Keeping up with the Kwons: Has Sun Made a Deal?

Written 22nd March

We have been focusing a lot on the other characters, and rightfully so, but it’s inevitable we’ll have a Sun (or Jin/Sun) episode soon enough. Because the Kwons are involved in the numbers, and the fact that Jacob touched both of them and Ilana has confirmed “she isn’t sure which one of [them] she’s supposed to protect”, we know they’re going to come up soon. (Sidebar: Just want to say I enjoy whoever made the theory that Jacob touching both of them means their daughter, Ji Yeon, who could only be conceived on the Island, is the actual candidate).

It could just be good TV to keep them apart (in different timelines and whatnot) but I really think that their separation is integral to the plot, and ultimately, the fate of the Island. Here are the points I want to address:

JIN & SUN BEING SEPARATED IS ANOTHER TYPE OF CORK

1. Jacob encouraged the two of them at their wedding when he touched them to cherish their time together. This “touch” could mean different things and has been debated in other threads (I’ve argued before that Jacob’s touch could actually be taking away and not a gift), but nonetheless what he tells them echoes to me what the psychic told Claire about raising Aaron, though obviously not exactly as fatalistic.

Why is this important? I think that, especially if it turns out that Jin/Sun are candidates together, their separation right now is very key to what’s going on on the Island, and there is another force at hand trying to keep them apart (MIB, I’d think). Remember Sun’s reaction when she realized she hadn’t been hanging out with the Real John Locke when they had landed? She was shocked because she had been following Flocke around and he had even told her he was going to do his best to reunite her with Jin and the other original Losties. Then he goes around and tells Ben he’s not interested in that at all. To me, it’s another major instance of MIB trying to keep them separated.

SUN IS NOW A POWER PLAYER, A LA WIDMORE

2. Paik Industries is very powerful, but we don’t know too much about the company via the show. What we do know is that Sun’s father was probably as powerful as Widmore in this way (his Korean foil if you will), but we don’t see any ties to the Island thus far apart from his daughter. Remember that, at least in the regular timeline, Sun is now an important figure in relation to Paik Industries– she bought a big enough share of the company with her Oceanic settlement, so now she’s a power player herself. From her flashbacks, we can see that at a young age she was always struggling to gain the upper hand from her father and that she also will do what it takes to save her and hers. (Even though she was only a kid, the writers chose to show an instance in her life where she lies to save herself, even at the expense of others. I don’t think this was shown purely to show how her dad controlled things… I think it’s a signal to a major character trait.)

We know that Sun would do anything to reunite with Jin, even if it meant compromising the other Oceanic 6-ers.

SUN GAVE UP LAMP POST INFO TO WIDMORE

3. Sun went to see Widmore in the UK, and he expressed he was annoyed she approached him “in front of his associates” but didn’t exactly seem surprised to see her either.

In this scene where she approaches Widmore, she says they have mutual interests… that is, they are both interested in killing Ben Linus. Later on, when she’s taking care of Aaron for Kate in L.A., she opens up an envelope with surveillance photos of Ben and Jack, and a gun. We all kind of assume that her main reason for having these photos is to kill Ben. However, she wouldn’t have had to contact Widmore for resources to monitor and kill Ben– she has plenty of those, she’s rich. So what kind of deal has Sun struck with Widmore? Why did she really need to contact him? It may have been to bring Widmore back to the Island– since now we saw he eventually got through and found the Island.

I think, before she knew it, she agreed to lead Widmore to the Lamp Post. Widmore must’ve known that Eloise was trying to send them back. She may have given up Eloise Hawking (which we all kind of assume Widmore knew about being a former leader of The Others, but if you’re reading this and can tell me the exact scene I’ll rethink this part). If not this, there had to be another piece of the negotiation we’re not shown.

SOMETHING ELSE I THREW IN FOR YOUR THOUGHTS (BEN)

4. When the Oceanic 6 meet at the dock, Ben tells Sun that Jin is alive– probably moreso to save his own arse, but also to get her to trust him. Jin had given the Real John Locke his ring, hoping that Sun would believe he was dead so she wouldn’t try to come back to the Island. Ben had taken it from Locke– he probably foresaw this would be a good way to gain her trust to bring her back to the Lamp Post, and uses it for the opposite reason. He shows it to her and lies to her saying that Locke had given it to him.

WHY SUN WASN’T TRANSPORTED TO 1977

5. We haven’t been told why Sun wasn’t transported to 1977 with Jack, Sayid, Hurley, and Kate on Ajira? Some speculate it’s because she isn’t #42, so she wasn’t meant to return to the main Island and that’s why she wasn’t transported to 1977. Could it be because she has been compromised because of her deal? If so, and she is a candidate, it probably removes her from being a candidate… if not, then she probably isn’t a candidate anyway.

IN CONCLUSION

As you can see, I avoided a lot of polarizing here– I don’t want to hastily categorize any one figure involved here as “good” or “bad”, because no side (whether there are 2 or 3 in opposition) has yet to fully reveal their motivations for their actions.

I’m fully aware my memory has a lot of holes, and so this theory probably does too. If I had time I would rewatch those episodes of her dealing with Widmore and Ben, along with the way she operates when they return on Ajira. Now that Widmore is back on the island, I’m really interested in seeing how it all pans out and what the connections to Sun are.

Wouldn’t the writers think it would be a great twist to see that Sun as a Judas/Brutus figure on this show, considering how she is generally portrayed in a good light?

Thoughts?

March 27 Edit: I added headers to make it easier to read since it’s so long!