WRITERS: Adam Horowitz & Edward Kitsis DIRECTOR: Frederick E.O Toye
CAST: Yunjin Kim (Sun), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet), Matthew Fox (Jack), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), Andrew Divoff (Mikhail), Byron Chung (Mr Paik), Alexis Rhee (Older Woman), Marsha Thomason (Naomi), Jean Chung (Paik's Secretary), Esmond Chung (Paik's Associate) & John Shin (Mr Kwon)
Sun learns that all pregnant woman on the island die before giving birth, so Juliet takes her for an ultrasound. Meanwhile, Desmond's party in the jungle come across a familiar face...D.O.C (Date Of Conception) is another solid episode from writers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, who masterminded the sublime Expose a short while ago. This is another Sun flashback, which never raises big expectations with me, but Sun/Jin stories have always been more interesting than you give them credit for.
At the beach, Sun learns that every pregnant woman who conceived on the island dies. As regular viewers will remember, Sun isn't sure if Jin is the father of her child -- as he's infertile and she slept with another man before they boarded Flight 815.
Maternity specialist Juliet explains that male infertility is somehow corrected by the island, but Sun faces two possible outcomes: that the baby was conceived off-island and isn't Jin's... or it was conceived on the island and she will die in two months.
It's a great no-win situation that manages to squeeze every drop out of drama out of its premise, nicely acted by Yunjin Kim as Sun. The flashbacks are also pretty good, shedding light on Jin's past but focusing almost exclusively on Sun. As always, the subtitles and foreign setting of Sun/Jin flashbacks always lend an exotic and authentic look to the show, which is pleasing to watch.
The subplot is just as interesting, perhaps more so if you're hungry for a big shake-up. As we discovered last week, a female parachutist (Naomi, played by Marsha Thomason) has dropped out of the sky and apparently knows Desmond. D.O.C finds her close to death, her only hope being a familiar face from the jungle. I'm not going to give away who the potential God Samaritan is, but suffice to say his return throws up a tonne of questions!
Overall, D.O.C was a well-plotted and entertaining episode that gave clarity to a few issues, developed Jin's back-story slightly and provided more questions to mull over. Season 3's latter-half seems characterised by giving audiences straight answers to a number of questions and injecting fresh ideas into the show, which is great to see.
Lost is fast developing itself after a near-disastrous start to this season, perhaps as a rebuke to mounting criticism in the wake of Heroes' blend of big questions and quick answers mentality. Who knows. But anyone who thought this show had jumped the shark needs to eat their words...
