Episode Report Card Daniel: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The anvil of life
By Daniel | Season 1 | Episode 20 | Aired on 04.05.2005
Flashback. Jack's plinking away on a piano in the hotel dining room, much to the general annoyance of the diners. His fiancée strolls up to tell him that couple of girls are "checking him out," and he wisely doesn't look over to check them out in return. Instead, he turns to his fiancée and points out that she's in her PJs. "Indeed I am," she says, and her voice is doing this weird robot thing again. And then Jack asks if the girls are cute. "One of them's kind of cute. The other one's just trashy," she says, sitting beside him on the piano bench. "'Heart and Soul'?" she asks, like SPARE US, and I start hoping that she goes into anaphylactic shock, which I understand can stop someone's heart and soul. Jack agrees, and she says she's taking the "easy part," like maybe she could explain to me which part is the hard part -- I mean, isn't that the whole reason that people feel compelled to inflict "Heart and Soul" on innocent bystanders whenever there's a piano around, that the entire piece is an "easy part"? So they tinkle along, and she gives Jack an out by saying that he doesn't have to do this, and you think that she's talking about the wedding, or even better the "Heart and Soul," but she's not, and they're all cryptic about it. And then she messes up her part, like if there's anything worse than amateurs playing "Heart and Soul" it is amateurs SCREWING UP "Heart and Soul." And we find out that Jack's supposed to have written his vows, only he hasn't yet, and she says that she read too many bridal magazines and they rotted her brain, like, I can't believe she is apologizing for asking him to write his OWN DAMN VOWS, and he says he will but he has to find the words. "They're just vows," she says, like it's no big deal, which obviously it is, otherwise why write your own vows in the first place? Jack's distracted for a moment, watching someone get out of a cab. "Hey, he's gonna come," she says, and Jack says he knows. Then she says that he can take all the time he needs down there, and when he's ready, she'll be upstairs. This is the night before? Man, I was in a completely separate hotel from my fiancée and there were people whose sole responsibility it was to ensure that we didn't see each other at all from the moment the rehearsal dinner was over to the Big Moment. "I can't wait to marry you, Jack Shepherd," she says, this woman whose name we STILL DON'T KNOW, and she walks off.
Back at the caves, Jin has finally arrived, like, how far away from the beach are the caves anyway? He asks Hurley where Jack is, and Hurley points to the O.R. tent. Jin bursts in, sees Sun, and he's momentarily thrown. The tastefully named Daniel Dae Kim conveys all his hurt and anguish and anger all mixed up with just a look; he's amazing. And I've recently been watching 24 Season 2 again, and although I saw him on that show before and Miss Match recently, he's so good that I was actually surprised on 24 when he was speaking English. He's also a little rattled by Bloody Boone, but he finally collects himself and starts babbling. Even Charlie can recognize when Jin says "Claire," and starts freaking out. Sun translates that Kate's with Claire, who's going into labour. The contractions are about two minutes apart, she's not nauseous or anything, but she can't move. So Charlie offers to saddle up and ride to her rescue with Jin, and he's asking how he deals with all the dilation and all that, and Jack firmly gives him instructions to give to Kate, who he says is going to have to deliver the baby. And I have to agree that it's best not to hand that responsibility to the hyperventilating ex-junkie who has a thing for Claire, or to the guy who speaks no English. Jack's telling him about the pushing and the crowning and the whatnot, and Charlie's all, "Yeah, but you'll be there by then, right?" and Jack says he's got to stay with Boone. "You tell Kate: she's got to deliver this baby!" he says, which is a cheesy act break line if I ever heard one. Commercials.