Lost: The fate of Jin revealed

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Note to ‘Lost’ fans: If you have not watched Wednesday night’s episode of ‘Lost,’ stop reading now. Otherwise, please read and tell me what you thought of the huge developments!

It was the sigh of relief heard around the “Lost” universe: Jin is alive! He’s alive!

When “Lost” viewers last saw Daniel Dae Kim’s Jin, the freighter he was standing on exploded, as his wife, Sun, watched from a helicopter overhead. Viewers immediately related to Sun’s hysterical reaction, delivered with aplomb by Yunjin Kim: Jin couldn’t be dead, could he?

Jin certainly would not have been the first “Lost” character to be mourned by fans. But Jin and Sun, the Korean couple who were about to become parents, seem to have touched Losties in an emotional place that made it impossible to begin the grieving process.

The producers, seeking to allay the pain, assured fans at the end of last season that Jin would be seen again — in life or death. (That’s just the way “Lost” rolls). But that wasn’t enough because what fans most want is a Jin-Sun reunion.

Nine months later—in viewer time—it was revealed Wednesday in a startling way that Jin survived the explosion, prompting the “Lost” cult to immediately express its joy online at various message boards and forums.

“It’s nice to be missed,” Kim said and laughed Thursday morning during a telephone interview. “I’m glad they introduced me at the end of an episode like that because it sets up the following episode. It’s a nice little teaser.”

And what an ending it was. Viewers learned not only that Jin survived the explosion but also that he’s been floating at sea for some time. (We won’t even try to guess for how long.)

On other shows, that would be titillating enough. But, no, “Lost” took it one step further by having the English-challenged Jin being rescued by French madwoman Danielle Rousseau, who died last season. This was possible because the rescue occurred in 1988 when the pregnant Rousseau herself was stranded on the island with her science team.

That means Jin is not just struggling with sunburn, dehydration and injuries. The man has to communicate in 1988 in broken English with a foreigner he originally met in 2004.

“I think that’s hilarious,” Kim said. “It’s bad enough that he’s got one language barrier, but now he’s got two with the French people he’s been rescued by. I guess if you’re going to have one, you might as well have two.”

Next week, Kim said, viewers will know exactly what happened to Jin after the freighter exploded and the island moved, causing its inhabitants to time travel.

“What everyone has been experiencing together jumping back and forth through time, Jin has been experiencing on his own, and he’s got to try to put the pieces together of what’s actually going on,” Kim said. “We’re going to find out exactly what he’s been doing and how he’s been struggling to survive on his own.”

Kim and the producers won’t say if or when a Jin-Sun reunion will occur, but that’s what will drive both characters in the coming episodes, executive producer Carlton Cuse wrote in an e-mail to The Times.

‘Obviously now that we know that Jin is alive, he is very anxious to find out what happened to Sun and he wants to find her — just as she wants to find him,’ Cuse wrote. ‘What happens? We don’t want to spoil that for you, but obviously both characters have a clear mission now — to try and find each other.’

Kim also wants fans to know that their patience will be rewarded.

“You’ll find that as the season progresses it will become less confusing,” he said. “The show will begin to settle in a little bit more and I think people who think the show is a little too complicated right now will find that it makes sense.”

— Maria Elena Fernandez