SUNNY DAYS

In the upcoming horror film “House of the Disappeared,” actress Kim Yun-jin portrays a mother fiercely protective of her children, inside a house that appears to be haunted by uneasy spirits.

She plays two versions of her character Mi-hee -- as a 40-something housewife, and a much older, grey-haired woman who has lost her children through unexplainable causes.

The younger Mi-hee has already been through a lot at the start of the film, having lost her first husband to heart disease and putting up with a second husband who has alcohol and rage issues.

“Simply put, she’s a strong woman,” Kim told The Korea Herald.

Kim animatedly described her role, one that she felt was “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

“At the same time, I tried to express her younger self as somewhat unknowing, despite her hardships, to highlight the gap between her and her older self,” she said.

Being able to display a rich range of emotions of a multifarious character -- from the confused mother to the terrified woman, and later in the film, an ill, grief-stricken ex-prisoner -- was fulfilling, she said.

“When else would I have the opportunity to lead a film with this kind of female character?”

It has been more than a decade since Kim came into international fame with the character Sun in the smash-hit US drama series “Lost,” which aired on ABC from 2004 to 2010. Since then, she has been among the few Korean entertainers -- alongside actor Lee Byung-hun -- to be active in both the US and Korea.

Kim says she is still in awe of the monumental status that “Lost” came to occupy on American TV. The show was a pioneer, one of the first to shed light on actors of different ethnicities, she said.

“It was a brave, but also very intelligent decision on the part of J. J. Abrams,” she said, referring to the show’s creator and renowned director who has helmed films such as “Armageddon” (1998) and “Star Trek Into Darkness” (2013).

After “Lost,” iconic multi-ethnic shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Heroes” followed, Kim pointed out.

The Character of Sun on LOST continues to have steady international work but tells of differences between filming roles in the United States and in Korea.

Maintaining a firm foundation in the Korean film scene helped her US activities, in terms of both experience and recognition, she said. Before heading to Hollywood, Kim had taken up significant roles in major Korean films such as “Shiri” (1999). Her filmography has come to encompass thrillers such as “Seven Days” (2008) and family dramas such as “Ode to My Father” (2014).

“Producers have to pay attention to the Asian market as well,” she said, in an age when TV shows are streamed internationally.

Having had the opportunity to work in two countries, Kim noted several differences.

“There are more roles that portray females as strong, warrior-like figures in the US,” she said. “There is a larger scope (for acting).”

But the most prominent difference is the age of the production crew and staff members, she said.

“In the US, my makeup artist was an elderly lady. She would put on my eyeliner using reading glasses. It’s something unimaginable in Korea.”

Kim called for better working conditions on Korean sets for the production crew. “That kind of experience can’t be bought. We need to let people feel like (working on a film crew) is a lifelong job. I think that will lead to the development of Korean cinema as well.”

The tendency to spotlight male characters as leads “is the same everywhere,” Kim said.

Since she was a young student growing up in New York after her family emigrated there in 1980, the actress, now 43, has been ruggedly pursuing the craft of acting.

Desperate for the stage, she would get up at 5 a.m. every day to ride the ferry from her home in Staten Island to Manhattan, transfer to a bus, and then take the subway to attend the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. Adhering to a strict schedule has become ingrained in her even when off set.

“I have unlimited energy in the mornings,” she said. “I so wanted to go to that school. It was something that was only possible as a kid completely obsessed with acting.”

With over 20 years of experience, the seasoned actress still goes through grueling auditions when pilot season dawns in Los Angeles -- and she still grapples with difficulties.

“‘La La Land’ is no exaggeration,” Kim said, referring to the recent film on struggling performers. “There have been times when casting directors were talking loudly on the phone right outside the room where I was auditioning,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do.”

But always craving her next gig, Kim hopes to fly back to LA once promotions for “House of the Disappeared” wrap up. “That’s my plan, at least. I still have a lot of hunger for acting and good roles.”

SUN CONFLICTS

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.

THE CHARACTER SUMMATION OF JIN

Jin's character was the outcast among outcasts. He had a language barrier so he could not communicate with his fellow castaways. He was suspicious of everyone around him. He was a traditionalist who wanted his wife, Sun, to obey and follow him. He would have found it acceptable to be on the outer limits of the beach camp, alone with Sun, rather than trying to integrate into the new community. Jin's story is like the story of an immigrant landing in a new country and trying to adapt to a new culture.

The writer's guide described Jin as:

Jin was born into an impoverished family in a fishing village in Southern Korea. After meeting Sun, the spirited daughter of the most powerful auto magnate in the country, ,Jin fell deeply in love. Unfortunately, due to a fierce class system, Sun's father refused to give his permission for the two to marry... unless of course Jin was willing to play ball. The result was a Faustian deal- Jin promising to keep Sun squarely within the strict confines of Korean society in exchange for a high-paying, high-ranking job. While the agreement afforded Jin VIP treatment, it left Sun betrayed. Jin is preoccupied by what he considers a far greater betrayal: his wife's INABILITY TO CONCEIVE. On the island his own inability to communicate with the others is balanced by his knowledge of the ocean  and his knack for capturing marine life for food... but when he realizes he must now rely on his wife, he must choose between attempting to regain her love or fall prey to the dangerous allure of the island's dark influence.

 
Jin's story was always going to be tied to Sun's story. Whether it was going to be a take on modern or traditional marriage, the issues between couples, or stories of lost loves . . . the two would be paired in their actions and events on the island.

Jin's guide story tracks what was shown in LOST (to a degree): born to a poor fishing family, he leaves his family to find fortune (in Sun's back story in college). He falls for Sun, but cannot marry her without making a deal with the devil, Sun's father. He must change his plans and become a company man in order to marry Sun. Jin bows to tradition. As a result, Jin demands what is expected of his subservient wife, children. But Sun cannot conceive, which Jin considers a betrayal to him (since she married him only to get back at her father and not have a true family with him).

So Jin's dilemma parallels the actual story line show in LOST: his conflict that he apparently married Sun for the wrong reasons, and he was caught like a fish in a trap, at the mercy of others like Sun's father or cultural demands upon him. We also see that Jin's skills on the island were quickly dismissed by the other castaways, who did not want to eat "foreign" food. He becomes quickly isolated, but for his marital bond with Sun.

In the guide, that marital bond with Sun would quickly collapse, leaving Jin totally isolated on the island. He would view from a far when Sun takes her English language skills and becomes an active member in the beach camp. Her happiness of being accepted by new people who respect her and her talents, would make Jin angry, depressed and lonely. His only hope for emotional survival would be to regain the trust and love of Sun. He would have to plan to woo her back.

But the writers add an entirely new element in the guide, especially as it relates to Jin (with application to any other person on the island): fall prey to the dangerous allure of the island's dark influence. The idea that the island has a "dark influence" over people is an agent of change that could dramatically affect relationships, bonds or even life and death decisions. The darkness could be the evil  inside all primordial instincts and fears that could be released in the unchecked lawless society that is the island (survival of the fittest). 

The concept of the characters having an opportunity to "change" themselves and live out their dreams because the plane crash has given them a second chance is a prime motivation to action, but if the island has its own, involuntarily, sway over character actions (dark influence) that could have been a devilish monkey-wrench in any decision making process. For example, crime without punishment. Some may consider this as a vague reference to the smoke monster's ability to shape shift, read memories, and create ghosts on the island to manipulate the feelings and actions of the candidates. That could be a fair assessment of a dark influence, but it would seem that the writers' premise would be that the island itself harbors something that would trigger dark thoughts in any human (i.e. sort of more like the vague "infection" story arc). 

Of course, the motivation of Jin to have a traditional family after being spurned by Sun could have led to the ultimate emotional double cross - -  Jin fathering a child on the island with another woman. Would have Sun felt betrayed by Jin's actions? Would she have had an emotional melt down if Jin found happiness and her new independence was not all that it was cracked up to be? That would have created a more layered story line between these two characters than the one ultimately shown in the series.

In the series, Sun and Jin are not really main characters. They are secondary people whose job is to help more important characters do specific tasks. For example, Jin became Sawyer's deputy. Sun began a gardener and nurse to Jack. Their story lines act more as filler than as key moments in island events. Again, the producers and writers made a conscious decision early on in the series to down play the Jin-Sun story.

THE CHARACTER SUMMATION OF SUN

The 9th main character in the LOST writer's guide was Sun. She played out as a rebellious rich girl who wanted to get away from her overbearing father. She did so by marrying a man beneath her status in life and a bold rejection to tradition. The Sun-Jin relationship was a double fish-out-of-water story. Sun and Jin were isolated from the main castaways due to the language barrier. Jin was out of his element when he married Sun, and tried to place tradition back on to her.

The writer's guide described Sun:

The daughter of a wealthy South Korean auto parts magnate, Sun went to college and fell in love with free-spirited fellow student Jin. After their marriage, Jin changed, eventually becoming harsh and distant as he relegated Sun to give up her own aspirations in favor of a more traditional life in other words, a glorified servant). This forced Sun to devise an "exit strategy"- For the past two years she has secretly been LEARNING ENGLISH. planning to ditch Jin in Los Angeles to stay with a cousin, Sun's skills with Eastem Medicine may just be her ticket to a new life. The plane crash has shattered Sun's plan, but not her resolve. Now freed of the cultural and familial chains which have kept her passive, Sun's evolution as an independent woman has officially begun.

The Sun-Jin island story was supposed to be able a "love conquers all" type tale. Even if they were not going to fit into the main group, they would always have each other. And that is all they needed in order to survive or be happy. In some ways, this story was actually adopted better by the Bernard and Rose story line.

The guide did tell of Sun's unhappy marriage, and her plan to leave Jin for a new life in America (even though the complex legal immigration issues were never resolved in any story; you just can't show up and stay in U.S.). 

But her back story changed significantly. First, Sun went to college and fell in love with another free spirit in Jin. In the series, Jin's back story was much harsher: the bastard son of a lowly poor fisherman, Jin had no education - - - he left to the city to become a laborer, a door man, seeking a better life. He was not a free spirit, but a traditionalist. Second, in the guide Sun has her own aspirations in medicine, but in the actual story, we are given no life goal motivation for Sun other than being the heiress to a large fortune, and being rebellious against her father. Her relationship with Jin was more as a stab at her father than actual love. Third, it would seem that Sun "independence" on the island would have strained her relationship with Jin, and her English betray him to further isolation away from the group and her. 

The guide places Sun in the role of the modern woman bucking tradition to follow her own path. It is not a love story but one of personal growth over the expectations of others. Her ideas of Eastern Medicine would conflict with Jack's Western approach, so there could have been conflict in the group on who was going to be the healer. Or, it would have led to another form of frustration, since Jack was a doctor and Sun was a foreigner, her skills would be dismissed out of hand by many castaways. This would have lead to further loneliness in Sun's character, which was a main theme of the series.

The writer's guide begins to shape the lower main characters as having personal "plans" to change their situation in life. In Sun's case, it was not divorce her husband but to ditch him in LA. She would start a new life on her own in a new, strange country, with little means of support except for a cousin. Like many plans, including Locke's, it is more based in fantasy than the practical specifics of reality. The guide does express Sun's emotional state by stating her culture and family were "chains" holding her back from becoming true self. 

In LOST, Sun had bouts of independence, but in the end she reverted to a sentimental character of being Jin's loving wife which was not contemplated in the original writer's guide.

S6E10 HEAD INJURIES

There is an emerging pattern developing in the last few episodes. I was bothered by Jack's slow healing forehead injury. Then we have the Jin bump in the same place. Claire was blown up in a barracks house. Sayid was brain dead in the temple. Now we have Sun running into a tree branch and having an injury in the same place (frontal lobe). I am beginning to wonder if these head injuries are connected to the manipulation of the characters by either Jacob or MIB.

The executive functions of the frontal lobes involve the ability to recognize future consequences resulting from current actions, to choose between good and bad actions (or better and best), override and suppress unacceptable social responses, and determine similarities and differences between things or events. Therefore, it is involved in higher mental functions.

The frontal lobes also play an important part in retaining longer term memories which are not task-based. These are often memories associated with emotions derived from input from the brain's limbic system. The frontal lobe modifies those emotions to generally fit socially acceptable norms.

It is clear that Flocke (MIB) does want to people not to recognize what he is up to, to mask a person's choices between what is good and what is bad, with the emphasis on unleashing socially unacceptable responses. This may be a loophole: Jacob or MIB cannot make anyone do something against their free will, but MIB may put characters in a position not to know any better.