Lost 6.10 "The Package"

A quick note that tomorrow I’ll be appearing at Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, at 6pm to talk about writing, and Lost. Hope to see some of you there!

“A wise man once said that war was coming to this island. I think it just got here.”

As we enter the second half of the final season, all of the stories are beginning to come together. We were in contact with both camps equally in this episode for once, and even saw what was happening with Widmore. In Locke’s camp you have misery — Jin’s leg is hurting and he’s angry. Sayid confesses that he can’t feel anything at all (I thought that moment was devastating) and Smokey’s suggestion that that might actually be for the best was creepy. Kate and Sawyer are both trapped in their own worlds of sadness. Claire is realizing that Aaron won’t know who she is and she’s wondering what the use of leaving the island even is. Over in Jacob’s camp, it’s not like it’s much better. Ilana just keeps polishing her guns while Sun can’t speak to anyone anymore, Jack tries to keep things together and brings hope to them, Richard and Hurley return, Miles has his caustic comments, and Frank plays cards. And Ben... well, Ben’s become quiet. I’m actually really missing evil weaselly Ben. Bring him back!!

The war is coming, and we know once and for all that Widmore is NOT on the Man in Black’s side... meaning he’s actually a good guy? So what does that make Ben? Widmore suggests that he thought the Man in Black was a fairy tale, but did Ben know anything about it?

And the Kwon candidate is...
I think after this episode it’s possible we had a hint that Sun was the candidate. (Only on Lost could I use the phrase “it’s possible we had a hint” and act like it’s a solid clue.) In the sideways world, she walked by a mirror, looked in it and suddenly stopped and stared like she saw someone else looking back at her... or like she saw momentarily what she looked like in the other world. So far only the candidates have done that with mirrors in the sideways world.

Highlights:
• “Unless Alpert’s covered in bacon grease I’m not sure Hurley can track anything.” LOL!!!!
• Sun flirting with Jin in the hotel room with the buttons on her shirt was fantastic. I LOVED that scene!
• Gah!! When Sun conked her head on that tree I actually gasped out loud.
• Room 23!!!
• Keamy: “I feel like I’m in those damn Godzilla movies.” Hahaha!! I love the little details they gave him to make him more of an idiot, like yelling to make the Koreans understand, and then mixing them up with Japanese people.
• Mikhail!! With two eyes!!
• Miles: “She hits her head and forgets ENGLISH? Are we supposed to buy that?!” Frank: “Asks the man who communes with the dead.” HAHAHA!!! Oh Frank... I would buy a book of your one-liners.
• Richard walking over wearing the cross made me swoon. I’ve been in love with this guy for three years, and after last week’s episode, it totally paid off. ;) Oh Richard...
• Sun unleashing on Richard, who turns to look at Jack, who gives a little shrug and a “Dude, I’m as lost as you are” look. Brilliant!
• Jin looking at the pictures of Ji Yeon for the first time, and the look on his face (only I felt a little bad that Sun wasn’t with him when he saw pictures of his daughter for the first time).
• I know there’s one more highlight I’m forgetting... what could it be???
• DESMOND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answers:
• Desmond My Desmond was the thing in the box. I joked a couple of weeks ago that perhaps the container is like Ben’s box, and contains what you want the most; in which case, if it represented my wish it would have been Desmond. Which means... that container represented my wish!!! Oh THANK YOU Lost writers, for making this show all about ME!! :)

The Numbers:
At the hotel, Jin and Sun are put on the 8th floor; Ben says he told them all 4 times that he didn’t do this to Sun.

Did You Notice?:
• When we were watching Kate and Sawyer chat through the night goggles at the very beginning, it felt very voyeuristic, even though we’re listening in on them every week, there was something different about watching them like that.
• Widmore’s peeps shoot poisoned darts, similar to what the Others used at the end of S2.
• Oh DAMN Liz Lemon is back. Rats.
• Sun seemed so dominant in the hotel room that I don’t believe for a second she would have feebly buttoned up her blouse on the plane for him, nor would her “bodyguard” ahve deigned to speak to her in that way. So that was definitely a false lead for us.
• When Smokey approaches Sun, the red flowers are behind her. They’re always nearby when he shows up.
• When Sun wakes up in the bed beside Jin, he looked dead for a second... it was eerie how still he was sitting.
• When Jin flips the switch in Room 23 and the crazytown Clockwork Orange shit begins to happen, we see DeGroot with his goggles on looking at a microscope... the message “Think About” “Your Life” with many Buddha statues around it, and then “We are the causes of our own suffering” text is laid over a graveyard that looks an awful lot like the one that has Jin’s tombstone in it, then a picture of the moon, then doll’s eyes, another Buddha, “Everything Changes” over an old stove and a compass (not a directional compass but the one that usually comes with a protractor for geometry), then 3 keyboards (interestingly, the top one has a number pad above it with 9 keys on it... much like that one Charlie pushed in the S3 finale that had been programmed by a musician) and then Jin switches it off.
• Now we see why Keamy was wearing that fancy watch in “Sundown”: it was Paik’s watch.
• Is it just me, or has something happened to Jack to make him really super hot in S6?? Is it the hair? Is it his less douchey attitude? It is a combo? Maybe it’s just the hair.
• Smokey always refers to people he hates as “friend,” the same thing he pointed out to Caesar and Bram.
• Sun suddenly speaking in a way that no one can understand made me think of the Tower of Babel story in the Old Testament, where one minute everyone speaks the same language, and the next no one can understand each other.
• It looks like Mr. Paik is a complete dick in every reality.
• “The heart wants what the heart wants.” Sometimes I feel like that could be the mantra of the show.
• There was some weird stuff happening in the fridge. Keamy does all of his talking, and then Jin says, “Thank you.” Keamy is extremely careful around Jin, like he genuinely doesn’t want to hurt him, and when he says, “I’m sorry... some people just aren’t meant to be together” it looks like he’s saying it with more pain than he should. Is that on purpose, or is there something larger happening there?
• In the pictures with Ji Yeon, you can see Sun’s dog Bpo Bpo.
• AH!! Sun is pregnant in the sideways world! Jin’s sperm was OK in that world, and he didn’t need the Magical Island Sperm™ to impregnate her.
• Jack is brilliant in the scene with Sun... it felt like one of those lovely season 1 moments where one character connects to the other, or when Jack was really helpful and a pretty damn good doctor to people on the island. (Is it just me, or am I in love with Jack in this episode?! What has HAPPENED to me?!)
• Was anyone else thinking, “Sun, there are only a few pages in that little notebook... stop wasting them by drawing giant emoticons”?
• Notice Sawyer doesn’t quite finish his sentence: “Then we’re screwed six ways to Sun-”
• Sayid emerging from the water was SO Apocalypse Now.

So Many Questions...
• Does anyone know if what the customs guy says is true? Can they simply confiscate the money if he won’t fill out the paperwork? Isn’t there some law stating that they need to have a Korean translator standing there to tell him this stuff fairly?
• So if Jin isn’t married to Sun, why is he working for Paik? In the other world it was a necessary evil to get Sun, but in this one it seems he’s willingly working for Paik, and happened to meet Sun while he was doing it (I assume... or perhaps he met her and then worked for Paik to get closer to her...) Either way, working for Paik doesn’t seem to cause the personal turmoil that it did in the other world.
• In the sideways world, most people are living happier lives, but Sayid’s is miserable, and now Jin’s and Sun’s are falling apart. And notice theirs are interconnected but not connected to the others. Are they separate somehow?
• When Sun woke up, she could only speak Korean. In the sideways world, she can only speak Korean. Any connection?
• Why is Zoe looking for the pockets of electromagnetic energy on the island? She says she’s a geophysicist, so what does she have to do with Widmore’s team?
• Smokey tells Claire that her name isn’t on the wall (but we saw Littleton there... perhaps it was Aaron?) and that Kate’s isn’t... “Not anymore.” Her name hasn’t been crossed off Jacob’s dial, though. Why the inconsistency?
• So... is Jin the tomato?
• Jack promises Sun that he'll get her back to Jin... he's made promises he can't keep before, and I really hope this isn't one of them.
• So, does Sawyer really know what’s in the room in the sub, or does the Man in Black just THINK he knew what was in there?
• So... where is Penny? How did Widmore get Desmond? Did he take him out of the hospital? Does that mean he has Charlie, too? I remember saying at the end of S5 that we saw Eloise get into a cab, but Widmore was still there... did he do something?

And tomorrow at noon I will once again be participating in the Globe and Mail Lost chat from noon to 1pm EST. Go here to ask questions and comment. See you there!