S3Ep2 - The Glass Ballerina (Sun and Jin's second joint flashback)

Hello my dear friends -

The opinion by the majority of Lost fans on the message boards was that 'The Glass Ballerina' was a better episode than the premiere. I didn't feel that way... while I liked that there was a little more action, we actually didn't get as much to think about theory-wise as we did in the premiere. I still enjoyed it, though... especially that last kicker of a scene. And overall, there was still enough for me to write a long-ass post about, so here we go...


THE BUTLER, ER, THE MAID DID IT

Sorry, all you Sun fans... like Britney, Sun is Not That Innocent. In the first few minutes of the episode, we learned that Sun has been a stone cold liar since about age 6. Damn, she was smooth!

Flash forward to present time and we observe that Sun's skills have only grown over the years. She has become a master of lying to Jin - from concealing her affair, to not telling him that he is the one who is sterile, to her mastery of English, to the fact that she was planning on leaving him in Sydney, to her sailing skills - it's safe to say that Sun is guarding many secrets.

But there is one thing Sun wasn't lying about, and that was when she told Another Blond Other Chick that she WOULD shoot her. Sun lived up to her word on that one. I have to admit that I was yelling, "SHOOT HER! SHOOT HER! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SHOOT HER!!!!"

Anyway, apparently Sun had never killed a person up to that point, according to the "I know you're not a killer" sentence uttered by Other Chick before she was shot. I guess we are not totally sure if That Other (her name is actually Colleen) is dead, but she definitely suffered some damage to her gut no matter what. And I'm sure "Danny" (previously known as Pickett) won't be too happy when he finds out what Sun did, as it looked he had a little thing going on with Colleen.

While we're on the subject of Colleen, I also got the feeling that she did not get along with Juliet, from this terse exchange:

BEN [to Juliet]: You never made soup for me...
[A woman, Colleen, climbs down a ladder and enters the room where Juliet and Ben are.]
COLLEEN: Am I interrupting something?
JULIET: Would it really matter if you were?

On yet another note, notice the innuendo with Benry's soup line that there previously might have been some sort of relationship between he and Juliet, as we suspected last week... OR, other people thought that line meant that at some point, Juliet held HIM hostage. Ponder that!


BYE BYE, BALDY




While we knew before that there was some flirting... we have now confirmed that Sun was indeed having an actual affair with Baldy. This new information swings the pendulum from 'the island performed another miracle' to 'Baldy's the father' on the Who's Sun's Baby Daddy?-o-meter.



Speaking of dads, Sun's father (Mr. Paik) is even more psychotic and eeevil than previously assumed (watch out Kim Jong Il, you got another crazy Korean right behind ya approaching from the south...), as he ordered Jin to kill Baldy after finding out about Sun's affair. However, he never told Jin the true reasons behind the need to take out Baldy. I'm sure that if Jin had known what was really going on, he would've been able to finish the job. As John Lennon sang, Jin's "just a jealous guy."

However, Jin only thought he was sent to kill Baldy because Baldy "was stealing" from Mr. Paik and Jin therefore needed to "restore the family's honor." Jin beat the crap out of him, but spared him his life and ordered him to get out of dodge. Once Jin had left Baldy a bloody, weeping mess of a man, he left the hotel and was safely back in his own car - only to have Baldy come crashing down on its hood. The three main theories on what really happened are:

1) Sun figured out who it was that Jin was going to see, and SHE had something to do with Baldy's death to ensure he never told anyone else about the affair. I highly, highly doubt this scenario.
2) Sun's father figured that Jin would not be able to seal the deal, so he sent someone to tail Jin, and THAT person threw Baldy off the balcony. Either Baldy was already holding the pearl necklace, or it was put into his hand for "special effect" to prove a point by Sun's father (though that point would've been lost on Jin). As some people pointed out, Baldy was rich enough to have figured out a plan to get both he and Sun out of the country, as he was already talking about earlier in the episode. So people don't think he would've given up that easily. Plus, what are the odds that he would've landed right on Jin's car if not thrown there on purpose?
3) However, the prevailing theory is that Baldy was in such despair after realizing that he could never have his fantasy life with Sun that after lovingly gazing at the pearl necklace that she would never wear, he flung himself off his balcony... which just so happened to be right above Jin's car. Hey, stranger things have definitely happened.

At Baldy's funeral, Sun seemed thoroughly sad, which is why I think #1 is not feasible. Since Sun's father said, "I'm told he jumped off a balcony. He must have had great shame," that leads me to think that #2 is definitely possible.

Remember that way back in the Season 1 finale, we learned that Sun's father DID know that Jin and Sun were trying to escape to the U.S., as Jin was confronted about their plans in the men's bathroom in Sydney. So at least at that later point, Mr. Paik was definitely trailing Jin and spying on both of them or else he wouldn't have known of their real intentions with the trip to America.


STEALTH MODE

When Sun was cornered on the boat, one thing many people wondered about was where exactly The Others suddenly came from. They obviously didn't pass by Sayid and Jin on land. However, they weren't wet, so they didn't come up from the water. The Hillbilly Boat did not make another appearance along side the sailboat, either... so where in the hell did these people come from? Did they have Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak? Did they descend from the Hatch in the Sky? A common theory is that they may have tunnels underground and emerged somewhere near the Pala Ferry dock.

Regardless, the overwhelming message to Sayid on the boards was: "WORST. PLAN. EVER!"

Two last comments about The Others and the sailboat scene:
1) Colleen told Sun that they "weren't the enemy" but that they WOULD become the enemy if Sun fired the gun. So are The Others only against people who have commited murder? Adultery can slide, it's just the killers they don't like? I'm just trying to figure this out. If that's the case... once again, how does Jack fit in with Sawyer and Kate? Or is that why he's the only one being offered a chance to "go home?"
2) Now The Others have the sailboat. Damn!



IT'S WRITTEN ON THE WIND, IT'S EVERYWHERE I GO...

You've got Sun and Baldy, Sun and Jin, Kate and Sawyer, Colleen and Danny/Pickett, the possibility of a past romance between Juliet and Benry, and perhaps an Alex/Karl (guy in the cage next to Sawyer last episode) love connection going on. Love was definitely all around us in this epiosde.

I do not necessarily think that Kate and Sawyer's kiss and subsequent saucy conversation definitively answered the lingering "Who will Kate choose?" question that is supposed to be addressed in these first six episodes. Remember, she keeps asking about Jack. But, I guess we'll see. And Sawyer really only kissed her just to get a chance at swiping the gun.

However, Alex seemed genuinely concerned about where Karl was. Yes, you remember Alex, Danielle's kid who has been raised by The Others? Apparently it was her dress that Kate was given, and apparently Kate was "not even supposed to be in that cage." Small clues that I'm sure will become more relevant in the episodes to come. But I do think Alex's worrying over Karl means that he is perhaps like her - another person who was raised by The Others and doesn't really have much choice but to go along with their orders most of the time.


WALK THE LINE

When Juliet threw the water canteen to Sawyer and he poured it out, fans noticed that the logo on the canteen was the Straight Line. As in, the same Dharma logo that was on the shark, and also on Ethan's canteen in Claire's freaky flashback episode last season. Check out the comparison on my boy humpy's site. This canteen may in fact be the same one Ethan used... lending credence to the theory mentioned in the last write-up that Ethan and Juliet may have been romantically involved.


RAISED BY THE ISLAND


So we learned a tad more about Benry in this episode. As previously mentioned, he liked ribbing Juliet about how she"never made soup" for him. He told Jack that his name was Benjamin Linus, and that he had lived on the island all of his life. This caused many people to assume that The Others are all of the grown children of the original Dharma crew. Or perhaps they were the original subjects/experimentees of the original Dharma project. Or perhaps Benry was just totally lying and he hadn't lived on the island his whole life. We do know that he's a great liar, up there with Sun!

We also learned that Benry is constantly observing everything via TV monitors, a la Dr. Claw from the old Inspector Gadget cartoon.

And finally, if it wasn't obvious from the fact that Juliet had a dossier on Jack last episode, it was confirmed this time around that The Others do have contact with the outside world, and that if Jack "cooperates" with Benry, Benry will "take him home." I pasted in the original post in a section below, but someone compared Benry to the Wizard of Oz (and we already know that Henry Gale was Dorothy's uncle in that story) - as in, the Wizard himself - promising to take Dorothy back home just like Benry is promising to do so with Jack.

I couldn't help but wonder - while Benry said that they have "contact" with the outside world, has he actually ever left the island, though? Or is all the contact just via the Internet or other means/other people? Should we assume that when he was promising to personally take Jack home, that would be the first time he's left the island? I wasn't really clear on what to think about that.

While I did absolutely love the final scene of Henry rolling the tape of the Boston Red Sox World Series win and I thought it was brilliant, I also have to admit that a little tiny piece of me was dying. Because all of a sudden the show became very REAL. Dammit, I don't want to be reminded about Bush and Christopher Reeve?!?! I want to be in my own little escapism world on the island for an hour each week, is that so much to ask?!?!? Curse you, writers, for yanking me back into reality!!!

But once again, with all that said, I thought the scene was incredible and I actually got chills. And I was also honored to have been able to watch it with Boston native and Extreme Red Sox Fan, Mr. EG, who was going absolutely ballistic during the whole thing.

Let us not forget, however, the deeper meaning to Jack of that television clip. While I will personally admit to crying when first hearing the NBC chimes again after a two-month-long overseas trip, I think that Jack kicked back into man-crying mode for deeper reasons than just missing the good ol' boob tube and/or the U. S. of A...


"AND *THAT'S* WHY..."

A refresher from "Outlaws," a Sawyer flashback in Season 1...

CHRISTIAN SHEPARD: You know why they call Australia down under, don't you? Because it's as close as you can get to hell without being burned.
SAWYER [to bartender]: Why don't you leave the bottles. [to Shephard] What'd you handle, back in the States?
CHRISTIAN SHEPARD: I was a Chief of Surgery.
SAWYER: Was?
CHRISTIAN SHEPARD: Yeah, was.
SAWYER: But we're in hell, huh?
CHRISTIAN SHEPARD: Don't let the air conditioning fool you, son. You are here, too. You are suffering. But, don't beat yourself up about it. It's fate. Some people are just supposed to suffer. That's why the Red Sox will never win the damn series.


Another scene from that same episode, this time on the island:

JACK: What did she give you?
SAWYER: Nothing she wasn't willing to part with.
JACK: That's why the Sox will never win the series.
SAWYER: What's that?
JACK: Huh?
SAWYER: What'd you just say?
JACK: I said that's why the Red Sox will never win the series.
SAWYER: What the hell is that supposed to mean?
JACK: Just something my father used to say -- went through life knowing that people hated him. Instead of taking responsibility for it, he just put it on fate. Said he was made that way.
SAWYER: Your daddy, he a doctor, too?
JACK: He was. He's dead. Why do you want to know about my father?
SAWYER: No reason.


Of course, we all know that by the Season 1 finale, Sawyer had a change of heart and did end up telling Jack, in perhaps Jack's most awesomest man-crying scene ever, that he had met his father in Sydney and that his father was very proud of him.

Remember that for Jack, that conversation above was only ONE MONTH ago. Now he's held captive in God knows where by some creepy dude who is showing him a scene that not only seems impossible from a sports fan standpoint, but that also has significant personal meaning to him. Once again, BRILLIANT. Was this scene planned out two years ago? You be the judge.



POSTS FROM THE BOARDS

- Let's just hope they got the expressed written consent from the commisioner of Major League Baseball.
- I think Jin was shouting “WAAALT!” in Korean, when he was in the water.
- Jin: Marco! Hey.... Marco! Sun: Polo! Polo!
- I'm glad Sun's getting into the action, instead of being useless. Though I was totally blown away by Sun's infidelity. And the fact that she shot that bitch! Hell yeah Sun!!!
- Ben looked like a mad scientist/supervillain from an old cartoon or something when he was standing watching all those monitors.
- A few minutes before Sun killed that girl I was saying "some Other on this show better die soon," after both Sawyer and Jack both hesitated and botched their escape attempts (that kind of thing bugs me to no end).
- I loved that boring-doctor-jack-with-a-savior-complex cracked up at the idea of the Red Sox winning. And seeing that tape again was just a joy!!
- So... are the Others grown-up children of the Dharma scientists?
- Did Benry imply that he himself was going to "escort" Jack home? Did anyone else seem to think that it meant that Jack was going to be the only one going with him? This was reminiscent of the scene in the Wizard of Oz where the Wizard tells Dorothy that he will take her back to Kansas himself in the balloon, but of course her dog chases after a cat and the Wizard goes himself.
- I think it was interesting that Benry was shocked by the sailboat, which would indicate he doesn't know about Desmond, which means the others are not Dharma.
- Jack's Red Sox line? Hi-larious. Even funnier was Henry/Ben's wounded reaction to Jack's disbelief. Then he started spouting the stats of the last game in self-defense. Obviously, he's a closet Sox fan.
- Now I can't wait till someone kicks Juliet in the head.
- Uselessness, thy name is Kate.
- The lack of Jack was a good thing after last episode but I loved the ending. If I were stuck on that hellish island for 60-something days and someone showed me a tape of the outside world, I'd bawl like a baby. I felt winded for him.
- Sayid has lost major badass points. That plan stunk.
- ...Of course, one odd thing about Benry's little presentation is that he seems to be offering answers & the hope of going home to someone who up to now has shown remarkably little interest in either asking questions or *wanting* to go home, so I really don't know how effective he expects to be.
- What I loved about the ending with Jack and Ben was the "not of the island" feel to it. Does that make sense? Simply letting Jack have access to a TV? Also, I loved the in-joke about the Red Sox winning the World Series going back to the "Outlaws" ep from S1. Is it really going to be that easy? If Jack obeys Ben and co, he gets to go home? It's only been 2 months, but will Jack betray his fellow Losties for a chance to get the hell out of there? Or does Ben's deal include the other Losties? Somehow, I doubt it.
- It sucks that they lost the boat. I was hoping to see it as a set for a little while. Well, I guess we'll see the Others cruising and partying on it. Evil, aren't they? Speaking of evil, what do the Others expect the Losties to think? Ethan kidnapping Claire and hanging Charlie from a tree was their first taste of the "good guys". I mean, c'mon!
- One more observation: Benry said to Jack: "your fellow Americans" so he must not consider himself an American.


BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE

KATE: You expect me to work in this dress?
PICKETT: Well, it's up to you? You can take it off if you want.
[Sawyer looks at her and smiles salaciously. Kate gives him a dirty look. Sawyer straightens up.] SAWYER [to Pickett]: How dare you.



SAWYER: Are you having fun yet, Freckles?
KATE: Quit staring at my ass.



KATE: What the hell were you thinking?
SAWYER: I couldn't help myself -- you just looked so damn cute swinging that pickaxe. Chain gang looks good on you, Freckles.



KATE: Why'd she call you James?
SAWYER: Because that's my name. I noticed something else, too. You taste like strawberries.
KATE: You taste like fish biscuits. So what do we do now?
SAWYER: Well, Shortcake, now we wait for these bastards to make a mistake.



UPCOMING EPISODES

10/18 - Further Instructions

10/25 - Every Man for Himself

11/1 - The Cost of Living

11/8 - Episode title still TBD, it will be a mini-finale. Then Lost is on break until February when the rest of the episodes will air back to back.

2/?/07 - Not in Portland



Three last words for you about the next episode. OK, four:

LOCKE IS BACK.
FINALLY.

- e

S2Ep16 - The Whole Truth (Sun's second flashback) - 03/22/06

Hello my dear friends,

I took a short vacation and have not had a heck of a lot of time to do my typical "research" on last week's show, "The Whole Truth." So instead, I pasted in more posts than usual, as they do a good job of summarizing the main issues.

Before I get into the specific topics, here's a post that captured the overall feeling on the boards about Sun's second flashback episode (and I apologize because a lot of the posts this time around were profanity-laced, as well as crude in parts because of some of the subject matter (you'll see what I'm talking about soon enough)):

- "Basically, despite not doing that much, this episode was FUN. The writers remembered that. Charlie redeemed himself in my eyes by being such a bastard to AnaL...the whole gun thing was just priceless. I was laughing my -ss off. Henry Gale is one scary motherf-cker, no matter whether or not he is evil. That entire scene at the end was just...the guy's sly, and he's smart. I hope he's an other just because he's gonna kill them all. The best part? Him channelling the audience. Trust. Questions. My annoyance with that is that they are clearly mocking us, but at least it's with a decent, mysterious character."

When I was watching this episode, I said to my friends at the end, "Hmmmm, I enjoyed that, but I don't think I'm going to have a lot to say about in on the blog." But after going through a few boards, there actually was more to discuss than I originally thought. Yay for us...


"HEY! YOU! GET OUTTA MY HATCH!" (SET TO ROLLING STONES)

The posts about the Jack/Locke shower scene (Jack gets out of shower, neglects to cover himself with the towel (dries his hair instead), and Locke is there, shaving) were SO vulgar that I couldn't even bring myself to paste any of them in. Suffice it to say that people are sick of the Jack and Locke competition for Alpha Male status, as called out in the episode by Ana Lucia: "Jack and Locke are a little too busy worrying about Locke and Jack."

Even though you know that I love me some Locke, I really can't stand the constant bickering and one-upping, either, because it's just leading them to do stupid things. The biggest thing that worried me, however, was Locke's ownership-mentality about the Hatch ("... Right now there's a man sitting in a room in my hatch and I want him out.").

Here are a few choice posts on the topic:

- "Locke's "My hatch" is very telling about his thought process. More towards his "chosen" mentality. Very subtle but effective."
- "Hooray for More Assertive Locke's return! He doesn't need to ask Jack if Ana-Lucia should interrogate the prisoner. He doesn't have to ask Jack if he can shave while Jack showers. He doesn't have to ask Jack for permission to look at Jack's penis. And in retaliation, Jack gets assertive, too: he decides he doesn't have to ask permission to take Henry out for a bowl of Dharma-Os (love it!)."
- "This episode hit me early on with something strange: when Locke saw Ana Lucia coming his way, he made a remark to her about "running like the devil is chasing her..." When Desmond and Jack first met on the stadium steps in "Man of Science, Man of Faith," Desmond asked Jack why he was "running like the devil is chasing him". HMMM - has Locke been spending so much time down in the hatch that he's starting to channel Desmond?" (e: That is correct, that is the exact same line Desmond used with Jack in the stadium, I noticed it too)


KATE LOOKED GOOD... SUN LOOKED GOOD...

I just wanted you all to know that I'm not ALWAYS negative about Kate. Although I am a tad worried that her mention of having taken a pregnancy test before somehow means we will have to ensure another Kate Flashback. But in the meantime... her tan and her wind-blown hair looked cute and there were many comments regarding this topic on the boards. However, there were even more comments about Sun's lingerie scene at the beginning...


... BUT THE BOYS LOOKED BETTER.

... But the greatest number of comments were about the Lost Boys. If I were to even start pasting in all of the references to Shirtless Jin, Sawyer and Jack, I would never finish this write-up. I was in disbelief at the attention this topic received. Though I agree that they were all lookin' fine.

Here is an article on DDK's hotness.


DEAR GOD

I think TPTB having Sawyer reading "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret" (of all books) was a blatant shout-out to the board peeps to say: "You guys, CHILL. This is definitely a book that means nothing and gives away NO CLUES about the show!"

But guess what, people still tried to find clues - no lie. I spared you those posts. But in case you don't believe me, here's just one: "I believe in the book Margaret was investigating several different religions - do you think that means anything?"


CHARLIE WILL ALWAYS BE A HOBBIT TO ME

Charlie finally won back some fans this episode with his return to snottiness. I must admit, I laughed out loud at his "fake-out" move when giving the gun back to Ana Lucia - oh... no.... wait... Sayid.

On the Hobbit tip:
- "And did anyone else have a "what about second breakfast?" LOTR moment when Charlie came hopping in with papayas for breakfast?" (e: Uh, OF COURSE I did!)
- "I liked surly Charlie more than I would have expected--and the papaya breakfast was such a hobbit moment."
- "Charlie pulling a "Merry" with an armful of natural food."

Not on the Hobbit tip:
- "Charlie gets major points for his little “Ok, I’ll give you the gun…nope, kidding, I’m giving it to Sayid” maneuver. That was such an “oh SNAP” moment. Hilarious."
- "As for Charlie knowing about Henry and not blabbing it all around, I really think he's turned into Darth Hoodie. I think that Claire's rejection has changed him, and that there will be many more surprising and uncharacteristic behaviors from him. Having a gun and not making a fuss about it (my impression was that it was a secret even from Sayid) is not very pre-Claire-dump Charlie. So, maybe this post-Claire-dump Charlie - the Charlie who is willing to faux-abduct Sun - can keep secrets. Secrets are knowledge, and knowledge is power. And I think right now he has a hunger for power that's even more compelling than his hunger for what Virgin Mary keeps where the sun doesn't shine."


DID SHE OR DIDN'T SHE?

I have to say that I ended the episode leaning toward the "Sun cheated" side... but after reading the boards, I am leaning the other way. I challenge you all to read the posts below and let me know if you think she cheated (or if you never even did)... Definitely leave me comments on this one - I can be swayed either way still. I think. So wishy-washy. One thing was definitely agreed upon by everyone: her English tutor's nickname is "bald dude."

But BEFORE getting into the many posts I pasted in on this topic, I will bring up three major points. The first one I didn't see covered anywhere on the boards, so at some point I will probably have to post about it to get reactions (typically I'm actually just a lurker, believe it or not):

1) Near the end of Season One, there was a scene with Sun, Shannon and Claire, when they were having a conversation about fate. And it was Sun who said, "Do you think we're being punished? For the secrets we kept, the lies we told..." I remember thinking at that point: "Hmmm, I know that Sun was going to leave Jin and had secretly learned English, but it seems like she's alluding to more than that in her own life, because all in all she doesn't seem right now like a bad person." Now when I think about those lines, I wonder if she was alluding to her possible affair.

2) Each season is about 40 or so days on the island (currently they are around day 58 or so)... so if she was to carry a baby full-term... that seems like a risky move on the writers' parts... not so sure the series would still be around. Horrible thought, I know.

3) This is a point mentioned below as well, but the question in my mind right now is WHY would she tell Jin that he is infertile if she hadn't decided to tell him "the whole truth"? What point would that serve? If she was going to lie about the father of the baby, why tell the truth about Jin's infertility? This is one of the things that swayed me to the "she didn't cheat" camp.

With those points in mind, here are additional thoughts from the boards to ponder:

- "So, did Sun cheat on Jin with her just-short-of-gay-friend or not? I think we're supposed to think she did, but I don't think she did. I think it's the island craziness that makes Locke walk that makes Jin's boys swim!"
- "I predict that Sun and Jin will be having a Sun Jr, rather then a Jin Jr.; who else is Aaron going to marry?"
- "Even though Jin is unbelievably studly, I was waiting for one last flashback to Sun and that bald dude post coital. I believe Dharma is responsible for Jin's new super sperm."
- "Jack said... "I'm the last one to give advice about that" to Sun on the baby - there is way more to that statement than that. He played it like a throwaway, but I bet it isn't, not with what we've seen in his back story."
- "I think Sun is lying. But I don't want to believe it."
- "As for the A story (Sun/Jin), it was good, I think, because it was a story about two characters who we have truly seen grow, and it GOOD ways, during this show, and I think that this is just good payoff. It's just nice to see that Jin and Sun are working out, and that DDK and YK are knocking it out of the park each week. And I'm glad they didn't go (apparently) the cheating route."
- "I want to know if Sun was lying. I agree I think we were supposed to think she had the affair, but she probably didn't. She was telling the truth, that was the point of this episode."
- "It was nice to see Jin still has some anger issues. Scary, but good continuity."
- "--So, I wonder if Sun is telling the truth? What I love about Lost is that while it’s possible she’s lying and did cheat on Jin, it’s also very possible that the island has decided that they should have a baby. If it can make Locke walk, it can make Jin fertile."
- "I don't and won't believe the baby is the bald dude's. Could Sun survive a pregnancy after a plane crash?"
- "Hasn't it been about 55 or 60 days since they crashed? (e: YES, 58) If Sun had been planning on ditching Jin at the Sydney airport, completely possible it's Bald Dude's Baby. She coulda survived the crash pregnant, because in the news a few months back was a skydiver that crashed on her HEAD, broke ribs and learned she was pregnant..."
- "...although it was left way too ambiguous whether or not Sun was lying. Mouth says no but facial expressions say...maybe?"
- "I couldn't figure out why Sun was so reluctant towards the idea of having a baby, in general. I think there is a lot more to this story."
- "Clearly the father of Sun's baby is Alvar Hanso. Or even worse ... Donald Trump!"
- "If she was going to lie to him about the paternity, why tell him he was sterile? If she's lying, she might as well lie completely. There's no reason to tell him he's sterile unless she wants to tell him the whole truth."
- "Put me in the camp of believing it's Baldy's baby. I think Sun was on the verge of telling Jin "the whole truth" and then realized she does love the guy, he loves her, and they're stuck on this island for maybe forever. Why take the advice of a hypocritical asshat like Jack when everyone can be happy with a lie? Could an embryo survive the crash? How did any of them survive?"
- "If Sun was just now feeling lightheaded and nauseous, she was only a few days pregnant. No way would those symptoms suddenly appear after 60ish days. I don't believe she would have cheated either. She was completely focused on escaping and besides, wouldn't she have been terrified what Jin or her father would do to a lover? No, they were just friends. She told Jin the "whole truth" because she nearly lost him once before because of a secret. She layed everything out on the table. No more secrets, no more guilt."
- "I don't think Sun's lying. When Jack was checking out the test result and said she was indeed pregnant, she said it was impossible. As in, it's impossible because Jin is sterile."
- "Someone may have already said this, but Sun probably looked guilty at the end because she never told Jin she was planning on leaving him, not because she had an affair. Her lies have been more ommissions of information, rather than misinformation. If she said she has never slept with anyone else I believe her."


FOR MY NERDY PEEPS

This group of postings, representing what can only be described as an utter outcry on the boards about the grammatical mistake in the Korean subtitles, sums up WHY I love reading the boards. Before you tell me that closed-captioning always has mistakes (which it does), remember that this was NOT closed-captioning, but rather the subtitles on the show itself.

If you could care less about this (though there ARE some hilarious posts below), skip to the next section.

If you do care, my nerdy brethren, know that you are in good company:

- "The subtitles said "You're husband" instead of "Your husband" during the conversation twixt Sun and the doctor."
- "The sloppy captioning of when they were speaking Korean is bugging the shit out of me ("you're husband"?). GAH."
- "Are you f-ing kidding me? "You're husband." That is disgraceful."
- "I must give props to other grammar nerds on this talkback that spotted the HORRENDOUS your-you're error. Shameful for a show that is one of its network's tentpegs."
- "I think they're (or is it "their"? or "there"?) messing with our heads again... ; )(Sorry to be so picky about the grammar thing... I'm still reeling from the subtitle mistake...)"
- "Do they not have proofreaders in their budget??"
- "Also, as a professional copyeditor, I seethed at that typo in the subtitles. They had better correct that for the DVD!!!"
- "The "you're husband" was bugging the crap out of me too. Try harder, Closed Captioning Monkeys."
- "HOLY HELL Damon/J.J. - fire the subtitlers immediately. Kwan? You're father? Horrifying. HORRIFYING."
- "So much going on and everyone's worried about the captioning? It's a good thing y'all aren't watching "24", where the Prez declared "Marshall Law" last week."
- "Is it possible the you're/your captioning problem was done just to upset the anal retentive people on this board?"
- "If so, that's a terrible thing for the people who do the captions (whoever they may be) to do. The last thing the English language needs is a super-popular television show that many high-schoolers watch to be perpetuating such breaches of basic grammar. "
- "I don't even watch Lost, but I am a writer by trade and therefore a huge grammar dork. When the "you're husband" came on, my fiance called me in from the other room to see it. It bothered me so much that I went to ABC.com this morning and sent them an email complaint. I have enough to do editing people's terrible grammar without help from Lost. My email said: Dear ABC: I was horrified to see "You're husband. . . he works for your father" in the show's captioning (not closed captioning) of last night's episode. As one of the biggest shows on TV, Lost should be able to prevent such blatant errors from making it on air. The show has a massive audience, and kids (as well as many adults) have enough problems with proper English without seeing errors like that reinforced. ABC should issue a statement acknowledging and correcting the error. Thank you. I encourage fellow grammar geeks to do the same! http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html"

HENRY GALE, YOU ARE ONE SCARY MOFO

As I mentioned above, while I liked this episode (I would've liked ANYTHING they aired that was new because it hadn't been on in so long)... I definitely thought it was kind of blah... that is, until the utterly bone-chilling speech by Mr. Gale at the end. I was literally squirming in my seat.

The "is he or isn't he an Other?" debate was the biggest issue on the boards, so I've pasted in many comments on the topic below. One thing that bothered me, however, was that a few episodes ago Henry made a POINT of mentioning how thin the walls/doors were... so much so that he actually shouted out to Jack and Locke at one point because he was following their conversation. However, in the two episodes since, characters on the outside of the cell have not been able to hear what's going on inside. Some chalk this up to Henry's Otherness and the fact that he must have superhuman hearing just like Ethan had superhuman strength. I'm not sure yet...

My take on Henry overall is that I think they're now making it TOO OBVIOUS for him to actually end up being an Other. I don't think he crashed on the island after going on a balloon trip with his wife, either, though. All I know for sure is that he gives me nightmares.

One small thing he said, however, that made me pause and reconsider his Otherness was: "Of course, if I was one of them -- these people that you seem to think are your enemies -- what would I do?" The whole "that you SEEM to think are your enemies" part was suspect to me because The Others also tend to act like they are really the good guys doing everyone a favor by "letting" them live on the island. It just was an odd thing to say if he knew nothing of The Others other than what he had learned while being held captive.
- "Henry Gale reminds me, eerily, of Kevin Spacey's character in Seven - very disturbing, evil, sadistic... and genius. A scary combination."
- "Total shout out to us for asking why people weren't more curious about things!"
- "Holy....is the prisoner an Other or a bad seed or...I don't know what to think."
- "The actor playing Henry really nailed that final speech, although, at this point, it's hard to see how anyone would doubt he's an Other."
- "If Damon Lindelof and J.J. Abrams had any sense in their brain, they would add Henry Gale to the main cast. I never thought a man who seemed so insignificant could be such a scheming catalyst. He is EXCELLENT, and he has made this episode for me."
- "I find it mind numbingly bizarre that NO one calls him on his obvious mind games. They just all sit around looking constipated whenever he says his little spiels. Well, except for Sayid. He just beat the daylights out of him."
- "That last scene. Was. Brilliant. So smart to keep the camera on Henry and not cut away to the three (trapped?) searchers. Keeping it in our imagination made it so much creepier."
- "I still don't see what finding the balloon would really prove. For all we know, Henry Gale and the other Others simply killed the real ballooners and now he's conveniently trying to pass himself off as his own victim." (e: AGREED!!!!)
- "I felt that Henry's conversation with Jack about the difference between a prophet and a martyr was significant. One definition for prophet is an effective spokesman or leader for a cause, doctrine or group. A definition for martyr is a person who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty of witnessing to and refusing to denounce a religion. A hint about why he is there perhaps. Of course Jack didn't bite, saying they both end up dead. However, he did let Henry out for breakfast after that conversation."



OTHER RANDOM POSTS


- "And what were Sayid and Charlie building?"
- "Sayid and Charlie could sure use someone keen in construction, but unfortunately Michael has gone batshit. Are they maybe building a church? Raft 2.0? A Starbucks? Could be anything."
- "Michael Who?"
- "A building with a "Widmore Construction" sign showed up in "Fire + Water". Unfortunately, I haven't been able to track down that one legible screenshot that was floating around a few weeks ago. (e: Widmore was the maker of the pregnancy test Sun took as well)
- "Lots of seemingly obvious shout-outs in this ep: "People don't like me.""
- "I want to bitch-slap the writers for the needless Hurley candy-bar scene. He has the potential to be a REALLY fascinating character on this show (remember folks, he's both rich and "crazy"), but instead they're pulling this stereotypical food-hoarding comic-relief fat-dude bullshit. STOP IT. Give us some really good Hurley material (remember him outing Ethan with his census?), or else send him where Boone and Shannon went." (e: I'm pretty sure we will get better Hurley material soon, fear not)
- "Loved Jin listening to Sawyer and Bernard talk in Korean. Just cracked me up for some reason."
- "Jin hears Sawyer and Bernard talking backwards, so what would Jin hear if he had a vision of Walt?"
- "Oh, and just as everyone predicted, absolutely no mention of ANYTHING that happened last episode."
- "If I were Jack or Locke, I'd be digging into the bottom of that Dharma Cereal Box to find the secret Lost Decoder Ring."
- "Perfect... Dharma-Os, each little piece in the shape of an octagon with a little hole in the center. Maybe it comes with snake, shark, and swan-shaped marshmallows?"
- "Any name suggestions for the Kwon baby? I'm going to go with Moonshine. It'd fit with the celestial nature of Sun's name and the Jin/gin homonym that brings alcohol to mind."




BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE

[Sawyer is reading "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret."]
Sun: How's your book?
Sawyer: ...Not nearly enough sex.


ANA: So let me get this straight -- you and your wife travel around the world and crash here in a smiley-face balloon? Then she dies. You get captured by a French chick who brings you here, and then they lock you up.
GALE: It sounds kind of silly when you say it like that.


SAYID [pointing]: That cliff there appears to be this [showing the spot on the map].
ANA: Score one for Henry.
SAYID: Pointing out a geographical touchstone does not mean he's leading us to a balloon.
ANA: Maybe not, but at least we're on the right island.
[Sayid walks off.]
CHARLIE: Humor's not his strong suit. [Ana doesn't respond] And I'm saying this to you.
[They continue walking. Charlie looks around and sees Ana staring at him.]
CHARLIE: You looking at my bum?



SAWYER [entering]: Yo, Daddy-o.
JIN: Sawyer.
SAWYER: Way to go, Papa-san. You didn't waste much time. I'd give you a cigar, Bernie, but I'm fresh out.



[after creepy, threatening tirade]
Henry: You guys got any milk?



UPCOMING EPISODES

OK my friends... I have what should be the Lost episode calendar for the rest of the season... but of course I'm sure things could possibly change. Really, though, there's not much wiggle room in the schedule anymore and most sources say this is final. Here's what it currently looks like... we have 3 weeks of new episodes in a row:

03/29/06 - 'Lockdown' - My man gets caught within the blast doors?!?!?! Looks like this will be a great one. Per the preview: "5 events will happen..." My prediction: the boarders will be fighting over exactly WHAT the 5 Events were...

04/05/06 - 'Dave'

04/12/06 - 'S.O.S.'

A short break... then the drive to the finale:

05/03/06 - 'Two for the Road'

05/10/06 - Untitled... ep 21

5/17/06 - Untitled... ep 22

And then...


MARK YOUR CALENDARS! THE FINALE DATE HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED

Thanks to my brother for the heads up - it will be two hours on May 24th - the finale will be episodes 23 and 24.


REALLY SHORT VERSION OF THE 'MEMORY IMPLANT' THEORY

Since I don't have a lot of time this week... just know that there is what I consider to be a HIGHLY plausible theory floating around lately about the possibility that all of the flashbacks are fake - as in, they are "memories" implanted in the minds of the Lostaways by whatever sinister force is controlling the island. The proponents of this theory claim that this would explain why characters are showing up in each others' flashbacks, as well. Further, they state that there wasn't even a plane crash - which would explain why no one was really too hurt. That's where I think it begins to fall apart... remember that dude who got chopped up by the propeller? Tell this theory to him!!!! So in short, while I think the memories possibly could be implanted, I don't think the crash was staged.



BEFORE THEY WERE LOST

Thanks to MD as well as an anonymous Comment poster for this site that shows pre-Lost video clips of Sawyer (my favorite - I REMEMBER that horrible commercial), Kate and Sayid.

Before There Were Lost

And at a separate site, here is pre-Lost Hurley (along with Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite - SWEET!)

Before Hurley was Lost, Dude.


Enjoy this week's episode, it should be a doozy.
- e


*To post comments, click on the Comments link below. You don't have to have a username or log in or anything. I post comments after I review them, typically each night.*

S2Ep5: ...And Found (Jin and Sun's first joint flashback) - 10/19/05

Hello my dearest and most patient friends -

So we have now been made to suffer through what I'm sure is just the first of many multi-week hiatuses (is that a word?) this season, just like last season. But even though I know nothing about sports and could care less, I will forgive The Powers That Be at ABC because even *I* was aware that not only was Chicago in the World Series, they WON the World Series, hence the reason for the break in the schedule (even though the WSeries was on Fox, they thought they would lose viewers to it). And since I live in Chicago (as many of you may not have known, I just realized), I will forgive them. And yes, the World Series was over a while ago, but they had to plan for all 7 games in the TV scheduling, hence the long break. Shout-out to CJ just for being the only long-time Sox fan I know!

On to the episode:
Do you ever get the feeling that perhaps you're on crack and you just don't know it? Because that's how I feel right now... I just remember watching this episode live with my peeps and all of us thinking that it was horrible. In fact, I dare say I thought it was the worst episode in the entire series because literally nothing happened. I was dreading writing this to all of you because I've now somehow started feeling personally guilty for any time the show sucks. But for the past few minutes I've been on the boards collecting the posts for this write-up, and have been blown away by the fact that apparently everyone else LOVED this episode. I am just perplexed, befuddled, confused... you name it. As Whitney Houston so eloquently said, "Crack is wack!"

WHY did these people enjoy watching Jin and Mr. Eko (gotta love that name, though) run through the woods all episode and accomplish nothing? I just don't get it. I did like the Sun/Jin flashbacks, but not enough to make up for the rest of the show. Here is what little I could scrape together on this episode...

THE OTHERS
I think there is only one thing actually is worth noting in this episode, and that is that we supposedly saw a glimpse of The Others traipsing through the jungle. Here is what you should contemplate:
- Mr. Eko made a point of saying:
- They do not leave footprints (remember on the season one finale... there were no footprints around the black smoke column, either, and Sayid and Charlie noticed it)
- They will not be found unless they WANT to be found
- Other Others points:
- They appear to be human, although I still think it's possible that they can shape-shift (X-Files term) into human form
- The last Other was dragging along a teddy bear, leading me to believe that Walt was not the first child taken (that bear was NOT Walt's). Or perhaps The Others ARE children who were raised on the island and developed superpowers?
- Even if they are not human and they do not leave footprints, they still appear to kill people the old-fashioned way judging from the Tailaway guy with the huge cleaver in his chest

MR. EKO
That is a cool-@ss name. Say it with me now: Mr. Eko. My peeps watching it with me all agreed that we liked him. But here is something bizarre. When he and Jin were having their pseudo-discussion about being married (involving lots of pointing to rings and whatnot), and Jin replied, "Yes, you?" Eko's answer was "Worse." I checked the transcripts, too, because at first I thought he said "Was" and then there was a big debate about it on the boards, and the transcripts say "Worse." My head is just kind of blanking on this one - anyone have any ideas as to what he could mean? All guys who are thinking of sending lame replies like "There's nothing worse
than marriage!" can now go think of other witty responses.

My second question about Eko is: was he on the plane? I'm not so sure he was... I think we're assuming he was because he is with the Tailaways. He never actually SAID anything about being on the plane. He seems kind of like their "Locke" to me. It is going to be awesome when/if Locke and Eko meet. Someone may have to watch me to make sure I don't explode with excitement.

Here is a possible future exchange:
Locke: *I* made glue out of rendered animal fat.
Eko: Well, I made a huge machete and I'm not going to tell you how and spill my secrets!
Locke: I can predict when it's going to rain out here.
Eko: I can sense The Others coming even though they don't make any sound.
Locke: I've seen The Monster and I'm friends with it.
Eko: Everyone in my group is pretty much dead yet here I still am.
Locke: I used to be a regional collections manager at a box company.
Eko: Well I was the NATIONAL collections manager at a box company - HA!!!!!!!
Then they have a knife duel to the death.

MUTE CHICK
I'm just sayin'.... there was some girl who looked kind of freaky and didn't talk. She was with the rest of the Tailaways. So we've got Eko, Ana Lucia, Libby, Bernard and Mute Chick. Now watch, she's going to have some heart-breaking flashback about why she really is mute and then I'm going to feel awful.

MICHAEL
At the polar opposite end of the spectrum from Mute Chick, I present to you: Michael. Seriously, dude, just stop yelling.

ANA LUCIA
Even though I have never positioned this as a "family-friendly" distribution list, I am not compelled to write out the various nicknames that Ana Lucia has earned on the boards, for they are quite profane. Suffice it to say, there are only a few posters out there who like her, while most are hoping she bites the bullet. But I have a feeling we will not be that lucky. The only thing to mention with her is that she does have a thick band on her left ring finger, yet told Sawyer she wasn't married. Since I re-watched nearly all of Season 1 recently (mentioned last week), I remembered that in the flashback on the finale where she was flirting with Jack at the airport, I got the feeling that perhaps she was in the middle of a divorce.

SARA - DEAD OR NOT? DO I CARE? NOT REALLY.
Jack was married to Sara, that we knew. Now he is not, which we also knew. At first I thought she must have ended up dying after his miracle "saving" of her (possibly with the help of Hatch Man/Desmond's powers), and that is what turned him back to Man o' Science. But after his comment to Sun that his ring was "rolling around in a drawer back at home," I'm not so sure. Perhaps she did end up leaving him or vice versa.

LOCKE
When Sun is talking to Locke after he spied her ripping apart her garden, she says "Don't you ever get frustrated?" Locke says something like "I'm not lost anymore." My brother would like to point out that "he is totally lying. He DOES get frustrated. Remember when the computer broke and he hit his head on the desk and was like 'What do you want me to do?!' He totally lost it. So, he is lying about that." While I do not deny that Locke's actions seem to be different than his words, I also think he wasn't consciously LYING to Sun. I think he's giving himself a little more credit than he deserves... he's definitely not Mr. Calm, Cool and Collected ALL of the time.

Also on Locke, my brother asks "have you ever discussed *who* he is talking to/at when he talks/yells at the island? He also yelled at the island when he went paralyzed before Boone died, right? (ERIKA: Yes, along with when he was banging on the hatch and the light came on.) Has somebody or something talked to Locke? If not, then why does he feel like he can talk to the
island? Why does he think it is "listening" to him?"

My answer to this is that when Locke has "talked to the island" on several occasions, I think he thinks he is either talking to God, or some higher power that he believes is controlling his destiny. I do not think any person or thing ever literally talked to him on the island and that now he is shouting back at it. We know that he DID see the monster twice... once he said it was "beautiful" and the other time he became very afraid and then the monster almost dragged him down a hole to who knows where. So perhaps whatever it was he saw, combined with his miracle cure, has convinced him that there is some power or being that brought him to the island for a
reason.

BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE
[Hurley and Sun sitting nearby Vincent, watching him.]
HURLEY: So, Seoul. Is that in the good Korea or the bad Korea?
(awkward silence)
SUN: The good one.
HURLEY: Dude, dogs will eat anything. When I was a kid, my dog, Buster -- I had this drawer where I'd throw in all my change, right -- and I guess there were some Smarties in there -- so, like, the next day, Buster craps out a $1.35 in nickels.
[Sun doesn't respond.]

GREAT NON-PC/SWEAR-WORD-INFESTED SITE
Shout-out to Uncle Grambo for forwarding along this link... Definitely hilarious and highly recommended for the true Lost fan, and nothing TOO offensive... basically the gist of this site is that they "snark" (rip on, find fault with) various people/topics. The page below is them snarking the cast of Lost.
http://www.snarkywood.com/2005/09/snark_for_a_cau_1.html


PREVIEWS
D@mmit, CreepyDrownedWalt is back! I was just getting over my nightmares. Apparently someone is going to die. I don't know who it is. It better stay that way until showtime!

Also, apparently NEXT week they are going to do something different with the show. We may be spoiled by the previews at the end of this week, but I really hope they keep it under wraps. However, I have been forewarned that if you do not want to be spoiled (like me), then do NOT read the episode listing on Tivo or TV guide or whatever your source is for next week, because it gives it away. Is NOTHING sacred?


ON THE SENTIMENTAL TIP
I often mention "my peeps" who watch the show faithfully with me each week, put up with my antics, don't make fun of me for going as overboard as I do, and keep me on my toes by noticing things I never would have seen. KG and EG are two of these people and I am happy to announce that they recently added the first Lost Baby to the distribution list a few weeks ago. OK, so no, he doesn't already have his own email address, but he DOES already have his own dedicated mini-bean bag in my TV room. Lil' Will got his first visit by Crazy Auntie E tonight and is now the proud owner of a bib with "the numbers" on it, a baby t-shirt that says I Love Sayid (Love is a big red heart, Sayid is his mom's fave character), and then a jumper reading "I'd rather be watching Lost." You KNOW he's being schooled in Lost Season One the next time I see him! Seriously though you guys, congrats.

Enjoy the show this week, back on at the regular time Wednesday night...
- e