The Glass Ballerina Reviews

Part of what may have frustrated the fans of Lost during the early part of Season 3 was that it wrapped up certain parts of the story very slowly. No doubt people wanted to know what had happened with the hatch; instead we get an episode focused on the people in the boat. But 'The glass Ballerina ' has some important revelations, if you know where to look.
The story begins hours after the last episode . We're still not sure what the pecking order among the Others is, other than Ben seems to be at the top. However, Ben and Juliet have a talk with a woman named Colleen, who seems to view them with mild contempt. (Importantly, she is also the wife of Danny Picket, who we met in the last episodes of Season 2 and who we'll talk about) Ben seems worried to learn that the survivors have a boat; Juliet isn't seeming to believe they won't go anywhere. But Ben gives the order to get it by any means.

Meanwhile, Sayid is carrying out a ruse of his own. He is certain that his friends have been captured, and has now changed his method to search and destroy--- they'll go to a dock, he'll build a fire that will attract the Others attention, he will capture two (using one to manipulate the other) and kill the rest. This is a pretty impressive project considering it took five men with guns just to bring down one of the Others, and how little Ethan or Ben was willing to share even after they had been subdued.. And he is outmaneuvered anyway. Somehow (we can't tell how because of the darkness) they manage to approach the dock out of sight of Sayid and Jin) and they land on the boat.

Furthermore, the Others seem to have mastered using the other technique. Sawyer and Kate are hauled out of their cages and made to work the equivalent of a chain gang breaking rocks and hauling them away. If they do anything to cause a problem, they will be tasered. Naturally, there are problems. Sawyer makes a mess of things causes a scene, and breaks Pickett's nose. (Given the way he does things; one gets the feeling he's been in jail before) But before things get back, Juliet puts a gun to Kate's head, and he surrenders. Threaten Sawyer; Kate will cooperate, and vice versa. It also seems clear that getting an edge on these people is going to be difficult. Not only are they super strong, but they have set up surveillance cameras almost everywhere. (We won't learn where the cameras came from until Season 5. By now, it seems that Jack is the one the Others wanted, and Kate and Sawyer are being put on ice. What the hell is going on here.?

Some were no doubt surprised when the characters selected for the flashback of this episode were Sun and Jin, who are considered more second string than say, Sawyer and Sayid. But we always seem to get more fascinating revelation the further along in the story we get. So far, it has seemed that Sun has kept a blind eye to what her father has been doing. Now, in the very early flashback, it seems that she has always had some idea of what he has working on. Therefore, perhaps it didn't some as a huge shock when he learned a bigger secret. Turns out that Sun actually was having an affair with Jae Lee , the man she was taking English lessons from (though we don't know for how long). and his reaction was perhaps inevitable. He wanted the man killed. In a twisted sense of honor, he ordered Jin to commit the murder, but would not tell him why Jin couldn't find it in himself to do the deed, even though he delivered a pretty substantial beating to him. (It does beg the question, who killed him? Did he commit suicide? Did Paik make sure the job was finished? If yes, why didn't he turn on Jin for failing?)

In this episode, Jin once again tries to protect his wife from the danger of Others, but they end up going after her. But once again Sun surprises us. Her husband may not have been capable of murder, and the Others clearly didn't think she was, but she does, and Colleen ends up paying the price (though we won't learn what the cost is for a few episodes)

But the biggest involves someone who almost completely on the sidelines for this episode--- Jack. Ben clearly wants to win Jack over, and tries to tell him 'the truth'--- his name is Benjamin Linus, and he's lived on this island all his life, and that this island is special Jack doesn't believe any of this, and is convinced that they are separated from the outside world. Then Ben relates things that have happened in the outside world in the 69 days since they've been on the island (From this point on, there is a certain calendar as to how these things take place) including that the Boston Red Sox have won the world series. Jack refuses to believe it(and lets face it, when it happened in the outside world a lot of people didn't buy it either), and we know why The Red Sox had a certain reference to his father's live. (we learned about that particular link in 'Outlaws'. The Red Sox clearly were a representation of fate versus free will, an argument for which Jack was on the former side--- or so he said. But when Ben brings in the television feed of the Red Sox celebrating their championship, its clear that some part of him always believed it There is a lock of shock on his face that has nothing to do with seeing a live television feed on a tropical island. A critical part of his foundation has been shaken, and it will effect his journey for the rest of he series.

We're still not clear about a lot of things by the end of this episode --- why Ben wanted the boat so badly, what is it they want Jack to do, who this other enemy that Colleen referred to, and as a side note, what Alex had to do with Karl, the boy we saw yesterday--- but we are sure that whatever war has begun between the Losties and the Others has begun--- and as soon as they find Colleen, its only going to escalate.
My score:8.8

Ben offers to take Jack off the island if he cooperates. Kate and Sawyer are let out to smash rocks and it is revealed that they are under video surveillance by Ben. On the sailboat, Sun, Jin and Sayid are ambushed by the Others. Sun shoots the Other Colleen and the boat is taken by the Others. Sun, Jin and Sayid make their way back to the survivors' camp. Flashbacks show Sun's father finding out about Sun's affair with Jae Lee. He orders Jin to kill Jae, but Jin threatens him instead and Jae subsequently commits suicide. We learn about Sun and Jin - which is a great storyline. I love the way the other are talking about Sayid and the boat. I love the scenes with Sawyer and Kate especially when they kiss. I love the man, Danny I think, I love the way he is bossing Kate and Sawyer around he is kind of cool. I love the scene on the boat with Sun and the others awesome. The Ben and Jack scene is awesome too, I love Lost!

Logic/Details - » Now I think I understand the picture. This season, Lost producers decided to reveal crucial information about some of our favorites characters, that may be shocking, regarding Locke, Sun and even Jack. Information about some action they had taken in the past. This is exactly what happens with Sun flashbacks here.

It make all the sense in the world shift the focus to Sayid, Sun and Jin. Like the last episode, this could be dangerous because of all the hype, but the producers take their chances. After all, this show is about you being "Lost" and revealing little by little, exploring the depths, and not about instant gratification. Speaking of, this episode can easily can compared with "Adrift", but this time, the producers did their homework.

Had the episode focused entirely on Jin and Sun, it would not have worked very well.

Progress -» As usual, is all about information on Sayid, Jin and Sun, even Sawyer got some information from the Other. The end is informative too. This episode contains enough information to keep anyone satisfied for now.

Emotions/Stimulation/Highlights -» This episode contains various good scenes. From knowing the truth about Sun affair, to the unexpected suicide of Jae, Ben and Jack interaction, Sawyer and his little plan. Overall is all about tension, knowing the truth and some nice surprises on the way. The best Scenes were when Jin was looking for Sun in the sea and when Ben talks to Jack.

Ending - » Exactly the type of ending expected from a Show like LosT.

Overall - » You have here a better episode than the season premiere, that don´t make the mistake to only focus on Sun and Jin. Also there are great scenes to see and this Time Sun and Jin have their best Flashback to date. The end is exactly what Lost producers can deliver.

Mmmm... no sé... no sé... La verdad estoy viendo Lost (al menos esta temporada) sin ninguna expectativa, creyendo que ya nada me va a sorprender para bien.
Qué es de Hurley? Se lo extraña. De Locke, de Charlie, de Mr. Eko, de Desmond, de la escotilla, del magnetismo. Ya lo quiero saber, porque la verdad esto de la ciudad y de Benjamin que nunca salí de esta isla y tenemos contacto con el mundo exterior no me divierte.
Aparte: 1. Sun te quiero, aunque ese pelado era horrible.
2. Qué bien se ve esa glass ballerina en LCD.

Lost, Season 3, Episode 2, The Glass Ballerina: Toda mi vida aquí, 8.7

Let me just start out this review by saying that as a whole, I really liked this episode, but then again, this a Jin and Sun-centric episode, and I have come to love their flashback episodes very much. In my opinion, the flashbacks in this episode were great. I also loved Sawyer in this episode. I can't believe that he kissed Kate. That part was really surprising to me. That was definitely my favorite part of the episode. All things considered, I thought that this was a very well written, well acted and well made episode of Lost from everyone involved, and I'm really looking forward to watching the rest of my Lost: Season Three DVD set.

This was the best Sun and Jin episodefor momentum, at least. Usually their episodes are rather slow and uneventful but this one is against type.
Again the focus on the characters is rather narrow. The sailboat group and the Others world group are only covered but this is not that bad. Life for Sawyer and Kate is worsening. Sawyer seems to be getting the worst treatment of all of them. It seems that the Others are manipulating Kate, torturing Sawyer and negotiating with Jack. The Sun/Jin backstory doesn't offer that much that we haven't seen or known before. We have all seen Jin delivering his messages in his own special way.
Sun actually shows some violence as well and looks like she has killed someone. How will this affect her?
The best scene of the episode, however, was the last one, where Ben introduces himself to Jack and lets him know that Home exists and that he can return there if he follows orders. The moment when Ben shows Jack the TV footage of the Red Sox winning the World Series sends chills down my spine, for some reason. This confirms that the Others have contact with the Outside world which answers alot of questions like why there were food and other stuff in the Hatch and the supply drop, as well as all the stuff that the Others have in their own homes. We know that the Others and the island have been getting stuff from the outside world but who is supplying this stuff? The DHARMA Initiative, who are now working off-island, manipulating the Others?
Anyway, this was another great episode.

But then again we also find out that it's not just english that Jae Lee was teaching Sun ;), so it is clear that she is not the prime and proper little housewifey than Jin would want her to be.

We see the prisoner trio have been seperated for good reasons, to break them, they are obviously intent on breaking Jack first by keeping him isolated in the hydra bunker, where studies were done on sharks and dolphins. Whilst Sawyer and Kate are being held in the old bear cages.

Sawyer and Kate are put out to work, Sawyer tries to break the rules, later on we find that he was testing the men with the weapons, which he relayed to Kate later on and we find out that they have good cctv with audio on them too.

Meanwhile we see that Sayid, Jin and Sun have been on the boat for 24 hours more than the expected rendevous time, Sayid fears that they have been captured but want to move the boat and light another fire, which they agree upon. We have lots of flashbacks regarding Sun and Jae, them getting caught in the act, Sun father telling Jin that an example must be made, a permanent example and he gives him the Jae Lee file and a 9mm.

The 3 set up the trap for the others, Sayid's plan was to kill all but 2 and then work one against the other, but they went for the boat and Sun first rather than falling for the trap, Sun is cornered, threatens to shoot but the lady said she doesn't have it in her, she was dead wrong.

The 3 of them face along walk back to the camp, nearly all the way across the island. Will they manage it without incident???

Ben offers to take Jack off the island if he cooperates. Kate and Sawyer are let out to smash rocks and it is revealed that they are under video surveillance by Ben. On the sailboat, Sun, Jin and Sayid are ambushed by the Others. Sun shoots the Other Colleen and the boat is taken by the Others. Sun, Jin and Sayid make their way back to the survivors' camp. Flashbacks show Sun's father finding out about Sun's affair with Jae Lee. He orders Jin to kill Jae, but Jin threatens him instead and Jae subsequently commits suicide. This Episode was better than the prevous but still not great, I was expecting much better for the start of season three.

Very good episode. Sayid lies to Sun and Jin about making a fire for Kate,Jack and Sawyer so they can know where they should come to but makes it to ambush the others. Things go wrong when the others goto the boat straight away instead of going trhough Sayid and Jin but wait Sun is in that boat !!! So Sun shoots one of them and escapes but the boat is taken. Very exciting scene I have to say. Sun and Jin have flashbacks. Looks like Sun was actaully having an affair which made me super mad since I was pretty sure she was loyal to her husband. Kate and Sawyer are forced to work but Sawyer takes a little break to kiss Kate which was sweet. Very powerful episode. The writing, the acting and the setting out of scenes was just fantastic. Great stuff. Favorite character from this episode : Sun !!! I have never seen the brave side of her but then again I have never seen her take such an exciting storyline. Sun rocks !!!