LOST--Sundown (as always, spoilers ahead)

Elton John’s plaintive “Don’t let the su-u-un go down on me” came to mind during the final moments of last night’s LOST, “Sundown.” Although the Season Six episodes mirror the order of those from the beginning of Season One, “Sundown” is Sayid-centric, unlike “House of the Rising Sun.” Nevertheless, the concept of oppositions—sunrise/sunset, light/dark, Good/Evil, Kate/Claire, Jacob/fLocke—rules this episode.

I love a good battle between Good and Evil. My favorite literature, film, and TV series deal with such epic conflicts, whether between characters or within a single character. “Sundown” might have been a bit heavy-handed in illustrating these dichotomies within individuals, but it emphasizes the core theme of LOST and provides a Biblical or, if you prefer, operatic conclusion to the first third of the final season.

Of course, Sayid is the perfect character to illustrate the very human desire to be good (“I am a good man,” he tells Dogen) despite his actions (“I know what you did in the war, Sayid,” Omar reminds him). Sayid seems equally comfortable as Nadia’s tender confidante and doting uncle to her children or a calm, controlled killer. Which Sayid is the real man? Is he damned for being an interrogator, killing his brother’s tormentors, letting fLocke loose in the temple? Is love the force that drives him to such evil acts, or is it merely a convenient excuse for doing what comes naturally?

The oppositions between characters even offer a new perspective on what it means to be an ideal parent and how far most people fall from that ideal (including, we learn, pre-island Dogen). Blonde Claire once seemed the epitome of protective motherhood, but brunette Kate of the equally dark past now seems the better choice to mother Aaron. Both mothers are murderers, but both love Aaron. How will good or evil play out in their upcoming battle for this child?

Claire’s haunting rendition of “Catch a Falling Star” recalls several flashbacks when she sang this lullaby to prospective parents and Kate sang to Aaron. Falling light—like a meteor streaking across the darkness or the last rays of light before sundown—foreshadows darkness to come. Claire reminds us to catch that falling star, put it in our pocket, and “save it for a rainy day.” Did you notice how much rain falls in this episode? fLocke even assumes greater power and more followers to the accompaniment of thunder, but then, Smokey has always been his own little dark cloud of terror.

By far, the greatest battle to come must involve Jacob, who, although “dead,” certainly seems to exercise a lot of influence over the island’s future, as well as that of its current inhabitants. Is he really the force of Good everyone seems to assume? Just like fLocke, he is persuasive and not always benevolent. Did he see Evil in Sayid, leading him to allow Nadia to die in Island Sayid’s timeline? Was Dogen’s son’s accident something similar? fLocke, so beautifully played by Terry O’Quinn, is certainly a dark force with a silver tongue. Should we take Dogen’s and Jacob’s word that he is Evil Incarnate? Like Jack, if we’re men or women of science, we might have trouble interpreting all the evidence. Like Locke, if we’re men or women of faith, we might question how Jacob could die and leave his followers defenseless while fLocke/Smokey runs amok.

As fLocke smugly leads his followers off camera, ending the first part of the final season, we are invited to follow. The battle is coming, and we’ll all soon be forced to choose a side. Will you follow fLocke’s torch into the darkness?