Due to its tricky combination of a flashback and a flash forward, "Ji Yeon" ended up being one of the more controversial episodes of Lost's fourth season.  One TTS reader, Giovanni, already laid out his thoughts on the episode here, and his criticism of it stirred up some hearty debate.  Now we have some more thoughts from readers regarding "Ji Yeon" and the questions it left lingering in our minds.  Is Jin really dead?  What does Charles Widmore have to do with everything?  And will we ever be able to put the debate about Aaron being one of the Oceanic Six to rest?

Submitted by Scott:

I learned a really bad habit from my mother.  To see if a book was good, she would read the first chapter and the last chapter of a book.  Now, that may seem stupid because it spoils it...but if you are reading this then spoilers are nothing new.  How does this relate to Lost?  We’ve seen the first few chapters -- right now we are in the middle and with the flash-forwards we see the end of the book.  So far we have learned that redemption is a main theme for the show.  Most of the time, once someone has redeemed themselves they get shot or a big smoky hand plays tennis with them.  That is why I think this episode is important:  it was all about redemption. 

In the beginning, all that was important to Sun and Jin was being together.  Jin gets a job for Mr. Paik and then things start to change.  When they get on the plane, Sun is about to leave Jin and Jin is stuck doing things for his employer that he disagrees with.  Now, in island time, we see that Jin has done a complete 180 from the days of fighting with Michael over a watch.  He’s chilled out.  Sun, now that she’s going to be a mama, just wants to be with Jin.  The flashback shows that Jin is completely dedicated to his job, whereas now he is completely dedicated to Sun.  He’s even learning English so they can live in the USA away from her family.  Sun goes from learning English in order to leave her husband to calling out for him and wanting to wait to give birth so Jin can be there.  Completely opposite from the way we knew them at the beginning.

Now,  we know the redemption thing usually means someone ends up with 6 feed of sand on top of him or her.  Could this be a warning that something bad is about to happen?  Don’t know.  Just don’t judge a book by one chapter.  Read the whole thing then go back.  This may be an important part of the story once the end comes.  One thing we do know…sometime in the next 6 island months…6 people (Aaron is #6) will be back in the real world.

Submitted by darth philogos:

There are only 2 options for Jin's "death."

1. Jin is still alive on the island and Sun was having a moment because she thinks she'll never see him again.
2. He dies on the island.

My guess is that he dies on the island (probably in the next episode) protecting Sun and the baby.  I think this episode made a good finale for Jin:  He found out "the whole truth" and knows for sure that the baby is his.  We also had a really sweet moment there at the end.

I think the next episode will be Michael-centric.  My theory is that he's the last of the Oceanic 6 and he's the one in the coffin.  I think that accounts for Jack and Kate's animosity toward whoever is in the coffin.

Submitted by Brentie:

I have to throw my two cents in about the Jin flashback.

It was NOT pointless.  The theme of the entire episode was KHARMA.  Bernard explained exactly that to Jin: in simple terms, do good things and good things will happen to you, or do bad things and bad things will happen to you.  Everything bad that happened to Jin as he raced around with that stuffed Panda was a result of his bad kharma (and his actions while working for Sun's father).  And Sun and Jin fostered good kharma for their baby with their decision to stay with the "Jack" tribe.

I thought the episode was quite beautiful in its symmetry.

Submitted by South Kakalaki:

There’s something very important that I think a lot of people are missing out on.  We know the Oceanic 6 get rescued, but WHO rescues them?

Guess what?  It can’t be by Daniel, Miles, Charlotte and Frank.

In Hurley’s Flash Forward, we see Matthew Abaddon ask Hurley if anyone was still alive living on the island. Since this occurred AFTER the rescue, this leads me to believe that Mr. Abaddon has lost contact with his group.

If Daniel, Miles, Charlotte and Frank rescued the Oceanic 6, why would Mr. Abaddon ask Hurley about the island?  He would already know.

My theory is the Oceanic 6 would have to have been rescued by a third party.  Ben strikes a deal with them and strategically places them so they can be found.  This theory is further supported because we know Sayid ends up working for Ben.

Submitted by Leetdewd:

Could it be that Widmore is actually one of the Hanso's (I think I remember hearing about a Hanso besides Alvar. Magnus?) or at least sailed on the Black Rock before it wound up on the island?  Maybe he got thrown off of the boat during the crash and experienced some kind of time warp while floating about in the water. He built his fortune from the treasure he recovered from stashes hidden away on other islands during his pirate days.  This would explain why he has considerable resources, how he knows about the island, and why he wants to get control of it.

Heck, maybe Ben has been lying the whole time and he is also one of the original pirates.  Ben popped up on his radar (somehow related to the picture the "rescuers" have), so Widmore's sure that Ben knows how to get to and from the island, safely.  This could explain why he's so interested in finding Ben.  Ben may have even led a mutiny against Hanso (which caused the crash in the first place), and Widmore/Hanso is just looking to settle an old score.  This could be another explanation as to why rescue is not Widmore's primary concern.

Submitted by The Doctor:

I have a theory on Naomi's bracelet after watching "Ji Yeon."  The initials on the bracelet were R.G. and unless I missed it we never hear Regina's last name.  I say that Naomi and Regina could have been lovers or at least in love.  This would make sense of Regina's behavior.  Initially I thought, as I'm sure most did, that Regina was just sick like the rest.  However, when Keamy walks out and tells Lapidus not to be late, I think he was referring to Naomi's funeral on the ship.  The next morning, Regina has the book upside down, clearly exhausted and not thinking clearly.  She then throws herself off the side of the ship.  I believe she was mourning for Naomi, although it certainly could've been both sadness and sickness. I'm leaning towards sadness.

Submitted by Gavin:

Aaron is not one of the Oceanic 6.  It's the "Oceanic" 6 not the "Mysterious Island" 6.  Aaron was not on the flight, Aaron does not get a big settlement from Oceanic.  There are tons of ways Kate could have pretended to have given birth after the island.  Even if not, they still wouldn't consider him part of the 6.  Lost loves to give us suprises and I wouldn't be too shocked if the last member is the person who doesn't want to leave the island the most, Locke.  His motivation to go back would obviously be to walk again.

Submitted by Scotto:

HOW? HOW? HOW?
How can so many people not understand that Aaron IS one of the 6?

If the media covered a story about rescuing 7 people from a plane crash, why would they call them the 6? The media toplines EVERYTHING.  Also, the previews said "Watch and see who the final member of the Oceanic 6 is".  I really cannot fathom what all of the confusion is about.  Who cares if Aaron was not on the roster?  The show has identified 6 people who were rescued that were there because of a plane crash.

Submitted by Rhonda:

I believe that there are two timelines.  There is the one where Desmond did not push the button, and the plane crashed into the ocean.  The second timeline has Flight 815 crash on the island with the survivors--the timeline that we have been shown.  For what reason they both came about, I am not certain. But, I believe that two different sequences of events led up to the fatal crash and, then, to the crash with the survivors.  I imagine that they happened within a few hours or minutes of each other.  I think the fatal crash was found in the Indian Ocean.  Is this correct?  The losties, I believe, are in the South Pacific.

I'm unsure if Jack's dad, Christian, is actually on the island--stuck in time.  I have wondered if he was alive--didn't Jack find his father's coffin empty?  But, he was obviously dead before he was put in the coffin. However, if he was in another timeline (another sequence of events) before his death, then.....well, that's a stretch.  I know that we are led to believe that Christian was alive in the finale of Season 3, but Jack could have been talking crazy due to the drugs and alcohol.

Submitted by Lynn Connolly:

My theory is that Sun and Hurley went to visit Jin's 'grave' to broadcast a message to him back on the island.... here's why I think so;

Watch the still that's approx 40mins 37secs in.  There's a symbol with a O in it and what could be a thin wire trailing down from the top of the stone.  Could this be a lens?

Sun talks directly at that point all the way through and holds the baby up as if to show her to that point.  She talks in what could be present tense rather than the past tense we might expect when talking to the dead :-)

Sun and Hurley are altogether too cheerful when he arrives.  Sun was checking her make-up and hair. Hurley doesn't offer any commiserations as one might expect from such a sensitive guy.  Instead, he's just glad nobody else turned up.  Another indication that the visit to the grave was pre-scheduled, therefore set to broadcast at a certain time?

Hurley talks about visiting 'him', not his grave.  They'd be dressed in black to pretend they were just paying respects, as we know there's a lot of interest in the six and they wouldn't want anyone knowing the survivors were still on the island.

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"Your Voice" is a new TTS series in which Tail Section fans submit their articles, theories or reviews to be published on The Tail Section for all their fellow fans to read.  Have you spent far too much time pondering the origins of the DHARMA Initiative?  Have you alienated your co-workers by rambling about Daniel Faraday's wacky time anomaly experiment?  If so, we want to hear from you.  Send your own Lost theories, reviews, or general thoughts to Editor(at)TheTailSection.com.  Please keep all submissions between 300 and 1,000 words.  We will read through all submissions and contact you if we publish your entry.  You will also receive byline credit on our site.

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