This episode was very LOST in of the fact that it showcased the complicated intertwined fate of Jin and Sun. As always Lost does a fantastic job of analyzing characters and relationships and the writers have really shined when dissecting Jin and Sun’s marriage.
As LOST has progressed we’ve learned that Sun is an adulteress cheater who was scared of Jin’s quite and progressively growing violent nature and was plotting her marital escape during the first Oceanic flight that crashed on the island. This episode plays with all that we know by showing us a flash sideways timeline that portrays Jin and Sun as not married but as lovers that are actually plotting their own escape into a relationship. The flash sideways timelines have shown that the true nature of most characters can not be changed and this holds true for Jin and Sun. They are simply destined to be together.
Sun’s last name when she checks in during this episode is Paik which is actually her maiden name so it appears in this timeline she has not found love yet…or it should be said that she has not found love suitable for her father. In both timelines Jin works for Sun’s father as a don’t ask questions muscle type. In the original timeline he reluctantly becomes a killer as it becomes the price he has to pay for marrying Sun because he is a doorman and must prove that he is socially worth to “marry up”. I find it interesting that he is transformed into a murderer to prove himself and in the sideways timeline he ends up being the target of murder for having the gaul to try and be with the boss’ daughter. Too very different outcomes from the same situation.
However all of this makes complete sense if one understand Korean culture and why the Lost writers chose this culture to explore relationships and marriage. Since its inception Korean culture has always been heavily focused on family. It is everything. Korea was originally inhabited by many primitive tribes. A large percentage of their ancestors were of Mongolian culture. A lot of the people living in Korea today are related to these early settlers. As time passed these tribes united to create one culture. Because of this unification the culture values family above all else. This one culture values family above and beyond everything and is structured to respect it. Everything that is done is done with the families permissions and the oldest person in the house usually makes most of the decisions. Marriages are often still arranged which we saw showcased in previous seasons. During the original timeline Sun was shopped around by her father which inevitably led her to meeting a man named Jae. They actually formed a bond and Sun began to semi-like Jae but found out he wasn’t in love her but rather seeing her to keep his parents happy…playing right back into the familial and culture aspects of Korea. Sun ended up meeting Jin who was the doorman at the hotel where she met Jae….oh and of course it’s Lost so it turned out that years later when Sun cheated on Jin…it was with Jae.
Now we understand why the deceit of being with Sun makes him a murder target by Sun’s father in the sideways timeline and why when in the original timeline when Jin and Sun face Sun’s father he ultimately gives them his blessing. More importantly now it’s clear why Sun and Jin are the perfect couple to showcase how powerful love’s destiny can be because not do they only have to overcome their own baggage they have to overcome the baggage of their heritage too.
Their destined love now brings us full circle back to the island. The whole reason Sun came back to the island on the second flight was that Ben gave her Jin’s weeding ring to prove he was still alive. As all people rightly do, she wasn’t sure if she believed Ben but she returned to the island because their may be hope in finding Jin. As time has passed the viewers have also learned that one of them is extremely important. We are not sure which one of them is the Candidate, nor is the MIB but it’s pretty clear that neither of them care and all they care about is being reunited. In this episode the MIB tells Sun that he can bring her back to Jin but she runs away as she knows not to trust him and ends up knocking herself out on a tree. When she wakes up she can no longer speak English and can only speak Korean. This is an ironic twist as when she arrived on the island she could actually speak English but pretended she could only speak Korean. As always the writers like to flip the script and this new development creates perfect symmetry.
It’s all too perfect as now the only person that can actually speak to Sun is her true love. Of course we now also understand how being brought back to her Korean roots is relevant as the one thing she is searching for is to reunite with her family!!
I realize that this episode is titled the Package and I didn’t get into the mysterious package (Desmond!!) that is supposed to stop the MIB or how Widmore had the electric fences that Dharma used set up to stop MIB. It appears now after all of this time that Widmore is actually a good guy and understands the importance of stopping the MIB. I also loved the fact that after Widmore lies to MIB about having Jin, the MIB says, “A wise man once said war was coming to this island. I think it just got here.” This too is perfect symmetry as it was Widmore himself who said to the real John Lock that, “…Because there’s a War coming, John,” when Locke met with Widmore after he left the island to bring the original survivors back which inevitably culminated in his death.
The battle lines are being drawn and the story is advancing but I do appreciate how the plot is still the icing on the character developed cake.