4x07, "Ji Yeon"

*That was really painful stuff. Not only did they introduce a format I'd been expecting (the Flashforward/Flashback mix) but used it to fool us into thinking Jin was still alive to see the birth of Ji Yeon. I knew something was up that Jin went so far out of his way to get the panda. Unless the sight of panda bears would be found to cure the Island's Curse on Pregant Women by the end of the eppy, it would have nothing to do with Sun. There's A LOT of conflict over whether Jin is actualy dead. The tombstone reads his death as 9/22/04, the date of the crash. As a result some have speculated he's still alive on the Island and Hurley and Sun were just mourning that he couldn't escape and is for all intents and purposes "dead" to the two of them.

But it's clear to me from the way Hurley and Sun reacted that he was dead. I'm guessing he'll die during the rescue and they went to this grave site as it's the last remaining remembrance of him.

I gotta say, Jin and Sun were the characters that first got me hooked on LOST. The very first full episode I watched was "...And Found" about how the two of them first met. It was astonishing to see two fully realized asian characters on network TV, characters who spent a significant amount of on screen time not speaking English. That was one of the first signs to me of just how special this show is. As I watched the entire show from the beginning though I fell in love with them as human beings whose struggles could be universally understood. They were the soap opera element and while a lot of people over the years have found their episodes to be tedious and tangential to the overall mythology, I've always treasured them as little oases amidst the twilight zone.

Oddly enough he chatter at the Fuselage sounds much like lot the mourning after Charlie died. But the fact is Jin isn't dead -- yet. Much like Desmond, the wheels are now in motion for Jin to die during the rescue, which still seems a little ways. So I figure we have until at least the end of the season to enjoy Daniel Dae-Kim.

*Oh and... MICHAEL!!! If ABC hadn't announced it at Comic-Con, if they weren't contractually obligated to put his name in the credits since the first episode of the season, this would've really been a shit your pants reveal. As it was almost everyone knew he was going to reappear this episode. Still... I couldn't believe it until I really saw him up close. It is absolutely great to have Harold back in the fold.

*Did Ben plant the plane and the bodies? Is he that rich and powerful? What. The. Fuck. if we're to believe Michael, assuming he left Sayid and Desmond the note not to trust the captain, then it's all a lie and a set-up by Widmore.