Episode 7 - Ji Yeon
30 March 2012
Present: Sun decides to go to Locke’s camp because she doesn’t trust the people from the freighter. Juliet tries to stop her and resorts to revealing to Jin that Sun cheated on him and thought the baby might not be his. Jin forgives her and they decide to stay. On the freighter Sayid and Desmond meet Captain Gault who tells them that he gets his orders from Charles Widmore. He also tells them that Ben staged the 815 crash and that is one of the reasons they are trying to capture him. Then they meet the cleaner Kevin Johnson, or as we know him Michael.
Flashback: In the future Sun is a member of the Oceanic Six and is giving birth. Her doctor is away so another assists while she calls out for Jin. Hurley comes to see the baby and they visit Jin’s grave which says that he died the day of the crash.
In the past Jin is rushing to the hospital with a toy panda. He loses the first one and has to buy another with a lot of cash. When he arrives at the hospital the Chinese Ambassador accepts the gift on behalf of Mr Paik.
The Good: For fans of Jin and Sun’s story there is some good stuff to enjoy here, but the episode will likely be remembered for two big twists.
Michael returns to the island as Kevin Johnson and is clearly Ben’s spy on the boat. Sayid and Desmond uneasily bite their tongues rather than cause a stir and we are left with many questions. Then it turns out Jin has not been racing to the hospital for Sun after all. The news that his story is a flashback while Sun’s has been a flashforward is quite a shock. It’s a clever trick which the writers skilfully deploy to keep viewers guessing.
The clue’s are there for eagle eyed viewers to spot. Just as Jack was seen using a phone made after 2004 (322), Jin is using an old looking cell before it is run over. Not to mention that Jin screams threats at a taxi rather than showing the more mellow side we have seen come out on the island. The smartest trick is the toy salesmen offering Jin a dragon saying it is the year of the dragon: a clue that would have escaped almost everyone.
The twist effectively keeps you guessing and leads to a very sad ending where we realise Jin has died or is still on the island. From Sun’s tears and words one has to assume he is dead. During the episode he seems to have put to rest the anger he once held and vows to protect Sun and the baby no matter what. This is very reminiscent of Charlie and reminds us that the island likes its residents to find peace before it ends their lives. Of course his death day on the grave is the day of the crash, which confirms the story Jack seems to be telling (404) about everyone else dying on the day of the crash.
Both Jin and Sun are convincing in the episode. Sun shows she is her father’s daughter once more as she confronts Daniel and slaps Juliet. Jin has to balance his English with his Korean and emote in both his forgiveness and loyalty which can’t be easy. Juliet revealing Sun’s adultery is a nice moment; it shows her determination to not let any more mothers die and reminds you of the ruthlessness that being an Other has bred in her.
The Bad: It’s difficult to tell what kind of impact Michael’s return would have had if we didn’t know it was coming. The producers announced his return ahead of time and even casual viewers may have seen his name appearing in the opening credits in every episode of season four. One imagines it would have had more impact than it does here. It is still intriguing of course but not shocking.
The twist with simultaneous flashbacks and flash-forwards has an element of cheating about it. Although the writers understandably did not want to admit Jin was dead at the start of the episode, his flashback is essentially pointless. The story we see involving him is only there to trick the viewer. It’s a harsh criticism given that most viewers will just enjoy the twist, but one can’t help feel that we would never have needed to see Jin’s story if there were no twist. To put it another way, Jin’s story was an irrelevant means to an end, not a piece of the puzzle we needed to know about. In essence the producers are prioritising shock value over character development. I would never encourage that or you devalue the integrity of the characters.
There are some odd lines in this episode. Kate saying Charlotte and Daniel turned off the poisonous gas to “earn brownie points” is very silly. They said they turned it off to prevent Ben from killing them all. Surely that is a perfectly acceptable answer. Then Juliet tells Sun that she has been dishonest in the past but given what Sun has confided in her, she should trust her. In other words, even though I have lied in the past, the fact that I know stuff you told me should convince you to trust me. It’s pretty illogically written.
Sun says to Jin that her affair “was a long time ago.” Well clearly not that long ago Sun if you thought he was the father! Jin suddenly breaking from Korean to English to ask if the baby is his seems very contrived for our benefit. Sun’s doctor suggests a C-section about ten seconds before the baby’s head comes out. And if Sun was the only Korean amongst the Oceanic Six shouldn’t everyone know her husband is dead? Even though the writers provided a backup doctor (to avoid her regular doctor reminding her that Jin is dead), he should have known this. These examples of sloppiness are irritating to see.
One other questionable line is Bernard saying Locke is a murderer and therefore it’s not right to follow him. One assumes that in a time of “war” he was able to forgive Ana Lucia and Eko for killing others (207). And that he was ok living with Jack who put a gun to Locke’s head and pulled the trigger (401). Perhaps he has forgotten that a few days ago he shot at dynamite and blew up a bunch of Others (323)? I also assume he doesn’t know that Desmond, Sawyer, Kate and Charlie have all been responsible for people’s deaths either. Is this careless scripting or does Bernard need to look in the mirror?
The Unknown: On the boat dark hints are given about Captain Gault and his behaviour. So far he has just been surprisingly forthcoming as Sayid puts it. His revelations about the fake 815 wreckage are interesting. Is he telling the truth and why is Charles Widmore trying to find out the truth? Also who is making the mysterious knocking sound and who slipped Sayid the note? If it was Michael then is the Captain lying about Ben being responsible? Kate says that the Tempest station was not a power station after all. Does that mean there still is one somewhere? What mission is Frank on that he looks concerned about? Why was Regina behaving so strangely and why did she kill herself?
324 dead bodies were found on the ocean floor. $10,000 per body would give you 3.24 million. Or perhaps the $3.2 million which Miles asked of Ben? Just a thought.
Best Moment: Juliet telling Jin that Sun was with another man. Good character based drama.
The Bottom Line: When you base a show around two big twists the rest of the action can seem less significant. There is some good stuff here but it does feel a bit overshadowed. The twists are strong though and most fans will have been glued to their seats and highly pleased with how it turned out. For those of us looking deeper this is a poorly written episode in many ways.
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