Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Lost episode recap – “The Package” S6E10 airdate (03/30/10)

What’s tough about a Sun and Jin episode is all the subtitles: makes recapping tough when I have to make sure to stare at the television the entire time and can’t watch my fingers typing. Well, here goes.

As usual, the DVR has cut off the very beginning and we come in as Not-Locke tells Jin that they have to collect Sun, that everyone on the List (written on the ceiling of Not-Locke’s Oceanside cave) whose name has not yet been crossed off has to leave together. But where is Sun, Jin wants to know. Not-Locke is working on it.

Alterna-2004: Sun is there, waiting, as airport security finally releases Jin. They give him his watch back but not the $25,000 cash. As they walk away, Jin is very upset. He was supposed to deliver the cash with the watch on behalf of Sun’s father. Sun looks bemused. Also, when they check into their hotel, Jin insists on get separate rooms as they are not married! I thought they were, seeing how he made her button her sweater on the plane ride over.

Island. Not-Locke tells Sayid that he has to run an errand and will be back in the morning. Sayid’s like yeah, okay, but I’ve discovered I don’t have any emotions any more and if anything bothered me, that would. Not-Locke tells him that not feeling anything may help him get through what’s coming. After Not-Locke leaves, Jin immediately starts packing. Sawyer wants to know where he’s going – after Sun of course. Duh. Sawyer tries to argue with him but then, suddenly, everyone gets shot with tranquilizer darts. Widmore’s people come out of the underbrush, select Jin and drag him off.

After the commercials, the Losties are still on the beach, chopping papayas, playing cards, cleaning guns. They ask Alana what happens next: she says they’re waiting for Richard to come back. Ben thinks that’s a bad idea and bets that they never see him again. Alana is sure that Hurley will find him and bring him back; Miles: “Unless Alpert’s covered in bacon grease, I don’t think Hurley has any chance of finding him.” Frank: “Hey! Don’t talk about bacon!” Heh.  Alana is insistent that Richard will come back and lead them to victory. And then Sun has had Enough. She plunges a knife into a tree trunk and stomps off.

Jack finds her at her garden, pulling up the dead plants. She doesn’t care if Richard ever comes back and she is skeptical when Jack tells her about the candidates (of whom she may be one) on Jacob’s lighthouse wheel. She doesn’t want to hear about purpose or destiny – she just wants everyone to leave her alone.

Alterna-2004. Jin knocks on Sun’s door and she asks him inside. He’s determined to deliver the watch and she laughs, saying that it’s too late in the evening – his contact won’t be there anymore. He scoffs that all she’s here to do is shop. She stares at him, smolderingly, and unbuttons her sweater. He grabs her. Smoochies! I think they’ve done this before.

Island. Not-Locke startles Sun at her garden. He says that he’s found Jin and he can take her to him right now. He holds out his hand to her. “I don’t believe you,” says Sun, “and you killed those people at the Temple.” He brushes it off, saying those people were confused. He’s asking her to choose to come with him to see her husband. She stares at him and then bolts, running off into the tall grasses. Not-Locke calls her name and chases after her. They run and run, chased and chaser. Not-Locke is about to catch her when she runs straight into a tree, knocking herself to the ground.

Alterna-2004. Sun wakes up. Jin is sitting up in bed next to her. She thinks that maybe they should run away together – she’s got this secret bank account, you see. Jin springs up, wondering if this was her plan all along. She tilts her head to one side: “Do you want to be with me or not?” “Of course,” he says, “I love you.” This tender interlude is interrupted by a knock on the door. Jin hides and Sun answers the door: it’s Martin Keamy, “a friend of [her]father’s.” He pushes his way in, saying that she’s got something for him.

Island. Ben finds Sun, still unconscious. He helps her up, asking what happened. When she answers him, she speaks Korean. Confused, Ben pleads for English: “Who did this to you?” Sun manages: “Locke.” Ben’s eyes bug out.

Back on the other side of the island, Not-Locke’s eyes are bugging out as well when he finds all his people unconscious on the ground. He shakes a woozy Sayid awake, who explains that they were attacked, by whom he does not know. Not-Locke is concerned with just one thing: “Where’s Jin?”

Jin is locked in a big metal room on Hydra Island. It’s the room where the Dharma Initiative did their subliminal message experiments (remember poor Karl forced to stare at those flickering images?). Zoë shows up, calmly tasering Jin when he tries to push past her. She asks for his help in deciphering some old Dharma maps which he worked on back in the 1970s. “You want my help, then I want to talk to Widmore,” says Jin. Zoë says he’s in luck as Widmore wants to talk to him too.

Not-Locke and Sayid gird their loins, ready to take the outrigger over to Hydra Island to get Jin back. Not-Locke notes Claire pouting off to the side and asks her what’s wrong. She says that if her name isn’t on the List, then she doesn’t have to get on the plane as Not-Locke doesn’t need her. Not-Locke says yes, he does need her and there’s plenty of room on the plane for her. She muses that Aaron won’t know who she is when she finally gets back to him, then eyes narrowing as she sees Kate, asks if Austin’s name is on the List. No, not anymore, says Not-Locke, but he still needs Kate so no killing her. Why? Because Not-Locke is “three people shy of getting off this Island” and Kate can help him collect those people. But, he tells Crazy Claire, once Kate has done that, “Whatever happens happens.” Claire smiles to herself like a loon. I am still hopeful that Claire and Kate will end up killing each other in an all-out girl-fight before this show ends.

Sawyer gets in Not-Locke’s face, wanting to know what he and Sayid are doing with all those guns. Not-Locke tells him their plan and Sawyer continues, pointing out that Not-Locke has hitherto been trying to avoid “Charlie Widmore.” Not-Locke: “They took one of our people, James, I’m going to get him back.” Sawyer puts his thinky face on as Not-Locke and Sayid head out. (BTW, Sawyer is continuing to look very fabulous with his shampooed and neatly trimmed hair.)

Alterna-2004. Sun hands Keamy the watch but he’s more interested in the money Jin is supposed to have for him. Sun plays the “no English” card but Keamy’s flunky soon finds Jin hiding in the bathroom. Where’s the damn money? Sun and Jin speak Korean to each other – I think in this reality she really doesn’t speak English – and a frustrated Keamy snaps that he feels like he’s in a Godzilla movie. He sends his flunky off after that “Russian guy who speaks six or seven languages,” hopefully including Korean – looks like Mikhail is going to make an appearance.

Once that crazy Russian gets there, Sun explains to the thugs (through Mikhail as translator) that the money was confiscated at Customs – if Keamy will let them go to the bank, she can get the money. Keamy decides to send Sun and Mikhail to the bank while he takes Jin, as collateral, to the restaurant. When Jin begs Keamy not to tell Sun’s father that they are involved. Keamy’s like, WTF do I care about you two? Just get me the money.

Island. Ben is annoyed that no one believes that he found Sun already unconscious and had nothing to do with it himself. More unbelievable is this: when she hit her head, it knocked her ability to speak English right out of her, although she can understand what the rest of them are saying. When Miles scoffs at this weird form of communication, Frank points out that he’s the guy who can hear the dead, so no pointing fingers. Jack thinks that Sun’s affliction may be temporary aphasia. Richard and Hurley pick right then to come back. “Pack your bags,” says Richard abruptly, “We’re leaving.”

Hydra Island. When Not-Locke steps onto the beach, the pylons that Widmore has set up spark and flare, keeping him on the ocean side. Widmore’s people point guns at Not-Locke and then Widmore comes out to talk to him, first allowing that he knows that it isn’t John Locke he’s talking to. Not-Locke says he wants Jin back and Widmore says he has no idea what Not-Locke is talking about. Not-Locke looks grimly pleasant and remarks: “A wise man said war was coming to this Island – I think it just got here.”

Big Island. Jack wants to know where Richard is taking them. Richard wants to know where Not-Locke is. When they tell him that he’s over on Hydra Island, where the Ajira plane is, Richard explains that since Not-Locke wants to leave the Island, they’ve got to keep him away from that plane. Miles looks at Hurley and snarks that this must be his fault. Hurley: “Yeah, sort of.” Richard wants to destroy the plane, which makes Sun quite angry. She gets right in Richard’s face and launches into a tirade – in Korean, which confuses poor Richard quite a lot – and basically tells him that he cannot destroy the plane which is their only way off the Island, and she’s not going to help him save the world because all she wants to do is get back to Jin. Furious and frustrated, she storms off, leaving the Losties to watch her go. “I don’t think she’s coming,” obviouses Hurley.

Alterna-2004. There is a problem at the bank: Sun’s account has been closed. By her father. This is bad, because Sun thought no one knew about it but her. Meanwhile, at the restaurant, Keamy tapes poor Jin to a chair in the cooler. Since Jin doesn’t understand English, Keamy feels free to exposit what’s going on: Sun’s father knows all about Sun and Jin’s secret affair and the $25,000 that Jin was supposed to deliver to Keamy was payment in exchange for Keamy offing Jin. Then Keamy tapes Jin’s mouth closed and apologizes, “Sorry - some people just weren’t meant to be together.”

Hydra Island. Widmore finds Zoë poring over those maps and snaps at her, “What were you thinking?” She says she’s sorry that she’s rushing the timetable but maybe Widmore should have put a mercenary in charge instead of a geophysicist. Widmore shakes his head – what’s done is done – and tells her to take “the package” from the submarine to the Infirmary. Widmore then apologizes to Jin for what’s been done to him (there’s a lot of apologizing in this episode) and hands him Sun’s camera, which they found on the Ajira plane. There are pictures of Jeon, Sun and Jin’s daughter. She’s wicked cute and Jin cries, looking at the pixels. Widmore interrupts: if Not-Locke gets off the Island, then Jin’s daughter, Widmore’s daughter, everyone’s daughter, will cease to be. “Come,” says Widmore, “It’s time for you to see the package.” “What’s the package?” asks Jin. “It’s not a what,” replies Widmore, “It’s a who.” It better be Desmond, that’s who it better be.

Alterna-2004. Jin hears muffled voices and gunshots through the closed cooler door. He kicks at the door until Alterna-Sayid opens it. With his very limited English, Jin begs for Sayid to free him so Sayid hands him a knife and tells him good luck. Some time later, Mikhail has brought Sun to the restaurant. He pulls his gun when he sees all the bodies on the floor and he’s distracted enough that Jin is able to come up and put a gun to the Russian’s head. They fight, gunshots are fired. Jin finally kills Mikhail – shooting him right through the eye – and then turns to Sun. She’s on the floor, gasping, bleeding from a wild gunshot to the belly. As he picks her up, she cries, “I’m pregnant!”

Island. Sun sits alone, staring out at the ocean. Jack joins her. He’s brought her a pen and a notepad to see if she can still write English. She can. She is grateful. Jack asks what Not-Locke said to her – that he has Jin – and why she didn’t go with him – she doesn’t trust Not-Locke. Jack asks if she trusts him, and if she does, if she’ll come with him, he promises to bring Jin to her and get them both off this Island. She takes his hand.

On the other side of the Island, Sawyer checks in with Kate. They’re both worried about all the machinations that are going on, although Sawyer is hopeful that Widmore perhaps blew Not-Locke to little bitty bits over there on Hydra Island … then their hopes are dashed when Not-Locke walks back into their camp, alone. He tells them, in not so many words, that Sayid has been left behind over at Hydra to find out what it is that Widmore is hiding.

Cut to Sayid, silently swimming up to the submarine as Zoë and a red shirt struggle to pull “the package” onto the dock. They lose their grip and the man falls, head dangling over the edge, inches from Sayid’s face. It’s my darling Desmond, of course, drugged and befuddled enough to not give Sayid’s presence away. Widmore’s people pick Desmond up and march him off, and Sayid treads water thoughtfully, watching them go.

YAY DESMOND!

Previously on Lost / next time on Lost

2 comments:

  1. Let's see...Another pretty straight forward episode. They, by necessity, are going to have to have these episodes. They can't break open massive amounts of mythology in every episode.
    Three things struck me as intriguing/puzzling:
    1. Sayid doesn't feel any emotions anymore. Is the MiB causing this to happen via the infection to accomplish his purposes? Sayid tends to do the right thing when he is sad or happy or regretful. When he has a mission he tends to become numbly subservient to a goal's accomplishment.
    2. The MiB didn't just take Sun after she knocked herself out. He can't take people against their will? Or, maybe he can't take candidates against their will...or, maybe the MiB's existance is largely in the island's inhabitants' heads...? NotLocke's appearance...did he appear, in part, due to Sun's confusion or doubt or fear?
    3. I've never quite grasped the importance of Desmond. Sure, he's played some important roles, but there seems to be some sort of gravity around him. Somehow Widmore knows that Desmond is important. I, personally, have no clue. It has something to do with magnetism and flashbacks...or not, I don't know.
    ~Carl

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  2. I find it interesting that we're learning Not-Locke's/MiB's/Esau's limitations: can't change to smoke form and waft across to the other island, can't take people against their will (not just Sun/candidates but he also gave the Temple inhabitants a choice - and only once some chose against him did he wreak havoc) ... wonder what else there might be.

    The infection definitely doesn't affect Claire the way it does Sayid: she feels emotions in a big way.

    The most important thing, to me, about Desmond is that he's so dang pretty. Yes, I'm shallow.

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