she is in.
The golf storyline is hilarious and exactly what the show needed after all of the torture from this episode and the previous one. It gives us a lot of great character moments for Jack, Charlie, Hurley, Michael, and Sawyer. I will never not laugh at Charlie and Hurley dancing by the flag.
Finally, we get an excellent cliffhanger with Sayid hearing whispers in the jungle. It's one of the spookiest moments on the show and a great setup for what is to come in the next few episodes.
What Sucks:
I got nothing for ya.
Platinum Polar Bear:
Giving out the award for the most useful castaway in "Solitary" was a bit of a toss-up. Sayid did get a lot of intel, but a lot of it was utter nonsense. So, I have to give it to Hurley. He knew exactly what the rest of the group needed and was able to give it to them in the form of the golf course. This is Hurley's first time winning the Platinum Polar Bear.
Verdict:
"Solitary" is an excellent episode of Lost. Both Mira Furlan and Naveen Andrews do a fantastic job, we get some awesome new mysteries, the flashbacks are fascinating, the golf storyline is a lot of fun, and we get an excellent cliffhanger. "Solitary" has absolutely got it going.on.
10/10: Amazing
Meanwhile, Walt (Malcolm David Kelly) starts to spend time with Locke (Terry O'Quinn).
In flashbacks, we get a closer look at Sayid's time as an interrogator with the Republican Guard. He is well respected in this position and good at his job until one of the people he has to interrogate is a childhood friend of his, Nadia (Andrea Gabriel). Over the weeks, the two fall in love, but when Sayid is ordered to execute her, he decides to help her escape instead. His commanding officer catches them and Sayid is force to kill him and shoot himself to make it look like Nadia stole his gun. She flees the base and that was the last time Sayid saw her.
What Works:
Sayid is one of my favorite characters on the show and his first centric-episode is certainly memorable. This is the first episode since the pilot to expand on the mythology of the island as we learn more about Rousseau and get the cable and the Black Rock for the first time. Both of these have really exciting payoffs and I love that they were both introduced this early in the show's run. Naveen Andrews is also great and does a good job of being both sympathetic and terrifying.
Mira Furlan will make many more appearances on the show as Danielle Rousseau, but, without question, this is her best episode. She is perfectly unhinged here, but still a very sympathetic character. She is extremely dangerous and turns out to be more than a match for Sayid. She does a brilliant job in the role and delivers in every scene she is in.
The golf storyline is hilarious and exactly what the show needed after all of the torture from this episode and the previous one. It gives us a lot of great character moments for Jack, Charlie, Hurley, Michael, and Sawyer. I will never not laugh at Charlie and Hurley dancing by the flag.
Finally, we get an excellent cliffhanger with Sayid hearing whispers in the jungle. It's one of the spookiest moments on the show and a great setup for what is to come in the next few episodes.
What Sucks:
I got nothing for ya.
Platinum Polar Bear:
Giving out the award for the most useful castaway in "Solitary" was a bit of a toss-up. Sayid did get a lot of intel, but a lot of it was utter nonsense. So, I have to give it to Hurley. He knew exactly what the rest of the group needed and was able to give it to them in the form of the golf course. This is Hurley's first time winning the Platinum Polar Bear.
Verdict:
"Solitary" is an excellent episode of Lost. Both Mira Furlan and Naveen Andrews do a fantastic job, we get some awesome new mysteries, the flashbacks are fascinating, the golf storyline is a lot of fun, and we get an excellent cliffhanger. "Solitary" has absolutely got it going.on.
10/10: Amazing
Comments
Post a Comment