Perhaps you saw this post coming and have a good answer for it. Although there were some definite high points in the episode last night, especially those featuring Ben, Juliet, Sawyer, and the impressive new character, Isabel, I was dismayed at the Jack content. Now, I'm not a fan of this character or Matthew Fox's performances, but the entire episode smacked a bit too much of Fu Manchu and Suzie Wong. The fact that Bai Ling was such a highly eroticized figure, a member of a mystical Triad-esque Asian cabal, and basically a help-meet who assists a white tourist on his personal journey (plus sex) seemed to really debase the whole show. I'm hoping that you had some specific reason for why the episode was written in this way, making it so vulnerable to critique by anyone who has read Edward Said, especially after you clearly spent so much time trying to write a convincing character for Sun.

My only hope at this point is that this flashback was the skewed way in which Jack (mis-)construed these past events in his own mind.

Many thanks,

Z