Lost: Season 1, Episode 6: House of the Rising Sun Review
House of the Rising Sun
Original Airdate: October 27, 2004
Writer: Javier Grillo-Marxuach
Director: Michael Zinberg
As the stay becomes longer and longer, the group starts to shift from hoping for rescue to preparing for survival. Are these people ready to settle for long-term residence in a place better suited for them, or will they still cling to the hope of being rescued by the less hospitable shoreline? On top of this, they have to figure out how to function in their new society. Many of them are strangers, but what about those who knew each other before the crash? We have brother/sister, father/son and husband/wife. This episode covers the last dynamic as we see Sun's history with Jin. Initially, Sun and Jin are some of the more mysterious members of the castaways because of the language barrier. This is a helpful function of the flashbacks, because there isn't much way for us to learn about these characters besides their minimal interactions with other castaways.
An interesting, albeit risky, choice for Lost is the plotline heavy with subtitles. It’s rare on American TV to have a show with more than a few lines of dialogue, much less an entire subplot in a foreign language. They didn’t have a choice in the matter; all we knew was that neither of them spoke English, and to have them suddenly speaking it would’ve been confusing. Thankfully the critical and commercial success of Lost allowed them to do this.
One important part of Jin and Sun’s back story is the class struggle. Jin is lower class and Sun isn’t (originally I thought Sun was royalty). However, as love is, money doesn’t matter to them. All Jin needed to impress Sun was a flower. Later, although Jin can shower Sun with gifts, it comes at a price, and that is Sun's happiness in the relationship. Unfortunately, Sun’s social stature was made with blood money, and Jin becomes entwined in that world. Sun’s father is a shady businessman and Jin is out doing his dirty work, which we presume is awfully dark if it involves him washing blood off his suit! This brutal side corrodes their relationship to where it is now, but it is that brief moment with the flower that convinces her that there is a trace of the old Jin left in him, a fateful convincing.
This episode also shatters the illusion that Sun is a submissive housewife, which makes the episode’s title all the more fitting. Some did theorize that one or both of the Korean couple knew English this episode confirms to us that Sun does. Sun learning English without her husband’s knowledge helps add to the schism between the two.
We also see that Jin isn't just a domineering abusive husband. He has been a jerk to Sun and the rest of the castaways for most of the season to date, but he was also tender to Sun when they were courting. The only thing that kept Sun from going through on her plan to run was the brief glimpse of what she fell for; a sweet man who only needed to give her a flower. However, since then she has faced these unpleasant reminders of Jin since the crash, as Jin bashes a fish's skull in, followed by pummeling Michael on the shore, almost drowning him if it wasn't for Sawyer and Sayid. It is also worth noting that Daniel Dae Kim didn't know much Korean before taking the role, but his portrayal is so good that you wouldn't know it.
Michael’s confrontation gives way to his first substantial lesson for Walt. Unfortunately, Michael lets the heat of the scuffle get the best of him and his prejudices come out. He also learns that Walt knows nothing about him. Michael is definitely far from father of the year. While he appears to be trying there is a troubling underlying anger.
Which leads us to his haranguing of Jin before cutting him loose. There probably isn't a better place for him to unleash his frustration about his parenting skills and being stuck on this island. On a character heavy show like Lost, it is interesting to see this early part of Jin and Michael's relationship to where we are now, just finishing season two.
As we have seen before, there were several, easily negligible hints to why Jin attacked Michael. Sun tries to tell the other castaways his motive by pointing to her wrist, but Sayid dismissed it as a plea to let Jin out of the cuffs. Then in one scene we cut to the flashback where Sun is wearing the watch in question. Also, Michael didn’t have on a watch in the last episode.
There was some connection between Sun and Michael. The writers dropped hints of a potential romantic storyline early in the season. Therefore, it would make sense that she would intervene and confide in him her secret that she knows English. It is also telling of her beliefs of a long-term stay, which is nicely connected when she and Jin go to the caves to live. Although it will make sense for her to inform others of her bilingual capabilities so she can be a part of the group (and help Jin along too).
Onto the other plots, Locke’s moment with “the monster” was crucial to play out early in the season, as it gives him a reason to exist: to teach the other castaways what he supposedly gained from this encounter. The first person he decides to share this information with is Charlie. Locke makes an observation, while underplayed, becomes vital to the relationship he has with Charlie. Unlike anyone else, Locke actually knows who Charlie is and is a fan of his work. This helps Locke earn Charlie’s trust, since Charlie keeps dropping that he was in a band to people who don't care. For that reason, he's able to seize on the opportunity to help Charlie, who found himself on top of a beehive getting a fix.
The island mythology is delved into a little deeper with the discovery of “Adam and Eve”, the two corpses in the caves. With the French woman’s transmission and monster, they knew that there was more to this island, but with this, they are realizing that this island has a long history of weird events. Considering all the religious and spiritual symbols, calling them “Adam and Eve” is fitting, and could be interesting to see if anything develops from it. Also, what is with the black and white stones in the pouch?
The caves and Jack's insistence of it being a good shelter splits the group in two; those remaining on the beach for rescue and those seeking shelter in the caves. This is the biggest indicator of how people feel on the island. They must decide, after a week of waiting, whether to stay hopeful and wait for anyone to come by or to go to the best place they have for a sustainable shelter. Of course, we know that they’ll be there for a long time, but it offers some interesting character moments to see who decides to stay and who decides to go.
Kate's choice doesn't ring true for me. It feels like this is more to drive a wedge between her and Jack as well as increasing her time with Sawyer and Sayid (although the Sayid thing would be scrapped shortly). Things between Jack and Kate have gotten awfully close, but that means they had to jam the works, but couldn't it be better explained? What does Kate have to look forward to when they are rescued? She would have to answer for her crimes and be arrested again. Best case scenario is she lies and goes on the run when the rescue team hits a mainland. Perhaps she is only doing this to give the impression that she doesn't have this sinister past.
Sayid makes a great point, saying that this contradicts with Jack’s “live together, die alone” speech. While splitting the survivors into two groups goes against that, it is a definitive decision, which is a nice piece of continuity from last week, where Jack was struggling with decision making.
It would’ve been nice to see the reasons why Claire, Shannon and Boone decided to stay on the beach. Shannon staying makes sense, but perhaps Boone would’ve wanted to move to the caves in hopes that the long term stay would allow him to prove himself. Claire’s health scare would also be important to address. Even if she wanted to wait for rescue, her priority should be the kid growing in her and being near Jack would allow that.
Overall, this episode is almost as good as most of the episodes before it, but there are some things that hamper it, like that prolonged montage at the end, which felt like killing time (did we really need to see 2 minutes of it?) and Kate's weird out of character moment, that made more sense for the story than the character. However, giving the spotlight to characters who on nearly every other show would be prime fodder to be killed off or forgotten is welcome, especially this early in the season.
Writer: Javier Grillo-Marxuach
Director: Michael Zinberg
As the stay becomes longer and longer, the group starts to shift from hoping for rescue to preparing for survival. Are these people ready to settle for long-term residence in a place better suited for them, or will they still cling to the hope of being rescued by the less hospitable shoreline? On top of this, they have to figure out how to function in their new society. Many of them are strangers, but what about those who knew each other before the crash? We have brother/sister, father/son and husband/wife. This episode covers the last dynamic as we see Sun's history with Jin. Initially, Sun and Jin are some of the more mysterious members of the castaways because of the language barrier. This is a helpful function of the flashbacks, because there isn't much way for us to learn about these characters besides their minimal interactions with other castaways.
An interesting, albeit risky, choice for Lost is the plotline heavy with subtitles. It’s rare on American TV to have a show with more than a few lines of dialogue, much less an entire subplot in a foreign language. They didn’t have a choice in the matter; all we knew was that neither of them spoke English, and to have them suddenly speaking it would’ve been confusing. Thankfully the critical and commercial success of Lost allowed them to do this.
One important part of Jin and Sun’s back story is the class struggle. Jin is lower class and Sun isn’t (originally I thought Sun was royalty). However, as love is, money doesn’t matter to them. All Jin needed to impress Sun was a flower. Later, although Jin can shower Sun with gifts, it comes at a price, and that is Sun's happiness in the relationship. Unfortunately, Sun’s social stature was made with blood money, and Jin becomes entwined in that world. Sun’s father is a shady businessman and Jin is out doing his dirty work, which we presume is awfully dark if it involves him washing blood off his suit! This brutal side corrodes their relationship to where it is now, but it is that brief moment with the flower that convinces her that there is a trace of the old Jin left in him, a fateful convincing.
This episode also shatters the illusion that Sun is a submissive housewife, which makes the episode’s title all the more fitting. Some did theorize that one or both of the Korean couple knew English this episode confirms to us that Sun does. Sun learning English without her husband’s knowledge helps add to the schism between the two.
We also see that Jin isn't just a domineering abusive husband. He has been a jerk to Sun and the rest of the castaways for most of the season to date, but he was also tender to Sun when they were courting. The only thing that kept Sun from going through on her plan to run was the brief glimpse of what she fell for; a sweet man who only needed to give her a flower. However, since then she has faced these unpleasant reminders of Jin since the crash, as Jin bashes a fish's skull in, followed by pummeling Michael on the shore, almost drowning him if it wasn't for Sawyer and Sayid. It is also worth noting that Daniel Dae Kim didn't know much Korean before taking the role, but his portrayal is so good that you wouldn't know it.
Michael’s confrontation gives way to his first substantial lesson for Walt. Unfortunately, Michael lets the heat of the scuffle get the best of him and his prejudices come out. He also learns that Walt knows nothing about him. Michael is definitely far from father of the year. While he appears to be trying there is a troubling underlying anger.
Which leads us to his haranguing of Jin before cutting him loose. There probably isn't a better place for him to unleash his frustration about his parenting skills and being stuck on this island. On a character heavy show like Lost, it is interesting to see this early part of Jin and Michael's relationship to where we are now, just finishing season two.
As we have seen before, there were several, easily negligible hints to why Jin attacked Michael. Sun tries to tell the other castaways his motive by pointing to her wrist, but Sayid dismissed it as a plea to let Jin out of the cuffs. Then in one scene we cut to the flashback where Sun is wearing the watch in question. Also, Michael didn’t have on a watch in the last episode.
There was some connection between Sun and Michael. The writers dropped hints of a potential romantic storyline early in the season. Therefore, it would make sense that she would intervene and confide in him her secret that she knows English. It is also telling of her beliefs of a long-term stay, which is nicely connected when she and Jin go to the caves to live. Although it will make sense for her to inform others of her bilingual capabilities so she can be a part of the group (and help Jin along too).
Onto the other plots, Locke’s moment with “the monster” was crucial to play out early in the season, as it gives him a reason to exist: to teach the other castaways what he supposedly gained from this encounter. The first person he decides to share this information with is Charlie. Locke makes an observation, while underplayed, becomes vital to the relationship he has with Charlie. Unlike anyone else, Locke actually knows who Charlie is and is a fan of his work. This helps Locke earn Charlie’s trust, since Charlie keeps dropping that he was in a band to people who don't care. For that reason, he's able to seize on the opportunity to help Charlie, who found himself on top of a beehive getting a fix.
The island mythology is delved into a little deeper with the discovery of “Adam and Eve”, the two corpses in the caves. With the French woman’s transmission and monster, they knew that there was more to this island, but with this, they are realizing that this island has a long history of weird events. Considering all the religious and spiritual symbols, calling them “Adam and Eve” is fitting, and could be interesting to see if anything develops from it. Also, what is with the black and white stones in the pouch?
The caves and Jack's insistence of it being a good shelter splits the group in two; those remaining on the beach for rescue and those seeking shelter in the caves. This is the biggest indicator of how people feel on the island. They must decide, after a week of waiting, whether to stay hopeful and wait for anyone to come by or to go to the best place they have for a sustainable shelter. Of course, we know that they’ll be there for a long time, but it offers some interesting character moments to see who decides to stay and who decides to go.
Kate's choice doesn't ring true for me. It feels like this is more to drive a wedge between her and Jack as well as increasing her time with Sawyer and Sayid (although the Sayid thing would be scrapped shortly). Things between Jack and Kate have gotten awfully close, but that means they had to jam the works, but couldn't it be better explained? What does Kate have to look forward to when they are rescued? She would have to answer for her crimes and be arrested again. Best case scenario is she lies and goes on the run when the rescue team hits a mainland. Perhaps she is only doing this to give the impression that she doesn't have this sinister past.
Sayid makes a great point, saying that this contradicts with Jack’s “live together, die alone” speech. While splitting the survivors into two groups goes against that, it is a definitive decision, which is a nice piece of continuity from last week, where Jack was struggling with decision making.
It would’ve been nice to see the reasons why Claire, Shannon and Boone decided to stay on the beach. Shannon staying makes sense, but perhaps Boone would’ve wanted to move to the caves in hopes that the long term stay would allow him to prove himself. Claire’s health scare would also be important to address. Even if she wanted to wait for rescue, her priority should be the kid growing in her and being near Jack would allow that.
Overall, this episode is almost as good as most of the episodes before it, but there are some things that hamper it, like that prolonged montage at the end, which felt like killing time (did we really need to see 2 minutes of it?) and Kate's weird out of character moment, that made more sense for the story than the character. However, giving the spotlight to characters who on nearly every other show would be prime fodder to be killed off or forgotten is welcome, especially this early in the season.
Score: 7/10
posted by Matt @ 3:02 AM
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