Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Sacrificial Ham
By Cindy McLennan | Season 5 | Episode 5 | Aired on 02.11.2009
The Island; Beach; Daylight: Jin -- looking alive if a little worse for the wear -- stares out at the ocean, as Danielle and her party fiddle around with their stuff on the beach. The blond man -- Montand -- to whom I will now refer as Haughty Snotty (because he is, and because I keep forgetting Montand) is holding up a radio, and trying to listen to a message. Through the static, we hear a man's voice say, "8, 15, 16, 23, 42." People are swearing it's Hurley's voice. I think it's possible (especially on 23, in my opinion -- although others think the 42 nails it), but I'm remaining agnostic on that, for now. I need to have enough grey matter left to finish this recap. Her pregnancy doesn't stop Danielle from running over to Jin and asking if he's okay. He's still trying to take in that she is who she says she is. He asks where she's from and she answers that they sailed from Tahiti. Jin asks when. Danielle says, "November 15," but what Jin really wants to know is the year. "1988." As Jin reels back, some of the other members of the team join Danielle. Jin says he needs to go find his camp. Robert asks Jin if he's been on the island before. With words and charades, Jin asks if they saw a helicopter.
In French, Haughty Snotty says, "First a boat. Then a helicopter. Next thing you know, he'll be talking about a submarine." And okay, I laughed at first thinking that was just a clever line, but they found Jin floating in the ocean, so they've got to believe he was on a boat at some point, right? Maybe Haughty Snotty and crew know more about Dharma and/or the Others, from the get-go. Haughty Snotty adds, "Come on. I know which way to go." Robert asks if he's sure. Apparently Haughty is looking for whatever antenna is making it possible for him to receive the message containing the numbers. They ask (with plenty of pantomime and drawing) Jin if there's a radio tower on the island. Jin confirms there is, but says he must find his camp, because maybe the helicopter went there. He doesn't know where his camp is from their current location, but he says he can find it from the radio tower (which I don't think he's ever been to), so he agrees with Danielle's suggestion to go with them to the tower and then find his camp. As the team moves out, Jin witnesses a tender moment between the pregnant Danielle and her husband Robert, and it just about rips out Jin's heart. To drive this home, Danielle waits for Jin, then asks him who he is hoping to find. Quietly, Jin says, "My wife." We jump to...