And so we get to one of my favorite dysfunctional couples on TV, Jin and Sun. This episode continues the eye-opening Motif, but this time with Sun opening her eye in close up as she looks on at her husband fishing for their daily meal. But then, what’s that? She looks off to the right at Jack and Kate who are preparing to hike up to the caves…. Sun seems to understand them? But how is that possible, and why would she hide her English skills? This is a truly eye-opening moment for the audience.
I’d like to take a moment and point out that the production team (Writers, Directors, Producers) were extremely daring to have two characters like Jin and Sun as primary protagonists on a mainstream show, not because of their nationality, but because they spoke their characters’ native tongue on the show. American TV is too often close-minded to the fact that there are many nationalities besides Californian (Which is a tall, toned, tanned, US West Coast creature) and Lost strove to explore diversity even as it cut its characters off from the rest of the world. Bravo!
This was a transitional episode. A lot happens, but it is really sort of fragmented. We get a part of Michael’s NYC attitude, a splash of Jin’s frustration, some Jack and Kate flirtations, and a Charley revelation. While the Jin/ Sun flashback storyline is integral to their development, the on-island story was really just filling in a few blanks, wrapping up a few loose ends from the last few episodes, and planting a few new ideas.
The subtleties are one of the things I love about this show. There was a teeny tiny moment which was very telling about Jin’s character during a flashback. It was when he exits Sun’s home after asking for her hand. He very naturally misleads her for a moment, making her believe that the meeting went poorly. This masking of himself will become invaluable as he slowly becomes swallowed by the dark and dirty deeds that Sun’s Father will have him performing. Like a superhero, Jin has assumed an alter-ego. This alternate persona will work for Sun’s father and do what needs to be done to earn her hand and love. The problem is that this new Jin, created out of necessity, will encroach upon the nice sweet boy persona that Sun fell in love with. Sun, taking a cue from her husband, will create an alter ego for herself. She will create a person full of hope and new beginnings who learns English in secret. This person will plan to run away from her father and the man she on occasion loves but simultaneously grows to fear.
There was a wonderful use of a Hitchcockian plot device in this episode, known as a MacGuffin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin). A MacGuffin is plot element that drives a work forward, but loses importance as the story continues. It can really be anything. It simply has to be something that the characters desire, causes conflict, reveals character and motivations. It is simply a story catalyst. To name a few MacGuffins in Hitchcock’s films:
The stolen money in Psycho
The Secret Plans in the 39 Steps
The Microfilm in North by Northwest
A few more modern MacGuffins:
The rug in The Big Lebowski
The briefcase in Pulp Fiction
The Rimbaldi artifacts on the show Alias.
In this episode of Lost, the MacGuffin is the Rolex. The watch serves as the catalyst that sets all the episode’s conflicts in motion, but loses importance in favor of the character developments and their interpersonal relationships.
Please enjoy this humorous Hitchcock explanation to Francois Truffaut of what a MacGuffin is:
It might be a Scottish name, taken from a story about two men in a train. One man says “What’s that package up there in the baggage rack?”, and the other answers “Oh, that’s a MacGuffin”. The first one asks “What’s a MacGuffin?”. “Well”, the other man says, “It’s an apparatus for trapping lions in the Scottish Highlands”. The first man says “But there are no lions in the Scottish Highlands”, and the other one answers “Well, then that’s no MacGuffin!”. So you see, a MacGuffin is nothing at all. – From Hitchcock/ Truffaut
And here is a great clip from an interview where Hitch explains how to handle actors, editing, suspense, and suitcase bombs. Enjoy!
February 28, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Robert,
I’m glad you brought up Hitchcock. I’ve been a big fan of his since I was a kid. One of the primary reasons I loved LOST so much was that it was very Hitchcockian on many levels, but perhaps the most was the music. I don’t know if people realize that Giacchino’s score was so integral to the tension and mystery of the show. I just watched Psycho the other day and MG definitely used elements that Bernard Hermann used in his ALL STRINGS score for Psycho. I don’t know if MG ever won an emmy for his score for LOST, but he should definitely get special recognition! People don’t realise how much the score is important to the quality of a production until you watch it without the music!
February 28, 2011 at 2:30 pm
I can’t agree more. Music changes everything, be it within the narrative or merely mood music, it adds a very deliberate depth to everything that we watch. Giacchino’s score is something that I want to delve into when the time is right. These past 6 episodes are wonderfully layered in terms of what the score will evolve into by the end. Hermann was a master. The music and design of the opening credits to psych is a piece of art unto itself. Another great soundtrack man/ composer was the recently passed John Barry. His soundtrack to the cult film Beat Girl is something I could listen to forever. Thanks for the read Scott!
February 28, 2011 at 10:31 pm
I completely agree. I have never heard such moving music on television nor so many different themes to fit so many moods, characters, themes,etc.. Giacchino is brilliant. I was so disappointed he didn’t win the Emmy for his work in Season 6.
February 28, 2011 at 5:21 pm
Now, a lady never tells her age, but I’ll reveal that as a child I used to watch the Alfred Hitchcock Hour, wherein each week a delightful mystery was presented, and the master himself wrapped it up with a few pithy comments, and then turned and matched the chubby silhouette in the backdrop. Delightful! I have been privileged to watch the arts evolve over these many years, and I must say, today is better than yesterday.
I liked this episode much better on rewatch. As much as Sun loved Jin, once he became just like her father, she needed to get away, just like she always wanted to get away from her father. The gamechanger was–a flower. Jin presented Sun with an orchid, and for that, for love, Sun gave up her dream up living, free, in America. She never revealed her feelings to Jin, so yes, this was a dysfunctional relationship. Jack notes this in a later episode, when Sun finds herself pregnant and says it would be strange to tell Jin. “Any stranger than Jin being the last one to know you speak English?” Jack asks. Good point.
I loved the island story more than you did. Here we find out more about Charlie. And Locke’s strange omniscience. Man, is that guy smart! How’d he know about the heroin? And we can trace Kate and Jack’s future problems all the way back to here: “Are you checking me out?” Jack: “No, I was wondering about the logistics of moving all these people out here to…..”
And, Charlie, full of B’s is probably correct!
Where ya been, Robert Lee? I was beginning to wonder if baby Lee had made an appearance!
February 28, 2011 at 5:34 pm
Hey Lin, thanks for the quick read!
I have been absent… I’m working of a comic book series and a TV Pilot right now. This is pure enjoyment for me and well, sometimes life ain’t all fun (but it should be darn it). Baby Lee is coming very soon! I’m learning the in’s and out’s of Babies R Us.
Hitch – I’m envious that you got to watch them when they were new. I’ve seen them all, some more than once, but damn that show was fantastic. Great actors, great writers and directors. My personal fave was Lamb to the Slaughter with Barbara Bel Giddes. I still can’t believe she fed it to the cops!
Also, I love all episodes of this show, calling it transitional doesn’t mean I didn’t like it— I just feel there are many other episodes with more focus. I just don’t want to be labeled a Lost trash-talker, because I’m far from it. I love this show.
I like your point about Locke’s omniscience. Think the island told him about Charley?
February 28, 2011 at 10:35 pm
I am putting in my 2 cents about your question about Charlie and the Island. I do think that Locke somehow knew about Charlie’s addictions and felt it was his role to help him through it. I also think that the Island helped him through his withdrawal.
Great point, LInlighthouse, about Locke’s omniscience.
February 28, 2011 at 10:29 pm
I enjoyed your comparison of Lost to Alfred Hitchcock. I, too, remember the original Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He was a master storyteller and I can remember some of them all these many years later. I had never heard of a MacGuffin, and now I am wondering if Lindelof & Cuse used the technique in other episodes.
I agree that this back story was important for our understanding of Sun & Jin, and the Jin that we see that Sun fell in love with is the Jin that we later see on the island.
I think the important things we saw in this episode had nothing to do with Sun & Jin, They are the Adam and Eve skeletons and the black and white stones, the interaction between Charlie and Locke, and Jack’s decision to move to the caves.
Nice Job, Robert. I am looking forward to your next post.
March 1, 2011 at 10:19 am
Thanks for the comments Barbara!
The MacGuffin is something that is ingrained in narrative storytelling now, be it in TV, Movies, Comics, Novels. It has to do with motivation and how you make it convincing for your audience. It existed as a writing tool before Hitchcock, but he gave it a name with his anecdote about the two men on a train. When you go back and watch the Classics, i.e. Hitchcock, Capra, Welles, Truffaut, Kurosawa, Lean, you can find nuggets that are still reverberating through pop culture today. My DVR is FULL of the 31 days of Oscar films from AMC right now, because these films are important and need to be watched so much more so than the latest Adam Sandler Film or “Hall Pass” or whatever.
Sorry for the “Preserve Classic Film!” rant…
Thanks for reading Barbara!
March 5, 2011 at 3:09 pm
About Sun and Jin’s relationship being dysfunctional–if only Jin had asked his beloved why she wanted to run away to America, instead of just dismissing her. In a healthy relationship, the couple would explore that, and Sun would have felt free to explain her concerns about Jin working for Mr. Paik. I guess it’s right here that we see that Jin assumes he’s going to be the boss, and Sun acquiesces without a fight (except passive-aggressively, we shall see). This is all according to their tradition, of course, but if only Jin had listened to his girlfriend!