Lost: Season 2, Episode 5: ...in Translation Review

…and Found
Original Airdate: October 26, 2005
Writers: Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse
Director: Stephen Williams

When Lost first started, I wrote off Jin as a character who would likely be killed off early because of his inability to communicate with the rest of the survivors. As season one progressed, he was given a bit more characterization. This came largely from his relationship with Sun. While there is genuine love between these two, it has been marred by secrets and complications. Sun learning English (and planning to leave Jin before the fateful flight) along with Jin’s involvement in her father’s dirty deeds divided them, but their time on the island has given them time to go back to the basics of their love. Jin no longer has to be the muscle and Sun has used her English to help him connect with everyone else.

Now both are on opposite sides of the island and their thoughts are on each other. I liked how this episode juggled flashbacks from two different people, as they thought of the moment when they met. Aside from one moment in “Special”, all the other episodes have had their flashbacks from one person. This dual storyline worked because of the ending. In the future, they will probably have to do this to keep the flashback gimmick fresh, possibly to accentuate the chance encounters we’ve seen in past episodes or use them to tell parallel stories.

The trigger for the flashbacks, at least for Sun, is the loss of her wedding ring. This guilt is amplified since she is one of the people who knows that something happened on the raft and the uncertainty is making it worse. Although it is “just a ring”, it is symbolic of Jin, and losing that along with her husband is too much for her. On the other hand, Jin is likely thinking of his wife because he realizes he’s back on the island and wants desperately to reconnect with her to resolve the issues between them.

Sun gets help from three different people regarding the location and each offer a different solution. Jack’s solution, buying a new one, isn’t practical, but it does offer some clues as to Jack’s marriage, which we assume ended badly. Hurley’s is comical and is a highlight of the episode, as they watch over Vincent to see when he’ll go to the bathroom. Their vigil also brings about questions of Hurley’s mindset, which following last week makes sense.

Finally, Locke provides the most useful, albeit frustrating advice for someone looking for something: stop looking. As much as seekers hate hearing it, it is often true. However, Kate finds it in the moment that Sun isn’t thinking about her ring. Unfortunately, it felt a little predictable that her ring is with the bottle. Some people who analyze the show frame by frame noticed this in “Everybody…” and thought it was an error in continuity.

Not looking applied to Jin’s flashback, as they make it clear in the teaser that flashback Jin isn’t looking for love, despite what his destiny believing roommate says. Despite being the doorman at the hotel Sun's suitor owns, Jin doesn’t even glimpse her until the end of the episode because his respectful bow blocked her from his view. Jin’s story focuses more on the class structure that we saw in “…in Translation” and keeping Sun out of it was wise since the love story would’ve overtaken his story. He clearly wants to make his way up in the world, but he still shows loyalty to his class when he lets the little boy into the hotel to go to the bathroom and quits after the manager reprimands him for letting “you people” in. Ironically, scorning this upper class contempt would place him with Sun, a member of the upper class.

Jin’s relationship with Michael has evolved a lot since Jin fought Michael over that watch. They’ve bonded building the raft and it is evident as Jin desperately fights to go find him in the jungle. This type of loyalty is also evident in the flashbacks, as he stands up to the snobby hotel manager. Eko, despite Ana-Lucia’s better wishes, appreciates this and this venture gives us some insight into the mystery man. Jin’s time with Eko also shows that Jin’s English has improved significantly. It is a testament to Daniel Dae Kim’s acting talents since he isn’t fluent in Korean (Yunjin Kim, however, is), but he can pull it off so well.

After weeks of Ana-Lucia being the dominating presence in the tailies, we finally get some characterization from the other leads in the tail section, Libby and Eko. Eko particularly gets to shine as he helps Jin through the jungle to find Michael. He is the breakout character among the new arrivals, between his large stature juxtaposed with his soft-spoken manner. Lost is all about mysteries, and this new character appears to offer the most.

Libby is given a short sequence which in addition to getting Michael to run out in search of Walt, also helps gives us a sense of her character. Ana-Lucia still isn’t winning any popularity points, but Libby’s apology to Michael helps her in terms of audience sympathy. Her fear towards The Others is certainly noteworthy as it causes her to change the inflection of her voice.

The Others have caused the Tailies a lot of problems, but like many of the original 48, they aren’t ready to compare notes with each other. Eko does provide some brief insight, but only after Jin stumbles upon Goodwin’s body. In retrospect, Eko’s quote is much more cryptic when seen in context of the next few episodes. I’ll go over that in a future review.

At the beginning of Lost, it was clear that the Fuselage castaways were not alone. Now we know of several groups/people on the island, some of whom may be connected: Desmond, Roussaeu, Ethan (although he’s dead), the “Sea-billies” who kidnapped Walt, the tailies and these Others Eko and Jin watch walking. These are much different from any Others we have seen on the show so far. They are much more primitive looking: barefoot, caked in mud and wearing nondescript clothing. The appearance of the bear certainly adds an ominous tone to it (in addition to Libby’s question of did they see “the kids”.) How or if they are connected to any other groups we’ve seen is up for debate. I don’t believe they are part of any other group we’ve seen, which would open up a lot for potential ways the mystery can take us. It is also worth noting how they are walking, which is less natural, more sneaking type of walking.

One thing I read in Entil’s review, which certainly makes sense, is that despite the carefulness and precision of these Others, Michael is able to run around the forest without them discovering him. Michael is clear that his search for his son is more important than being quiet and careful, but it seems odd that they wouldn’t have run into him. It could’ve been interesting to have him be attacked by one of them, only to have Eko kill him before hurting him. The Others and their motivations is still vague, so perhaps their reasons would explain why they didn’t go for an obvious target like Michael.

Ana-Lucia is certainly more than just a wrench thrown into the Sawyer/Kate/Jack triangle, but it appears that there is definitely something going on between Sawyer and Ana judging by their interactions in this episode. Of course, two people who hate each other, but hook up because of it is a long standing trend in TV. It would certainly work well, as Sawyer’s smart ass attitude is against Ana-Lucia’s leadership, which she has had since crashing.

Although this episode is harshly criticized for not advancing many of the overall arcs, it still does a good job of developing characters. It is a critical point for Eko, who we see is a lot more than just the heavy among the tailies. Some have complained about the show’s slow pacing this season and this episode doesn’t help satisfy those critics. Although to a degree I agree with them, this episode wasn’t an entire waste.

Score: 7/10