Thursday, October 12. 2006
LOST: The Glass Ballerina
Well, the title was explained in basically the first shot. What we have here is a tale of truth and consequences. We get thrown a few subtle clues along the way, too. Ye hast been warned, there be spoilers here!
Not going to go in order this time, instead we'll break it up by sub-plot... makes more sense.
The Chain Gang
So we go back to Kate and Sawyer in the cages, apparently it's the following morning. Zeke/Tom/Mr. Friendly gets them out and hauls them off to a construction site. It looks like they are making a level clearing of some sort.
It's the usual "work or get shocked" business for these two. Although Sawyer seems to be fighting an internal conflict between the usual defiant tough-guy persona and the considerate gentleman that's somewhere in there. (The "um, how dare you!" bit.)
Whatever they are building, they've got a set of proper plans for it, although you couldn't see what was on them.
While Kate is digging out the rocks, who should appear behind the bushes but Rousseau's daughter, Alex! She once again appears to be on their side, and asks what happened to Carl. Kate of course never saw Carl, but its interesting that Alex and him seem to have ties. Maybe he's another kid from Rousseau's bunch? Before we learn much else (other than Kate's new dress was once Alex's) she is gone.
The unusually compassionate Juliet hands Sawyer a canteen, which he defiantly empties onto the ground, only to look at an obviously worn-out Kate and realize he should have given it to her. So in a Sawyer-like moment he grabs her and kisses her, only to get into it with the "other" guys, who seem to be fairly well trained in the Jedi arts. He grabs their AK only to realize that Juliet's got Kate on the business end of a .45. Would Juliet really shoot Kate? Sawyer seems to think so, as they're led back to their cages for the night.
Jack and the Ben-stalk
Meanwhile, back in the hatch (you knew that was coming!) Juliet brings Jack a bowl of soup and some water. He's obviously still broken and seems to be reeling from it.
As Juliet is leaving "the tank", she runs into Ben. He's in the doorway of a room that looks suspiciously like the Pearl station, with an array of 50s-60s era black and white monitors watching various parts of this station. "You never brought me soup," he says, which leads us more and more to the conclusion that Ben and Juliet were somehow involved at some point.
A new "other", Colleen arrives and tells Ben about the sailboat. His reaction is one of surprise. Which means they didn't know about it before. How could they not know about it? The boat sat in that harbor by the lava floes for how long? The only way would be that they didn't leave the comfort of their side of the island until the plane crash, or at least stayed away from that part of the island. Why? Were they under the same impression that the "disease" was still present? Did they just not know where the Swan was? And obviously, it shows that Kelvin wasn't one of them, at least not in contact with them.
Anyway, Ben sends Colleen out after the boat.
We don't see Jack again until the end of the show, when Ben comes to talk to him. They exchange the usual pleasantries, and Ben reveals his full name to be Benjamin Linus(?). Not sure if that last name has any significance yet or not. He also says he's been there his entire life, which would put the "others" as having been there at least 30-40 years. More interesting. That time frame would seem to line up with the appearance of the equipment in the Hydra and the Pearl, although the gear in the Swan appeared to be a mix of '70s-ish-'80s-ish to present, and they've at least gotten updates to their homes since the mid '80s, what with the CD players, Talking Heads CDs, Steven King novels and all.
He tells Jack that if he cooperates, he'll "send him back home." Now what exactly "cooperation" entails wasn't revealed, but he tells Jack about events in the states that have occurred since the crash. Jack of course does not believe him. (Nice bit with the BoSox there.) Curiously at one point he begins to tell Jack to change his attitude, but switches words. It comes out "You need to change your at...perspective." Curiouser and curiouser.
He's got something in his pocket, which we find out is a remote control for a television set. He shows Jack the final bit of the world series footage, and Jack is visibly stunned. He reiterates, although a bit differently, that "I'll take you home."
Interesting choice of words. Does that mean that Ben would (and *can*) leave the island if he wanted to? Why would he not want to? The plot thickens.
We leave Ben in the TV-room watching and listening to Sawyer talk about how he's going to move on them. Will he squash that plot before it happens, or will he let it happen?
Sayid, Sun, and Jin
We finally get away from the others and come back to Sayid, Jin, and Sun on the boat. Sayid realize that the four have been captured, and decides they need to go rescue them. He tells Sun, but wants to leave Jin out of the loop. (We'll get back to this later). Of course this doesn't sit well, but Jin accepts it (seemingly) and they discover the dock where we saw the others, and where Michael left from.
Sayid sets a trap for the others by lighting a fire at the dock, hoping Jin won't realize what's going on. Well, he does, and demands a gun. To Sayid's surprise (but not ours) he's done this sort of thing before. Sun goes back to the boat to (errantly!) stay out of harms way.
But the others steer clear of the dock and head straight for the boat. Colleen confronts Sun (with gun drawn) below decks, and seems to know all about her (how much?). Again the "we're not the enemy" comes out, although with an added "but we will be if you shoot me."
Sun does shoot her (well she said not to come any closer, Colleen! Duh!), and the boat gets taken. Sayid and Jin hear the gunfire and Jin jumps in towards the boat, not realizing that Sun has already jumped ship (did she get shot or not?) They are reunited and at least for the moment live happily ever after.
Early on in this segment of the story we see that Sayid apparently has a map of the island! Where did that come from?! Did they make it? Desmond? What? Did I miss something? It's only shown briefly but it is there.
The Problem With Korean Mafia Boss Dads
Ahh, the flashback. Once again the real purpose of the episodes, to link a conflict or trouble our characters have had in the past to what's going on now. This time is no different.
The episode opens with a young Sun breaking a (assumedly valuable) glass statue of a ballerina, and then lying about it to her father. She refuses to budge from the story, blaming it on the maid, even though her father would have to fire her. Her father knows she's lying, but allows Sun to make the decision.
Flash forward (but not that far) to Sun and her English instructor, Jae, in the rack. He wants her to come to America (assuming -with- him...) and she is still torn between that and life with Jin and her father, the powerful mob boss....
...who happens to show up and catch her in the rack. As expected that doesn't go over too well. In a nice ironic twist he sends Jin after Jae, but doesn't tell him why he's going to kill him, which in mafia language is "deliver the message."
Jin shows up and asks Jae, "Do you know who I am!" Jae does, and thinks Jin is there for personal revenge. With the gun to his head, he apologizes (but not specifically) and instead of getting the message, Jin delivers a slightly different one. Leave the country and don't return. Now, why did Jin suddenly have a change of heart? Could be he's just not the cold-blooded bastard that Sun's father hired him to be?
Jin leaves, and as he gets in his car, Jae falls from the building right onto his windshield, with the pearls he wanted to give Sun in his hand. Did he jump? Was he pushed by someone else? Will we ever know? Does it matter?
More importantly, did Jin know the reason he was there? Is that why he spared Jin's life?
At Jae's funeral, Sun is told by her father that she must be the one to tell Jin the truth about the situation.
Now, tie this back into the story at the dock. Once again, Sun lies to Jin, regardless of the consequences, yet Jin still figures out what's going on. More importantly, it presents a problem. Is Sun's baby Jin's or Jae's? Is she still lying to him? Does he know? What other secrets is she still hiding that Jin (and us) don't know about?
Conculsions
So, we get a glimpse into Sun's dishonesty towards Jin. But more importantly we're given a few more clues and questions about the Others.
Next time it looks like we (finally!) get back to the hatch! That's the part I'm more interested in, the dynamic between Locke and Eko, and now Desmond. Apparently Hurley makes it back.
Til next time!
Technorati Tags: lost, abc, television, tv, reviews, spoilers, hydra, sayid, sailboat, jin, sun, jack, kate, sawyer, ben, juliet
The Chain Gang
So we go back to Kate and Sawyer in the cages, apparently it's the following morning. Zeke/Tom/Mr. Friendly gets them out and hauls them off to a construction site. It looks like they are making a level clearing of some sort.
It's the usual "work or get shocked" business for these two. Although Sawyer seems to be fighting an internal conflict between the usual defiant tough-guy persona and the considerate gentleman that's somewhere in there. (The "um, how dare you!" bit.)
Whatever they are building, they've got a set of proper plans for it, although you couldn't see what was on them.
While Kate is digging out the rocks, who should appear behind the bushes but Rousseau's daughter, Alex! She once again appears to be on their side, and asks what happened to Carl. Kate of course never saw Carl, but its interesting that Alex and him seem to have ties. Maybe he's another kid from Rousseau's bunch? Before we learn much else (other than Kate's new dress was once Alex's) she is gone.
The unusually compassionate Juliet hands Sawyer a canteen, which he defiantly empties onto the ground, only to look at an obviously worn-out Kate and realize he should have given it to her. So in a Sawyer-like moment he grabs her and kisses her, only to get into it with the "other" guys, who seem to be fairly well trained in the Jedi arts. He grabs their AK only to realize that Juliet's got Kate on the business end of a .45. Would Juliet really shoot Kate? Sawyer seems to think so, as they're led back to their cages for the night.
Jack and the Ben-stalk
Meanwhile, back in the hatch (you knew that was coming!) Juliet brings Jack a bowl of soup and some water. He's obviously still broken and seems to be reeling from it.
As Juliet is leaving "the tank", she runs into Ben. He's in the doorway of a room that looks suspiciously like the Pearl station, with an array of 50s-60s era black and white monitors watching various parts of this station. "You never brought me soup," he says, which leads us more and more to the conclusion that Ben and Juliet were somehow involved at some point.
A new "other", Colleen arrives and tells Ben about the sailboat. His reaction is one of surprise. Which means they didn't know about it before. How could they not know about it? The boat sat in that harbor by the lava floes for how long? The only way would be that they didn't leave the comfort of their side of the island until the plane crash, or at least stayed away from that part of the island. Why? Were they under the same impression that the "disease" was still present? Did they just not know where the Swan was? And obviously, it shows that Kelvin wasn't one of them, at least not in contact with them.
Anyway, Ben sends Colleen out after the boat.
We don't see Jack again until the end of the show, when Ben comes to talk to him. They exchange the usual pleasantries, and Ben reveals his full name to be Benjamin Linus(?). Not sure if that last name has any significance yet or not. He also says he's been there his entire life, which would put the "others" as having been there at least 30-40 years. More interesting. That time frame would seem to line up with the appearance of the equipment in the Hydra and the Pearl, although the gear in the Swan appeared to be a mix of '70s-ish-'80s-ish to present, and they've at least gotten updates to their homes since the mid '80s, what with the CD players, Talking Heads CDs, Steven King novels and all.
He tells Jack that if he cooperates, he'll "send him back home." Now what exactly "cooperation" entails wasn't revealed, but he tells Jack about events in the states that have occurred since the crash. Jack of course does not believe him. (Nice bit with the BoSox there.) Curiously at one point he begins to tell Jack to change his attitude, but switches words. It comes out "You need to change your at...perspective." Curiouser and curiouser.
He's got something in his pocket, which we find out is a remote control for a television set. He shows Jack the final bit of the world series footage, and Jack is visibly stunned. He reiterates, although a bit differently, that "I'll take you home."
Interesting choice of words. Does that mean that Ben would (and *can*) leave the island if he wanted to? Why would he not want to? The plot thickens.
We leave Ben in the TV-room watching and listening to Sawyer talk about how he's going to move on them. Will he squash that plot before it happens, or will he let it happen?
Sayid, Sun, and Jin
We finally get away from the others and come back to Sayid, Jin, and Sun on the boat. Sayid realize that the four have been captured, and decides they need to go rescue them. He tells Sun, but wants to leave Jin out of the loop. (We'll get back to this later). Of course this doesn't sit well, but Jin accepts it (seemingly) and they discover the dock where we saw the others, and where Michael left from.
Sayid sets a trap for the others by lighting a fire at the dock, hoping Jin won't realize what's going on. Well, he does, and demands a gun. To Sayid's surprise (but not ours) he's done this sort of thing before. Sun goes back to the boat to (errantly!) stay out of harms way.
But the others steer clear of the dock and head straight for the boat. Colleen confronts Sun (with gun drawn) below decks, and seems to know all about her (how much?). Again the "we're not the enemy" comes out, although with an added "but we will be if you shoot me."
Sun does shoot her (well she said not to come any closer, Colleen! Duh!), and the boat gets taken. Sayid and Jin hear the gunfire and Jin jumps in towards the boat, not realizing that Sun has already jumped ship (did she get shot or not?) They are reunited and at least for the moment live happily ever after.
Early on in this segment of the story we see that Sayid apparently has a map of the island! Where did that come from?! Did they make it? Desmond? What? Did I miss something? It's only shown briefly but it is there.
The Problem With Korean Mafia Boss Dads
Ahh, the flashback. Once again the real purpose of the episodes, to link a conflict or trouble our characters have had in the past to what's going on now. This time is no different.
The episode opens with a young Sun breaking a (assumedly valuable) glass statue of a ballerina, and then lying about it to her father. She refuses to budge from the story, blaming it on the maid, even though her father would have to fire her. Her father knows she's lying, but allows Sun to make the decision.
Flash forward (but not that far) to Sun and her English instructor, Jae, in the rack. He wants her to come to America (assuming -with- him...) and she is still torn between that and life with Jin and her father, the powerful mob boss....
...who happens to show up and catch her in the rack. As expected that doesn't go over too well. In a nice ironic twist he sends Jin after Jae, but doesn't tell him why he's going to kill him, which in mafia language is "deliver the message."
Jin shows up and asks Jae, "Do you know who I am!" Jae does, and thinks Jin is there for personal revenge. With the gun to his head, he apologizes (but not specifically) and instead of getting the message, Jin delivers a slightly different one. Leave the country and don't return. Now, why did Jin suddenly have a change of heart? Could be he's just not the cold-blooded bastard that Sun's father hired him to be?
Jin leaves, and as he gets in his car, Jae falls from the building right onto his windshield, with the pearls he wanted to give Sun in his hand. Did he jump? Was he pushed by someone else? Will we ever know? Does it matter?
More importantly, did Jin know the reason he was there? Is that why he spared Jin's life?
At Jae's funeral, Sun is told by her father that she must be the one to tell Jin the truth about the situation.
Now, tie this back into the story at the dock. Once again, Sun lies to Jin, regardless of the consequences, yet Jin still figures out what's going on. More importantly, it presents a problem. Is Sun's baby Jin's or Jae's? Is she still lying to him? Does he know? What other secrets is she still hiding that Jin (and us) don't know about?
Conculsions
So, we get a glimpse into Sun's dishonesty towards Jin. But more importantly we're given a few more clues and questions about the Others.
- Whats the purpose of the Pearl-like room in the Hydra?
- Any significance to Ben's last name, Linus?
- The others have been there at least 30-40 years. (rough age of Ben)
- They have ties to the outside world, and can apparently leave if they choose?
- They know details about at least more of the castaways, as Colleen knew Sun's last name. Wonder if the truth about Sun will come out through them?
- Again its said that the others are "the good guys"...
- Why would a shark-tank need diamond-plate steel (aluminum?) 1/2 way up the walls? Just looks cool?
- Exactly how involved were Ben and Juliet, and how will Jack figure into that?
- Now that the others have the boat, what will come of that. Is that how Ben will take Jack home? Maybe they couldn't leave before, but now that they have the boat, maybe they really want to?
- What are they building out there?
- How are Carl and Alex related, what's he to her?
- Where did Sayid get a map of the island?
- Will Sayid and co. find anything interesting on their hike back to camp?
Next time it looks like we (finally!) get back to the hatch! That's the part I'm more interested in, the dynamic between Locke and Eko, and now Desmond. Apparently Hurley makes it back.
Til next time!
Technorati Tags: lost, abc, television, tv, reviews, spoilers, hydra, sayid, sailboat, jin, sun, jack, kate, sawyer, ben, juliet
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The PlanetLOST Survival Guide
If you're interested, here are links to the PlanetLOST summary/reviews of the first six episodes of this season. Just to get yourself "back in the groove" and up-to-speed on what is going on....LOST: A Tale of Two Cities [SPOILERS]LOST: The Glass Ba
If you're interested, here are links to the PlanetLOST summary/reviews of the first six episodes of this season. Just to get yourself "back in the groove" and up-to-speed on what is going on....LOST: A Tale of Two Cities [SPOILERS]LOST: The Glass Ba
Weblog: Planet LOST
Tracked: Feb 07, 11:07
Tracked: Feb 07, 11:07
The PlanetLOST Season Three Recaps
Now that the fun is over (for a while it seems!) Here's a quick reference to the season three recaps and analysis threads.... Man, some of these feel like soooo long ago!A Tale of Two CitiesThe Glass BallerinaFurther InstructionsEvery Man for Himsel
Now that the fun is over (for a while it seems!) Here's a quick reference to the season three recaps and analysis threads.... Man, some of these feel like soooo long ago!A Tale of Two CitiesThe Glass BallerinaFurther InstructionsEvery Man for Himsel
Weblog: Planet LOST
Tracked: May 30, 20:10
Tracked: May 30, 20:10
"In the rack" sounds like an instrument of torture. When people are in bed together, one usually says, "in the sack".
It does have a striking similarity to what was said to Trinity when she first brought food to Neo. Maybe there is a reference there. Is Jack the 'chosen one.'
In the meantime, I hear that ABC will be placing LOST on "hiatus" for 13 weeks -- probably from mid-November (or thereabouts) through to February (obviously in time for the "sweeps"). The thinking behind this move is that, come the second-half of the season, there'll be no repeated episodes as the season progresses to its finale. The problem, unfortunately, in my opinion -- and already there were 5+ million LESS viewers for this season's premier than last season's -- is that only the absolute die-hards will continue to hang-on for dear life to this show, while a majority of increasingly disenchanted viewers will simply abandon/give-up on this initially very, very interesting series. This is a hairbrained, cockamamie solution, especially for the already-frustrated.
(To be honest, it's not a wonder why LOST was shut-out of the Emmy's last season -- not that the Emmy's have any REAL validity with its predictable outcomes; but, still, it DID win best dramatic series in its first season! -- since the level of its second-season storyline was nowhere near the level of the first season. After two episodes, thus far, this (new) third season, the premise to LOST is now entering into the realm of the "mundane" -- the "supernatural" element which began the series, is now simply the result of "others" who are, more or less (on the outset), just "regular folks" (but with a higher degree of "survival" and "menace" instincts). No doubt the writers of the show must see this direction. Once was eerie and suspenseful, have now merely progressed into implausibility...!
But, again, this is simply one man's opinion -- mine.
I do hope things pick up.... I do hope that a 2-1/2 month hiatus doesn't simply throw this series into something "short-term." Being born and raised in Hawaii, I was always one to feel that there was only so many times one could go around the island before the sense of wonder diminished.... It's called getting "island happy"....
'til the next time.....