…In Translation
We learn more about Jin’s life before coming to the island. He had gone to Sun’s father to ask permission to marry her. This was a point of honor. We see this same ritual played out by Sayid with Boone. However since Sayid doesn’t respect Boone, it is explained that it is only out of courtesy. Honor and shame are covered in this episode. Mr. Paik insults Jin by asking why he should hand his daughter over to a man who would so easily sell his dreams. “Because she is my dream.” Before their wedding reception Jin tells her they will have to postpone their honeymoon so that Jin can prove to Paik that he is committed to him and his training. In ‘Deus Ex Machina’ a show of commitment will later be required of Locke as well. His commitment will unfortunately be in the form of human sacrifice.The shame that Jin has from his flashback’s is almost as ugly. He unwittingly found himself working as Paik’s enforcer. In order to spare Han’s life, he beat him senseless in front of his child. Unlike so many other characters in the series, Jin was not deterred from his ugly mission simply because a child was present. At the beginning of Jin’s first visit, he removes his shoes upon entering Han’s home, as a sign of respect. The second time when he beats him, he doesn’t bother. Later when Michael confronts Jin about the burning of the raft, Jin lets him think that he did it, even taunting him. As Michael starts to beat him he taunts him. This is just like when Sawyer egged Sayid into punishing him for something he didn’t do. Just as in that case, Jin was punishing himself for something else he had done that had gone unpunished.
New life and starting over were also strong themes in this show. Michael tried to get Walt excited about starting again in New York City. This unfortunately led to Walt’s sabotage of the raft. Michael mistakenly blamed Jin for this. Later he tells Walt, “We all have setbacks…That’s just life. We’ll start over.” When Boone tries to sabotage Shannon’s budding relationship, Sayid tries to distance himself from her. Enraged she goes looking for Boone, and finds Locke instead. Locke encourages her to keep seeing Sayid and ignore Beoone. “Everyone gets a new life on this island Shannon. Maybe it’s time you start yours.” First of all, if this had been said by anyone else I wouldn’t question it’s sincerity. However, rather than being helpful, I suspect that Locke is being an agent of chaos here. Also I can’t help wonder if his invitation for her to start her new life, is an invitation to start it in the afterlife. I smell a rat. Maybe it’s the one he’s cleaning to eat. Ok, first of all gross. Secondly I have to bring up the fact that we got a lot of rat references in seasons 4 & 5. Widmore accused Ben of sneaking into his bedroom like a rat. We had Eloise the rat. And then Widmore told the Others that he caught Kate and Jack crouched in the bushes like rats. Those are the ones that I can remember off the top of my head. The references were getting noticable to a lot of us. Sun begs Jin to start fresh with her. “I want to go back the beginning. Can’t we …just start all over? Though Jin refuses her request, we see that he too had longed for that back home in South Korea. “In a good world she would hate him, not me.” His father replied that “It is a good world”. Shannon declared that she was going to have her new life. It appeared that Sun was too, as she let her swimsuit cover fly and set herself free in the baptismal waters of the ocean.
The theme of black and white was fairly obvious in this episode. We see the return of the white flower as the symbol of Jin’s love for Sun. In the beat down scene, Jin is wearing a black suit and tie with a white shirt. The assassin is wearing a white suit and black shirt.Also the theme of starting over works well with my ongoing question of a reset for season 6.
Interesting to note:
1)The Sharpe’ puppy that Jin takes, becomes Sun’s dog. Also Hurley appears on the tv that the little girl is watching.
Numbers
In this episode we learn the back story of Hurley’s curse. He believes he was cursed when he ‘used’ the numbers on a lottery ticket. It won him millions of dollars, but spelled disaster and death for those around him. He believes that it is in fact what caused Oceanic 815 to crash. One of Hurley’s ongoing themes is the process of learning that he can make his own luck. I think this also could be compared to the other ongoing theme on Lost, of choices. You make your own choices and you shouldn’t blame the temptations, or circumstances around you. At least that’s the connection that I saw when Mrs. Toomey said, “You make your own luck, Mr. Reyes. Don’t blame it on the damn numbers. You’re lookin’ for an excuse that don’t exist.” We watch Michael and Jin’s progress on the raft as they are making their own luck in trying to get off the island.
Lenny gave me chills as he finally stopped number chanting long enough to ominously warn Hurley that, “You’ve opened the box… It doesn’t stop.” The fact that he and Sam Toomey discovered the ‘numbers’ while posted at a “listening” station, reminded me of ‘Special’ when Locke said, “You can’t hear everything Boone. The sooner you learn that the better.” What are the writers trying to tell us about listening? Does the will of the island of the island have a ‘voice’ that only some people can hear? If so is it the voice of Jacob or his Nemesis?
The interaction between Lock and Claire was intriguing. His interest in her amnesia was suspicious. He rarely seeks out and takes a personal interest in the other survivors. When he does there seems to usually be an angle for him. So why was he so interested in whether or not Claire was remembering something? Was he trying to protect the ‘Others’? Or was he simply trying to learn something about ‘his’ people. But what I liked best was his building project. It seemed to be metaphorical for the show as a whole. That has been my favorite part of the rewatch. I love it when the writers drop something on us that seem to spell out the whole show in general, only we couldn’t see it. Through every scene with Locke, Claire expressed her confusion about what it was that he was building. He never answered her, he just kept on with the construction. She was the viewer, he was the writers. She thought he was building a trap, to kill something. When he turned it over it was revealed to be a cradle, to hold her unborn child. See that’s what I love about this show. One simple turn of the story and the show reveals what was there all along. That can be applied to the show as a whole. The pieces have been there the entire time, we just aren’t looking at it from the right angle. I also like the comparison of death vs. life. She thinks it’s a trap but it’s really a cradle. It seems that a lot of what’s happened on the island in the 5 seasons has been a test. Has it been testing to prepare their hearts and minds for the battle to come? Or has it simply been to test whether Jacob was right or not? Only season 6 will tell.
Lenny mentioned the box. I’ve heard a lot of talk about the island’s “magic box” providing things for people just when they need it or want it. A lot of times this is really more in the form of a temptational torment. Hurley starts losing weight – a pallet of food drops from the sky. Charlie faces sobriety and a plane full of heroine drops from the sky. The list literally goes on and on. In this episode Hurley mans up and goes trekking across the island facing certain peril, because he is in search of answers. This is significant in the fact that he is the only easy going character on the show until we later meet Bernard in season 2. “I just go along with it…Now I want some friggin’ answers.” He didn’t get want he asked for, but he got what he needed. Rousseau agreed that the numbers must be cursed. He just needed somebody to truly understand and agree with him. I guess we all need that once in a while. Hurley surprises everyone by bringing back the battery that no one thought he could. Ask and ye shall receive.
Interesting to note:
1)Mary Jo the lotto girl is Sawyer’s mark from ‘Outlaws’. She is played by Brittany Perrineau, wife of Harold who plays Michael.
2)Why does Rousseau live in ‘dark territory’? After what we learned about what happened to her team in dark territory during season 5, why would she build her home there?
3)During Hurley’s accounting meeting we see a lot of easter eggs: the orange futures(oranges show up a lot in the show-Locke’s orange peel, orange juice to drug Juliet, Jack uses it for his alcoholic drinks occasionally, and then of course the word futures could be a play on the time theme); he now appears to ‘own’ Locke’s box company and is Randy’s boss? Just when did Randy boss around Locke and Hurley? Maybe Randy started working at the box company after the meteorite blew up Mr. Cluck’s. I had forgotten that Hurley’s factory fire killed 8. He shoulders the guilt of the highest death count on the show. 8 in the factory fire, 8 on the deck collapse, Libby because he didn’t bring a blanket, Grandpa Tito, the priest, Tricia Tanaka, D.I. van victim, perhaps the suicide jumper during this meeting, and then all those 815 crash victims. You can argue how many of those deaths are attributable to Hurley or his actions, but the point is, he blames himself.
4)One has to wonder why the LAPD would dare to arrest Hurley after his speeding away from the convenience store in season 4. He had already received a sizable settlement from them in this episode for false arrest. I would think the police commissioner would want to avoid another similar situation. They would know that he could afford a really good lawyer. Lucky for them Hurley was a glutton for punishment.
5)Sam Toomey’s record of bad luck seems reminiscent of Faraday’s journal. Toomey’s is of bad luck. Faraday’s is of solutions. A mirror?
Deus Ex Machina
“What’s that?”
“A game. It’s my favorite game actually. I used to play it with my brother. It’s called Mousetrap.”
“How do you play?”
“Well you start with all these parts off the board and then one by one you build the trap. Shoe, bucket, tub. Piece by piece it all comes together. And then you wait till your opponent lands here on the old cheese wheel. And then if you set it up just right, you spring the trap.”
So much to say about this scene, where to begin… Locke works in a place that specializes in games. This man has been shown to love games all through the series. The fact that when we last saw him in season 5, he had been completely replicated by the master manipulator of the show, is making us all question just how far back does that connection go. TimeIsRelative must be having a field day with this episode, considering her focus on John Locke. Could the mention of the cheese wheel be a hint at the frozen donkey wheel? Could the mention of Locke’s brother be a foreshadow of Jacob and his Nemesis playing games with the Losties’ lives? I think that is certain, especially since we never heard any other mention of Locke’s brother. Mousetrap is a metaphor for the long con. Conning is a theme that is revisited by every major character on the show. They are either doing it, or it’s being done to them, somewhere along the way. Then again, it is likely that it’s happening to all of them on island, in the sense that they are being manipulated. Whether that’s by Ben, Jacob, or his Nemesis has yet to be determined. But somebody is definitely turning the screws behind the scenes. This is one of the first episodes during the rewatch that I am finally seeing a less confidant Locke. In saying that I am also saying that this is a version of Locke that I see more as himself. What I mean by that is Locke’s behavior has been suspicious from the first episode. Given what we know, about a battle between two wills over the island inhabitants, Locke’s motivations have been suspect from the beginning. Who is guiding him? Someone sure is. The man that was tormented by Anthony Cooper and Randy Nations, could not be the strong and sure man that acts with perfect instincts on chaos island. Even Boone is suspect of him when he says, “One minute you’re quoting Nietzsche the next minute you’re an engineer.” What did Locke mean as he stomped around saying, “This was supposed to work!” ? Was he told that? Little by little (piece by piece) his legs begin to fail him. The island is taking away the mobility that it had restored in him. Locke sees this as a test. “All that’s happening now is our faith is being tested, our commitment…”
On the subject of games, Lock is not the only islander involved with games. Jack in an out of character moment, decides to give Sawyer a dose of his own medicine, by playing mind games on him. When giving him an exam to determine the reason for his splitting headaches, he torments him with unnecessarily embarrassing questions. Then he lets him sweat it out while he allows him to think that his diagnosis is dire. I liked season 1 Jack much better. After Kate thanked him, Jack replied, “I didn’t do it for him.” He was implying that he had helped Sawyer for Kate’s sake. He also operated on Ben for Kate’s sake in season 3. When she asked him to operate on Ben once more for her sake in season 5, he refused. He had done that all he was going to.
Maybe the red color on the file containing the information about Locke’s biological father should have been a red flag to him.Even the investigator warned him, “This stuff isn’t meant to be, even though it may feel that way. But this probably won’t have a happy ending.” So much of what happened was premeditated. Emily admitted later that it was all Cooper’s idea. After Cooper entered the room where Locke was waiting, he sauntered over to the liquor setup to get them each a drink. He dipped into an open bucket of ice to fill the glasses. I point this out because you can see by the scalloped design of the glass bucket that it has no lid. An ice bucket with no lid is completely impractical. It would melt the ice. That would indicate one of two things. Either he had his staff refill the bucket frequently, or he was expecting John. Of course it was the latter. Through his home decor, Anthony Cooper conveyed the idea that he was an adventurer and hunter. Was that his true personality, or is that what John’s psych profile indicated he would respond to? It’s certainly been done in other episodes to him. We might also take note that Cooper’s home was protected by a large gate and guarded. Was this also premeditated because he predicted that Locke would turn into his own little stalker after he betrayed him so brutally? Or was this simply done to defend himself from all the people he has conned over time? One thing I am especially intrigued by is an exchange they have about hunting. Cooper asks, “Do you hunt?” “No, no.” replied Locke. Locke had never hunted before this. So what does that mean? Was Locke’s obsession with becoming the great hunter born out of some drive to prove something to Cooper? His worth? Or does the hunter theme point more toward Nemesis? Or is it a coincidence? Do not confuse coincidence with fate. When it comes to this show, I don’t believe in coincidence. The on island con was in full swing during this episode as well. Locke had explained to Boone that the island had changed him, it had made him whole. This line awakens my reset theory. Was he speaking as the formerly paralyzed John Locke, or as the formerly non-corporeal Nemesis? Now Locke’s legs were giving out one by one. Each time he would end up on the ground he would find a new clue. Each was perfectly orchestrated to be discovered by Locke at just the right moment. Locke was made to feel that they were there for a reason. As Cooper said, “These doves fly a lot faster than you think. So you have to really lead em. ” I don’t know that Locke is that fast of a dove. He seems to be a pretty easy mark. We will also see him easily conned by a cop named Eddie. Ironically this is the same name of the guard who guiltily kept Locke from questioning Cooper about his betrayal. Some force on the island has led Locke through most of the series, on and off. It was at full court press in this episode. The dreams were there, even going as far to incorporate Boone’s knowledge to help convince both of them to do it’s bidding. “You were part of a design.” Locke was led along through the whole series. “Everything breaks if you apply the right force.” “It was only a dream but it was the most real thing I’ve ever experienced” Emily said, “He said it was the only way you’d give it to him. It had to be your idea.” “And if you set it up just right, you spring the trap.”
Of course ultimately Boone is sent to his eventual demise by climbing into that Nigerian plane. But in the meantime, he discovers a whole new plane-load of heroine for the island to tempt Charlie with. Ask and ye shall receive. We also here the muffled voice of Bernard saying “We’re the survivors of Oceanic 815.” But I noticed something that I never had before, during the plane collapse. I apologize if this has been discussed by the community already. I haven’t had a lot of access to season 1 podcasts, so I’m not sure. As the plane flips there is a noticeable cloud of gray ‘dust’. Is it Smokey? I can’t say. But it wasn’t brown, which the dirt should have been. It was gray. Suddenly Locke has the ability to walk and manages to carry Boone back to the caves. He lies to Jack that he fell off a cliff, accidentally. As Jack asks him to tell him more, he realizes that Locke has disappeared. We see in his flashback that after the surgery he woke up abandoned and betrayed. That was how he felt now. Locke is bleeding as he pounds at the gate for Cooper to answer him, just as he is, as he pounds on the hatch and demands that the island answer him. “I’ve done everything you wanted me to do, so why did you do this to me?!?!?” And the hatch light goes on…
Interesting to note:
1)During Locke’s dream there is a sound of glass shattering. It seems unexplained. Could it be a memory of the shattering sound as Locke rocketed through the glass of Anthony Cooper’s 8th story apartment window?
2)Cooper said that Emily had told him that she wasn’t going to have the baby, then she “drops off the face of the planet”. When she turns up again she’s asking for money telling him she put him up for adoption. This is sort of a mixed up retelling of both Claire’s story and Kate’s story. Claire didn’t want to have the baby, then she got some money, then she dropped off the face of the planet, then she abandoned her baby. Kate got a baby, reappeared on the face of the planet, got some money, gave the baby away, and then dropped of the face of the planet again.
3)Can someone please explain to me what the wardrobe department was trying to accomplish with Cooper’s hunting attire? Seriously? He looked like a cartoon.
4)Locke told Boone that normally clothing would completely decompose in 2 years. Huh? When Kate and Jack found ‘Adam and Eve’, he said it would take 40-50 years for that level of decomposition to happen. Is this some blatant, but unnecessary lie on Locke’s part? What are they trying to tell us?
5)Cooper stated that “I’m an old man, and it’s a long list.” If that is a veiled reference to Jacob’s list, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that Cooper’s probably not on it.
Go to Source
