I know there are some out there who are tired of this alternate reality storyline, but to them I say: You’ve been along for the ride this long, and THIS is what’s bugging you?

Team Darlton has been building toward this season for years now; this is not a red herring, this is not just some throwaway storyline. This is absolutely imperative to understanding everything they’ve been telling us for more than five years now.

What is that? Beats the hell outta me, but I am along for the ride.

So, last week gave us a Sayid-centric episode, and I found it right in line with everything we’ve ever been taught on Lost.

Sayid is a tortured soul. Yes, how ironic, given that he was a torturer.

But I wonder: Is the darkness Dogen found within Sayid the MiB or just the stain Sayid himself has cast upon himself?

In the alternate storyline, we see a Sayid who travels the world translating documents for an oil company. Nice jet-setting life that also happens to be incredibly boring. If he was telling the truth. The way he disarmed Keamy’s slimeballs and killed Keamy makes it seem he’s kept up his training. I suppose it’s possible.

He’s as hung up on Nadia as ever, but she married his brother. We later find out that Sayid pushed Nadia toward his brother because he felt unworthy of being with her, due to all the bad he had done while in the Republican Guard.

Sayid’s never forgiven himself, in either timeline. He believes that he deserves everything bad coming to him for that very reason.

The question is whether he truly is in the thrall of the MiB.

Now, was Dogen actually telling the truth about Sayid not letting MiB talk before killing him? I did note that Smocke said, “Hi Sayid,” before Sayid stabbed him. And Dogen noted that; was he just guessing or did that REALLY matter?

And, is Sayid dead? Did he let MiB kill him or did the Smoke Monster skip him? And why is it that Smokey couldn’t come in unless Dogen was dead? What is it about Dogen that kept him at bay? I thought it was the ash that did it, but it didn’t make a bit of difference in the end.

Side note: So weird to see Ben so jumpy and uncertain about what the hell he’s doing. And did you notice Jack in the hospital scene when Sayid went to visit his brother? (Of course you did.)

And speaking of weird, Claire is just plain CREEPY. Dunno if it’s the hair or the 100-yard stare what. I was pretty sure she was gonna kill Kate when Kate got knocked into the hole. Though she obviously wants Aaron before she kills Kate, so she’s safe for now, I suppose.

I don’t feel as if anything was answered in the episode, but it was so obviously building toward SO MUCH. Cindy, the stewardess, taking the kids from the plane out of the Temple. All the other people who left; are they now actually free, as Sayid told them, or are they just transferring one sort of prison for another?

Why was the MiB forced to stay on the island? Why can he only take the form of Locke right now? How does he have the power to transform into a pillar of homicidal smoke? Why was Kate not on the list? Who in the hell is Dogen and are you also bummed out that he’s dead? Is Sayid alive? Why was Jin beaten up by Keamy and his crew and trapped in a meat locker?

Why do all these people have all these connections off-island as well as on? Why are they so important?

We’ll know soon enough, I suppose.