The Glass Ballerina continues the slow start to Season 3, and while it's definitely an improvement over A Tale of Two Cities it still feels like LOST Lite.
This time we focus on the B-Team of Sayid, Jin, and Sun. They're parked in the ocean just south of the Others' faux village, and Sayid comes to realize that the A-Team (Jack, Sawyer, Kate) have been captured.
Cue the flashbacks and the theme of the episode: lies have consequences. Toddler Sun breaks a glass ballerina but pins it on the maid, maid gets fired. Adult Sun has an affair with Jae Lee, Lee takes a beating from Jin and then kills himself. Sun lies to Jin about why she's building a fire with Sayid, Jin calls her out. This time the lies have extended consequences, with Sun narrowly surviving a shoot-out with the Others.
That about covers the most interesting parts of the episode, since Kate and Sawyer are tasked with breaking rocks (now THAT's compelling television!) and Jack's still stuck in a glass box. To be fair, the final scene with Ben and Jack has some interesting dialogue, capped off by the moment Ben brings in a videotape of the Red Sox winning the World Series.
But honestly, Ben and Jack could've broken into a song and dance and it wouldn't have helped this episode all that much. The Glass Ballerina felt hollow in much the same vein as the opener, a second consecutive week where nary a single scene was shot at the beach camp. At the very least we needed one or two scenes with the Campies expressing some concern. All of their alpha dogs were gone, the beach camp was as vulnerable as it'd ever been.
Yunjin Kim had already established that she's quite capable of carrying an episode, and for the most part she hadn't skipped a beat in The Glass Ballerina. Sun was taking quite a reputation hit (much like Jack was last episode), so at times Kim needed to dig into a different set of emotions and mannerisms.
There's only one scene where I thought she was uncharacteristically wooden — her confrontation with Colleen in the boat. There was just something off, almost corny, about her delivery of several lines in that exchange.
Daniel Dae Kim did a particularly good job this episode, especially given the sheer amount of physical acting. If he wasn't kicking the stuffing out of Jae Lee he was diving off a dock in pursuit of the Others. He also got to show a slightly more complex side of Jin, one that wasn't about to be kept in the dark by those English-speaking bastards anymore.
Michael Emerson started to give us a few glimpses of the brilliance we'd enjoy for several seasons to come. After just a few exchanges with Juliet and Colleen there was no question who was in charge. And yet, despite his cold demeanor, there were slight hints of humanity in the way he talked with Jack.
Typical solid performances by Lilly, Fox, and the guest cast. Holloway was fine for most of the episode but stumbled on a few lines as well, notably his "how dare you" to Pickett.
I love the opening visual, a spinning glass ballerina figurine in the foreground with a backdrop of flames. The figurine smashes into the floor, establishing the shot of young Sun's home. An astonishingly beautiful Korean style home, I might add.
Jin's smackdown on Jae Lee was incredibly well-choreographed and directed, with Jae smashing head-first into several different surfaces before he ultimately takes the plunge onto Jin's car. The action, make-up, and acting made this scene about as bloody and intense as it can get on network television.
The flashback at Jae's funeral is also a breathtaking scene from a visual standpoint. The structure behind Sun is amazing architecture, obviously recognized by Paul Edwards as he slowly pans around Sun but keeps the structure in focus.
The final highlight is the scene where Jack watches the Red Sox video. This is one case where the glass partition helped create an effective visual, with Jack standing close to the glass and the TV's reflection superimposed onto him.
The flashbacks save this episode from being a second consecutive stinker in terms of longevity. Sun's affair is quite a significant reveal considering we'd seen her lie straight-faced to Jin in Season 2. Her exact words: "I swear to you, Jin, I have never been with another man. That is the truth."
Well, it's official: Sun is no longer the pure, innocent flower as presented in previous seasons. Perhaps the shattered ballerina figurine was a metaphor after all.
I'll throw in some bonus points for the significance of Kate and Sawyer working on the Ajira runway, which would be hugely important in later seasons.
Despite these positives this is still not an episode I'm eager to watch on a regular basis. When you have so many scenes shot in enclosed spaces it just doesn't feel like traditional LOST, it plays more like a standard network drama.
The closest I came to any sort of emotional attachment was when Jack incredulously watched the Red Sox video. Like most LOST fans I couldn't stop thinking about Christian's quote, "And that's why the Sox will never win the World Series."
I suppose one of the moments that was SUPPOSED to carry emotional weight was the Sawyer/Kate kiss in the runway. If that was supposed to be some sort of cathartic moment it bounced right off me, sorry to say.
The collision of the Others with Sayid's team didn't even affect me all that much. I had a hard time believing Sun was in any danger at any point, though for a moment I did wonder if her baby's health had been compromised.
