ABC’s sexually charged summer series "Mistresses" has many secrets. But they’re nothing for actress Yunjin Kim compared with the mysteries she faced as Sun-Hwa Kwon on "Lost." Even the way the new drama is filmed is a complete change for the actress.

"It’s refreshing to get scripts through emails, something that was never done on ‘Lost,’" Kim says. "There are no blank pages, polar bears, a mysterious hatch or all that.

"It’s really refreshing to do a show that’s about the simplicity of life, love, relationships and friendship."

"Mistresses," based on the BBC series, features Kim, along with Alyssa Milano, Rochelle Aytes and Jes Macallan, as a group of friends on a path of self-discovery. Kim’s character is a therapist who reconnects with her friends after a relationship with a married patient goes too far.

The full script left Kim speechless at times because of all the mistakes her character makes.

"The other women aren’t really mistresses. My character is THE mistress of the show," Kim says. "When you first meet her, she’s already been a mistress, and she loses the love of her life. I really am playing an awful character. My character’s not just crossing personal issues, but professional issues as well."

"Mistresses" takes Kim in a different acting direction from "Lost."

Sun was a positive role for her on "Lost." The character had strength both as a castaway and as a wife. The new drama takes her to far darker places in a story line that Kim describes as "totally wrong."

She smiles, and adds that she was attracted to the role because it is so dark.

Kim won’t face questions like those that popped up repeatedly during the run of "Lost."

"We didn’t know we were dead that last season until we read the script," Kim says. "I loved the ending. We knew we weren’t going to please every single person out there because people did invest a lot of time, passion and energy into the show."

As soon as "Lost" was over, Kim returned to Korea, where she kept busy working on movies. She wasn’t looking for her new TV project when "Mistresses" came along, but she knew it was the kind of project she wanted to do.

"To do a show about amazing friends that I can understand and relate and sympathize with is a great thing," Kim says.

–By Rick Bentley / Fresno Bee