Review: Something Nice Back Home

As foretold by the Prophet Maggie, what “Something Nice Back Home” lacked in mythology it made up for in character arc development. Smokey and time warps gave way to love stories and baby drama. But don’t fall asleep on the job. Last night’s episode filled in some big holes that may very well prove essential in the home stretch of Season 4.

You Can Run, But You Can't Hide
I think this episode was about the inability of people to run from their problems. We saw it in Jack, who finally gave in and became the father that Aaron needed. We also saw it in Dr. Shepherd's inability to escape his father's influence. We saw it in Claire, who can't seem to let go of the fact that strong father figures have been absent her entire life. And we saw it in Hurley, who came to realize that running away from the Island may not have been the solution. What do I mean? Let's talk about it.


You So Crazy
For me, the best scene in this episode was Jack and Hurley’s nut house rendezvous. We saw a Jack who was at a fork in the road, and we saw a Hurley who had long since met that fork and chosen the Path of Lunacy. Hurley has once again decided that sanity pills are for the birds. And not even a visit from Dr. Jack can convince him otherwise.

Earlier in LOST, Hurley and Sayid were fixing a radio when Sayid, “That signal could be coming from anywhere.” Hurley replied, “Or any time,” and then laughed off the suggestions. Last night Hurley acknowledged another popular fan theory: they’re all dead. The validity of that idea remains to be seen, but I don’t think the writers would give away a secret that big in such a nonchalant manner. It’s just funny to me that Hurley seems to be the vehicle through which LOST writers acknowledge fan theories.

But what did Hurley mean by "we're all dead"? Had he finally begun believing his old friend Dave, who almost convinced him that the entire Island story was a bad dream? Or was he channeling Locke’s papa Anthony Cooper, who told Sawyer that the Island was an elaborate, clever disguise for hell? Or have Hurley’s visits from Charlie completely divorced him from any sense of reality? It seems Hurley just doesn’t know what to believe anymore, a problem that is compounded when the big man gets off the medication. One thing's for sure though: Hurley has unfinished business with the Island. And running away from it, as he has learned, doesn't make it go away.

And keep Hurley’s warning to Jack about raising Aaron in the back of your head. We’ll get into that in a little bit.

This scene (and Jack’s flash-forward in general) took place after the Hurley-centric Season 4 premiere, and after the Kate-centric “Eggtown.” But it happened before Jack’s deterioration in the Season 3 finale. That gives us some interesting context for what we saw.


I Don’t Like it When You Call Me ‘Big Poppa’
Apparently, Jack stops running away and eventually overcomes his aversion to baby Aaron. The fact that Kate parades around the house in her underwear probably helped him overcome that obstacle. But the connection between Jack and Aaron was interestingly paralleled by the appearances of Papa Christian Shepherd – both off the Island for son Jack and on the island for daughter Claire.

We’ve seen daddy issues pervade the lives of a lot of our characters. But last night we saw the rare intersection of those daddy issues, and how they impact the ability of those affected to raise children themselves.

For Jack, this meant questioning his abilities as a parent just as he was becoming comfortable in that role. After warming up to Aaron and developing a healthy relationships with Kate, the self-doubt that Jack’s father planted in him as a child begins to resurface. And as is so often the case with Jack, his tendency to doubt himself leads him to doubt and mistrust others. Kate’s mysterious phone call piqued his curiosity, and her admission that she was fulfilling a mission for Sawyer (my guess: checking on baby Clementine) further drove the wedge between them. Just as last week taught us that the good intentions of our fathers may only be realized over time, this week reminded us that the misdeeds of our mentors are never really forgotten.

For Claire, this took a different form. Whereas Jack’s disdain for his father is based on what has occurred, Claire’s is based on what hasn’t. For her, the abuse stems from the unknown. She grew up not knowing her father, and when she was introduced to him, it was amidst the backdrop of her mother’s tragic death. So when, in the middle of the night, she awakens to a vision of the father she never really knew, she is intrigued enough to follow him into the jungle. Put another way: if Jack knows he can’t escape his father’s abuse, Claire doesn’t know enough to avoid it all costs. She is hungry for guidance and paternal attention, and she is naïve enough to believe that Christian can provide it. And yes, her boyfriend’s abandonment of her during her pregnancy only reinforced her fear that her life must be devoid of a father’s love. It all comes to a head here: Claire wandered off into the jungle in the middle of the night, presumably at the beckoning of her estranged father. So is she really missing now? What did she really see? And what is Uncle Sawyer gonna have to do to get her back? If you’re a Dharma Blog regular, you know we’ve been fearing the demise of Claire for some time. If last night’s events don’t set that death in motion, nothing will.

So what do random appearances of Christian Shepherd have to do with the all-important flash-forward future? It's a simple case of history repeating itself. For Jack, it reintroduced doubt into his mind. Suddenly, Hurley's warning that the Island wants them back has gained credibility, and all the sanity Jack had worked to restore is being shattered by the appearance of his father. And for Claire, Christian's appearance to her in the jungle may very well be the thing that separates her from her baby, leaving Aaron to be raised in, you guessed it, the same kind of childhood devoid of strong, paternal influence that his mother experienced. It goes back to what I'd deem the theme of this episode: you can't run away from it all.

One more note on Claire’s damaged relationships with fathers: Richard Malkin. Dig back through your internal LOST archives, and you’ll find Malkin, the psychic who Claire visited during her pregnancy. You may remember his insistence that the she raise the baby, followed by his abrupt change of heart and concession that the baby could be raised by a couple in LA. When Hurley told Jack he shouldn’t raise Aaron, my Malkin sensor went off with more urgency than the smoke alarm in Jack’s hospital lobby. It seems a lot of people have some ideas about how baby Aaron is supposed to be brought up. And if Hurley’s communion with the Island granted him the ability to predict Aaron’s future, maybe Malkin’s ESP is a remnant of time he spent on the Island. Maybe back in the day, he was Charles Widmore’s Island Secretary of the Interior, if you will.

But I digress.


See Me. Feel Me. Touch Me. Heal Me.
For the first time in a while, we were reminded of the Island’s healing powers. But some of us had our suspicions confirmed when we learned that other people – like Jack – do not possess the Island communion necessary to be healed. In another, “Oh yeah, Bernard and Rose exist” moment, we were reminded of how convenient that communion can be.

So why isn’t Jack, the Island hero, afforded this cosmic Island connection? Maybe it’s because the Island feels it must challenge Jack. But I like to believe that Jack is the intersection of science and faith. His entire life has tempted him to trust his fate to a higher power, as his lifelong reliance on logic and reason has only brought him heartbreak and disappointment. Just as Locke, on the brink of spiritual enlightenment, is pushed to explore his faith, Jack is pushed to test and question his unwavering commitment to the tangible.

Luckily for Jack, his counterpart in practical thinking saves the day – and his bacon. Juliet swoops in to remind us that she’s a real doctor, she doesn’t just play one on an Island. So now, Jack’s all well and good, and his belief that science and logic can solve everything is thus reaffirmed. And it’s good news for the beach crew, too. Because just as last season saw the battle between Others and Oceanic 815’ers, this season looks to be headed toward a battle between Keamy The Ex-Marine & Co. and Team Jack.

But while Jack may want to rely on logical means of fighting this war (remote-triggered dynamite, anyone?), the resurfacing of Locke and Ben could cause him to alter that plan. Locke and Ben are waiting like wolves in the weeds, but they have the same mission as Jack and Co.: stop the freighter folk. For Jack’s team, they hope to utilize the freighter folk’s transportation capabilities. For Ben and Locke, it’s about stopping the bleeding and getting the foreign element off the Island to protect its sanctity. But no matter the motive, the mission is the same. The means, however, are not. And just as Jack’s immortality was questioned by tonight’s exposure of his lack of communion with the Island, his leadership abilities may soon be called into question when he is pitted against forces that only the Island Mystics can counteract. Keep your eye on that one.


Sorry for the briefer-than-usual analysis. My stomach is full of Miller High Life and my eyelids are dropping faster than an airplane caught in an electromagnetic anomaly. And to be honest, I'm storing my energy for next week's episode, intriguingly titled "Cabin Fever."

I’ll leave you with some questions to answer, and you can have at it in the comments section.

• Why doesn’t Hurley think Jack should help raise Aaron?
• Why does Hurley think they’re all dead? Do you believe him?
• What is the freighter folk’s next move?
• When/How will Sayid and Desmond get off the freighter? Or will they at all?
• And finally, what excuse will LOST give us next week for gratuitous Kate Austen partial nudity? (answer: no excuse needed)

Namaste.
.charlie