Thursday, October 12, 2006

EPISODE 302: “THE GLASS BALLERINA”

S3E2 (302): “THE GLASS BALLERINA”

Air date: Wednesday, October 11 at 9/8c
“Sayid’s plan to locate Jack places Sun and Jin's lives in grave danger. Meanwhile, Kate and Sawyer are forced to work in harsh conditions by their captors, and Henry makes a very tempting offer to Jack that may prove difficult to refuse.”

This is the second of six episodes that will air in October and November. The remainder of the season resumes in February and concludes in May.

My pre-air thoughts (or airy thoughts? or plain old dairy air thoughts?):

There is no doubt that we are all extremely curious about what is happening to the Lost members still at the Swan Hatch (Desmond, Locke, Mr. Eko, etc.) but I’m also very glad to be visiting the Others in their unique environment. This is all new territory for us and therefore completely unpredictable (not that Lost is predictable in any way but it was getting comfortable). We are taken back to season one wondering what the polar bear was doing on the island and what the black smoke was. Now, however, we're asking about the Other’s village and the Hydra Station and the Zoological Park. And, of course, the cages… I expect that the experiments will continue for at least two unpleasant weeks on our threesome. What happens after that is purely up for speculation! Tom (Mr. Friendly / Zeke) will again perform his delivery duties. Photos of the episode show him taking Kate and Sawyer somewhere. We’ll also meet a new player in the Others camp and are re-introduced to an Other we’ve met previously. Colleen, the new character, and Pickett (the Other’s resident phlebotomist) will share some quality time together in this episode. Mr. Lee (Sun’s English teacher) is also shown in back-story. Perhaps we’ll find out the identity of the woman he ran off to America to be with? Sounds like another interesting evening to me!

Episode Re-cap:

The glass ballerina, which belonged to Sun as a little girl, is a metaphor for her apparent willingness to see others hurt to protect herself. Even when she knows that the ramifications could be disastrous she will lie to shelter herself from harm. The figurine is a representation of how lies can shatter lives and the fragility of both. (And yes, I occasionally wax poetic, folks!)

Flashback…
Sun as a young girl begins a lifetime of lies when she tells her father, Mr. Paik, that the maid broke the glass ballerina.

Sun, Jin, and Sayid, are on Desmond's boat, attempting to locate Jack, Sawyer and Kate but their rendezvous signal fire goes unanswered. While moving to another location to start a more visible fire they discover the Pala Ferry.

Colleen, another new character, who is very friendly with Danny Pickett, seems to be able to handle herself in any situation. Colleen tells Ben that a radio report has confirmed that “the Iraqi” has found the decoy village. She also tells him that they have a boat. Juliet says they’ll just sail around in circles (implying that Michael and Walt will do much the same) but Colleen feels they might find the village or the Hydra Station. Ben orders Colleen to assemble a team and capture the boat.

Kate and Sawyer are taken out of their cages by Tom, Pickett and a number of others and Sawyer witnesses a stolen kiss between Colleen and Danny Pickett.

Flashback…
Sun and Jae Lee (her English teacher) are found having an affair. Mr. Paik finds them in their hotel room and orders them out. (I was a slightly disappointed by the affair as I wanted to believe in Sun’s fidelity but it does give us an insight into why Jin was so angry the first two seasons.)

Kate and Sawyer are taken out to what looks like a rock-covered landing strip where many of the Others are laboring. Ben, it seems, plans on using Sawyer and Kate as free labor. (Experiment or lesson? Research or chain gang? Hmmm…) Kate demands to see Jack before she’ll do any work but Pickett zaps Sawyer with a taser shock for her insolence.

Flashback…
Mr. Paik demands that Jin “deliver a message” to Jae Lee as he has stolen from him. Jin refuses and quits his job but Paik appeals to his honor and tells Jin that Paik’s shame is his shame. In matter of fact, he is telling the absolute truth and Jin realizes it but not the depth of that truth. He relents and accepts the job after Paik calls him “son.”

At the airstrip, Kate talks with Alex Rousseau as she hides in the brush. Alex asks Kate about Carl, another prisoner. Alex tells Kate that she isn’t “even supposed to be in that cage.”

At the Pala Ferry Sayid unveils a plan to capture two Others when Sun tells him she knows he’s lying about the new signal fire. Sayid asks Sun to lie to Jin for 20 more minutes, or until the blaze is too high to stop.

Flashback…
Jin returns home and tells Sun that her father wants him to hurt someone. Sun tells him that he does not have to do it, that they can leave Korea and start a new life where her father can’t find them. Jin angrily remarks that this is what he must do to remain married to her.

Back at the Pala Ferry site Jin demands one of Sayid’s guns when he understands what is happening and explains to Sun that he understands English better than they think. When Sayid hands the gun to Jin he asks him if he knows how to use it and Jin surprises Sayid by checking the magazine in a manner that makes it clear that he knows exactly how to handle a handgun.

Sawyer, on impulse, walks over to Kate and kisses her passionately but his motives are dual in nature. A fight develops and Sawyer lands a few punches before he grabs a gun. Sawyer holds the Others at bay with the rifle but Juliet who is pointing her gun at Kate calls him “James” and tells him to put the gun down. When he does he is shocked once again.

Flashback…
Jin follows Lee to his hotel room and thrashes him. He puts a gun to his head but cannot bring himself to commit murder. Instead he tells Lee to leave the country and never come back. As Jin gets back into his car, Lee’s body comes crashing onto the car from above. An obvious suicide? Lee is holding the pearl necklace in his hand.

While Sayid and Jin are hiding in the jungle the Others silently climb aboard the boat. Sun confronts Colleen with the extra handgun. Colleen calls Sun by her full name and tells her that she knows everything about her and that Sun is not a killer. But Sun shoots Colleen in the side. The Others attempt to capture Sun but she jumps overboard as the boat sails away.

Flashback…
At Lee’s funeral Sun asks her father if he told Jin about her affair, and he responds that it was not his place.

Sayid, Jin and Sun begin the long walk back to their camp.

When Sawyer and Kate are returned to their cages he tells her that he was testing their strengths and weaknesses. He tells Kate that two of the guards are capable fighters but that the rest could be handled easily. He also tells her that the big guy packs a pretty good punch and the “shaggy-haired kid” has some martial arts experience, and that the tasers have safety switches. Most importantly, he tells her that Juliet would have pulled the trigger without a problem. Ben observes all this on closed circuit television.

Ben attempts a reconciliation of sorts with Jack. He offers his hand and tells Jack that his real name is Benjamin Linus and that he has lived on the island all his life. Jack refuses to shake hands. Ben then offers Jack a chance to go home telling him that he can make it happen if Jack only does what he asks at the correct time and place. To help convince him Ben tells him a number of facts about the end of 2004 including the date and that the Boston red Sox won the World Series. When Jack is amused by the Sox winning the Series Ben shows him on a television monitor. Ben repeats his offer, telling Jack that if he listens to him and trusts him, he will eventually take him home.

Some observations

1) The current date on the island is November 29, 2004.
2) The survivors have been on the island for 69 days. (September 22, 2004)
3) The marching music that plays in Sawyer's cage when he completes the steps to obtain food is John Philip Sousa’s “The Thunderer” (1889).
4) Jack learns that the Boston Red Sox’s “Curse of the Bambino” had finally ended. This was a recurring inside joke with his father. Christian Shepherd used to say to Jack, "That's why the Red Sox will never win the World Series..."
5) Ben proves to Jack that they have access to the outside world (or at least information from) when he shows Jack the end of the World Series.
6) Jae Lee's hotel room number was 1516. Two of “the” numbers.
7) “You taste like strawberries” is a quotation from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode called “Crashed” and implies that Kate may have eaten the strawberries that were on the table while having breakfast with Ben. Writer Drew Goddard, of "Buffy" fame, was a co-writer for this episode of Lost.
8) Ben tells Jack that America had re-elected George Bush as President.
9) Ben tells Jack that the actor Christopher Reeves had died.
10) Ben sent Michael and Walt “home.” But Juliet verifies that they will only sail in circles.
11) Ben claims that he can take Jack “home” if Jack does what he asks when it is the time. Also Ben states that in order to do this, Jack needs to change his “attitude, err, perspective".
12) Items 4, 5, 8, and 9 are all events that occurred in late 2004.
13) Sawyer’s attempt to test the strength of the Others is encouraging to see. The first season showed Sawyer as a very smart con man but the second showed his “softer” side. I like the smarter Sawyer better!
14) The canteen Juliet offers to Sawyer appears to have The Staff Hatch logo on it, just as Ethan's canteen did in the episode “Maternity Leave.” Is Juliet trying to drug Sawyer?
15) Ben’s statement to Juliet that “You never made soup for me,” implies that either Ben and Juliet had once been in a relationship, or less likely that Ben was once Juliet's prisoner.
16) When Juliet hears that the survivors have a sailboat she is not surprised. She tells Ben that sailing around in circles will keep them occupied which may indicate that sailing is not a feasible way to escape the island. This is verified by Desmond's attempt to escape with the sail boat and his subsequent return two weeks later.
17) Ben is surprised to hear of the survivors possessing a boat. Ben may not know that Desmond is on the island.

Benjamin Linus

Benjamin Linus, who once deceptively took the name Henry Gale, appears to be the leader of the Others. In episode “A Tale of Two Cities” he sent Goodwin and Ethan to the two wreckage sites and in “The Glass Ballerina” he sent a group out to seize the boat and capture Jin, Sun, and Sayid when they docked Desmond’s boat at the Pala Ferry. He is also monitoring all the captives and some of the island sites.

His real Christian name (Ben) was revealed in “A Tale of Two Cities”, and his true surname (Linus) in “The Glass Ballerina.”

In the Old Testament, Benjamin is held hostage in Egypt by his brother Joseph. Joseph knows they are siblings but Benjamin does not. Later Benjamin becomes the leader of one the twelve tribes of Israel. In Hebrew Benjamin means "son of right."

Linus is from the Greek name Linos meaning "flax". In Greek legend he was the son of the god Apollo and a music teacher to Herakles. He was accidentally killed by his father in a contest.

The inevitable 100 questions

1) Juliet calls Sawyer “James” and Colleen calls Sun, “Sun-Hwa Kwon.” They obviously know more about the survivors then I first realized. For instance, I have seen Sun-Hwa Kwon in print many times and could not pronounce it correctly if Sayid was torturing me. Yet, Colleen rambles it off as if she knew Sun personally. How do they know so much about the survivors?

2) Why is Jack so important to Benjamin Linus and the Others? He has been separated from Sawyer and Kate and offers of freedom are being made to him. Ben kept his word with Michael but this could be a set-up so that Jack thinks he will keep his word. But why do the Others need a doctor? Does it have anything to do with the virus and the injections?

3) During the conversation between Alex and Kate we are told that Kate isn’t even suppose to be in that cage. What does that mean? Should she not have been caged at all? Or in another cage entirely? And who is Carl and why is Alex concerned about him? And why would Alex need a dress? And where did it come from?

4) If Benjamin Linus has lived his entire life on the island does that make him a child of one of the original members of the Dharma Initiative? If the Initiative began in the mid 70’s and Ben is in his mid 30’s then he could be a child of Dharma. Are the other Others also children of the Dharma Initiative? What about the elderly woman in episode A Tale of Two Cities? Is she one of the original members of the Dharma Initiative?

5) Sawyer and Kate are working on what appears to me as a landing strip. It looks like they are clearing and flattening an area for a plane to land. Why would they need a landing strip? Does Ben know that Penelope is searching for Desmond? And that she may make an attempt to rescue him?

6) Dharma Zappers? Where do I get one? Does it occur to anyone that full charge might be lethal? Or is that just my overactive imagination?

7) Juliet, it seems, has trouble playing well with others. Her relationship with Ben seems strained at best and there were harsh words between her and Adam at the book club meeting. In this episode she appears to have a disliking for Colleen. Why is Juliet so disliked? And why is she so unhappy?

8) There is a recurring theme concerning eating and drinking that is initiated by Juliet. She tells Jack that the drugs they gave him can cause hallucinations if he does not eat and drink. However, Kate had the same bandage on her arm and they did not give her this same message. Either it is a lie or they want Kate to hallucinate. Also, Juliet tries to give water to Sawyer who pours it out. It seems to me that if the Others wanted to drug Sawyer they could have put something in his water in the cage. Why would they give Jack and/or Kate hallucinogens? What purpose would this serve?

The Island Map?

Is this a map of the Island? If so how did Desmond get it? And how did it get on his boat?


Monitoring Station

Benjamin Linus is monitoring six different locations of the island on closed circuit monitors:
1) The jungle area where Jin and Sayid are waiting for the Others near the Pala Ferry and their fire.
2) Jack in the corner of his cell at the Hydra Station.
3) An unknown jungle location, which could be Alex.
4) A strange compound location not yet seen.
5) Sawyer in his cage at the zoo talking to Kate.
6) Kate in her cage at the zoo talking to Sawyer.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Kate is not pregnant. I had to watch it twice myself, but 1 line is not pregnant, 2 crossed lines are pregnant. Also, on the official lost podcast they say that we will see Cindy and the children this season sometime.

6:40 AM  
Blogger The Alternative One said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

2:09 PM  
Blogger The Alternative One said...

Thank you for pointing that out! A number of other readers have said the same thing and I agree, Kate was not pregnant by Kevin... but she may be by Sawyer!

2:09 PM  

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