Friday, March 9, 2012

Five Drinks Into Off the Air TV: Lost Episode 29 (I)

Tom Reviews Lost: Season 2 Episode 5 "...And Found"

I'm a total idiot for not realizing this before but Jin's amazing fishing abilities come's from the fact that he was raised in a fishing village. Wow. Duh. Anyways, let's get to the episode.

So the moral of the episode is that you find what's lost when you stop looking. Now I'll get to the specifics of the episode in a bit, but can I just take this opportunity to make a series long prediction? Okay, thanks I will. The series will end several years in the future, and once the survivors have given up all hope of being rescued, a ship will suddenly arrive and take all the survivors home. Yeah, okay.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to review the Tail side survivors. I have trouble keeping up with everyone, so bear with me on repeating these names again and again.

Anna Lucia: The leader of the tail side survivors.

Master Echo: I feel like that's not really his name, but that's what I heard and that's what I'm calling him. He's the bad ass with skills on the Tail Side Tribe. Like a black Locke, but much more macho looking.

Libby: The blonde woman who seems to be nice to everyone. I hope they're not just setting her up to die horribly.

Cindy: The quiet member of the Tribe. She has dark hair, and didn't say much.

Bernard: Rose's husband. The older white guy.

Okay, now on to talking about Jin and Sun. My favorite Korean couple!


Jin's Flashback: So I love Jin. I don't necessarily approve of him trying to erase his roots, but I don't know what it's like to grow up as a poor villager in Korea. What I love about him is that he truly believes that the way he's going to improve his lot in life is by working hard. Call me naive, but that's what I consider to be the American Dream, and as a proud America, Jin really appeals to me. He's not above dressing up for a job, and working to prove himself worthy. He is above a job where his boss treats "his kind" like shit, and I respected Jin for quitting just as much as I respected him for swallowing his pride and taking the job in the first place. 

I also respect the writers for being bold enough to have Jin fall in love with Sun the first time he meets her.  It's cliche, but it's so wonderful to see that I don't care. 

Sun's Flashback: Wow, her mom is kind of a bitch. I don't know anything about Korean marriage customs, but this seems really old fashioned. At least they're letting the man and woman meet and decide their relationship for themselves. I knew that it wouldn't end well with that guy, but I understood how Sun could like him. He was an ass for leading her on. 

Sun's Present Day Story: Okay this was probably the weakness of the episode. Obviously her search for her wedding ring was more metaphorical than anything else, but it was still a cliche plot to use. I also dislike it, because there's no way for the audience to solve the mystery of where the ring is, although I managed to guess it would be with the buried bottle. I did enjoy Sun tearing up her garden though.

Seeing Kate react to the news that Sawyer might be dead was very moving. She has feelings for him! Oh, I might turn Kate/Sawyer shipper soon. 

Jin's Present Day story: Did I mention that I love Jin? After the whole Raft ordeal Sawyer has retreated to his position of not caring about anyone, which he is forgiven for because he removed a bullet from his wound with his bare hands, but Jin cares about both of these men. When Michael goes running off into the Jungle, his first inclination is to run after him. I remember when Jin didn't feel like he had any place among the survivors. Hell, I remember when he tried to kill Michael; and now the idea of leaving Michael behind doesn't even cross his mind. Somehow the writers have managed to make this character change without me having any doubts about the believability of all of this. That's incredible to me.

We also got to see the Others' feet. And was that Walt or some other kid? What do they want with kids?

Rating: 9 out of 10 lost wedding rings.

You know what is incredible about Television? The fact that I can believe that these characters are real and that the relationships between them are real. The fact that I can see two characters go from hating each other to being friends, and not doubt that shift at all. What's incredible is that I have grown to love these characters, and that I could see something as cliche as love at first sight, and actually be blown away by the beauty of that moment rather that look at it with cynicism. It's moments like those and episodes like these that reaffirm my love of Television, and my conviction that it the greatest literary medium ever. I'm not saying this was the greatest episode of TV ever, not even the best episode of the series so far (In Translation was) but it was one of those episodes that made me love the medium. So thank you Lost. 

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