Oh, Jin, how I’ve missed you

To be honest, I was a bit worried going into this week’s Lost because the episode description from Cablevision seemed very Kate-centric, and much like Kate, I feel like running when the show decides to delve into her issues. However, while not quite the masterpiece that was last week’s “Jughead,” “The Little Prince” was still another solid hour of Lost with some really nice character moments.

Like I said last week, what really makes Lost a great show is the depth of the characters. That shone through once again this week and it’s nice that the show is allowing time to develop the characters even more while still moving the story along, i.e. no wheel-spinning like the beginning of season three (which I will still defend, but I can see how complaints could be made).

The biggest moment of the ep for me, was the return of Jin (and Rousseau too!). When I saw his body floating on that piece of wood, I knew it was him and I still got goosebumps at the reveal. I am really interested in this storyline, if not only to see how and when Jin hooks up with the rest of Sawyer and his merry men and women, but to (hopefully) see Rousseau’s story. (The look on Daniel Dae Kim’s face when Rousseau said her name was perfect.) I hope that Jin sticks with them for a little while at least, because this is a wonderful opportunity to bring some depth and development to Rousseau, a character who we really only know as a crazy French lady.

Sawyer had some really nice character moments in this ep too. The scene where he watches Claire giving birth was wonderfully played by Josh Holloway. Honestly, it was just so fantastic; you could just see exactly what he was thinking. I know I say it a lot here, but non-verbal acting is what really sells an actor for me and he was incredible here, as well as in the scene with Juliet where he told her about seeing Kate.

I have always liked Sawyer as a character. I originally liked him because he was such an intentional asshole in the earlier seasons, but now the writers have really developed him into a three-dimensional asshole with a heart of gold that really makes me feel for him. He also had two amusing quotes last night: “Thank you Lord!” (as they were flashing away from their attackers in the boat) and “I take that back!” (when they flash into a monsoon). The season of Sawyer continues.

It was nice to see Claire, even if only in flashback (and in her mom’s picture frame). Seeing the birth scene again was a nice bit of nostalgia and also a clever way to remind us of Kate’s ties to Aaron. I had actually forgotten about that scene.

And in a bit of character trait reinforcement (as opposed to actual growth), of course Jack can always fix everything, as he notes to Kate when he goes to talk to Claire’s mother. I guess he really didn’t do any harm, but I thought that it had ‘bad idea’ written all over it.

I found it interesting that many of the questions I wrote down early in the ep were actually answered by the end. I started with “Dart people after Sayid also after Kate (had her address)? So it’s not Ben then?” only told be proven wrong. To me, Ben’s reveal that he is behind the lawyer going to Kate means that there is another group also coming for Kate/Aaron and Ben just beat them to it. Could this be the team of Widmore and bad-ass Sun? Is Sun now going to attempt to assassinate Ben to get revenge for Jin? Could Ben know that Jin is alive (from Locke) and that is what will stop Sun’s attempt? Perhaps that is how he convinces Sun to go back?

Another question I wrote early in the episode: “Is Claire’s Mom behind the lawyers?” Which I was actually annoyed at the show for because when that was revealed I was thinking that it would have been more of a surprise if she wasn’t in the ‘previouslys’ before the ep. However, the show proved me wrong and I was thinking exactly what they wanted me to think. Good job, Lost writers. (One of which tonight was Brain K. Vaughan, who wrote the non-Lost-related, but definitely excellent ‘Y: The Last Man’ and a few great eps of Lost last season.)

Also, and this was a pretty obvious question, but when Sawyer, et al. came across the wreckage on the shore and noticed it was in French, I immediately wrote gasped and made some sort of yelping sound, then wrote: “Rousseau’s people?” and was answered pretty quickly with a ‘Yes!” Not too shocking, but not dragged out liked some previous mysteries (Claire and Jack being related, for instance).

Other highlights/questions from “The Little Prince:”

- Was Dan telling the truth to Juliet about all that he knows? If not, why not? If it’s about general secrecy for the show’s purposes, I will be annoyed. If he has a really good reason for being a stinking liar, I want to know soon.
- I love watching Sayid and his well-choreographed, yet very messy fights.
- Sun is rather scary. From her line about the candy in the mini bar to 100 channels on TV, I guess that’s why she only has a baby picture of Ji Yeon – she acts like no mother I’ve ever seen. So consumed by revenge that she doesn’t even seem to care about Aaron, and by extension her own child? Yikes. I mean she’s acting like a woman with truly nothing left to lose. Unless Ji Yeon is no longer around…but Ben wouldn’t go that far, right? He wouldn’t kill a child to get what he wants. Not a true innocent. I love Ben, but that would be too far, even for me. (Of course, Widmore could be playing Sun to get her to go after Ben.)
- The light in the air really caught me by surprise at first. Once I saw Kate/Claire, I understood, but at first I thought we were way in the past or way in the future. However, that whole scene was really nicely played by Terry O’Quinn, since Locke clearly know when they were.
- So is Miles Pierre Chang’s son? (Based on Dan asking him if he was sure that he had never been to the Island before.)
- If they are going to die in the order of the longevity of time that they’ve been on the Island, I guess Sawyer/Rose/Bernard/Vincent/etc. are next to get nosebleeds, but hopefully not for a while, because Juliet’s been on the Island for 3+ years and Sawyer, etc. just a few months.
- It’s a good thing Jin learned his English over the past two months or so.
- Young Rousseau is actually pretty cute and has already smiled more that old Rousseau ever did.
- So the French people finding Jin was a flashback to before Sawyer, et al. were marooned – but how long before?
- Rousseau refers to one of her people as Montand…I know he’s been referenced before, but I can’t place him.
- The numbers were being broadcast over the Frenchies’ radio. Nothing special, just noteworthy and cool. All of the stuff reinforces Rousseau’s story, so it’s nice to see that she wasn’t all crazy.
- Finding the boat with Ajira water had to be a flashforward. Could this be how the Oceanic 6 return to the Island? They take an Ajira plane, then use a canoe at some point? (Maybe they land on the runway that the Others were building on the second island at the beginning of season 3?) After the 6 arrive at camp and find Rose, Bernard, Vincent (that dog best still be alive Darlton!) and they all leave to try to find the rest of the crew. That is, unless the rest were already there at that point and…oi, head hurts, nose bleeding, must find my constant…
- If the Ajira flash was in the future could the other boat (the one shooting at them) have been Jack, Kate and everyone else?
- Please don’t kill Juliet, please don’t kill Juliet, please don’t kill Juliet.
- I wonder if the flashes on the Island are somehow purposeful and leading Sawyer’s crew to their destinies, while also preventing paradoxes from happening. Because it does seem that we are flashing to rather important times in the Island’s history.
- Didn’t figure this one out myself, but the name on the side of Ben’s van is “Canton-Rainier” which can be rearranged to “reincarnation.” (Much in the way that the name of Locke’s funeral home could be rearranged to “flash-forward.”) Clue or red herring?
- Locke might actually be right about going to the Orchid. Maybe if he goes to the frozen donkey wheel, he can stop the flashes from happening, while at the same time being zipped off the Island to become Jeremy Bentham and die. Maybe when he does this, the Island is stopped in a certain crucial time period. (Ben turned the flashes on, Locke turns them off?)
- Favorite quotes of the night: “I think they want their boat back” (Miles) and “No Jack, she’s right – it was me.” (Ben) Perfectly delivered, as always by Michael Emerson. Ben is so awesome.

Now, how do I tie the title of this episode to the novella where it got its name (“The Little Prince”)? Before watching this ep, I thought that we were meant to think of Aaron because so much seems to be centered on him, and maybe he is the Little Prince. However, yesterday afternoon, I read the novella in preparation for this episode and what I found most interesting about it was that at the end of the story, the Little Prince has to die to get back home to the rose that he loves. That seems like good ol’ John Locke to me (just replace rose with Island) and would also tie in with the above mentioned anagram.

Also, there is an extensive discussion in ‘The Little Prince’ about becoming responsible to that which you tame. ‘Tame’ in the story is defined as “to establish ties.” And haven’t all these characters been tamed by each other and more so haven’t they all been tamed to/by the Island?