Preview: There's No Place Like Home (hour 1 of 3)

Tonight’s episode is the first hour in a three-hour “super finale” that will air in two parts. After tonight’s one hour episode, we have one week off (plan on a Grey’s Anatomy 2-hour finale on May 22) before returning for the final two hour Lost installment on May 29. As for the Dharma Blog, there’s no rest for the weary. Charlie and I will tackle some exciting bonus material next week, so plan on checking in with us during the hiatus.

As we do every week before the episode, let’s take a look at the possible twists and turns awaiting us as we begin the end of Season 4.

There’s No Place Like Home
Most of you probably caught on to the Wizard of Oz reference right away. This isn’t the first time that the 1939 Best Picture film (based on the classic Frank L. Baum novel) has made an appearance in Lost. In fact, there have been multiple references, parallels and striking similarities between the two throughout the past four seasons.

Although I cannot imagine you need much of a review, here’s the Cliff’s Notes version of Wizard of Oz (note: my plot summary is based on the movie, not the book):

Dorothy Gale lives with her Aunt Emily and Uncle Henry on a farm in Kansas. During a tornado, Dorothy finds herself trapped inside the farmhouse and is struck in the head by debris, causing her to fall into a deep sleep/near coma. The sleep/coma propels her mind into a great wild world of munchkins, witches, wizards, and inanimate objects that can talk. She imagines her farmhouse falling from the sky into Munchkin Land, killing the Wicked Witch of the East, which greatly angers the Wicked Witch of the West (her sister). She befriends three non-humans (the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion) on her quest to see the great and powerful Wizard of Oz, who lives in the Emerald City, in order to gain his help to go home to Kansas. To prove the strength of her desire to go home, the Wizard tells her to bring him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West, whose reign of terror over Munchkin Land and the Emerald City has caused great distress. Succeeding in this task, the Wizard tells Dorothy that she always had the capacity to return to Kansas: all she had to do was click her heels three times and say “There’s No Place Like Home.”

Great movie, Maggie…but what is the parallel to Lost?
Though the book has never actually been featured in Lost, the Wizard of Oz has been compared to the series multiple times. Its parallels to Lost have caused much speculation concerning the show's theories.

For starters, the Island can be compared to Oz, because both are, in a sense, "somewhere over the rainbow"…where the world is recognizable, but also drastically altered, dangerous and mythical. Both stories also have an unseen, near-omnipotent character behind the scenes, calling the shots. In the show, we believe it is Jacob. In the movie, it is the wizard or "the man behind the curtain." In the book, Oz is surrounded by the "Deadly Desert" which prevents anyone from leaving by land. This is very similar to the bizarre tidal/magnetic patterns around the Island that continue to prevent people from leaving (up until this season and the freighter).

There are even some people who believe that the four people on Jacob’s list (Kate, Hurley, Jack, and Sawyer) perfectly represent the four main characters in the Wizard of Oz: Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow, respectively. Go ahead and roll your eyes…then think about it.

But, for those of you seeking more literal parallels, there are host of those, too.

"Henry" (the name Ben gives when captured) is the name of Dorothy's uncle in the movie, and many assume that his surname, like Dorothy's, is "Gale" (the mailbox in the movie says Gale, although Baum never comes out and says that is his last name). In the movie, the Wizard travels to the land of Oz in a hot air balloon. In Lost, Henry Gale was attempting to cross the Pacific Ocean in a hot air balloon, instead, crashing on the Island through (as of yet) unknown circumstances.

In the episode “Lockdown,” Locke is on the floor with the blast door crushing his leg. When the blast door opens and "Henry Gale" runs to him. Locke says "You came back." Ben/Henry says "Well of course I did. What did you think, I was going to leave you here?" In the Wizard of Oz movie, there is a scene with Dorothy locked in a room at the Wicked Witch of the West’s tower. The Tin Man busts through the door. Dorothy says "You came back." And the Tin Man says "Well of course we would Dorothy, what did you think, we were going to leave you here?"

Another name reference is Tom (Mr. Friendly), who was called Zeke by Sawyer. Zeke was one of Uncle Henry Gale's farmhands in the Wizard of Oz.

In "Flashes Before Your Eyes", during Desmond's flashback, a man in red shoes is crushed by falling scaffolding and his legs are sticking out from the wreck, similar to a shot in the film of the Wicked Witch of the East's legs with the ruby slippers sticking out from under Dorothy's house.

The title for the episode "The Man Behind the Curtain" is a reference to the ruler of Emerald City (the Wizard) hiding behind a curtain (in the movie version), projecting a much greater image of himself unseen. In that episode, Locke says to Ben: "You're the man behind the curtain...the Wizard of Oz!" And, of course, the title for tonight’s episode “There’s No Place Like Home” is a reference to the words Dorothy had to utter in order to leave Oz and return to Kansas.

Okay. I get the similarities. What gives?
At the end, it will take our characters choosing to follow the Yellow Brick Road (which represents the metaphorical path to redemption and enlightenment) if they want to go home (there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home).

(pause for effect)

Okay, I don’t know if that is true. It probably isn’t. But I thought it would be funny to throw something wild and crazy out there in the middle of my article to see if you were paying attention. But it could be true. I mean, I don’t want to brag, but I did say that Kate was talking about Aaron when she said “I’ve gotta get back because he’ll notice I’m gone.” I’m just saying that I’ve been right before. At least one time.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Tonight’s Show
From all the previews we’ve seen, it looks like tonight will showcase the second most-watched press conference of the century (the first most-watched is Hagel’s Non-Announcement Announcement from March 2007). The Oceanic Six are back and the press corps wants to see them. Our six survivors will become media darlings…Jack, Kate, Sayid, Sun, Hurley, and Aaron.

There will be a lot of questions thrown at them. I’m going to be watching to see how their story is created and how it holds up to the media questions. It will be a media circus…can you imagine if something like this actually happened?

A plane crashes. The wreckage is found. No survivors. Then, 90 days later (timeline to be confirmed, but let’s assume it has been 90 days in “real time”), six people (and a baby, no less!) are found to have survived. Think of the questions that will be asked! Think of the questions YOU would be asking! Think of the questions Wolf Blitzer would be asking…(in my best Wolf Blitzer voice) “Oceanic 815 crashed 90 days ago, but today, six survivors emerged. Where were they? What were they doing? And what took so long to find them? You’re in the Situation Room.”

We can all agree that since the rescue, the O6 have been living a lie. Jack confirmed all of this for us during Kate’s trial – there is a story that has been concocted and everyone is following suit. We can only hope that, tonight, the 5 W’s will be answered:

* Who created the story? (Hanso? Widmore? Ben? Jacob? Charlie Stephan? Someone else?)

* What is the story? (We have sound bytes from Jack, but not much…)

* Where/When was the story created? (Was it written on the rescue plane? Or was it a binder they got once they got on the rescue plane? “You will say the following: ____”

* WHY was the story created? (This is the game changer. For some reason, there is a story that the O6 are scared into following. Why????)

The rest of them
Although there has been so much emphasis placed on how the O6 get off the Island, I’d like to remind everyone that there is a rather large group of people who drew short straws and are still on the Island. Alive? Dead? Half-alive, half-dead (what the…)? With the show’s multifaceted narrative, I hope we get at least a glimpse of where they are now…instead of “After the Final Rose” from the Bachelor TV show, this is “After the Final Helicopter”. (cue boo’s from the readers because that was the worst. joke. ever.)

So let’s think about the four main survivors in this group (Locke, Sawyer, Jin, Claire) and review where we are with their storylines:

Locke:

The only glimpse into what may or may not have happened to Locke is the line that Hurley said during his game of HORSE with Jack: “I’m sorry I went with Locke. I should have gone with you.” Talk about a loaded two sentences. You can take this in a couple different ways. First, you could read it that Locke was wrong, Jack was right, and Hurley would have rather been on the winning team. Or, you could read it that Hurley feels bad for not being on Jack’s team…the endgame doesn’t really matter to Hurley (he just wanted to apologize to Jack).

When we last saw Locke: He had just came out of a strategic meeting with half-dead Christian and half-dead Claire…and apparently wants to move the island. I’d like to point out that long-time Dharma Blog reader, Micah, wonders if the only way to move the island is to have everyone go the shore with a paddle…then start rowing. Brilliant!

Sawyer:

We have a very cryptic line from Kate that gives us a tiny look into Sawyer’s future…her explanation to Jack “I was doing something for Sawyer” in the midst of his future-life breakdown from a couple weeks ago. If Kate was doing something from Sawyer, is he dead and she is fulfilling his last wishes? Or is he alive and she is dropping off his Comcast bill? You be the judge.

When we last saw Sawyer: We had an emotional Sawyer, holding Baby Aaron, spinning dramatically around in the forest, yelling for Claire. And, hell…I felt sorry for the guy.

Jin: 

Well, Sun went to his grave (accompanied by Baby Ji Yeon and Hurley). I know there are conspiracy theories out there that Jin is not dead. That theory says that the cemetery was all part of the “story” concocted by the survivors…that Sun was merely keeping up appearances. I don’t know about you, but if that is the case, Sun is one heck of an actress. As she knelt down before her husbands tombstone, I was fighting back tears. She looked like a woman in mourning. Now I know I am a fairly consistent crier in most situations, but sheesh. That was sad. I think Jin is dead, team. I think he is dead and Sun had him symbolically/literally (don’t know) placed in their hometown so she would have a place to mourn.

When we last saw Jin: Jin told Charlotte that he knew she spoke Korean. He then told Charlotte to make sure Sun got onto the helicopter…or else he would hurt Charlotte’s crush/lover/whatever, Daniel Faraday. And we’ve seen Jin hurt people before. Seriously hurt people. So Daniel should consider sleeping with one eye open.

Claire: 

Aaron is with Kate. We can make a not-so-large leap to assume that something happened to Claire in order for Aaron to end up with Kate (after all, she was warned many times to raise Aaron as her own, or else there would be consequences). So, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Claire has died. And beyond that, I have no freaking idea what is going on with that girl, because…

When we last saw Claire: Presumptive half-dead Claire was hanging out in Jacob’s cabin with her presumptive half-dead father, Christian. Um, yeah. Not sure what to make of that. If you want to read more about Claire, check out Charlie’s blog from last week…because until we get more clues about what is going on with her, it literally hurts my head to think about it.

Back on the freighter…
There was a small disagreement on the freighter last week, as we all remember. After strapping an iPod to his Gaston-like biceps (what was that, by the way?), Keamy had a moment of insanity and killed the doctor and Captain Gault, who I was just starting to like. (Here’s something to think about: Was step 1 in the Widmore Plan B Binder “kill doctor and captain,” or did Keamy just make an executive decision?) This event successfully terrified Frank the helicopter pilot, who agreed to take the Keamy Kill Squad back the Island.

While cruising over the beach camp, someone dropped a package out of the helicopter. Although I thought it was a ticking time bomb, fearless Jack revealed it to simply be an iPhone, bleeping the location of the helicopter and encouraging the survivors to follow the radar. The previews indicate that Jack and Kate (maybe more, it is uncertain) decide to play this game of Sardines. I will be on pins and needles, waiting to see if Jack’s instinct was right (which would mean Frank dropped the package and is coming to help them) or wrong (which would mean Keamy dropped the package and they are screwed…see: Otherton blows up).

And so it goes
Come on back tomorrow to read Charlie’s analysis of the important issues from the episode. And then, start gearing up for the two-hour finale on May 29. It is hard to believe the finale is already here…it feels like we just got started.

Namaste,
Maggie