This week, everyone is dealing with Boone’s death. Jack and Shannon are taking it the hardest. Both of them are blaming Locke for what happened. We have a Sayid flashback. Jack and Locke’s tension is building, Shannon is letting go of Boone.
When I first sat down to watch this episode, it sort of struck me as odd that they would have a Sayid flashback during all of the Boone stuff that was happening. But at the end, I had if figured out for myself. Shannon. She was going through a lot this episode. She was one of the few who crashed with a family member and now he was gone. He was her brother. And even though she messed with his head a lot, she still loved him. I think Sayid saw a bit of his former roommate in her. She lost a loved one and wanted nothing more than to get revenge with Locke.
This was similar to the former roommate’s story. But unfortunately, Sayid didn’t get to save his roommate from making a big mistake. But he did get to save Shannon from making the big mistake of killing Locke. This helps Sayid kind of get a do over on this type of situation and I think it also assists Shannon in letting go of Boone. Instead of Shannon just killing Locke in an act of rage, she was able to come to some terms with his death before moving on from the island. Like Christian said in the church - “You needed them and they needed you.” This is a really good example of that to me.
The Jack and Locke dynamic really intensifies in this episode. According to Lostpedia, this episode was supposed to be titled “Sides” and I think that is really a very good name for it. This actually starts those two Jack and Locke sides. Foundations of Science vs. Faith have been given to us up to this point, but Boone’s death is a catalyst to Jack vs. Locke. I really do think that Boone’s death served the most purpose on the show. I mentioned some examples in previous posts. I feel like the episode title that they picked, “The Greater Good”, references Boone more than anyone else this episode. He was a sacrifice. He died for the greater good of all of the other Losties. Another example of “You needed them and they needed you.”
Like I have said before, Sayid episodes do nothing for me. They are too violent. I don’t enjoy them at all. This one wasn’t any different for me. Also, I feel it was quite stand alone in comparison to other episodes that fill a lot in for me. If anything, I will say that this episode just showed me how deep and strong the characters bonds are. They are all broken. And they all help each other become fixed. They really do need each other.
