Lost: There's No Place Like Home, Part 1 (of 3)

The penultimate episode of sorts before the last week of Season 4, There's No Place Like Home is shaping up to be an amazing mini-movie. It didn't give much to speculate on at all, not much to talk about for two weeks, really. But it definitely made me interested in seeing the last two hours of the episode/season. To refresh your memory on what happened, here's Collegiate on TV's recap:

The beach
Rose makes a cameo and rambles on about whether or not the satellite phone was dropped so they would follow the boaties, or hide from them. Jack figures that any move they make is a terrible one, so he gives the phone to Faraday. Faraday is able to hear the audio on the helicopter for just a few minutes - like it's a fancy baby monitor - and no one can hear Sayid or Desmond. Jack asks for Kate and the two of them walk off, but not before Juliet continues to scold Jack like there's no tomorrow. He just had surgery! Man, I absolutely love Juliet. And I love how after a couple years of becoming a hardened woman on the island, Juliet is still a mother hen after all. Take a look:


I. Heart. Juliet.

Meanwhile, Faraday caught a reference over the phone to "The Orchid." As Charlotte wonders if the Arvin Sloane impostor got to it first, Faraday goes through his trusty, time-travel-y notebook and realizes that Keamy is following the second protocol (!) and that they are all going to die. "We HAVE to get off this island. Right now," he said, scaring us all. Or he would, if they haven't been saying that since the first episode of this series.

Sayid & boat wash ashore. Sayid tells everyone that Keamy & Ko. are going to kill them all. Juliet and Faraday look tense as they gently explain that Jack is running towards them. Sayid all but bangs his head in frustration. Sayid says that he wants to ferry people to and from the boat. Faraday offers to do that so Sayid can warn Jack. Sayid agrees. Juliet makes sure that Sun gets on the first ferry, because she's pregnant. Kate wanders back to the beach - (check "The Jungle") and takes Sayid on a tracking expedition. Jin also gets on the boat with a couple very unenthusiastic extras. Jin gloats as the rescue boat ferries off to the freighter. And thus ends the beach story, for now.

The boat

Desmond helps unload the first ferry of people on to the freighter. When Sun and Jin get off, they hear a very familiar voice - Michael. They are so ticked off. Faraday leaves for the next group as Desmond gets word that Michael fixed the engines again, so they can start moving towards the island. Des makes sure that they are on a heading of 305. Problem is, there's some radio interference on that channel.

Sun catches up with Michael, where he tells his whole sad story. Sun asks if he's still working for Ben. Michael insists that he is not, and never was, and cries and whatever. Desmond freaks out and tells Michael to get inside the boat. He goes to the radio room, along with Jin and some other extra. Guys, there was probably two hundred blocks of C-4 explosive in there. They have the decency to make sure Sun isn't anywhere near the radio room, because when the entire boat blows up and kills everyone, the pregnant woman should die in the surrounding area, not in the immediate blast. We are left to wait two weeks to see if anything happens with that or not.

The jungle

Jack and Kate are catching up to the helicopter folk, so they decide to take a break. (?!) Jack's shirt is wet; Kate says that he is bleeding. Jack calls it a "discharge" and that his body is fighting off an infection. Kate: "Liar!" Just in time for the finale, Miles, Sawyer and Aaron stumble into the scene. They ask where Claire is and Sawyer replies with - I kid you not- "We lost her." As if she died! Sawyer also explains that Keamy blew up the barracks - just like Locke said he would. This has Jack and Sawyer fighting over how every single strategy on the show has been completely stupid, and how I wish Sayid could have been there to agree with both of them!

Jack goes off to find the helicopter folk by himself. He charges Kate to take care of the baby - which she does, for about 20 minutes - and leaves. Sawyer charges after him. And Miles? I don't know where he went.

Sawyer and Jack begrudgingly catch up on "old times" (a week, maybe?), when they come upon the helicopter. Frank says that he dropped the phone out of the helo so they could come find him and release him - he's pinned down! - and then he can fly them all home. They release Frank, but then Sawyer mentions that Hurley is with Ben and Locke. Jack gets mad, and they go and find him.

Kate and Sayid come upon a new set of tracks, when they run into the ageless Richard Alpert. He keeps telling them to put down their guns, and they don't, so then about two dozen Others show up, and then they put down their guns.

Ben, Hurley & Locke

The lovable trio wanders off to go to the Orchid, DHARMA's own greenhouse. When Ben is asked how they can move the island, Ben repliesL "very carefully." Heh. Apparently moving the island is very dangerous and unpredictable, and as such is a measure of last resort. (Hurley points out that moving the island will still move the people with guns with them, so... nothing changes? Ben doesn't know how to explain that, nor does Locke.)

Ben finds a secret compartment, with a mirror that he uses to communicate with "you know who." (No, we don't, Ben. Jacob?) The sun's reflection sets off a similar reflection on the top of a hill, and with that secret password all clear, the team can move forward.

Locke tells Hurley that it is "too late" to get off the island, but we've seen the flash forwards, Mr. Locke. You are wrong.

They arrive at the Orchid, where Keamy's men are already inside / outside, guarding the place. Ben gives weird instructions to Locke, involving finding an elevator to go to the real Orchid station. Ben surrenders to Keamy, who gladly pistol-whips him.

Flash Forwards

The Oceanic Airlines representative, played by Michelle Forbes, preps the Oceanic Six for their return home. They are landing at a military base in Honolulu, and everyone's family is waiting for them there. Forbes also explains that they have been nicknames the "Oceanic Six," which she says is not the best name in the world for her company, but it is catchy. The survivors get off the plane and Hurley meets his parents, Jack his mom - who hasn't been in since season one, I believe?, Sayid gets to meet Hurley's family, Sun's parents are so happy even Mr. Paik is about to cry. Everyone is happy. Except for Kate, who stands there, alone, holding Aaron. :(

The Oceanic Six hold a press conference of lies. It's so full of lies, subtext, hints and clues to the entire mythology, it's easier if you just watch the press conference itself instead of recapping:

Sayid then meets up with Nadia, his own constant. They kiss, they hug, we all cry. A lot. Especially since we know Nadia dies not too long into the future. That makes this happy reunion all the more emotional.

Sun returns home to Paik Industries. She talks to her dad, who asks about her pregnancy. She tells him not to pretend to care, because she knows he hated Jin. She also says that she thinks that he is one of two people he blames his death on. He chastises her for being a woman or whatever his hillariously backwards ways are. She tells him not to be so smug, because Oceanic Airlines gave her a very generous payout. So she took that money and bought a controlling interest in Paik Industries. She tells her dad that she's going to have the baby, then she and him are going to have a talk about the future of "our" company. You go, girl!

Hurley comes home from Mr. Cluck's, only to find no one is in his house, mysteriously enough. He then finds a coconut on the floor and freaks out. Then he hears whispers. He picks up a statue to fight off any monster with. He opens the door to the patio to find a surprise party! But Hurley's mom is upset that Hugo is holding the statue. "Jesus Christ is not a weapon." Hee! That may be the best line of the whole entire series.

The birthday party is inappropriately island-themed. Jack, Kate, Aaron, Sayid and Nadia are all there. Hurley's dad pulls his son away from the party to show him their car. Cheech had fixed the car as sort of a "memorial" for his son. They get in to go for a test drive when Hurley notices the numbers on the dashboard are "481516" and "2342." He flips out. And runs away, down the road, like a Simpsons character!

We then meet up with Jack, giving a eulogy at his father's funeral. "Goodbye, Dad. I loved you. I miss you," he says to himself. Afterwards, everyone leaves, including Jack's mom who, I'm sorry, I can't believe the producers remembered she exists! And it's not like Joyce Davenport has been busy or anything. I was beginning to think I misremembered that he had a mom! So why hasn't she been in more? A. mazing.

A woman walks up to Jack and apologizes. She believes she is the reason Christian was in Australia when he died. Jack is confused. She was in the hospital when he came down. But the real reason he went to the country was to see his daughter. Her daughter. The funny thing is, her daughter was on Oceanic 815, too. Jack's half-sister was sitting near him all along! "Her name was Claire," Carol Littleton explains. Jack's brain practically explodes trying to comprehend this. (Good job, Matthew Fox!) As Carol leaves, she notices Kate and Aaron. "You're son is beautiful," she says, unaware that she is referring to her grandchild. Oh, the rich subtext!

Questions/Comments
- Keamy's device is probably a trigger for the explosives, dontcha think?
- How did Mrs. Littleton get out of the coma?
- Does the freighter blow up? And does anybody die? (We know Michael can't, though he'd be burned pretty good if it did explode!)
- Who was Ben communicating with? Was it really Jacob?
- What does Alpert plan to do with Sayid and Kate?
- How does the famed Oceanic Six get together? Sun and Aaron are on the boat, Hurley's with Locke, Jack is wherever, and Kate and Sayid are in their own pocket of the island.
- Was the Oceanic Airlines story about the six washing ashore on a small Indonesian coast true?
- To what extent is Oceanic willingly lying? What does the Michelle Forbes character know?
- Can Michelle Forbes team up with Abbadon? Please? They would make an excellent pairing.
- What is Sun's end game in becoming a major player in Paik Industries? Paik is a global company, one that's rumored to have ties to Widmore. Is this Sun's way of trying to start to figure out where the island is? Is Sun working with Ben?
- Is the C-4 causing the interference? I think it might...
- Sun said she blamed her father for Jin's death, saying he was one of two people she held responsible. Who is the other person?

In two weeks: The two-hour finale begins at 9 p.m. ET. It involves a helicopter, the main cast, and... I couldn't decipher the ABC promo for anything in the world. Also, there's supposed to be a spectacular kiss and a cliffhanger that the producers have code-worded "Frozen Donkey Wheel." Huh.