Lost: Season 3, Episode 11 "Enter 77" Review

 "Why are we continuing to play this little game...when we all know it has moved to the next stage?"

-Mikhail Bakunin

"Enter 77" picks up on the beach, where the survivors have found the ping-pong table from the Hatch.  Sawyer (Josh Holloway) challenges the rest of the camp to a game.  If Sawyer wins, he gets everything from his stash back, but if he loses, he can't use any nicknames for a week.  The group puts up Hurley (Jorge Garcia) as their best player, who proceeds to demolish Sawyer and win the game.

Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Locke (Terry O'Quinn), and Rousseau (Mira Furlan) come across a Dharma station, "The Flame", which is stationed by Mikhail (Andrew Divoff).  Sayid approaches the Flame unarmed, to not appear threatening, but Mikhail shoots him the shoulder.  Locke and Kate hold Mikhail at gunpoint, but they manages to deescalate the situation.

Mikhail fixes up Sayid and claims he is the last living member of the Dharma Initiative, who were all wiped out by the Others during a war that Mikhail declined to participate in.  Since the communication equipment in the Flame no longer works, the Others allowed him to live there.  Sayid doesn't buy any of this and believes Mikhail is an Other and that he is not alone.  Sayid baits Mikhail into revealing himself and the two fight, but Sayid wins and they tie him up.  Sayid finds a basement, where he and Kate find a map to a place called The Barracks before being attacked by Ms. Klug (April Grace), but they manage to subdue her.

Locke, who was supposed to be watching Mikhail, gets distracted by the station's computer, which has a chess game.  He beats it, which unlocks a variety of technical options.  He is unable to communicate with the mainland because the system is down, but before he can do anything else, he is captured by Mikhail.  A standoff occurs, which ends with Ms. Klug ordering Mikhail to kill her, which he does.  The group manages to capture Mikhail and they prepare to head for the Barracks.  Locke goes back to the computer, which tells him to enter 77 if the hostiles have taken over the station.  He does so, which causes the station to explode minutes later.

In flashbacks, we see Sayid living under a false name in Paris as a chef.  He is approached by a fellow Iraqi, Sami (Shaun Toub), who offers him a better job, but when Sayid goes to Sami's restaurant, he is knocked out.  He is chained up in a storage room and accused of torturing Sami's wife, Amira (Anne Bedian).  Sayid denies it and Sami beats him.  When Amira approaches him alone, Sayid breaks down and confesses.  Amira forgives him and decides to let Sayid go as to not descend to his level.

What Works:

This episode exists to basically show off how competent Sayid Jarrah is and anyone who knows me knows there is nothing I love more than competent characters.  Sayid is just the best in this episode.  He figures out Mikhail is one of the Others, that he isn't alone, and that there is a hidden basement all from quick glances.  Even with a bullet wound, he is able to outfight Mikhail.  It's an impressive showing for Sayid and I love watching him in action.

Mikhail is one of my favorite villains in the entire series and while we have seen him before, this is his true introduction.  Andrew Divoff is always fun to watch, no matter what he does.  He has an excellent screen presence and plays Mikhail very convincingly.  I even bought his lies the first time I watched this episode.  Besides Ben (Michael Emerson) and maybe Ethan (William Mapother), Mikhail is probably my favorite Other.

The flashbacks are simple, but excellent.  Naveen Andrews, Shaun Toub, and Anne Bedian all give heartbreaking performances.  The final scene between Sayid and Amira never fails to make me tear up.

Finally, the B-plot with Sawyer losing to Hurley in ping-pong is really funny.  Forcing Sawyer to stop using nicknames is hilarious, but they probably could have gotten him for more than a week.

What Sucks:

Speaking of competent characters, let's talk about Locke.  He's a mostly competent character, even if he can be reckless when it comes to curiosity.  I totally understand why he was willing to enter 77 into the computer.  That's fine.  What I can't abide is him leaving his post of watching Mikhail to go play chess.  I don't buy that Locke would do that and it felt a little sloppy from a writing perspective.

Platinum Polar Bear:

The Platinum Polar Bear goes to the most competent character in an episode.  For "Enter 77", this award goes to Sayid, obviously.  I wrote a whole paragraph on why already.  This is Sayid's 8th time winning this award, which ties him for 2nd place with Locke, ironically.

Verdict:

"Enter 77" is a very underrated episode of Lost.  I don't hear people talk about it very much, when it's one of my favorites.  Sayid is great, there are some excellent performances, a fun B-plot, and the introduction of Mikhail.  Some of Locke's decisions are a bit sloppy, but this episode has still absolutely got it going on.

 9/10: Great