"The Glass Ballerina" is the second episode of the third season of the TV series Lost, and the 51st episode overall. The episode was written by Jeff Pinkner and Drew Goddard and directed by Paul Edwards, and premiered on October 11, 2006, on ABC. The characters of Sun and Jin are featured in the episode's flashbacks; on the Island, they and Sayid attempt to discover the whereabouts of Jack, Kate, and Sawyer.
The episode was watched by an estimated 16.890 million viewers in the United States. It received mixed reviews, as multiple reviewers believed it was inferior to the previous week's season premiere; one stated the storyline caused the series to "take a step back [because it] delivers nothing new or substantial".
Plot summary
Flashbacks
A young Sun-Hwa Kwon (Sophie Kim) breaks a glass ballerina and blames it on the maid, despite her father, Mr. Paik (Byron Chung), warning her the maid would be fired.
Later, Sun as an adult (Yunjin Kim) is shown having an affair with Jae Lee (Tony Lee), who attempts to give her a pearl necklace. She refuses, afraid that her husband would see it. Then, to her shame, Mr. Paik barges in and finds them in bed together. Mr. Paik later summons Sun's husband, Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), saying that Jae has been stealing from him, and telling Jin to put an end to it (implying that he is to be killed). But when Jin ambushes and beats up Jae, he still cannot bring himself to commit murder, and instead orders Jae to leave the country. However, as Jin gets into his car, Jae's body suddenly lands on his windshield. Jae's corpse hand is clutching the pearl necklace, implying that he jumped from the window. At Jae's funeral, Sun runs into her father. She asks if he would ever tell Jin about the affair, but he says that it was not his place to tell Jin.
On the island
On the sailboat, Sun, Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim), and Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) argue about what to do because Jack Shephard's (Matthew Fox) party has not shown up; Sun goes against her husband's wishes and agrees with Sayid to sail to a new location. They find the Others' dock and come ashore to build a signal fire to try and lure the Others into an ambush. Meanwhile among the Others, Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) orders Colleen (Paula Malcomson) to put together a team and capture Sayid's boat. Her team avoids Sayid and Jin, and instead sneaks aboard the boat, where they encounter Sun below deck. Sun accidentally shoots Colleen in the abdomen and narrowly manages to escape overboard.
Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) and James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) are forced to work in a quarry, digging and carrying rocks. Alex (Tania Raymonde) secretly asks Kate about Karl (Blake Bashoff). Sawyer creates a distraction by kissing Kate passionately, and steals a rifle, but is forced to relinquish it when Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) threatens to shoot Kate. Back in their cages, Sawyer tells Kate what he learned about the fighting abilities of the various Others. He says that Juliet would have shot her without a problem and criticizes the other Others. They start discussing plans to escape, not knowing Ben is monitoring their conversation via security cameras.
Ben then visits Jack, telling him his real name, and that he has lived on the island all his life. He offers that if Jack cooperates, he can be sent home. Jack believes the Others are also stranded just as he is, but Ben informs him of the exact time and date of his plane crash and that 69 days have since passed (making the date November 29, 2004) and insists that they are in contact with the outside world. He shows this by citing various current events, such as the re-election of George W. Bush to the American presidency, the sudden death of Christopher Reeve and that the Boston Red Sox have won the 2004 World Series. Once Ben tells him about the Red Sox, Jack starts laughing and says that proves he is lying. Ben then proves it by playing a recording of the final play in the game as Jack watches in shock.
Production
Executive producer Jeff Pinkner and supervising producer Drew Goddard co-wrote "The Glass Ballerina", while cinematographer Paul Edwards served as the director. It featured recurring stars Byron Chung, Tony Lee, Michael Bowen, and Tomiko Okhee Lee, as well as the first of two appearances by guest actress Paula Malcomson. Though her character Colleen Pickett is shot in the episode, she does not die until the season's fourth episode, "Every Man for Himself".