Sunny Solution

In the Lost ‘special episode’ (i.e. filler edition) - A Journey In Time - Damon and Carlton discussed the crashing of Ajira 316 and how that event resulted in the majority of the Oceanic 6 being transported back in time whilst the rest of the passengers and crew, including Sun, remained in 2007.

Carlton: “Eloise Hawking has said that you have to replicate the circumstances of 815 exactly – they were not able to do that.”

Damon: “Which is what triggers some of them to move to 1977.”

This, as an Anonymous commenter pointed out recently, is about as good as explanation as we’re ever likely to receive about why it was Sun remained in her present whereas everyone else went back to 1977. As that commenter said, “Pretty lame, I’m sure you’ll agree.”

And, initially, I did.

Initially, I watched that special edition ‘filler’ episode and heard Damon and Carlton calmly extol the above quote and I was outraged. “What a load of bullshit!” They think that is a good enough explanation as to why Sun has found herself completely set apart from the rest of the Oceanic 6? Because the flight of Oceanic 815 wasn’t properly replicated?

But then I allowed it to sink in, and tried to process it fairly, and you know what? I’ve come around. Now I think it’s actually a perfectly reasonable explanation. Fundamentally, I think the problem was that I was mistaking coincidence for fate.

There were all those potential ideas that Sun didn’t go back because she was working for Widmore, or because she wasn’t supposed to go back, or because she’d left Ji Yeon behind. . . I think the problem was entirely that we were trying to rationalize something we already had explained. I mean, we already bought the principle Eloise Hawking was, well, hawking. She said that if the Oceanic 6 could reproduce near-identical circumstances to Oceanic 815 then Ajira 316 would get to the Island. And the fact is, it did.

Truth of the matter is the Oceanic 6 nearly replicated the circumstances of 815. They had original passengers, and then the likes of Ilana doubling as Agent Mars, and Hurley taking a guitar case representation of Charlie. . .

Truth of the matter is that Ajira 316 made for a fairly close approximation of Oceanic 815 and, as Hawking stated, it meant the plane could get to the Island. But it wasn’t perfect. And, as such, not everyone on the plane landed perfectly on the Island exactly as intended.

Technically, it wasn’t Sun that didn’t get to where she was meant to get to (the 1970s), it was Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid that were spat out in the wrong decade as a result of an inexact replication of Oceanic 815.

They almost got it right, but it wasn’t right enough, and the imperfect means meant an imperfect result. Like it or not, if you can swallow the basic principle of Hawking’s plan to get the Oceanic 6 back to the Island then you can accept the fact that it went a little awry and that’s the explanation we have been given. It was a balls-up, basically. They went in their half-assed and got a half-assed outcome.

Like I said, initially it totally irritated me, but now I’ve let it sink in I am happy to accept it. One less mystery to worry about. It wasn’t a grand design. Sun being kept apart was just one accidental happening keeping her apart from Jin until they overcome the odds to get back together.

But in all this goodwill and understanding, let's make something clear: Hawking’s replication of Oceanic 815 to crash back on the Island plan is still logic-defying dumbness in action.

Unless Darlton can manage to put a spin on it that convinces me of otherwise!