Lost’s dynamic duo of Jin and Sun have served an interesting purpose throughout the series. During the first two seasons, they were frequently at odds thanks to Jin’s overbearing nature and Sun’s propensity to lie. In seasons three and four, they were together mostly, but never really factored into one of the main Island storylines or mythology.
Over the last season and a half, however, Jin and Sun have been apart, but both have the same goal: to reunite. They’ve been off-island and back in time. Now, one is with Team Jacob and the other was with Team fLocke before being abducted by Widmore’s crew. One of them is a candidate and fLocke is so certain of their importance that he’s willing to go to war with Widmore to get them back together.
So despite their not being part of the inner circle of main characters, Jin and Sun are important.
In tonight’s episode of Lost, “The Package,” we learned that in the Sideways universe, Jin and Sun are still together. But there are (as usual) a few sideways wrinkles…
…namely, the fact that Jin and Sun aren’t married. They are carrying on a secret (forbidden) relationship. Just like in the Island universe, Jin has to make a delivery to a business associate of Sun’s father. But in the Sideways timeline, the associate is part time restaurateur Keamy, who is being paid to kill Jin. With the unknowing help of Sayid, Jin escapes, but has a bigger problem, his secret pregnant girlfriend has been shot.
Most of the Island story also revolved around Jin and Sun. Jin is with fLocke, but wants to leave. Widmore’s crew kidnaps Jin because he signed off on a DHARMA map of the Island’s electromagnetic pockets. fLocke is on the other end of the Island, trying to recruit Sun. But Sun doesn’t trust fLocke, runs, hits her head and forgets how to speak English.
So Sun and Jin have importance beyond the fact that they’re both candidates. That’s good to know. But other than the fact that the Sideways universe story featured them as well, we still don’t have any idea as to the importance of the Sideways universe. Backstories are different. People are physically different.
Take, for example, Mikhail Bakunin. On the Island, he was an Other who had an eyepatch and a stubborn refusal to die. Off-island, he doesn’t have need of an eyepatch (well, until his final scene with Jin). He’s an associate of Keamy, while on the Island, they would have been enemies.
Island Mikhail had a compelling backstory. He said he was recruited to the Others out of the Russian Army. He was seemingly in Ben’s inner circle and had a knowledge of the Island and events that very few others (or Others) had. But Sideways Mikhail seems nothing more than a garden variety goon who can speak a few languages.
It’s nice to see these characters pop up in the sideways world and to compare them to their Island counterparts. But we’re more than halfway through this season without any idea of what we’re seeing and why. I’m sure it’ll make sense in the end. But until then, half the mystery is why the Sideways stories matter at all.
We did receive some other revelations tonight. Firstly, Widmore’s big secret room contained Desmond. He’s important to the Island, and is back. Whether he likes it or not. Earlier this season (and in his dying moments), Jacob said that someone is coming back to the Island. Could be Desmond. Even though he was drugged and taken to the Island against his will, he still has a big role to play. Whether that’s uniting the candidates, stopping fLocke, or both, I hope that in future episodes, we’ll get enough Desmond to make up for earlier this season.
Also, tonight we saw that the war Widmore told Locke of may actually be between Widmore and fLocke. I was convinced that Widmore was working for fLocke. Now, while it looks like Widmore is definitely against fLocke, but I’m not certain he’s on the side of Jacob either. Widmore is looking to do something with the Island’s pockets of magnetic energy. He’s said before that he considers the Island his, so it’s possible he’s looking to dispatch fLocke while fulfilling his own agenda, regardless of what Widmore wants.
Some other thoughts:
-The V countdown was unnecessary. It got really distracting when Sun was writing messages to Jack.
-Why didn’t fLocke turn into smoke instead of running after Sun?
-About the knockout darts that Widmore’s crew used: were they the same devices used by the Others back in Season 2?
-If I read between the lines correctly, fLocke told Claire that once everything was done, he wouldn’t stop her from killing Kate. Hmmm…I may have to get on team fLocke if that’s how he rolls.
-Seeing Keamy wasn’t that much of a surprise, but that’s okay. I think all of his problems could have been diffused if he had just offered Jin and Sun some of his famous eggs.
What did you think?
Is Keamy dead? I think he’s still alive and will be making eggs later.
He better! I think the big secret everyone is dying to know is not what the Island is, but rather the secret to Keamy’s eggs.