1.17 - ...In Translation

Title’s significance: HAHAHA! Get it? Lost in translation? HAHAHA! Because they don’t speak English!

Recap: Flashbacks explore Jin’s job with Sun’s father, which it turns out was as a mafia-style enforcer – a job Jin found distasteful. On island, Jin gets suspicious about Sun and Michael, while Michael learns that Walt isn’t too keen on rafting off the island. Questions mount about who’s going on the raft with Michael, Walt, and Sawyer, but the question becomes moot when the raft is set on fire; Michael suspects Jin, but Locke’s loitering around suspiciously. Sayid asks Boone for his blessing with Shannon, but Boone warns him about Shannon’s childlike instincts. Sawyer attacks Jin, blaming him for the raft fire, and Michael and Jin fight it out on the beach, where Jin learns that Sun can speak English; the two temporarily split up over this. Locke tells the survivors that “The Others” burned the raft, and Michael decides to build a new raft. Over backgammon, Locke asks Walt why he burned the raft, and he confesses it’s because h doesn’t want to move and he likes living on the island. Jin and Michael make up when Jin offers to help build the raft.

Thoughts: The writers did a solid job here, turning Jin from a cold and controlling foreigner into a character we understand and want to root for. The episode also does a good job with a self-contained mystery that ends up establishing significant plot elements for the rest of the season. Kudos also to whoever came up with the ending of the episode, in which all seems like it’s going to be well – and then the batteries in Hurley’s CD player die. It’s ominous, it’s foreboding, and it’s a fantastic bit of foreshadowing.

Favorite moment: Shannon gives Locke a long-winded message for Boone, and Locke casually remarks while slicing open a frog, “Should I be writing all this down?” Later, Sawyer telling Jin, “It’s ‘Lord of the Flies’ time now” is both bone-chilling and inside-reference entertaining. But Locke’s “We’re not the only people on this island, and we all know it!” stands as my favorite line from this episode, hands down.

Characters introduced (in order):

• MR. PAIK, Sun’s industrialist father
• BYUNG HAN, a politician in Mr. Paik’s pocket
• JIN'S FATHER

What we learned:

• Jin comes from a fishing village.
• Jin’s father isn’t really dead, like he’s been claiming.
• Mr. Paik nominally runs a car company.
• There’s only room for four people on the raft and only one open spot since Sawyer bought a seat.
• The raft’s on fire!
• Jin’s puppy came as a bribe while working for Mr. Paik.
• Sun reveals to everyone that she can speak English.
• Jin was trying to put out the fire on the raft.
• Jin moves out of the caves to the beach.
• Jin was in Sydney and going to L.A. to deliver watches to Mr. Paik’s associates – but he was going to quit right after that to save his marriage.
• Walt burned the raft.
• Shannon and Sayid are buddy-buddy now.
• The batteries in Hurley’s CD player are dead.

Questions:

• What was Hurley doing on Korean television?
• What’s the story behind Locke’s relationship with his father?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• “We’re not the only people on this island, and we all know it!”