Review: There's No Place Like Home, Pt. 1

Last night, LOST bent over to pick something up while wearing a low-cut shirt and short shorts. Then, it got mad at us for staring. That, my friends, is what we call a tease.

But I don’t mean that in a bad way. I actually thinking giving us two weeks to digest the first 1/3 of a season finale is a bit of a gift, as the usual information overload from a season finale clogs up the old thinkin’ pipes for a while. Now, the writers are allowing us to break that finale into smaller bites that we can stomach a little easier. With that, let’s try to absorb all the ways in which we are being set up for that grand Season 4 finale. Last night didn't give us much to analyze, but it left us plenty to chew on, and it's important that we fully understand last night's episode before moving forward. (Lots of food metaphors in that last paragraph. I think I’m hungry.)

Connecting Six Oceanic Dots
Many of the questions lingering from past Oceanic Six-centric flash-forwards this season were addressed or at least put to bed for a while by last night’s flash forwards. It wasn’t earth-shattering, but it was a nice peace offering by the writers to legions of confused nerds like myself who needed to remember what “understanding something” felt like.

Hurley re-assimilated by denying the cursed money and settling back in with a mom and dad (Cheech!) who “don’t get” the enormity of his ordeal. Papa Reyes even forgot to wind back the odometer on Hurley’s new hoopty, and when Hurley saw the numbers, he ran away (sans manzzierre), presumably to a place that serves fried food.

Sun, meanwhile, plays hardball by using her Oceanic settlement to take control of Paik Industries. The interesting tidbit here: as she confronts her father (and soon to be coffee boy), she says (paraphrasing here), “You made Jin’s life miserable. Two people are responsible for his death. You are one of them.” Two, huh? Could the other one be Charles Widmore, thus confirming my suspicions of a Widmore-Paik alliance?

Sayid meets up with Nadia, and it seems they were able to DTR in time for Hurley’s Island party. It was bittersweet to watch, knowing that Nadia’s upcoming murder will cause Sayid to go to work for Ben Linus. But hey, who hasn’t been in one of those relationships?

But, as always, Jack and Kate stole the show. Jack was met by his father’s Saucy Aussie, and mother of Claire. She finally filled Jack in as to the identity of Claire and Aaron, and we got to watch Matthew Fox do a nice job of pulling off the successive realization of several hard truths (my half-sister was Claire, my half-sister is dead, Aaron is my nephew, the woman I love is pretending to be the biological mother of my nephew, etc.).

Again, not earth-moving (or Island-shifting?), but a pleasing look ahead to help us better understand how the Oceanic Six began their life of lies. I’ll be interested to see if the rest of the finale follows the O6, and what more we might learn. More on that in the coming weeks.

If I Had a Boat, I'd Go Out on the Ocean. With Lots of Explosives.
Michael J. Faraday (that’s a skinny tie joke) seems pretty eager to get off this Island. Apparently his knowledge of Keamy’s “secondary protocol” is enough to terrify him into expediting the 815 exodus (and that of he and Charlotte’s). When Sayid brings the raft, Dan takes off with Sun, Jin, Aaron and three expendable-and-sure-to-die 815 survivors.

Then, the bombshell. Or rather, the bomb. Desmond, Michael and Jin find a room lined with explosives, and Sun ominously separates from them. I hate to say it, but I worry that this could spell doom for Des, Mike and the Jinster.

Interestingly, only two of the O6 are off the Island right now (Sun and Aaron). But those two are with other survivors (Michael, Jin, those other dudes). So how do Sun and Aaron make it off when the other survivors don’t? And how do the other four (Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid) join Sun and Aaron? My guess is the explosives have a big part in that, and I think they’re linked to the iPod Nano on Keamy’s arm. And from the previews, it seems Frank Lapidus might be destined for a martyrdom mission to deliver the O6 home.


Follow the Yellow Brick iPhone
Jack and Kate embarked on yet another wild goose chase, rife with sexual tension and gratuitous shots of Kate crawling around (thank you!). When they meet up with Sawyer, Aaron and the well-nicknamed “Genghis” (Miles), the reality of Claire’s fate begins to sink in. You also see the initial maternal instincts of Kate Austen kick in, and thus the seeds are planted for her transformation into Mama Austen (the forgotten Mama of The Mamas and the Papas).

Kate and Miles return to the beach with Aaron, just in time to hand him off to the first raft group. But Jack and Sawyer, the oddest of LOST odd couples, trudge on toward the signal of the satellite phone that Lapidus air-dropped last week. Once again, Jack is leading with his heart, and thus completely ignoring his head (and, for that matter, his bleeding abdomen). Once again, a season finale features Jack marching blindly through the jungle, directly down the path of certain doom.

And hot on their trail? Why it’s Kate and the Iraqi Assassin. Good thing Kate’s good at tracking, right? Wait, what? These aren’t the tracks you were looking for? And who’s that...

The Resurgence of the Others
Each week, I change my mind on who I think is really in control. Last week, I was on Team Locke. Then, last night, as Keamy’s men surrounded The Orchid Station, Ben reminded me, quite literally, that he “always has a plan.” He might as well have reached through the TV, grabbed me by the throat and said, “How dare you doubt me, Charlie! I’m Ben Linus!” And I’d be like, “I know, I named my dog after you!” And he’d look at it like he wanted to eat it. And I’d hide my puppy.

But really. Ben’s surrendering stroll toward the Orchid Station at the end was sweet. He didn’t have to precede that scene by reminding us of his love for contingency planning. The look on his face as he stared down the barrel of Keamy’s gun said it all.

So what is this master plan? Well don’t downplay the significance of Ben’s mirror-flashing, sun-reflecting communication with whoever was atop the cliff. That matters. I think that man was none other than Richard Alpert, who we later saw lead the Others in yet another disarming of 815 survivors. Seriously, they’re really good at that. Using his best Mittleos Bioscience Nice Guy voice, Richard – with help from gun-toting Others in the trees – talked Kate and Sayid off the trigger, then seemed to be taking them along on their next stop. And that next stop, I’m convinced, is an intervention in the affairs of Keamy, Ben and the Orchid Station.

I really liked how we saw a "Season 2 Others Mentality" through the eyes of the Others. There was a lying Linus, a militaristic and cult-like confrontation of 815 survivors and cryptic communication. Those things all harken back to earlier in the series, when we didn't understand the Others. But last night, we were right on board, knowing full well that the Others had something in store for the Island's newest visitors.

Keamy’s secondary protocol pointed him to The Orchid, the last stronghold of Benjamin Linus. Keamy’s crew beat Linus’s to the station, but don’t count Ben out. He knows the lay of the land, and he knows how to operate the station. Additionally, The Orchid affords Ben the opportunity to give Locke a task, thus helping to ensure that Locke wouldn’t mess up whatever this Ben Linus Master Plan may be. We’re about to see some pure, unadulterated Linus plot orchestration unfold.

Convergence
Often in LOST, we began a season with separate camps operating independently of one another. Within the first few episodes, those camps come together and began moving as a unit toward the season finale’s jaw-dropping revelation. It happened with the Tailies in Season 2 and the Jack/Kate/Sawyer captivity of Season 3. But this season is flipping that on its head. In this shortened fourth season, the convergence we usually see at the midway point of a season is occurring at the end.

I love it. The ending scene last night was gorgeous. Jack & Sawyer. Kate, Sayid and the Others. Hurley & Locke. Keamy & his crew. And Benjamin Linus. Oh, and even the folks on the freighter and raft, who I would deem remotely connected to The Orchid and its happenings (and I mean “remotely,” as in, “remote-controlled explosives”). All of these parties were operating in concert with each other, moving in accordance with the will of fate and other higher powers to one pivotal moment. One scene. One course-altering set of circumstances that will set the stage for the final two season of LOST. Yes, last night teased us a little. But I’m confident enough in the payoff we’ll receive in two weeks that I’m willing to put up with it.

That final convergence scene also served as a microcosm of the whole show. We saw all these different characters converging toward a pivotal setting. Isn’t that what we’ve seen on a macro level from LOST? Different characters hopped aboard Oceanic 815 on that fateful day. The Others’ had exemplified Darwinian philosophy to become the preeminent Island inhabitants. Desmond picked that boat, for that sailing race. The list goes on. But fate has woven all of these very separate threads of humanity together, tying them in one huge knot on the Island. How the characters react to, try to alter or learn to cope with fate is probably the central theme of LOST's mythology. In two weeks, we'll learn how last night's convergence scene ends. In two years, we'll know the bigger picture.

Stay tuned next week for further breakdown, analysis and prognostication for future installments of There's No Place Like Home.

Namaste.
.charlie