What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate

Even though last week’s episode was Lost’s season premiere, it only dealt with essentially a third of last season’s cliffhanger finales. We had Jack, Kate and Sawyer’s capture by the Others, Sayid, Sun and Jin waiting on the boat and Desmond Eko and Locke in the now blown to smithereens hatch. Technically this weeks is like part two of a three part season opener. Lost is nothing if not methodical.

The Locke, Desmond and Eko cliffhanger is more exciting, and ABC originally planned to air that episode second, but they decided at the last minute to switch it out with this one, following the story of Jin, Sun and Sayid. God forbid they should give us what we want too soon. Let’s just say if Lost was a girl, you’d have to date her 3 months before you could get to second base and even then it would be all above the bra. But you keep coming back because dammit, you put in the effort and you figure you’re bound to score eventually. But then nothing happens and you wonder if you ever should have broken up with Desperate Housewives. Sure she’s annoying and not that good looking, but man is she a slut. OK, this metaphor is getting a little awkward, on to the recap…
The show opens with an image of a beautiful glass ballerina. The kind of beauty you can only get from participating Hallmark stores, but only while supplies last. The ballerina crashes to the floor. We pull back and see a small Asian girl standing over it. She runs into the other room and starts to practice her piano. Soon her father enters the room and we hear him call her Sun. He asks her if she broke the ballerina. She denies it and blames it on the maid. When her father then says if that’s true then he will fire her, Sun again blames it on the maid. Then the father says “Very well” and walks off. Arguments over who broke a glass ballerina statue. Not the kind of thing you’d expect to see in the Godfather. These Korean gangsters are kinda fruity. When Scarface says “Say hello to my little friend!” you expect him to whip out a gun, not a keepsake ornament.

From there we cut to the island. Or the boat that is located just off the island to be exact. Sun is washing her face in the bathroom, or whatever nautical term they call the bathroom (galley? Head?). There is a knock on the door and Jin comes inside. She tells him that she has morning sickness. Out on the poopdeck (OK, so maybe its not the actual poopdeck, but there’s no way I’m gonna pass up a chance to type the word poop in any form) Jin has Sun tell Sayid that they need to leave. Its been over a day since Jack, Kate and Sawyer left and he doesn’t think they are coming back. Sayid refuses saying he made a promise to them to wait. Jin reverts back to his dickhead mode and demands that they leave, even throwing in one of his patented “I am your husband!” like screaming fits at Sun. This only annoys her and she tells Sayid that she can help sail the boat farther up the coast to light another signal fire. Man, Jin needs to reign in his woman! Maybe Sayid can help him sew a burqa or something. Oh what am I talking about, sewing’s for ladies!

Back with the Others, Juliet is bringing Jack some food to his cell. She’s keeping up the sweet “I’m your friend” routine telling him that she even made the soup herself! At first Jack seems to smile but tehn he realizes she made gazpacho and his revulsion at Juleiet comes right back. When Juliet leaves she goes to talk to Ben who is in another room looking over the prisoners on a bunch of old black and white monitors. “You never made soup for me” he says. Hmm, so was Ben was once a prisoner just like Jack and Juliet “turned” him, or is he referring to their romantic relationship? Interesting. They are then interrupted by the crass but lovable whore Trixie from HBO’s Deadwood, or at least the actress that played her. Now that the shows canceled a girls gotta find work. Alas since this is ABC and not HBO, she will probably remain clothed the entire time and won’t utter the c word even once. I’m gonna miss Deadwood.

She tells Ben they have a “situation”. The Iraqi found the fake village, but what’s more important, they have a sailboat. Ben is shocked at the news. Juliet just says that that means they will waste time sailing in circles (referring to the clue from last season where Desmond said there is no way to sail away from the island, you just end up coming back to it no matter which way you go). But the woman says that that means they could find them in the underwater station. That would be bad. Ben tells her to get a team ready within the hour and also tells her “I want that boat”.

Sawyer meanwhile is in his cell getting some fish biscuits for breakfast when the Others show up. They take both he and Kate out of their cells. One of them gives Sawyer some food saying he’ll need to keep his strength up. As they are being led away the Other named Colleen comes out to talk to one of the lead Others. After they talk for a few moments he kisses her and then goes back to Jack and Sawyer. Other love. How sweet.

On the boat Sayid is loading his rifle. Man it’s been a long summer without seeing Sayid loading some form of weaponry. Sun goes over to Jin and apologizes for disagreeing with him in front of Sayid. Jin snaps back that she shouldn’t have disagreed with him at all. Wow. Korea is one f*cked up country. When Jin asks why she came on this trip she says she did it because she wanted to be with him. You see, back in the camp people actually treat her like a human being. Only Jin can give her the real insulting chauvinistic dismissals that she craves.

Cut to flashback and we see a grownup Sun in bed with Jae Lee, her English instructor from last season’s flashbacks. He tells her he wants to run away with her tom America so they can be together. Sun just lays there with a guilty look on her face. Then there is a knock on the door. It’s Suns mob boss father catching them en flagrante. Normally you would think this means Jae lee will be whacked soon, but this is a mob boss that gets teary eyed when you break his glass ornaments, so you can’t really be sure.

Back on the island Sawyer and Kate are being led to what looks like a forced labor camp. The Other tells them that they are to move around a bunch of rocks for no apparent reason. If they try to leave, or slack off in any way he will shock them. When Kate asks if she has to work in her dress the Other looks at her and says “That’s up to you, you can take it off if you like”. When Sawyer hears this he smiles since its kind of a Sawyery thing to say, but when he sees the pissed off look on Kate’s face he turns to the Other and says “How dare you!” Kate continues to be uppity with the boss man telling him that she wont do anything until she sees Jack, The Other responds by shocking Sawyer to the ground and walking away. This is also the 14,543rd time in this show were an obvious question is not asked. Things like “Why are you on this island? What the heck is going on? Why do you need a bunch of rocks crushed? Why don’t you just leave the island?” Ah well, Lost is as Lost does.

Back in the flashback Jin is meeting with the figurine loving mob boss, who is also Suns dad. He says they have a problem and shows him pictures of Jae lee. He tells Sun that this man has been “stealing” from him. Sun asks him what he has stolen. The mob boss exclaims “the last To my Pur-fect Friend” Calico Kitten figurine in all of Korea! Jin says he will give him a warning but Suns father says that that is not enough. He demands that he be taken care of, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Sun won’t kill him so he quits on the spot. Mob dad then pulls the family card saying his shame is Suns shame. He also adds that he’s rubber and Jin’s glue, so whatever he says bounces of him and sticks to Jin. Hearing this,J in reluctantly agrees to the assignment.

“I yam what I yam!”

Back on the sailboat Sayid spots the dock from the season finale. Jin says “Others” but Sayid tells them that that the dock is decayed and overgrown and he doesn’t think anyone has used it in years. Whoever built it isn’t around anymore. Sayid wants to bring the boat in and tie it to the dock so they can light another signal fire for Jack.

Back in the forced labor camp Sawyer stops a moment to take in the view of Kate’s caboose as she pounds the rocks. The Other foreman, who is standing next to Juliet sees this and screams at him to get to work. As Kate is chopping rocks she hears someone call to her form the woods. It’s Alex, the Other from last season who helped Claire and who we all suspect is the French woman’s daughter. She asks Kate if she saw a guy named Carl in the cages with them. She says no (Since Carl was taken away before she got there). When Kate asks her who she is she just asks her where she got he dress. When Kate tells her they made her wear it, She says it sued to be hers. Before Kate can ask her anything else Sawyer walks up behind them and Alex disappears. “Quit staring at my ass” Kate says to him.

Baby (sorta) got back

On the beach by the docks Sayid, Jun and Jin are building the signal fire. Only Sun doesn’t believe it’s a signal fire. She confronts Sayid who admits that he was lying about the fire and about the dock being abandoned. He saw fresh tracks on it when they got off. He’s fairly certain that Jack, Sawyer and Kate have been abducted. He is really building the signal fire to lure the Others out there where he will capture two of them and kill the rest. “Why two?” says Sun. “To make the other one cooperate”. Damn. I love me some Sayid. OK, pop question hotshot. Sayid and Jack Bauer in a room with nothing but some electrical tape and ice cube trays. Who comes out alive? (Easy, Sayid in a heartbeat. Jack Bauers all “reluctant” to torture people) Sayid tells Sun that she has to lie to Jin for just another twenty minutes. Because once the fire is lit it will be too late for them to go back. Sun looks over at Jin with a guilty look on her face. She does that a lot.

In the flashback we see Jin coming home after a long day at mob work. Extortion this, kickback that. His feet are killing him. As they both sit down to dinner Jin asks her how her day was. She is trembling with fear since she thinks her father has told her that she has surrendered the pink to another man. Jin then tells her that her dad told her to send someone “a message”. Sun sees how troubled he is ad says that they should run off together far away from her father. Jin explodes at her saying everything that he is doing he is doing for her. He then storms out of the apartment. When she asks him where he is going, he simply says “to deliver the message”.

Back on the beach Jin goes up to Sayid and asks for the gun. He has figured out their plan telling Sun that he understands English better than she thinks he does. Sayid hands him a gun and when he starts to ask him if he knows how to handle it, Jin just checks the clip and cocks the gun in one smooth motion. Sayid then turns to Sun and tells her to go into the boat where it is safe. He also warns her that if they get past them, there is a gun underneath the blue tarp. Sun says if they get past them her husband is dead and she won’t care either way. Her life is nothing without someone to tell her what to do.

Back in the labor camp Juliet sees Sawyer struggling in the hot sun and throws him some water as a gesture. He doesn’t buy into her BS and pours the water out. Then he looks over at Kate and decides to make his move. He walks up and kisses her. When the boss Other sees this he runs over and rams the rifle but into the back of his head, but Sawyer responds by turning around and dropping him with a few punches. As the Others descend Sawyer manages to fight off a few more and grab hold of the rifle on the ground. Now that’s what I’m talking about! Finally someone is fighting back against these filthy Others. Unfortunately Kate, as usual, stands there like wet lump and Juliet gets the drop on her, points a gun at her head and forces Sawyer, who she calls James, to drop the rifle. Goddamit Kate, can you do ANYTHING right? You pulled the same crap last season following Jack and Locke to drop-off point. You are the most useless dangerous fugitive EVER.

Gee, don’t you think now would be a good time for the other prisoners right behind her to, you know, help?

That night Sayid are hiding in trees in the jungle with Jin planning their trap. In the boat Jun is lighting the stove and trying to make some dinner when she hears something above deck. Cut to above deck and we see a group of armed Others boarding the boat. Since these are the Others from the underwater laboratory they must have gotten to the boat by coming form the ocean, so Sayid and Jin never saw them coming. Or they just really suck at stakeouts.

In the flashback Jin is showing up at the hotel to deliver the message, he gets the drop on Jae lee and starts beating him mercilessly. Which make you wonder, if a powerful mob boss obsessed with honor catches you in bed with his married daughter, wouldn’t you, I don’t know, leave the country immediately knowing that you’re a dead man walking? It’s the main reason I can never set foot in Canada anymore. This Jae Lee guy ain’t too bright. After Jin beats on him for a while, he pulls out a gun and sticks it up against his head. As he is about to pull the trigger he backs out at the last second and tells Jae Lee to leave the country immediately and never come back. And if he tells anyone he will kill him. Like I said, Korean gangsters are big sissy babies. When Jin goes down to his car, which since he is such a pansy ass I can only assume is a Jetta, he is interrupted by Jae Lee who lands on his car hood dead, thrown from the roof with a noose tied around his neck. In his hand are the pearls that he gave Sun at the beginning of the episode. Eh, still wussies. If this was a Scorsese movie they’d have stuck his head in a vice until his eyes popped out.

On the boat Sun is frantically looking for the gun. She finds it and holds it up waiting for the Others to come below deck. One of them does. It is Colleen from before. Sun surprises her and holds her at gunpoint. “Let me off this boat” she says. Colleen just looks at her calmly and says “I can’t do that.” When she takes a step forward Sun holds the gun up and tells her to stop or she’ll shoot. “No you won’t Sun. I know you Sun Kwon and I know you’re not a killer. ” says Colleen to Suns amazement. “But despite what you may think we’re not enemies. But if you shoot me, that’s what we’ll become.” Then Sun hears the engine being started up and the gun goes off. Colleen looks down and sees she got shot right in the gut and drops to the floor. Nice. Finally we are starting a body count. Enough of this “No, really were the good guys, we’re you’re friends, you’re just confused” crap from the Others. They are evil kidnapping torturers and must be dealt with Sayid style. It’s good to know at least one person in the Kwon family still has some stones.

After she shoots Colleen in her filthy Other guts, the rest of the Others return fire. Sayid and Jin hear this from the jungle and race out to the boat. Sun frantically races back below deck and tries to open a top hatch to escape from the boat. She just barely makes it overboard while the others rain bullets down upon her. But they are friendly happy bullets, because the Others you see, are the good guys!

Jin races to the end of the dock towards the boat which is pulling away and dives into the water. He swims around screaming something in Korean. I am assuming it is the Korean word for “Marco” because soon he hears Sun utter what I also assume is the Korean word for “Polo” and they both embrace in the water.

From here they cut right to the flashback. Sun is at the funeral of Jae Lee crying in the background when her father comes up behind her and surprises her. When she asks what he is doing there he says that he des business with his father. “I’m told he jumped from a balcony” her father says. “He must have felt great shame.” Before she leaves she asks her father if he will tell Jin about what happened. He tells her that it is not his place to say anything. Back on the island, Jin is giving Sun a blanket for warmth as they sit on the beach. Sayid apologizes for dragging them into this, and they start to walk back to camp.

On the Other part of the island, Kate and Sawyer are back in their cells after a hard days work. “What the hell we’re you thinking?” Kate says (Ummm, Kate? Sawyers not the one who sat there like a wet lump. He actually tried to escape). Sawyer then explains to her what he learned from his little encounter with the guards. “Two of those guards got some real fight in ‘em. The rest of them I’m not worried about. The heavyset guy packs a hell of a punch. Shaggy haired kid got some sort of martial arts training but I think I can take him if I had to. And FYI, that zapper things got a safety on it.” Then he tells Kate that the woman, Juliet, who had the gun pointed at her, would have killed her without a problem. “Why’d she call you James?” Kate asks. “Because that’s my name.’ Sawyers says. After that we cut to inside the underwater station and see Ben in front aof a series of monitors watching and listening to Sawyers entire conversation.

Ben then goes in to talk to Jack, sitting in the corner in his cell. He jokes about how just a week ago the tables were turned. He ties to make excuses as to whyhe lied to them before about who he is. If he told them he was an Other, they would have sent him to sayids fists. “What do you want from me?” jack asks weakly. “I want you to change your… perspective.” Ben tells him. Then he says he wants to introduce himself to him honestly. “Hi. My name is Benjanim Linus and I’ve lived on this island all my life.” All his life? Is he lying? Have the Others been here that long? Are they kidnapping them to help keep their mini civilization going? Who knows. Maybe we’ll never know.

When Jack won’t shake his hand Ben gets up and says “Bring it in please” to someone from outside who brings in a television set. Ben then turns to Jack and says “If you cooperate, we’ll send you home.” “Cooperate with what?” Jack says. “When the time is right we’ll tell you.” Ben answers.

Jack doesn’t believe him. “Home? Is that were you sent Walt and Michael?” He asks incredulously. Then, finally he asks the question I have been asking since the Others first made an appearance on this show years ago. “If you could leave this island why would you still be here?” THANK YOU! Hallelujah someone finally said it. Ben just looks at him and says “Yes Jack, why would we still be here?” Sigh, I suppose I didn’t actually expect a straight forward answer, but it still feels good knowing someone at least asked it. And now we get to the “wow” moment of this otherwise slow paced episode. Jack says he’s lying so Ben then proves that he isn’t, in a most dramatic way.

“You’re flight crashed on September 22nd, 2004. Today is November 29th that means you have been on our island for 69 days and yes we do have contact with the outside world Jack. It’s how we know during those 69 days you’re fellow Americans re-elected George W. Bush, Christopher Reeve has passed away. Boston Red Sox won the world series.”

That last one gets a laugh out of Jack. He can’t believe that the Red Sox would ever win the World Series. And as a die hard Red Sox fan myself, I would have easier believed that a mysterious island could have a fart monster that reads my thoughts more than I would have believed the Red Sox won the World Series. But it’s true, they did. And Ben proves it by turning on the TV and showing Jack that last, glorious play at Busch Stadium. Probably one of the happiest moments of my life.

“…back to Foulke… Red Sox fans have longed to hear it! The Boston Red Sox are World Champions! It has been 86 years, generations have come and gone, and for the first time since 1918 the Boston Red Sox are champions of baseball! Uncanning sweep for the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Red Sox celebrate in the middle of the diamond here at Busch Stadium.”

Still gives me chills hearing that to this day. It gives Jack chills to as he watches it, because now he knows that Ben was telling the truth. “That’s home on the other side of that glass Jack.” Ben tells him. “If you do what I tell you when the time comes, I’ll take you there. I’ll take you home.”