Right up until around 8:55 central time, I'd have started this post with a complaint about how my parent's dropped off my kids in the middle of the show, causing me to miss a chunk of my self-described 'sacred hour'.
Instead, I can only open with 'Wow'.
For the first time in a very long time, Lost floored me. I have been surprised before, and shocked, and in awe of the writers ability to spin a tale, but never at the same time. Not until tonight.
Throughout the episode we witness a 'flash forward' to Sun giving birth to her child in Korea. It is very clearly the future, as a nurse identifies her as a member of the 'Oceanic Six'. Throughout the labor she calls for her husband In , but he is encountering a series of mishaps. He purchases a panda bear toy on his way to the hospital, but it vanishes in a taxi just as he drops his cell phone and has it broken by a passing motorist. He wishes to purchase another but it is on hold for someone else.
It seems he will never get to the hospital in time.
Meanwhile back on the island Sun is convinced the newcomers are up to no good and wants to join Locke's camp. In a scorched earth bid to stop her and improve Sun's chances to leave the island, Juliet tells Jin about Sun's affair.
He is angry and hurt. Still not speaking to her, he ventures offshore with Bernard to go fishing.
Sensing the pair are fighting Bernard gives one of the wisest and most memorable monologues I've seen on the show. [Once a transcript appears online I'll try to come back and post the actual dialogue.]
He speaks of the difficulties of marriage, and about how, in opposition to her own health, Rose has chosen to stay with Jack's group. Why? Jin asks. Why not join Locke and stay on the island that has cured her of her cancer?
"It was the right thing to do", Bernard says. "Locke is a murderer." He then describes his own philosophy of karma. "if you do bad things, bad things happen to you" he says. Unaware of Jin's past he labels them both good guys.
Later, in a beautifully written moment, Jin reconciles with Sun. He demands no apology or explanation from her for the affair. He says that before the island he was a different man, a bad man who withheld his own affections and pushed her to her actions. What she did, he explained, she did to that man, not the Jin before her at that moment. He asks only if the baby is his, although by that point the viewer (and Sun) knows that he will stay regardless of the answer. She tearfully replies that it is.
UPDATE: Transcript
(On the beach, Sun is in her tent, Jin comes in with food) <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
JIN: I made... dinner.
SUN: (in Korean) I thought you had left me. Will you let me try to explain?
JIN: (in Korean) It won't matter.
SUN: (in Korean) Just listen, maybe--
JIN: (in Korean) I know why you did it. I know the man... I used to be. Before this island, I withheld my affections... And I know... that whatever you did... you did it to that man. His actions caused this. So I forgive you.
In the future, Sun gives birth to a baby girl, as Jin predicted. It appears he will arrive only a moment too late, but the audience learns he is not on his way to Sun; his journey is a flashback to a time before the island, when he was still a member of the Korean mafia and running an errand on their behalf.
THEN Just as the episode concludes, Sun, her daughter, and a visiting Hurley visit a centograph (tombstone over an empty grave).
It is Jin; he is dead, and Sun tearfully ''introduces' him to his daughter Ji Yeon.
* * *
I bought the Jin storyline completely. It was seamlessly integrated with Sun's labor and the romantic reconciliation on the island. Moreover, the buildup was such that the viewer has no choice but to be filled with regret and horror for the loss of this man.
I do not look forward to the episode where we watch Jin's fate.
There were some clues that things were fishy, and I caught them prior to the revelation but misinterpreted them.
1. The shop owner identified it as the year of the Dragon. I recognized this as a means of identifying the year in the future. In truth, the year of the Dragon had to be either 2000 or 2012.
2. The cell phone looked awfully old for a current model.
3. Jin reacted with menace to both the shopkeeper and with threats of violence to the cabdriver, ala his old self.
Going back to the post-isle 'present' note that the monument carried the date of the crash. In their story, Jin must have 'died' aboard the plane The possibility exists that he is still alive on the isle, but it is unlikely the spiritual visit with the baby would have taken place if that were true.
* * * *
In other plot areas of the episode, the not so secret surprise return was Michael, now calling himself Kevin. Desmond, Sayid, and Michael all kept up the pretense of his alias for the moment.
I have no idea why the woman committed suicide, why the captain is not to be trusted, who's blood was on the wall, and what happened to the kitchen aboard the ship.
I didn't really care tonight.
I returned from shooing the kids upstairs to overhear the tale of the 815 crash site being a completely staged setting, allegedly orchestrated by Ben.
Who is that freak?????
Note Juliet's line from last week, which I caught on the replay tonight: "they're here to wage war against Ben. And Ben will win Jack."
Next week, for the final pre-strike episode: one cast member will die.
4 comments:
good episode.
I missed the part about Jin saying she did it to 'that man'...I thought he was saying she did it to the guy she cheated with. makes far more sense now.
the 815 staging was done by Whitmore, who we hear also owns the boat. When asked where they got 342 (?correct number?) dead bodies to fill the plane they said it was Ben who provided them. I'm pretty sure that's what I heard, have to rewatch it today. DVR is awesome.
have a good one~
~Bernadette
I loved the episode to! I thought it was interesting that Jin was unable to understand what Juliet was saying when she was trying to stop them from going, danger, sick, on and on. Yet he understood the affair part CLEAR as a bell. Do you notice that Sayid is a Republican Guard & Torturer yet is always the one caught? I am a bit lost on the whole "staging thing" still. I assume Jins tombstone was placed there BEFORE SUN got home, there is likely one for most of the 6, considering there familes were told they were dead.
love the show. :)
Good review
Ang
"I assume Jins tombstone was placed there BEFORE SUN got home, there is likely one for most of the 6, considering there familes were told they were dead.
love the show. :)"
You know, I never thought of that! It wouldn't change the fact that he'd still be dead by the time of the child's birth, for all the reasons I laid out, but your explanation makes sense.
Why doesn't the professor just fix the damn boat? He made a radio out of a coconut,,, how hard could it be to patch up a hole in a boat.
I'm French... so if I have the wrong show, I apologize.
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