LOST- Episode 17- ...In Translation

  Had a brief scare when I walked in the front door five minutes before LOST was about to end and I didn't see the record light on the cable box.  Turns out I just couldn't see it because it was hidden by a Playstation wire.  Now I have another reason to hate you PS2.  It not only keeps me from writing novels, now it has to taunt me too.

  Anyway, tonight's episode of Lost is entitled ...In Translation, which is the cleverest title yet, methinks.  Is cleverest a word or is it most clever?  Most people don't worry about this stuff like I do- we live in a world where funner and funnest have become words on a principle of stupidity.  Okay, enough tangents... I don't know if there was an eyeball this week- my recording started with Jin standing on the beach and immediately going into flashback mode.  It is a scene that was implied in House of the Rising Sun (Sun's episode) and it shows Jin asking for Sun's hand.  He tells Dad about his dream of hotel ownership but seems to get trapped when he accepts Dad's job offer and is questioned on why he gave up his dream so easily.  He saves it by saying that Sun is his dream.  Also important for those who keep score of character's families is Jin mentioning how his own father is dead.  By the way, the bottom of my screen tells me it's 4 days to Oscar, though I have no idea why they would promote a terrible Stallone movie so actively.  I would be ashamed of airing it, myself.

  Back at the beach, Jin has a freak-out when he sees Sun about to take a dip in the ocean wearing nothing but a bikini.  Gasp!  Most of the speaking parts look on in horror as he forcibly drags her up the beach, even knocking her over at one point.  Michael physically steps in but is shocked when Sun slaps him.  The mood is tense as the Korean couple walk away.  Cue creepy LOST title screen.

  In Cavetown later, Jin asks Sun in subtitles what is going on between her and Michael.  She says nothing, which makes Jin flashback to their wedding day when Jin had to cancel their honeymoon plans because he just started working for dear old Dad.  Understandable.  He promises a honeymoon in six months when his training is over.  She says she is more important than a car company, but Jin wins her over again with a flower.  The guy should really have more tricks than that, but you stick to what works, I suppose.

  At the beach, Sun approaches Michael at his nearly completed boat and apologizes for the slap.  She says she did it to protect him from Jin, who is capable of more than Mike knows.  Elsewhere, Jin is playing golf by himself when Hurley approaches to make nice-nice.  Hurley's every foreign word gets ignored so he leaves Jin alone to be an outsider.

  On the beach again, Shannon is building herself a shelter and Sayid is impressed by her knot-tying ability.  They make a date for Saturday night by the fire with some rope.  If you ask me, it's a little early for them to be tying the knot.  Meanwhile, Jack finds Michael to give him the latest gossip.  Everyone wants to know who's going on the boat.  There's room for four and three spots are taken.  (Sawyer bought his way on by providing some building material).

  That night, Kate tries to talk some sense into Sun but there is a commotion that stops their conversation.  It seems someone has set fire to Michael's raft.  Michael makes an immediate guess as to who the culprit is and shouts to Sun, "Where is he?" 

  Sun returns to Cavetown to find her husband treating burn wounds and is shocked that he really committed the crime.  Jin flashes back to a meeting with Sun's Dad where he is expecting to be reprimanded for an industrial accident but is instead promoted to new special assistant.  His first assignment is to deliver a message to the Secretary of Environmental Safety that Dad is very displeased.  Later, Jin goes to the man's house and the guy seems quite scared when he learns Jin's reason for being there.  (The keen eye will notice that the man's little girl is watching a television that shows Hurley getting into a car.)  The man is so happy that Jin's message is strictly verbal that he rips his dog away from his daughter's grasp and hands it over to Jin as a gift.  The dog is for Dad but we know from Sun's episode that Jin gives it to his wife.

  It's still night when Sayid approaches Boone about Shannon.  Boone warns him that she'll use him like a tissue and throw him away, but Sayid says he was extending a courtesy, not asking for permission to see her.

  The next day, Jin is tending to his wounds in a stream until Sawyer hits him and knocks him over for messing up his ride.  Elsewhere, Shannon asks Sayid for help with her shelter.  Sayid tells her she is capable of doing it herself and that she should get someone else to help if she needs it.  Shannon makes the logical connection that he has been talking to Boone.  Shannon goes into the jungle to ask Locke where her brother is, but Locke says he doesn't know.  She asks him to deliver the message to stay out of her business.  Locke tells her that everyone on the island gets a new life and she should start hers.

  Sawyer has Jin's hands tied and is leading him forcefully through the jungle.  Sawyer brandishes a knife and tells Jin it's Lord of the Flies time at the beach.  For some reason, this makes Jin flashback to the time when his wife made him a surprise dinner but it was interrupted by work calling on the phone.  In the next scene, Bossman Dad is 'very displeased' with Jin this time for not understanding that 'delivering a message' is a euphemism for murder.  Jin is forced to drive the new hitman back to the scene to see how it's done.  When they get there, Jin hops out before the gunman and goes inside to beat the holy hell out of the Secretary of Environmental Safety.  He tells him that the factory will re-open tomorrow and that he just saved the dude's life.  Try explaining that to the guy's daughter, though.  Jin walks out disgusted with his own actions and tells the gunman that the guy got the message. 

  We then have a replay of the "...Rising Sun" scene where Jin washes the blood off his hands, Sun slaps him and he says he does whatever her father tells him to do...for us.  This is the extended DVD version of the scene, however- the camera lingers when Sun leaves so that we can see Jin break down and cry.

  Things are getting crazy at the beach now as Jack and Hurley try to stop Michael from having a physical confrontation with the tied up Jin that Sawyer has delivered.  As everyone argues, the camera moves in on Jin's ear and the words turn to gibberish- making it pretty clear that Jin doesn't understand anything that's going on.  At least in so many words.  He says something in an insulting Korean tone which makes Michael attack him and demand of Sun what her husband is saying.  Strangely, Sayid and Sawyer agree that the conflict is between Jin and Michael and they stop Jack from being a peacemaker.  The beating continues until Sun shocks the entire crowd by yelling, "Stop it!" in English.  Cover now fully blown, she tells everyone that Jin didn't burn the raft as Jin looks at her more hurt than shocked.

  Back from commercial, Jack and the others are just flabbergasted that Sun understood them all this time.  She tells them that Jin burned himself trying to put out the fire.  Michael asks why the guy ran away then.  Sun asks this in Korean but gets no answer.  Everyone is on edge and arguing until Locke is forced to come to the rescue.  Locke says that none of them would block an attempt to get off the island and they were clearly attacked by the same people that have already clubbed Sayid, kidnapped Claire and murdered either Scott or Steve.  "We're not the only ones on this island and we all know it!" he shouts.  Locke then walks away waving his arm like he's done with the lot of them.  Sun repeats that Jin did not do it, but the party's over now and everyone leaves her standing alone on the beach.

  Later, Michael realizes that he can't save any part of his boat and apologizes to Walt.  He resolves to build a bigger and better boat and Walt asks to help.  Over at the caves, Sun finds her husband packing his bags and leaving.  He won't even speak to her.  In English, she tells him that she was going to leave him.  In Korean, she asks if they can start again from the beginning. 

  Jin flashes back to the fishing village where he reunited with his (very much alive) father.  Turns out he was just ashamed of him.  He tells Dad about his wife and how they're having problems and how they don't talk anymore because he can't tell her about her evil father.  Dad advises that after Jin is done delivering watches to Sydney and L.A., he should just stay in America and save his marriage.  In the present, Jin tells his wife that it is too late to start over.  What a bastard.

That night, Sayid is sitting by the fire when he is approached by Shannon.  She kisses him and repeats the Lockeism about a new life on the island.  Elsewhere, Locke joins Walt for a game of backgammon.  Walt asks if Locke's father was cool and Locke grimly says no.  Then Locke asks Walt why he burned the raft down.  Walt is stunned that Locke somehow knew the truth and admits that he has moved around so much in his short life that he doesn't want to move again.  He likes it on the island.  Locke smiles and says he likes it there too.

In the morning, rebuilding begins for Michael.  Jin approaches with materials and says, "Boat."  The two adversaries begin to work together on the project.  Hurley walks by with his headphones to begin the episode-ending musical montage.  Sayid and Shannon are enjoying each other's company.  Sun is in her bikini again and stands in the lowtide, letting the wind take her towel.  She looks happy.  Charlie brings Claire some tea on the water's edge.  Hurley sits contently in the sand until the song cuts out as finally, finally, finally, his batteries have died.  "Son of a bitch," he mumbles dejectedly.  Funny stuff.

Next week on LOST:  Jack, Sayid, Charlie and Hurley decide to get to the bottom of some island mysteries and discover a rope bridge....that breaks!  There are explosions, gunshots and Hurley gets a rifle pointed at him by the cameraman.