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Lost: The Package

Keamy: "I'm sorry. Some people just aren't meant to be together."

I wasn't sure what to think about this one. It was like they threw all of the continuing Sun/Jin plotlines at us in pieces instead of as a whole. And –disappointment – I thought Sun and Jin would finally be reunited, but nooooo. And how come the cliffhanger? It's the final season! We shouldn't be getting cliffhangers in the final season, she said indignantly.

LAX timeline

The infamous watch that Jin nearly killed Michael over in the first season became a gift to Keamy, along with payment for killing Jin. That was so delightfully circular. So was Sun's pregnancy. (Was it Lee's this time? I don't think so. Jin must not be sterile in the alternate reality.) Even the top button on Sun's sweater was a call back to the first season; I really liked how they turned it from a negative (Jin admonishing Sun) to a positive (Sun seducing Jin).

Keamy said that some people just aren't meant to be together. Did they just tell us that Sun and Jin will be parted forever? Will Sun die in the alternate reality? Will Jin take her to St. Sebastian's so that Jack can save her? (Another pregnant woman. Wouldn't that be karmic?)



I also enjoyed the second half of the Sayid/Keamy story in the restaurant kitchen. And the return of Mikhail, who actually got his very own version of an "eye scene."

Island

I loved Jin finally seeing photos of his daughter Ji Yeon. And that the photos included their dog, Bopo. It's little details like this that make Lost so satisfying. Sometimes.



It was sad to see Sun's garden overgrown and fallow, with only a single tomato remaining as a symbol of hope. Or maybe salad. Sun's weird English aphasia was also a fascinating call back to her season one pretense that she didn't speak English. Interesting that alt-Sun couldn't speak English, either. Backwards, o time. And hey! Jin speaks English and Sun doesn't! He could translate for her. It's perfect.

Sun was desperate to get Jin back, but she still wouldn't make a deal with the Man in Black. It makes sense that he's trying to get all six candidates on the plane with him, since I assume he can't kill them. (I got the impression he was planning to kill Kate when he was done with her, though.) He'll never get Jack, though. Jack is so serene now, almost like he's accepted his fate. I can see him on the Island for centuries, eating mangoes, hanging out on the beach. Can't you? Although the candidate being both Sun and Jin has a nice feel to it, too. (Jacob did touch them both at the same time in "The Incident"; Dan thinks it's both of them, together.) Adam and Eve were introduced in the first Sun/Jin episode in season one. Lost producers, I'm still waiting to find out who Adam and Eve are. Don't forget to tell us. I mean it.

Widmore is very anti-Man in Black, and the war is officially on. Is Widmore only interested in electromagnetic pockets? I just can't see him as an ally. Probably because, as many of us guessed, Desmond was indeed in the box. Is Penny's father determined to kill his daughter's husband? Is this an intentional parallel of the Sun/Jin plot? Will Desmond and Penny be parted forever, like Sun and Jin?

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

What have we learned?

— Widmore's group took out the Man in Black's camp with sleep darts instead of killing them, making it unlikely that Widmore is responsible for all of those dead 316 passengers on Alcatraz.

— Widmore said that if the Man in Black gets off the Island, Penny and Ji Yeon will cease to be. What does that mean? Sounded important. And confusing.

Character bits:

I just loved Sun's rant on the beach. Everyone knew she was saying something important, but they didn't know what it was. Their blank faces were great.



Now that there aren't corpses to talk to or planes to fly, Miles and Frank are clearly just the comic relief. Actually, I think Frank is in the cast just so he can fly everyone out in the finale.

Zoe is a geophysicist. Widmore must need her for something to do with the hunt for electromagnetic pockets.

Richard appears to be all energized and ready to fight evil again. A good flashback will do that for you.

Poor Sayid is numb; he feels nothing. Then why is he doing what the Man in Black tells him to do? Why not go jump off a cliff, or hike back to the beach?

Claire was nervous about leaving the Island. Maybe she's feeling apprehensive about once again having access to hair care products.

For some reason, I've really been enjoying alternate universe Keamy. He's just fun to watch, in a jovially evil way.

Sawyer called Jin "Hoss." Nothing else to report on the nickname front.

Bits and pieces:

— No pop-up enhanced repeat of last week's before the episode aired. I feel cheated.

— Sun cut her hand just as the Man in Black arrived. And there was a big red plant behind her.

— Island Sun bumped her head. Alt-Jin also bumped his head.

— Alt-Jin and Alt-Sun had rooms on the 8th floor. Jin's was 842. Mikhail spoke nine languages. Why not eight?

— And Jin was imprisoned in Room 23, where Karl was brainwashed. Zoe said it was a Dharma thing, but it wasn't; it was an Other thing, because I remember the recording they were playing included references to Jacob.

— There was a "V countdown" bug on the right-hand corner of the screen. Hey, I watch V, and I was still really annoyed; it made it hard to read some of the subtitles.

Quotes:

Sawyer: "Want some cocoa?"
Kate: "Where'd you find cocoa?"
Sawyer: "I didn't. Pretend."

Miles: "Unless Alpert's covered in bacon grease, I'm not sure Hurley can track anything."
Frank: "Hey. Don't talk about bacon."

Man in Black: "We're taking a boat ride over to the other island."
Sawyer: "What do you need a boat for? Can't you just turn into smoke and fly your ass over the water?"

Ben: "Why won't you believe me?"
Ilana: "Because you're speaking."

Miles: "She hits her head and forgets English? We're supposed to buy that?"
Frank: "Says the man who communes with the dead."

Six episodes to go, and time is running out. Come on, Lost producers – no more cliffhangers! I'd like some resolution, please. If you leave stuff to explain on season six DVD featurettes, I'll never forgive you,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

18 comments:

  1. Great episode and great review as always!

    "Interesting that alt-Sun couldn't speak English, either."
    Very interesting indeed. There's a theory going around that the alt-verse is bleeding into the real universe. I think it kind of makes sense. Alt-Sun can't speak english, and now our Sun can't as well. Alt-Jack is MUCH calmer and more reasonable than ours was, and now our Jack seems far less likely to run off into the jungle like a crazy person like he always used to. And there was the whole thing with Juliet and going dutch...

    "It makes sense that he's trying to get all six candidates on the plane with him, since I assume he can't kill them."
    But I thought MIB needed to kill all of the candidates, or there'd be a new Jacob stopping him from leaving the island. You never know what that guy has up his sleeve.

    AGH! Only six more? What will we do with our time when it's all over??

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  2. Awesome review as always!!!

    I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this, but I wonder if the Sideways World flashes are actually the Flight 815 passengers idealized/happy/content/almost content lives flashing before their eyes as 815 actually crashes?

    So Des is the "package."

    That means next week's episode is going to be 90% flashbacks – and from the previews, we're going to see the scenes from the boat at the end of season 4 played out again – to how and when Des was captured and how Penny was killed. Yes, I think we're going to see that Penny was killed (and maybe even their son, although I hope not) and Des was forced by Widmore to return to the island to undo the death(s).

    Even if next week's episode is great, it's more padding. Enough with the padding!!! When will they get the story moving?

    Ilana. I feel sorry for her, but I like her. Instead of padding this episode with boring Sideways Sun and Jin, we should have gotten an Ilana origin.

    FLocke stripping Sun of her ability to speak English was pretty cool.

    Sayid is always a bad-a$$, even when he's not able to feel emotions.


    The entire Sideways Sun and Jin story. It was pointless and boring and added nothing to the story.

    Des as the "package" irks me because it's only going to slow down the story so we can get at least two episodes of exposition on how he was captured, which will raise more questions.

    I just cannot stand Jack.

    I'm losing faith that THEY can wrap this up adequately.

    I'm tried of trying to find references to obscure stories and allusions to mythology.

    I want the damn answers and not misdirection.

    The two biggest answers I want:

    (1) I want to know who and what Jacob and MiB really are.

    (2) I want to know why they are all obsessed with electromagnetism.

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  3. Aren't there actually 8 episodes left?

    There will be 18 total, counting the finale as 2. Last night was #10, so 8 more, not 6.

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  4. 6.1/2.104/105: LA X
    6.3.106: What Kate Does
    6.4.107: The Substitute
    6.5.108: Lighthouse
    6.6.109: Sundown
    6.7.110: Dr. Linus
    6.8.111: Recon
    6.9.112: Ab Aeterno
    6.10.113: The Package
    6.11.114: Happily Ever After
    6.12.115: Everybody Loves Hugo
    6.13.116: The Last Recruit
    6.14.117: The Candidate
    6.15.118: Across the Sea
    6.16.119: What They Died For
    6.17/18.120/121: The End

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  5. Not the best episode of the season but I will admit that I started to tear up when Jin saw his daughter for the very first time. That’s one of the things I love most about Lost. They always get the realy emotional scenes right without slipping into schmaltz or melodrama.

    Did anyone else notice the strange look Sun had on her face as she looking in the mirror just before Keamy came in? Jack had a similar look in ‘LA X’ and so did Kate in ‘What Kate Did’. Oh, what does it all mean? On this show either nothing or everything.

    At least Des is finally back. But if they kill him off next week there’ll be hell to pay.

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  6. Loved, loved, loved this Billie - "Claire was nervous about leaving the Island. Maybe she's feeling apprehensive about once again having access to hair care products"

    Mark :-)

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  7. Im not sure i like the way its going having invested so much time and faith in lost, now it just seems like a standard Hollywood good vs evil, lets kill the bad guy kinda deal, when in all honesty i expected so much more. I really hoped after all the mysteries and divertions there would be a truely original idea at the end of it all, but it seems to be heading in the tried and tested magic/religion/destiny road. (If that is the case it was done so much better in Battlestar Galactica) I hope im wrong but i can hear Dues Ex Machina cranking its gears already.......

    P.S. Love the reviews Billie, belive it or not it adds to the show, like a DVD easter egg :)

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  8. I found that this episode slowed everything down for me (calm before the storm?). I really hope than things really start to be resolved soon because time is running out. They really should have brought Jin and Sun back together this week. Do we really need this show to string and stretch out plot lines to have viewers tune in next week? Of course, more then once, the writers have done things that I was unsure of at first, only to redeem them later.

    I think that Sun is going to be saved by Juliette. It makes sense to introduce that character at this point. This would setup a possible ending in which Sawyer and Juliette find themselves once again (in the alternate timeline of course).

    I don't like what they've done to Sayid recently. He was once a top player on the show, but has now been reduced to a stumbling, miserable, order following robot. There has to be something more to him in the final episodes. I don't want Sayid to be just background noise.

    Love that Desmond is back because he has been a great character for the show. His return has been long overdue.

    Here’s to hoping that Lost gets back on track next week.

    Great review Billie.

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  9. From the conversation between MIB and Sawyer at the end of the Substitute about the three options, my guess is:

    MIB can't leave the island while Jacob or a Jacob candidate is alive in it and he can't kill them himself (unless they have already failed and their names have been crossed out).

    However, he can go if all active candidates leave with him at the same time. (the third option he gave to Sawyer)

    This makes sense with his offer to Sun (I'm not saying he's not gonna kill them all as soon as he is free, but I think since he can't kill them now he will play along)

    And yes, there really appears to be some 'bleeding' between the two realities. Just after Sun hits her head (and forgets english) there is a flash-sideway when she looks in the mirror with a surprised face. And that's gotta be the only explanation why all of a sudden Jack stopped breaking things he didn't understand :P (seriously, was it just the few hours staring at the sea at the end of Lighthouse?)

    I read somewhere else someone say it would be really nice if all sideways stories were converging to the hospital (so far, Jack, Sayid, Claire and possibly Sun are there). If we can't have the whole cast together in the island (they're split since the beggining of season 4!!!), maybe they can all hang out in the alt-verse.

    Regarding the episodes left, there are six more 'normal' episodes, and then the double Finale

    About Sun and Jin, I really like them, but this is getting silly. I was already imagining Jin going to the Temple, then the Beach, while Sun was going to Hydra Island.. Reunite them already! I mean, even in Scrubs it didn't take that long http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuHRtjbcvkc :p

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  10. "sideways" IS their lives had Jacob not "touched" them.

    Des is NOT the package.

    Ji Yeown WILL be the package. she IS the Kwon on the wall... not to be confused with a Pink Floyd song!

    Jacob & MIB ARE the same person. 2 halves of the human psyche. Jacob "the good half" is looking for a candidate that puts good over on the good / evil scale. Because Ji Yeon was conceived on the island (which is what The Others were looking for) makes her the candidate. She would be born pure of heart.

    Everything else is just noise to make the important issue come to be. Each other player has a role in making the inevitibla happen. They all serve a greater purpose to help destroy evil.

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  11. I hate to say this. I've been a die hard committed fan of Lost for 6 years now. Their huge gaps in shows, their confusing plot lines, I stuck in there. But now, at the end of it's life - I'm actually losing interest! I need answers, not all this dragging their feet stuff. If not answers, then action. Something that gets the heart racing - besides Desmond of course. :)

    I will hang in there until the end - but I can't say I get all excited on Tuesdays anymore.

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  12. Not even a single polar bear for this episode? :)

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  13. It's probably a three polar bear episode, Sebastian. There are very few episodes of Lost that I think rate less than three.

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  14. Smocke sure appears hampered more and more by the Locke persona. Hard to believe he would have missed the Widmore Warriors lurking just outside his camp, back in the good old smoke monster days. Let alone have Sun outrun him, (possibly) have Sawyer out-con him with truthiness (eternal props to Buffy-speak!), or trip and fall while chasing the PeterPannish Jacob-Byte a few episodes back ("don't TELL me what I can't do!!"). Looks like his loophole has a few holes of its own!

    Sayid commenting on feeling empty is a cool bit of paradox, and I don't think it's true. A fish doesn't see the water, a zombie isn't self-aware. The fact that Sayid feels this proves to me that he's still in there, and therefore still a master of his fate. He just doesn't realize it yet. He will play an important role, even if a tragic one. He IS a good man, who can do 'bad' things when needed.

    Probably just a neat piece of craftwork here, but I noticed and enjoyed the balance between Ilana and Keamy. One of the great things in watching them is that they ACT. They are who they are, they don't hesitate, they jump and GO. Well ok, they're on opposite sides of the ethical balance beam, but all our other Losties have such trouble DOING. I like the equal and opposing nature of their contributions.

    Finally, and maybe it's just me, but I don't feel the show is off track. There've been lots of times over the past seasons (go look) when folk have noted that the pace has slowed or answers weren't readily forthcoming or "I'm so tired of such-and-so" -- and they've been right, but also "mmm, not-so-much". This show, this experience, is a symphony; the tempo will change, and good thing for it. The finale will seem all the more exciting and rich to us; and gosh, everything would have felt ultimately monotonous and unbelievable otherwise. "All this has happened before" after all(!)

    And we do have to watch out for this too: that until they reveal something, ALL theories are possible and the world that this creates feels so rich and full to us. Once the facts are revealed, only ONE possibility remains standing; and we who have lived with the mystery and thrived on the wealth of our imaginations atop their imaginative creations, may at that point feel let down by the reduction (in the cooking sense as well as mathmatically). Hey, I'm the same way -- so I'm working at keeping my mind open and letting this all be what it is, letting go of my theories now and taking the ride. Lost is and has been so-o much better than so-o much of what else is out there, and I'm still happy with what and how it is -- even agreeing with 98.9 percent of all of everyone's well-thought observations! So don't JUST hang in there; let it also wash over you, for now, for what it is. There'll be forever after to consider what it wasn't, and also to remember this rare and marvellous journey.

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  15. @ HellBlazerRaiser: I don´t think that Penny was killed. But in forcing Desmond to follow him to the island Charles Widmore was sperated from his daughter. Because Penny broken up with him.
    We know that Desmond is "special". Think he can defeat the MiB. Wonder what is gift of seeing the future has to do with it.

    @ Anonymous No. 3 Quote:""sideways" IS their lives had Jacob not "touched" them." I agree. The Island was destroyed in 1977. So from that moment in time everything changed.

    @ Billie:
    I can see Jack as the lonly guardian of the island, too. He has understand. And he has grown. In a way.

    About the "ceasing". Isabella told Richard that they will all "go to hell" if the MiB leaves the island. I think they are both speaking of oblivion. Mabye the original timeline will (somehow) collapse - so only the alta-verse will be left. Were Penny and Ji Yeon born there?

    But I´m still confused about MiB´s true nature. Is he just the security system of the island as Rousseau once told Sayid i.e. a guardian of the island? Or is he the impersonment of the electromagnetic energy?

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  16. Why's everyone so grumpy about this episode? Other sites I've been on have been the same as well, everyones down on the series because we're getting interesting character development, but character development is why we're all still here.

    Sure, the mysteries are great, but the reason I still love this show after 6 years is that whether you love or hate the characters, they all seem like real people. They have their strengths, their weaknesses, and that makes them believable. You remove that aspect of the show, and you're left with Flashforward, great mystery, but it doesn't keep you hooked on its own.

    I'm very happy we got a Jin and Sun episode, the characters have been crimially underused for the past two season, so a spotlight on what they're thinking, how they're feeling was needed I think. The alt-story reminded us why we're rooting for these two to find each other again, and to make the pain all that more brutal when one of them inevitably gets killed off..

    All in all, I'm done critisizing this show, for 6 years the producers have created consistently brilliant television, with barely a misstep (Jacks tattoos, I'm looking at you), at this point I'm going to trust them until the shows over. If they screw up the ending, then I'll bitch and moan about it, but until that happens, I'm happy that they're telling the story they want to, and that they're doing it this well.

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  17. Trousers,

    complementing what you said, sometimes you hate some characters, but there are always others you love. And the two categories change all the time!

    What I love about LOST is that it breaks my expectations. Like in "316". I expected it to take them all S05 to get back to the Island, but in ep 06 I was like: "What? They're already back" I did NOT expect that.

    For this episode, I expected Sun and Jin's reunion. And they didn't give it to us. I think these producers are the masters of tough love, they give us what we need, not what we want. By now I'm starting to think Sun and Jin will never see each other again.

    And concerning the answers, we always have a ton of them in each episode. This one was a little light on them, but the previous ones gave us a lot. The problem is that with the answers always comes another question. But that's like in life.

    And I sure hope they're not in hell, because *that* would be predictable

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  18. This epi was my favourite Jin/Sun epi so far. While I, like every one else, would like some answers RIGHT SODDING NOW if at all possible, I have consistently enjoyed the LAX timeline stuff and this was no exception. It was fun with interesting parallels and some genuinely sweet moments. Although Sayid emerging from the water at the end did remind me of Apocalypse Now which was slightly distracting...but besides that...

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