ONE OF THEM

Or, At Least It's Not Another Charlie Episode

[Originally Aired February 15, 2006]

American forces invade Iraq and Sayid and his men frantically shred documents. The commanding officer, Tariq, tells them to keep working as the shelling of their bunker worsens. The Americans bust and tell them to stop or they'll be shot. The Iraqis don't understand. Sayid interprets. The Americans ask where their commanding officer is, but Sayid lies and says he has fled. On the island, Ana tells Sayid she's seen an Other near the camp and the two head off to track the interloper. It turns out to be Rousseau who says she was looking for Sayid. Sayid sends Ana back to the camp and tells her not to mention this to anyone. Rousseau says she has something to show Sayid and leads him into the jungle. Back in Iraq, Kate's father enlists Sayid's help to interrogate Tariq. Tariq belittles Sayid for working with the Americans and refuses to tell where a missing pilot is. Meanwhile, Rousseau shows Sayid someone she's trapped in a net. Rousseau says the man is an Other. Sayid is not so sure and cuts him down. As the man tries to flee, Rousseau shoots him in the back with her crossbow. Sayid tells her she could have killed him, and Rousseau says if she wanted to kill him, she would have. Sayid carries the unconscious man back to the hatch. Rousseau warns that the man will lie. Sawyer tries to sleep but a frog chirps endlessly, driving Sawyer nuts. Sawyer heads into the jungle to find the creature and along the way finds Hurley dipping his papaya in a giant jar of Dharma ranch dressing. Hurley has a big stash of food. Sawyer makes a deal with Hurley: if he helps him find the frog he won't tell anyone about his secret cache of peanut butter. In Iraq Clancy Brown shows up and tells Sayid "There can be only one!" Okay, not really. He shows Sayid a video of his village being gassed and then tells him "There can be only one!" Okay, not really. He tells Sayid that Tariq used to work in chemical weapons and is responsible for the death of the villagers, including Sayid's relatives. Clancy then hands Sayid a box of torture implements and asks him to get Tariq to divulge the location of the missing pilot. Sawyer and Hurley track the frog, all the while Sawyer calls him all kinds of nicknames which are synonymous with "fat." Hurley snaps, tells Sawyer to go fuck himself, but in a safe, TV-friendly way, and says that yeah, he is fat, but everyone likes him, unlike Sawyer who the whole camp thinks is a ginormous douche. Sawyer apologizes. Jack patches up the man, who says his name is Henry Gale who crashed on the island in a balloon. His wife got sick a few weeks ago and died. Sayid convinces Locke to change the combination of the weapons store, and when Jack and Sayid move Henry to the cot inside, Sayid closes the door locking himself in alone with Henry. Jack pounds on the door and asks what he's doing. "What needs to be done." In Iraq, Sayid interrogates Tariq and shows him his new tools. Tariq orders Sayid to kill himself, while Sayid questions why Tariq doesn't turn over the info, since it's not worth anything anyway. In the bunker, Sayid introduces himself to Henry and tells him he's a torturer. Sayid asks him about his wife and the balloon and other things. Jack asks Locke why he changed the combo. Locke says Jack is raising a secret army so that means they must be at war, and what Sayid is doing is part of that too. Hurley finds the frog but trips and the frog jumps away but Sawyer catches it midair like he's the fuckin' Karate Kid or something. Hurley and Sawyer admire the little frog a moment and Hurley offers to take him deep into the woods where he won't bother Sawyer anymore. Sawyer thinks about it for a second but then squishes the frog to death in his hand. In the bunker Sayid asks Henry about burying his wife, and when Henry's answers aren't sufficient, Sayid starts to beat the shit out of him. In Iraq, Sayid hands Clancy back his tools and tells him the pilot is dead. Sayid is covered in Tariq's blood. In the hatch, the alarm starts to ring but Jack pins Locke and tells him to open the door or he'll let the timer run out. Locke panics and lets Jack into the room and races back to the button. The timer hits zero and instead of resetting there is some weird ass noise and the timer starts displaying hieroglyphics. A moment later Locke gets the numbers keyed in and the clock resets and the noise disappears. Meanwhile Jack tears Sayid off of Henry. In Iraq, Clancy frees Sayid and tells him "There can be only one!" Okay, not really. He says the war is over, the Americans are not going to Baghdad. Clancy hands Sayid a thousand bucks and assures him he'll have a long career ahead of him as a torturer under Saddam. On the beach, Sayid tells Charlie about Henry. He knows Henry is an Other because he felt no guilt for beating him. I'm pretty sure Sayid is a sociopath. Charlie asks him why he's telling him this. Sayid says it is because he remembers what the Others did to Charlie.