Revisiting Lost’s Third Season: Episodes 1-3
I decided to do it. On Christmas Eve, I walked in to my local DVD-selling establishment and picked up the season three DVD of Lost. I figure the entire season can easily be re-watched before the January 31 premiere of season 4, and my fandom could only be enhanced by the experience. I have never been one to re-watch series I’ve already seen, but Lost deserves it and I thought it’d be fun to write about it here on The Tail Section. So, over the next month or so, I’ll be periodically dropping in and giving my thoughts on the episodes as I progress through Lost’s third season, now knowing how the season will end.
Episode 1 – A Tale of Two Cities
We all know about the ridiculously awesome first scene of season three, with the Others and the book club and the crash. It was impeccably executed. The thing I love most about the episode, however, is Cuse and Lindelof’s decision to focus only on Jack, Kate, Sawyer and the Others. Actually, that’s the beauty of the first three episodes. Episode one is what happens to Jack, Kate and Sawyer, episode two is Jin, Sun and Sayid and episode three is Locke, Desmond, Mr. Eko, Charlie and Hurley. The oddness of Jack’s aquarium lock-up, Juliet’s character, Sawyer’s cage and Kate’s dress is a lot to take in during a season premiere, not to mention the horrendous state we find Jack in during his flashbacks – jealous and on the edge of psychotic. Knowing now why Ben wanted Jack in the first place, it’s awesome watching Ben’s plan unfold. Juliet is such a freaking ice queen in the first episodes, but now that I know who she is, it’s heart breaking to know everything she’s internalizing while tormenting Jack, or taser-ing Sawyer.
Rating: 9/10
The episode deserves a high rating based on the opening scene alone, though the introduction to the other island, the cages and Juliet was perfect.
Episode 2 – The Glass Ballerina
Sun is kind of a terrible person. The Glass Ballerina shows us Sun cheating on Jin, through the aftermath of Sun’s father discovering the affair, and Jin being ordered to kill Sun’s lover. Now, the first flashback scene is very important when put into perspective. It’s of Sun as a little girl. She accidentally breaks a glass ballerina at her home. When her father asks her if she did it (knowing she did) Sun pleads her innocence and the maid takes the blame. Sun, as we’ve seen time and time again, will save her own skin and her reputation by any means necessary, consequences for others be damned. Back on the island, Sayid realizes Jack and crew are likely captured and wants to smoke some others out to kill and torture. The others steal the boat, but not before Sun shoots one of them. OK, all good stuff, but the best part of the episode, hands down, was Ben confronting Jack at the end. Ben gives a little speech about the two having switched roles rather suddenly, and shows him evidence that he has contact with the outside world. The evidence – footage from the Boston Red Sox winning the 2004 World Series. Ingenious use of pop culture by the writers and a reminder to the audience that Oceanic Flight 815 crashed only a couple months back in Lost’s chronology. The other highlight was the Sawyer-Kate kiss, in which Kate tastes like strawberries and Sawyer tastes like fish biscuits.
Rating: 7/10
All the stuff on the island is great, but the flashbacks were a little redundant. I don’t need any more reinforcement for my dislike of Sun. Bonus points for Sawyer beating the crap out of some others then getting shocked. Again.
Episode 3 – Further Instructions
Locke saves Eko from the polar bear. That’s the plot. Also, we get the aftermath of the hatch explosion – Locke is alive and briefly unable to speak, Mr. Eko is missing, Desmond wakes up naked and sees flashes from the future, and Hurley returns to camp with some bad news. The polar bear stuff is cool and all, but the most noteworthy thing about this episode was the hallucination sequence. Locke builds his Sweat Lodge, eats some natural island drugs, and hallucinates. Boone takes him on a tour of an airport terminal, all the familiar faces are there (including an incredibly hot Kate), and Locke is in his wheel chair. It’s very difficult to create a trippy scene like this that works, but they knocked this one out of the park. It was nice to see Boone again, if only for a bit. I always end up catching myself when it comes to my opinion of Locke – it’s episodes like this that remind me he’s always teetering on the edge of insanity. It’s sad seeing Mr. Eko knowing his end is nigh, and, weirdly, the same with Charlie, now that we got our first taste of Desmond’s abilities.
Rating: 8/10
Awesome hallucination scene, interesting enough flashback, and a polar bear. You can’t ask for much more.
This is a genius idea on TTS’ part. I can’t afford to buy season three so reading the episode synopsis is nice. It’ll keep me up to date and semi-ready for seaon four. Thanks guys.
I don’t think Charlie is dead though.
Comment by Jimbo08lak — December 27, 2007 @ 7:10 pm
Sun is steadily gaining on Claire as my most hated member of the Lost group. Claires flashback involving her mother’s accident and Sun’s flashback of Jin’s mom are the only two eps that I skipped through the flashbacks.
BOOOOOOOOOOORING! At least since i’ve already seen them, that is.
Comment by Gary — December 27, 2007 @ 8:02 pm
“Sun, as we’ve seen time and time again, will save her own skin and her reputation by any means necessary, consequences for others be damned.”
Being a bit harsh on Sun aren’t you, Oscar? She was an innocent girl when the statue broke. She couldn’t have known the full ramifications of her lie.
As for her affair, need I remind you of what a controlling ass Jin was before and at the beginning of the island stranding? She’s given him a second chance to make ammends which is more than many women would do.
And later in Season 3 Sun pays off Jin’s mother to spare him the embrassment of him and others knowing his mother was a bitch and a whore. Even though she sold out Jin to his father in the process she was still acting in his interest, not solely her own. It’s apparent that one’s honor and reputation in Korean culture is very different and means a hell of a lot more than our own, as it can destroy ones social and financial standing in the blink of an eye.
And I think it’s safe to assume she knew her father was a hardass, but I seriously doubt she suspected him of being someone who would coerce her own husband into murdering her lover.
And she shot the Other after they attacked the boat and threatened to take it, possibly their only hope of getting off the island.
Just think you are being a bit hard on her for merely surviving and being human. she may be fallible, she may be spoiled, but she’s certainly not a “terrible person.” Quite far from.
Comment by Node32774 — December 27, 2007 @ 8:16 pm
I think that Season 3 is the weakest of the seasons yet. This is a great idea though.
Comment by Ross — December 27, 2007 @ 8:18 pm
Thank you Oscar, I echo your views when I have started watching the episodes again - on DVD.
@Node: It’s interesting you should call Sun innocent even when she was a girl. She wasn’t innocent! She knew full well the maid would be punished of her own doing, but she didn’t care. Sun knew that the ends did not justify the means when she had an affair, but she did it anyway. Sun is out for herself, just like Juliet is out for herself. Can we trust Sun?
It’s interesting some people don’t like Season 3. Many people wanted to know about the Others - and Lost finally does, people complain it focused too much on them and not on the beach stories. The beach stories days are gone! And the Others, most of them, the ones with the guns, those days are gone. I reckon when the new baddies come along, people will say, “More beach stories! More Others stories! More Jacob!” Season 3 gave satisfying answers, and when Season 4 comes along (and hopefully finishes), there will be satisfying answers, and some will be satisfied, and others - disappointed.
Comment by sk8rpo — December 28, 2007 @ 12:26 am
Sun was cheating on Jin before Jin ever started being a control-freak. That is why Sun feels guilty and always asks if her being stranded on the island is her punishment.
Comment by preztige — December 28, 2007 @ 3:34 am
sk8rpo: Do you contribute anything to this site other than paroting whatever the author of the article says? Do us all a favor an save it. I was merely defensing Sun against what I feel are unfair comments. Deal with it.
Yes, Sun knew the maid would be “punished” but a girl that young probably didn’t suspect her father’s punishment most likely destroyed her life. You never told a lie when you were a little kid fearing retribution even though it might affect soemone else negativity? It’s simply selfish immaturity found in nearly all children.
And preztige, what evidence do you have that Sun was cheating on Jin before he was a control freak? Zero. The timeline has not been established on the show. The very nature of Korean culture is oppresive and sexist towards women judging by Jin covering up Sun early in the show. It wasn’t until after they were on the island that Jin became respectful of Sun.
Comment by Node32774 — December 28, 2007 @ 6:07 am
I don’t think Sun’s lie about the ballerina was necessarily only about her. It also tells us a lot about her perception of her father. Children who fear over the top, excessive punishments lie when they are caught misbehaving. It’s pretty clear that Paik would be over the top with punishments, don’t you think?
So while yes, we learn a bit about Sun’s capacity for deceit, we also learn that she has a history of controlling men that goes back to her father. That makes her affair a lot more understandable. Not forgivable, but lets us know a bit about why she was attracted to Jae Lee. And I have to side with Node here–she began the affair with Jae Lee after Jin began keeping secrets from her, being all controlling, and accusing her of trapping him into marrying her. Jin was all sweet and romantic early on, remember?
And prez, Jin also says, in Exodus 1, that he feels he is being punished on the island. Not only Sun. They both feel this way about themselves and their pasts.
Comment by KeepingAwake — December 28, 2007 @ 7:04 am
oops, meant she has a ‘history of abuse from controlling men’.
Comment by KeepingAwake — December 28, 2007 @ 7:06 am
The timeline, as I see it, is all was well until Jin’s mom appeared and black-mailed Sun.
The odd thing here, though, is the threat at the end of the episode: if she could have Jin’s mother ‘taked care of’, why give her the money in the first place?
Until the point where she took the 100 grand from her father, Jin was still the sweet and loving husband, a floor manager, etc. Once she took that money, this is when Jin was forced to bear that debt which led to him becoming the controlling obsessive that we met in season one.
The affair happened afterwards, I believe. This is due to the fact that Jae Lee was her English teacher, a situation that did not occur until after she decided to escape to America. The affair alone is reason enough for me to dislike her, but as Jack said in Tabula Rasa, it’s a clean slate for everyone.
Node: the child lying really was nothing special, I agree, but as we’re watching a story here, it was placed within the episode for a reason. I believe it was there to reinforce the concept we’re debating here: Sun’s deceit and hiding causes her own problems (a theme used widley throughout the show).
KeepingAwake brings up some good points as well, but this is also echoing the parent issues that all the losties have.
sk8rpro: It always happnens that way. People want to know more about the red-shirts, we get Paulo & Nikki, people gets pissed off… People want to know more about the others, we get season 3, people get pissed off… It happens everywhere all the time.
Shrug.
Comment by cyclic erosion — December 28, 2007 @ 7:47 am
Node you are crazy at this point for sideing with Sun. Anything Jin did in the past has now been confirmed as a direct result of Sun’s actions behind his back. The timeline is inconsenquential at this point. The very first Jin flashback has jin coming into the bathroom and sun asking him why is he bloody etc.. Jin says he is it doing it for the relationship cause her father makes him. This is Suns’s fault for taking the money in the glass ballerina. Glass ballerina clearly takes place prior to this first flashback because Jin is only a floor manager before sun takes that money. Sun acts innocent as if she doesnt know what Jin is doing for her father, when the truth is that not only does she know, she is the cause. Sure sun was trying to protect Jin’s “honor” by paying off his mom, but before she leaves to do so, Jin clearly states please give th emoney back, i do not want to be more indebted to your father then i already am. Despite sun lying to him about the what the money was for, the statement by jin was clearly a message relaying that what sun was about to do was against Jin’s wishes.. bottom line sun=coniving b1tch. The whole purpose of the ep Glass Ballerina is to show a timeline of her life and lying ways from age six. This is lost if her getting the maid fired was inconsequential and innocent there would be no need to show it. also sk8erpro is one of the better posters on this site.
Comment by marc — December 28, 2007 @ 8:45 am
The thing I find a bit confusing about these episodes is what motivates Jack to finally do the surgery. He had decided against it, then apparently Ben left his cell door open on purpose so he would go into the other room where he saw Kate and Sawyer doing the nasty on the monitor. It was at this point that he decided to do the surgery. Now Ben must have some real Hannibal Lecter insight into Jack’s psyche to be able to figure that one out: If I let Jack see those two doing it, then he’ll want to do the surgery. All I could think was: WTF? All I can think of is that Ben must have figured out that Jack loved Kate somehow, and then he also noticed that Jack still loved his wife very much and just wanted to know whether she was happy. So… Ben wants Jack to see how much Kate loves Sawyer… and then maybe he’ll do the surgery to save Sawyer’s life because that will make Kate happy? Is that what’s going on? Sorry, I just don’t have sociopathic ability to manipulate people like that…
Comment by BobW — December 28, 2007 @ 9:02 am
Marc, Jin is not totally off the hook here. Some of what this episode reinforces is Jin’s motivation. Jin is a person who is ruled by shame for most of his life before he gets to the island. He’s ashamed of his father, his status, etc. Yes, Sun’s actions provide the setup for his being made a special assistant to Paik, but its his own inherent sense of shame that allows him to take the position and keep it, knowing what it entails. He chooses to continue with the job for a long time, even when he knows it is wrong. Blaming it on Sun is as much of a cop out as anything that Sun has done. They both lie, either to themselves or others, and convince themselves that they are making decisions on behalf of their partner’s well-being when they know deep down that there is something wrong in these decisions. Like most things in Lost, it’s not black and white. It’s a tad more nuanced.
cyclic–agree with you.
Comment by KeepingAwake — December 28, 2007 @ 9:11 am
While i agree that jin has done some morally questionable things, keepingawake, i disagree that his own sense of shame is involved when it comes to Jin’s job with mr. paik. Think about it from the kid he let pee when he was the doorman of the hotel to sparing jae lee’s life to sparing the political guys life by just beating the hell outta him rather then letting the guy with the gloves shoot him. Jin is clearly good at heart. His shame and willingness to work for paik etc. clearly stems from his desire to be with sun, somethign that he never strayed from. He felt that knowledge of his father/mother would prevent him from being with sun cause he feared he would be viewed as not good enough. He only began to talk to paik because of his want to marry sun. i still say all the problems in the marriage are sun’s fault. my point is he takes this job for sun and no other reason, although i do agree he is insecure about his social status but that in no way dictates how he has handled these tough situations. I feel he has handled them all the best he can consider the sitation he is in. sun has alot of nerve for causing all the b.s. and then blaming it on jin. also if you recall jin could not just leave the job… he was tryign to do that, and stay in america as suggested by his pop but the guy in the airport bathroom warned him that he better not try to runaway. once he was in there was no getting out and thats sun’s fault. okay im rambling,
Comment by marc — December 28, 2007 @ 9:38 am
I’m with you that Jin has struggled long and hard to do what he believes in his heart is right. And he really only makes crap decisions when he is worried about losing Sun. But he is worried about losing Sun because he doesn’t believe that she could love him for who he is, and in his quest to become ‘enough’ for her, he betrays them both. She knows this insecurity he carries (and may also have worried what her father would do if he were to find out) and that’s why she paid off his mother. I’d agree with you that Jin is of purer heart than is Sun, but the mess they find themselves in is a culmination of both of their decisions.
Jin may be the only character who began his redemption path before he got on 815. His began when he apologized to his father. Sun’s began at the airport, when she couldn’t leave him. (Hmm, well AnaLucia made a bit of a start, asking her mommy if she could come home I guess)
And you’re not rambling!
Once at the airport, Sun and Jin were on the same course–running from her father and towards a chance at rebuilding their relationship. I don’t think either of them predicted just how far her father would go to thwart that.
Comment by KeepingAwake — December 28, 2007 @ 10:09 am
And should have added:
Sun was ripe for the blackmail threat because Jin had lied and told her his parents were dead. So while I will agree that Sun made a bad decision in paying off his mother, indebting Jin to her father, Jin got this ball rolling…with his own capacity for deceit.
Comment by KeepingAwake — December 28, 2007 @ 10:14 am
although we are basically on the same page, again i think the issue is not his capacity for deceit but his love for sun. His own insecurities made him believe that he could not tell sun his father is alive/a fisherman out of fear of either rejection from her or her father.. i believe that jin thinks his mom is dead though.
i feel the foreshadow is on the wall here though, i think a huge betrayal is coming from sun at some point whether it be towards jin, possibly michael, or the rest of the castaways is tbd. i always liked sun up until season three though, now when i got back and look at all the episodes i look at her from an angle of not liking her and it makes things more clear. i feel sun has not really redeemed her self much, like the one time jin wanted to go after mike and she would not let him, then in glass balerina jin wanted to go back and sun tried to lie to him about what they were doing.. its all about sun. she just spoiled. good conversatoin though.
Comment by marc — December 28, 2007 @ 10:41 am
Jin has definitely made more progress toward redemption than has Sun. And it’s underscored by the many times in which he embraces and takes pride in his ability to fish–the thing that so shamed him before. And yeah, I don’t think he knows the deal with his mom either.
I’m not sure if Sun is spoiled as much as she is fearful. If she were spoiled, she wouldn’t have married Jin in the first place, knowing he could never buy her fancy trappings.
I look at Sun as a fearful person, trusting no one but herself. Her actions reflect that–she feels a need to control what she can in order to protect herself. Does that make her a good or bad person? Remains to be seen, I think. But the writers have left many possible paths for these two open.
Everyone in Lost is a mix of good and bad. They are all moving toward redemption. So it’s hard to count anyone out until the bitter end. To me, anyway. If they didn’t have black holes in their hearts, they wouldn’t need redeeming, right?
I’ve said it on another site, but I think that folks who appreciate the Sun/Jin storyline are a bit older than some fans. We can see how a series of seemingly well-intended decisions can ultimately tear a couple apart, because we’ve lived it. It makes their story very relatable to those of us who have been in long term relationships that failed even though both people truly loved each other and thought they were generally serving the relationship. Admittedly, Dun/Jin is a very amplified version, as you would expect from a drama. But the underpinnings are true.
Comment by KeepingAwake — December 28, 2007 @ 11:02 am
yea i can defintely see that as far as older folks go. I am actually only 24 myself, but really enjoy their storyline. Sun/Jin are both great characters. The show would not be same without them. I am not sure if you are male or female, but i usually tend to side with the guy in television situation. Which is why im in full Jin support.
Comment by marc — December 28, 2007 @ 11:10 am
Wow you seem to have touched a nerve here with Sun. I have to agree with a lot of the comments. I happen to LOVE Sun’s character… i’d go so far as to say she is one of my favorite! I’m really glad that the writers continue to give her arcs in the main story.
Also i think Episode 3 had to be one of the worst episodes of the season. The flashbacks were GREAT! But the story about Locke and the polar bear… LAME.
Comment by Troy — December 28, 2007 @ 11:14 am
Marc, female, early 40’s. Perhaps that makes me more sympathetic to the women? But one thing you learn over time is that both genders have massive struggles, although they are different. Important struggles, painful struggles, but equally crucial. Men and women both have it hard, albeit in different ways.
So I think I have sympathy for both. Sun and Jin both, at the end of the day, struggle with trust. Which is why their story is so perfect–they are the ideal foils to one another. They both want nothing more than to trust each other and themselves fully, but..can’t..quite.. get.. there.
Most men worth knowing have to struggle with pride at some point, as Jin has done. And he’s done it well! Which makes me really wonder if they will kill him off now, since that seems to happen once you’ve redeemed yourself on Lost! :O I hope they don’t, as I love the Sun/Jin storyline. I want them to have a happy ending!
Comment by KeepingAwake — December 28, 2007 @ 11:26 am
thats the funny thing about the show keepingawake, the only happy ending for sun/jin can be found on the island, which is the case for every single main character who was on the plane. There is no having a better life off island withe the exception of maybe hurley but probably not. The only two so-called “good guys” who would have something good/happy ending to return to off island are desmond and juliet (is she good, i think so) neither of whom were on the plane. Makes me think the plane was meant to crash there as locke would say lol. Sounds like you were hurt at somepoint there keeping awake so im sorry for that. I am happy we have these types of sites to keep us sane during these breaks and to come on here and discuss the show and the effect it has had on our lifes. (ive never had a show touch me like this before) I am sure you feel the same.
Comment by marc — December 28, 2007 @ 11:44 am
I too have started Season 3, but have only gotten through 2 episodes. I too, appreciate the way they are laying it all out with the first 3 episodes. They did the same with Season 2.
In Episode One, Things I liked is now the Others are getting Psychological on all of them. Everything from The Fish Biscuit, The Dress, Feeding Jack. One has to wonder who Carl is and how he got there and why isn’t he a part of them.
In Episode Two, I love the opening sequence of the ballerina, very well shot. I also think Mr Paik is probably the worst of all the fathers. He scares the bejesus out of me with that one bulging eye and the other squited! Again more of the psychological manipulations. Danny shcking Sawyer to get to Kate. Sayid says something of great interest that pretty much answers why the 3 were taken. He says he’d take 2 prisoners…one to make the other do what he wants. The Others one up that one by using 2 to get to one. Fact - Kate would never have confronted Jack, if she weren’t in fear of Sawyers life. In fact she would have been a wild card and hard to control. Same with Sawyer. Oh yeah the ending was one of the better payoffs I have seen on TV. Trivia Bit - Ms Klugh was supposed to be the one that got shot by Sun, but because Eko was gonna get whacked they swapped it out for Colleen instead.
Comment by downthehatch — December 28, 2007 @ 12:40 pm
hey whats up. sun is a lying hoe. at first when it was hinting towards it, when she was learning english and all that, i thought; ok, maybe she did, and maybe she didnt. but when that light bulbed idiot popped up from behind her in bed, it was plain as day. f-her.
Comment by Csongei — January 9, 2008 @ 9:43 pm