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There are two separate and distinct stories this week. In one, Desmond and Sayid try to learn a bit more about the boat by demanding a meeting with the captain. They meet him, but not before witnessing a member of the crew throw herself to her doom in the ocean's depths. The captain is surprisingly forthcoming, telling Desmond and Sayid that Charles Widmore sent the boat, and that someone faked the wreckage of Oceanic 815, including coming up with 324 dead bodies. The captain implies that "someone" is Ben. Finally, Sayid and Desmond are given a room of their own. And they meet Ben's man on the boat. It's Michael. Which I suspect you already guessed, based on the fact that his name has been in the credits for six weeks.
In the other story, Sun decides that she doesn't trust the Boaties or Juliet, and that she wants to head to the Barracks to hide out with Locke. Jin agrees to go with her, but Juliet really wants her to get off the island so she and her baby won't die. To keep Sun from leaving, Juliet tells Jin about Sun's affair. Jin is understandably upset, and decides he'd rather stay at the beach. He storms off, but after Bernard speaks to him, he decides to forgive Sun. Meanwhile, Sun speaks with Juliet, who convinces her that she really will die if she doesn't leave the island. So they end up back together, with Jin promising that he'll never leave Sun.
Finally, the flash-forwards are all about Sun and Jin. She's in Korea, where she is massively pregnant and goes into labor. We see her at the hospital going through the normal delivery drama and crying out for Jin. Meanwhile, we see Jin rushing through the city, trying to make it to the hospital. Along the way he buys a stuffed panda, gets his cell phone run over, loses the panda, and buys another. He finally arrives at the hospital...and we learn that he's there to deliver the panda as a gift to the new grandson of the Chinese ambassador. At first you think he's neglecting Sun to focus on his crappy job. And then he tells a nurse that he's only been married two months, leading us to think he had indeed left Sun. But then Hurley shows up in Korea, and he and Sun go to visit Jin's grave. So the Jin part of the flash-forward was actually a flashback. And in the future, Jin is either dead, or perhaps still on the island. It's all very confusing. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously, Sayid and Desmond arrived at the freighter, where a mysterious benefactor opened a locked door for them. And Sun got knocked up by Jin. Which, according to Juliet, means she's doomed. Doooooooomed!
It's nighttime on the boat. Frank is walking along the deck when Keamy asks him if he's "ready." Frank tells him that he'll be up. I guess Keamy has a little of that Nolte fever. As Frank walks away, Keamy tells him, "Don't be late, Frank." Bossy bottom. Frank walks into the boat's interior.
Frank walks along a corridor with a paper bag under his arm. He comes upon a woman sitting in a chair reading a book. It's Regina, and she looks a little out of it. He tells her that her book is upside down. Way to make her feel bad about her illiteracy, Frank. Her book is The Survivors of the Chancellor, by the way. (As always, tremendous thanks to the Eagle-Eyed Forum Posters, without whom this job would be impossible.) That book is absolutely terrifying, and should pretty much be banned from every boat in the world. Frank tells Regina he's there to deliver some food, and she tells him to go on in.
Frank enters the sick bay, where Sayid and Desmond (and Desmond's décolletage) are hanging out. Frank tells them he's there to deliver some food -- canned lima beans. Yummo. Sayid wants to know why they're still being held prisoner, and Frank tells him the captain's not too happy with them for busting out of the sick bay. Sayid tells him that they didn't bust out -- someone opened the door. They assumed it was Frank, but he doesn't seem eager to claim credit. Sayid tells him they want to speak with the captain. Frank doesn't think that's a very good idea. He knocks on the door, and Regina lets him out.
On the beach, Sun is sitting near fire when Jin walks over and sits with her. She's worried because it's been three days since Sayid and Desmond left, but he'd rather talk about baby names. Sun tells him it's bad luck to discuss baby names so early, and he accuses her of being superstitious. She tells him she's just scared to jinx the baby. Which is exactly what a superstitious person would say. The tease each other about whether it's a boy or a girl. Jin wants a girl, and wants to name her Ji Yeon. Sun thinks it's a beautiful name, but doesn't want to discuss it. They agree to pick a name after they get off the island.
Flash...something. I no longer care to predict. Sun is packing her toiletries kit. In fact, it's a whole overnight bag. There's a TV playing in the background. It's Exposé, dubbed in Korean. Razzer dazzer! As Sun is putting on some lipstick, she has a spasm of some kind. It looks kind of painful. She reaches for the phone and calls for an ambulance. And then we see that she's pretty pregnant. So, flash-forward. Got it. Credits.
Korea, or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Jin is walking down a street -- he looks as though he's trying to find something. Man, getting off the island did wonders for his complexion. He looks really young here.
That's a clue.
Anyway, he runs into a toy store, and looks around frantically. A clerk asks him what he wants, and he says he's looking for panda. Fried or braised? Oh, he means stuffed. That is, a stuffed panda. Not, you know, panda stuffed with crab meat and cheese. The clerk fishes around in a pile of stuffed animals until he finds a panda. At the cash register, the clerk asks if he'd like it gift-wrapped. Jin doesn't have time, as he needs to get the panda to the hospital. It doesn't look sick to me. The clerk asks Jin if he's bringing the panda to the maternity ward, and then gets all nosy when he learns he is. Jin tells him he doesn't know the sex of the baby. His phone rings, and Jin tells whoever it is that he's on his way.
It's morning on the beach. Sun wakes Jin up (he's sleeping in their tent) to tell him that Jack and Kate are back. Sun and Jin walk up to Kate and ask her what happened. Kate drops a few details -- Charlotte clocked her, Charlotte and Daniel were looking for a poison gas factory, Juliet lied about what the factory was. Well, when you put it like that, pretty much anything would sound bad. Sun's suspicions have been aroused, and she asks Kate if she thinks the Boaties are really there to rescue the Lostaways. Kate's not feeling too optimistic.
Desmond wakes up on the boat and sees that Sayid is eating some uncooked lima beans. At least the sick bay has some atmosphere. A little note gets shoved through the vent in the door. Sayid picks up the note, but before he reads it he tells Desmond about Ben's claim that he had a spy on the boat. They open the note -- in block letters, it reads, "Don't trust the captain."
On the beach, Daniel is trying to fix some small piece of electronics. Is it the phone? Who broke it? Sun interrupts him, and they introduce themselves. He asks her what he can do for her, and she tells him, "I'm two months pregnant." So, is she fishing for a shower present? She kind of is -- she wants to know if Daniel and his people are going to rescue them. If that's what she wants, she'd better put it on her registry. He hems and haws and doesn't answer, eventually telling her that it's not his call. Sun: "Then whose call is it?" He doesn't answer. She thanks him and walks away. That Sun -- always classy.
Over at the makeshift kitchen, Jin haltingly asks Jack to pass some cereal. Mmmmm, Dharma Flakes. They chat about Jin's new language skills -- he understands better than he speaks, and both Sun and Sawyer have been teaching him. Sun walks up and looks oddly at Jack. She's clearly waiting for him to leave, which doesn't make much sense, as I'm pretty certain they can speak in front of him without him understanding a word. However, she does wait for him to leave before telling Jin (in Korean) to do exactly what she says and not ask questions. He breaks that rule right away by asking what's going on, and she tells him to gather enough food for two days. She wants to be ready to leave in twenty minutes. Where are they going, you ask? To join Locke at the Barracks. Commercials.
Sun is poking around in the medical supply tent (I think that's what it is) when Juliet walks in and asks her what she's looking for. Sun tells an unconvincing lie about searching for more pre-natal vitamins. Juliet goes to find them, and asks Sun what happened to all the other ones she gave her, since there should be twenty left. Juliet asks if Sun is planning a trip. Sun's non-denial is pretty much an admission, and Juliet asks her where she's going. She's not thrilled to hear that Sun and Jin are planning on going to the Barracks to join Locke. Sun tells her that she doesn't trust the Boaties, but Juliet reminds her that if she doesn't get off the island soon, she and her baby will both die. But Sun doesn't just mistrust the Boaties -- she's clearly not believing Juliet's story about all the dead baby mamas. Juliet cops to having been "less than truthful about certain things since coming here," but she promises that she's not lying about the pregnancy illness. She continues, "After everything you confided in me, I should at least have your trust." Sun tells her that Aaron came out fine, so she has no reason to think she can't also deliver a healthy baby on the island. She tells Juliet that she doesn't trust her, and then snatches the vitamins from her hand.
Flash-forward. Sun is wheeled into the hospital by a nurse. One nurse tells the other that they're dealing with a member of the Oceanic Six. And then Sun is in a bed; the nurse is taking her jewelry off, and Sun freaks out when she tries to take her wedding ring. The nurse explains that Sun is about to swell up like a Macy's Thanksgiving Day balloon, so they need to take her rings off while they still can. Sun, who seems delirious, resists until a doctor walks into the room. He's very young, and kind of cute. In fact, the entire staff of this hospital is pretty soap opera attractive. The doctor is Dr. Bae, and he tells Sun that he's filling in for Dr. Park, who is away at a conference. Dr. Bae conducts a preliminary exam -- he can tell the baby's in distress, but he's not certain yet what's wrong with it. He asks her if they can call anyone for her, and she tells him to just get Jin. I should mention that she's definitely delirious now, as the nurse gave her a shot for the pain a few seconds ago.
Jin runs out of the toy store and hails a taxi. The taxi stops, and Jin throws the panda in the back seat. He's about to get in himself, when his phone rings. He answers it, and then a man bumps into him, knocking the phone to the ground. Jin goes to pick it up, but a motorcycle runs over it. And Jin, I don't like to make fun of your gadgets, but where'd you get that enormous phone? 2001?
That's another clue.
Jin picks up his phone, and then sees another man getting into his cab. Despite the fact that he's sharing the back seat with a panda the size of a twelve-year old. The cab driver, oblivious to the fact that he's just changed passengers, drives off. Jin chases after the cab, screaming out, "You bastard! If I find you, I'll hunt you down and rip your head off!"
Jin runs back into the toy store and heads for the aisle of stuffed animals. He can't find another panda. He walks over to the clerk and asks for another panda. The clerk tells him that was the last one, kind of forgetting that there's one sitting right behind him. Jin asks about the panda that's right in front of his eyes, but the clerk tells him it's on hold and has already been paid for. He suggests a dragon, since it's the year of the dragon.
That's another, relatively obscure clue.
Jin slams down an ungodly sum of money on the counter and angrily demands the panda. The clerk gives it to him.
At the beach, Kate is drawing a map to the Barracks for Jin and Sun. She tells them it will take at least a day and a half. Unless you really need to get there for dramatic purposes, in which case it will take about an hour. Kate tells Sun that she's going to have to tell Jack where they're going, but she'll give them a head start before ratting them out. As Kate is hugging Sun goodbye, Juliet walks up and tells Sun she can't leave. Sun is kind of pissed off that this home-wrecking, Other-killing, baby-stealing woman is trying to run her life. Juliet decides to appeal to Jin, telling him that Sun is very sick and needs to leave the island. Sun pulls him away, but Juliet tells him that Sun is in danger. Jin: "Wherever Sun go, I go." All right, Ruth and Naomi -- get a room! Sun continues to walk away as Juliet pleads with her, so Juliet turns to Jin and tells him that Sun had an affair. Jin is a bit confused, so Juliet explains that Sun was doing the hokey-pokey with another man, and that Sun told her because she was concerned about the baby's paternity. Sun walks over, looks Juliet in the eye, and slaps her across the face. I bet if she asked, Charlotte would teach her how to punch Juliet for real. That slap kind of serves as a confession of guilt for Jin, and he looks upset before walking back towards the beach. Sun mutters his name, but he keeps on walking. Commercials.
Jin is on the beach, assembling some...fishing gear? Yeah, that's the ticket. Sun walks up to him and begs him to forgive her, or to listen to her explanation. But he says nothing and walks away. Bernard walks up and asks Jin if he's going fishing. It takes him a few seconds before he realizes that he's interrupting a touching moment. But after he does, Jin invites him to come along fishing.
Bernard and Jin are in that outrigger canoe thing, fishing. Bernard notes that the two of them are the only married men on the island. When you consider the quality of the rest of the men, is it any surprise? Bernard shares his cranky old man wisdom about marriage -- it's great, but a pain in the ass. And then Bernard tells Jin that Rose has cancer and is dying. Or she was, until she came to the island. Because of that, he was surprised that she didn't want to go with Locke so she could avoid leaving the island. Jin asks him why they stayed with Jack, and Bernard tells him that it would have been wrong to go with Locke, since he's a murderer. And then Bernard starts to give Jin the Earl Hickey explanation of karma. Fortunately, he's cut off when Jin lands a fish. Bernard thinks that's a sign that Jin is a good person with good karma.
On the freighter, Desmond paces in sick bay. There's the sound of banging on pipes in the distance. Desmond thinks it must be a mechanical problem that needs fixing, but Sayid thinks it sounds like someone intentionally banging pipes. And then the doctor enters and tells them that the captain would like to see them. He leads them out onto the deck. The helicopter is gone. Sayid asks where it is, and the doctor tells him Frank took it to run an errand. They bicker about where he might have gone while Desmond looks around. He spies Regina walking along the deck with a heavy chain wrapped around herself. And then she reaches the edge and throws herself into the water. Desmond and Sayid both act like this some big emergency, yelling at the other men on deck to grab a rope and do something. Everyone else reacts like this is nothing that out of the ordinary. And then a hot Australian walks onto the deck and tells everyone to get back to their posts since Regina's already gone. He's giving orders, so I bet you can guess who he is. He's the captain, and his name is Captain Gault. Commercials.
Back on the freighter, Sayid is hassling Gault about not doing anything to save Regina. Gault tells him he didn't want to risk losing any more of his people. Desmond asks him what's going on, and Gault tells him that his crew have been dealing with a heightened case of cabin fever. He thinks it's connected to the boat's location, but he can't really move the boat as someone has sabotaged their engines. Sayid asks if they'll rescue the Lostaways once the engines are fixed, but Gault tells him his orders are to move to safer waters. Sayid asks who gave him the orders -- it's was Charles Widmore, as we all know. And then Gault reveals that he knows that Desmond already knows Widmore.
Gault leads Sayid and Desmond into his...office? Quarters? Ready room? (No, wait -- that last one is Star Trek). He takes a box out of a cabinet and asks if they know what it is. Sayid does (of course); it's a flight data recorder, a.k.a. a black box. In fact, it's the black box from Oceanic 815, which was recovered from the wreck of the plane at the bottom of the ocean. Where the corpse of every passenger was also found. Gault: "The wreckage was obviously staged. Now can you imagine what kind of resources and manpower go into pulling off a fake of that magnitude. Faking the recovery of a plane crash. Putting 324 families through a grieving process based on a lie. But what's even more disturbing -- where exactly does one come across 324 dead bodies? And that, Mr. Jarrah, Mr. Hume, is just one of the many reasons we want Benjamin Linus." You know, the revelation of all these shocking facts to the Lostaways would be more interesting if we didn't already know them.
Sun is sitting on the beach when Juliet walks up to her. I think Juliet is starting to enjoy the beatings. Juliet apologizes and tells Sun that she had to stop her from leaving, any way she could. So this is all kind of a rehash -- Juliet tells Sun that she has to leave before the three weeks to save herself and the baby. Juliet describes all the gruesome symptoms Sun will go through, and tells her that it's Juliet's business because Sun is her patient. This time Sun seems to believe her.
Flash-forward. Sun is still in labor, screaming and pushing. Dr. Bae tells her he has to perform a c-section. Sun tells him not to don anything until Jin arrives. Sun keeps calling for Jin, and thinks she sees him in the hallway. She's in labor -- shouldn't they shut the door? Dr. Bae tells her there's no time to wait for Jin. And then the baby crowns, eliminating the need for a c-section. More pushing and screaming, and then there's a baby in the room. Dr. Bae puts the very realistic baby in Sun's arms. She cries with joy.
On the boat, the doctor leads Sayid and Desmond out of the captain's quarters and down towards the sick bay. Except that they're not going there -- instead, Doc is taking them to a room of their own. He asks them what they thought of the captain. Sayid: "He was surprisingly forthcoming." Which is surprising. I'm starting to think that since everyone is telling us that Widmore sent the boat, it must have been sent by someone else. Because there's no way the show would be this up front with us. They arrive at the room that Desmond and Sayid will be sharing. Doc opens the door, and roaches scatter. That was some good roach wrangling. There's also a big blood stain on the wall. Doc tells them that the stain should have been cleaned up already. He turns around and sees a mysterious figure wielding a mop in the hallway. Doc calls him "Johnson" and tells him to come clean up the stain. Johnson is resistant, and starts to walk away. It's all so mysterious, I bet it will be a big shock... I'm sorry, I can't even pretend that I don't know who this is. I'm thrilled that they brought Harold Perrineau back, but it was completely moronic to keep his name in the credits all these weeks, because it made his return a total non-event. Way to go, show.
Anyway, Doc insists that Johnson come clean up the stain. Johnson pulls his bucket towards them, and introduces himself (as "Kevin Johnson") when he gets closer. Oh my God! It's Michael! See, even that sounds fake. Sayid pretends not to know Michael. Desmond also has a conspiratorial look on his face, but I'm not sure he ever even met Michael. So it might be a conspiratorial look, or it might be gas. Commercials.
Sun is in their tend on the beach. It's nighttime. Jin enters, bearing plates, and tells her that he made dinner. Sun is overjoyed to see him, and asks if she can explain the affair. He tells her it doesn't matter; he knows that she had the affair because he used to be a cold, withholding man before he landed on the island. When she had the affair, she was being unfaithful to the man he used to be, not to the man he has become. He tells her that she's forgiven, and he offers to go to the Barracks with her. But she's changed her mind about going away, because Juliet has convinced her that the danger to her and the baby is real if she stays on the island. He tells her that he'll do whatever it takes to get her off the island. And then he asks her if the baby is his. With tears in her eyes, she swears that it is. They embrace, and he tells her that she will never lose him.
Flash-forward. We see Jin enter the hospital bearing the panda. A nurse gives him directions, and he runs down the hall. He arrives at a hospital room, where there is a guard stationed outside. Jin bows to him, introduces himself, and tells the guard, "I represent Paik Automotive." Whaaaa? Jin tells the guard that he's heard the Ambassador just became a grandfather, and he's there with a gift for the baby. As the guard enters the hospital room, Jin asks him the sex of the baby. It's a boy. Jin quickly wraps a blue ribbon around the neck of the panda. A distinguished looking older man exits the room, and Jin tells him that the panda is a symbol of Mr. Paik's desire to do business in China. The Ambassador enters the room, and Jin sneaks a look behind him. Just in case you were wondering whether Sun somehow got adopted by the Chinese ambassador, the mother holding a baby in the room is not Sun.
Jin walks down the hospital corridor, looking relieved at having successfully completed his task. The same nurse who gave him directions earlier asks him why he's leaving so quickly. He tells her it wasn't his baby, and she tells him she's sure he'll be there soon enough. He tells her not to rush him: "I've only been married two months." Again, I say "whaaaa?"
And now we see Sun at home, getting dressed. She takes her wedding ring out of the plastic bag the hospital stored it in, and it slides onto her non-swollen finger. The doorbell rings. It's Hurley, looking pretty pimp in a nice suit. They hug, and Sun tells him that she can't believe he came. He's there for Ashley. Actually, he asks her if anyone else is coming, and is relieved that the answer is no. She shows him the baby. She's gorgeous, notwithstanding the fact that it looks like someone injected her lips with collagen in the hospital nursery. There's some chat about Hurley holding the baby, and then he tells Sun that the baby looks just like Jin. Sun doesn't seem too happy to hear that. Hurley passes the baby back to Sun, and tells her, "So, I guess we should, like, go see him." Yeah, and give him a stern lecture for leaving his wife and remarrying all before she gave birth to his daughter. 'Cause that's what happened, right?
No, it is not. We see Sun and Hurley at a beautiful cemetery, approaching an imposing gravestone. Sun kneels down, and starts address the gravestone in Korean. She tells Jin that he was right (the baby's a girl) and that she was deliriously calling out his name during the delivery. We see the gravestone -- Jin's date of death is listed as September 22, 2004, the date of the plane crash. (We also see that Sun was born in 1980, making her a rather unbelievable 24 at the time of the crash). Sun tells Jin that she wishes he could see the baby, who she named Ji Yeon. With tears in her eyes, she tells him how much she misses him. Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim did fantastic work this episode.
Just to clear up any confusion, Jin's flash-forward scenes were actually a flashback to the early days of his marriage. Jin may or may not actually be dead at the time of the flash-forward, but we do know that Sun is keeping up the pretense that he died in the plane crash. If he is dead, it could happen any time between the "present day" scenes of this episode and some time before the baby's birth (in six to seven months). If he's not dead, it means he's probably still on the island. So feel free to cry over the amazing acting in this episode, but don't cry over Jin. (Crying over gin is completely optional.)