"Solitary" is a very well-written episode but much about the way it is executed bothered me. For one, while Naveen Andrews is superb as Sayid it is embarrassing that all his flashbacks have him inexplicably alternating between English and Arabic (really, really bad Arabic). One may argue that casting an actor of German origin to play an actor of British origin is similar and acceptable, but it's a given in those situations that the actor speaks English well and doesn't speak nonsensically in an entirely different language to other Arabs. In addition I found the cinematography by Larry Fong and the direction by Greg Yaitanes completely pedestrian, predictable, and occasionally silly. It's debatable whether the writing on "Lost" has improved over the four years it has been on air, but it is beyond any question that the series looks far better now on a visual level than it did in season one.
"Solitary" is one of the four scripts written by acclaimed writer David Fury before he left "Lost", and it is certainly less impressive than his two classic episodes "Walkabout" and "Numbers", but isn't bad by any means. Still, the flashback isn't quite handled as well as it could have been, essentially hammering home points about Sayid's character that we already learned in the previous episode. The fact that "Solitary" comes right after "Confidence Man", where Sawyer's character was so spectacularly and interestingly explored in unexpected ways, and provides a simplistic 'jaded good guy in love' story, albeit one with some interesting plot turns, makes "Solitary" seem weak.
The most interesting aspects of this episode are the on-island events. We get a good dose of island mythology in this episode, as we discover the source of the signal, Rosseau, and learn about her mysterious backstory. Sayid and Rosseau's scenes together are continually interesting, and the episode introduces us to the Others, albeit indirectly. Although many fans hate the golf part of this episode, but I found it a very entertaining bit of light-hearted "Lost", well-written and fun. It also gave us an excuse to see Shannon in a bikini.
"Solitary" is a very good episode that leads into the following two episodes quite nicely. With the perspective of the fourth season and the recent Lostpedia David Fury interview (where he stated that the network had him cut out Rosseau telling Sayid that her team were studying time) in mind I am completely satisfied with the resolution of the 'sickness' question.
8/10
"Solitary" is one of the four scripts written by acclaimed writer David Fury before he left "Lost", and it is certainly less impressive than his two classic episodes "Walkabout" and "Numbers", but isn't bad by any means. Still, the flashback isn't quite handled as well as it could have been, essentially hammering home points about Sayid's character that we already learned in the previous episode. The fact that "Solitary" comes right after "Confidence Man", where Sawyer's character was so spectacularly and interestingly explored in unexpected ways, and provides a simplistic 'jaded good guy in love' story, albeit one with some interesting plot turns, makes "Solitary" seem weak.
The most interesting aspects of this episode are the on-island events. We get a good dose of island mythology in this episode, as we discover the source of the signal, Rosseau, and learn about her mysterious backstory. Sayid and Rosseau's scenes together are continually interesting, and the episode introduces us to the Others, albeit indirectly. Although many fans hate the golf part of this episode, but I found it a very entertaining bit of light-hearted "Lost", well-written and fun. It also gave us an excuse to see Shannon in a bikini.
"Solitary" is a very good episode that leads into the following two episodes quite nicely. With the perspective of the fourth season and the recent Lostpedia David Fury interview (where he stated that the network had him cut out Rosseau telling Sayid that her team were studying time) in mind I am completely satisfied with the resolution of the 'sickness' question.
8/10