Friday "Lost" blogging: "There's No Place Like Home, Part 1"
This week's "Lost" episode is the initial chapter of the Season Four finale. "There's No Place Like Home, Part 1" invokes the ending of "The Wizard Of Oz" in its title, although the homecoming for the Oceanic Six turns out to be substantially more complicated than merely clicking one's heels and thinking of Kansas.
The Oceanic Six make it home
The episode opens with a US Coast Guard transport plane carrying the Oceanic Six from an Indonesian Island to Hawaii. During their press conference, we hear a more detailed version of the story they have chosen to fabricate for the outside world. The ensuing questions from the reporters cover the usual predictable gamut, with one glaring exception: not a single one of those reporters asks the obvious question, "How could a plane traveling across the Pacific from Sydney to Los Angeles end up crashing in the Indian Ocean, thousands of miles off in the completely wrong direction?"
It should also be noted that Jack later testifies at Kate's trial that Flight 815 crashed in the South Pacific. He makes no mention of the Indian Ocean. Is this a continuity error or a course correction?
We know that Ben plans to "move" the island using the Orchid station, and he said that the move has unpredictable results. This could mean that the island ends up in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Indonesia, or it could mean that just the Oceanic Six get teleported there; however, it does not explain why the media wouldn't scratch their heads and question how Flight 815 could have ended up crashing in the wrong ocean.
On second thought, we see countless examples every day of the media being asleep at the wheel, so perhaps it's not so unrealistic after all.
Jesus Christ is not a weapon
In another flash-forward, Hurley arrives at his house and finds the front door ajar. No one is around, and he begins to suspect something is wrong. As he moves through the house, the tension grows; he even begins to hear something that sounds like the Whispers. Expecting an intruder (or worse), he picks up a cheap-looking gold statue of Jesus and holds it up as a club. He opens the patio door to discover his surprise birthday party. Seeing him brandishing the Lord and Savior over his head, Hurley's mother delivers one of the best "Lost" quotes in many episodes:
Hugo, Jesus Christ is not a weapon.
I hope some Republicans were watching that episode and take that statement to heart.
The "secondary protocol"
In the last episode, "Cabin Fever," Keamy revealed that he's implementing the "secondary protocol" as the plan for catching Benjamin Linus. Whatever that plan is, it anticipates that Ben will seek refuge at the Orchid station, and it apparently includes the deaths of everyone else on the island. In the present episode, Daniel hears Keamy say over the satellite phone that the helicopter is headed for the Orchid. Daniel pulls Charlotte aside and tells her this means they're following the "secondary protocol." He then says, "We have to get off this island, right now."
Whatever the "secondary protocol" is, it sounds unpleasant.
Right after this, Jack runs off into the jungle by himself, chasing after the helicopter (while his appendectomy wound is bleeding). Sawyer chases after him and delivers another of this episode's memorable quotes: "Hold up! You don't get to die alone."
Sun takes charge
In another flash-forward, Sun reveals to her father that her financial settlement from Oceanic Airlines was sufficient to enable her to purchase a controlling stake in his company. The scene begins with Sun ascending the staircase in his office building, then entering his office suite while he's berating two men for some kind of failure. This sequence echoes a nearly identical sequence in "D.O.C." from last season. In that episode, Sun ascended the stairs, entered her father's suite, and interrupted him as he was berating two men for screwing up a deal with the Hanso Foundation.
In that earlier exchange, Sun approached her father to ask him for money. In the scene in the present episode, she is instead asserting financial control over him. The tables have finally turned, and the symmetry of the two scenes drives home Sun's assertion that her father owes a karmic debt over Jin's death ("Two people are responsible for his death. You are one of them."). Her earlier debt to her father has been repaid, and his debt to her is about to be.
The rabbit's foot
In the opening scene aboard the Coast Guard transport plane, the co-pilot is rubbing a rabbit's foot. Referring to the Oceanic Six survivors back in the cargo hold, he says, "That cargo back there is some bad juju" (or words to that effect). Later, when Hurley's father presents him with the restored Camaro at Hurley's birthday party, he hands Hurley the keys on a rabbit's-foot keychain. After seeing the Numbers on the car's odometer, Hurley freaks out.
In both scenes, the rabbit's foot appears when good fortune is juxtaposed with ominous foreshadowing. On the plane, the Oceanic Six are finally being rescued, but we already know that drug-addicted Jack will later decide to return to the island. Hurley's birthday celebration is interrupted by the reappearance of the Numbers after a long absence. Both scenes suggest the Oceanic Six may never find peace, and that their luck has been permanently contaminated.
"I'm glad you're home"
After his father's memorial service, Jack's mother said to him, "I'm glad you're home." Something about that statement struck me as odd. The memorial service takes place ten months after the plane crashed, which would have made it about 6 months after the Oceanic Six were rescued. After six months of being home, I wouldn't expect Jack's mother to still be gushing "I'm so glad you're alive," but something about her remark made it sound as if Jack had merely been gone on an extended vacation that whole time. Did she know all along that Jack was alive and on the island?
Loose ends
A couple of loose ends were resolved in this episode.
We learn how Sayid and Nadia are reunited; their nearly wordless scene together is even more heart-wrenching than the phone call between Desmond and Penelope in "The Constant," given what we know about Nadia's future.
At Christian Shepard's memorial service, Jack finally learns that Claire was his half-sister. When Claire's mother tells him about Christian's other family in Australia, the realization of his blood relation to Claire quickly dawns across his face; he looks like he's about to faint, and understandably so. In the span of just a few seconds, he learns that Claire was his sister, and he also realizes he can't tell Claire's mother what really happened to her. I'd say part of his shocked reaction also comes from the fact that he can't tell her that her baby grandson is only a few feet away, in Kate's arms.