March 30, 2010: Lost Recap - "The Package"

When I saw last week's preview that this was a Sun/Jin episode, I wasn't really looking forward to it. As I've mentioned in some of my previous posts, Sun has become a useless character, and Jin has been irrelevant except as a reason to show gory leg wounds. On top of that, to follow up the absolute magic of "Ab Aeterno" last week (which upon further consideration, may actually be the best episode ever), with a Kwon episode seemed like a letdown.

I was confused by the night vision goggles scene to open the show, but then I realized that we were being told that Widmore's people were watching Flocke's camp. As we switched away from night vision, we saw Flocke talking to Jin, whose leg is healing miraculously well. Flocke came across as helpful, telling Jin about the name "Kwon" on the cave wall, but that he was unclear on whether it meant Jin or Sun.

He then went on to say that all of the people on that wall had to leave together if they were going to get off the Island. More rules? If it's not stabbing rules for the Magic Dagger, and that Ben and Charles can't kill each other's daughter...now we have more rules?

Back in the Flash Sideways (which I will refer to as "FS" for the rest of this post since I will be flipping back and forth often), Jin and Sun finally were released from customs, minus the $25,000 that Jin had in his bag. As soon as he mentioned that he had a meeting at "the restaurant", I knew we were going to see Keamy again.

(Note: While I attempted to shield my eyes once again from the guest stars, I wasn't fast enough, and saw Andrew Divoff, which told me that we would be seeing Patchy again. Damn...I love a surprise.)

At the hotel checkin counter, Sun made a point of using her maiden name, and then we learned that in this reality, Jin and Sun were NOT married. At this point, I made a conscious decision that the "Kwon" on Jacob's wall meant Jin. Period. It was a purposeful attempt by the writers to tell us this with this scene.

Back on the Island, as Sayid explained to Flocke that he could no longer feel anything, Flocke told him "Maybe that's best Sayid. It'll help you get through what's coming." It pains me to think of the Black Tank Top Of Death turning on his fellow Lostaways and becoming a killing machine for Flocke.

Immediately after this scene, Jin and Sawyer argued about the deal that Sawyer made with Flocke, and Jin yelled "It doesn't matter who you made a deal with!" I thought that Daniel Dae Kim did a great job of channelling The Rock in this scene.

And then we got the return of the darts. Oh how I've missed the darts. It's been so long since we've seen our Lostaways slap their neck as they are impaled with these tiny unconsciousness-inducing darts. THAT'S the answer I want from Damon and Carlton...what the hell is in those darts!?

Miles: "Unless Alpert's covered in bacon grease, I'm not sure Hurley can track anything." Ok...that was pretty funny.

Jack was explaining to Sun about the Lighthouse, but Sun wasn't hearing any of it. She cut Jack off and made a point of saying that she didn't believe (or care) that they were there for any sort of reason or purpose. Jack tried to explain more, which says to me that he apparently has looked out at the ocean long enough and is now ready to play his part. And with 6 episodes left, let me speak for all of us when I say IT'S ABOUT FRACKING TIME!

Flocke found Sun at her garden, and tempted her with the offer of a reunion with Jin. Sun questioned him on his actions at the Temple, and he launched into a very revealing explanation of how they were "confused." He then offered his hand to Sun (as he did to Kate a couple of episodes back) and Sun refused, as Kate did. There is clearly some sort of response/reaction to being touched by Flocke, just as there was with Jacob.
He then made a very clear point of saying to Sun, "I would never make you do anything against your will", explaining that she had a choice. There we are again with the Free Will subtext we've heard about so often. Does Flocke simply kill those who make the choice he doesn't agree with? Sun made her choice by running...into a tree.

In the FS World, Jin intoned that Sun was only accompanying him on this business trip for her father, as a way to work in a shopping trip. We then got a sultry unbuttoning scene from Sun and learned that while they were not married in this Sideways World, they were indeed engaging in a little Korean nookie. Which says to me that Sun just enjoys banging men that she's not married to! (Remember Jae Lee?)

But it's not just the hookup...Jin and Sun are in love (awwwwww), and just before Sun can reveal something to Jin that he "needs to know" (come on, a blind monkey can see this one coming), there is a knock at the door, and it's Keamy.
Keamy made his way into Sun's room in all of his creepy glory...and can I just say how uttery fantastic Kevin Durand has been in his revitalized role as Lost's ultimate bastard? If there were "Bad Guy Oscars", Durand would have one locked up. But I digress...

Back on the Island, Sun woke up from her George of the Jungle impression with a nice bruise on her head, and speaking Korean. I immediately thought that there has to be a connection between the two worlds when she started speaking in Korean, something I have been reluctant to consider until now. And it happened right after Sun looked in the mirror, which has happened to everyone in the FS World. What is the relevance/importance of the mirror? It's not an accident that we saw Jack smashing mirrors in the Lighthouse...mirrors that allowed Jacob to see them all.

Jin woke up to find himself in an enclosed room, which I recognized (hoped?) as Room 23 on Hydra Island. This was confirmed when we saw Jin pull a switch and see a preview trailer of the movie that Karl was being forced to watch. But then in walks Liz Lemon, oops, I mean Zoe, and the way she was presented to Jin--as a sympathetic doctor-type, smiling and holding a folder--it was an obvious parallel to the way that Jack met Juliet. Relevant? Probably not...but maybe...

The scene between Flocke and Claire-sseau was very interesting. Not for the fact that Flocke confirmed that Kate's name was not on the wall, or that he essentially gave Claire the green light to kill Kate once they got everyone together, but for the fact that he said that he still needed to gather 3 people. Ok, so who are the 3 people? Jack and Hugo are obvious, but who is the third? My guess is that it's Frank, to fly the plane.

Sawyer: "What do you need a boat for? Can't you just turn into smoke and fly your ass over the water?"
Flocke: "Do you think if I could do that, I would still be on this Island?"

I mentioned this exchange between Flocke to point out that it appears that Flocke is now locked...as Locke. (Oooh...I like that one. You heard it here first!) By that I mean that he is trapped in that form and can't act as the Smoke Monster as he used to? But what happened at the Temple, then? Ilana mentioned at one point that the longer he stays in that form, that there are effects. Or maybe it just means that he can't travel across water...which would make sense that an island is his "prison."
Ben: "Why won't you believe me?"

Ilana: "Because you're speaking."

Oh snap...Ilana just told him, didn't she? I have to admit, it was a pretty funny line.

Richard Alpert returned to camp, with Hurley in tow, and did you notice how the scene was lit as he walked back into the camp? With the sun shining prominently on his newly re-found cross, he appeared as the saviour to the Lostaways. And now he had a plan.

"Pack your bags. We're leaving", he told them.

But apparently Sun wasn't interested in Richard's plan, as she gave an utterly useless speech on how she just wanted to find Jin and leave, and not save the world. I say it was useless because it made no sense for her to scoff off "saving the world" just so she could find her husband, AND the fact that she was ranting in Korean that NOBODY COULD UNDERSTAND! She tried to play her trump card, saying she was important because of the name Kwon on the wall, but like I said earlier, I am now convinced it is Jin.

The scene on the beach between Flocke and Widmore was tense, and remiscent of the scene between Ben and Widmore in the bedroom a couple of seasons ago. Widmore told Flocke that he knew he was a "combination of myth, ghost stories, and jungle noises in the night." I can't wait to see the climax of these two facing off. Am I really expected to root for one of them?
Flocke (to Widmore): "A wise man once said that war was coming to this Island. I think it just got here."

This is a line that Charles spoke to Locke after Locke turned the Frozen Donkey Wheel and left the Island. So clearly, Flocke is accessing John Locke's memories, if he's quoting things that were said to John Locke.

Back in the FS, Sun travelled to the bank with Mikhail (welcome back!) to find that her father had closed her supposedly secret account. Flash to Keamy in the restaurant with Jin, and after he sends Omar to "go pick up the Arab guy" (how cool was it knowing how THAT was going to end?), we learned some very important information...

Apparently the $25,000 that Jin was carrying was payment for Keamy to kill Jin! How cold-hearted is that, for Mr. Paik to arrange a hit on the guy banging his daughter, and then send the guy himself to pay the hitman? Father of the year.

Keamy's delivery was golden as he explained it all in a tone of voice that gave Jin no idea how evil the plan was. So much so that Jin even said "thank you."

On Hydra Island, we learned that Zoe is a geophysicist, and that their goal all along was to get Jin. They weren't going to move on Flocke's camp yet, but since Jin and his gimpy leg were going to make a run for it, they had to grab him.

Then we heard Widmore say to Zoe, "I need you to get the package from the submarine and take it to the infirmary."

Goosebumps. Serious goosebumps.

Then Charles proceeded to give Jin a digital camera, and showed him pictures of Sun and Ji-Yeon, his daughter who he had never seen. This was a very emotional scene (damn you Michael Giacchino and your perfect musical scores!), but I kept asking myself how Jin, who had last seen the "regular" world in 2004, knew how to operate a digital camera so easily? But aside from this continuity error, Widmore then explained that if Flocke got off the Island, everything in the world as they know it, would "cease to be."

Widmore: "Come with me. I think it's time for you to see The Package."

Jin: "What package?"
Widmore: "It's not a what. It's a who."

At this point, I said (out loud), "I swear to God, if we don't see who it is on this episode, I am going to SNAP!"

Back to the FS, as Sayid finds Jin in the kitchen, I didn't think for a second that Sayid would kill him OR let him go, so I thought that the placement of th razor in his hands and a "good luck" was a nice way to resolve that.

And when Jin and Mikhail were about to face off, I was expecting some serious Jackie Chan-type shit to go down, but it just devolved into a shooting contest where Jin fired out Mikhail's eye (hence Patchy!), and also shot Sun in the process. As he carried a bleeding Sun out of the kitchen, she told him the worst-kept secret in this episode, that she was pregnant.

Jack figured out a good way to circumvent Sun's inability to speak English when he gave her a notebook and told her to write. (more on this in a minute) He then showed her a tomato that he had found in her garden, and told her "That's one stubborn tomato. I guess no one told it it was supposed to die." He's clearly not talking about the tomato.

And with that, Jack offered his hand to Sun, and she took it from him...as a sign of trust...the same gesture she was unable to do with Flocke.

In the final scene, as Sayid observed the sub unloading "the package", I had hoped for weeks that I was about to see Desmond come out of that room...and when I saw him, I let out a loud "YES!"

Damn, this just got awesome.

Two quick things:1) I'm not sure that I buy Sun's Korean speaking as a story device. Doesn't seem to make any sense to me unless they're telling us that there is a connection between the Flash Sideways and Island timelines.

2) I will be in Las Vegas for the next few days, so there will be no Survivor or Amazing Race posts this week. Next week's Lost post will still be done, but not until Wednesday night.

Next week: The Return of Desmond...Brutha!