"The Package"

JANUARY 28, 2011

FOCUS: JIN, SUN
EPISODE: 6.10
AIRED: MARCH 30, 2010

It’s hard to believe that there are only seven episodes left of Lost and yet the writers STILL haven’t reunited Jin and Sun. While “The Package” seems to be leaning toward making this happen, at the end they’re still separated, and another hour closer to their grand exit. They ALMOST make up for it by finally bringing back Desmond at the end of the episode after being absent for the entire season, but still – bring the Kwons back together, you monsters!

There are two huge problems with their lengthy separation. One is that the chemistry between the two actors has always been one of the most successful pairings on the show, and by keeping them apart they’ve denied us one of the stronger emotional ties folks had to the characters. While they constantly repeat their wish to find the other, it’s nothing like the bond they have when they’re actually together. Plus, they’ve been separated before (in season 2), and it was a wonderful, teary moment when they reunited after 7-8 episodes – it’s not like keeping them apart longer is somehow going to make it “better” drama; keeping these two apart for even ONE episode is enough. It’s like having the mentality that someone staying in a shower for two hours will somehow be wetter than someone who was in it for 5 minutes. Wet is wet, man.

The other problem is that the flash sideways rob us of that emotion anyway. It’s kind of hard to feel sad about them being “apart” when half the episode has them side by side, including a very sweet foreplay scene that recalls Jin’s anger about Sun’s unbuttoned blouse albeit in a completely different context. Even knowing what these scenes really mean doesn’t diminish the fact that they robbed the storyline of its intended emotional impact, at least for me.

Thus, the most emotionally charged and sweet moment in the episode has little to do with Jin, but Jack earning Sun’s trust back once and for all. She was pretty pissed at him in S5, and their once close bond had deteriorated before that anyway due to Juliet, Jin’s “death”, etc. But the scene where he finds a way for her to communicate and holds out his hand for her – awww. Good stuff, and it also features the return of Jack the charming, noble hero from S1, who had been sort of M.I.A. what with all of the yelling and Other-hating.

As for the sideways stuff, well you know how I feel about any sort of violence in the “waiting room”, so I’m not going to go into that again. However I will say that I absolutely loved Kevin Durand’s performance here. He’s an actor I really dig anyway, but his sideways Keamy is very different from his real world Keamy; he’s sort of channeling John Malkovich at times, and also a little bit of Alan Rickman from Die Hard – the charming/scummy villain.

I could definitely do without the scenes of Sawyer and Kate yapping. Kate looks amazing (something about her hair), so that’s fine, but even the first time around I didn’t care much for Sawyer’s little Yojimbo-esque maneuvers, so they’re even more dull the second time around. And unless it’s with me, and me only, I don’t want to see Kate just sitting around doing nothing except drinking. Come on guys, there’s only 7 hours left (subtracting “Across The Sea”) – DO SOMETHING.

And what’s with Sayid saying he can’t feel anything anymore? I guess we can surmise that his soul is what has been “claimed” and in its place is the “darkness” or “virus” or whatever, but it doesn’t seem to affect him much in a few episodes, does it? Of all the subplots they’ve dropped over the years that annoyed me, I actually would have been perfectly OK with them just forgetting about Sayid’s Temple adventures (which they more or less DID, but they should have done it before this new, never explained development).

Oh well. At least tomorrow has a lot of Desmond.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"This Place Is Death"

JANUARY 7, 2011

FOCUS: JIN, SUN
EPISODE: 5.5
AIRED: FEBRUARY 11, 2009

Yay, Charlotte’s dead! Of all the main characters, I am pretty sure she is my least favorite – she was cold, uninteresting, and just downright unpleasant most of the time, with a ludicrous (and error-filled) back-story to boot. But her death in “This Place Is Death” serves two purposes; in addition to amusing me, it also raises the stakes on the time travel shit – you can DIE from this crap (just like the ratings! Hey-o!). A common problem with any continuing narrative is making sure that the audience understands how dangerous something is, and we usually just have to take their word for it. Not on Lost! Cast members are barely safer than the average extra.

Or should that be "safer than John Locke’s leg"? For what seems like the 59th time on this show, he falls and hurts his leg again (for a magical healing island that he supposedly has been “chosen” by, it sure injures him a hell of a lot). The first time, it was like “Oh no!”, because a. we still liked Locke and b. didn’t want him to have to be crippled again. But they’ve gone to that well (heh) too many times now, and he’s no longer as sympathetic anyway.

This scene is pretty interesting in retrospect, because Christian (who if I am remembering correctly is the Man in Black/smoke monster at this point, right?) won’t help him walk, when we now know that this being allows Locke to “live” again when he takes his place. The “Locke as smoke monster” shit really annoyed me, but at least there seems to be some evidence that it wasn’t something they pulled out of their ass during season 6.

Speaking of inconsistencies, nothing we see of Danielle’s past matches up with what she has related in the present day, but I guess she didn’t want to tell Sayid or whoever about the Asian guy who would disappear at random (don’t forget – according to Daniel, everything that happened, happened! Jin has ALWAYS met Danielle before she had her baby!). Jin’s plan to “prove” he’s dead also makes little sense – wouldn’t his word be enough for her? He’d have to pry the wedding ring off his dead hand (not to mention bury him without it – harsh) to make it so? And Jin knows Locke isn’t a fan of this plan – he could just as easily use it as proof he was alive (which is exactly what Ben does).

Also, since when does Jin not want to save his friends? He’s risked his life on several occasions to help Michael, Sawyer, etc – if Locke is telling him it’s the only way to keep all of them from getting hurt/killed, why doesn’t he trust him? Guess it’s because it’s only the 2nd time these two have ever spoken. On that note, his reunion with Sawyer is pretty sweet – good bro-hugging and genuine emotion all around! I also loved Ben freaking out on Jack and Sun for talking about wanting to kill him right in front of him – they have a point, but so does he – he HAS been quite protective of the Oceanic Six (he let them leave in the first place, for starters). Makes up for the sad moment where Sayid tells Jack to fuck off – they had been strong allies almost from the first episode, so this bummed me out. Then again, Sayid’s character is completely ruined from the moment he gets on the Ajira plane anyway, so I guess it doesn’t matter.

And can we get a break on the fucking Geronimo Jackson references? It's the dumbest running gag in entertainment history.

Tomorrow – Jack and Kate play Blue Valentine!

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Ji Yeon"

DECEMBER 22, 2010

FOCUS: JIN, SUN
EPISODE: 4.7
AIRED: MARCH 13, 2008

A common problem I have with movies that are built around twists is that I've seen so many, I can spot the "off" things that give the twist away, such as no one speaking to a certain character (Sixth Sense, though that one actually fooled me - it's just the one I can mention without giving away a largely unknown secret) or a certain vague quality to dialogue, indicating that the writer is trying to make you think they are talking about something different than they are. Well, I'm not sure what it was about "Ji Yeon", but I somehow knew after about 10 minutes or so that Jin and Sun were not in the same time period during the flashes.

There are certain hints - Jin's "antique" cell phone and the fact that no one was bugging him about being an Oceanic Six member, like everyone else's flash-forwards, but if that's what tipped me off, it must have been subconsciously, because I only really realized these things on a second viewing. I think it's more that they were separate for the whole episode - they ALWAYS had a scene together in their other episodes, even the one that took place before they met! Now, I'm not saying it's a bad twist, and it actually sort of foreshadowed a future element of the show (people existing in different time periods), but I suspect that some fans wouldn't have been as annoyed if they had seen it coming. Some folks don't like being tricked, and when they are, they just get angry (I myself just feel stupid for missing it).

Once again, though, the bulk of what makes the episode interesting is the stuff in the B story, i.e. the developments on the freighter. Zoe Bell popping up and committing suicide, the introduction of the captain, and of course, FINALLY, the "non-opening credits" reveal of who Ben's spy was on the boat, all make for perfectly satisfying, worthwhile Lost. I also like that Desmond really doesn't know who Michael is, something that a casual viewer probably didn't realize. Desmond took off while Michael was still with the Others, and returned when Michael was with Jack and company en route to "rescue Walt". I wish they had a scene of Sayid explaining who he was to Desmond though; after this the fact that they didn't know one another was never really addressed.

I also enjoy the flashes. Jin's story is goofy fun, because it puts one of the most volatile guys on the show in a situation out of a bad episode of some family sitcom, or the film Jingle All The Way. And Sun's is nice because it's good to know she had her baby and both were healthy. Also, as I mentioned yesterday, Hurley's response to the fact that no one else was coming ("Good!") was particularly odd - since when doesn't Hurley want to see the others? It was obviously before he went nuts again (since it couldn't be too far into the future if she was just having her baby), so this moment was and remains very awkward. But hilarious, because of Jorge Garcia's otherwise unending love of everyone.

But the island stuff is a bore. First of all - they build an episode around Sun and Jin possibly wanting to stay on the island, when we know they DON'T because the other half of the episode is about her living in the real world post-island! And I've already discussed my dislike of the "affair" subplot (and I find it rather stupid that Jin actually thinks it might not be his - unless she fucked the dude right before they got on the plane, how could it be? You've been there for over 3 months and she's not even showing yet), so Juliet using it to keep Sun around is fairly weak. I do like the scene of him and Bernard on the boat though, and I'm happy they didn't drag it out forever like their last big fight (in S1), but it's still a bland and forgettable story.

Which is a shame, because I've frequently complained about the lack of character moments in this season, and their stuff does keep the mythology nonsense largely off the table for this one (at least on the island), so that's actually a good thing. I just don't particularly care about this subplot of their history, and the introduction of the flash forwards and such renders a lot of it moot anyway.

Tomorrow - Harold Perrineau's season-long "starring" credit pays off when they give him an entire episode more or less to himself!

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"The Glass Ballerina"

NOVEMBER 18, 2010

FOCUS: JIN, SUN
EPISODE: 3.2
AIRED: OCTOBER 11, 2006

If you’re a Red Sox fan, or even a baseball fan in general, you have to love the final scene of “The Glass Ballerina” more than pretty much anything else on this show (unless you are a Yankee or Cardinal fan, in which case it probably pissed you off. To you I say – HAH!). Paying off Jack’s metaphor for people never changing: “That’s why the Red Sox will never win the World Series” (something that might have carried more weight if the episode aired before they DID, but whatever), Ben – who finally introduces himself formally here – proves to Jack that they have contact to the outside world by showing him a clip of the final play in Game 4, something I’ve probably watched 30 times in my life but got goose-bumps seeing it used in such an awesome way here. The look on Jack’s face is priceless; my only complaint is that he doesn’t ask Ben to let him watch the whole game.

It’s easily the best moment in an otherwise middling episode, where we STILL don’t know what happened to the Hatch, and have a backstory revealing that one of our most likeable characters is kind of a b---h (not broth). It’s like, OK, so as a little girl Sun let the poor maid get fired over something she did, fine. But then they reveal that she WAS indeed cheating on Jin with that Jae Lee dude, a revelation that only serves to create some drama about her pregnancy later in the season. Otherwise, I just don’t get what any of this serves? Just to make sure we understand that Sun wasn’t perfect either? Is it too much to ask that ONE of our characters wasn’t kind of a scumbag in the past? I could see if she was still seeing him and maybe getting too close, but they’re naked in bed together – the line is well past being crossed. Poor Jin. He beats folks to a pulp to earn her love and this is how she repays him.

Plus he never even finds out, thus he is deprived of the satisfaction of knowing that the guy who destroyed his nice car at least had it coming. Like, he’d be super-pissed, but seeing the guy go splat right in front of him would probably make him feel a little better. Now he’s just like “thanks a lot, random guy who I had no beef with, now I need a new car.” Again, poor Jin.

The Kate and Sawyer stuff is pretty good though. I don’t think I need to explain why I like these particular scenes with Kate so much, so I’ll let a screenshot do all the talking:

But Sawyer is in fine form here too; his reaction to Pickett’s suggestion that she take her dress off to work is priceless (“How dare you?”), and you have to applaud a guy who decides to gather intel on his captors by making out with a beautiful woman – best example of two birds with one stone ever. And while I’m totally on Jack’s side in the whole love triangle stuff, I must admit his “you taste like strawberries” line is better than anything Jack’s ever done. It also suggests she hasn’t brushed her teeth since the day before (when Ben had her over for breakfast), which tickles me for some reason.

Speaking of Ben, telling Jack it was just “a week ago” that he was the one being held captive was pretty weird – it had been what, 6-7 months for us? Hell even watching them back to back, he escaped more than a week ago for me. In fact, Season 3 in particular takes place over a very limited amount of time (3 weeks, I think?), which was always hard for me to wrap my brain around. 24 always got around this potential issue by flashing forward a year or two in between seasons (and replacing the entire cast save Jack and Chloe, more or less), but by now S2 was a distant memory for us. It’s also weird how good they were with continuity with some things, like Ben’s facial wounds, but totally gave up on others – Jin’s hair, for example, seems to grow at a Chia pet rate.

Tomorrow – we finally find out what happened at the Hatch! According to Lostpedia, it was supposed to be the season’s 2nd episode (and this would be the 3rd), but they swapped them for whatever reason. Yeah, because we were way more concerned with whether or not Sun, Jin, and Sayid accomplished anything with their little mission (answer: nope) than whether or not 3 of the most intriguing characters got blown up. Big difference between keeping us in suspense and just being dicks, Darlton.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"...And Found"

OCTOBER 29, 2010

FOCUS: JIN, SUN
EPISODE: 2.5
AIRED: OCTOBER 19, 2005

As promised in yesterday's review, "...And Found" is an episode that hit home for me, albeit a few days later. The episode has a few plots, but one of them is about Sun losing her wedding ring, with a big part of the problem being that it's something she's just so used to having on she became unaware of it. I didn't think much of it at the time, but 4 days after it aired, I was in an insane panic, because I myself lost my ring.

At that point I had been married for 4 months (almost to the day) and thus had started getting used to having it on. And I remember the date because I was packing up my car in order to leave for Los Angeles the next morning*. While taking the final bag out to my car, I noticed my ring was gone. So I ran back into my room and looked on the desk where I kept it at night (I don't sleep with jewelry), in my pockets, around the floor, etc. Then I became convinced that it was packed, so I tore apart every bag in the car (luckily, my wife wasn't home at the time, so I didn't have to pretend I was looking for something else to keep her from killing me). Then the worst thought came - I had taken a bag of trash out to the dumpster... it might be in there! Into the damn thing I went, taking every single bag out (and, let's face it, a lot of stuff was not in bags) and disassembling my own, used snot rags, not-totally-empty microwave meal plastic trays, fruit peels... the works. Flash-forward a disgusting half hour or so later: still no ring. I was devastated, and began debating whether to tell my wife or do like Jack did and get a replica. As I went to start typing an email (or something), my keyboard wobbled, as one of the little stands on the back had become closed. I picked it up to fix it... and there was my ring. Somehow it had slid under the board, and in my panic, despite it being an obvious place to look, I skipped over it.

Long story short - upon repeat viewings, I felt myself sympathizing with Sun more than any other single event/character in the show ever. Glad she found hers too!

Even without the personal connection, this is a damn fine episode, because a lot of it is built around the relationships these folks have formed over the last 50 days. You got Jin risking his life to find Michael on one side of the island, and Kate, Hurley, Locke, and Jack (separately) each having a nice moment with Sun about her ring (Hurley's story about "A buck thirty-five in nickels" is a particular highlight), each offering their own brand of comfort. And then in the flashbacks, we have the story of how Jin and Sun met. It could have been a mess to essentially have two episodes' worth of flashbacks in one, but the writers make it work without short changing anyone.

Basically, they're both simple but important stories - we learn about the pressure Sun was getting to find a mate, and we also learn that Jin has his pride but also does not forget where he came from and will stick up for someone in need. And of course, had he not quit his job after his boss berated him for helping a poor man not unlike himself, he might not have met Sun, so that's a damn good/lucky quality to have. And we know Sun will end up nailing that bald dude eventually, so I guess she got to have her cake and eat it too.

Jin's English is starting to improve as well - he can convey simple ideas ("Walt." "Go." "Fish.") and seemingly understand the other folks in general terms. The scene where he fishes is pretty awesome, not just because it proved he was smarter than the others, but he also got to upstage Ana Lucia in the process. Our hero!

The episode also contains one of the show's most memorably unsettling moments, when Jin and Eko (whose name we finally learn in this one) hide as the Others pass. First of all, none of them have shoes, which is weird, but the shot of that teddy bear being dragged along with them is mega spooky. We also get a glimpse at (dead) Goodwin, who we'll learn all about in two episodes, and will provide the final link to prove that Lost is a show after my own heart, albeit in a Kevin Bacon-y way.

Where are we?

*I chose this particular week partially because Lost wouldn't be on and thus I wouldn't have to worry about missing it while on the road. Keep that in mind for my review of tomorrow's episode!

PLEASE, GO ON...

"...In Translation"

OCTOBER 7, 2010

FOCUS: JIN
EPISODE: 1.17
AIRED: FEBRUARY 23, 2005

Unwanted reminders of an over-praised Oscar bait-y bore aside, “...In Translation” is another rock solid episode of Lost, effortlessly combining island drama, back-story, and character relationships into a cohesive whole, each element complementing and strengthening the others. It’s a balance not every episode achieved, and even fewer achieved so well. It’s also another strong example of how there was nothing else like Lost on television, since nearly half the episode is in Korean.

It also brings back an element that’s been missing for a few episodes – people beating each other up! I wonder if there’s a site online somewhere that has all the fight stats from the show. Is there any combination of male characters (save the peaceful Hurley) who never had a physical altercation over the show’s run? I can’t recall Charlie ever fighting Ben - that might be about it. This one offers another go around between Michael and Jin, though Michael has the upper hand this time. Sawyer also takes a few shots at him. Looking back, it’s kind of funny to think how some of these folks were the best of friends just a few weeks later. Sawyer’s kicking Jin in the side and tying him up here, but in about 20 island days, he’ll be teaching him the most important things to say to a woman.

Another thing it brings back is Hurley’s Discman, which was a mini-tradition in the early episodes, where he’d be listening to a song over a montage of everyone doing their thing. It would have gotten annoying if they did it in every episode, but I like that they actually gave it a sendoff (his batteries die) instead of just phasing it out. So for those keeping track: the fucking Discman gets a proper final scene, but most of the characters do not. But it’s an oddly sort of grim moment, depicting their hopeless situation in a very unexpected yet perfect way (and there’s no “DONNK” over the final “Lost” title card, which just adds to the uneasy feeling).

We also have the rare instance of a mystery being introduced and resolved in a single episode. They could have dragged the “who burned the raft” thing for a few episodes, but we find out who it is by the end of the 42 minutes, even though Locke is the only one on the show who knows. Speaking of Locke, he gets some great moments in this one despite not having his own little subplot. In addition to his man-to-man with Walt, where he drops the first hint about his father, he also gets one of his funniest lines ever when Shannon gives him a rambling message for Boone (“Should I be writing this down?”).

Back to the Korean thing – I just want to point out a few episodes back I said something about doing a show from Jin’s “perspective”, not being able to understand them. I had completely forgotten about the scene where they did indeed give us a taste of what it was like for him (with everyone basically speaking backwards). You know, it would have been really grating for an entire episode, so my idea was stupid. This was better.

And Sun finally reveals she can speak English! Not sure why she had to hide it for so long once someone knew – she didn’t want Jin to know, but how would he? Someone going to tell him? He wouldn’t understand that either. I also don’t quite get why he’s so angry about it – if he wants to get her off the island, wouldn’t this be beneficial, since now he will have a way to communicate with Michael for the raft-building? Maybe they give a good reason in a few episodes, I can’t remember.

Speaking of their fight, according to Lostpedia, this would be the day (roughly) that Jin and Sun conceived their child, as detailed in Season 3. They chalk it up as a blooper, saying that they had no time, but after she defends him against Michael (during the early part of the day) they go off for a bit, and then apart from when she talks to Michael later, they’re unaccounted for until the raft burns in the middle of the night. – plenty of time for them to get it on. So it fits, even if it was probably just something whoever wrote that later episode didn’t really give a shit about. I know I’d want to put the moves on my wife if she just punched Harold Perrineau in my honor. HOT.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...