Episode 18 - D.O.C.
2 January 2009
Review
Present: Sun becomes suspicious after Jack asks her questions about her pregnancy. When Kate tells her that Juliet was a fertility doctor she demands to know what happens to pregnant women on the island. Juliet takes her to the medical station to perform an ultrasound. Sun confesses that the baby may not be Jin’s. It turns out that it is but that means Sun will die. Meanwhile Hurley accidentally sets off a flare attracting the attention of Mikhail. He helps fix the parachutist’s wounds in exchange for his freedom. She claims that Flight 815 was found with all the passengers dead.
Flashback: Newly wed Sun is confronted by a woman trying to blackmail her with the news that Jin’s mother was a prostitute. Sun goes to see Jin’s father and asks him for the truth. He confirms the story but begs Sun to spare Jin the shame. She goes to Mr Paik and acquires the money from him but he says that Jin will carry this debt by working directly for him. Sun threatens Jin’s mother with death if she crosses her.
The Good: One of Lost’s greatest strengths is its cliff-hangers. They have produced so many genuinely surprising and intriguing endings and this is yet another. Although we don’t know if it is true or not, the parachutist claims that Flight 815 was found and all the passengers were dead. If true it suggests either a conspiracy or some serious science fiction, either of which is very intriguing.
Mikhail’s reappearance is also a surprise. Again was the fence not set to kill, is this an example of the islands healing properties (as Mikhail suggests) or is there something about the Others and there freakish acts of strength? We already knew the island could do magical things (as in healing Locke) but now we are given more factual evidence of this as Mikhail says “wounds are a bit different” on the island and Juliet adds that the average male sperm count is five times higher there. It all adds to our knowledge of the island and its strange properties and it is very welcome to get more information on anything in this show. The writers do a good job of justifying Desmond’s decision to let Mikhail go, not only because of his word and the practicality of keeping a prisoner but also the fact that Desmond is not one of the survivors. Desmond wasn’t present for Claire’s abduction or Ana Lucia’s tales of woe and so he doesn’t have the same emotional reaction to the Others. You also have to wonder what Kelvin told him about them back when he was in the hatch. Either way it is good writing enabling Mikhail to be a plot device, healing the parachutist but being free to transmit her arrival to the Others.
Then of course we have Sun who gets another good dose of characterisation. Her story is even more complicated than we had once imagined. Her curiosity about Jin’s past makes sense and a woman of her wealth would have no trouble in finding out what she needed to. She then does the honourable thing and tries to keep Jin’s past a secret. However her actions come at a price when we discover that her bargain with her father led to Jin becoming Paik’s thug. It makes sense of why she was suddenly aware of what Jin was doing (302) having seemingly been ignorant of that fact previously. It also gives Sun a much harder edge than we had once assumed. Here we see she was never really a submissive wife (as she appeared in season one), instead she was quite capable of following her father into making threats on peoples lives and cutting the necessary deals to protect her loved ones.
In the present we see this hard edge when she strides up to Juliet and demands answers about what the Others are doing. Their trip to the medical station provides really nice moments for both of them. Sun’s conflicted emotions are well played as she realises both her baby’s true father and then has to realise this means she will die. While Juliet’s explanation of why she is helping Sun is very strong and fits perfectly within her back-story. She too plays her emotions well and continues the intrigue of whether she is still working for Ben or whether she will help the survivors.
Of course with all our new knowledge about Sun we now know the following: She was responsible for getting Jin into the brutal line of work with her father. And of course she knew exactly what he was up to when he came home with blood on his clothes (106). Although he brushed off her suggestion that they run away (302) you would think she would have more sympathy for Jin’s plight. Instead she decided to sleep with Jae Lee (302) and then leave Jin (106). Ultimately she couldn’t bring herself to leave him and let’s hope part of her reason was that she was responsible for what he became.
The Bad: Otherwise these new revelations make Sun out to be a bitch. She clearly has the capability to be one but I will give the writers the benefit of the doubt on this complex tale.
Does Juliet really need to sneak up on Sun and cover her mouth the way she does? Yes their trip needs to be a secret but you would think a polite request would have gone down better. It seems like it was written to create unnecessary drama.
The Unknown: Again who is the parachutist and why can she speak so many languages? She seems to say to Mikhail “I am not alone” in Portuguese. Is that true? Why say it to him? Again working on translations of dialogue it is implied that Mr Paik’s associates were talking about the Hanso Foundation (see 203). If true what is Paik’s connection to them and is there a connection to the Dharma Initiative.
Best Moment: Sun goes to see Jin’s father. A wonderfully cast actor, he again (117) comes across as the nicest man in the world. He is so sweet, in both manner and character. The revelation that he raised Jin, even though he didn’t know if he was his because “who else would take care of him” is very moving. As is his plea to Sun to protect Jin from shame.
The Bottom Line: It’s another good character episode from Lost which is very encouraging to see. They seem to have recovered a sense of purpose for their characters and the show as a whole. Now we can see that the parachutist and Locke and Juliet’s loyalties will be the stories which lead into the season finale.
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