Lost - Stranger in a Strange Land

*** / ****

“He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us.”

Stranger in a Strange Land provides some insight into the tattoos on Jack’s left shoulder, flashbacking to his time in Thailand (Phuket) when he meets the delicious Bai Ling (as Achara) while taking in a lush beach sunrise (and having a go at a kite where he epically fails). Jack and Achara hit it off and sleep together, with him later following her into a secret location where she performs tattoos on locals. She’s got this keen insight into people, understanding “who they really are”. Achara is only supposed to work on her own people, although Jack insists he receive tattoos to define his “true self” as well. She does so reluctantly. Jack shrugging her against a wall in her parlor aggressively is a bit disconcerting, I thought.

 ____________________________________________________________

After reading about how ill-received this episode is with Lost fans and critics, I was a bit surprised it is considered one of the worst of the series. Is it remarkable? Not really, but I didn’t consider it that bad. I like the idea that the tattoos on Jack’s shoulder have significance, but perhaps dedicating an episode to them didn’t sit well with others. Obviously, this episode focusing on Juliet’s “trial” and Jack’s “deal” with Ben to keep her from “execution” along with the back story on the tattoos (and Thai romance with Achara) seem to turn many off. I wasn’t all that bothered by this episode. That is a trend, though. Several episodes that Lost fans and critics find disappointing or terrible (Dave comes to mind…) I feel differently about.

I think this episode does have merit in that we see how the Others judge criminal acts (Juliet shooting Danny while he’s threatening to kill Sawyer) in their community. The “sheriff” (Diana Scarwid; I know her from Psycho III) questions Jack about Juliet wanting him to murder Ben, for which he denies it. I mentioned to a fellow Lost fan (and friend of mine) that I enjoy Jack’s defiance towards the Others, his contempt for them quite open (causing chaos towards them, he admits while being questioned, was the reason to say Juliet wanted him to do that; seeing dissension among them preferred after what they have done to his people on the Oceanic…) and defined with great detest. Jack agreeing to tend to Ben (he has an infection on the scar and might not ever walk again) if Juliet is allowed to live furthers his “prolonged stay” with the Others.

There’s this scene I thought was great involving Cindy (Kimberley Joseph) and the kids “taken” by the Others (from the tail section) looking at Jack from the other side of his cell (the cell once occupied by Sawyer, the irony…). Cindy and the kids not only appear okay but seemingly have integrated into the society of the Others, contently and comfortably. I like how Jack is enraged by this. That Jack is in this cell and treated like some caged animal while Cindy and the kids (those kids Ana Lucia was so worried about) are there on the other side with his “enemy” seemingly a part of their community. Jack knows how Ana felt while with them, and when the kids ask about her, it just further incurs his anger. She always felt responsible for losing the kids, not knowing what happened to them. And all this time the kids are “okay” and Cindy seems completely at peace with the Others. So Ana went to her death, never fully recovered from the kids and Cindy “abducted”, her never realizing they weren’t hurt. It is as if Cindy and the kids are now the Others…because Jack has contempt for the Others, it extends to Cindy in a sense. He just wants them out of his sight. This is an intriguing dynamic to me…does Jack allow himself to follow the same path as Cindy?

 ____________________________________________________

The secondary story involved Kate wanting to return to Hydra Island, as Sawyer refuses and Karl grieves at separating from Alex. Ben denies Karl and Alex’s romance (similar to Desmond and Penny…), Sawyer and Kate argue about leaving Jack (and addressing their own “encounter”), and eventually Karl goes his way while Kate and Sawyer head back to where their camp on the beach is located. It isn’t all that much, but I did like the homage to Jaws (1974) when Sawyer is paddling their boat back to the main island, singing “Show Me the Way to Go Home”. It was a fun, subtle bit of humor that slightly adds humor to such an intense escape. Karl’s anguish is of the soap opera variety where young love is undermined by adult interference. Alex lending Jack a hand to get to Ben before Juliet receives a death sentence continues to recognize the “contamination” an “outsider” brings to the way of life for the Others. Without Jack, Ben would have probably died and Juliet might have been sentenced to execution. He represents a monkey wrench yet all of this feels fated. While Kate just can’t stand the fact they left Jack, Sawyer is okay with it. Going back is just out of the question to Sawyer. Kate’s disgust will once again complicate their relationship because Sawyer sees no good outcome in returning from where they just escaped from. Of course, later it is established that returning to Hydra Island would have been a waste of time as Jack accompanies the Others back to their own community on the main island…Hydra Island is a “project island”, not their home base.

_____________________________________________________

Juliet receiving her own “mark” as Jack also did when in Thailand sort of produces a connective tissue towards both being identified. Juliet killed one of her own and the mark is like a recognition of that while Jack insisted on a tattoo that Achara seemed forced into inking on his arm…together on the boat back to the community of the Others, Jack and Juliet exhale. They are spared a certain punishment, it seems, but yet are still unable to be free. When Jack is pummeled by Thai locals and told to leave, the mark he bore…was it worth it? Isabel (Scarwid) knows what the Chinese marks on Jack’s arm reads but he ultimately dismisses her considering of what they mean…Jack once again snarls his nose at an Other and takes pride in his own “true identity”. Well, that’s how I took it all, at least…
______________________________________________________
Tom once again is featured prominently within the Others hierarchy, a bit annoyed at Jack's perception of them. Ben mentions to Jack that Ethan was their doctor. Jack looks at Tom and gives him a list of problems his own have encountered with the Others, while silence once again distances any further correspondence. Eventually the Others will get elaboration. I have to to figure their own story might appear a bit different from how the Oceanic survivors perceive them.