Lost Rewatch on VHS:...And Found

 

Among the many pleasures of this episode is that for the first time we hear what will become Michael Giacchino’s love theme for Sun and Jin. Unless you’ve been paying really close attention (and for the record I had to rewatch at least twice before I picked up on it) one of things that makes Lost one of the greatest shows in history is its score. It is not just Giacchino essentially uses an orchestra for his work; it is that he has composed the score much like an opera. There are recurring themes throughout the series, some of them depending on the action and what it is happening on the screen. More importantly, he gives each major character a theme of their own and that theme will recur when these characters appear on screen, often whether the episode is based on them are not. The instrumentals for Lost were so magnificent that each season a CD would be released containing the new themes for each episode, and it was a sign not only of the popularity of the series but the genius of Giacchino that what was essentially a series of instrumental themes could appear on the Billboard charts.

This episode introduces what will be the love theme for Jin and Sun, and that is appropriate not just because it is centered on them but because it ends with their meeting. What is fascinating about ‘…And Found’ (another episode punning on the title) is that while we will see many episodes involving Jin and Sun, this is the only one we see that gives a picture of what they were like before they met. And though they are essentially from disparate backgrounds, we see that before that they were in prisons, though for Sun it was because of her gender and for Jin it was because of his upbringing.

When Jin gets the job at the Gateway Hotel and we see that Sun is undergoing what must be the most recent in matchmaking by her overbearing mother, we are led to believe that this is where they will first lay eyes on each other. While this is true, Darlton delay this to the end of the episode not merely as misdirection but to give a very clear portrait of what Jin and Sun were each like. Both of them were ambitious in their own ways and both were being halted from realizing them. Sun had gone to college and majored in Art History, but from the way her mother dismisses it,  she clearly did so against the will of her parents and was never intended to have a career. Jin is no more interested in romance at the beginning of the episode that Sun is and is also focused on becoming a working man. He clearly has great potential, but his employer at the hotel clearly views him with contempt and doesn’t even bother to hide it. Sun thinks that Jin has a bad temper, but we see no evidence of that in this episode even though he is far more worthy of expressing his rage than we’ve seen on the island.

Sun has her first meeting with Jae Lee, who clearly sees what Sun is going through and they clearly connect on this level. Ironically, Sun who had no desire for a mate going into this clearly this by the time of their most recent meeting – and is utterly devastated when Jae Lee tells her he plans to marry someone else. (The fact that he took a flower from Jin before their ‘date’ is an irony they are never aware of.) At the same time Sun is dealing with her devastation, Jin is dealing with a setback of his own, but its interesting to see that his decision is based from principles rather than emotion. He may have want to rise high in profession, but this kind of cruelty is something he will not tolerate. We see the quiet dignity that we haven’t yet seen in him so far on the show.

In typical Lost fashion, the episode ends with the irony of Jin and Sun’s first meeting (and there’s clearly an immediate attraction) contrasted with the fact that at that moment Sun has begun to consider the very real possibility that her husband is dead. That the audience knows the reunion is inevitable doesn’t make the frustration we see her go through in this episode very real.

Sun spends her part of the episode searching for her wedding ring and essentially enlisting everybody who will help. Jack tries to offer an example from his own life, which is fitting not only because it shows that he can’t let go of something when he’s sure of it but how far he’ll go to make not even his wife notice that he has failed at something. (His acknowledgement of the end of his marriage is Sun is the first time he’s done so to any of the survivors.) Hurley has what appears to be his first interaction with Sun since he learned she spoke English and while there is the initial cultural awkwardness (“Is that the good Korea or the bad one?”) they actually find common ground when he asks her about their dog. Considering what we now know about Bpo Bpo, its actually kind of sweet that they’ve held on to it for that long. Sun finally throws what amounts to a tantrum and then Locke shows up – and it’s the Locke we got used to during the first season and won’t see much of the rest of Season 2. He also reveals a bit of himself in that he did used to get angry and that he doesn’t feel lost anymore. He helps Sun through her time of frustration, but we will quickly see this is an anomaly for him going forward.

Eventually Sun comes to Kate and basically explodes into her certainty that something horrible has happened to her husband. It is telling that while she reveals what Claire found in the last episode, she tells another woman instead of any of the men. When Kate tells her that she never got to say goodbye to Sawyer, it makes it clear that for all of the lack of tension we’ve seen between Jack and Kate so far this season, she has not forgotten Sawyer. It is not a coincidence that Sun finds her ring immediately afterwards.

Jin has been through his own journey during this period, but it as physical as it emotional. The survivors of the tail section have decided to hike and rejoin the camp but must gather supplies first. What is perhaps the most interesting in this is that throughout the episode the survivors of the tail section all treat Jin with more respect than we’ve seen any of his fellow survivors do. When Jin manages to bring in fish, Ana Lucia gives the first unguarded smile we’ve seen her show on the island. And it is clear that his devotion to Michael impresses Eko to the point that after they attack each other, he immediately agrees to help him.

Neither Michael nor Sawyer look particularly good in this episode, though the latter actually has a decent excuse for being surly. The wound he suffered is clearly beginning to affect him physically and its beginning to wear on him. Michael is still devoted to finding Walt, but in a way that for the first time demonstrates how single-minded he will be. When Libby mentions to him almost in passing where the Others are, Michael immediately abandons her into the jungle for even a hope of finding his son. Jin clearly recognizes this and is determined to go after him.

This is the first time we really get a sense of Eko on his own and watching it I was stunned by the contrast of the work of Adewale Akinnouye-Agabje. Like with Harold Perrineau, my first exposure to him had been for his work on OZ where he had played the memorably cruel and sadistic drug dealer Simon Adebisi for four seasons. (His death was one of the great moments in the series history and one of the more memorable ones to that point.) Trying to square the circle between the incredibly evil Adebisi and the subdued and understanding Eko was a great challenge for me (though later this season, we would get a much clearer picture that showed the difference between the men was not as great as we thought.) Eko shows compassion throughout every step of the process, not letting the language barrier form the obstacle it has with almost everyone else to that point. He doesn’t know if Jin understands every word he’s saying but he makes far more of an effort and its clear Jin appreciates it. Near the end he tells Eko to go back as much to protect him as to help Michael and doesn’t argue when Eko agrees to keep coming.

This episode also gives us the first real picture we’ve had of the Others, though at this point its very clear that the Tailies would laugh at the term. (All will use terms like theirs and them. ) It’s not just the general sense of terror that fills the Tailies while this is going on; its that we’re getting more and more of a picture and none of its pretty.

The clearest one comes when Jin stumbles over a body of a man Eko simply calls ‘Goodwin.’  This story will be paid off soon (and like quite a few of them, will keep paying off when you least expect it too) But the most shocking one comes when Eko freezes. We never know what exactly he hears (the whispers that we have come to associate with them so far are never heard) but the next scene shows them literally walking right past Jin and Eko. They are utterly silent, their clothes are ragged and filthy…and in the most terrifying one, it seems one is a child. (We’ll learn the truth behind this one too, and while its unexplained, its heartbreaking.)

The episode ends with Eko warning Michael that he has no idea what ‘they’ are capable of. Though we don’t know it for certain, we are now pretty clear that this is another flaw of Michael’s character: no matter how many times he’s warning, his desire to save his son will isolate him from the people he should rely on. He is pulled back from the brink for the first time in this episode and will manage to hold his feelings in check due to other events. But this episode – combined with the fact that he clearly does not view the rest of the survivors as friends the way that so many of the others have made connections by now – shows the path that he is on.

The episode understandably ends on what should be a joyful note: we now know that Jin and Sun’s reunion is just a matter of time and there will be happiness in the future. But we’ve also been given the clearest sign so far of Michael’s single-minded recklessness. Next time, Jin won’t be able to help his friend.

VHS Notes: There were a lot of mediocre ABC sitcoms in 2005. I keep seeing the end of the forgettable Freddie (Freddie Prinze Jr., venture into comedy) adds for an even more forgotten series Hot Properties and ads for the soon to be cancelled Hope and Faith, a short running very forgettable Kelly Ripa vehicle. It would be awhile before ABC came up with some comedies nearly as good as the dramas they introduced the previous season. (Actually, they’d start coming the very next year.)

The previews of the upcoming episode says that it will be the one this season everyone would be talking about. This might imply its going to be the best of the year; it isn’t by a long shot. But it also says someone’s going to die at the end of the episode, and unlike the first time they made this warning leading up to ‘Homecoming,’ this death will both shock and have massive reverberations.