I could probably put together some elaborate, extended metaphor about “barriers” here: language barriers and cultural barriers and sonic barriers and dimensional barriers, but that would be played out, so instead I’ll just start by saying that this was a really good episode.

The episodes that focus on Jin and Sun tend to be among the better ones, I’ve noticed, and this one was no exception.  I think it has to do with the fact that, as characters, their story is so loaded with emotional impact.  That, and Yunjin Kim really just always brings her fucking A-game when it comes down to it.  With these two characters, there has been so much hanging on the line for so long, now, and the inherent drama in that makes for good storytelling opportunity.

I was actually surprised that Jin and Sun have a happy relationship in the alternate universe; honestly, when Sun was referred to as ‘Ms. Paik’ back in “LA X,” I had picked up on the unmarried thing, and so the show’s deliberate misdirection worked on me.  Of course, there’s more fun juxtaposition, like the irony of them having a better relationship as their unmarried selves than they did in the original timeline, and how now Sun’s plan is to run away with Jin as opposed to running away from him.

But there is room for further irony: to whom does Sun’s unborn child belong?  Is there any connection to an alternate universe Jae Lee here?  For that matter, does Sun speaking English in the alternate timeline, or is she faking her ignorance?

Really, though, in both universes, it’s a bad time to be either Jin or Sun, because you either get kidnapped in both realities, or you undergo some kind of injurious trauma.  I’m curious as to whether Sun’s apparent aphasia is the doing of the Man in Black or not, though I suspect that’ll be more apparent one way or the other soon enough.

It’s not just Jin and Sun that make this episode, though.  This week was full of some of the most quality one-liners that we’ve had in a long time, and Miles’ line about Hurley only being able to track things covered in bacon grease might well be the funniest bit of dialogue in the entire series.  Sawyer and Lapidus get some good ones in there, too, and heck, even Zoe manages to get a decent chuckle out of the audience.

The Island’s big reckoning seems to be nigh, and rather than a battle between Jacob and the Man in Black, it may be down to the Man and Black and Widmore.  I still think it was an interesting narrative choice to drop the Widmore plot thread for most of Season Five; time will tell whether or not that was a good decision, but as we move to the series finale, the pieces at least feel like they’re coming into place.

Also, we finally find out where Desmond has been all season long: locked up in a cell.  Well, damn it, Des.  You just can’t get a break, can you?  But hey, presumably, Ben never did succeed in killing Penny, so I guess it’s not all bad.