Writers: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz
Director: Stephen Semel
Cast: Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Rebecca Mader (Charlotte), Jeremy Davies (Daniel), Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Matthew Fox (Jack), Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Harold Perrineau (Michael), Zoë Bell (Regina), Jeff Fahey (Frank), Sam Anderson (Bernard), Kevin Durand (Keamy), Grant Bowler (Captain Gault), Simon Rhee (Shopkeeper), David Yew (Chinese Security Agent), George Kee Cheung (Ambassador Paik), Marc Vann (Doctor), Lanny Joon (Dr. Bae), Christine Y. Kim (Admitting Nurse) & Lynette Garces (Other Nurse)
Juliet takes desperate measures to ensure Sun and Jin don't side with Locke's group, as staying on the island will kill her unborn baby. Meanwhile, Sayid and Desmond try to get answers from the freighter's captain...
Ji Yeon centres on Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Jin's (Daniel Dae Kim) fragile marriage, as the expectant parents have to face some difficult truths. It's actually quite a mediocre episode for much of its runtime, but an emotional twist-and-punch forces you to reconsider everything that went before...
We begin on the freighter, with Frank (Jeff Fahey) bringing Sayid (Naveen Andrews) and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) cans of lima beans, blaming a problem in the kitchen for the bad food choice. At the beach, Jin discusses baby names for their unborn child (preferring "Ji Yeon", if it's a girl), but Sun considers it bad luck to choose a name before the baby's born.
A flashforward reveals that Sun is one of the Oceanic Six, heavily pregnant and in labour. She's rushed to hospital, as we see Jin in a Seoul toy shop trying to buy a stuffed panda, telling the shopkeeper he's not sure if the baby's a boy of a girl yet. On the street, Jin's dropped cell phone is crushed by a passing car and someone steals his cab, driving off with his stuffed panda on the backseat. Jin is forced to pay a huge sum for the shop's last panda, as it's been reserved for another customer.
In the present, Sun raises her concerns with Kate (Evangeline Lilly) about the time-span for their departure, Kate admits she doesn't think the rescuers from the freighter are actually here to rescue them. Daniel (Jeremy Davies) is evasive about Sun's questions about rescue, so Sun instructs Jin to pack food for the two-day hike across the island to Locke's anti-rescuers camp.
Unfortunately, after Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) learns of Sun's plan to stay on the island, she reminds her that pregnant women who give birth on the island always die. But Sun doesn't trust Juliet's word, particularly in light of the fact Claire and baby Aaron are both fine and healthy,
Back on the freighter, Sayid and Desmond are slipped a note that reads "Don't trust the captain", assumedly from their "friend" who left the sick bay door open a few episodes ago. The doctor arrives shortly after and takes them to see the captain. Arriving out on deck, Sayid notices that the helicopter has gone, and Desmond watches in horror as Regina (Zoë Bell) commits suicide by jumping into the ocean covered in heavy chains. Strangely, the reaction from the crew is subdued, particularly when Captain Gault (Grant Bowler) orders everyone back to their posts, proclaiming Regina a lost cause.
Sun and Jin set off to Locke's camp, with a hand-drawn map from Kate, but they're stopped by Juliet. Jin's English has improved recently and he just about understands Juliet when she warns that Sun will die if she stays on the island for another 3 weeks. Sun assures Jin that Juliet is wrong, provoking a desperate Juliet to reveal that Sun had an affair with another man. Jin is shocked and, when an outraged Sun slaps Juliet across the face for her betrayal of trust, knows it must be true. Jin returns to the beach, angry and upset.
Sayid and Desmond are taken to Gault's quarters, where he blames Regina's suicide on a type of "cabin fever", likely brought about by their proximity to the island. Gault also reveals the freighter is owned by Charles Widmore (a fact that shocks Desmond), and shows them the black-box flight recorder retrieved from "Flight 815" – part of fake underwater wreckage, filled with 324 dead bodies. Gault reveals that one reason his people want to talk to Ben is so he can answer a question: who has the money and resources to fake Flight 815's discovery, and cruelly put 324 families through a grieving process based on a lie?
At the beach, Juliet tries to explain to Sun why she took drastic measures to prevent her staying on the island – assuring her she's totally convinced Sun will slip into a coma and die in 5 weeks unless she can get off the island.
In another flashforward, the doctors treating Sun are forced to do a caesarean section, but she wants to wait for Jin to arrive. The baby suddenly crowns and the amazed doctors tell Sun to push. Seconds later, Sun's baby daughter is born and she names it Ji Yeon, as Jin wanted.
Sayid and Desmond are shown their quarters by the ship's doctor, who isn't happy a blood stain still covers part of the wall. He calls to a shadowy janitor in the corridor called Kevin Johnson, who reluctantly approaches... revealing himself to be Michael (Harold Perrineau), who we last saw leaving the island with son Walt in season 2's finale! It would have been one of Lost's best shock-reveals, but unfortunately the producers revealed Perrineau's return last summer, and his name has been stamped across the opening credits for the past 6 episodes! Oh well, it was still fun to see him, but a real shame they couldn't keep it a secret.
Jin returns to his tent and tells Sun he understand why she would have had an affair, as he used to be an insensitive man who put his job above her. After forgiving her, Sun reveals she's decided to stay and get off the island – whatever it takes. Jin asks if the baby is his, and Sun assures him it is.
At the hospital, Jin finally arrives with his cuddly panda and rushes down a hallway to where a Chinese agent is guarding a private room. Jin asks to speak to the Ambassador, who appears and formally accepts Jin's gift of goodwill from his employer Mr Paik. Jin leaves, stopping to answer a nurse's query that he'll perhaps have his own child one day, but has only been married 2 months. Aahh, those tricksy writers! Yes, for the first time on Lost, we had a flashback (Jin) and a flashforward (Sun) playing side-by-side...
In the actual flashforward, Sun is in her apartment with her newborn daughter when Hurley (Jorge Garcia) arrives – surprising Sun that he travelled all this way to see them. Hurley accompanies Sun when she leaves to see Jin – arriving at a graveyard, where it's revealed Jin has died. Breaking down into tears, Sun tells Jin that she named their daughter Ji Yeon as he wanted, and how badly she misses him...
Ji Yeon has a marvellous ending, which goes some way to strengthening the whole episode in retrospect. I was actually caught off-guard by how much I'd come to care about Sun and Jin's fraught relationship – after years spent watching their on-island blossoming and their pre-island tribulations. It's almost a sneak preview of the kind if emotional punches fans can expect to see in quick succession when Lost begins to wrap up its past/present/future storylines in seasons 5 and 6.
The narrative trick with the flashbacks/forwards had me fooled, although the signs were there: Jin being his season 1-style grouch, his old-fashioned cell phone, and that quick "Year Of The Dragon" mention by the shopkeeper (dating Jin's storyline to the year 2000). The script did conspired to have (delirious) Sun act as if Jin were still alive in her flashforwards, but I can forgive that. I enjoy being surprised and manipulated, as long as it's in the spirit of entertainment and not mean trickery.
However, the on-island storyline wasn't particularly exciting, although it was nice to see Sun's affair come to light so quickly, and I always enjoy Yunjin Kim's performances more than I expect to. She has real openness and believability as an actress, and is another of Lost's unsung gems.
Likewise Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, who hasn't been given anything memorable to do since season 1 – partly because of the narrative problems with him being a foreign-speaker, and partly because a married man (particularly a father-to-be) isn't that likely to be volunteering for dangerous missions in the jungle every other episode.
But I love what Kim does with such a restricting role, and his fishing scene with Bernard (Sam Anderson) reminded me of the character-based season 1 – when the show focused on people and relationships, against a backdrop of such survivalist pass times like fishing and boar-hunting. But, is it feasible Jin could learn English this quickly? I had 5 years of French lessons, and I'd still only last 20 seconds in a conversation with a Frenchman.
The freighter-based subplot wasn't that exciting, mainly because it involved the characters playing catch-up with information the audience already know (Widmore owns the boat, Flight 815's crash has been faked, etc.) Regina's suicide was interesting – mainly because of Gault's non-reaction – although I do find it darkly humourous the way these new freighter characters are dying so quickly, following on from Minkowski's 43-minutes of actual screen-time a few episodes ago. I'm also not sure I buy the "cabin fever" excuse offered for Regina's death wish, either – as the island "influence" seems a handy excuse for any weirdness the writers think up.
As I mentioned, the reveal of Michael didn't come as a surprise to any fans, but I just hope there's a decent explanation of what happened to Michael and Walt when they left the island (with Ben's blessing) back in season 2. I hope it doesn't stink too much of ret-con, as Michael didn't act like he was in-league with the Others before he left. He even asked Ben, pointedly: "Who are you people?" I guess we'll find out next week.
Overall, Ji Yeon was a decent episode – albeit one that wobbled around until given sharp focus by the narrative twist, and considerable heart by a powerful graveside scene for Yunjin Kim. I don't know when, or how, we'll inevitable lose Jin – but I'm already mourning his loss, and hope he goes out in style: fighting for the family he loves.
-- What has Michael been doing on the freighter all this time? Is he Ben's spy? Where's Walt?
-- Where did the bodies come from for the Flight 815 faked crash? Was Ben involved?
-- Why can't the freighter contact the island? Where has Frank gone in the helicopter?
-- What exactly was wrong with Regina? Is it related to the condition suffered by Minkowski and Desmond, or perhaps Rousseau's long-dead crew?
-- Whose blood was smeared on Desmond and Sayid's room?
-- Why did Widmore buy the fake-Flight 815s black box recorder? Did it help him realize the wreckage was staged somehow?
-- Why can't Captain Gault be trusted, according to the note (from Michael)?
-- How does Jin eventually die? How did Sun get off the island?
-- Who was making that banging noise Desmond heard from inside Sick Bay?
-- Why was Hurley glad to hear nobody else would be joining them at Jin's grave?
16 March 2008
Sky One, 9.00 pm
Director: Stephen Semel
Cast: Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Rebecca Mader (Charlotte), Jeremy Davies (Daniel), Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Matthew Fox (Jack), Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Harold Perrineau (Michael), Zoë Bell (Regina), Jeff Fahey (Frank), Sam Anderson (Bernard), Kevin Durand (Keamy), Grant Bowler (Captain Gault), Simon Rhee (Shopkeeper), David Yew (Chinese Security Agent), George Kee Cheung (Ambassador Paik), Marc Vann (Doctor), Lanny Joon (Dr. Bae), Christine Y. Kim (Admitting Nurse) & Lynette Garces (Other Nurse)
Juliet takes desperate measures to ensure Sun and Jin don't side with Locke's group, as staying on the island will kill her unborn baby. Meanwhile, Sayid and Desmond try to get answers from the freighter's captain..."They talked about a lot of things – and none
of them involved rescuing us..."
of them involved rescuing us..."
-- Kate (Evangeline Lilly)
Ji Yeon centres on Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Jin's (Daniel Dae Kim) fragile marriage, as the expectant parents have to face some difficult truths. It's actually quite a mediocre episode for much of its runtime, but an emotional twist-and-punch forces you to reconsider everything that went before...
We begin on the freighter, with Frank (Jeff Fahey) bringing Sayid (Naveen Andrews) and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) cans of lima beans, blaming a problem in the kitchen for the bad food choice. At the beach, Jin discusses baby names for their unborn child (preferring "Ji Yeon", if it's a girl), but Sun considers it bad luck to choose a name before the baby's born.
A flashforward reveals that Sun is one of the Oceanic Six, heavily pregnant and in labour. She's rushed to hospital, as we see Jin in a Seoul toy shop trying to buy a stuffed panda, telling the shopkeeper he's not sure if the baby's a boy of a girl yet. On the street, Jin's dropped cell phone is crushed by a passing car and someone steals his cab, driving off with his stuffed panda on the backseat. Jin is forced to pay a huge sum for the shop's last panda, as it's been reserved for another customer.
In the present, Sun raises her concerns with Kate (Evangeline Lilly) about the time-span for their departure, Kate admits she doesn't think the rescuers from the freighter are actually here to rescue them. Daniel (Jeremy Davies) is evasive about Sun's questions about rescue, so Sun instructs Jin to pack food for the two-day hike across the island to Locke's anti-rescuers camp.
Unfortunately, after Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) learns of Sun's plan to stay on the island, she reminds her that pregnant women who give birth on the island always die. But Sun doesn't trust Juliet's word, particularly in light of the fact Claire and baby Aaron are both fine and healthy,
Back on the freighter, Sayid and Desmond are slipped a note that reads "Don't trust the captain", assumedly from their "friend" who left the sick bay door open a few episodes ago. The doctor arrives shortly after and takes them to see the captain. Arriving out on deck, Sayid notices that the helicopter has gone, and Desmond watches in horror as Regina (Zoë Bell) commits suicide by jumping into the ocean covered in heavy chains. Strangely, the reaction from the crew is subdued, particularly when Captain Gault (Grant Bowler) orders everyone back to their posts, proclaiming Regina a lost cause.
Sun and Jin set off to Locke's camp, with a hand-drawn map from Kate, but they're stopped by Juliet. Jin's English has improved recently and he just about understands Juliet when she warns that Sun will die if she stays on the island for another 3 weeks. Sun assures Jin that Juliet is wrong, provoking a desperate Juliet to reveal that Sun had an affair with another man. Jin is shocked and, when an outraged Sun slaps Juliet across the face for her betrayal of trust, knows it must be true. Jin returns to the beach, angry and upset.
Sayid and Desmond are taken to Gault's quarters, where he blames Regina's suicide on a type of "cabin fever", likely brought about by their proximity to the island. Gault also reveals the freighter is owned by Charles Widmore (a fact that shocks Desmond), and shows them the black-box flight recorder retrieved from "Flight 815" – part of fake underwater wreckage, filled with 324 dead bodies. Gault reveals that one reason his people want to talk to Ben is so he can answer a question: who has the money and resources to fake Flight 815's discovery, and cruelly put 324 families through a grieving process based on a lie?
At the beach, Juliet tries to explain to Sun why she took drastic measures to prevent her staying on the island – assuring her she's totally convinced Sun will slip into a coma and die in 5 weeks unless she can get off the island.
In another flashforward, the doctors treating Sun are forced to do a caesarean section, but she wants to wait for Jin to arrive. The baby suddenly crowns and the amazed doctors tell Sun to push. Seconds later, Sun's baby daughter is born and she names it Ji Yeon, as Jin wanted.
Sayid and Desmond are shown their quarters by the ship's doctor, who isn't happy a blood stain still covers part of the wall. He calls to a shadowy janitor in the corridor called Kevin Johnson, who reluctantly approaches... revealing himself to be Michael (Harold Perrineau), who we last saw leaving the island with son Walt in season 2's finale! It would have been one of Lost's best shock-reveals, but unfortunately the producers revealed Perrineau's return last summer, and his name has been stamped across the opening credits for the past 6 episodes! Oh well, it was still fun to see him, but a real shame they couldn't keep it a secret.
Jin returns to his tent and tells Sun he understand why she would have had an affair, as he used to be an insensitive man who put his job above her. After forgiving her, Sun reveals she's decided to stay and get off the island – whatever it takes. Jin asks if the baby is his, and Sun assures him it is.
At the hospital, Jin finally arrives with his cuddly panda and rushes down a hallway to where a Chinese agent is guarding a private room. Jin asks to speak to the Ambassador, who appears and formally accepts Jin's gift of goodwill from his employer Mr Paik. Jin leaves, stopping to answer a nurse's query that he'll perhaps have his own child one day, but has only been married 2 months. Aahh, those tricksy writers! Yes, for the first time on Lost, we had a flashback (Jin) and a flashforward (Sun) playing side-by-side...
In the actual flashforward, Sun is in her apartment with her newborn daughter when Hurley (Jorge Garcia) arrives – surprising Sun that he travelled all this way to see them. Hurley accompanies Sun when she leaves to see Jin – arriving at a graveyard, where it's revealed Jin has died. Breaking down into tears, Sun tells Jin that she named their daughter Ji Yeon as he wanted, and how badly she misses him...
Ji Yeon has a marvellous ending, which goes some way to strengthening the whole episode in retrospect. I was actually caught off-guard by how much I'd come to care about Sun and Jin's fraught relationship – after years spent watching their on-island blossoming and their pre-island tribulations. It's almost a sneak preview of the kind if emotional punches fans can expect to see in quick succession when Lost begins to wrap up its past/present/future storylines in seasons 5 and 6.
The narrative trick with the flashbacks/forwards had me fooled, although the signs were there: Jin being his season 1-style grouch, his old-fashioned cell phone, and that quick "Year Of The Dragon" mention by the shopkeeper (dating Jin's storyline to the year 2000). The script did conspired to have (delirious) Sun act as if Jin were still alive in her flashforwards, but I can forgive that. I enjoy being surprised and manipulated, as long as it's in the spirit of entertainment and not mean trickery.
However, the on-island storyline wasn't particularly exciting, although it was nice to see Sun's affair come to light so quickly, and I always enjoy Yunjin Kim's performances more than I expect to. She has real openness and believability as an actress, and is another of Lost's unsung gems.
Likewise Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, who hasn't been given anything memorable to do since season 1 – partly because of the narrative problems with him being a foreign-speaker, and partly because a married man (particularly a father-to-be) isn't that likely to be volunteering for dangerous missions in the jungle every other episode.
But I love what Kim does with such a restricting role, and his fishing scene with Bernard (Sam Anderson) reminded me of the character-based season 1 – when the show focused on people and relationships, against a backdrop of such survivalist pass times like fishing and boar-hunting. But, is it feasible Jin could learn English this quickly? I had 5 years of French lessons, and I'd still only last 20 seconds in a conversation with a Frenchman.
The freighter-based subplot wasn't that exciting, mainly because it involved the characters playing catch-up with information the audience already know (Widmore owns the boat, Flight 815's crash has been faked, etc.) Regina's suicide was interesting – mainly because of Gault's non-reaction – although I do find it darkly humourous the way these new freighter characters are dying so quickly, following on from Minkowski's 43-minutes of actual screen-time a few episodes ago. I'm also not sure I buy the "cabin fever" excuse offered for Regina's death wish, either – as the island "influence" seems a handy excuse for any weirdness the writers think up.
As I mentioned, the reveal of Michael didn't come as a surprise to any fans, but I just hope there's a decent explanation of what happened to Michael and Walt when they left the island (with Ben's blessing) back in season 2. I hope it doesn't stink too much of ret-con, as Michael didn't act like he was in-league with the Others before he left. He even asked Ben, pointedly: "Who are you people?" I guess we'll find out next week.
Overall, Ji Yeon was a decent episode – albeit one that wobbled around until given sharp focus by the narrative twist, and considerable heart by a powerful graveside scene for Yunjin Kim. I don't know when, or how, we'll inevitable lose Jin – but I'm already mourning his loss, and hope he goes out in style: fighting for the family he loves.
Burning Questions
-- What has Michael been doing on the freighter all this time? Is he Ben's spy? Where's Walt?
-- Where did the bodies come from for the Flight 815 faked crash? Was Ben involved?
-- Why can't the freighter contact the island? Where has Frank gone in the helicopter?
-- What exactly was wrong with Regina? Is it related to the condition suffered by Minkowski and Desmond, or perhaps Rousseau's long-dead crew?
-- Whose blood was smeared on Desmond and Sayid's room?
-- Why did Widmore buy the fake-Flight 815s black box recorder? Did it help him realize the wreckage was staged somehow?
-- Why can't Captain Gault be trusted, according to the note (from Michael)?
-- How does Jin eventually die? How did Sun get off the island?
-- Who was making that banging noise Desmond heard from inside Sick Bay?
-- Why was Hurley glad to hear nobody else would be joining them at Jin's grave?
16 March 2008
Sky One, 9.00 pm
