Sea. 1, Ep. 17: ...In Translation

Wow. It's hard to believe, but we're nearing the end of the first season. Before we know it, we'll be meeting Desmond, Ana Lucia, Mr. Eko and seeing what's inside that mysterious hatch. But for now, we have to deal with a Jin-centric episode. "...In Translation" fills in some of the missing pieces from the Sun-centric episode we reviewed earlier (House of the Rising Sun).

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."

Sea. 1, Ep. 14: Special

For a number of reasons, I've been eager to review this episode ever since I began the Rewatch a couple of weeks ago. Firstly, I only remember having seen this episode once before. I had spun through each of the first season's installments at least twice, but for some reason I think I only watched this one during my initial introduction to the series. Maybe I passed it over because I had written Walt and Michael off for the most part, but that leads me to another reason why I've been looking forward to documenting "Special." I want to know why the writers created all the hype around Walt and his "special" qualities only to remove him from the show, for all intents and purposes, during the second season. I understand that Malcom David Kelley, who portrays Walt, was on the precipice of puberty and that his real-life growth wasn't going to mesh with the timeline established on the show. I'm sure the writers were cognizant of this, too. So why did they devote a whole episode to emphasizing how unique Walt is if they didn't plan to flesh it out further? Is there going to be some sort of payoff for Walt fans in the cataclysmic sixth season? And will the litany of questions about this show ever cease?

But what of the episode itself, you ask? Okay. Let me get to it.

On the island, Michael searches for Walt. He's furious to find that his son is once again hanging out with the mysterious John Locke. Walt's learning how to throw knives like a circus pro, but Michael ain't havin' it. Locke tries to stick up for the boy, telling Michael that he should treat his son like an adult because the plane crash and the subsequent survival has given him a whole host of life experience. He also stresses that Walt is "different" somehow, the episode's first reference to Walt's vague powers.

Stewing over his confrontation with Locke, Michael declares that he will build a raft and try to sail away from the island. He feels that everyone has become too complacent and that no one's attempting to get back to their regular lives. He baldly tells Walt that he wants to control their destiny. It's another mention of that oft repeated concept.

Troubles continue for Michael, though, as he gets Walt to help him assemble materials for a raft. Walt wanders off under the pretense of procuring water, but Michael later finds him chumming around again with Locke (even though Locke is admonishing the boy to respect his father's wishes and stay away from him). The ensuing fight causes Walt to storm off. Michael needs to search for his son, and Locke assists him. It's a good thing he does, because Walt has run afoul of another one of the island's polar bears, and Michael and Locke need to work together to rescue the lad. Ultimately, they do, and everything is peachy keen and hunky dory after that.

The flashbacks in "Special" shed light on the reasons for the turbulent relationship between Michael and Walt. Just when you think that Michael is somewhat of an obnoxious, overbearing father, you get to see his side of the story and realize that Walt's mother treated him very unfairly. The witch even intercepted all of Michael's correspondence to his son. Walt had been living with his lawyer mother and lawyer step-father in Australia when she suddenly took ill and passed away. With Walt's mother removed from the equation, Walt's step-father wanted nothing to do with the young boy. He laid it all on Michael and essentially said that Walt weirded him out. A livid and reluctant Michael did the noble thing and flew to Sydney to take custody of his biological son. And we all know what happened on their return flight over the Pacific.

Other notes:

• I had forgotten that Michael nearly suffered the same fate as Sayid's beloved Nadia. After learning on the phone half a world away that Susan was with another man, an angered Michael recklessly storms into the street and his hit by an oncoming car. Was this Jacob's will? Or Jacob's adversary's will? If it was Michael's destiny to end up on the island with Walt, then it makes sense that he would survive this accident. We also see in the fourth season that Michael couldn't even kill himself when he drove a speeding car into a wall because Tom tells him that he still has business with the island. This wouldn't be an earth-shattering revelation. I'm just noting the coincidence of two characters being hit by cars in busy streets.


• Walt's powers are further scene in a flashback episode involving his mother and step-father. Droning on about birds he's learning about in school and angered that Susan and Brian are ignoring what he's saying, he shouts at them. In the same moment, a bird crashes into one of the room's windows and plummets to the ground, apparently dead. As the camera switches from the dead bird to Walt's book and zooms in, we see that the bird featured on the open page is the same one that just pulled a kamikaze into the window. So this means that Walt can will creatures toward him if given the proper motivation? We don't know for certain. Again, it appears to be a vague power and one that still has yet to be addressed by the show.

The final scene of the episode neatly presents a segue to the succeeding one as a bewildered Claire stumbles out of the jungle and greets Locke and Boone. Boy, howdy. At this point in the first season, things're gettin' good.

So, as usual, we've recapped an entertaining episode. I still have that bone to pick with the writers and their emphasis of Walt's unique abilities, though. I'm hoping that I've forgotten some of Walt's more specific talents and that further progress into the Rewatch will jerk the rusty chain that's attached to the lightbulb in my head.