SPOILER: "One of Them" is a truly great character-focused episode, and the first episode in season two since "Orientation" to be a classic, well-drawn, well-rounded script which examines the actions of a character in depth while building a strong bridge between the flashbacks and the on-island events, creating a complete, whole narrative that flows much better than many other episodes in the first half of season two. This should come as no surprise since the showrunners and key creative forces on "Lost", Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, wrote the episode.
The flashbacks show in detail how Sayid became a torturer, and feature an excellent guest turn from Clancy Brown. The flashback scenes are all excellent and show a good understanding of the psychology of soldiers in war, in addition to good handling of Sayid as a character. We see how troubled he is by his actions, how devastated, and Naveen Andrews brings this to life brilliantly. There was also care taken to have Sayid speak only Arabic when speaking to other Arabs without American company, as this was an annoying inconsistency in earlier Sayid flashbacks.
The flashbacks are only a small part of the sheer intensity and power of "One of Them", however. The episode sees, of course, the introduction of the highly entertaining *cough* Henry Gale. Michael Emerson is terrific in this guest-starring role and really makes the character his own. Later developments are not surprising considering Emerson's wonderful performance here. Like "Confidence Man" with Sawyer it's not easy to watch Sayid torturing Fenry, but the violence is used effectively and is necessary. One of the other key moments is the button being pushed a fraction of a second too late resulting in not a catastrophe but the appearance of hieroglyphics where the numbers should be. Henry Gale is a lot of fun, and I have to admit completely sympathizing with him at this point when I originally saw it. "Got any milk?" was coming right up, though.
10/10
The flashbacks show in detail how Sayid became a torturer, and feature an excellent guest turn from Clancy Brown. The flashback scenes are all excellent and show a good understanding of the psychology of soldiers in war, in addition to good handling of Sayid as a character. We see how troubled he is by his actions, how devastated, and Naveen Andrews brings this to life brilliantly. There was also care taken to have Sayid speak only Arabic when speaking to other Arabs without American company, as this was an annoying inconsistency in earlier Sayid flashbacks.
The flashbacks are only a small part of the sheer intensity and power of "One of Them", however. The episode sees, of course, the introduction of the highly entertaining *cough* Henry Gale. Michael Emerson is terrific in this guest-starring role and really makes the character his own. Later developments are not surprising considering Emerson's wonderful performance here. Like "Confidence Man" with Sawyer it's not easy to watch Sayid torturing Fenry, but the violence is used effectively and is necessary. One of the other key moments is the button being pushed a fraction of a second too late resulting in not a catastrophe but the appearance of hieroglyphics where the numbers should be. Henry Gale is a lot of fun, and I have to admit completely sympathizing with him at this point when I originally saw it. "Got any milk?" was coming right up, though.
10/10