In the beginning, the survivors on the beach are awkward onlookers as Jin berates Sun for wearing a two-piece bathing suit that reveals a whole lotta skin. He forcefully covers her up and knocks her down to the sand in his efforts, sparking Michael to step in and break up the couple. Michael thinks he's doing the just and noble thing until Sun slaps him 'cross the mouth. Ouch. Sun later apologizes to Michael (in English, of course), but he ain't havin' it. His pride's been hurt.
But Michael's not sweating it too much (well, not 'til later on). We can see that he's made a tremendous amount of progress on the raft. I've always had a little problem with how nice and neat the raft looked, but what can I do? It's just a minor complaint. The raft is big enough to accomodate four, and Jack is disheartened to learn that Sawyer has secured one of the spots.
It looks like the raft will be ready to go in a few short days. But that night people come running from all directions to see the conflagration that was Michael's vessel. Someone has set it ablaze, completely ruining it. Naturally, Michael fingers Jin as the culprit because of what happened between them that morning. An irate Michael demands Sun to tell him where Jin is. She doesn't reveal his whereabouts, but Sawyer finds him in the jungle.
Cut to the beach again the next day. The survivors are ready to lynch Jin because they're certain that he destroyed the raft. Of course, he can't defend himself due to the seemingly indomitable language barrier. I say seemingly because this is the huge turning point where Sun reveals to everyone--Jin included--that she can speak English. She is able to translate for a stunned Jin so that the others can hear his side of the story. Everyone is quite flabbergasted by this revelation ('cept for Michael and Kate) and it threatens to destroy Jin and Sun's relationship. Jin packs up his belongings and moves it to the beach, giving Sun the proverbial cold shoulder.
Things are in disarray. Namely the raft and some of the relationships on the island. In a mildly interesting final scene we learn who the true culprit was. Locke and Walt play some backgammon (black and white again!) and have a friendly chat. Then Locke asks Walt why he torched the raft. Walt's cornered, and he tells Locke that he doesn't want to move anymore. He's done it all of his short life and he's sick of it. You sorta feel for the little dude.
The flashbacks in this episode pair up nicely with those seen in "House of the Rising Sun" because we get to see some of the events that transpired in that episode from Jin's perspective as opposed to Sun's. We see that Jin takes a job working for Sun's father Mr. Paik (a veddy, veddy bad man) and that he's forced to do some unpleasant things to earn his keep. Remember how the Kwons' relationship devolved in "House of the Rising Sun" as Jin was sucked into his job? And recall that he stumbled home one evening with another man's blood on him? Well, we see where that red, red kroovy came from. Mr. Paik makes Jin "deliver a message" to someone with whom he's not pleased. Jin doesn't understand that this is the universal code of mafia types and that it means "kick the living snot out of that fellow."
So Sun's father is indirectly responsible for her tumultuous relationship with Jin. They're in need of counseling. But they don't go together. Jin pays a visit to his father to talk things over. Earlier in the episode, we were under the impression that Jin's father was dead. But Jin only makes it seem that way because he's ashamed of his father's lowly livelihood as a fisherman. And, oh, the irony is so rich. Jin's father offers him some sagely advice: don't work for Mr. Paik anymore! What genius!
Other things of note:
- The blossoming romance between Sayid and Shannon. Blech. I'm thoroughly convinced that this development in the storyline coincided with the writers' decision to kill Shannon off in the second season. If Sayid hadn't entered the picture romantically, there would've been no one on the island who cared a lick about this awful, awful character (remember that Boone will be dead by the time Shannon kicks the bucket).
- Locke serves as the voice of reason in this episode. First, he tells Shannon that she ought not to worry about what Boone thinks because his only goal is to win her attention (he sells out his hatch partner!). Secondly, at the beach he lectures about the real threat on the island. He reminds them that they all know there are others on the island and it's futile to pick fights within in the group when they should unite against the other unknown presence on the island. Right on, John Locke.
- The episode ends on a humorous note when the batteries in Hurley's CD player finally quit on him. You'll remember that his CD collection has provided the music for several of the episode-ending musical montages. Does this mean there'll be no more after this? I can't recall, but I think it might be.
Join me next time for the awesome Hurley-centric "Numbers."
