“The Package”

This week, we find out what happened to the Kwons after Oceanic 815 and discover the contents of “The Package.”

Robert

After last week’s mythology-laden “Ab Aeterno” I was almost convinced the show was about to shoot straight to the heart of the matter on the island, foregoing any more flash sideways and taking us straight in a prolonged endgame. Boy, was I wrong.

Whenever I talk to someone who doesn’t watch LOST, I tend to point out the Kwons’ story as a great example of how the show builds characters that are more than what they appear to be. And something about the fact that the Kwon-centric episodes being heavily subtitled—meaning no looking away lest you miss an important bit of dialogue—makes their episodes feel more intimate and personal to me. I thought it was unfortunate that it had been so long since we’d spent time with these characters (and last week’s break from the action altogether didn’t help) that for a moment, I was genuinely taken aback by the two of them not being married. Still, we’re treated to an alternate version of their lives where they’re still in love with each other against all odds, but with very different consequences descending upon them. It’s sweet and I love it, but I wish we would’ve seen it sooner rather than now.

Maybe more importantly, this was also the second time we’ve seen flash-sideways intersect and go unresolved; first Sawyer catching Kate in an alley, and now the Sayid/Keamy/Mikhail/Jin kitchen nightmare leaving Sun with a gunshot wound. I’m guessing that’ll be another thread that gets revisited in the finale, where we’ll find out either how everyone’s flash-sideways intersect with each other or, more fantastically, converge with the original timeline.

Meanwhile, the action on the island had my attention for the second week in a row now. Between Locke literally testing the fences with Widmore, Sawyer showing his cards ever-so-slightly to Kate and Sayid doing his best Capt. Willard impression just in time to see Desmond “The Package” Hume being pulled out of the sub, things on the island are moving faster than they were at the top of the season. That whole thing with the temple seems like such a long time ago now doesn’t it?

Armando

I hate to say it but last night’s LOST was my first “meh” episode of the season. Even more so than the Kate episode. Did I hate it? No. Did I feel like this whole hour of LOST could have fit into another episode in pieces? Yes.

At this point, I personally feel like the Sun and Jin separation has done to death. I’m over it. I felt like the flash sideways was just beating us over the head with the same type situations we’ve seen before in their “previous” time line. I was feeling like Sun last night. Who cares? Just get to the good stuff or leave me alone!

And Desmond? I mean, who DIDN’T see that coming?

In the end, I still enjoyed watching the characters interact but if I would have missed the episode, I could have gotten just as much impact from the recap in regards to story progression. Maybe I’m missing something. Maybe it was just me. I hope my fellow Getting Losties can me out………

Scott

“In one week, the conversation is going to change,” tweeted LOST mastermind Damon Lindelof yesterday, teasing next week’s supposedly Desmond-centric “Happily Ever After”. As a placeholder between last week’s almost universally-beloved “Ab Aeterno” and an always-reliable Desmond episode, “The Package” was sure to disappoint a lot of people. I am frankly shocked to learn that most LOST fans aren’t too fond of Jin/Sun episodes, as they’ve always been the heart of the show for me. Apart from making series regulars out of an Iraqi Republican Guard and a pair of sultry con murderers, the show’s most surprising and unexpected character reveals have been Jin’s shift from conservative, abusive and vaguely racist to loyal, lovelorn and impoverished and Sun’s shift from gentle, sad and mistreated to sophisticated, adulterous and sometimes manipulative. Season 4′s “Ji Yeon” — one of LOST’s only episodes that felt like a genuine cheat — aside, episodes revolving around Jin and Sun really get to me. Along with Claire, they’re the only original castaways who’ve really got something to lose.

So even though “The Package” wasn’t the clearing house of mythology that many want from a final season episode (is that really all you haters care about from this towering achievement of a show?), I thoroughly enjoyed it. Season 6 has done a great job winking at memorable scenes from past seasons and this contained two of the best: the very obvious eyeball killshot for the two-eyed Mikhail, and the more subtle (and genuinely seductive, coming from this usually chaste show) unbuttoning bedroom scene that slyly references the famous Season 1 moment when Jin yells at Sun to button her shirt to the top when Michael comes around. And for you answer-zombies, a very early scene answers which Kwon is a Candidate, in my mind at least, when the hotel clerk announces Sun as “Paik” and then points right at Jin and says “Kwon”.

In closing, consider this next week with Desmond’s episode. The show has essentially introduced two forms of time travel, Desmond’s “unstuck in time” shifts of consciousness between his body in several different eras, and the donkey-wheel controlled time travel that made the entire island and everyone on it to go elsewhere. In essence, the island became unstuck in time too, but that would require a rock in the ocean to have a consciousness of its own (and to somehow drag the consciousnesses of all those other people with it). Strange.

Dennis

When I was watching this episode with one of my friends, he remarked that he always hated Jin/Sun flashbacks in season 1. Well, the LOST writers must really be taking this full circle thing seriously because I couldn’t care less about Sideways Jin and Sun (admittedly two of my favorite characters on the Island). How long do we have to wait before we figure out what these Flash Sideways have to do with overall mythos of the show? I can’t help but wonder if Sideways Sun and a suddenly Korean-speaking Island Sun are merging into one person or something. Merge faster! In fact, LOST writers, can you do EVERYTHING faster? With six episodes left until the finale, the slow build thing is getting old. Hopefully next week’s episode is both Desmond-filled and answer-filled, brotha.

That was a doozy, huh? Did this episode work for you as we head for the final stretch?

Armando Reyes talks comics, music and life on the road on Twitter.
  • http://twitter.com/GeminiAce Rane Pollock

    It really feels like the show is a strategy board game each player has their forces amassed in different locations. Each episode is a round and this week everybody skipped their turn because they're collecting resources or something.

    I really did enjoy the episode, though. Sun losing the ability to speak english felt a little corny, and Jack just seems to be hanging out. He's not really in any hurry to do anything.

    And how funny was it when Miles said something about Hurley not being able to track anything unless it was covered in bacon grease? Classic!

  • http://beaurosser.com/ Beau Rosser

    While some people seem to hate certain episodes, I view them as a whole. For instance, when Season 3 got bombarded with negativity from the first 6 episodes, I saw them as 6 pieces in a greater whole.

    When going back to watch Season 3, the first six episodes fly by and complement the rest of the season.

    To me, this is how I view episodes like “The Package” – another reason Lost is superior to many shows currently on television.

  • http://sodapopjournal.com Robert Cortez

    I'm pretty much the same way. Funny you mention Season 3 because I know those first six seemed like a slog at the time but I always thought those episodes were crucial to get where things needed to be for the rest of that season (which I think turned out awesome).

  • http://beaurosser.com/ Beau Rosser

    Agreed. It's all about moving characters forward, answers to questions are icing on the cake.

    For instance, people ask what the point of introducing Dogen was, only to have him killed five episodes later. His death was essential in moving Sayid's character further, and peripherally, Ben's character further too. After the Dogen and Lennon killings, Sayid had lost himself and (as we know now) his ability to feel emotion. While Ben, seeing Sayid's face after the murders, set on his path to redemption.

    Lost works on other layers outside of “what is and what's not answered,” which is why I think it's brilliant.

  • Dennis

    Perhaps Lost is the first show (or at least one of the most prominent shows) of the DVD Age, where people marathon the show, so some expect different things from it. Sure, it's all well and good that season 3 or, perhaps eventually this season, is great to watch as a whole, but if I'm watching a show once a week and only once a week, I want (almost) every episode to be great in its own way. I look at the Sawyer-centric episode or the Ben-centric episode, where hell, I don't know how any of this relates to the overall season, but I just found them to be genuinely compelling episodes. I dunno if it seems I'm one of those guys clamoring for more answers, but I guess I want a solid mix of moving characters forward and question-answering. Though, I always take issue with people who say this show is about the characters. Perhaps that's partially true, but then why, six seasons in, are characters like Kate and Claire still relatively two-dimensional? And poor Sun. I liked her as a grieving, vengeful badass, and now she's been reduced to walking around saying variations of “Have you seen my husband?” and “I want my husband!” all season. At least last night's episode she was finally a bit more fired up.