Season 3, Episode 2: "The Glass Ballerina"

THE GLASS BALLERINA
The title of this episode is "The Glass Ballerina."
We learn a lot about Sun in this episode. She is definitely not the person she appears to be.

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER
Sun did in fact have an affair with Jae. He could possibly be the father of her baby? We were previously led to believe that it was a "miracle" because Jin could not have children, but this changes a lot now that we know for certain she did have an affair (whereas in the flashbacks from last season it appeared they never had an affair).

We also learn that Jae was really in love with Sun and wanted her to come to America with him. (The flashbacks we had previously seen of them, he tells Sun that he is in love with a girl in America and he is moving there to marry her...obviously that changed. But I still think that we will find out in some future episode that this "American" girl is one of our survivors, there has got to be some connection there.)

DECOY VILLAGE
The Others find out about the sailboat, which apparently they knew nothing about. They also discover that Sayid has found the "decoy" village. Ben seems scared as soon as he finds this out and for once seems caught off guard and is unsure what to do at first. When the plane crashed he was calm and collected and had a plan immediately. In the hatch he was always calm and knew what he was doing. But he found out about the sailboat and he seemed very disturbed about it. How did they not know about the sailboat? Didn't they know that Desmond crashed there and that he was in the hatch that whole time? Also Ben definitely seems to be afraid of Sayid, moreso than any of the other survivors they have dealt with. (And he should be... he knows how he "tortures" people!)

NO SOUP FOR YOU
So, it turns out that Ben and Juliet did in fact have some sort of a previous relationship. To what extent, we don't know. But there is obviously still some animousity between them. "You never made ME soup before."

THE NUMBERS
Notice that the hotel room number was #1516. Two of the numbers in sequence. Once again, we see the numbers bringing bad luck. (Jae ended up dead as a result of staying in #1516.)

PALA FERRY
We see that there is a sign over the dock that reads "Pala Ferry" - which was mentioned in the second Orientation video we saw last season (in the Pearl station). The doctor in the video says that "after your 8-hour shift, proceed to the Pala Ferry which will take you back to the barracks."

"Pala" - The Greek goddess Athena was called Pallas Athena (could be some connection to the giant Greek "foot" statue we saw at the end of last season). We have seen a lot of references to Greek mythology.

"Pala" is also a utopian island in a book called "Island" by Aldous Huxley. The theme of the book is that "Nothing happens by accident. There's a great plan for each and every once of us." This is very similar to the theme of Lost relating to Fate and that they are all there for a reason.

WORKING ON THE CHAIN GANG
One thing I noticed is that Kate and Sawyer are kept in animal cages and are forced to work hard labor and are treated badly, while Jack is kept inside, given hot meals, and treated nicely. Why the difference in treatment? Also why are they allowing Kate and Sawyer to interact with eachother, but not allowing them to see Jack?

Also we see another appearance from Alex (Rousseau's daughter) who sneaks up to talk to Kate. We find out it was her dress that they gave Kate. Maybe they did the same thing to her that they are going to be doing to Kate (the "unpleasant" two weeks) and made her wear that dress too. Alex always seems to appear out of nowhere (like she is on the run) and is always trying to help the other women who are captured (Claire, Kate). She is one of the "good" ones and obviously does not side with the Others and what they are doing. She seems genuinely concerned about "Carl" (the other guy from the cage who tried to escape).

YOU WON'T SHOOT ME
The woman on the boat tells Sun she won't shoot her because she knows her and she is a good person. Sun does in fact shoot her. And looking at Sun's past, we come to realize she is not really a "good" person after all. Starting as a little girl, she lies to her father about who broke the glass ballerina knowing the maid would be fired anyway. Then she has an affair even though she was married. Even after her father found out, she did not tell Jin. She basically lives her life getting away with everything and letting others suffer the consequences. She is a liar. Even now on the island, she continues to lie to him.

Also, we can finally connect Sun with the rest of the survivors who have killed a person. Actually, we see that she has killed a person both DIRECTLY (the woman on the boat) as well as INDIRECTLY (Jae - who would not be dead if it weren't for her). We've seen in the previous two seasons, through flashbacks, that pretty much all of the survivors have killed someone (whether directly or indirectly). It seems that the Others are determining who is good and who is not good, and that is their motivation for who they want. They only want the good ones. (and apparently they did not want Sun??)

GOOD VS. EVIL
Jin, who we always assumed was the "bad" mob guy...actually has not killed anyone (atleast that we have seen). We know that he "delivers messages" as part of his job for Sun's father. But in the past we saw him beat up the guy at his house (but didn't kill him) and again the same thing with Jae. He doesn't kill him, he lets him go. He really suffers with the guilt of his job, but we find out that he only does it because of his love for Sun. So Jin is not really a "bad" person as we are led to believe in the past. He becomes more of a bad person once getting involved with Sun (he mentions, "this is the price I have to pay to be married to you.") But, interestingly enough it was Sun who was the "bad" one, lying, betrayal, adultery, killing. She does not take the blame for things she has done wrong and despite her guilt over her affair, she still never fesses up to Jin. She also lied to him the whole first month on the island about speaking english. Basically she has been lying to him the whole time.) She also lied to him about the baby, and after revealing that she was pregnant she told him "I swear I have never been with another man." I also think it's interesting that Sayid calls her out on her "lying" - he is always able to tell who is lying! I also think that when Jin says he can understand english and he knows she is lying, that he was just calling her out as well. He did not understand a word they were saying, he was just able to sense her betrayal.

Another reference to good vs. evil... The woman on the boat indicates they are NOT the enemy (just like Ben told Michael "we're the good guys") - It seems they are trying to convince them they are good. She tells Sun that if she shoots her, then they will become the enemy. And now that Sun DID shoot her, it will be interesting to see what happens because of that. Will the Others retaliate and start a real "war?" After she fell from the boat and swam to Jin, the boat did not appear to come back for her and try to catch her. It could be that they truly just don't want her. She was not on "the list."

THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN
We learn that Henry Gale's real name is Benjamin Linus. He tells Jack that he has lived on the island his entire life. (Possibly his parents were part of the "original" Dharma group, as I mentioned last week?)

We also see more Wizard of Oz references. I wrote alot about this last season (Henry Gale, the balloon, dreams...) Anyway, at the end, Ben tells Jack that he will take him home. He says "I'll take you there myself." This is the exact ending of the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard tells Dorothy that he will take her home himself (in the balloon!) And just like the "Wizard," Ben is the "man behind the curtain" - watching and listening to everyone else through the video monitors. We see that he is listening to Kate and Sawyers conversation about their "plan" to ambush the Others.



THAT'S WHY THE SOX WILL NEVER WIN THE WORLD SERIES
This is the quote that both Jack and has father have said several times. Ben knows enough about Jack to use this against him to make him "believe" which is why he just happens to have the videotape of the Red Sox winning the World Series, because he knows Jack won't believe him. Apparently there is something that he wants Jack to do - "when the time comes" - in order to send him home. He is trying to gain Jack's trust (first with Juliet, then introducing himself and shaking his hand) and is trying to force him into changing his "perception" of things. Ben was able to get Michael to betray Jack, Kate and Sawyer by leading them to being captured, in exchange for Walt. Perhaps he is going to try and get Jack to betray his friends in exchange for something as well. The question, is what does Ben want from Jack? What does he want him to do? (In some small way, I almost think it could have something to do with his father? I still think that Jack's dad was somehow connected to Dharma, and I think the fact that we've seen so much about the two of them in Jack's flashbacks is for a reason. Maybe Ben and Jack's father are working together, and they are going to try and bring Jack in? Just a thought.)