Admittedly, Lost has precedent for this, and it’s not quite as ruthless with the truth as Alias was, but it’s still far too close for comfort. I wasn’t surprised by the reveal that Sun was having a flash-forward and Jin was having a flash-back so much as I was left rolling my eyes. Having now tricked us into thinking we’re on the island, or not on the island, or in the future or past, or time-travelling to one place or the other, Lost has exhausted almost every variation on its format, except for one. I am ironically awaiting the flash-sideways, showing events happening unexpectedly in the present! It wasn’t quite the brilliance-fest of recent weeks, but again we’re nowhere near the doldrums of that Kate episode – almost halfway through Season 4, there’s absolutely no doubt that a TV show hasn’t been this consistently brilliant since Buffy Season 3. While any appearance of Sun and Jin as the central characters is doomed to stay in B-Plot territory, it wasn’t the throwaway episode it could’ve been. Developments of a more personal nature to the characters may not be as gripping as learning a new piece of the Dharma/Hanzo puzzle, but they all have their place in Lost canon. Certainly, seeing that Sun is a member of the Oceanic Six – and that Jin isn’t – is more than enough plot. That fact alone makes you wonder about the fate of those who didn’t make it off the island. Jin’s gravestone, after all, marks the date of the crash as his death. We know that’s a lie, but is he still alive on the island, or is he genuinely dead? The cover-up of Oceanic 815’s fate appears to run fairly deep.
