Showing posts with label Jin Kwon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jin Kwon. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, Season 3, Episode 2, The Glass Ballerina

On-Island Events: 

Others: Jack is still being held in the underwater cell; Juliet delivers soup to him. Ben is visited by Colleen who reports that Sayid found the decoy village and has a boat. Ben tells her to assemble at team to acquire the boat. Sawyer and Kate are made to dig and haul rocks, supervised by Juliet and Colleen's husband, Danny. Sawyer breaks rank to kiss Kate; later he admits to her his name is James. Ben visits Jack and introduces himself as Benjamin Linus; Jack refuses to shake his hand. In an attempt to prove to Jack that he has the power to send him home, Ben shows him a video of the Red Sox winning the world series of 2004.

Survivors: Jin, Sun, and Sayid are on Desmond's boat as they were at the end of the second season; Jin does not want to continue searching for Jack but Sun assures Sayid she knows enough about sailing to help him keep going. Sayid builds a large fire, which he claims is to signal Jack, but Sun suspects otherwise. Soon Jin realizes that Sun has conspired with Sayid to trap the others and that he needs to defend them when they show up. As Sayid and Jin wait on the shore, Sun waits on the boat where she encounters Colleen. Sun shoots Colleen in defense and the others on deck return fire; Sun manages to escape but the others steal Desmond's boat. 

Flashbacks: Young Sun knocks a glass ballerina onto the floor and blames the family maid for it, even knowing this will cause her father to fire the woman. 

Sun is in bed with Jae, the man she was previously matched with (. . . And Found) and who became her English tutor (The Whole Truth). He presents her with a pearl necklace and implores her to come with him to America. Suddenly, Sun's father bursts into the room, seeing them. Later Jin comes home and blames Sun for the terrible things her father makes him do. He storms off to "deliver a message," presumably to one of Mr. Paik's adversaries but it is Jae. Jin is unable to kill him but demands he leave the country; Jae hurls himself off the building and lands on Jin's car.

Greater Meaning: As this episode focuses on Sun and the various ways she has kept the truth hidden in her life, we learn that she is actually quite skilled in looking after her own self-interests. She feared her father enough to allow a maid's dismissal over the glass ballerina lie; she feared both her father and Jin's reaction to the discovery of her affair with Jae yet went ahead with it anyway. Jae ends up being sacrificed just as the maid was. Sun does not suffer any personal consequences and is free to live her unhappy life but as long as she remains in Korea, she will still be under her father's thumb. The fact that she chooses not to save herself but supports Sayid in continuing the hunt for Sawyer, Kate, and Jack suggests that she sees them as more than just co-survivors, she cares enough to risk her life and safety to help them. The stand-off with Colleen is another example of how Sun is more capable than most people have credited; being away from her father has clearly produced some positive changes in her life.

This is a small part of the episode, taking up only the last few minutes, but Ben's interest in Jack is specific and peculiar. All this effort to win Jack's trust is focused on letting him go home, but why? Jack will likely not leave without his friends, which Ben has doing manual labor with rocks, and Ben's discussion with Juliet and Colleen suggests that they do not want to be found by any of the other survivors. So why exactly are they keeping Jack if they have the ability to send him home? Similarly, why did Michael and Walt have to fight so hard to leave? What are the others even doing?

Further Questions: 

1. What is the beef between Juliet and Colleen? 

2. What is the purpose of "the decoy village?" 

3. Is it possible that Jae impregnated Sun before the crash?

4. Will Ben let Jack off the island? 

5. Is Ben obsessed with Juliet?

6. Will Sun and Jin's marriage survive the island?

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, Thoughts on Season 2

Did everyone just forget about being rescued? 

Bernard didn't of course, he tried to build an SOS signal out of rock but was quickly redirected by Rose's reveal in regard to the island's influence on her health. Claire and Aaron seemed to be nicely settled on the beach with a number of fellow survivors to watch out for them; Sun and Jin are preparing for the challenges of parenthood; Eko started to build a church! Jack and Locke, as always, are in different places, but the events of the second season reveal just how wrong they've both been, all along. 

Jack versus Locke versus The Island versus The Others

As Jack is busy doctoring and leading, making decisions for the group, he doesn't often get the chance to actually see the island for what it is (which can't really be defined, anyway), and this is not the case with Locke. Because he's been personally affected in a way that leaves no room for interpretation --- before island: paralyzed, after island: able to walk --- Locke is prepared for the island's mysterious abilities, and seeks them out, even. Of course Locke has never had any interest in being rescued, like Rose, he can appreciate the gift the island has bestowed upon him, but the island doesn't just let him off easy simply because he believes in it, either. Locke is put to the test in this season, being made to earn his gift, earn his knowledge, and his faith in the island. He initially believes that pushing the button inside the hatch was important, but after finding the underground question mark hatch (Pearl Station) he questions everything he's done since landing on the island. 

Locke was invested in the Henry Gale situation, first by colluding with Sayid to interrogate him, then after the lockdown when Henry helped him, and again when Henry claimed the reason he got captured was that he was coming for Locke, "one of the good ones." Whatever Henry's intentions, he seems to be just as invested in Locke, if only for reasons of manipulation or playing him against Jack. After Sayid, Charlie, and Ana Lucia discover the truth about the balloon, it's clear that Henry has been lying about everything, which is further confirmed when Michael kills Ana Lucia and Libby in order to free him. After Jack, Sawyer, Kate, and Hugo are kidnapped, Henry is in charge of it.

Tail Section, Henry's Pretenders, The DI

Early in the season after the thwarted raft launch, Jin meets who he believes to be the others but who are really just survivors from the tail section. Henry's others are revealed to be the group who abducted Claire to the medical station (where Kate found the fake beard and other costumes) and later took Walt off the raft. Why did they take Walt in the first place, and why did they put Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hugo on the list to be taken only to release Hugo from the dock? After Michael asks who they are, Henry replies that they are the "good guys," but Henry's manipulation of Locke, physical assault on Ana Lucia, abduction of children and pack of lies in general seem to indicate the opposite. 

The Dharma Initiative is yet another division of "others," and though Desmond was trained by Inman and not a member himself, he and the orientation videos are the only link we have to this group. The completeness of the Swan Station (kitchen, bathroom, exercise equipment, and food stores) seems an amazing bit of good fortune to just be existing on its own in the middle of the jungle, especially considering the style of the others' clothing and the low quality of the huts where Walt was kept. Henry didn't seem ravenously hungry when they brought him to the hatch and his clothing was traditional for a middle-aged man, confirming as Kate suggested that they were "acting." Why are they taking such trouble to convince the survivors that they live so simply? The discovery of the tail-section at the Arrow station, Claire's stay at the medical station, and the strangeness of Pearl station (notebooks that go no where and a screen showing the man with the eye patch) imply a strong presence throughout the island. 

Magic?

Shannon saw Walt twice after the raft departed; after the others took him, Ms. Klugh asked Michael if Walt had ever appeared somewhere he wasn't supposed to be. Was this phenomenon the island's work or Walt's? During the first season, John Locke took a special interest in Walt, and Michael's relationship with his son though strained at first, became more stable with Locke's help. Brian, Walt's stepfather, claimed there was something "different" about him, but what? If there has always been this special element to Walt, the island seems to have intensified it. It makes sense to assume that the others take all children that come to the island (Rousseau's daughter Alex, Emma and Zach from the tail section, Aaron, in attempting to induce his birth, and now Walt) but did they know about Walt's specialness or was it discovered during the tests they made him do? As far as we know, Walt is the only child that has this magical quality about him. 


Live Together, Die Alone, part 2

Live Together, Die Alone, part 1

Three Minutes

?

Two for the Road

S.O.S.

Dave

Lockdown

The Whole Truth

Maternity Leave

One of Them

The Long Con

Fire + Water

The Hunting Party

The Twenty-Third Psalm

What Kate Did

Collision

The Other 48 Days

Abandoned

. . . and Found

Everybody Hates Hugo

Orientation

Adrift 

Man of Science, Man of Faith 

Friday, April 30, 2021

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, Season 2, Episode 23, Live Together, Die Alone part 1

On-Island Events: Jack, Sawyer, and Sayid swim out to the boat just offshore from their beach. Once aboard gunshots ring out at them from below its galley and they discover Desmond, apparently inebriated, is the shooter. They bring him back to the beach and Desmond explains that he couldn't leave the island. Sayid suggests that he use Desmond's boat to meet Jack and the rest of the group as a surprise attack when they return to the others' camp; Jack agrees. As they make their way through the jungle Kate discovers two others tracking them. A shootout happens and one other is killed. Jack informs the group that Michael has been turned and forces him to confess his betrayal to the group. Michael admits his role everything and apologizes for killing Ana Lucia and Libby. Hugo wants to return but Jack insists they carry on, stating he has a plan.

When Sayid asks Desmond to borrow the boat for a trip northward, Desmond asks if he's headed to see "the hostiles." Desmond refuses to sail Sayid, but Jin has sailing experience and is willing to accompany him. They set out with Sun along the island's coast and are confused when they happen across a four-toed statue of a foot. 

Locke demands that Eko stop pushing the button in the hatch; Eko refuses and pushes Locke out. Later Locke finds Desmond drinking on the beach and shares the contents of the pearl station's orientation video with him. Desmond lures Eko out of the computer room inside the hatch and forces the blast doors down so he and Locke can wait for the countdown to run out. Eko runs to the beach and asks for Charlie's help in getting back into the hatch. 

Flashbacks: A short-haired Desmond receives a collection of possessions, including a Dickens novel (Our Mutual Friend) which he says he'll read just before he dies, at the conclusion of having served time in jail. He is met by a gentleman who presents him with a box full of letters addressed to Penelope Widmore, his daughter. The man attempts to pay Desmond to stay away from Penelope. 

Desmond is in America where he meets Libby, who pays for his coffee and offers up her late husband's boat, The Elizabeth, for Desmond's sailing race around the world. Later, Desmond meets Penelope who asks why he didn't write to her while he was in prison. He shares his plan to win Widmore's race, intending to regain his honor in doing so. Lost in a storm at sea, Desmond falls and is knocked unconscious on the boat. When he awakens, Kelvin Inman, the same man who trained Sayid to be a torturer, is standing before him in a yellow hazardous materials suit in the hatch. Inman shows Desmond the hatch's orientation video and explains the need for him to vaccinate himself.

Greater Meaning: Desmond's flashbacks reference the previously introduced connection with Jack at the stadium but now include connections with Libby and the previously unidentified Kelvin Inman, who was connected directly with Sayid and secondarily with Kate (through Sam Austen). The connections are growing with every new episode, but thus far Desmond is special for having multiple links to survivors. This again seems too important to ignore and must be for a bigger purpose than just coincidence. Obviously Desmond is not just a throwaway character. He's the person with the most knowledge about the hatch and the button, he has a sailboat (although why the boat was unable to carry him away from the island is a mystery and he seems upset about it), and now, he has these connections. We must conclude, like Locke has consistently maintained, there is a reason for this and that ultimately Desmond is important for what lies ahead. The fact that he's entertaining Locke's stop-the-button-pushing idea as a serious one says a lot about what Desmond knows (or suspects) about the island. If they stop pushing the button and nothing happens, they've all been duped, but why? Are the people Claire saw in the medical station the scientists who are conducting the psychological experiments being observed? Are they "pretending" to be scientists just as they are "pretending" to be hillbillies (as Kate stated)? If they stop pushing the button and something happens, it will be clear that Eko's faith was guiding him correctly and that Locke was wrong to doubt himself and his importance on the island. Desmond doesn't seem quite as invested in the right and wrong of it all the way Eko and Locke are, but he is interested and we are heading for a potentially explosive series of events for the season two finale.

The stealing of children from parents remains an ongoing theme in the show's narrative: first Rousseau
(Alex), then Claire (Aaron, by Rousseau then Ethan), and now Michael (Walt). The two young children from the tail section were not with their parents but were also taken. Walt tells Michael the others make him do tests; are they doing experiments on the other children? Alex seems to have joined their cause but chose to free Claire and shows a kindly concern for her, now. This only people able to fully empathize with Michael are Rousseau and Claire as none of the rest of the survivors are parents. Of course everyone continues to look to Jack for answers, but Jack is a doctor, not a father. The reactions of everyone's faces after Michael admits his terrible acts are ones of disgust; they cannot fathom Michael having chosen Walt, his own son, over other community members. This seems significant as Rousseau was unable to reclaim Alex and eventually lost her; Claire was drugged into agreeing to give the others her baby but was saved by Alex, and now Michael, after killing two people and betraying another four, is fighting to get his son back. Will he? 

Further Questions: 

1. What is Jack's plan?

2. What happened to the foot statue?

3. What will happen when the countdown completes and the button isn't pushed? 

4. What is Desmond's role in all this?

5. What happened to Kelvin Inman?

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, Season 2, Episode 16, The Whole Truth

On-Island Events: Sun and Jin argue about safety; Jin overreacts and ruins Sun's garden. Later, Bernard and Rose find Sun feeling unwell and Sun eventually asks Sawyer for a pregnancy test. Locke discloses the Henry Gale situation to Ana Lucia, who meets with Henry in the armory. Ana Lucia suggests Henry draw her a map to the balloon where he crashed onto the island. 

Ana Lucia privately goes to Sayid to ask for his help; Henry indeed drew a map on the back of the Dostoevsky novel Locke gave to him. The two plus Charlie set out to find the balloon. Sun's pregnancy test is positive; she shares the news with Kate and Jack but does not want to tell Jin. 

Sayid, Ana Lucia, and Charlie find the area illustrated in Henry's map but do not find a balloon. Sawyer congratulates Jin on the beach, calling him, "Daddy-O," but Jin does not understand what he means. Jin returns to Sun's ruined garden and mends it. Sun finds him there, the two discuss their relationship, and Sun reveals she is pregnant. Jin, overjoyed to hear the news, decides the baby is a miracle.

Jack allows Henry out of the armory to eat breakfast; he informs Locke and Jack about the map he drew for Ana Lucia. Henry suggests that were he one of the others, his map would lead to an ambush.

Flashbacks: Sun and Jin struggle with infertility and argue about what to do. Sun meets the man she initially went on a match date with for English lessons behind Jin's back. In meeting with a specialist, Sun and Jin learn that their chances at conception are very slim. Jin does not handle the news well and storms out of the doctor's office. Later, Sun confesses to her English tutor that she plans to leave Jin and move to America. Sun runs into her doctor on the street, who tells her it is Jin, not Sun, that has the fertility problem. 

Greater Meaning: Sun and Jin's relationship has suffered its ups and downs, but this episode shows us they still have a long way to go, despite the good news of Sun's pregnancy. In trying to protect Sun from the others, Jin resumes his earlier methods of harsh words, physical aggression, and general dominance, going so far as to ruin Sun's garden when she resists his demands. We are reminded through flashbacks that Jin's need to control and protect stemmed from his violent work for Mr. Paik, but his actions on the island are differently influenced. Jin, after all, is the only person on the island who is not a fluent English-speaker. Sun is the only one who can understand and communicate with him; Jin's own value relies on his relationship with his wife, much as his status back home was tied to his role within Paik's organization. Jin's ability to catch fish and his physical power are useful skills, but Jin is still marginalized within the group by the language divide. Despite this, his new role as a father elevates him somewhat as a survivor and a man: he may not be able to fully communicate, but he successfully impregnated his wife, something he was not able to do before crashing onto the island. The episode's title and Sun's interactions with her English tutor suggest that we still may not be fully aware of everything, at least, not yet.

Further Questions: 

1. Did Sun have an affair with her tutor and lie about it?

2. Will Rousseau/others come for Sun's baby too?

3. Is the baby Jin's? If so, how did his fertility return?

4. Is Henry Gale conning Locke and Jack?

5. Do Sayid, Ana Lucia, and Charlie find the balloon?


Friday, June 5, 2020

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, Season 2, Episode 5, . . . and found

On-Island Events: Sun realizes she's lost her wedding ring and tries to retrace her steps in finding it; she later destroys her garden in frustration. After Kate begins sorting through the messages in the bottle Claire gave to Sun, she finds her ring inside.

The Raft Crew/Tail Section: Michael reassures Jin that he'll be reunited with Sun soon; Ana announces the group will be hiking back to the beach group's camp. Jin impresses Bernard and Ana with his fishing skills while Michael gets to know about the survivors from the tail section; Libby explains the group's "trust issues." As Sawyer learns that the large man who initially snatched them and threw them in the pit is named Mr. Eko, Michael bolts from the group, taking off into the jungle. After Mr. Eko offers to help Jin find Michael, they happen upon a dead body, which Eko identifies as Goodwin. Soon they find Michael's tracks but Eko senses danger; as they hide among bushes a group of dirty, barefoot "others" make their way through the jungle just in front of them, including a child holding a teddy bear. Eventually, Michael emerges from the jungle and demands Jin go back to the others.

Flashbacks: Sun and Jin share flashbacks of before they met during which Sun is set up through a matchmaker and Jin's friend implores him to wear orange in order to meet the woman of his dreams. Jin interviews at a hotel and lands the job despite being belittled for his poverty by his new boss. Jin happens to open the door for Sun and her mother where Sun connects with the man her matchmaker has paired her with but she soon learns this man plans to marry an American woman. When Jin allows a young boy to use the hotel's bathroom against his boss's guidelines, his boss confronts him for it and Jin quits. Later, while crossing a bridge, Jin sees a woman wearing an orange dress, but when he turns around to follow her, he bumps into Sun.

Greater Meaning: While the events in the episode are broad and pretty scattered, the overall theme seems to be Jin's superior moral character and Sun's concern for his well-being. Despite begin shown as a punch-happy control freak in the early episodes of the first season, Jin has shown nothing but bravery and loyalty during the events of the raft and toward Michael and Sawyer. Showing Jin's sympathy for a poor man and his son in the flashbacks suggest that second-season Jin is the true Jin, that he's always been a good man. While Sun doesn't seem to have Rose's level of connection when it comes to the fate of her husband, Sun seems to be rightly concerned about Jin, she just has no way of knowing what the real threat is (she assumes peril by ocean or perhaps sharks, the tail section knows better of course). Beside Ethan, the beach survivors have not seen any "others," but with Eko, Jin got a good look. One has to assume that these others, whoever they are, are able to reach the beach group (as Ethan did with Claire), are still out there, and are still a threat. Whether or not Jin or any of the tail section will still encounter them is a serious concern. Ana Lucia's strict authoritarian manner as leader of the tail section and the frantic way they all carry themselves about the jungle suggests these others are not to be taken lightly.

Further Questions:

1. Will Michael find Walt?
2. Who are the others?
3. Who was Goodwin?
4. Will the two groups of survivors meet?

Monday, May 25, 2020

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, Season 2, episode 3, Orientation

The Raft Crew: Michael, Jin, and Sawyer are taken by a large man among a group of others and flung into a pit in the jungle. Sawyer tries to get information from Jin about the others but Jin explains that he was blindfolded. Sawyer tries to escape the pit but the large man returns and pitches a woman into the pit with them. The woman, named Ana Lucia (who Jack met and spoke to in the airport before the flight), claims to also be from Oceanic flight 815. After she notices Sawyer's gun, she grabs it and signals to the man up above, who pulls her out.

On-Island Events: As Desmond threatens Jack and Locke, Kate finds a room with weapons in the hatch and helps herself to one. A struggle ensues between Kate and Desmond and a stray gunshot damages the computer into which the numbers had earlier been entered. Desmond explains the danger this puts them all in but Jack doesn't seem to believe him.

In a flurry, Desmond tries to fix the ruined computer but Jack demands he explain how he came to be in the hatch. Desmond claims he was in a solo race around the world when his boat crashed onto the island; a man named Kelvin showed Desmond how to push the button, stating it was necessary in order to save the world. Locke and Jack then watch an ancient film strip, labeled "Orientation" by something called The Dharma Initiative. Led by a man in a lab coat named Dr. Marvin Candle, the film explains the organization's background and scientific interests, and identifies the hatch as "Station 3, The Swan Station," where studies in electromagnetism take place. Candle further explains the process of entering the numbers into the computer every 108 minutes.

As Jack seems disgusted by the notion that anyone would take any of these ideas seriously, Desmond tries and fails to fix the computer. Desmond and Jack abandon the hatch leaving Locke on his own, wondering what he's supposed to do. Jack confronts Desmond in the jungle, where he admits he remembers meeting Jack in Los Angeles.

Hugo, Sayid, and Kate return to the hatch, where Locke requests Sayid's help in repairing the computer. Just as Locke is about to key in the numbers incorrectly and hit "execute," Jack returns to provide him with the last number. Locke demands that Jack be the one to finish the final keystroke, and Jack resists until the countdown clock on the wall begins blaring out an alarm as the last seconds go by. Jack argues with John about the absurdity of pushing the button but in the end, pushes it himself. The clock on the wall resets itself and Locke offers to take the first shift.

Flashbacks: Locke has an outburst at a group therapy session but meets Helen, someone who seems to connect with him. They begin an affair but Locke breaks away every night to spy on Anthony Cooper. When he finally confronts Cooper about conning him out of his kidney, Cooper bluntly tells him to get over it and not to come back to his house. After six months of dating, Helen presents Locke with a key to her apartment but asks him to stop going to Cooper's house in the middle of the night (which he has apparently continued to do); Locke agrees and accepts Helen's key. Locke breaks his promise, and when Helen confronts him at Cooper's property, he agrees again to get help with his
anger and abandonment issues.

Greater Meaning: As the flashbacks in the episode belong to Locke, it's tempting to focus more on his experiences over anyone else's in regard to the events that occur in the hatch. He tries to help Desmond fix the computer and diffuses the situation when things get tense, he enthusiastically watches the orientation video, and later demands the island tell him what to do next when he's left alone in the hatch. Locke has put his faith in the island in a way he's never put his faith in anything else, and it shows through many of his flashbacks (including this episode's collection). Whereas he was scared and confused before coming to the island, he didn't have the same faith in any of his experiences (the walkabout, the relationship with Cooper, the relationship with Helen) that he seems to have with the island. He's still scared and confused, to a point, but now, because he believes so strongly in the island, he expects answers.

Jack is upset by Locke's devotion simply because the answers of the island are unavailable and because these situations do not make sense to him; Jack chooses not to question anything. As Jack knows nothing of Locke's medical condition pre- and post-crash, it makes sense that his faith in the island would not be as immediate as Locke's, but here it seems he is actively rejecting the significance of Desmond's presence on the island and his own reaction to it (as it is a connection to his own previous vulnerability after Sarah's surgery). Jack becomes tearful in remembering his former wife just as Locke does when he speaks of his father's betrayal in group therapy. Locke's ability to move on and place his faith in the island counters Jack's refusal to do so.

Further Questions:

1. Who was Kelvin?
2. What happens to Locke and Helen's relationship?
3. What happens to Jack and Sarah's relationship?
4. What is going on with Ana Lucia, and who's the man she's working with?
5. What is going on with the hatch, and how does electromagnetism factor in?
6. Is the Dharma Initiative still on the island?
7. Is pushing the button a sham?

Monday, May 18, 2020

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, Season 2, Episode 2, Adrift

The Raft: In the aftermath of Walt being taken, Sawyer lifts Michael onto some of the raft's floating remnants while Jin remains unaccounted for. Michael shouts for Walt and argues with Sawyer, whom he blames for their predicament. Sawyer's gunshot wound is bleeding and attracts sharks, which charge the raft. Sawyer removes the bullet but passes out. Sawyer discusses the idea that the men who took Walt were the others Rousseau earlier referenced.

Sawyer attempts to retrieve the pontoon section of the raft; a shark returns, which Michael shoots. Eventually Michael breaks down weeping, admitting to Sawyer he believes Walt's abduction was his fault. As the two men float on the current they realize they've been brought back to the island. Once they reach its shore, they find Jin running out of the jungle. He shouts their names and then, looking behind them repeats "others." When they turn around, several people with weapons are approaching them.

On the Island: Through several replays of the events leading up to Jack's experiences with Desmond, we see John and Kate enter the hatch. Desmond seems happy to see John but soon realizes John is not who he thinks he is. Locke ties Kate up at Desmond's demand and throws her in an enclosed room within the hatch, but Kate easily wiggles free. Kate discovers the room she's in is filled with food and supplies; she helps herself to a candy bar and then escapes through a vent.

John explains the plane crash to Desmond, who is concerned about sickness among the survivors. After a computer beeps out, Desmond forces John to enter the familiar numbers 4 8 15 16 23 42 into an ancient-looking system. After he does this, a box with a series of numbers counting down flips itself to 108. Soon Desmond hears Jack calling for Kate and Locke, which leads to the interaction and recognition of each other at gunpoint.

Flashbacks: Michael meets with an attorney to fight Susan's demand that he relinquish parental rights of Walt. Susan implores Michael to let go of Walt, explaining the life she'll provide him in Italy will be in everyone's best interests. Michael agrees and brings Walt a stuffed polar bear as they say goodbye.

Greater Meaning: Continuously throughout the episode Sawyer contradicts his earlier statement to Michael, "I ain't no hero." First, he saves Michael from drowning, hauls him onto part of the raft and performs mouth-to-mouth. Next, he (painfully) removes the bullet from his own shoulder when it won't stop bleeding and draws the sharks. Last, he swims off to the pontoon/bamboo portion of the ruined raft and brings it back for Michael to share when the other remnants begin to unravel. Sawyer may not desire the status, but he has indeed acted heroically during his time out on the raft.

Michael's anger, guilt, and acceptance of responsibility for Walt's kidnapping is intensified through the flashback scenes where Susan and her cold-hearted lawyer toy with him over his inadequacy as a father. Other than Claire, no one else on the island has experienced parenthood, thus it seems fitting that Michael feels alienated and full of rage at what happened, given his upsetting prior experiences anticipating Walt then losing him, repeatedly. When the two men, not exactly bros but reconciled (for the moment), reunite with Jin and attempt to free him from his restraints, the overall feeling is one of strength and group loyalty---Michael, Sawyer, and Jin may have had their differences in the past, but against these new others, they're a team.


Further Questions:


1. Will Michael find Walt?
2. Who are the others?
3. What will happen to Kate?
4. How did all that food get to the island?
5. What is Desmond doing in the hatch?
6. What were the numbers all about?
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