Lost: Season 6, Episode 6 "Sundown" Review

 "I make good eggs."

-Martin Keamy

"Sundown" picks up in the flash-sideways world with Sayid (Naveen Andrews) arriving at Nadia's (Andrea Gabriel) house.  It turns out, Nadia is married to Sayid's brother, Omer (Cas Anvar), and they have two kids.  It's very obvious that Sayid still has feelings for Nadia and later tells her he cannot be with her because he does not deserve her.

Omer tells Sayid that he borrowed money from a loan shark to expand his business, but the loan shark is demanding interest.  He asks Sayid to take care of the problem, but Sayid refuses.  Omer is attacked and ends up on the hospital.  Later, Sayid is picked up by Omar (Anthony Azizi), who brings Sayid to the loan shark, who turns out to be Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand).  When Keamy demands the money, Sayid steals a gun and shoots Keamy and his men.  He then finds Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) tied up and gagged in a walk-in freezer.

On the Island, Sayid demands answers from Dogen (Hiroyuki Sanada).  Dogen tells him that Sayid is more evil than good and that everyone would be better off if he was dead.  Dogen attacks Sayid and tries to kill him, but eventually settles on banishing Sayid from the Temple.  Before he can leave, Claire (Emilie de Ravin) enters the Temple and tells Dogen the Man in Black (Terry O'Quinn) wants to talk to him.  Dogen asks Sayid to go in his stead to prove he is a good person.  Dogen gives him a knife and tells him to stab the Man in Black.

Sayid does what he is asked, but the Man in Black is unfazed by the stabbing.  He says that Dogen used Sayid in the hopes Sayid would be killed.  He asks Sayid to return to the Temple to deliver a message.  He tells the Others that they have until sundown to leave the Temple and join the Man in Black or they will be killed.  A large group of the Others join him.

Kate (Evangeline Lilly) returns to the Temple and learns that Claire is being held prisoner.  She visits her and tells her that she was the one who took Aaron (William Blanchette), not the Others.  Claire is furious, but doesn't let on.

Sayid murders Dogen, which allows the Man in Black to enter the Temple in Smoke Monster form.  He attacks and kills the remaining Others.  Miles (Ken Leung) is rescued by Ilana (Zuleikha Robinson), Lapidus (Jeff Fahey), and Sun (Yunjin Kim).  They escape the Temple, while Ben (Michael Emerson) goes looking for Sayid.  Ben leaves Sayid behind when he sees that Sayid seems to have gone off the deep end.  Sayid, Claire, and Kate end up joining the Man in Black's group.

What Works:

"Sundown" may very well be the most violent episode of Lost and that is where the episode shines.  I love both of Sayid's fights with Dogen.  Sayid doesn't often go up against someone who is a match for him in physical combat and that's what makes it such a fun fight.  I also love how casually he kills Lennon.  We're not going to get much more badass Sayid on the show, so I'll take what we can get.

The attack on the Temple is also pretty fun.  This is the largest scale action sequence with the monster we ever get.  I always get a kick out of seeing Others get tossed around by this thing.  The first time I saw this episode, I was convinced Miles was going to get killed here, so on the 1st watch, this sequence has some great tension.

I have issues with the flash-sideways storyline, but I do love the return of Keamy.  He only gets one scene, but he kills it and gets to chew on some eggs and the scenery.

Finally, the final scene of the episode is one of the most haunting things the show has ever done.  Sayid, Claire, and Kate walking through the Temple with bodies everywhere would be awesome on its own, but they add in a slowed down version of "Catch a Falling Star" and we have a classic Lost ending.

What Sucks:

As I mentioned, I don't love the flash-sideways storyline.  The Keamy stuff is fun, but the rest of the episode simply isn't that interesting and some of the acting has always felt off to me.

Finally, I don't love how easily Sayid is manipulated by Dogen and the Man in Black in this episode.  Sayid has always been the smartest character on this show and it isn't easy to outsmart him.  It feels out of character for Sayid to get duped more than once in an episode.  Season 6 is easily the worst Sayid season and that all starts here.

Platinum Polar Bear:

The Platinum Polar Bear goes to the most competent character of the episode.  For "Sundown", this award goes to the Man in Black for convincing Sayid to kill Dogen and join his side as well as massacring most of the Others.  This is his 9th time winning this award, which puts him in 4th place overall.

Verdict:

"Sundown" is an episode that I used to love, but the more I rewatch the show, the less I like it.  The action is great, as is the final scene and the return of Keamy, but I don't like what they do with Sayid's character and the majority of the flash-sideways is dull.  That said, I still enjoy the episode quite a bit and it has definitely got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good