Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire.

The Glass Ballerina

Sorry for the lateness. I start off so well and then it all just falls apart, doesn't it?

OK, so, this week we move to our second parallel storyline, which centers around Sun, Jin and Sayid on the sailboat. This week's story is told from Sun's point of view, and through her flashbacks we see that she has always been quite the accomplished liar, lying to protect herself even if it means it will be at the cost of others.

We open with a slo-mo shot of the titular glass ballerina crashing to the floor. Sun is a little girl in the flashback. Her father enters a room where she is practicing piano and she flinches a bit as he approaches. He asks her who broke the ballerina. Little Sun says the maid did it. Her father tells her that the maid will lose her job if she broke it, and little Sun repeats her assertion that it was the maid who broke it.

We cut to the present, where Sun, Jin and Sayid are waiting on the sailboat. They don't know that Kate, Sawyer and Jack have been captured and it's been a day since they lit the signal fire on the beach for them. Sun has morning sickness and Jin wants to head back to their camp. Sayid says they should stay and light another fire further up the beach and Sun agrees with him. She goes against Jin and tells Sayid that she will help him sail the boat.

At the Hydra station, it's day 2 (I think) and Juliet takes food to Jack. When she leaves Jack's cell, she knocks on a door, the same door that Benry came through last week. Benry opens the door and steps out into the hall. There is a wall of video monitors in the small room he just left. Benry makes a snarky comment to Juliet about how she never made soup for him and then who should f*ckin' come down the f*ckin' ladder but f*ckin' Trixie from Deadwood!



Hi Trixie! Except she's not Trixie here, she's Connie. (and the fact that she came down a hatch-like ladder confirms that they're holding Jack underground) Connie seems a bit put out that Juliet and Benry are having a little private chat and I'm getting the feeling that the Others have are in the middle of a raging soap opera. Connie tells Benry that they have a situation on their hands - "they have a sailboat." Benry is genuinely surprised at this news and tells her to round up a team and go after them: "I want that boat."

Sawyer and Kate are removed from their cages by someone named Denny, and given a lunchbox. As Denny and his group lead Sawyer and Kate through the jungle, Connie intercepts them. Denny gives her a kiss on the cheek and Connie seems less than enthused. Connie takes one of Denny's guys for her sailboat raid and Denny, Kate and Sawyer continue on their way.

In the next flashback, we find out that Sun did indeed have an affair with her English tutor, Jae. As they lie in bed, he gives her a pearl necklace, which she says she cannot accept. Just then, there's a knock on the door and it's Sun's father. Busted!

Sawyer and Kate are put to work on some sort of chain gang/rock quarry job, the purpose of which is unclear. There are other people (Others) working there, but is it for real? I can't imagine it is. Kate says she won't do any work until she sees Jack, so Denny shocks Sawyer with his taser.

Flashbacking again. Jin has been called to Sun's father's office (because I don't know his real name, I'm calling him SunDaddy). SunDaddy hands him a file on Jae (who I don't think Jin has seen before), tells Jin that Jae has "been stealing" from him and he wants Jin to "deliver a message". Realizing that SunDaddy wants him to kill the man, Jin tries to quit. Silly, silly Jin. SunDaddy tells him that their family has been shamed by this man and Jin needs to restore the family's honor. Jin leaves with the file.

Back on the boat, Jin's cooking some kind of monster for dinner. He's called up on deck, where we see that the sailboat has reached the dock from the season finale. Sayid thinks it's abandoned and they should tie up the boat there and build a new, bigger signal fire on this beach. Jin is worried and asks, "Safe?" Sayid replies, very condescendingly, "Yes, Jin, of course it's safe." You'll be eating those words soon, mister.

While Kate and Sawyer are breaking rocks on the chain gang, Kate hears a "psst" from the nearby bushes. It's Alex, Rousseau's daughter: "Don't let them see me talking to you. Are they keeping you in the cages? Did you see another guy in there, about my age, named Carl?" Kate says no because Carl was gone before she got tossed in the cage. Then Alex says something cryptic, like, "he's not even supposed to be in that cage", that the dress Kate is wearing is hers, and takes off before Kate can ask any more questions.

The sailboat is tied up at the dock and Sayid, Sun and Jin are building a huge bonfire on the beach. Sun brings a gas can from the boat to use on the fire. I mention this because it just seems wasteful to me to use that on the fire. Anyway, Sun figures out that Sayid has been lying about why he wants to light such a big fire. "Why are you lying to me, Sayid?" He replies, "And what would you know about lying, Sun?" Oh, quite a bit, actually. You'd be surprised.

By the way, did anyone else notice that Sun's accent is now markedly more American? No?

Being the master interrogator/torturer that he is, Sayid instantly cries uncle and tells the truth: He is certain that Jack, Kate and Sawyer have been captured by the Others. And Sayid has a plan: light a big fire on the beach to attract the Others; since they live so far away, it will be nighttime before the Others arrive and at that point Sayid will ambush them and take a couple of them hostage, killing the rest. How does he know how long it will take them to get to the beach? I'm already thinking this is a piss-poor plan. Sayid asks Sun to continue to lie to Jin about the plan so he can use him to get the fire built and lit.

Flashbacking. Jin comes home from SunDaddy's office and sits down to dinner with Sun. He tells her that her father has asked him to "deliver a message" to someone. Of course, Sun knows exactly what the message is and who it is intended for. She asks Jin if he will deliver it and Jin says that he has to: "I do this for you, Sun...I do this because that's what it takes to be married to you." Jin leaves to deliver the message to Jae and Sun does nothing to stop him, protecting herself just like she did with the glass ballerina.

Back on the beach, the fire is burning. Jin asks Sayid for a gun and tells them that he knows that Sayid plans to trap the Others and that he understands English better than his wife thinks he does. Oops. Sun says, "He knows I betrayed him." Does he know about Jae? Sun goes to hide on the boat while Sayid and Jin wait in the bushes on the beach. Sayid tells Sun that there is another gun on the boat, just in case the Others get past them on the beach.

On the chain gang, Juliet offers a canteen of water to Sawyer, who pours it onto the ground in front of her. Then he walks over to Kate and plants a big, wet one on her. The guards attack, Sawyer gets one of their guns, but Juliet has a gun pointed at Kate. Sawyer drops the gun.

It's night now, and Sayid and Jin are hiding in the bushes while Sun is on the boat. I'm watching this, and I'm thinking, "Um, Sayid, I'm no Iraqi Republican Guard, but I think your plan has a huge hole in it - what makes you think they won't come by water and go after the boat instead?" And whadya know, that's just what they do. Sun hears footsteps on the deck above her and she grabs the gun.

Flashabacka. Jin goes to Jae's apartment at the hotel (was the number on the door "1516"?), beats the crap out of him, scares the crap out of him but can't go through with killing the crap out of him. Jae believes that Jin knows about the affair, but at this point I don't think he does. Jin tells him to disappear from the face of the earth, to go far away and never come back, or he will kill him. Jin leaves the hotel and gets in his car just as Jae's body comes crashing down on top of it, his hand clutching the pearl necklace he bought for Sun. Did SunDaddy send a backup team to complete the job if Jin didn't? Or did Jae really kill himself? Or did Sun have something to do with it?

Back on the boat. Connie enters the cabin and Sun pulls a gun on her. Connie knows Sun's name. She tells Sun, "Despite what you think, I am not the enemy, we are not the enemy. But if you shoot me, that's exactly what we'll become." Someone starts the engine above, Sun is startled and she shoots Connie in the stomach. The Others shoot at Sun, which brings Sayid and Jin running from the beach. There's a shootout and Sun falls overboard. Jin dives off the dock after her as the Others motor away on the boat. After a short round of Marco Polo, Sun and Jin find each other.

Flashiebackie. It's Jae's funeral, and Sun stands away from the proceedings, observing. SunDaddy approaches her and tells her to go home to her husband. She asks if he will ever tell Jin about the affair and he grumbles back that it is not his place to tell him. On the beach, Sayid apologizes for his shitty plan and says that they should have listened to Jin after all. They start walking back to camp. I wonder how long it will take them? They'll probably get there in time for May sweeps.

At the zoo, Sawyer and Kate are tossed back into their cages after a hard day at the quarry (yabadabadoo!). Kate asks him why he kissed her and Sawyer explains that he did it to test the guards, to see if he could take them. He thinks he can, except for maybe Juliet, who seems pretty hardcore to him, and he and Kate work on a plan to escape, all while Benry watches and listens.



Finally, Benry enters Jack's cell for a chat. Jack asks him what he wants from him and Benry tells him that he wants Jack to "change his perspective." Benry introduces himself formally to Jack as Benjamin Linus and says that he has lived on the island all of his life. I totally believe him and I'm so psyched for the questions this opens up. Like, WHY? Do they stay because of the healing powers? He tells Jack, "If you cooperate, we'll send you home." Cooperate how, he doesn't say. Jack actually asks an intelligent question: "If you could leave this island, why would you still be here?" Benry replies, "Yes, Jack, why would we be here?" Ooo!

Benry has called out to someone who wheels a television into the room on the other side of the plexiglass. To prove that they have access to the outside world, Benry tells Jack that it is November 29, 2004, they have been on the island for 69 days and that since they've been there GWB was re-elected, Christopher Reeve died and the Red Sox won the World Series. This scene was fantastic. Jack, of course, does not believe the whole Red Sox thing so Benry hits play on his remote and Jack watches the final play of the final game of the World Series that the Red Sox won. It almost looks as though there are tears in his eyes. Benry says, "That's home and I'll take you there. I'll take you home, if you listen to me and do as I ask."

Tomorrow, we get to find out what happened to Desmond, Locke and Eko!