Lost Re-view: ...In Translation

It's been a while since my last Lost Re-view, but I am still making my way through the series. The next episode is the Jin-centric "half" of the earlier episode, House of the Rising Sun. This episode was written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Leonard Dick, two staff writers who both left after season 2. It was directed by Tucker Gates, who helmed only around half a dozen episodes -- split almost entirely between the first and last seasons.

It opens in the expected fashion, with a close-up on Jin's eye, followed by a calming ocean vista. But Jin isn't doesn't stay tranquil for long, because here comes his wife, unthinkably parading around in a bikini for all to see. The scene he causes has nearly everyone watching, and Michael steps in to threaten Jin and try to put a stop to it. Sun slaps Michael soundly in the face for this.

A short while later, as Michael works on his raft (which is coming along nicely), Sun comes to him and we learn the reason behind her behavior. She says Jin is a dangerous man -- that she slapped Michael to protect him from what Jin might do.

And then, some time after this scene, but before nightfall, falls an installment of the "Lost: Missing Pieces" mobisodes. I believe it's the first one to be placed during an actual episode of the show (rather than before or after one), and its content actually casts quite a different light on the story.

The mobisode is called "Buried Secrets," and shows Sun sneaking out into the jungle to bury the fake ID she'd obtained for her planned escape to America. But Michael shows up and catches her in the act. He tries to smooth things over, telling her she doesn't have to explain, but she wants to anyway. She confides in Michael that she was going to leave Jin, but changed her mind at the airport. And now, being trapped on the Island must be her punishment -- she's stuck with him. With the raft nearly complete, Michael tells her things could still change. He does his best to comfort her...

And the two come this close to kissing, before timely dog Vincent comes through and breaks up the moment.

This really changes some things. In this very episode of Lost (the regular one, not the mobisode), Jin is questioning whether something is going on between Michael and Sun. And without this mobisode, the answer is "absolutely not." They are friends, and Michael feels sympathy for Sun, but that's it. But with this mobisode, the answer is now "well... yes, there might have been!" What might have happened if Vincent hadn't shown up right then?

Now, in the context of just the first season or two of Lost, this puts an exciting spin on things, I think. It ups the emotional stakes for all three characters, and puts a potentially far more explosive love triangle on the table than Jack-Kate-Sawyer. In short, I like this idea.

BUT... in the context of all of Lost, it's probably a bad thing. Because having seen all six seasons of the show, we know Jin and Sun really are soul mates. Even though Sun and Michael don't actually step across the line here, the mere insinuation that they might have is possibly damaging to Sun's character. I'm not saying it's not emotionally truthful in that moment, considering where Sun is at, and how raw and beaten she is. (Almost literally.)

So I think this mobisode is really a judgment call for the individual viewer to make. There's no question it adds something to Lost. You just might not like what it adds.

Alright, detour over. Back to the main episode. As mentioned earlier, Michael's raft is near completion. So much so, in fact, that Jack is curious who is going to go with him on the trip. We learn that Sawyer has already "bought" a seat by offering up material needed for the construction.

Not so fast, gang, because come nightfall, the raft goes up in flames! And immediately, Michael is leading a charge (with quite a lot of people in support) suspecting Jin as the guilty party. Jack tries to stop some mob justice from going down.

But Jin has snuck back to the caves during all of this, and Sun finds him rifling through the medicine supply for a way to treat a nasty looking burn on his hand. Ba bum BAAAAAAAA! Jin flees from Sun's accusing stare, only to be blindsided in the jungle by a brutal kick from Sawyer. "You messed up my ride, chief."

A cool bit of camera work follows when Jin wakes up, tied up and being taunted by Sawyer. Extreme, drifting close-ups on Sawyer emphasize the fact that Jin can't understand a word of English. In the next scene, when Sawyer presents Jin to Michael for a beating, they play this disorientation even farther, modifying the sound so that even the viewer can't understand anything when we're supposed to be watching from Jin's perspective.

Michael does indeed begin to beat Jin, and Sayid even stops Jack when he tries to intercede. Finally, Sun can take no more. She screams out in English, betraying her secret to everyone, for Michael to stop. Furthermore, she reveals that Jin didn't burn the raft; he burnt his hand trying to stop the fire.

Then Locke steps in with a rousing speech, saying that everyone needs to stop blaming "us" (each other) and start worrying about "them" (the Others). It's a good speech, right up to the point where he asks, why would anybody do anything to sabotage us all getting off the island? The thing is, we who have seen all of Lost know that he has done exactly that himself, when he knocked out Sayid and busted his radio. (I'm still waiting to get to the episode where this is actually revealed to evaluate whether that behavior actually makes sense.) In any case, for the survivors, who know nothing of Locke's treachery, the speech works wonders. Everyone walks away. Including Jin. Sun is left all alone.

Michael, meanwhile, does what he does best: he throws a fit. (Though I'll confess, at least this time he has cause.) He stops short upon seeing Walt's reaction, and resolves to build another raft. And this time, Walt says he's going to help.

For his part, Jin is through with it all. He's returned to the cave to take all of his stuff and go. Sun tries to stop him, then confesses to him (in English) that she was going to leave him, until he made her think there was still love between them. Then (in Korean), a plea: "I want to go back to the beginning. Can't we just start all over?"

"It's too late," is all Jin can say, and walks off. He goes straight to Michael, carrying an armload of building supplies. "Boat." He is ready to get the hell off this island.

Meanwhile, Locke has figured out the truth about the saboteur. (It takes one to know one?) He goes to Walt for a round of backgammon and a question: "Why did you burn the raft, Walt?" Walt says he doesn't want to move anymore, and that he likes it there on the Island. "I like it here too," Locke agrees.

And thus goes the main narrative of the episode. But the real meat, as per usual in these first season episodes, comes in the flashbacks. They begin with a nervous Jin asking Sun's father for his permission to marry. The stern Mr. Paik toys with him for a bit, but agrees on the condition that Jin come work for him.

Skip ahead to the happy wedding day, where Sun wishes that Jin's father had been alive to see it. And also, where the honeymoon is literally ending before it begins, as the couple is postponing their honeymoon so Jin can go straight to work for Mr. Paik.

Jin does, as a "special assistant." And that's when the dark side begins to claim him. Jin is tasked to call on a factory manager and deliver the message that Paik is "very displeased." The man begs Jin not to do anything in front of his daughter (who's sitting right there watching Hurley on TV!), and is so relieved when Jin does nothing that he rips a puppy from his daughter's hands and gives it to Jin as a gift.

Now, I believe this is meant to be a connection to Sun's flashback in House of the Rising Sun, where Jin gives her a puppy as a gift. Except that unfortunately, the timeline doesn't quite fit. In that earlier episode, the puppy was a clever device used to show the passage of years in the couple's deteriorating marriage. The adult dog is there when Jin comes home one night covered in blood. Yet we see the reason for that event here in this episode, and no more than a day or two seems to have passed since Jin received the puppy.

Sun has tried to prepare a romantic dinner for Jin, but her father calls to yell at him. Can't he even deliver a simple message?! Jin is tasked to drive another man to the factory manager's house, someone who will show how you properly deliver a message.

It's clearly a creepy assassin, and Jin knows it. So as soon as they arrive at the poor victim's house, Jin springs through the door and beats the man senseless instead. "I just saved your life," he says, while telling the would-be assassin, "he got the message."

And this is when Jin returns home bloody and distraught. If you ignore that business about the rapidly aging dog, it's actually a wonderful scene that provides a whole new spin on these same events as we saw them from Sun's perspective. Jin does whatever he has to, whatever Mr. Paik tells him to, for the sake of the marriage.

But after a time, Jin recognizes that this is also destroying his marriage. His last flashback has him going to visit his father -- very much alive -- a poor fisherman. Jin falls apart completely, begging for forgiveness and advice. Jin says Sun doesn't know how bad her father is. (Though he may be right, it was clear from Sun's episode that she does at least know he's not a nice man.) "In a good world, she would hate him, not me." He then says the exact same words that Sun says on the Island in the present, that he wishes he could start over.

Jin's father gives this advice -- do the one more job Jin has been asked, to deliver watches to associates in Sydney and Los Angeles, then leave. Escape to America. Save the marriage. It's another brilliant flashback scene that's not only full of emotion, but alters our perception of the Jin-Sun relationship. Both of them were keeping a secret from the other there in the Sydney airport, each with their own vision of how their futures would go. But both to be altered by the fate of Oceanic 815.

Along with the main Island storyline and these potent flashbacks are a number of other secondary plots and side moments that add flavor to the recipe.

The most time is given to progressing the Sayid-Shannon relationship, first with a playful flirtation over her knot-tying abilities. (Hmmm.) But then Sayid missteps by going to Boone, hoping he won't object if Sayid and Shannon become "more than just friends." Boone has nothing but harsh words about his step-sister, warning Sayid that she'll use him to get what she wants, then throw him away. It's her pattern, he says.

I suppose you could briefly speculate if that would have proven true, had she really lived. Boone might be a little bitter about the whole thing, but he does indeed know Shannon fairly well, and has seen her do this many times. But the evidence is strongly stacked to the contrary. For starters, the finale tells us that Sayid and Shannon were destined to be together.

And then within this very episode is an inspirational moment from Locke. He asks Shannon if she likes Sayid, and if so, what that has to do with her brother? "Everyone on this island gets a new life, Shannon. Maybe it's time to start yours." So she does exactly that, going to Sayid, kissing him, and committing fully to the relationship.

Other brief but fun moments include Hurley trying to calm an angry Jin on the golf course, Locke confiding to Walt that his father was "not cool" (as we'd eventually see played out), and the batteries on Hurley's enduring Walkman finally giving out. "Son of a bitch," declares Hurley, channeling Sawyer.

In all, it's a very solid episode, as I often found the Sun/Jin installments to be. I rate it a B+.