Follow along! The episode guide for “The Hunting Party” is in Finding Lost, pp. 237-242.When this flashback started with the Italian woman and her Italian father and his Italian back problems, I thought, “Wow, I’d totally forgotten about this one.” For good reason. It’s entirely forgettable. It seems there was a moment when Jack almost had some faith – he believed he was God and could make the crippled walk – but when it all goes haywire, he stops believing, and maybe that would explain his hostility to those who find it “so easy” to have faith. The on-island stuff, however, is what makes this episode so much fun. Mr. Friendly’s back, we hear Alex’s name, we see the Others surrounding our Losties and it’s scary as hell.
Fun things I noticed:
• Sawyer: “It’s a good thing I’m travellin’ with my doctor.”
• Sawyer: “Oh look, there’s my favourite leaf!”
• Hurley approaching Jin and Sun and seeing the goofy hat Sun just put on her husband, “Cool hat, dude.”
• Once again, Christian tries to get out of any responsibility for the affair he had (presumably with Claire’s mom) by saying he got past it. Well whoop-de-doo, did your WIFE?
• Sawyer telling Locke all he needs is an earring and a mop. Hahahaha!!
• Sometimes I wonder what sort of death wish Jack has. They’re traipsing through the jungle and all of a sudden Jack’s like a hopped-up puppy, “Shooting! Guns! I must run toward the shooting and guns!”
• Any Arcade Fire fans out there? Sawyer says, “You got your reasons and I got mine.” On the Neon Bible album, in the song “Ocean of Noise,” Butler sings “You’ve got your reasons/And me I’ve got mine/But all the reasons I gave/Were just lies to buy… myself some time.”
• I asked a few episodes ago about the Korean honorifics, and the fact that Sun refers to Jin as “Jin-soo-shi.” Someone emailed me off-list who admitted he was Chinese, not Korean, but he explained that “Jin-soo-shi” is a term of honour, as if she’s saying Sir or Mr., which is how a Korean wife would refer to her husband in some circumstances. But when it’s just the two of them, he told me you’ll notice she calls him “Yeah-Boh.” He said that’s the same as saying, “Honey” or “darling.” He said that the terms are often subtitled “Jin,” but that’s not actually what she’s saying when she says, “Yeah-Boh.” He said watch how in “The Hunting Party,” Jin refers to her as “Honey” and they subtitle it correctly, and they did. Thanks for the info, Bill!!
• Loved how Sun and Jin agree about her not wanting to be talked to like that. That had to be really difficult for Jin to do.
• Honestly, sometimes I think Jack is a special kind of idiot. Obviously I’m not condoning infidelity, but did he have to tell Sarah that he KISSED HER BACK? Really? He had no intention of going any further with Gabriela, and he made that clear, so there’s nothing for Sarah to worry about. He came clean about her kissing him, and didn’t have to give away the other part.
• Jack always refers to the Others as “Them,” not “the Others” like everyone else.
• Locke definitely has a special connection to Aaron.
• I remember freaking out at the end of this episode, when Jack asked AL how long it would take to train an army. Talk about a cliffhanger that went NOWHERE.
Things that have new meaning:
• When Sarah tells Jack that she took a pregnancy test, Jack sits up, all concerned like a complete douche, and then looks relieved when she says it was negative. It’s a very similar reaction to the one Sawyer will give Kate when he’s thrilled to find out she’s not pregnant.
• Tom says to Jack, “If I were you, I’d listen to Mr. Locke.” First, he calls him “Mr. Locke,” which is how Walt refers to him. But it’s also interesting that he tells Jack to listen to him – is he only referring to listening to him on this particular matter, or in general? Locke is, after all, their leader already. Later as Jack is arguing, Locke says he sees Tom’s point, as if there was already a connection.
• All Lost fans are traumatized by seeing Keamy stand outside Ben’s house and count to three, shooting Alex on three. In this episode, Tom’s got a gun to Kate’s head and counts, and Jack gives in, which was something Ben couldn’t do. Interesting, though, that it’s Alex, of all people, who hands Kate over to Tom.
• I don’t know why, but I’ve never actually been a huge fan of Sarah. She always seemed a little curt to me. Maybe it's because I've seen the end of S3 and I know what a mess Jack will become, and as much as Jack can bug us, we still want the guy to be happy. She married Jack because he was a hero, because he fixed her, and then a few days into the marriage went, “Hold on… he’s actually going to CONTINUE to try to fix people! Ack!” and then she holds it against him. Then again, I don’t blame her for acting like this after his reaction to the pregnancy test. Douche.
• Sawyer says, “You and me ain’t done, Zeke.” Yeah. Tell me about it.
