Season 1, Episode 17: ... In Translation

Jin paid a high price to marry Sun, but we never knew how much of his soul had to be sacrificed until this episode. It's an episode about making the most of poor situations and persevering.

MAJOR PLOT POINTS

Jin's dream was to open a restaurant and hotel, but he went to work for Sun's father, Mr. Paik, instead. Sun is his real dream, he said. Jin even forgoes a honeymoon to impress Paik. But the job quickly morphs from a middle management position to Paik's special assistant, which is code for muscle to protect his business assets. Jin, though, fails in his first assignment to get the environmental minister to reopen a factory he ordered shut down.

The next day, Jin is ordered to return to the minister's house with a hit man to learn how he's supposed to "deliver a message." Rather than have the man murdered in front of his wife and daughter, Jin races into the house first and beats the man, telling him to reopen the factory but also saving his life. It is this incident that tied into an earlier scene when he arrived home covered in blood and was confronted by Sun.

The new job is taking its toll, though, and Jin — despite being ashamed of his father, telling Paik he was dead rather than invite a mere fisherman to the wedding — eventually seeks his father's counsel. He can sense that he is drifting apart from Sun because of his work. Jin's father helps him re-prioritize and suggests he give up the job and settle in the United States with Sun after running the final errand, which took the couple to Australia.

On the island, Jin and Sun get into a confrontation as she continues to test marrital boundaries and cultural customs in their new setting by wearing a skimpy bikini on the beach in front of everyone. Michael comes to Sun's rescue, but Sun steps in and slaps him for interfering. She later said it was to save him from Jin. "You don't know what he's capable of," she warns. Meanwhile, Micahel's raft is set ablaze and he's convinced his rival, Jin, did the deed, which is a good assumption since Jin's hand is burned. Sawyer, who had bought himself a spot on the raft, beats Jin and takes him to Michael for the arson.

Unwilling to defend himself, Jin, who doesn't speak English and actually burned himself trying to douse the flames, takes several shots to the chops from Michael. Upset at watching her husband get wailed on, Sun blurts out for Michael to "stop it. Leave him alone," so the cat's kind of out of the bag at that point: She knows English, and nobody is more shocked (and hurt and dismayed) than Jin. He leaves his wife at the caves and moves back to the beach.

Elsewhere, Sayid and Shannon are growing closer, while Locke suggests to the survivors that perhaps it was the island's other inhabitants — who've already kidnapped and killed some of them — that burned the raft. Still, dissension is growing. And with good reason, the arsonist was one of the survivors and Locke knows it was Walt, who said he burned the raft because he doesn't want to move anymore and he likes being on the island.

QUOTABLE

"Everyone gets a new life on this island, Shannon. Maybe it's time to start yours." — Locke