Last Week on Lost: Ji Yeon
Teasing tonight’s episode for Entertainment Weekly’s Doc Jensen, Lost executive producer Damon Lindelof says, “Yes, you’ll find out a lot about [Kevin Johnson]. But you’ll ALSO learn why bearded Jack was unable to jump. AND where the Others are holed up. AND, according to those silly promos, apparently someone dies, too.”
As it did last week, Lindelof’s weekly tease has gotten me ten times more amped up for tonight’s episode than I already was. I’m not a huge fan of episodes centered around the former castaway who is now going by the name Kevin Johnson. Knowing that we’ll learn a little bit about Jack and the missing Others tonight, in this last episode before a month-long break, is awesome.
So, I can’t wait for tonight, and I’m sure that you can’t either. In the meantime, here (below the fold) are some of my thoughts on last week’s episode, “Ji Yeon,” which I re-watched last night on the bus ride home while simultaneously working on my novel (yay for multitasking).
That’s a Lot of Sabotaging
So, by my count, we now know that the saboteur on board the freighter has done damage to at least three specific areas of the ship. He’s destroyed the radio room, trashed the kitchen, and has apparently been banging on the pipes in the engine room long enough to make the boat stop in its tracks. How is Ben’s man on the boat (assuming that he is the saboteur) maintaining cover? That is, how is he managing to keep doing his job while still slipping away to wreak all this havoc? My guess it that we’ll find out tonight, during “Meet Kevin Johnson.” How about you?
And, Speaking of Kevin Johnson
Oh, howdy Michael. Whassup? Sell anyone out lately, Judas? Where’s Walt? You finally get tired of his bird-killin’ ass and sell him to a child prostitution ring? And what’s with the bucket and the mop, dawg?
Seriously, how does Sayid keep himself from killing this motherfucker at first sight? That, I’ve got to know. I mean, I want to kill this guy, and he’s a fictional character.
Anyway, I’m never particularly psyched for Michael-centric episodes. But I’m definitely looking forward to tonight. I can’t wait to see what this dude’s been up to since leaving the island. Does he somehow redeem himself tonight? Or is that going to be a much longer process? Or is just going to come off even worse? I suppose that’s a possibility, too.
Everyone’s an Asshole
Seriously, the asshole-quotient on Lost is getting higher and higher week by week. Charlotte is an absolute wretch, Juliet is heading back into wretch territory with her actions in this episode, and now we’ve got Captain Asshole himself on the scene. In fact, I’m can’t even remember what the captain’s real name is, so I’m just going to call him Captain Asshole until he shows any shred of personality which begs to differ with my initial impression.
I’m more than a little worried about the characters being introduced this season. Are they all just going to be angry and out to kill or maim everyone? Is there going to be any depth to them at all?
Random Notes
Because I’m running out of time, here are some more random notes that I took on “Ji Yeon.”
Sun doesn’t believe Juliet, and why should she?
Bernard is actually going to play an important role in this episode? Awesome! AND, he’s going to utter the line “Locke is a murderer” in the process? Even more awesome. I couldn’t agree more, Bernard. Somebody should put a grenade in that guy’s mouth, tease him for a little bit, and then shoot him in the kidney he still has. Just to see if he keeps biting down on the grenade, y’know?
I figured out the twist when I heard the traditional flashback musical cue before Jin’s last flashback. I don’t think they’re using the same cue for flash-forwards, at least not usually.
What does that “Good” of Hurley’s mean, after Sun tells him that no one else is coming? Do the Oceanic 6 not get along, aside from these two?
The “official” story is that Jin died in the crash, huh? (It says 9/22/2004 on the tombstone.) With Sun seeming genuinely upset, I’m led to believe that either everyone else, aside from the Oceanic 6, is killed before the Oceanic 6 leave. Or else the Oceanic 6 leave because they think everyone is dead, but they really aren’t.
Comments
ChrisClark said:
Well, I think we can confirm that Aaron is one of them now, after last night’s end-of-show teaser. They flashed his picture while saying something like “We know who the Oceanic 6 are...”
Even before that, I kind of bought it, though. I’m not convinced that the Oceanic 6 are the only 6 out in the real world, though. I think there may be others out there, only in hiding and possibly under assumed names, each of them working for Ben in some capacity.
Bethany said:
Yeah, I noticed little Aaron as well. Sigh.
What did you think of the episode last night? I was surprised that it spent so much time in the past with Michael, and didn’t provide more interspersed moments of the present. Hmmm.
ChrisClark said:
I was surprised, too. But I was actually kind of glad that they didn’t bounce back and forth. Once Michael’s story got going, I was actually really into it. And that’s saying something, because I usually can’t stand Michael as a character. He was so one-note for the first two seasons ("I’m gonna go rescue my boy!” and all that). It was only once he turned traitor that he started to get interesting to me.
Wondering if Sayid turning Michael in was the moment that Ben talked about in the flash-forward as a past action of Sayid’s where he shouldn’t have thought with his heart.
Bethany said:
Excellent point about the Ben/Sayid fast-forward. I’d forgotten about that.
I kept waiting for Captain Asshole to tell Sayid that he knows who Michael is. There just wasn’t any surprise on CA’s face. But then I didn’t realize it was already the end of the episode. That sucker flew by!
Surprised at all that Danielle and Boyfriend Whose Name I Forget were killed? Silly admission: Back when we first met Danielle, I was completely convinced she was actually a man. Now I feel really bad thinking that about that poor actress. Ha!
ChrisClark said:
Well, I’m not sure DMan-ielle is dead. I read a spoiler/teaser before the show that said “Yes, one person dies, but two people get shot,” or something like that. So, while I’m pretty sure Karl is dead, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Man-ielle.
I’m with you about the look on Captain Asshole’s face. I think he knows. But I, too, didn’t realize that we were already at the end of the episode, so maybe I’m wrong.
Bethany said:
Riddle me this: Have we found out who the Oceanic 6 are? There are arguments all over the interwebs claiming that Aaron is one of the six, but I don’t buy it. I know we were told that last week we would find out the last of the survivors, but I don’t think we did. Thoughts?
And how did the world go from believing that everyone was dead under the water to accepting that six people actually survived? So many questions… My head hurts!