Lost: Delivering "The Package"

Last week’s Richard-centric episode was going to be an extremely tough act to follow for two reasons:

1.)“Ab Aeterno” was an epic-scaled hour (and six minutes) that also gave us a heaping helping of Island mythology. After doling out some insight into the Island’s history and purpose, it’s only natural for the writers to downshift the following week. 2.) This week marked the beginning of the second half of the final season of “Lost.” This entire thing is going to end soon and we (whether we want to admit it to ourselves or not) really want stuff to start happening now. (If not now, when?)

(An unofficial third reason: it’s truly unfortunate to follow an episode so steeped in Island history with an episode that focused on Jin and Sun, arguably the regular characters who have the least to do with Island history and are the most self-contained.)

It’s too bad because if “The Package” had aired in season 1 or 2, we’d be all over the jungle intrigue and the action (in more ways than one) off the Island. Unfortunately, the way it played was that our beloved characters were split into three different groups (Anti-Locke’s group, Widmore’s team and the Jack Attack) and did little more than sit around not trusting each other.

Then again for a guy as nerdy and as obsessed with this show as I am, there were still plenty of pleasures to be found. Chief among them is actually the idea that no one on this Island knows who to trust. (Except for Sun, who seems to know exactly who she trusts and who she doesn’t trust.)

The episode had Anti-Locke trying to keep various members of his entourage at bay. He started the episode by promising Jin that he would be reunited with his wife and that (once he had all the candidates) he’d be able to leave the Island. Last week we heard from the Man in Black that, once he killed Jacob, he’d continue killing whoever stepped up to replace him meaning that Anti-Locke’s ultimate endgame appears to be doing away with all of Jacob’s candidates so he can be free. The only problem is that Anti-Locke doesn’t appear to be allowed to kill them himself.

I still don’t know whether Kate is a candidate or not, but Anti-Locke seemed to re-plant the seed in Claire’s mind that she could go after Kate once Anti-Locke had what he needed. (Whatever happens, happens.)

Anti-Locke also had a notable interaction with Sayid, who confessed that he felt nothing. I wonder if this numbness is exclusive to Sayid’s role in the Temple massacre or if he’s been feeling empty inside ever since he was resurrected. Either way, Anti-Locke told Sayid his lack of feelings is probably for the best given what’s to come. Uh oh.

Still, the funniest interaction between Anti-Locke and his crew came with Sawyer, who spotted Sayid and Anti-Locke before they were about to paddle over to Hydra Island on an outlander. Sawyer hilariously asked Anti-Locke why he didn’t just turn into smoke and fly his ass over there. Anti-Locke kept his composure, but I can’t help the feeling he’s growing impatient with his group.

Eventually, Anti-Locke came face to face with Charles Widmore, his apparent opponent in the coming war. I found their meeting to be very bald and sneakily electrifying, given that the last time the two saw each other, Widmore warned Locke that there was a war coming and if Locke wasn’t there “the wrong side would win.” Well, now Locke is there (sorta) he’s throwing Widmore’s words back at him and I don’t know for sure which side is the wrong side.

Widmore had his hands full this week. He also had to deal with his reluctant lead mercenary/geophysicist Zoe going semi-rogue, tranquelizing Anti-Locke’s camp and kidnapping Jin. When all the people in Anti-Locke’s camp got incapacitated, I assumed Widmore was making a move on the candidates. Instead, it appears the operation had nothing to do with the candidates since Zoe simply wanted Jin to help her identify some pockets of electromagnetic energy in a map they found.

In the end, Widmore seemed to get in Jin’s good graces by showing him pictures of his daughter Ji Yeon. He also told Jin that if Anti-Locke is allowed to be, everyone he loves will “cease to be.” It was a touching scene (Daniel Dae Kim acted his ass off), but the whole thing felt undeniably manipulative on Widmore’s part, as did his attempt to bond himself to Jin by bringing up his own estranged daughter Penny.

I’m not sure how estranged he still is from Penny given that he likely ran into her when he kidnapped her man and dragged him to the Island. (Or that probably made him even more estranged.) As was the case in “Ab Aeterno”, the biggest reveal of the night was something most of us had probably guessed. The thing inside the secret room in Widmore’s submarine was a battered Desmond Hume, who made eye contact with an amphibious, spying Sayid in the episode’s final moments. I’m going to go ahead and re-assume that when Jacob told Hurley in “Lighthouse” that someone was coming to the Island, he was referring to Desmond, not Widmore.

Meanwhile, over in the other camp, the directionless natives were growing restless. Sun, in particular, was sick of waiting around and went to her garden to work out some of her frustration. I LOVED how the scene between her and Jack in the garden reeked of season 1 when he would go and check on everyone. Unfortunately, she wasn’t in the mood to chat and sent him away, which left her vulnerable to a visit and offer from Anti-Locke (who left the Smoke Monster sound effects at home this time).

Anti-Locke offered to reunite Sun with her husband and reached out his hand. Sun bolted and he gave chase, causing her to bump her head on a tree branch and knocking the English out of her. (I like how Miles’ skepticism spoke for the audience.) Jack diagnosed the head injury as aphasia, but it’s just as likely Anti-Locke worked some of his mojo on Sun while she was out to further alienate her from his opponents. Richard returned with a purpose (to blow up the Ajira pland and prevent Anti-Locke from leaving the Island), but Sun lashed out at him (in Korean) because she wasn’t interested in saving the world – she just wanted to get back with her husband. (That is SO not candidate talk.)

Later, Jack came armed with a surviving tomato from Sun’s garden, which seemed to give her hope, and a notebook so she could express herself. She wrote that she trusted him and took his hand. (Or at least, that’s what I think she wrote – that awful countdown clock for “V” blocked the lower right part of my TV screen!) As much fun as it is to see him blink rapidly when he gets angry, calmness and serenity look good on Matthew Fox. Maybe it’s just me, but he came off as very Jacob-y in that scene – except for the part where she promised Sun that she’d be reunited with Jin. That was classic Jack.

I feel really bad that I haven’t talked about the flash sideways at all, because it was arguably the most action-packed.

Whereas many of the other Sideways stories were slight variations of the original castaway journey (Sawyer’s the same, but he’s a cop!) the Kwon’s story was completely different and delightfully unpredictable. Were they married? Did they even like each other? Did either of them speak English? Did both of them speak English?

It turns out that, in the Sideways world, Jin and Sun didn’t speak English and were not married. Instead, they were carrying on a secret affair. The unbuttoning scene with Sun teasing Jin was kinda hot, and the shirtlessness of both Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim brought a little something for ALL the viewers at home.

Unfortunately for Jin, the last guy who carried on a secret affair with Sun was dropped out a window. As it happens, the $25,000 that was confiscated at the airport was payment form Sun’s dad to the casually racist Martin Keamy (“I feel like I’m in a Godzilla movie” “Go get the Arab guy”) who was supposed to kill Jin.

Keamy coldly said this to an oblivious Jin in English as he waited for Sun to deliver the money from her secret bank account (that her dad had cleaned out). Instead, Keamy and his men were taken out by Sayid, who did the absolute minimum to help Jin escape. Jin got into a fight with translator Mikhail (who is destined to have one eye no matter what reality he’s in) that resulted in Sun getting shot in the stomach and revealing to Jin that she’s pregnant.

I’m guessing Jin will take Sun to hospital where Jack works, because that’s where every character on this show who winds up getting injured in Los Angeles ends up. Maybe Jack will get an assist from the good gyno Dr. Ethan Goodspeed or (better yet) the baby doctor who specializes in miracles and has already treated Sun. (Come back, Juliet!)

So what’d you think of this episode? What does Widmore want with those pockets of electromagnetic energy? What is Desmond’s purpose on the Island? Finally, why won't you believe Ben? (Because he's speaking, duh!)