morality – Page 2 – A Piece, of the Sky

Kyeonghun (경훈) got a crack in the case, but the bandits were determined not to be found out, and no one believed Kyeonghun; they just dismissed his hunch. Even when Dongmin (동민) Oppa (오빠) correctly guessed Jeongmun (정문) was a bandit queen, the bandits were determined to survive, and win, while the villagers were just content with not losing.

Jeongmun was just fighting to survive. Kyeongran (경란) Eonni (언니) wasn’t innocent. She was also a bandit. Jeongmun didn’t sell her mentor out. She won legitimately – bandit queen vs. bandit queen. I empathized with Jeongmun so much, at that moment. You have to survive. Hyunmin’s (현민) reaction was mine: big time relief.

Jeongmun’s face, when she found out Kyeongran Eonni was a bandit, was just the best. I was blown away. Jeongmun could at least hide it better. Kyeongran Eonni had zero poker face. That’s how Eonni ended up on Exile Island. Kyeongran Eonni couldn’t stop smiling, for the entire episode. There was no hiding it: she was a bandit through and through. Obvious bandit is obvious. I was Jeongmun, in this video game.

Episode 5 is definitely the best episode, of Season 4 – if not, the entire series. You know a show is a winner, when every time you re-watch it, it gets better and better. I love The Genius. The stage was set for there to be so much drama over whether one bandit would escape, while one innocent person would be sent to the Death Match. Thankfully Kyeongran Eonni was indeed guilty. But that was such a good Main Match and hence, such a good episode. It was true catharsis – like medieval Korean dance, with folk masks, or ancient Greek theater.

Nobody got it right, so the viewer wasn’t the only one fooled. Literally no one, in the house, knew for sure, 100%, that Kyeongran Eonni was a bandit, until the reveal. It’s so ironic that Dongmin Oppa was legitimately the villagers’ king, but by the end of this tumultuous Main Match, half the village put him down as the main suspect, for the bandit king. Dongmin Oppa and Jeongmun got the evil edit and Kyeongran Eonni got the crystal clear, innocent person edit.

Thankfully, like in real life, it was a bit of both: Dongmin Oppa and the villagers weren’t so smart to figure out who all the bandits were – but they weren’t so diabolically self-interested to sacrifice innocent people, just to get ahead in the game. Kyeongran Eonni actually being a bandit queen saved everyone from being forced to go over a pretty steep moral event horizon. The group could have voted out an innocent villager, and maybe justified it or rationalized it – but what would that say about them? What would that say about society?

Simultaneously, I understood Shannon’s grief and anger, and I also wanted Shannon to forgive Locke – if only to set her own heart free. Shannon should have gotten some flashbacks, after Boone’s funeral. Shannon was totally justified here, in seeking justice for Boone, and in dumping Said. Shannon deserved so much more here. No one is on her side, and her only family, in the entire world – her brother – just died, and seemingly no one is at fault, and no one really seems to care.

Locke got off easy, for his unintentional role in Boone’s death. Some facets of his reintegration happened way too fast. Locke continued to play coy, and hide the Hatch from people, even when that omission cost Boone his life. Said and Locke are both on journeys, involving wholeness – that are currently going in opposite directions. Said lost Nadia. Locke regains the use of his legs. But spiritually and ethically, Said is more whole, while Locke is only really connected to the Island.

Said isn’t perfect, however. He doesn’t listen to Shannon or comfort her or relate to her. As a cute meet they work, but once Boone dies, Said isn’t emotionally there for Shannon. To Said’s credit, he doesn’t know what to do or how to help her. They are no longer equally yoked, and they temporarily go their separate ways. Heartbroken, Said then gets Locke to take him to the Hatch. Locke can’t manipulate or push around Said, like he did to Boone.

Locke becomes the Losties’ mercenary, their meat shield, against the Others. Rightfully, no one trusts Locke anymore. Even Walt gives up on him. Somewhere, on the road to perdition, paved with good intentions, one passes the greater good fallacy and the problem of evil. Locke passes the moral event horizon, when Boone dies.

Boone was a person. He was even an OK person – definitely not an evil person. He died a hero, but he didn’t deserve to be sacrificed, for the so-called “greater good.” The stakes were higher. He wasn’t just some random, part-time lifeguard; he was a member of the Losties’ tribe. Boone’s death wasn’t about Jack, or Shannon, or Locke, or even Said. It was about Boone.