3x02 The Glass Ballerina

[MiezeSchindler]

This is so US of A makes me smile...

In my old-europe point of view I will never really understand that a baseball team winning the series could be more touching/confusing than the reelection of mr. bush. Lucky you!

Talking about culture it´s very hard as well to comprehend why the hell Jin has to follow Paiks disgusting order or why Jae Lee commited suicide.

And the most mysterious civilization: the others, the cruel good-ones, not the enemy... I can´t wait to get to know them better.

[MM0602]

^ I think Jin felt he had to obey Sun's father because of how powerful he is. If he disobeyed him, some hitman might have been sent to take care of Jin instead. There's also that stuff about family that Mr Paik says. Jin just wants to be accepted.

As for Jae Lee killing himself, I guess he assumed Jin knew about the affair and his guilt/fear were too much to handle.

[MiezeSchindler]

Originally Posted by MM0602

^ I think Jin felt he had to obey Sun's father because of how powerful he is. If he disobeyed him, some hitman might have been sent to take care of Jin instead. There's also that stuff about family that Mr Paik says. Jin just wants to be accepted.

As for Jae Lee killing himself, I guess he assumed Jin knew about the affair and his guilt/fear were too much to handle.

Yeah, might be. But Jae Lee already planed to leave the country with Sun. What´s the difference to leave without her?
So it´s probably about the guilt/shame/honour-thing, losing countenance and stuff... I know it´s very substantial in some cultures; I just can´t really empathize with.

The same story with Jin. I don´t understand why I is so important that Paik called him son for the first time.

All in all I wanted to say that this episode presented in detail different cultures - western, eastern, others - and keeps me from condemning the others unheard (as I know very little about their reasons right now).

[Richard Was Here]

I like this one.

I remember thinking when I first watched this one that maybe Ben wasn't so awful after all. I mean, he seemed almost downright decent to Jack during their talk.

Of course, you know he wants something - even then it was obvious that he was a man with an agenda. But nevertheless, at least he was polite, compared to the goons Sawyer and Kate had to put up with out on the runway project.

The first time I saw this, I had no idea they were building a runway. It would be cool if this was planned in advance of the Oceanic 6 coming back. But the one thing I wonder about this episode is why the heck Sawyer and Kate were on the list. I mean, if all The Others needed was manual labor, why did it have to be Kate and Sawyer in particular? Capturing Jack had a purpose...but what was so special about Kate and Sawyer? And why did it even matter if all they were gonna do was chop and haul rocks?

Finally, I love the association of Sun to the glass ballerina. A very fitting comparison given the events of this episode.

[Dr. Chameleon]

Originally Posted by Richard Was Here

The first time I saw this, I had no idea they were building a runway. It would be cool if this was planned in advance of the Oceanic 6 coming back. But the one thing I wonder about this episode is why the heck Sawyer and Kate were on the list. I mean, if all The Others needed was manual labor, why did it have to be Kate and Sawyer in particular? Capturing Jack had a purpose...but what was so special about Kate and Sawyer? And why did it even matter if all they were gonna do was chop and haul rocks?

They are there to manipulate Jack into doing the surgery on Ben (p.s. it works). I am curious if they were building the runway for the Ajira flight, who knew that this was going to happen?

[sdorian]

Since they didn't know about the boat, either Inman's a DI (but weren't there other guys in yellow suits?) or a renegade Other?

just asking nicely wouldn't work...they need the whole torturing, manipulating, and breaking to get Jack to do the surgery? When, if they were observant enough, they'd know he helps even those he hates.

Sayid's strategy keeps failing. He assumed they'd come by land. But they've come by sea before, to kill the guy per Ethan's threat.

glad I'm not married to someone like Jin...

the Others probably keep saying they're good people because it's a good way to save their lives down the barrel of a gun, to create a moment of doubt; no one wants to kill a "good" person

What is the analogy Christian keeps making about the Red Sox? like their losing is a sign of inevitability, predestination, and fate. (or, as Jack put it, a way to shirk off personal responsibility, by ascribing fault to fate.) I think Christian's still ingrained this in Jack. So Jack seeing the Red Sox win is maybe philosophically shaking for him. If they can win, then there is no fate/predestination...? Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree, but that's what I took from his big reaction to it.

I also like that Kate doesn't mind that Sawyer used her as a target/decoy to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their captors. It's what she would've done. She knew there was a reason behind the kiss. and,well, if it were me, I'd think Sawyer's pretty cool/badass to think that quickly and ascertain all of that in a brief scuffle. Kate and Sawyer would make a kickass Bonny and Clyde.

(really impossible here to imagine Sawyer and Juliet together)

[Dr. Chameleon]

Originally Posted by sdorian

Since they didn't know about the boat, either Inman's a DI (but weren't there other guys in yellow suits?) or a renegade Other?

It makes the most sense if Inman was in the Dharma Initiative. I was confused by the yellow suits thing, too, it was just some camera trickery to portray Desmond's condition when he washes up on shore. There's just Inman coming out, but because the image skips around in time and is blurry it looks like more than one guy.