Episode 2 - The Glass Ballerina
3 January 2009
Review
Present: Sayid brings the boat ashore to start another signal fire. Jin wants to leave but Sun lies to him in order to help Jack. Sayid plans to ambush the Others and Jin works out what is going on. He tells Sun to wait in the boat. She ends up shooting one of the Others when they take the boat. She escapes though and Sayid apologises to them both as they head home. Sawyer and Kate are put to work by the Others. Jack is shown footage of Boston winning the World Series by Ben who tells him that if he cooperates he can go home.
Flashback: A young Sun breaks a glass ballerina but lies to her father and says the maid broke it. In the more recent past she sleeps with Jae Lee and is caught in the act by Mr Paik. He asks Jin to kill Lee. Jin refuses but Paik tells him it is a matter of family honour. Sun suggests to Jin that they run away but he doesn’t see how and goes to beat up Lee. He can’t kill him though and tells him to leave the country. Instead Lee throws himself off the balcony of his hotel.
The Good: The final scene is excellent and gets Lost back toward its strong cliff hangers which it once did so well. Although we discovered in the previous episode that the Others have contact with the outside world (by having files on the survivors), we now get the distinct impression that they could go there if they wanted to but choose not to. “Yes Jack, why would we be here?” Ben replies to the obvious question. This answer shifts our perspective slightly (as Lost has done time and again). Now we imagine the Others have chosen to stay on the island because it is so special in some way. They haven’t formed a bizarre society in order to survive the island lifestyle, they have clearly chosen or been told to behave that way. It’s all more interesting food for thought surrounding the bigger mysteries of Lost. The use of the Boston Red Sox’ is very apt (see 116 and 123) and is a great way to show Jack beginning to question his own beliefs. Christian had always used the Red Sox as his excuse to not take responsibility for his actions. Now Jack is seeing the world differently and maybe cooperating with the Others is something he will consider?
Meanwhile Sawyer has some nice moments. His forced “How dare you?” is a funny line and kissing Kate gives him two opportunities. One to be affectionate to her and two to try and test how strong the Others really are. It all makes Sawyer look more like a good guy and his charisma makes him enjoyable to watch. Sayid too shows his brains by realising what has happened to Jack and plotting a swift counter strike. The Others also look clever for avoiding the trap and stealing the boat.
Then there is the Jin and Sun story which has some good moments and some tricky ones. The revelation that Sun was sleeping with Jae Lee prompts the question of who really is the father of her baby. And more importantly what would it mean for their relationship if it wasn’t Jin’s baby. One of the more interesting moments comes when Mr Paik tells Jin to kill Jae Lee. Mr Paik seems genuinely ashamed of what Sun did and it is difficult to tell if his desire for revenge is purely about his own honour or whether he feels some affection for Jin. It’s a really strong scene because of the ambiguity. Is Mr Paik skilfully manipulating Jin, as his evil persona would suggest or is this him showing a more human side? Or as human as you can be when suggesting a revenge murder. It’s also good that the writers address Jin’s developing English skills. We can assume that Jin will one day communicate in English, so they might as well begin to establish that. It’s worth mentioning Jin seeing Jae Lee talking to the doorman and remembering that he once had that job and was treated badly by Lee’s father (205).
The title of the episode refers to the glass ballerina which Sun broke as a child. She lied then to protect herself despite knowing that a woman would lose her job over it. The link to the present is that she is lying to Jin in order to keep his love and protection for her and the baby. Finally Colleen challenges Sun on the boat by saying that she isn’t a killer, only to discover that she is.
Sun’s first flashback (106) painted her as a victim of a domineering husband and father. Her desperation to escape them was tempered by her genuine feelings toward Jin. However slowly we have begun to see that Jin is the real victim and the real nice guy. Again here he refuses to kill Jae Lee. Instead offering him the chance for a fresh start, a fresh start that Jin himself would soon desire. Sun meanwhile has become less sympathetic in our eyes by deceiving Jin twice here (both about Lee and Sayid’s plan). It certainly adds a nice layer of intrigue to their story but it can also seem confusing.
The Bad: The confusion comes because of the scene where Sun and Jin have dinner. Jin tells her that her father asked him to send a message. She suggests that they run away together and start over but he doesn’t see how they could escape her father. I can only see this as a poorly written scene. In Jin’s first flashback (117) he made it clear that he didn’t want Sun to know what her father made him do. Although his blood stained clothes made it obvious, he didn’t want her to know the details for fear of hurting her with the knowledge. Yet here he openly uses the phrase “message” which she clearly understands. Then she suggests they run away which seems odd because the dramatic irony always appeared to be that they had both chosen to escape to America independently of one another. That story seems weakened by her suggesting it to him over dinner.
The Unknown: Colleen says that she can’t make the decision of whether to let Sun off the boat or not. It seems like an odd statement considering Ben didn’t give any instructions about what to do with the survivors guarding the boat. We again see Alex who is enquiring after Karl. Why exactly is she breaking the Others solidarity the way she is? What are the Others breaking rocks for? Who is the father of Sun’s baby?
Best Moment: Quite a few to choose from but I opt for Mr Paik. It’s some good acting from him and the question of whether he is manipulating or being nice to Jin makes it very effective television. He uses the same shoulder rub on Jin which Christian used to manipulate Jack (111) which is a nice allusion.
The Bottom Line: At first viewing this episode seems to be lacking something. Again it feels like Lost has lost its edge when we see the Others clumsily pushing Kate and Sawyer around at rifle point. It makes them seem too normal and modern and in a way that reflects on the whole show. It seems to take away the mysterious, exciting, unknown element of Lost which made it such a compelling show.
But if you watch the episode again you begin to appreciate the stories on another level. Jin and Sun’s story has some depth to it and Jack, Sawyer and Sayid all get good moments to remind us of their qualities. On reflection I think the episode is decent but it comes at a time when some viewers expectations for more mystery and excitement are being dashed.
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