The Package is, in my opinion, the last sluggish episode in the series. Even after watching it for at least the fourth time I'm having trouble coming up with a review. It seems like almost nothing happened.
The flash-sideways (FS) gives us a twist in the early going. Jin and Sun aren't married. Whoa! However, most of their other circumstances are the same. They're still knockin' the boots, Jin's still a puppet for Sun's father, and Keamy's still wreaking havoc on their relationship. I guess the underlying theme is that Jin and Sun were always engaged in a constant battle to be together when everybody and their grandmother tried to keep them apart.
The important part is that Jin is transported to the same restaurant where Sayid slaughters Keamy's crew. After Jin gets a little help from Sayid to break free, he runs into Mikhail amidst the carnage and gunplay ensues. Mikhail gets his eye blown out (predictably) and Sun takes a bullet off a richochet (unpredictably). One trip to the hospital coming up!
If you think Keamy and Mikhail's appearances were completely random, not so fast. Both Jin and Sun would have plenty of reason to carry hatred for Keamy into the afterlife and make him part of the FS construct. Mikhail and Jin went at each other's throats in Catch-22. So, I'm gonna say the cameos were mostly sensical and justified.
If only the island storyline had been that sensical. In one of the dumbest and most ridiculous twists in all of LOST, Sun smacks her head into a tree whilst running from Man in Black. She wakes up with a case of aphasia, rendering her unable to speak English.
On first watch I remember saying to myself, "No way. They wouldn't rely on a device that horrendously stupid." But oh yes. They did. Apparently the writers got tired of having Sun repeat the same questions so they decided to slam her into a tree to keep her quiet. It's so downright ridiculous it almost embarrasses me.
Anyway, Jin is plucked from Locke's camp by Widmore's Goons and taken back to Hydra Island. It is there that he meets Charles Widmore, sees digital pics of Ji Yeon, and stands around wondering why he was summoned in the first place if Desmond was the guy Widmore was interested in. Okay, I lied, I was the one wondering that.
The Package wasn't nearly as bad as Recon but it was guilty of the same type of stalling in the island storyline. Luckily there were just enough clever lines from supporting characters to save this from being a complete disaster.
Well, it finally happened. My favorite acting performance finally goes to a guest star, in this case Kevin Durand. It's so easy to get caught up in the fact that Keamy's a complete bastard, but when you remove the subjectivity you realize Durand's a gifted actor and extremely funny to boot.
Check out the scene where Jin and Sun are spewing Korean while Keamy looms over them. He cuts them off and says, "I feel like I'm in a damn Godzilla movie." The actor who plays Omar, Anthony Azizi, breaks character and can't help but laugh for a moment. Classic.
I'd love to say I was floored by Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim, but they just didn't cover any new ground this time around. This was basically "Sun and Jin" Lite, with only half the passion and emotion we've seen in previous centrics like Ji Yeon.
Well, I think there's one thing we can say for sure about Paul Edwards: he loves focusing on Yunjin Kim's breasts. The first time I watched The Package I remember thinking at this scene, "Good lord, we're approaching levels of soft porn here."
Maybe he should've held that shot for 75% of the episode, for that would've been slightly more interesting than watching post-aphasia Sun write her thoughts on a tablet. Speaking of that scene, I hope there's an outtake somewhere of Matthew Fox saying, "What in the sodding hell is a sweat lodge?" (hardcore fans will get the joke)
Anyway, I'm struggling to think of any visuals or effects worth mentioning. The night-vision effect in the opening scene was a novel idea but I'd be lying if I said it was impressive. Other than that, 95% of the episode was comprised of dialogue or smacking head-first into trees.
I suppose I'll add some sympathy bonus points for the fact that the jungle didn't look quite as bad as Recon or Lighthouse. Deeper shades of green were slowly starting to come back into the fold.
This is one I'll likely skip in future rewatches unless I've got an insatiable desire to see Yunjin's breasts. Once you know Desmond's the "package" you've got the episode's biggest reveal, and chances are you already predicted it ahead of time.
I hate using the term "filler" when it comes to anything LOST-related, but The Package is one of the few episodes that just might qualify.
There's just no atmosphere to really speak of, with the possible exception of the fireside chat between Sun and Jack. It was a moment that ALMOST felt like old-school LOST if you ignore the silly note-scribbling aspect of it.
But alas I must look on the bright side. At least the Blu-Ray version of The Package doesn't have the big damn "V" advertisement running in the lower right corner at all times. I gave ABC a mouthful about that little stunt.
