Lost - There's No Place Like Home Part 1
When you see the faces of Kate (who just looks defeated and
worn), Jack (who appears to be in peak form among his companions in terms of “sticking
to the story”), Sayid (with an expression of, “great more secrets to carry
around”), and Hurley (who looks as if he lost his best friend), as they prepare
for home off-island after such experiences not so easy to just leave behind and
put away from their hearts and minds, I think we all can see the weight of
being on this cargo plane—when others weren’t so lucky—and attending to life
away from where they had spent quite a traumatic time, encountering plenty of
danger and just fighting to survive. When the cargo plane lands, the door opens
and a welcoming party awaits, Kate and baby Aaron have no hugs for them. Jack
has his mother. Sun has her mother and the father that has continued to haunt
her even while on the island. Hurley, of course, has his jovial mother just
tickled to see him okay. Sayid, like Kate, has no one. But Hurley introduces
Sayid to his mother and she more than is giving in the hugging and affection
department. I don’t know what it was, but that moment when they find “home” off
the island, as if it didn’t appear there was a home to return to, it had (or
continues to have) resonance with me. It was similar to when Jack saw Frank’s
helicopter for the first time. That idea, just an idea, passage off the island
was possible creates this sense of relief, as if stranded so far where escape
seems remote at best. What was the sacrifice, though, for achieving such
passage home? That has been an ongoing arc throughout the fourth season. We
have spent time with those off the island, given the faces of those who made it
and how life isn’t exactly as inviting, warm, and pleasant as anticipated. I
felt Kate looked as if she was just as alone and stranded back in Hawaii as she
was on the island.
“That son of a bitch is so stubborn. Hold up! You don’t get
to die alone.” –Sawyer to Jack as she storms forward to meet up with Keamy and
the chopper (who have set their course for The Orchid).
A radio is tossed seemingly from Frank’s helicopter. Jack,
Juliet, and those with him on the beach listen to Keamy insisting on a course
for The Orchid. So what does Jack do? After surgery on his appendix he sees fit
to move forward to their location to stop them with Kate’s assistance. Meeting
Miles (who Sawyer nicknamed “Genghis”!) and Sawyer with Aaron, Jack learns of
Claire’s disappearance, not too thrilled but still persisting on his journey to
Keamy. Kate, with the baby, and Miles, are to head back to the beach, with
Sawyer grimacing and frustrated but nonetheless forbidding his return to camp
to follow Jack despite reservations. Something very bad is about to happen
because Daniel forewarns Charlotte they must get off the island before Keamy
reaches The Orchid. All of this seems to tie in with the previous episode when
Locke is told by Christian (Jacob? Island?), in the cabin, to prepare to “move
the island”.
There is this elaborate work of fiction told to the press
regarding how the Oceanic 6 made it home. A press conference where Jack takes
the lead and others follow, saying only what is necessary (and mostly a lie),
goes seemingly without a hitch. Sayid even embraces Nadia in an emotional
moment, while in the “present on-island” he returns to the beach in a
motor-raft with warnings of Keamy and the chopper. He learns of Jack and Sawyer’s
plans to meet up with Keamy, understanding all too well what awaits them if
such an altercation does present itself. Sayid and Kate (giving over Aaron to
Sun who gets in the motor-raft with Jin, and a few others as Daniel voluntarily
leads) will try to get to Jack and Sawyer despite a distance between them. And
with Locke, Hurley, and Ben headed for The Orchid (up in a secluded mountain on
the island Ben had knowledge of, securing safe travels there through a hidden
box containing a mirror for communication, sending a signal to whoever it is in
the station), the episode is really preparing us something big.
I have felt in just half of the episode, we get a lot of
information to absorb. So much that even little moments can be lost if we don’t
give proper time to them. Like Jin telling Sun he promised to get her off the
island, and the information that we have which says he won’t be there with her
when the child is born. Or the cargo plane door opening to reveal “normal life”
just in sight for those six granted the chance to reemerge into society
off-island. I mean the scene off-island where Jin informs her father that she
bought a chunk of his company and that he is responsible (partially) for his
death: this, to me, is absolutely powerful. With all the daddy issues so many
of the Lost characters have, to see Jin stand right up to her controlling,
course father and signify her emasculation of him is on its own incredible. But
it has to compete with so much going on during 50 minutes of television
leveling us with one impactful scene after another. Even the fantastic line of “Jesus
Christ is not a weapon” when Hurley thinks a prowler is at his mansion,
discovering his mom, dad, and a party full of guests giving him a happy
birthday; this might get lost in the shuffle. That is par for the course when
an episode of such magnitude has so much, scene to scene.
“How many times do I have to tell you, John? I always have a
plan.”—Ben after explaining to Locke exactly what he must do before giving
himself up to Keamy and his armed soldiers at The Orchid.
Locke, Hurley, and Ben have been moving to The Orchid.
Before doing this, Ben uses a mirror signal to someone afar but will not
divulge its purpose to Locke. When Sayid and Kate march into the jungle after
Jack and Sawyer, they encounter Alpert and the Others who take them prisoner. The
Others (although Alpert has been extensively featured) have almost went into
story arc purgatory, left abandoned because their purpose wasn’t needed in the
current narrative. But as the fourth season is coming to an end, Ben never
forgot about them, although it would appear he might have. What he told Alpert
is left for us to see later, but Kate and Sayid are now in the possession of
Richard and Others. The ending of the first part of the season finale has a musical
accompaniment solidifying the dramatic course taking us into the second part…Kate
and Sayid follow Richard among the gun-wielding Others, Jack and Sawyer free
Frank from his handcuffs and head their aim onward, and Ben gives himself up to
Keamy so that Locke and Hurley can infiltrate The Orchid.
That is a lot to conclude the *first part* but even more
bookends the episode as the freighter is wired with explosives, leaving
Desmond, Jin, and Michael with a very big problem. Sun, with Aaron in hands,
looks out into the ocean as the freighter situation proposes great horror. The
freighter appears to be going nowhere. Jin revealing to Michael that he
understands him as Sun listens on to his story of returning home, and not
working for Ben but trying to rectify his wrongdoing (killing Ana and Libby,
betraying Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, and Kate) is one of my personal favorite
moments in the entire episode. Considering the wealth (I could find nary a bit
of fat in the entire running time; it seems every single scene has importance,
including Hurley seeing the numbers in the odometer of the car his dad finally
fixed) in the episode of such moments, that says something.
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