Sun-Hwa Kwon is an enigma, a person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand.
She grew up in a Korean culture dominated by male power. She was expected to be the passive daughter of a wealthy industrialist (with harsh criminal attributes in his business dealings). By all accounts, she grew up as a spoiled, rich kid who had everything the upper class could offer her except excitement.
So she tried to feed her rebellious spirit by trying to undermine her father. Her daddy issues were part cultural, part self-esteem.
Her illicit romance with a poor man, Jin, was an example of her lashing out against her father's wishes. As Jin turned into her father (by being an enforcer for her dad's business partners), Sun began to rebel against her husband by having an affair with her English tutor. We presume that ended badly with her teacher being thrown to his death.
Throughout her back story, we find that Sun had no real close friends. This may be from her isolation as a daughter of a rich and powerful family. She may have been isolated for her own protection against kidnapping, ransom or shaming the family with bad behavior. As such, with Jin she found herself again alone in her home with nothing to do - - - no one to turn to discuss her problems. She thought that she could drastically change her life with the man she loved, but that quickly turned out to be not the case. She turned into the passive, doting spouse. A role that she despised.
In order to find some self-worth, Sun tried to conceive a child to stabilize her marriage. Jin's infertility put another strain on their relationship to the point Sun was going to leave him at the airport to start a new life alone in America.
But a pang of regret, remorse or guilt took Sun back to Jin in the airport. It took her onto Flight 815 and her ultimate fate of being trapped on a mysterious island. Since Jin did not know of her English skills, the couple were isolated from the start from the rest of the survivors. This also brought more stress on their relationship since Sun needed to have something more than Jin's paternal iron hand ruling her life. She sought out Kate with her secrets.
It is ironic that Kate, who could easily make friends with her charm, could never really keep them.
It seemed that Sun could navigate her cursed island life with the meager chance of one true friend to stabilize her marriage, but a jealous Jin and the betrayal that she spoke English, shocked Jin to shun her.
Here is where the Sun story goes off the rails.
Despite Jin's infertility, Sun conceived Jin's baby on the Island, which strengthened their marriage but threatened Sun's health. This is the drama that binds the couple together. But logically, many viewers thought that the child was actually her English tutor's. How the "magic" of the island could create a baby in Sun while the couple was cold towards each other could only be thought to be the dream of a weak school girl.
Then the second improbable occurrence: Sun giving birth to her daughter in the jungle with the help of Kate. This was probably more a Kate moment than Sun's, since Kate had avoided her entire life. responsibility for anything or anyone.
The third improbable occurrence was Sun's near death experience on the freighter. She gets on the helicopter just before the explosion. She is shocked and grief stricken that Jin has been killed. But then she has another near death experience when the island vanishes and the helicopter crashes in the ocean.
Instead of being grateful for having a daughter to care for, Sun's personality changes dramatically.
Back in civilization, Sun became more self-confident and daring, seizing control of her father's company. She also sought revenge for Jin's death. When a man she never trusted, Ben, tells her Jin is still alive, Sun drops everything - - - including the care of her own daughter - - - to return to the island. That makes no sense. Why would a mother with a young infant abandon her to go to a dangerous island in search for her deceased husband? Since she had the power and wealth of a Widmore, she could have sent her own rescue party to the island. We were as naive as she was in trusting Ben.
Back on the island, she is in the wrong time shift. She cannot find Jin. She feels angry and betrayed but somehow never accepts that it is her own fault. And during her island time, she has no remorse or feelings about her daughter.
Once the time lines merge, Sun reunites in a fantasy reunion with Jin. Their reunion was very brief, since the submarine destined to take them home is sabotaged by Flock. In the worst possible story line, Sun is trapped by a locker when the bomb explodes in the submarine. The ship takes on water. Instead of Jin saving himself to take care of their daughter, he decides to stay and die with Sun. Why would a father abandon his daughter that way?
Sun and Jin drowned together for no good reason.
But the last contradiction is a major one. In the flash sideways, the pair were reunited after a family crime matter resolves, putting Sun into labor at the hospital. The birth of her daughter in the side ways world (after life) has the same major plot issues as the Aaron birth by Claire at the side ways concert: why would a live human being be born again in the afterlife? One theory is that the children were never born to their parents in their real life. That the island was all an illusion. That the dreams and hopes of a heavenly life would include a fabricated family to love. Otherwise, Sun's daughter would be alive on the mainland, growing up to live her own life, and then dying to reunite with her parents as an adult.
The Sun story shows many of the critical script flaws in LOST.
