Lost/Enter 77

Enter 77
Season 3, Episode 11
Airdate	March 7, 2007
Production Number	311
Written by	Carlton Cuse Damon Lindelof
Directed by	Stephen Williams
← 3x10 Tricia Tanaka Is Dead	3x12 → Par Avion
Lost — Season Three

Enter 77 is the eleventh episode of the third season of Lost, and the sixtieth episode overall.

Locke, Sayid and Kate investigate a strange structure and its mysterious inhabitant. Meanwhile, Sawyer competes in a ping-pong competition to get back his belongings.

Starring: Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Michael Emerson (Ben), Matthew Fox (Jack), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), Terry O'Quinn (Locke), Kiele Sanchez (Nikki), Rodrigo Santoro (Paulo).

Guest Starring: Anne Bedian (Amira), Andrew Divoff (Mikhail Bakunin), Mira Furlan (Danielle Rousseau), April Grace (Bea Klugh), Shaun Toub (Sami).

Co-Starring: Eyad Elbitar (Arabic Man), Taiarii Marshall (Waiter).

Uncredited: François Chau (Dr. Marvin Candle).

Plot Overview

The Island

• At the beach camp, the survivors reassemble the ping pong table thrown from the Swan during its implosion. Angered by the survivors going through his stash while he was gone, Sawyer challenges them to one game of ping pong. If he wins, the survivors have to give back everything they took from his stash. If he loses, then he'll refrain from using nicknames for a week. Coming back an hour later, Sawyer learns that Hurley is his opponent, and is amused by the pick. After the game, Hurley finds Sawyer trying to fix his glasses. He apologizes to Sawyer for beating him so badly, and thinks there isn't any permanent damage from the ball hitting him in the forehead. Hurley gives Sawyer some of his stash back, telling him he knows he's the kind of guy who needs stuff. He also tells Sawyer that he knows he's worried about Kate, but she'll be alright. Sawyer tells him to get bent and leaves.
• After two days of following Locke's compass bearing, Sayid becomes fed up with the notion that they will just happen to chance upon the Others. He goes off to pick fruit, but discovers a building in the jungle with a satellite dish and a man inhabiting the structure - the man with the eye patch seen on the Pearl's monitors. Sayid brings the rest of the group to see the building, and Rousseau states that the satellite dish isn't the radio tower by the Black Rock and she hasn't seen the building before. Unwilling to get involved, she tells the group that she'll wait for them by a stream. Sayid approaches the building, unarmed, taking note of a saddled horse and a long-haired cat. The man shoots Sayid in the arm, yelling that he didn't cross the line and that they have a truce. Stepping outside, the man is ambushed and disarmed by Locke and Kate. The man identifies himself as Mikhail Bakunin, and claims to be the last living member of The DHARMA Initiative.

  While tending to Sayid's wound, Mikhail tells him that he was once a member of the Soviet army and, after his unit was deactivated, answered an advertisement in the newspaper from The DHARMA Initiative. The Initiative put him in the station - The Flame - eleven years ago, and the purpose of the station is to communicate with the outside world. However, all the members of the Initiative are dead after they initiated a war with "the hostiles", a group of people on the island long before the DHARMA Initiative. Mikhail managed to survive by not getting involved and, afterwards, accepting a truce with the hostiles by staying on his side of the island. Sayid notices a cat pawing at a rug, and Mikhail tells the cat, Nadia, to stop and be polite. Finished with sewing up Sayid's wound, Mikhail leaves to get some iced tea and to check on Locke, who is playing a chess game on a computer terminal. Alone with Kate, Sayid tells her that Mikhail is one of the Others and is certain that they aren't alone. Returning with the tea, Mikhail tells the two that the Flame serves as a hub for the other stations and is also connected to a sonar beacon for submarines. One such sub brought him to the island, but he believes the hostiles have either destroyed it or commandeered it. Sayid brings up the taking of Desmond's sailboat and how the Others must have used the sub to do it, but tells Mikhail that they at least killed one of them. Staring Sayid down, Mikhail asks why they're continuing with these questions and attacks the two, but Kate manages to knock him unconscious.

  With Mikhail tied up, Sayid tells the group that he believes another person is here as the horse outside is still saddled and set up for someone shorter than Mikhail. He believes the Others sent someone out here because they lost communications after the sky turned purple. Sayid flips up the rug the cat was pawing at, revealing a hidden hatch and the likely hiding place of the second Other. Sayid and Kate descend into the basement of the Flame, finding shelves full of storage boxes, but also discovering C4 wired to the walls of the station. Meanwhile, up above, Locke beats the chess program which activates a manual override. Dr. Marvin Candle appears on the computer monitor, giving the user options to enter into the computer: Pallet Drop, Station Uplink and Mainland Communication. Locke enters the code for Mainland Communication, but Candle informs him the satellite dish is inoperable and gives him the option of Sonar Access. Sonar is also inoperable, resulting in Candle telling the user that, if there has been an incursion on the station by the hostiles, to enter "77" into the computer. Before Locke can enter the code, Mikhail appears behind him with a knife. As Sayid investigates a row of DHARMA Initiative manuals, Kate is ambushed by an Other. The Other is subdued, but Kate recognizes her as the woman from the Pala Ferry - Miss Klugh. As they bring their captive up and outside, they discover Mikhail holding Locke hostage. Mikhail offers to let Locke go and to leave quietly if Miss Klugh is handed over, but Locke tells Sayid to not let her go and that Mikhail isn't going to kill him. Miss Klugh and Mikhail begin talking to one another in Russian, prompting Locke to tell Sayid to stop her from talking, but Mikhail pushes Locke out of the way and kills Miss Klugh. He attempts to shoot himself in the head, but Locke stops him.

  At night, the group scavenges items from the Flame while Locke ponders code 77 at the computer. Sayid escorts Mikhail and learns that Mikhail was never a member of the DHARMA Initiative, but everything else he said was true. He moved into the station after the "purge" by the Initiative. Rousseau appears out of the darkness and Sayid tells her that they have their ticket to the Others, Rousseau's daughter and possibly a way off the island. Mikhail tells Sayid that there isn't a thing he could do to make him lead them to the Others, but Sayid shows him a map of electrical and data cabling running from the Flame to a place called the barracks - a place large enough to house an entire community. With this realization, Mikhail threatens to kill Sayid the moment his guard is down. Rousseau wants to kill Mikhail as he serves no purpose, but Sayid tells her that he'll decide Mikhail's fate. Kate and Locke join the group, and Locke tells Mikhail that he now knows why he didn't want him to beat the chess game. As Sayid questions him, the Flame is destroyed in a massive explosion, resulting in Sayid yelling at him and demanding to know what he did. Locke tells him about code 77, but Sayid simply tells everyone that they should move on immediately.

The Flashback

• Flashback: Sayid

In Paris, France, Sayid is working as a cook at Le Portail D'Arabie (The Gate of Arabia). A man, Sami, requests to speak with Sayid and tells him that his food is delicious. He asks Sayid where he's from but, after Sayid tells him he's from Syria, tells Sayid that he knows he's an Iraqi like himself. Sayid demands to know what Sami wants, and learns that Sami is in need of a cook and simply wants to hire him at double his pay.

Accepting Sami's invitation to look at his restaurant, Sayid meets with him inside. Sami brings out his wife, Amira, to meet Sayid. She has terribly scarred arms. A man grabs Sayid's arm and Sami asks Amira if she's sure Sayid is "him." A group of men restrain Sayid and Sami knocks him unconscious.

Chained in the back of the restaurant, Sayid is brought some water by Sami. He asks Sayid if he doesn't recognize one of his victims, Amira, when he was a torturer in the Republican Guard. Sayid tells the man that he has him confused with someone else. He tells Sami his real name, that he was indeed an interrogator with the Republican Guard, but he does not know Amira. He remembers the faces of all the people he's tortured, but does not know her. Sami, however, tells Sayid that his wife remembers Sayid's face so well that she recognized him from a mere glimpse while walking by the restaurant he worked at. He wants Sayid to admit to torturing Amira, or Sayid will leave the room in a bag.

Sami returns with Amira, asking Sayid if he's ready to tell the truth. Sayid sticks to his story, but is beaten by Sami. He asks Sami how beating him will make him confess to something he didn't do, but Sami tells him Amira confessed to something she didn't do after Sayid poured boiling oil over her arms. Sayid refuses to confess and Sami grabs a pipe, but Amira tells him to stop for the day.

Amira returns to see Sayid, holding a long-haired cat in her arms. She tells Sayid that, after she and her husband arrived in Paris, she was too frightened to leave the apartment and would only look out the window into an alley at a cat looking for scraps of food. One day, some children trapped the cat in a box and dropped firecrackers into it. She could hear the cat howling and finally had a reason to leave her apartment. She rescued the cat, and he sits with her and sleeps with her. But sometimes the cat bites her or scratches her. Amira believes he does this because sometimes he forgets he is safe, so she forgives him because she knows what it feels like to never be safe. She knows that feeling because of Sayid. Amira asks Sayid to show her the respect of acknowledging what he did to her and that he remembers her. Sayid tells her that he remembers her, that the faces of the people he's tortured haunt him ever since he left Iraq, and apologizes for what he did to her. Amira forgives Sayid, and tells him that she'll tell Sami that she made a mistake and Sayid is not the man who tortured her. After being asked why she is letting him go, Amira tells Sayid that they are all capable of doing what the children did to her cat, but she will not be that person.

Notes

Mysteries

• Why did the DHARMA Initiative start a war against the Others?
• Why would Miss Klugh order Mikhail to shoot her rather than lead them into their "territory"?
• Did entering 77 into the computer have any other effect in addition to the destruction of the Flame station?
• Why would the DHARMA Initiative want the Flame destroyed in the event of an incursion by the Others?

Answers

• The cable is the connection between the Flame and an underwater sonar beacon that was used to guide submarines to the island. (1x09 - Solitary)
• The protocol to drop rations onto the island can be initiated from the Flame. (2x17 - Lockdown)
• The Others are not members of the DHARMA Initiative; according to Mikhail they were already on the island long before DHARMA arrived. (3x01 - A Tale of Two Cities)
• Before the sky turned purple, the Others contacted the outside world through the Flame. (3x02 - The Glass Ballerina)
• The man with the eye patch identified himself as Mikhail Bakunin, and he lived in the Flame station. (3x05 - The Cost of Living)

The Cursed Numbers

• Mikhail claims 4 men appeared to offer him a truce after the DHARMA Initiative waged a war against the hostiles.
• A binder Sayid looks at has "DI 90M1654-21644" as part of the label. The sum of each individual number is 42.
• 4+8+23+42 = 77

Scrutiny

• Stunt Doubles: After Mikhail attacks Sayid and Kate, Sayid flips Mikhail through a chair and onto the floor. Right as the camera cuts to Mikhail being flipped onto the chair, you can clearly see that Sayid and Mikhail are not Naveen Andrews and Andrew Divoff, respectively. Rather their characters are being played by stunt doubles.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Sayid finds a map that will lead him, Locke and Kate to the barracks being occupied by the Others.
• Sayid, Locke and Kate discover the Flame station.
• Locke destroys the Flame station. In the March 20, 2007 Official Lost Podcast, the producers confirmed that Locke destroyed the station on purpose, not accidentally.
• Mikhail reveals that all DHARMA personnel were killed when they tried to attack the Others in an event referred to as "The Purge."

Characters

• Mikhail injures Sayid.
• Mikhail kills Miss Klugh.
• Sawyer is forced to stop using nicknames for a week.

Referbacks

• 2x21 - ?: Sayid finds a map that contains the location of "the barracks" mentioned by Dr. Wickmund in the Pearl's orientation video in "?".
• 2x23 - Live Together, Die Alone: Locke and Sayid believe the Others lost communication after the sky turned purple. The sky turned purple due to the activation of the fail-safe device in "Live Together, Die Alone."
• 3x02 - The Glass Ballerina: Sayid refers to the capture of Desmond's sailboat and the killing of an Other in "The Glass Ballerina."

Trivia

The Show

• Missing in Action: Jack, Juliet and Ben do not appear in this episode.
• DHARMA Logos: The DHARMA Initiative Merlot and Vodka are branded with the Swan logo. The medical kit Mikhail asks Kate to retrieve bears the logo for the Staff.
• Russian Dialogue: Miss Klugh and Mikhail talked to one another in Russian. The conversation is as follows:
  Miss Klugh: Mikhail. Mikhail! You know what to do.
     Mikhail: We still have another way.
  Miss Klugh: We cannot risk it. You know the conditions.
     Mikhail: There is another way.
  Miss Klugh: They captured us. We will not let them get into the territory.
     Mikhail: We still have another way.
  Miss Klugh: [in English] Just do it, Mikhail.
     Mikhail: Forgive me.

Behind the Scenes

• Location, Location, Location: The Parisian cafe Sayid worked at is Café Laniākea in Honolulu, HI.
• The Hostiles: On the March 19^th, 2007 Official Lost Podcast, executive producers (and writers of this episode) Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse confirmed that the "hostiles" Mikhail mentioned are the Others and that Mikhail was telling the truth about the conflict between them and DHARMA.

Allusions and References

• Zorro: Sawyer refers to Paulo as "Zorro." Zorro is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega, a fictional nobleman and master swordsman. He was created by Johnston McCully and first appeared in The Curse of Capistrano in 1919. Zorro lives in Spanish-era California, defending the people against the corrupt Spanish governor. He often uses his rapier to leave a large 'Z' made with three quick cuts.
• Avalanche: Sawyer refers to Hurley as "Avalanche." This may be a possible reference to John Tenta, a 462 lbs professional wrestler. Tenta wrestled with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the early 90's as "Earthquake" before jumping ship to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1994 and wrestling as "Avalanche." John Tenta died on June 7, 2006 at the age of 42 after a lengthy battle with bladder cancer.
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: After Jin and Sun talk to one another in Korean, Sawyer refers to them as "Crouching Tiger" and "Hidden Dragon." Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a Chinese-language wǔxiá film released in 2000. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography, Best Music (Original Score), Best Art Direction-Set Direction, and was nominated for Best Picture.
• Mikhail Bakunin: The Other guarding the Flame claimed to be named Mikhail Bakunin. Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a Russian revolutionary, and often considered one of the “fathers of modern anarchism". Bakunin believed society should be organized "on the basis of the absolute freedom of individuals, of the productive associations, and of the communes." He argued against the idea of God and denied religious concepts of free will.
• Nadia: Mikhail says his cat is named after "Nadia Comăneci, the greatest athlete the world has ever known." Nadia Comăneci is a Romanian gymnast, winner of five Olympic gold medals, and the first to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. Her gold medals were won during the 1976 Montréal and 1980 Moscow Olympics. In addition, she won three silver Olympic medals and one bronze Olympic medal. Nadia retired from competition in 1981, going on a gymnastics exhibition tour in the United States where her coaches defected. Upon her return to Romania, Nadia was strictly monitored to prevent her defection and forbidden to leave the country. However, in November of 1989, she managed to defect by traveling through Hungary, Austria and to the United States. Nadia is one of the most well-known gymnasts in the world and is credited with popularizing the sport.
• Draft Pick: Hurley is picked to play against Sawyer, prompting Sawyer to ask if he's really their #1 draft pick. A sports draft is the process by which professional sports teams select players not contracted to any team.
• Grimace: Sawyer refers to Hurley as "Grimace." Grimace is a character in McDonald's marketing. He looks like a large purple gumdrop with arms and legs, and is Ronald McDonald's friend. He's a rather clumsy character who is a comic foil to Ronald McDonald. According to McDonald's: "His joyous spirit helps everyone overlook the fact that he's a little slow and clumsy sometimes."