Thursday, March 13, 2008

"Ji Yeon"

The first half of Season 4 of LOST is now over and we have the answers to two questions that were brought up at the start of this year. We also have learned of another loss in the LOST family. All in all, another great episode that had me faked out not unlike "Through the Looking Glass" from Season 3.

STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!

From advanced knowledge of the title, I don't think anyone could have assumed this was going to be about any other characters but Sun and Jin. From the title and the fact that Sun is pregnant, I had formulated the story in my head over the past week and figured that the title must refer to the name of their unborn child. What I couldn't figure out early on in the episode is how they were both off the island in the flash forward considering that by my count there was only one spot left in the Oceanic 6. Of course, looking back on it, the hints were dropped all along from the fact that Jin was so determined to buy that Panda, to his attitude when someone took his cab and the size of his cell phone. In the closing minutes of the flash forward, it occurred to me that we were seeing a Jin flashback and a Sun flash forward. Moments later, this was confirmed when Hurley visited Sun and Ji Yeon who then went as a group to visit Jin's grave. It's very sad to find out that Jin did not get off the island and by Sun's emotional graveside visit, I think we can assume that he is really dead in the future, not just left on the island. So how is he buried in Korea? Is he one of the two people that survived the crash but died before rescue (i.e. Jack's court testimony in "Eggtown")?

In any event, we now know the identity of the Oceanic 6:

1. Jack
2. Kate
3. Hurley
4. Sayid
5. Aaron
6. Sun

But the other bigger story of this episode was the identity of Ben's spy on the freighter. In the most telegraphed "twist" in the history of LOST (followed only by Jack and Claire being revealed as half-siblings) Micheal was introduced to Desmond and Sayid as Kevin Johnson. His hair is much shorter and his beard is neatly trimmed but it is Michael and now we can spend the next week wondering what his back story is. I know I can't wait to see it!

The last big revelation was the conversation between the freighter captain, Desmond and Sayid. In three or four minutes, the captain exposited so much LOST mythology it made my head spin. Not only did he tell them who he was working for, he also showed them the the black box recovered from the underwater wreckage of Flight 815. He went on to imply that the underwater wreckage was staged by Ben and that is why Charles Widmore is working so hard to catch him. So is he telling the truth? Earlier in the episode, Kevin "Michael" Johnson slipped a note to Desmond and Sayid imploring them not to trust the captain. But Michael is working for Ben. So who can we trust?

Oh yea, and Regina killed herself by jumping off the freighter. We finally got to see Zoe Bell and she died, just like when we finally got to see Minkowski (Fisher Stevens) and he died. Is this just a bit of cult-movie stunt-casting?

I liked the episode but again I am itching for more and can't wait until we "Meet Kevin Johnson" next week!

5 comments:

Scott said...

mad props, you TOTALLY called that it was going to be Michael on that boat. better question: where the fudge is Walt?

did Locke dream that he was on the island, or is he there just hiding out? I find it unlikely that he's on the island and no one knows about it.

Jillie Bean (AKA Bubba's Sis) said...

I just watched this episode tonight (had to DVR it last night because we were at the rodeo). I thought it was so sad! I so wanted Sun and Jin to have a happy ending! I read somewhere that the writers aren't saying whether Aaron is considered one of the Oceanic Six or not, so there may be one more....

Why did Hurley come to see Sun? Why not anyone else? So many questions still...

Stacy said...

Hey Wes,
I just spent the last two weeks watching every episode of Lost from the very beginning. So now I'm all caught up, but totally ruined. I'm all, "What? I have to wait to watch a new episode? This is total bull!" If you ever have questions about certain things in an episode, check the blogs at tvguide.com, they do a lot of background research. What cracks me up is all this speculation about mysterious forces making Walt age. All I can think is that this show has been on for four years and only 100 days has passed on the show and the poor bastard that plays Walt has gone through puberty and that cannot be stopped and that's what really got his ass off the island. So they can make stuff up all day long, but I'll know in my heart it is really puberty.

Stacy said...

Oh yeah, one more thing: who's funeral was Jack going to in that one flash forward? Another of the six? Someone with no one? Sounds like Locke to me. The one person who wants to stay more than any other. Sounds like a twist to me.

Wes Raine said...

Welcome to the fold Stacy! More theories are always welcome. And just FYI, I find the best source of LOST info is lostpedia.com. I try to stay away from spoilers and they are pretty good about keeping them out of the way while still doing a great job of synthesizing everything from the show in one easy to use website.