Has Lost Gone Gimmicky? Is Britney Bad for How I Met Your Mother? How's the Pilot Landscape Changing? And More!
Daniel Dae Kim, Lost
Question: I understand what you were saying in your
Dispatch about Lost's flashback/forward of Sun and Jin, but I don't agree that it was gimmicky. Including the flashback for Jin could have had a number of valid plot-worthy reasons. Sun may have been fantasizing this as she was in labor. She may have remembered Jin telling her the panda bear story, and while she was calling out for him, she may have been imagining the reason he wasn't there was because he was out running around trying to find a panda bear for her. More likely, given the overall theme of the episode, it was included to juxtapose the difference in the man Jin was then and the man he is now. Jin forgave Sun because he knew he was a colder, emotionally withheld man back then. That man had fits of rage, threatened to kill men who stole cabs from him, stomped on broken cell phones, bribed shop owners, did what his boss told him to do no matter what it was and callously told a hospital nurse, "It wasn't
my baby. Don't rush me, I've only been married two months." Juxtapose the Jin we saw in the flashback with the softer, loving Jin who stood by his pregnant wife even after learning she'd had an affair, was willing to follow her wherever she wanted to go (even to Locke's camp), loved her with all his heart and made sure she (finally) knew it. His flashback was a reminder to Sun perhaps, but definitely to the viewers, of how far he had come since arriving on the island. I didn't think it was gimmicky at all, really. I thought it was kind of lovely.
— Toni M.
Matt Roush: You've convinced me. In that Dispatch, I wasn't bashing or nit-picking (two of my least favorite traits) as much as trying to assess my immediate response to
Lost's latest narrative trick. I agree it does a lot to underscore the change in Jin's character, which was a major theme of the episode, but I hope now that they have got it out of their system, they won't try to dupe us again like this — unless, of course, it works to illuminate character, which for me is the whole point of watching the show. (
Read our Lost recaps here!)
