When Home's No Place Like Home - Part I

As the Lost world goes, "There's No Place Like Home" begins about as far away as it possibly could from the place where "Cabin Fever" ends. Locke's declaration that they need to move the island is decidedly disjointed from the briefing the Oceanic Six receive on their plane ride to Hawaii, especially when viewed on the linear storyboard of the series' progression. If a viewer watched the fourth season for the first time on DVD and saw the episodes back-to-back, I doubt they would expect the return to civilization immediately after Christian tells Lock to transport the island. This jump in the narrative appears a second time in Part I of "There's No Place Like Home," as the episode ends in seemingly disjointed fashion from the genesis. We know the six somehow end up together, but exactly how? Jack is with Sawyer tromping after Hurley, who is with Ben and Locke at the Orchid. Meanwhile, Kate and Sayid are nabbed by the roaming band of Alpert-led Others, who reappeared just in time for the end of the season. Further, Sun has Aaaron on the freighter, as Desmond, Michael, and Jin try not to mess their pants when they discover explosives line the ship.



How do the six reunite? Where do the six reunite? How do they reunite without Jin, Desmond, Michael, Sawyer, etc? Obviously, that point is one of the large setups of the first part of the episode. Many times the idea of entropy comes up when dissecting Lost and this episode could easily add fire to the flame. We begin with the ordered return to the world at large, build toward chaos as the six are scattered on the island, and will ultimately rebound to order when they reunite. That order-to-chaos-to-order progression obviously contains one cog too many for the natural universe, but it works well in storytelling. Figuring out a plausible way to get them all to the freighter or to have Sun get back to the island is daunting; there are many ideas out there, I won't even give it my best shot here.


"We're Not in Kansas Anymore, We're on Oahu"

Arriving in Hawaii was a touching and revealing scene. Hurley's parents are overjoyed and, true to his word, Cheech is still there. Sun embraces her mother, but seems awfully distant from dear old dad. Jack's mother probably received the best gift of her life, since she finally discovered she didn't lose his father and her son in one basic blow. Sayid understandably has no family, but he immediately finds warmth with clan Hurley. Kate, on the other hand, has no one but her "son," which is interesting when you juxtapose that idea against the fact that, later in the story, Kate seems to be the least willing to return to the island, meaning she is most likely the most fulfilled in the real world.

The abbreviated press conference features a well-woven lie and just one question for each of the six. Jack seems content with the story, perhaps indicating that he negotiated some sort of deal with whichever power forces the plot to arrive at the point where the six might escape. Hurley, retaining his humor, calls a female reporter a dude and remarks on his girth before renouncing his wealth. Sun appears to be the most ill-at-ease with lying, though she sticks to the story when asked if her husband made it off the island. Kate gives a succinct answer to how it felt to "give birth" on an island: "scary." Sayid receives the most important query. The reporters wonder if other survivors might have possibly escaped the crash and definitively answers, "No, absolutely not." I surmise that this answer is the key to the negotiation the six leveraged to go home. They agree to stick to the story that everyone else is dead and they can get back to their lives. The key question then becomes, which person or persons made the agreement? Ben? Widmore? Abaddon? A combination?

Doctor Dumbo or Doctor Common Sense?

Flashback to the island (notice how we're getting closer to the point where island time might very well become flashback fodder, with post-island time becoming the present), all those who took jabs at Jack for stating he thought the chopper wanted the beach survivors to follow now have their feet firmly implanted their mouths. Dumb idea, right? After all, he received confirmation from Daniel that the freighter crew never intended to save the survivors. So why follow to mercenaries with ill intentions? Stupid Jack. Except all those people forgot Lapidus in their judgment. Frank has a plan and, though it might ultimately fail, Jack wasn't acting as unintelligently as everyone expected.

When Jack and Kate run into Sawyer, Miles, and Aaron, Sawyer looks more fatigued than we've ever seen him. He is especially distraught as he relays the fact that Claire is missing. Though Captain Nickname and Doc Hero verbally spar, the scene shows just how similar the two have become. Though Sawyer does not possess the technical skills of Jack, he has grown into a protector and, based on his body language and mental state, he has realized it is not as easy as it might seem. Though he passes it off, Sawyer cannot let Jack go to the chopper on his own.

After all, in the past Sawyer confided to Jack that he was probably the closest thing he has to a friend on the island. The Lost world tends to separate Jack and Sawyer as opposites, largely due to their affections for Kate, but in reality they are extremely similar, right down to their taste in marooned women. The end of the first hour of the finale shows the two in tandem, attempting to save their friends, working as one to save Hurley, with Jack again muttering Sawyer's mantra: "son of a bitch" (the situation is obviously the child of fate, the fickle bitch).

Preservatives Work Well

Elsewhere, the well balanced trio of John, Ben, and Hurley move toward the Orchid. While Hurley chows down on 15-year-old soda crackers, Ben flashes a signal to an unseen person with a mirror. By the end of the episode, most people assume the message went to the Others, but really we have no evidence to corroborate any theory at this point, since Ben deflects questions about the sequence.

Later, Hurley poses an important question. He asks Ben that if they achieve the movement of the island, doesn't that mean Keamy and crew will move with them? Ben can only answer that he is working on that aspect. We also receive confirmation that the spot referred to in the second protocol - the place Ben would go if he knew a firestorm was coming - is the Orchid. This revelations strengthens the theories that Widmore and Dharma are connected.

The Ferry of Death?

Meanwhile, Consta-Necktie Daniel becomes ferry-man as he shepherds survivors to the freighter. Dan became extremely distressed when he heard Keamy was heading to the Orchid. Dan either knows about the second protocol, which would mean Gault was even more out of the loop than he seemed, or surmised a second protocol existed when he heard about the play on the Orchid. If he did know beforehand about the second protocol, the pure intentions many of the four freighter mainstays have exhibited might come into question. While they still seem to have the best intentions for humanity in general, the only character I'm absolutely convinced about at this point is Lapidus. He almost goes out of his way to help the survivors, while Daniel, Charlotte, and Miles all feature a self interest in some part of the island. My instincts tell me they will all turn out to be beneficent, but obviously only time will tell.

A great deal of viewers expressed wonder that Jin didn't knock Michael out within seconds of discovering him on the freighter. I find it illogical to think Jin would act in such a fashion; I would most likely find myself extremely shocked to see Michael on the ship and would probably tend to my exploding head before I thought about jacking him in the face. Michael managed to fix the engines, but the mountain of C4 and its wiring are interfering with the ship's computers, so they can't approach the island and its reefs until that problem is solved. The device on Keamy's arm seems unavoidably connected to the explosives. If Keamy's heart stops sending a pulse, the boat will go boom. I fear for Desmond's life, which would be an extremely difficult loss for the show. Is the island Michael reached in his story about getting to New York the same island we see in the photo of the Oceanic Six being rescued?

Power Finance 101 with Professor Sun


The first flash forward beyond the point of the press conference displays Sun on a financial tear. She waltzes up to her father, dismisses his flippant questions about the pregnancy before she tells him that she bought a "controlling interest" in his company with her Oceanic settlement. More than a few viewers scoffed at the ability of Sun to purchase 51% of the company with that sort of compensation, but stopped before they contemplated that perhaps her story is a cover. Sun could easily have received money from another interested party. Is it possible that the bond we see between Hurley and Sun in the "Ji Yeon" points to a combination of forces? Hurley certainly has a lot of cash at his disposal.

In "Ji Yeon" Hurley says something to the effect of "Let's go see him," referring to Jin. The duo visits his grave marker, but perhaps the statement was a larger sentiment about finding Jin, alive and on the island? Widmore and Sun's father have established ties (thanks to the Lost Experience), so perhaps Sun and Hurley have teamed to use his resources to relocate the island?

The Numbers are Back

It is no stretch to see how Hurley could have this motivation. Since the beginning of the season, he has displayed the want to return in flash forwards. His feeling begins almost immediately after arriving home, as he can't seem to escape the island or the numbers. At his island-themed birthday party, a DJ spins Geronimo Jackson as a kid with a shirt emblazoned with "42" walks by.

Shortly thereafter, Hurley's father shows him the restored ride, but before the giddy Malomars-lover takes it for a spin, he notices the full set of numbers on the odometer. Interesting to note, in the opening scene, one of the pilots holds a rabbit's foot for good luck because the cargo they carry is "bad mojo." Attached to the keys Cheech gives Hugo is a similar rabbit's foot.

Jack, Meet Your Nephew

Jack's flash forward, during his father's funeral, is chock full of interesting developments and lines. Jack mentions that he fittingly mapped out the eulogy of his father on the back of a cocktail napkin. The scene undoubtedly will give fits to the people who cannot understand Jack's father issues. Coupled with the compliment he gives Christian in "Something Nice Back Home," Jack tells his "deceased" father that he loved him. Obviously Jack has started to sort out his feelings for his father, which are much deeper and more troubling than many want to admit. What a lot of people also cannot understand is that these troubles, even when faults are forgiven, still leave lasting imprints that just cannot be "gotten over," as some suggest.

Still, the big bomb in the scene is that Jack learns that Claire is his half-sister. The news comes from the now-coma-less mother of Claire, who unknowingly, ironically notes the good looks of her grandchild. The info floors Jack, which perhaps points to the possibility that Claire is alive and still on the island, which triggers a guilt in Jack for leaving. This scene could be the first seed in Jack's psyche that the six indeed need to go back. Of course, the way he reacts could also simply mean that Claire is dead and Jack does not know how to comprehend the fact that his sister is already gone. Also, Jack turns around to view Kate holding his nephew.

Click Your Heels in Two Weeks

The reemergence of the Others was a great scene. The Ageless One, Richard Alpert seems to possess some inside information about the situation, of course unspoken. My guess is that Ben summoned them to the Orchid, at which point they will engage Keamy. I count at least 15 Others, including Richard, as they march during the scene that shows the disparate locations of the Oceanic Six. Ben gives himself up to the soldiers, knowing that their orders are to keep him alive. I find Ben's line to John to be one of the most comical in the show's history. Well, the line is really made by the look Emerson gives Terry O'Quinn, as if Locke is a precocious high school kid fresh out of the locker where he was stuffed. "How many times do I have to tell you, John? I always have a plan."

And that sentiment is the resounding coda of the first hour. In "Cabin Fever," Ben seemingly passed the Chose-One torch to John, but no one doubted that Ben might still be pulling strings. John might be the Chosen One, but his crown as the guy in charge lasted all of one episode, as he takes orders from Ben in "There's No Place Like Home." Who knows how it will turn out, but Ben still has a plan in motion.