It would be hard to explain Jin's flashes as being in the future instead of the past. Not only does he mention having only been married for two months, he's changed a lot on the island, and probably would never go back to working for that man if he could get by on his own.

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Jack: We were caught in a net.
Sawyer: What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Jack: It means we got caught in a net.
Sawyer: Is that what they're calling it these days?

I definatly think Jin's panda thing was a flash back. It ties in with him saying he has only been married fot 2 months, that's why he has only started working for Paik, he only doing deliveries and not killing people yet.
Also the date on the tombstone ties in with the date of the crash strongly suggesting he has been considered one of the people that died in the plane crash and didn't survive.
However i am confused as to why Hurley is glad no one else came to see sun?????
I think Hurley goes to see her because it would be a news worthy story of one of the oceanic 6 giving birth, so being a nice guy and haveing the money to just fly where and when he wants ( also has a golden ticket from the airline ) he goes to see her to see how she is.
Maybe they talked on the phone before hand to discuss when and wher to meet and all that usual stuff.
But going to see the Tombstone of Jin starts the thoughts in Hurley's head that the oceanic 6, cannot let the people left on the island just stay there, they need to go back and rescue them and let people knnow of their TRUE story.

So Hurley starts telling the press and people around him of the true story, time travel, smoke monsters and people think he is mad. He then get's sectioned again and back to the mental hospital. That's when we see Jack come to visit him and he tell's Jack we need to go back.
Jack then starts his self assesment about living a normal life with the knowledge of what he saw and did, he then start's to crack up and go on a one way mission to find the island again and get back.
aaahhhh it all makes sense.

he stays on the island

That sounds pretty good but Hurley was put back into the mental hospital either voluntarily, or that cop really did think he'd gone bat s**t. right?

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" We kinda like knew that forever ago." -Hurley SE4EP8

Well, at this point, this is more of a poll than a lets-get-conclusive type of thread--we just don't have the info to nail this down. Having said that, I hope you don't mind me sharing my wacky thoughts.

1. I think that Sun's words at the grave left some big loopholes for a live Jin to walk through --Jin doesn't have to be dead based on what she said.

2. I feel that the speech at the grave by Sun was definitely heartfelt. The tears, the "I miss you", the sharing of info about Baby's name and the birth--intimate stuff. In fact, I felt she was definitely speaking to Jin. . .

3. Which leads me to the wacky part. What if Sun is speaking to a camera hidden at the gravesite, one that a live-on-the-island Jin will see footage of?

I believe that Jin was forced to stay behind for Sun's good somehow--he said he would do "whatever it takes to protect you (Sun) and the baby" . Someone with off-island surveillance capacities (like Ben) could have set up this camera as a consolation prize.

Whaddya think? I'm serious about this.

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"You made glue? Wow. You should have one of those shows where you fix up houses for people."

What an interesting idea - about the camera. We know Ben loves a good hidden camera. That could explain Mr. Kwon not being dead and Mrs. Kwon's heartfelt emotion. Maybe in a deal with Ben, he would let Sun leave the island, but only if Jin stayed and worked for him. We know Jin served in the Korean army (like Sayid did) and was a hitman for Mr. Paik. Ben could probably use a Secret Agent 002 to help out Secret Agent 001 (Sayid).

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There are some pretty good ideas on this thread to support the possibility of Jin having just been left behind on the island and not actually dead.
And we all know the excellent writers on LOsT can be very crafty and sneaky.

But in this case I think Jin is really dead. OR at the very least Sun believes he is dead.

I read some of the reasons why Sun would go to the gravesite if she knew he was really alive, and you guys might just be right.

My gut feeling on it though is that Sun wouldn't go to talk to Jin at his grave if she knew he really wasn't dead.

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Doctor playing golf. Woo, boy howdy, now I've heard everything. What's next, cop eating a donut?

I fear you are right Folie, that Jin is really dead. It was just so anti-climactic, the manner of his death - in fact, we didn't even see it. - which is probably where my spark of hope that he is alive comes from. It sure does seem like everyone who has had some resolution in their life, some "fixing," dies.

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One thing I found particularly interesting...Sun is back in the real world and deliverying her baby. As much as her father dominated her life (and the news and gossip seemed to know all about the Oceanic 6)...how could Sun escape her parents not being with her in the delivery room or hospital? Where were they? How come they all of a sudden were leaving her alone?

On the grave stone it says he died in 2004... but if you remember back to the episode where desmond was trying to call penny.. it is Christmas of 2004. so. maybe the gravestone is there because that is when the plane crashed.. maybe?