302 - The Glass Ballerina (A Sun/Jin Episode)


Major Plotpoints

-- Sun and Jin fight, bicker, and argue, as usual. Don’t you love the continuity on this show?
-- Sayid realizes that their friends are captured, so he decides to burn the black smoke to alert the Others to their arrival, and then kill Them and keep two hostage in exchange for their friends. However, his plans are foiled when an Other named Ryan spots their sailboat and tells Colleen, who in turn tells Ben (fka Henry Gale) who tells Colleen to tell some more Others to go take the boat. While Sayid and Jin are on the beach, the Others ambush the boat. Colleen comes underneath and finds Sun, who promptly shots her in the gut and runs off into the water to reconnect with her husband.
-- Pickett and a group of Others force Sawyer and Kate to work on, um, something. Kate (still in her pretty little sundress) gets to use a pickaxe and break up some rocks while Sawyer moves the rocks somewhere in a wheelbarrow. While this is going on, Sawyer marches up to Kate and kisses her, causing the Others to attack. At the time, it looked like Sawyer just professing his love to Kate, but later that night, in the cages, we realize he was trying to see which of the Others are actual threats. Sadly, Ben is watching and listening to this exchange of escape plans.
-- Sun was indeed having an affair with Jae and Mr. Paik, her father, found out about it. He told Jin to kill Jae for “stealing from him” but Jin couldn’t do it. When he told Jae to leave the country, Jae responded by jumping out a window.
-- Ben comes into Jack’s cell and proves to him that the Others have contact with the outside world (he tells him the date, that Bush got reelected, Christopher Reeve died, and that the Red Sox won the Series) and makes him an offer: if he cooperates and does everything they ask when they ask it, Jack can go home.


---

A beautiful figurine of a glass ballerina tumbles through the air. It crashes to the ground and shatters into a million little pieces. A small Asian girl stares at the pieces and runs out of the room and sits down at a piano, to practice. Sometime later, Mr. Paik enters holding a bag. He drops it at the girl’s feet and it makes a crunching noise—the remains of the ballerina are inside. Mr. Paik asks Sun if she broke the ballerina. She shakes her head no. Then who did? The maid, she says calmly. If she tells him the maid did it, he says, he will be forced to fire her. Does Sun understand? She nods her head. Who broke it? The maid did. Mr. Paik looks disappointed. Very well.

On the island, Sun splashes some water on her face in the bathroom on the boar. Jin knocks on the door. She’s okay, she tells him. It’s just morning sickness. Jin leaves hurriedly and Sun calls after him. They head back to the deck of the sailboat, which is just offshore of the signal fire they built sometime before. Sayid adds a notation to one of Danielle’s maps and Jin says something in Korean to him. Sun translates, saying that Jin says it’s time to leave. He doesn’t think Jack and the others are coming. It’s been over a day since they lit the fire—they should have come. Jack knows they’re out there, Sayid says. He’s counting on their signal. Maybe he just can’t see the smoke. If he’s north of them, the mountains would block the view. Sun tells Jin this in Korean. They need to sail forward, Sayid says, along the coast, clear the mountains, and start another fire. Sun translates again and Jin yells no to Sayid. Sayid tells him he told Jack he would light a fire. He’s not abandoning him. Sun starts to translate, but Jin interrupts, telling her that they’re not sailing anywhere. Sayid’s not her husband! Defiant, Sun tells Sayid that Jin thinks they have to do what he says because he’s the only one who can sail. But he’s wrong. She can help him sail the boat.

Jack sits in the corner of his cell. Juliet enters carrying a tray of good. She asks if he’s feeling any better and Jack says nothing. She made the soup herself, she says, but she won’t take it the wrong way if he doesn’t like it. She leaves the tray and exits, going to another door and knocking. Ben opens the door, revealing screens inside the room that are used to monitor locations like Jack’s cell. She never made soup for him, Ben says. A woman suddenly climbs down a ladder and enters the room where Juliet and Ben are. Is she interrupting something? Would it really matter if she was? They have a situation, the woman says. Ryan radioed in—the Iraqi found the decoy village. Good, says Ben. That’s what they wanted. Ryan followed him back to shore and they have a sailboat. How? She has no idea. So they have a boat, Juliet says. Sailing in circles will keep them busy. They could find them, the woman says. Ben? He’s thinking. How quickly can she put a team together? Within the hour. Then don’t waste time talking to them. She turns to leave. Hey, Colleen? He wants that boat.

Sawyer works the lever game and gets a fish biscuit and some food. The music plays and wakes Kate up. Nice alarm clock, she says. He’s woken up to worse. Pickett and some Others enter. Sawyer holds out the fish biscuit. Want half? Picket and the Others open the cage doors and Pickett hands Sawyer a lunch box. What’s this? Lunch—they’re going to need him to keep up his strength. Is that right? Kate and Sawyer are led along a path. Colleen approaches with a small group of Others. Danny, wait, she says. Picket tells them to stop and he goes to Colleen. They whisper frantically to each other for a few seconds before Pickett tells her to be careful and gives her a kiss on the cheek. Sawyer stares at them and Pickett gives him a dirty look. What’s he looking at?

Sayid loads a gun on the boat while Jin looks toward shore with binoculars. Jin starts to leave, saying he has to adjust the sails. Sun stops him. She’s sorry, she says. She shouldn’t have disagreed with him. Not in front of Sayid. She shouldn’t have disagreed with him, period, he replies. Why did she come with them? He knows why she came. She didn’t want to be without him.

FLASHBACK. Sun lies in bed, looking depressed. The man beside her sits up, but it’s not Jin—it’s Jae, the man who was teaching her English in Korea. He asks her what’s wrong and she tells him she’s married. Right. That. They kiss. Sun tells Jae she can’t. She’s sorry. She starts to get out of bed, but he calls her back. He opens a box, revealing a beautiful pearl necklace. She tells him it’s beautiful, but she can’t wear it. Jin will ask where it came from—he doesn’t want to share her anymore. Her English is excellent now. She can go to America. There is a knock at the door. Does anyone know she’s—no! Jae answers the door to find a hotel employee. What is he doing there? Get out of his—he stops when Mr. Paik comes into the room. Jae bows and starts to apologize. Mr. Paik walks into the bedroom and sees Sun. She looks ashamed and closes her eyes. Mr. Paik just stares at her, disappointed. Get dressed.

Back on the island, several Others (or at least people) are working to clear an area—digging holes, moving rocks, etc. The Others lead Kate and Sawyer to the area. Pickett starts to explain the task. He points to some rocks. That’s where they come in, he says. He points to Kate. She’s going to chop them loose. He points to Sawyer. He’s going to haul them out of there. He expects her to work in this dress? Well, that’s up to her, he replies. She can take it off if she wants. Sawyer looks her up and down and Kate gives him a dirty look. Sawyer turns to Pickett—how dare he! If they need anything, they raise their hand. They get ten minutes for lunch. Sawyer raises his hand. He’s got a question. No questions. She got to ask a question! If they try to run off, they’ll be shocked. If they talk to each other, they’ll be shocked. If they touch each other, they’ll be shocked. If they’re slacking, they’ll be shocked. As a matter of fact, if they do anything at all that pisses him off, they’re going to get shocked. Okay? Time to get to work. Kate tells him she’s not doing anything until she sees Jack. Pickett walks toward her, then whips out a taser and shocks Sawyer, who falls to the ground. Now, that was a quarter charge. Anymore questions? He walks over and grabs Sawyer by his hair. As soon as he’s able to walk, he says, the wheelbarrow’s right over there.

FLASHBACK. Jin is in Mr. Paik’s office. He wanted to see him? Mr. Paik tells Jin to sit down. He slides a file across his desk, saying they have a problem. Jin opens the file and sees a picture of Jae. That man, Mr. Paik says, has been stealing from him, and he needs Jin to put an end to it. What did he steal? That’s not important! Of course. He’ll deliver a message, Jin says. A message won’t suffice! He needs Jin to put an end to it. He can’t do that. Of course he can. It’s not his job to—his job is whatever Mr. Paik says it is! Then he can’t work for him anymore. He quits. Jin starts to leave. He doesn’t get to quit! This man shamed Mr. Paik! He stops Jin. He married his daughter, he tells him. That makes Jin his son. His shame is Jin’s shame. He needs him to restore their family’s honor.

Back on the island, Jin’s in the galley, chopping up a fish. Sun calls down to him and he comes up on deck. She and Sayid show him the dock the Others brought Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley to. Sun asks why there would be a dock all the way out there. Others, Jin says. The dock’s decaying, Sayid tells them. It’s overgrown. It hasn’t been used in quite some time. Whoever built it—they’re not there now. Sun tells this to Jin. Sayid says they should bring the boat in. They’ll tie it to the dock and build a fire on the beach—the visibility’s excellent. Jack will be able to see them for miles around. Jin asks if it’s safe. Yes, Jin. Of course it’s safe.

Kate breaks the rocks using a pickaxe. Sawyer stops moving the rocks and stares up her skirt, which is blowing in the wind. A ways off, Pickett and Juliet are looking over some plans. Pickett notices Sawyer watching Kate and yells at him to get back to work. Whatever he says, boss. Suddenly, a rock comes out of the bushes near Kate. She looks around and sees Alex crouching in the bushes. Alex tells her not to let them see her talking to her. Are they keeping them in the cages? Kate nods. Did she see another guy in there—about her age, named Karl? No. Just Sawyer and her. She’s not even supposed to be in that cage, Alex whispers. What is she talking about? Who is she? Where’d she get that dress? They gave it to her. It’s Alex’s. Kate can keep it. It looks better on her anyway. Sawyer approaches them and Alex disappears. He asks Kate if she’s having fun yet. Quit staring at her ass, she says. Give him something else to stare at. Pickett yells at him to shut up. Yes sir, boss.

Sun walks along the deck carrying a gas can. Sayid’s stacking wood for a fire. He thanks her for the gas. What else can she do? Help her husband. They need as much wood as they can find. They’re building quite a large fire, Sun says. They need to make sure Jack will see the smoke. Why is he lying to her? And what would she know about lying? He’s putting their lives in danger! She starts to leave. He’s fairly certain their friends have been captured, he calls out. There are tracks all over the dock. They’re fresh, as recent as yesterday. He said the dock was abandoned. That would be part of the lying she mentioned. He’s not building the fire for their people, she realizes. He’s building it for the Others. He suspects that when they see the smoke they’ll send a scout party to investigate. By then it will be night. When they arrive, he’ll ambush them. He’ll take two of them hostage, and kill the rest. Two? One to make the other cooperate. What does he need her to do? He’s sorry, but he’s going to have to ask her to lie to Jin for another twenty minutes. Why? Because once the fire is lit, it will be too late to go back.

FLASHBACK. Jin arrives home and Sun acknowledges him. He says nothing and sits down at the dinner table. How was her day? Fine. He saw her father today. Oh? He called him “son” for the first time. Why? He wants him to deliver a message. Is he going to? He has to. No, he doesn’t. She thinks it’s that simple? They can start a new life. They’ll go away—a new life? If they ran away, her father would—he won’t know where they are. And he won’t have to do this anymore—he won’t have to—Jin bangs his fist on the table. He does this for her! He does this because her father expects it! He does this because it’s what it takes to be married to her. And what does it take to be married to him? Jin gets up to leave. Where is he going? To deliver the message.

Jin watches Sayid start the fire. He approaches him. Gun, he says. Sayid tells him he doesn’t understand. Jin says something in Korean and Sun tells Sayid that Jin knows what they’re doing. He knows it’s a trap. He understands English better than she thinks he does. He knows she betrayed him. Gun, he repeats. Sayid hands his a pistol and starts to ask if he knows how to handle it, but he immediately starts checking it out like an expert. Jin motions toward the boat and says something in Korean. Sayid tells Sun he thinks she’d be safer on the boat. Sun starts to leave and he tells her that, if they get past them, there’s another gun inside the blue tarp under the galley counter. If they get part them, that means her husband is dead, she says. And she won’t care anymore. As he said, the gun is inside the tarp.

Juliet drinks from a canteen and chats with another Other. Sawyer unloads the wheelbarrow and watches them. Juliet notices and throws him the canteen. He catches it and empties it. He sees Kate hacking away at the rocks and pauses briefly before marching up to her, spinning her around, and kissing her. Pickett and another guy run over, yelling at them. Pickett smashes Sawyer in the head with the butt of his rifle. A fight begins between Sawyer and three of the Others. He gets a taser away from one guy, but it doesn’t work when he tries it. He gets a gun from the ground and tells everyone to back off. James! He looks around and sees Juliet holding a gun to Kate. Put the gun down, she says. Right now. Put the gun down. Sawyer drops the gun and Pickett walks up and taser’s him.

That night, Sayid and Jin hide on the beach, waiting to ambush the Others. Sun makes tea in the galley. On top of the boat, the Others attempt to sneak on, bypassing Sayid and Jin on the beach. Sun hears and immediately grabs the gun.

FLASHBACK. Jin sits in his car, looking at a picture of Jae. He finally sees him and follows him into the hotel, carrying a gun. As Jae goes to enter his room, Jin smashes his head into the door, takes him into the room, and starts throwing him around. He asks Jae if he knows who Jin is. Does he know why he’s there? He’s sorry. Then he knows what he has to do. Jin puts a pillow on Jae’s head and sticks the gun inside the pillow. Jae starts to cry. He’s sorry, he repeats. Jin finds himself unable to pull the trigger and he pulls the gun away. Jae will leave the country, he says. Does he understand? He’ll leave and never come back. Start a new life. And if he hears he’s returned—if he has any contact at all—he will finish it. Is he clear? Jae doesn’t exist. Jin gets in his car and sits there for a moment, gathering himself. Suddenly there is a crashing sound as something hits Jin’s hood. He gets out of the car and finds a dead Jae on the hood, clutching the pearls he tried to give to Sun.

Sayid and Jin are still hiding in the bushes, unaware of the Others on the boat. Sayid says he doesn’t think they’re coming. Back on the boat, Colleen enters the galley. Sun comes out of hiding, pointing her gun. She tells Colleen she wants off the boat. Colleen says she can’t do that. Why not? It’s not her decision to make. They hear a noise coming from above. Does Sun realize there are five of Colleen’s friends up there? Sun tells her to lower her voice. Okay. Colleen starts to move. Stop, or she’ll shoot. No, she won’t. She knows her. Sun-Hwa Kwon. And she knows she’s not a killer. But despite what she may think, she is not the enemy. They are not the enemy. But if she shoots her, that’s exactly what they’ll become. She moves toward Sun, who tells her again to stop or she’ll shoot. The engine starts up and Sun fires the gun, hitting Colleen in the gut. Colleen falls and Sun runs the other way as an Other comes down and fires at her. Sayid and Jin hear the gunfire and head to the boat, but when they make it to the dock, the Others start shooting at them. The boat starts to pull away as Sun gets on deck. Jin jumps into the water. Tom takes a shot at Sun and she falls into the water. The boat continues moving away. Jin calls for Sun and they reunite and hug in the water.

FLASHBACK. Sun stands a ways off at Jae’s funeral. Mr. Paik approaches from behind. She shouldn’t be there, he says. What is he doing there? He does business with Jae’s father. He’s told Jae jumped from a balcony. He must have felt great shame. Now, go home to Jin. Will he ever tell Jin? It’s not his place to.

Jin puts a blanket around Sun’s shoulders on the beach. He kisses her cheek. He doesn’t know what he’d do without her. He touches her belly. Both of them. Sayid enters and apologizes for dragging them into this. And please communicate to Jin that next time he will listen to him. They should go. They have a long walk ahead of them.

Sawyer and Kate are back in their cages. Sawyer is coughing and in pain. Kate asks him if he’s okay. Never better, he says. What the hell was he thinking? He couldn’t help himself—she just looked so damn cute swinging that pickaxe. Sawyer, she says. Two of those guards got some real fight in them, he explains. The rest of them, he’s not so worried about. That heavy-set guy—he packs a hell of a punch. The shaggy-haired kid’s got some kind of martial arts training, but he could take him if he had to. Oh, FYI—those tasers got a safety on them. Kate smiles. Did he see the look on their faces when he got that rifle? He’s guessing most of them have never seen any real action. But that blond who pointed a gun at her? She would have shot her, no problem. Why’d she call him James? Because that’s his name. He notices something else, too. She tastes like strawberries. Kate smiles. He tastes like fish biscuits. So what do they do now? Well, Shortcake, now they wait for them to make a mistake. Sooner or later, they’re going to let their guard down. And when they do, they’re going to be there to put them in their place. From the control room, Ben is watching and listening to the entire conversation.

Jack is in his cell with his back against the wall. Ben is also in his cell. He greets Jack and pops out a small chair he brought in with him. He sits down. Know what’s crazy? A week ago, they were in exactly the opposite situation. He was the one locked up and Jack was the one coming in for visits. And Ben knows what Jack was angry that he lied to him about who he was, but, hell, does he blame him? Let’s face it—if he had told him he was one of those people they’re been calling Others all this time, it would have been right back to Sayid and his fists, wouldn’t it? What does he want from Jack? He wants for him to change his—perspective. And, the first step in doing that would be for him to be decent enough to introduce himself honestly, so—he crouches down and extends his hand—his name is Benjamin Linus and he’s lived on the island all his life. Jack doesn’t shake. Ben walks to the door and someone starts to roll a cart into the other room. Where are Kate and Sawyer? They’re fine, and they’re close. That’s all he’s able to tell him right now. He could tell him if he wanted, Jack says. Fair enough, Ben replies. It’s all he wants to tell him. He’s going to make this really simple. If he cooperates, they’ll send him home. Cooperate with what? When the time is right, he’ll tell him. Tell him now. Patience, Jack. Patience. Home—is that where he sent Walt and Michael? Yes. Jack laughs. If they could leave the island, why would they still be there? Yes, Jack, why would they be? He’s lying. They’re stuck there just like the others are. They don’t have any—the plane crashed on September 22nd, 2004. Today is November 29th. That means Jack’s been on their island for 69 days. Yes, they do have contact with the outside world, Jack. That’s how they know that during those 69 days, his fellow Americans re-elected George W. Bush. Christopher Reeve has passed away. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series. Jack starts laughing. What? If he wanted Jack to believe him, he probably should have picked someone else besides the Red Sox. No, they were down three games to none against the Yankees in the league championship, and then they won eight straight. Sure, Jack says. Sure they did. Ben turns toward the cart that was rolled in, upon which is a TV. It begins to play the final minutes of the final game of the ’04 World Series, showing the Red Sox finally winning. Jack goes to the glass and watches the game in awe. Ben turns the tv off. That’s home, Jack, he says. Right there, on the other side of the glass. And if he listens—if he trusts him—if he does what he tells him when the time comes—he’ll take him there. He will take him home.

The Glass Ballerina was written by Jeff Pinkner and Drew Goddard.