As informative as the last few episodes of Lost have been, they seem to have slowed the main island plot down quite a bit, which no doubt has caused a lot of former fans, like my esteemed colleague, Jason Knize, to throw up their arms in frustration. There’s been a lot of dealing and double-dealing between the two sides of the pending war, as well as with Widmore and his geeky posse, but nobody has really taken action against the other side since “Locke”’s purge of the temple in “Sundown.” That all changed in this episode, as Richard finally snaps out of the apathetic funk he’s been in since “Dr. Linus” and tells Jack, Hurley, Ilana, and company what they are going to do to stop “Locke” and his army. This idea puts Richard at odds with Sun, who just wants to find her husband, Jin.

Not only does “Team Jacob” finally get their asses in gear, but Widmore’s group finally makes their first strike against “Locke,” shooting tranquilizer darts into everyone in his camp after he has left to try to recruit Sun and taking the unconscious Jin. Meanwhile, “Locke” ventures over to Sun’s garden in order to recruit her to his side, tempting her with a reunion with Jin. “Locke” had revealed earlier to Jin that he needs all the candidates to see the names in the cave that he showed Sawyer in “The Substitute” in order for everyone to get off the island, but odds are he just wants to find out which Kwon is the real candidate (my money’s on Sun, as Jin always seemed like a dim bulb to me). His appeal to Sun does not work, as she runs from him, and as “Locke” chases her (while never reverting to smoke form), Sun slams into a tree and later wakes up not able to speak English anymore. After the aforementioned disagreement with Richard, Sun is comforted by Jack, who promises her that he’ll do everything he can to help her find Jin and get everyone off the island for good. This is another in a long series of promises and deals that the characters have been making with each other all season, and we’ll definitely see how many of these promises will be kept by series end.

Jin wakes up in the same techno-therapy Dharma bunker that Carl was held captive in back in Season 3 (Remember Carl?). While trying to find a way out, he runs into Zoe, the mousy, bespectacled geologist in Widmore’s group that many Lost fans have dubbed “Evil Tina Fey.” Zoe pulls out a grid map of the electromagnetic currents generated by the island and tells Jin that he created the map back in his days with the Dharma Initiative in the seventies. Jin tells Zoe that he won’t help her until he talks to Widmore. When Jin is brought to Widmore, he is shown photos of his daughter Ji Yeon, whom he has never seen nor knew about until now. Widmore tells Jin that he can help him find his wife and reunite him with his family, and then takes him to see the “package” he had kept hidden on his sub. It isn’t until the very last scene of the episode, after “Locke” has sent “Zombie Sayid” to spy on Widmore, when we find out that his “package” is actually a fan-favorite character whom Widmore has taken captive.

For the first time in quite a while, the main island plot of this episode completely overshadowed the “flash sideways,” which frankly didn’t interest me in the least. This one followed Jin and Sun after Jin was taken in by airport security after getting off the Oceanic flight in “LA X.” I’ve always liked Sun as a character but have always been bored with Jin, so it was nice to see her seemingly deny that Jin was her husband after being taken away by the security guards, but in this episode, we realize she said that because they are not married in this reality. After being released, Jin is told that he cannot have the $25,000 he arrived with until he fills out some paperwork. He then tells Sun that his temporary detention has caused him to miss the appointment he had with her father’s colleague, who he was supposed to give the money and a gold watch to. When they get to their hotel, Sun seduces him with an awkward yet slightly alluring striptease and tries to convince him to run away with her. Their plan is interrupted by the arrival of “Gangster Keamy,” again channeling Christopher Walken, as he tries to retrieve the money he was promised. Sun tells him that they do not have the money anymore but that she can get it to him from her own personal bank account. Keamy sends her to the bank, accompanied by an interpreter who is actually our old buddy Mikhail from Season 3, to retrieve the money while he and his minion Omar take Jin to their restaurant hideout. After revealing to Jin, who in this timeline speaks no English, that the money was his fee from Sun’s father to kill him, Keamy is soon killed by Sayid, who frees Jin. The resulting tussle with Mikhail results in Sun being shot, and as Jin rushes her to the hospital, Sun reveals to him that he is pregnant. I’ve never been that interested in Jin and Sun’s backstory, so their “flash sideways” didn’t do much for me, especially since it dealt with events we have already seen, but the results of it are sure to spill over into someone else’s flash sideways, hopefully more so than it spilled into Sayid’s.

So now, things are starting to get interesting on the island. Widmore seems to have an ace in the hole to try to gain the upper hand on “Team Locke” and “Team Jacob,” and it seems that the Ajira plane is going to play an important role in the show’s climactic battle. Plus, we’re seeing more factions and sub-factions popping up, from the deal struck between Jack and Sun and Widmore’s recruitment of Jin. Things also aren’t looking too good for Kate, as “Locke” pretty much sold her out to Claire by basically telling her that she can kill her once they are off the island. With only seven episodes to go, it’s about time something starts to happen to bring us to the long-awaited conclusion, and the events on the island redeem this episode somewhat from the lackluster flash sideways. “The Package” gets 4 out of 5 Stubborn Tomatoes.