Now the question is: can I adequately write a post that lives up to the Charlie level of review-nerdiness? Absolutely not. But I’ll try anyways.
We had action in four different places in time / space tonight, so I’ll tackle each place independently. And…go.
Team Ilana / Jack
I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least briefly touch on what happened at the beach with Team Ilana / Jack, even though it was pretty straightforward. I’ll tackle this bullet style:
- In the most annoying plot development of the night, Sun loses her ability to speak English by hitting her head on a tree, moving the communication style back to Jin-in-season-1 can’t speak to anyone else. Interesting parallel? Maybe. Pointless vehicle for to give Jack the opportunity to diagnose a rare disease and show his doctorness? Probably. Apparently aphasia does exist, but I shake my head at this whole development. Really? REALLY?
- Sun trusts Jack, not Flocke. (yawn)
- Richard took Isabella’s messages from the grave to heart and says they are going to Hydra to stop Flocke. (Everyone saw this coming, right?...)
Okay. Moving on.
The Alternate Timeline
Tonight, Sun and Jin received some heavy screen time in the alternate timeline. Up until “The Package,” we knew very little about their alt-lives, other than the fact that Jin still appeared to be in the Korean Mafia and Sun still wore cardigans. But tonight, the stories were given some depth.
They’re not married?
It seemed like a bigger deal at first blush, but now I’m not so shocked by it. In the alternate timeline, Jin and Sun aren’t married…but they are definitely still together. And by “together,” I mean “Sun’s pregnant.” So what does this mean for their alterna-lives? I’m not sure if it really means anything. We have seen quite a few characters have strange coincidences pop up in this alternate timeline (see: Jack has a son; see: Nadia is married to Sayid’s brother). I’m chalking this reveal up to a coincidence.
You should always look through the peephole.
Really, Sun? After looking at yourself in the mirror (…the mirror theory continues…), you answer your door in your robe without looking through the peephole? Really? That’s safe. And, oh look, here’s the SCARIEST MAN I HAVE EVER SEEN, Martin Keamy. And now he’s in your room. You’re officially screwed.
The Rolex watch returns
Well, it looks like Mr. Paik is still delivering messages to his business partners via Rolex watches. We’ve seen this before in the first timeline. In fact, delivering a Rolex was the reason Sun and Jin were originally in Australia…and the reason they headed to LA afterwards. You’ll recall that Michael found the Rolex after the plane crash and wore it, sending Jin into a tizzy and causing quite a rift early on. It seems so long ago…
But anyways, Jin was delivering a watch for Mr. Paik to…Keamy? On the surface, yes. But as we’ve discussed before, all signs point to Keamy working with Widmore…so the watch was probably going to end up with Widmore. But the $25,000…
An easy $25,000?
Answers, answers everywhere on this topic. Jin was to give $25,000 to Keamy, and wadaya know, that money was to pay Keamy to kill Jin! Oh, the irony. When Jin reveals to Keamy that the money was taken by Customs, Sun offers to dip into her secret account to pay him off. Sounds like a great plan until Daddy Paik closed the account and transferred the money. Why? Jin broke the cardinal rule…
Stay away from the boss’s daughter.
Well, I get the rule. We all know the rule. But killing Jin for this infraction seems a little harsh. I’m wondering if alterna-Mr. Paik was also hoping for an arranged marriage with someone of a higher pedigree than Jin, the fisherman’s son. Unfortunately, Jin is oblivious to the bounty for his head, as evidenced by the “Cardigan Seduction Scene” in Sun’s hotel room. I am not going to say anything else about the scene, except that I could hear Charlie yelling in agony…the entire scene was painful and far too long.
Patchy is back! Or should we say “Unpatchy”! But wait…oops, he’s Patchy again!
Mikhail Bakunin, the one-eyed creeper from seasons past, returned for a cameo tonight in the form of translator extraordinaire. According to Keamy, “Danny’s friend” (yeah, did you catch that too? Faraday??) can speak 9 languages…and wadaya know, one of them is Korean. Excellent coincidence. Until he is shot IN THE EYE by Jin in the Restaurant Kitchen Shoot Out #2 of season 6. He needs a patch. Again. Gross.
And at the end of all of this…
We did have a bit of a cliffhanger. Pregnant alternaSun is injured (though I couldn’t tell if her injury was a hand injury or worse) and Jin just killed a man. I continue to have faith that the set up of these characters in the alternate timeline is leading to something. Something big. Because otherwise, it has been a lot of time wasted when we could have been in the heat of the island action.
And on that note…
Team Flocke
Hanging out mid-jungle was Team Flocke, a hodgepodge of sane people, bizarre people, and unnamed people. Flocke continued to waltz around and do “leader things” (to quote Hurley from a previous episode), but there wasn’t a lot of forward movement until the very end.
Flocke’s role in the Jin/Sun Reunion
Flocke kicked off the episode with an interesting statement to Jin about the names in the cave. Granted, it wasn’t anything new, but the phrasing put a new spin on things: he said that all the people whose names weren’t crossed out needed to leave the island together. Now, perhaps this has been how everyone has understood it this whole time, but I have been under the impression that Flocke wanted to kill all the candidates, not take them with him…so I was a little surprised. But again, maybe that is just me. So apparently if all the candidates leave the island with Flocke, he wins. Seems easy enough, right?
But back to Jin and Sun. Flocke was playing on the emotions of both Sun and Jin during this episode, with the hopes of getting them to do whatever Flocke said under the assumption that he is working to unite them. Unfortunately, the Kwon’s both have a degree in sensing bullshit and weren’t having any of it, choosing instead to run away. Not the best idea for either.
Flying Tranquilizer Darts…again?
Good grief, not only does Sayid not "feel" anything anymore, but poor Sayid has been hit with darn tranquilizer darts three times. Three times! The first two times were on his wild goose chase with Hurley, as he was shot in St. Sebastian Hospital by the fake nurse, and then again in the apartment (which was the site of the death-by-dishwasher scene that still haunts my dreams). But this time, everyone got a taste of the tranquilizers, courtesy of Dirty Tina Fey and her chubby accomplice. “Is this the guy,” she says about Jin. “Yep, that’s him.” And they took him away. What the…more on that to come.
Sayid, what happened?
So while Flocke was out recruiting Sun to join Team Flocke, Sayid was supposed to be in charge. But, the tranquilizer dart took him out of commission and he didn’t have much intel with Daddy Flocke came back. “We were attacked,” he said stoically. “Can you swim,” asked Flocke. With an affirmative answer, a plan is hatched to go to Hydra and get back Jin. But first, Sayid needed to put the gun in a Ziploc bag. You know. To keep it safe. And stuff.
Portable Pylons? This is getting serious.
Flocke shows up (alone) on the beach of Hydra to find portable pylons and gun-toting hooligans waiting for him. Wandering down the beach, he discovers Charles Widmore emerging from the foliage. After a quick “Do you know who I am?” conversation, Widmore claims ignorance about Jin’s whereabouts. And Flocke is not pleased.
“A wise man once said war is coming to the island. I think it just got here.”
Oh. Boy.
Team Widmore
Charles Widmore was a little frustrated tonight. It appeared like things were not going exactly according to plan, and that Dirty Tina Fey was to blame (I knew it!).
Room 23 Returns
The darted Jin wakes up to find himself inside Room 23 of the Hydra Island, which was exciting to see. After messing with a few of the buttons in the room, Jin managed to watch a few special clips of the brainwashing video we had seen before. As you’ll recall, both Waaaaaaaaalt and Karl have spent a considerable amount of time in Room 23, and we had seen this video clip before, including the powerful phrase “We are the causes of our own suffering.”
Jin demands answers.
Dirty Tina Fey found some maps of the island with designations about the electromagnetic properties. The geophysicist in her was apparently nerding out a bit (and probably needed to know the information for her job as Member of Team Widmore) and came to Jin because his 1977 signature was at the bottom of the map. What could he tell her? Nothing, he said, unless he can talk to Charles Widmore.
Canon Power Shot: The Power is Yours
Charles Widmore took a play out of the Team Flocke playbook and pulled out a camera to play the heart strings of Papa Jin, who had never met his daughter, Ji Yeon. And yes, Charlie, I was moved by this scene! Babies and puppies?? Come on! My dream! And I’m not ashamed! It was well acted and Widmore got what he wanted: Jin’s trust. How can we be sure? He shared some serious intel.
Here’s the scoop.
Widmore told Jin that if Flocke is allowed to leave the island, everyone will cease to exist, notably including Ji Yeon and Penny. Now, this is very different than Hurley’s take (“we’re going to hell”), which I understood as “bad things happen in the world” (possibly see: ten plagues of Egypt?). The phrase “ceasing to exist” makes me think seriously about the theory that Flocke will somehow rip apart the space-time continuum when he leaves the island, or make the current timeline merge with the alternate timeline, resulting in some sort of timeline explosion.
Of course, the truth of this all based on whether or not you believe Widmore. While he doesn’t have a great track record of honesty, his speech about loving his daughter was heartfelt and powerful. I’ll admit it: I’m believing him, at least this week. With that, however, it is possible that Widmore will end up being on Team Jacob after all, even though that means he is on the same team as Ben. Did NOT see that coming…
Oh, and one more secret was revealed…
The Package
In true lost fashion, the last 3 minutes of the episode brought us the reveal we’ve all been waiting for. Widmore told Jin it was time for him to see the package…a package that is not a “what,” but a “who.”
Quick cut to the dock, where Dirty Tina Fey and her accomplice were pulling a limp, exhausted man from the submarine. Who was it? None other than Desmond Hume, the love of Charlie’s life. Implications? Huge.
So, why would Widmore need to bring Des back? My guess is that it is somehow related to the electromagnetic energy island stuff. We know that Desmond is special. Perhaps he is the only person who can match Flocke in power (via the electromagnetism?), or sink the island. Either way, I’m nearly certain that this is going to come back to Desmond’s implosion of the Swan and his subsequent encounter with the properties of the island.
And one more thing…and I hate myself for saying this, but I need to say it. I am very worried that Penny and Desmond are not going to get a happy ending.
(sigh)
Closing Thoughts…
I liked that some of the dialogue paralleled older episodes - Flocke said "whatever happens, happens," and Widmore said "what's done is done." Well played, Lost.
An easy $25,000?
Answers, answers everywhere on this topic. Jin was to give $25,000 to Keamy, and wadaya know, that money was to pay Keamy to kill Jin! Oh, the irony. When Jin reveals to Keamy that the money was taken by Customs, Sun offers to dip into her secret account to pay him off. Sounds like a great plan until Daddy Paik closed the account and transferred the money. Why? Jin broke the cardinal rule…
Stay away from the boss’s daughter.
Well, I get the rule. We all know the rule. But killing Jin for this infraction seems a little harsh. I’m wondering if alterna-Mr. Paik was also hoping for an arranged marriage with someone of a higher pedigree than Jin, the fisherman’s son. Unfortunately, Jin is oblivious to the bounty for his head, as evidenced by the “Cardigan Seduction Scene” in Sun’s hotel room. I am not going to say anything else about the scene, except that I could hear Charlie yelling in agony…the entire scene was painful and far too long.
Patchy is back! Or should we say “Unpatchy”! But wait…oops, he’s Patchy again!
Mikhail Bakunin, the one-eyed creeper from seasons past, returned for a cameo tonight in the form of translator extraordinaire. According to Keamy, “Danny’s friend” (yeah, did you catch that too? Faraday??) can speak 9 languages…and wadaya know, one of them is Korean. Excellent coincidence. Until he is shot IN THE EYE by Jin in the Restaurant Kitchen Shoot Out #2 of season 6. He needs a patch. Again. Gross.
And at the end of all of this…
We did have a bit of a cliffhanger. Pregnant alternaSun is injured (though I couldn’t tell if her injury was a hand injury or worse) and Jin just killed a man. I continue to have faith that the set up of these characters in the alternate timeline is leading to something. Something big. Because otherwise, it has been a lot of time wasted when we could have been in the heat of the island action.
And on that note…
Team Flocke
Hanging out mid-jungle was Team Flocke, a hodgepodge of sane people, bizarre people, and unnamed people. Flocke continued to waltz around and do “leader things” (to quote Hurley from a previous episode), but there wasn’t a lot of forward movement until the very end.
Flocke’s role in the Jin/Sun Reunion
Flocke kicked off the episode with an interesting statement to Jin about the names in the cave. Granted, it wasn’t anything new, but the phrasing put a new spin on things: he said that all the people whose names weren’t crossed out needed to leave the island together. Now, perhaps this has been how everyone has understood it this whole time, but I have been under the impression that Flocke wanted to kill all the candidates, not take them with him…so I was a little surprised. But again, maybe that is just me. So apparently if all the candidates leave the island with Flocke, he wins. Seems easy enough, right?
But back to Jin and Sun. Flocke was playing on the emotions of both Sun and Jin during this episode, with the hopes of getting them to do whatever Flocke said under the assumption that he is working to unite them. Unfortunately, the Kwon’s both have a degree in sensing bullshit and weren’t having any of it, choosing instead to run away. Not the best idea for either.
Flying Tranquilizer Darts…again?
Good grief, not only does Sayid not "feel" anything anymore, but poor Sayid has been hit with darn tranquilizer darts three times. Three times! The first two times were on his wild goose chase with Hurley, as he was shot in St. Sebastian Hospital by the fake nurse, and then again in the apartment (which was the site of the death-by-dishwasher scene that still haunts my dreams). But this time, everyone got a taste of the tranquilizers, courtesy of Dirty Tina Fey and her chubby accomplice. “Is this the guy,” she says about Jin. “Yep, that’s him.” And they took him away. What the…more on that to come.
Sayid, what happened?
So while Flocke was out recruiting Sun to join Team Flocke, Sayid was supposed to be in charge. But, the tranquilizer dart took him out of commission and he didn’t have much intel with Daddy Flocke came back. “We were attacked,” he said stoically. “Can you swim,” asked Flocke. With an affirmative answer, a plan is hatched to go to Hydra and get back Jin. But first, Sayid needed to put the gun in a Ziploc bag. You know. To keep it safe. And stuff.
Portable Pylons? This is getting serious.
Flocke shows up (alone) on the beach of Hydra to find portable pylons and gun-toting hooligans waiting for him. Wandering down the beach, he discovers Charles Widmore emerging from the foliage. After a quick “Do you know who I am?” conversation, Widmore claims ignorance about Jin’s whereabouts. And Flocke is not pleased.
“A wise man once said war is coming to the island. I think it just got here.”
Oh. Boy.
Team Widmore
Charles Widmore was a little frustrated tonight. It appeared like things were not going exactly according to plan, and that Dirty Tina Fey was to blame (I knew it!).
Room 23 Returns
The darted Jin wakes up to find himself inside Room 23 of the Hydra Island, which was exciting to see. After messing with a few of the buttons in the room, Jin managed to watch a few special clips of the brainwashing video we had seen before. As you’ll recall, both Waaaaaaaaalt and Karl have spent a considerable amount of time in Room 23, and we had seen this video clip before, including the powerful phrase “We are the causes of our own suffering.”
Jin demands answers.
Dirty Tina Fey found some maps of the island with designations about the electromagnetic properties. The geophysicist in her was apparently nerding out a bit (and probably needed to know the information for her job as Member of Team Widmore) and came to Jin because his 1977 signature was at the bottom of the map. What could he tell her? Nothing, he said, unless he can talk to Charles Widmore.
Canon Power Shot: The Power is Yours
Charles Widmore took a play out of the Team Flocke playbook and pulled out a camera to play the heart strings of Papa Jin, who had never met his daughter, Ji Yeon. And yes, Charlie, I was moved by this scene! Babies and puppies?? Come on! My dream! And I’m not ashamed! It was well acted and Widmore got what he wanted: Jin’s trust. How can we be sure? He shared some serious intel.
Here’s the scoop.
Widmore told Jin that if Flocke is allowed to leave the island, everyone will cease to exist, notably including Ji Yeon and Penny. Now, this is very different than Hurley’s take (“we’re going to hell”), which I understood as “bad things happen in the world” (possibly see: ten plagues of Egypt?). The phrase “ceasing to exist” makes me think seriously about the theory that Flocke will somehow rip apart the space-time continuum when he leaves the island, or make the current timeline merge with the alternate timeline, resulting in some sort of timeline explosion.
Of course, the truth of this all based on whether or not you believe Widmore. While he doesn’t have a great track record of honesty, his speech about loving his daughter was heartfelt and powerful. I’ll admit it: I’m believing him, at least this week. With that, however, it is possible that Widmore will end up being on Team Jacob after all, even though that means he is on the same team as Ben. Did NOT see that coming…
Oh, and one more secret was revealed…
The Package
In true lost fashion, the last 3 minutes of the episode brought us the reveal we’ve all been waiting for. Widmore told Jin it was time for him to see the package…a package that is not a “what,” but a “who.”
Quick cut to the dock, where Dirty Tina Fey and her accomplice were pulling a limp, exhausted man from the submarine. Who was it? None other than Desmond Hume, the love of Charlie’s life. Implications? Huge.
So, why would Widmore need to bring Des back? My guess is that it is somehow related to the electromagnetic energy island stuff. We know that Desmond is special. Perhaps he is the only person who can match Flocke in power (via the electromagnetism?), or sink the island. Either way, I’m nearly certain that this is going to come back to Desmond’s implosion of the Swan and his subsequent encounter with the properties of the island.
And one more thing…and I hate myself for saying this, but I need to say it. I am very worried that Penny and Desmond are not going to get a happy ending.
(sigh)
Closing Thoughts…
I liked that some of the dialogue paralleled older episodes - Flocke said "whatever happens, happens," and Widmore said "what's done is done." Well played, Lost.
Also, Charlie was sad to find out that Yunjin Kim (the actress who plays Sun) got married to her long-term boyfriend over the weekend. Totally serious, by the way. Google it.
That was what we kids in the business call a set-up episode. Let’s hope it all pays off. Looking forward to your comments and questions. Take pity on me...it has been awhile since I reviewed! I plan on leaving this alternate timeline and going back to Mondays next week.
Namaste,
Maggie
Namaste,
Maggie
9 Snarky Comments:
great recap Maggie! I love it when you articulate things in words, that I was thinking (i.e. Dirty Tina Fey)
- how do we know that alternaSun is pregnant or is it just a guess?
- I think the theory is that if MIB gets all candidates off the island and can leave, he has proven Jacob wrong where men is corruptible and not governed by own free will, and there for we will cease to exist (i think charlie might have mentioned that as some point).
But Jacob has already been killed, so why does MIB have to keep going. Has he not already proven Jacob wrong??
- Widmore vs Ben. They both seem like they are on the same side, so what is this 'war' they spoke about. Not sure if it's related to the MIB/Jacob business because Ben didn't really seem aware of any of this (although Widmore did). But of course they will be related some how.
- Yunjin Kim seems like a better actress in Korean than in English :p
- is Hume one of the names on the wall??
6 more episodes left. I think we will still be left with like 60 questions.
Thanks for the comments, Laura! I'll try to tackle each question:
-AlternaSun told AlternaJin that she was pregnant as they rushed out of the kitchen, post shoot out.
-I agree with the goodness of man theory that has been brought up multiple times on the blog. I think you're right. MIB was implying that if he could convince all the current candidates to leave the island and not 'fulfill their destiny' (as Jacob would say), MIB wins. Man is corrupt. Yep, I get that. In my mind, MIB is not going to be able to convince everyone...and will probably end up killing some of the candidates. Crazy, but I think it is going to happen (unfortunately).
-Yeah, the Widmore v. Ben fight is confusing me because they both seems to be on Team Jacob. Perhaps the explanation is that they are both fighting for Jacob, but Widmore remains mad at Ben for exiling him back in the day and is wanting to get his revenge? So maybe there is a Widmore v. MIB war, and a Widmore v. Ben 'war'? Oy vey.
-I read that Yunjin Kim is called the "Julia Roberts of Korea." I'm not even kidding...look it up! Apparently she is a great actress...
-Correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure Hume is NOT listed on the compass dial in the Lighthouse, nor the Cliffside Cave. Charlie...is that right?
Correct, Hume is not listed anywhere.
I loved his appearance last night - I think we're finally going to get some payoff to Faraday's declaration that Desmond was "special" and that the rules don't apply to him. Can't wait!
My memory is a bit hazy, but didn't we find out somewhere along the way that Sun's father was in cahoots with Widmore? Maybe I am imagining things. Not even sure it makes much difference at this point, I was wondering.
This episode left me a bit disappointed; but as long as we didn't see alternaNicki and Paolo, I am glad.
My memory is a bit hazy, but didn't we find out somewhere along the way that Sun's father was in cahoots with Widmore? Maybe I am imagining things. Not even sure it makes much difference at this point, I was wondering.
This episode left me a bit disappointed; but as long as we didn't see alternaNicki and Paolo, I am glad.
Anyone know how many minutes until They Return on V?
Totally random thought that doesn't really relate to this past episode. What if the man in black is also named Jacob. The producers have obviously gone out of their way not to let us know his real name, and I believe that they also said that Jacob appeared in the very first episode. Just a thought and probably totally off but maybe possible
That's actually a very interesting thought. Personally, I've been batting around the idea that MIB is Jacob's Tyler Durden, if you catch my drift.
I know I'm late on this one but I just spent the weekend catching up on two weeks worth of LOST. Did anyone else catch how Flocke told Sun he would never make her do anything against her will? I believe it was just before he chased her in to a tree. Perhaps further commentary on the "free will vs. predestination" theory.
Post a Comment