Lost (TV Series) Solitary (2004) User Reviews

"Are you playing golf?"

[MaxBorg89 · 9/10 · 21 October 2010]

Like its predecessor Confidence Man, the ninth episode of Lost, called Solitary, is a solid character study that also digs a little deeper into the show's mysteries, whilst retaining a lighter side to avoid slipping into complete darkness.

This time, the "main" character is Sayid, who's suffering from a guilty conscience after torturing Sawyer (and nearly killing him in the process). Taking a solitary walk around the Island to find out where the radio transmission came from, he's suddenly abducted, imprisoned and, at one point, tortured (there it goes) by a mysterious French woman (Mira Furlan). She identifies herself as Danielle Rousseau, the one who sent the distress signal, and the sole survivor of a science team that was stranded on the Island and got into conflict with the "Others".

During the conversations with Danielle, Sayid remembers his own past, and it is revealed - though it doesn't come as much of a surprise - that he used to be a torturer acting under Saddam Hussein's command in Iraq. During one of his assignments, he had a chance encounter with childhood friend Nadia (Andrea Gabriel), who he helped escape from the prison facility with dire consequences for himself.

While the back-story doesn't strike as particularly surprising (the previous episode gave it away somehow), the drama that comes with it is handled very well, and the scenes with Naveen Andrews and Gabriel are among the most moving in the series so far. More interesting, though, is the new details added to the ongoing mystery of the Island, with suggestions of hitherto unseen enemies and plenty left to say about Rousseau, another character with a philosophically relevant name (unsurprisingly, the real-life inspiration, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, was connected to one John Locke). Additionally, the episode offers plenty of humor, courtesy of writer David Fury (a Buffy and Angel veteran), who gives Danielle the ironic line "There's no such thing as monsters" and finally provides the survivors with an outdoors activity: golf. Question is, how much time will they have for it with all the weird stuff happening around them?

Easter Egg In 'Solitay' - The Mysterious French Transmission

[eddietorbalinda · 9/10 · 2 October 2021]

The repetitive transmission of numbers followed by a French pre-recorded message every 16 minutes, and originating from an unknown location on the island is possibly a reference to a very real Russian radio signal known as UVB-76.

UVB-76 is a mysterious signal that broadcasts at 462.5 kHz. It's believed the signal has been broadcasting since the early 1970's. It wasn't until 1982 that someone recorded one of its broadcasts. It transmitted a decade before anyone took notice, much like the mysterious signal transmitting from the island on Lost wasn't noticed for 16 years.

The Russian UVB-76 broadcasts a repetitive, short burst buzz 24/7/365. Every year or so UVB-76 would interrupt the buzzes with human messages reading a series of numbers and Russian names. Until recently, the location of the UVB-76 transmission was unknown. "Online chatter about the signal increased in 2010 as bizarre broadcasts were issued on an almost monthly basis. Snippets of Swan Lake were played, a female voiced counted from one to nine, a question mark was transmitted in Morse code, and strange telephone conversations were overheard. Since October 2010, the station has changed location." It now broadcasts from multiple locations within Russia. Just like the island changes location and the island signal transmits from various locations in the Pacific.

So, there you have it, Lost's version of UVB-76.

A torturous past

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 10 December 2017]

When 'Lost' was in its prime, it was must-watch television. Remember first watching it, found it remarkably easy to get into, was hooked from the start and was on Season 3 by the end of one week. The general consensus is that the final season is a disappointment and cannot disagree.

"Solitary" is something of a let down after the great previous episode "Confidence Man", and is not in the same league as far as previous episodes go as "Pilot" and "Walkabout" which are show high points. It is still a very good episode, even if the direction has been more inspired before and since and the writing tighter and more illuminating.

It is great to learn about Sayid's dark past and it does make for harrowing viewing, but the previous episodes with flashbacks for Charlie, Sawyer and particularly Locke said more new things about the character in question than "Solitary's" flashbacks did with Sayid (it is agreed that the Arabic is dodgy) rather than going over things already reinforced.

Rousseau's introduction is more interesting, and the character has only been introduced in this episode and is already a complex individual. The scenes between Sayid and Rousseau are riveting though.

Even greater is learning more about the island and there is a nice light-hearted edge with Hurley and the golf, a good example of the other characters other than the main focus having time to shine.

Visually, "Solitary" is well made with the island as beautiful and mysterious as ever. The music is understated and chilling. The writing still provokes thought and the story absorbs.

Acting is hard to find fault, Naveen Andrews and Mira Furlan being outstanding.

Overall, well done if not up to great or more 'Lost' standard. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Learning more about the island while Sayid's past is revealed

[ametaphysicalshark · 27 June 2008]

"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

Tortured by the Past

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 8 April 2006]

Ashamed with his behavior torturing Sawyer, Sayid Jarrah decides to leave the group of survivors and travel alone through the island, trying to find the source of transmission and map the place. He is arrested and tortured by the French survivor Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan) and recalls his beloved Nadia (Andrea Gabriel). Meanwhile, Hurley Reyes builds a golf course and the survivors play golf in a sunny field.

"Solitary" is a reasonable episode of "Lost", where the dark past of torturer of Sayid is disclosed. His adventure with Rousseau and Nadia is not bad, but the golf game is silly. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Solitary"

Note: On 20 March 2013, I saw this episode again.

Good, But Insultingly Unrealistic

[borowiecsminus · 7/10 · 13 July 2016]

The acting is good. So is the writing. It's intriguing, the directing is good, too. But it is almost offensively unrealistic.

I'm somewhere between a student and an expert on what solitary confinement does to a person; I've researched it for years. I can definitively say that the entire premise of this episode is beyond flawed.

Supposedly, this French girl, Danielle (I think), has been completely alone for 16 years. If the show had done an ounce of research, they would have her hallucinating after 16 days. She would be completely incapable of having any caring emotion for Sayid, she would be incapable of sympathy or empathy; she would quite literally be a sociopath. She would've spent so long in that cabin that she never would've had to ask "how do you know my name?", she would've memorized every inch of her fortress and knew exactly where he got it. She would have no such belief that "there's no such thing as monsters," she, again, could not feel emotion, so the tears would not happen, and finally, although this isn't on the same train of thought, if J.J. Abrams is trying to convince me that there just happened to be a cable coming from God-knows-where in the ocean that she found and knew how to use, I'm calling BS.

So that pretty much took away a solid three stars, because other than that, it's a great episode of television. The acting, despite the shaky premise, is fabulous on both Sayid and Danielle's part, the golf course was a neat idea, the directing, while nauseating, was intentional and effective, and the writing was not stellar or anything, but good enough.

A let-down, especially after "Confidence Man."

Google Translate

[ihala-39114 · 1/10 · 20 April 2020]

Arabic language source is Google translat? Sayid's language is so stupid haha He can not say it, and sure there is no accent because he speaks old formal language lol

Poignant

[dmpearsall · 15 May 2021]

Watching this episode in May 2021 with a huge degree of sadness knowing that Mira Furlan (Danielle Rousseau) passed away at the age of just 65 in January 2021.

She appeared in 20 episodes of 'Lost' from 2004-2010 and is excellent in this as the character who left the radio distress message for the other characters to hear fifteen years later.

Damon Lindelof, executive producer, on hearing of her passing said "Thank you for helping us find the island. RIP Mira" An actress that will be much missed.

Danielle

[gedikreverdi · 8 November 2021]

Sayed was held prisoner by Danielle the French woman who sent that distress call more than a decade ago. She's the sole survivor of a ship accident. They're scientists. Sayed fell in love with the rebel girl he was supposed to shoot dead back in Iraq.