Lost Episode 2.08 Collision

While Ana Lucia is trying to process what she sees in front of her, Sayid is slipping further and further towards insanity. For him, even on this island, Shannon represented hope. Hope for a chance to feel whole again and maybe even to be happy. So as she dies in his arms we can understand his desire to punish the one who took her from him. And as he draws his own weapon and moves to it's all Mr. Eko can do to subdue him before Ana Lucia can knock him out. Armed with Sayid's gun now and with her adrenaline running at full speed, Ana Lucia makes it very clear that she is in charge.

In FLASHBACK we learn Ana Lucia has experience with a gun from both sides earned during the course of her work as an officer in the LAPD. Turns out, she was born to be a cop and wearing the shield is a family business. We shed some light on the world that shaped Ana Lucia into person she is now. Like most lessons, she learned about the dark side of human nature the hard way. And it's a lesson that nearly cost Ana Lucia her life.

Back on the island, Ana is being besieged on all sides: Sayid is awake now and demands to be freed from his binds, his mind consumed with thoughts of revenge. Michael and Jin argue furiously to take Sawyer back to their camp before they have another death to explain. Knowing he is closer than he has ever been, Bernard is desperate to reunite with Rose. But the time for discussion is over and Ana takes the hard line. The only question is how long the fragile threads of her control will last.

The first to defy her is the last one we would suspect. Eko picks up Sawyer's unconscious body and goes to leave, telling Ana this is something he has to do. Not for Sawyer's sake, but his own. Perhaps buoyed by Eko's move, Bernard makes an impassioned plea to push on. He and Libby have been talking they want to know why they're waiting. They want to know the plan. Ana has had enough. She's kept them alive for 48 days and now they want to leave her? Okay then fine.

Ana Lucia tells Michael to go back to his camp and bring her back some supplies: food and clothing, more ammunition and a bag to put it all in. She'll be fine she's better on her own anyway. And when Jin leads everyone else on the last leg towards an emotional reunion, we are left with just her and Sayid. Very calmly, Sayid asks her if she is going to kill him and admits if he were in her place that's precisely what he would do. But what she ends up doing is even more extreme.

She lets him go.

And when she drops the gun at Sayid's feet, stopping just short of asking him to exact his vengeance and kill her, it is the undeniable truth of Sayid's response that does all the damage

What good would it be to kill her, if they are both already dead?