Lost: Season 4, Episode 12: There's No Place Like Home, Part 1

There’s No Place Like Home, Part 1
Original Airdate: May 15, 2008
Writers: Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse
Director: Stephen Williams

Of course, this episode has to be seen as the beginning of a three part finale; introducing the conflict and placing characters where they need to be for the complication and resolution phases. Like the island story, the flash forwards serve as the starting point for the flash forward arcs we’ve seen all season and by the end of the three hours will likely move past Jack’s meltdown in “Through the Looking Glass”, presumably the last event chronologically so far. This part basically begins to fill in many of those blanks of how the Six go down their respective dark paths as they prepare to leave the island in the present. After all that great build up comes the pay off we’ve been waiting for.

The moment when the hangar door opens and the Six (well, three of them) are reunited with their families is rather powerful. As the show is about those on an isolated island, rescue has been something we’ve been expecting and promised from the first episode. With all the stuff that’s happened on the island, it can be easy to forget that the survivors have friends and family in the real world who believe (or believed in the case of the Six) that they were dead. For them, their nightmare is over, their children are home.

Nadia not being there could be as simple as she isn’t a blood relation to Sayid. It’s worth mentioning that of the Six, Sayid’s parents are almost entirely unknown. Sayid’s parents weren’t there likely because Sayid went against his country to save Nadia’s life. Sayid’s father, in the little we know of him, was a war hero in the Republican Guard.

Regardless, Sayid meeting Hurley’s parents is a great beat, emphasizing the strange assemblage of people on the island who never would’ve met otherwise. Hurley’s mother and Sayid couldn’t have had more different lives.

Kate’s mother, although she forgives Kate by not taking the stand against her, apparently hasn’t forgiven her when she gets off the plane. But why wouldn’t Sam Austen, the man Kate believed was her father, be there? He cared about Kate to give her a head start before calling the cops when she visited him after she killed Wayne. He likely could’ve pulled the strings. Perhaps it would’ve been distracting to have Austen and Sayid, who met in the flashbacks from “One of Them”, together in a scene without acknowledging their past encounter. Whatever the reason, Kate’s return reinforces the idea Sawyer’s brought up that they have nothing back on the main land.

Kate, unlike her adult counterparts, has yet to have that rock bottom moment leaving the island. Granted she goes through a hardship in her trial, but that’s pretty easy compared to the other four. The furthest flash forward she’s in, she doesn’t want to get involved in Jack’s self destructive “we have to go back” rage and seems content with her life. The biggest reason why she is doing so is because of Aaron, not to mention leaving California would violate her probation. If anything is going to motivate Kate, it’s going to involve someone targeting Aaron, likely because of the psychic’s warning about someone other than Claire raising him. Maybe it’ll happen when she returns from that moment with Jack things start to unravel.

With the darkness surrounding the adults, what is Aaron feeling? Yeah, he is only two, but that could lead to him drawing prophetic images like Locke did in the previous episode. Maybe he’ll be directed to knowing who his real mother is.

The press conference has some interesting moments, primarily with how Karen Decker (Michelle Forbes of “BSG”, “24” and “Star Trek” fame, hopefully we’ll see more of her) aids the Six in dodging questions that address the holes in their story, like them looking too well for being stuck on an island for over three months (a nitpick among some critics of the show despite evidence explaining it) or that Kate couldn’t have been six months pregnant with Aaron when the plane crashed. Some criticized the reporters for approaching the Six with skepticism, despite the viewer knowing it was justified. However, they had to let the audience know that the faults in their cover story weren’t completely ignored by the public. Not to mention this story would be ripe for tabloids, which thrive on scandal. Or perhaps they were working for a media outlet owned by Widmore.

(Editor’s note: the paragraphs that are supposed to be here refers to scenes that weren’t included in the original broadcast, but may be a part of the encore on May 29^th. They are at the end of the review for spoiler reasons.)

In “The Shape of Things to Come”, I was critical of the show not showing us Nadia’s death in the narrative. However, there was a clear reason behind that. Knowing that going into the reunion between Sayid and Nadia only intensifies the tragedy of its inevitable end. With the emphasis on non-linear storytelling this season, knowing what will happen has taken a backseat to filling in the blanks for what happened between the island time to the flash forwards, but it’s used very well in this episode.

Hurley, no sooner off the plane, begins to fall back into his belief that he is bad luck. Claiming that the lottery money is cursed at the press conference was just the beginning. It’s worsened by the return of the numbers on the odometer of the car he’ll eventually crash in a chase from the cops. Not knowing how the Six get off, it still makes sense he’d be the first to splinter under the guilt.

Sun, opposed to the other Six, is taking a more aggressive and less nihilistic tactic in dealing with getting off the island by taking control of her father’s company. The big question is just how big a settlement could Oceanic give the Six that would allow Sun to take over her father’s company without Oceanic going out of business? Not to mention shouldn’t Oceanic shell out money to the relatives of those who died or “died” in the crash? This is the only problem with the episode, but it could be easily explained. The five other banks mentioned could be the five adult members of the Six (perhaps saving Aaron’s as a college fund), not to mention Hurley’s lottery money. Whatever it is, this scene’s punch more than made up for any logical problems, this paragraph aside.

During her confrontation, she claims that two people are responsible for Jin’s “death”, Paik being one of them. There are four choices for the other person: the person who literally kills Jin, Widmore, Jack or herself. Sun may have taken control of Paik to get close to Widmore, whose association with Paik has been mentioned in non-canonical supplements. Jack may make a choice on island that leaves Jin behind. As for herself, Sun has often lied or hurt others for her benefit. So getting off the island at Jin’s expense or to go further, taking the blackmail money forced Jin to work as one of Paik’s enforcers would be in character.

Fans have been speculating how Jack and/or Claire would discover their secret relation. Jack implied in “Something Nice Back Home” that he knew, and many believed that knowledge was partially responsible for his depression in season three’s flash forwards. It turns out Claire’s mother, who was considered a vegetable with no chance of waking up, got better and traveled to LA for Christian’s “funeral”. The moment is filled with irony: she mentions that they didn’t know who they were on the plane, then compliments Aaron, without knowing it’s her grandson. This is the turning point for Jack, much like Nadia’s death is for Sayid and Charlie’s appearance is for Hurley.

Claire’s mother visiting Jack opens the door for other relatives and friends of non-Six members to visit. It was theorized that Kate’s favor to Sawyer involved helping Cassidy with Clementine. Not to mention that Walt is around, albeit on the other side of the country, keeping a low profile. Also would Penny have any contact with them, possibly as the person who brings them back?

On the island, Sawyer and Sayid show up to warn the respective sides of Team Jack, Juliet on the beach and Jack over extending himself trying to find the helicopter, of the mercenaries true objectives. It’s odd that Sawyer would mention Keamy and his men blew up “half of New Otherton” but failed to mention six people, including Rousseau, Alex and Karl, were killed. Perhaps another casualty of an overstuffed episode or they couldn’t find a way to have Jack feel genuine sympathy for the three characters we never knew.

While I initially assumed the satellite phone was meant to keep them away from the mercenaries, that turned out to be completely false. Frank is obviously one of the good people, so between this and the Zodiac, they have to work on getting the castaways off the island and onto the freighter.

However, that turns out not to be the safest place either. Theories that Keamy’s device is connected to an explosive come closer to being confirmed with the C-4 in one of the rooms of the freighter, presumably the source of that transmission that’s keeping it from moving. Ironically, staying on the beach may be the survivors’ best bet. Some believe this is how Jin dies (if he’s really dead), but it may explain why Sun believes Jin is dead. If Sun leaves the freighter and doesn’t know if Jin got off, seeing it explode would lead to some logically grim conclusions. Whatever it is, it doesn’t look good for at least the red shirts that came with Sun and Jin (one of whom, like in the raid on New Otherton, was wearing a red shirt).

Michael is the likeliest choice for who is in the coffin, so he’ll likely survive whatever will happen on the freighter. The emphasis on “the island” not allowing him to die because he has “work to do” seems to point towards to his demise when he’s finished that work and found redemption, but so far he hasn’t done much to earn that. It’s hard to be sympathetic when he gets defensive over the awkward reunion between him and the Kwons. His relationship with Jin, which was once friendly, has reverted to the antagonism they had in the early episodes, albeit stronger. Assuming he is the one in the coffin, they’re going to have to turn his character around fast.

With all the hints and theories, The Orchid finally comes into play this episode as the place where Ben can move the island. This element has been teased for almost a year now, with its Orientation outtakes released at last year’s ComicCon considered part of the canon along the Missing Pieces that aired leading up to the premiere. So far they only tease with information the video presented (the greenhouse station is a façade for something darker), but that’ll clearly be dealt with in parts two and three. Whatever it is, Daniel knows about it and it genuinely scares him.

Ben asserts that he always has a plan and considering his track record, he’s telling the truth. Of course it’s interesting that that plan involves him voluntarily walking up to the mercenaries and turning himself in. Now the likely scenario outside of using his skills as a master manipulator is having the surviving Others intervene.

In the review for Ben’s episode, it was theorized that Ben likely teleported off the island during a chaotic moment in the finale. It’s worth noting that not only does Ben not have the baton he’ll use to kill and disarm the Bedouins who find him, but his clothing doesn’t match either, at least not with that dark shirt. As the present island time comes closer to the flash forwards, fans are clearly going to notice these details.

The return of The Others is a welcome development. They had to write out Nestor Carbonell to accommodate his work on “Cane”, but with that canceled, he’s back. The Others were the logical choice for who Ben was communicating with on that mirror and now he needs them to help defend the island, head to the Orchid or prepare for moving. Possibly the reason he wasn’t one of The Others killed in the season three finale is that they knew this moment was coming and needed someone the audience recognized.

It’s also interesting that The Others don’t have a menacing presence in this episode. Had this been any previous season, this would’ve had us worried about Sayid and Kate’s fates. Now The Others are almost heroic. The castaways need help against the mercenaries, and The Others can provide that. It’ll be interesting since the muscle of The Others were killed in the beach raid. Regardless of their history, they now have a mutual enemy they have to work together to defeat and that’s a great dynamic.

Moving the Oceanic Six across the island and elsewhere is too deliberate to be an accident. This season’s clearly going to end with those six leaving, but getting to that point is left wide open for speculation. It’s a safe assumption to believe the four still on island will convene at The Orchid, Jack coming to help Hurley and Sayid and Kate with The Others per Ben’s orders. That leaves Sun and Aaron on the freighter. With powerful explosives ready to destroy the freighter, it could easily set her up to get away off the freighter to save herself even if that means leaving Jin.

Then there’s the question of the people with the Six on island and what happens to them. Sawyer, despite fulfilling his Han Solo role as the tough guy who grows a heart, is far too central to the show to be killed off at this point in the game (perhaps he’ll get the frozen carbonite equivalent for “Lost”). Same is true for Locke. Richard will likely survive as he has a back story that will illuminate some details about the island hinted at in past episodes. As for Desmond, Michael and Jin, it may be expected they’ll be on the freighter when it explodes, but I doubt it. The reasons for sparing Michael and Jin have been mentioned earlier. Many fans (myself included) will be very upset if Desmond’s story doesn’t end with him living happily ever after with Penny, not to mention he is one of the central figures to the Widmore saga. Perhaps Penny will arrive at the freighter to rescue those in danger of the C-4. Their heartfelt conversation in “The Constant” would easily light a fire under her to find the boat Desmond is on and considering it’s owned by her father, she has enough resources to make that possible.

This episode is another big step for the season. Between the emotional moments in the flash forwards to the musical chairs the castaways are playing, the season is heading on a collision course with something big. The big question, though, is can it top or come close to topping last season’s game changing finale?

Overall Score: 9/10

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT: This is a review of an episode’s deleted scenes that may be present in the May 29^th encore.

According to The Transmission, a fan podcast, scenes removed from the conference offer some big pieces of information. That they were cut is only a testimony to the sheer amount of information prevalent in the episode. When Sun translates the Korean reporter’s question, they reminded the viewer that the Paiks, like everyone alive in Sun’s life besides the woman who arranged her exodus, had no clue their daughter spoke English. Other interesting tidbits include that Oceanic paid for Kate’s legal fees and were likely the reason why cops weren’t waiting to pick her up when she got off the plane.

But the biggest piece left on the cutting room floor addressed the question “If eight got off the plane, two died and one was born, how is it ‘Oceanic Six’?” Jack then reveals three other people who got off the island in their cover story: Charlie, Boone and Libby, who Jack claims had a head wound and couldn’t remember who she was. Since “Eggtown”, fans have been speculating who these people were and what their importance was. Using dead castaways is likely to protect the Six should another 815 survivor pop up elsewhere. I’m in the camp that who the other people are isn’t that important to the Oceanic Six mystery, but maybe there is an Easter egg connecting the three and how they really died.