Episode Analysis of 1.09 "Solitary"

WARNING: If you have not already seen all of LOST, please DO NOT READ THIS.

My LOST re-watch and in-depth episode analysis will include major details from the entirety that was LOST, and will be written with the perspective of having seen everything already. You will be SPOILED if you read any further. It is far better if you learn the story of LOST for yourself, as it is meant to be seen. Trust me on this, and don't say that I didn't warn you first. Seriously. Stop it. Now. Go watch it. Then, come back here.

To read my original post on this episode, please refer to Solitary.

This episode was written by David Fury, and directed by Greg Yaitanes. It originally aired on November 17th, 2004.

This is a Sayid Jarrah flashback-centric episode.

We begin with a shot of Sayid Jarrah sitting on beach, after he's left the rest of the plane crash survivors out of shame for what he did to Sawyer, and also to map the Island.

1.09 Solitary

1. The photograph that Claire gave Sayid while looking through the luggage is of Nadia. From Lostpedia
2. It's been 2 days since Sayid left the group.
3. Sayid follows a wire on the beach and is captured by French woman who then tortures him and asks where Alex is in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian. From Lostpedia
4. "16 years? Has it really been that long?" Rousseau From Lostpedia
5. "Alex? Who is he?" Sayid asks Rousseau.
6. "Nadia? You left her too?" Rousseau "She wasn't on the plane. She's dead, because of me."
7. Rousseau shows Sayid a music box from her love, Robert, and Sayid says he will fix it if she tells him about herself, answers his questions. From Lostpedia
8. Her name is Danielle Rousseau. She was part of a science team. The vessel was 3 days out of Tahiti, the instruments malfunctioned. It was night, there was a storm, sounds, the ship slammed into the rocks, ran aground, the hull breached beyond repair. They made camp, dug-out a temporary shelter, and survived nearly two months before the others got sick coming back from the Black Rock.
9. Sayid asks if she's seen other people on the island. She says no, but that she hears them in the jungle, that they whisper.
10. "You think I'm insane." Rousseau "I think you've been alone for too long." Sayid
11. "There's no such thing as monsters." Rousseau leaves the bunker, Sayid takes her maps. From Lostpedia
12. "Robert didn't notice it was missing either when I shot him." Rousseau "But you loved him." Sayid "He was sick." Rousseau
13. "You're older than your years." Nadia, to Sayid.
14. Nadia's photograph, on the back, "You'll find me in the next life, if not in this one." Sayid says he's been holding on for 7 years to the thought that she still may be alive, which would make it 1997, after the Gulf War.
15. "Alex was my child." Rousseau
16. Sayid hears the whispers in the jungle on his way back to the caves.

Questions:

1. How did Rousseau learn so many languages? If she knew so many, then why did she put out the transmission only in French?
2. Why does Sayid say that Nadia is dead? The last thing he knows before he gets on the plane is that she is, in fact, alive. He is going to see her. Why would he say she's dead because of him?
3. Where did Sayid and her team get all the supplies from to build their shelter? From Lostpedia
4. Why does it seem like Rousseau was more military than from a science team? She has army-like fatigues and rifles.
5. Why is the needle Rousseau uses on Sayid so dull? What was she using it on?
6. What is the sickness? Why did Rousseau kill her team?
7. How was Alex taken? How does Rousseau know there are other people on the island, but she's never seen them? How could they take Alex without her seeing them?
8. What is the monster? Is it really a security system?
9. How did Rousseau not hear the plane crash on the island? This occurred at the same time as the system failure and the whole island shook.
10. Does Rousseau know what the monster is?
11. Why does Sayid leave Nadia's photograph?
12. What are the whispers?

Favorites:

1. Sullivan, the hypochondriac, and Jack as usual acting like he has more important things to do, because everything Jack does is important!
2. "Dudes, we're lost on an island! Running from boars, and monsters, freakin' polar bears!" Hurley "Polar bears?" Michael "You didn't hear about the polar bear?" Charlie
3. "Are you playing golf? Can I play?" Sullivan
4. "Doctor playing golf? What's next, cop eating a donut?" Sawyer
5. "No, it's a mulligan. Mulligan. It's a gentleman's sport." Charlie From Lostpedia
6. Locke giving Walt the knife.

Notes:

1. The first time we see Ethan. He hunts with Locke.
2. Rousseau calls her team "the others," which is funny now because we know there are other others, but at first it was used from Rousseau and the beach camp referring to their people.
3. This episode is the introduction of other things on this island.
4. The whispers from Lostpedia: (Male Voice) "Just let him get out of here" (Male Voice) "He's seen too much already." (Male Voice) "What if he tells?" (Female Voice) "Could just speak to him." (Male Voice) "No."
5. Also from Lostpedia: David Fury revealed in the first draft of the script, "there was an exchange (pitched by J.J. when he and I broke the story) in an early draft of “Solitary” when Rousseau tells Sayid she had been part of a research team. Sayid asks her what they were researching. She replies: "Time." The network saw that draft and asked us to remove the line. They were very timid about anything that smacked of Sci-Fi during the first season."