LOST: Season 4 Episode 13/14 - There's No Place Like Home (Parts 2 & 3)

Good Morning LOSTIES!!! (or perhaps afternoon by the time I get done writing this thing!) Well, TEAM LOST certainly didn't let us down with their 3 hour epic finale! Each year, the LOST Finale has become an event in itself. And especially after last year's mind blowingly awesome twist, the LOST crew has some big shoes to fill. Well, I guess one way to fill those shoes is to start dishing out answers like there is no tomorrow! And of course, to give us some scenes that we really didn't expect to see until season 6. Just like all of the other finales, the show kept me on the edge of my seat, furiously taking notes (10 pages??? I must be insane!) and hoping my favorites don't die! And the funny thing is, I'm probably going to be too lazy to even reference my notes (just like every week). Well, no sense in delaying folks, we have a lot of ground to cover. I'm sure you all know what needs to be bestowed upon "There's No Place Like Home (parts 2 & 3)." So let's just get to it!

HOLY FROZEN DONKEY WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(yeah, sometimes I crack up even myself (sometimes only myself!!))

The Appetizer:

Extra Q&A's from Part 1

Well, I tried to make sure everyone rewatched Part 1 of the finale that ABC re-aired. There was an extended version of the Press Conference that aired. While the added Q&A's don't really change much, it was still some interesting stuff! Here's a summary of the additional questions:

• Question: 9 people made it to the Island (in the fake story), what happened to the other 3?
  
  Answer: Jack referred to some actual events as part of the cover story. Boone, dying of internal injuries. Libby, didn't make it. Charlie Pace, drowned.
• Question: (to Sayid) Do you have any plans to return to Iraq?
  
  Answer: There is nothing for me in Iraq.
• Question: What are your plans Jack?
  
  Answer: Jack explains how his Dad (ol' Christian Shephard) died in Australia, begins to speak about the body (almost like he wanted to mention how it wasn't in the coffin on the Island). Finally, he says he'd like to put him to rest.
• The weird part of adding the question about the 3 that made it to the island with the Oceanic 6 is that it kinda ruined the question to Sun about if Jin had made it off the Island. But whatever, it was still fun to hear more questions!
  

Main Course

Once again since everyone is moving around so much, we need to break the story down into LOCATIONS, FLASHES and Significant Events. So here we go!

The Orchid

When we last left the scene, Ben had turned himself in to Keamy and crew and had given directions to Locke on how to get into the Orchid. We join Locke trying to find his way into the Orchid while Jack and Sawyer find Hurley.

• Sawyer was full of nicknames tonight but calling Jack "Sundance" was a good time!
• While finding Hurley while he was peeing was an awkward moment, it didn't get much more awkward than when Hurley and Jack were reunited. As we learn in Hurley's flash forward (from the season premiere), he apologizes to Jack for going with Locke. But on the Island, Hurley had said some mean stuff to Jack right before leaving with Locke. But, all is fine after a couple "Good to see you's!"
• Hurley and Sawyer sharing the 15 year old Saltines was a great time too!
• Jack has no choice but to go talk to Locke because the chopper is currently being occupied by Team Keamy and Ben. As always the meeting of the minds is pretty intense. Jack brings up how Locke killed Naomi, Locke brings up how Jack tried to kill him. Locke asks to let by gones by by gones and asks Jack to change his mind about leaving. He explains to Jack how the knowledge of the Island is going to eat him alive if he leaves. He goes on about how Jack refuses to believe what he has seen on the Island. Jack refuses to believe in miracles. And thus, the struggle between Science and Fate continues. Locke then informs Jack that he will need to LIE about what happened in order to protect those that do not leave. And then throws in the ol' "if you lie to them as well as you lie to yourself, they'll believe you." Pretty crazy stuff. So this conversation seems to end up as Jack's motivation to convince everyone that they'll need to lie about the crash and the Island. And would seem to be the other 4's motivation to be angry with Jack. And we see more of this in our Flash Forwards tonight!
• Guess what? Ben is back! How did that happen? Well, we'll get to that in the next section (obviously, it's going to be tough to stick to any continuity in this recap!) And now we have the meeting of the 3 minds (Ben, Locke and Jack). Loved Locke and Ben's banter about finding the Anthuriums. Locke explains how he tried to tell Jack what was going on. But then Ben says goodbye to Jack and to be on the boat within the hour.
• Jack, while seeming a bit interested to go down that Elevator with Locke and Ben, knew that his mission was to save everyone on the Island, and he, Sawyer and Hurley head to the chopper (knowing that the area should be safe now).
• And with that, we join Ben and Locke in the Elevator that goes very very very deep into the Island. After what seems to be an eternity, eventually the elevator comes to a stop and we enter another mysterious DHARMA Station.
• I loved it when they showed the Vault and Locke asked if it was the "Magic Box" that Ben had discussed in season 3. Naturally, it is not! Ben explains that the purpose of the station is pretty much like all of the other stations - silly experiments.
• But instead of entertaining all of Locke's questions, Ben gives him the DHARMA Orientation Video for station 6 of 6. (Hmmm did we see them all now? I thought there were more than 6. Swan, Pearl, Flame, Medical, Hydra, Looking Glass, Arrow, Orchid. Well, maybe the Looking Glass wasn't an officially known station.
• As we should all know by now, there was the Viral Video campaign launched at last year's Comic-Con to tease season 4 with our first look of the Orchid Station. In this video, we saw the OUTTAKES of the Orientation Video. Now, we see the ACTUAL video. As we've already learned...the Orchid is NOT Botanical research facility! That was just the cover! No no, Dr. Edgar Hallowax (his 3rd alias that he goes by) explains that all our suspicions are correct and that the Orchid was experimenting in moving things through space AND time. woaaaaa we got an answer! Doc Wax explains to us that they built the VAULT near a pocket of negatively charged matter and shows off the Bunny with the #15 on it. He explains that the Bunny would be transported to the future (which we saw the bunny appear out of nowhere in the outtakes video). Doc warns to not put metallic objects in the Vault. (and of course, this is exactly what we see Ben doing). So did the DHARMA crew KNOW what was behind and even further under the VAULT? Did they know what they stumbled upon here? Well, we don't know...but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
• But, the following exchange was priceless. Locke "Is he talking about what I think he's talking about?" Ben "Time traveling bunnies? Yes!" Naturally, I'm paraphrasing!
• Then the Elevator starts moving..dum dum dummmmmm thusly prompting Ben to ask for his weapon back.
• It's Keamy kids! Once again, we'll explain what happened to him in the next section. But he is injured and limping onward into the station trying to call out Ben. Say what you want about your distaste for Keamy but he was a great character to love to hate! (oops did I say was?)
• Keamy explains how he is wired to blow up the freighter should his pulse stop pulsing (yeah, still not sure how I didn't pick up on this in my immediate brain dump into the blog 2 weeks ago!)
• his triggers Locke to come out of hiding and to say that he has no beef with Keamy, nor do the people on that freighter. But before they could talk any reason Ben creepily comes out of hiding with a knife yelling "you killed my daughter!!!!" and repeatedly stabbing and slicing at ol' Keamy. NOOOOO!!!!!
• Locke "All of those Innocent people on the boat are going to die!" Ben: "SO????" woa....I forgot how fun it was to also HATE Ben! This is one bitter bitter man. The Island has screwed him over, and while he's still trying to be a team player, he's also out for revenge! He mentions to Locke how it isn't his problem and how he reacted irrationally but sarcastically assuring that Locke will be able to make better judgement calls in his place. Yep, the passing of the torch is all but complete.
• Before Keamy lets out his final breath he mentions to Ben that wherever he goes, Widmore will find him.
• Farewell Keamy - The light goes from green to Red - Stay Tuned for the rest!

The Chopper

Since there haven't been many flashbacks this season, I decided we should create our own in this Blog (yep, just an excuse for my lazy writing technique!) So let's rewind and see how things around the chopper went!

• We start off here with Keamy escorting Ben to the Chopper asking questions about why is Ben so important. Apparently, Widmore paid a large sum of money to capture Ben and bring him off the Island. Hmmmm Widmore didn't seem too anxious to capture Ben when they met off-island in 2005!
• Before we get too many details here though, Kate runs out of the jungle (last seen captured by Richard and THE OTHERS). The Others set up a trap to rescue Ben. FINALLY!!! We saw some crazy Others doing some crazy OTHERS Attacks eliminating the rest of Keamy's crew. Attacks that we saw Ethan capable of in season 1. Stealthy Moves like we saw when the Others kidnapped the children from the Tail-Section. And of course, lots of gunfire around the Chopper (more on that in a second!) Yeah, there are still a bunch of people on that Island to be led. And this, apparently was their final task for Benjamen Linus.
• The scene culminates with an awesome fight between Sayid and Keamy..both of them getting in some nice attacks, but finished with Richard (a la Ben's Boyfriend, courtesy of Keamy!) shooting that crazy guy a few times in the back. We'll find out later (and we already discussed that Keamy survived to make it to the Orchid) that his armor was tough enough to get him past any mere bullets. The dude needed to be attacked from the neck up!
• Richard explains to Ben that the deal was Kate and Sayid help rescue Ben in exchange for allowing them to leave the island. At this Ben says "you're free to go" Kate says "that's it?" and Ben says "That's it." Well then! Hmm maybe Ben already knew that they'd have to return. But once again, it wasn't really his call anymore! And he was one bitter bitter man!
• Ben flees the scene to the Orchid (and the Others leave as well)...leaving Sayid, Hurley and Frank with the chopper.
• A little later Hurley, Sawyer and Jack meet up with the crew and they prepare to leave that crazy Island. Jack promises that once they reach the freighter, they'll come back to look for Claire.
• If Sundance was a great nickname for Jack, you had to love Sawyer's nickname for Frank - Kenny Rogers!! That was fantastic. And anyone that has been listening to Philly's own Preston and Steve and their LOST Radio Recaps will assume that this was a NOD to their loyal fanbase! (Because Kenny Rogers is behind the whole mystery of the Island! duh!)
• As the chopper headed to the freighter, there were a couple issues. They couldn't find the freighter because it was on the move, and one of the bullets hit the fuel tank on the chopper...making them lose fuel a little more quickly. You had to feel for Hurley when they dumped all of the weight that they could but Frank said he'd feel better if they were a few hundred lbs lighter!
• But naturally, Sawyer wanted to be a hero. Sawyer MADE HIS CHOICE TO STAY. I dunno Jack! I think he thought that they were still going to get rescued! Anyway, he whispers something in Kate's ear (which would be the promise we later see Kate trying to fulfill...and we must still assume it's about Clementine). Next thing we know he gives her a big smooch (something to remember "through time!" no pun intended!), reminds her of Nike's old promotion "Just Do It Freckles!" and jumps off of the chopper into the Ocean. Well, I guess we had already seen Sawyer jump off the chopper in the previews, but we had really feared for the worst with it! Looks like he will live to see another day. But the future doesn't look too bright for them Island dwellers! We're getting ahead of ourselves!
• So, we have 4 of the Oceanic 6 together with Frank now. But they still can't find that crazy freighter. They do eventually find it in the nick of time. But there's ol' Desmond waving them away! They seem to make out him saying something about a "BOMB!" Oh no!! Frank is landing that Chopper no matter what! They can't make it anywhere else. To Be Continued ...
  

Beach Dwellers

Daniel is still trying to get everyone to the Freighter. And also trying to convince Charlotte to leave the Island. Not much in this little section, but still enough worth noting! Here's what went down.

• Miles eating the peanuts and Rose yelling at him...Priceless. "Can I eat these nuts?" "I'm Keeping my eye on you shortie!"
• Juliet promises to make sure everyone leaves the Island before she does.
• Charlotte and Miles have an interesting discussion about leaving the Island. Miles states he's staying but makes a comment to Charlotte as if she had been there before. How does Miles know this? It doesn't even seem like Charlotte knows this. Doesn't seem like it has anything to do with his supernatural abilities. Oh well, guess we need to tune into Season 5!
• Daniel discusses with Charlotte how if she doesn't leave the Island there may never be the ability to leave the Island. Clearly, Daniel knows what the Orchid is capable of.
• Anyway, Charlotte decides to stay and mentions something about not knowing where she was born. I thought Ben said she was born in England and named her parents. Anyway, there were rumors that Charlotte might be Annie, but I don't agree with that. Afterall, she's British! But there are now rumors that Charlotte might be Annie's daughter and Ben was the father and shipped Annie off to not die due to childbirthing issues on the island. Interesting one! But then the question remains what about the Sarah/Annie connection I made with Juliet supposedly looking like BOTH of them? (based on Ben and Harper's respective comments). Granted we don't know for sure who Harper was referring to! Okay, enough theorizing, plenty more recapping to go!
• We last see Dan on the raft with some more survivors heading towards the freighter. The big question is where they were when that Island.....um....wait we're not there yet!

Freighter

Okay, we last saw the freighter moving towards the Island, Sun and Aaron on the deck, while Michael/Desmond/Jin were starting at 500 lbs of C4, enough to blow up an aircraft carrier (or a little tiny Widmore-sponsored freighter!) Here is what went down!

• Desmond recalls his military background in explosives. Pretty much his recollection. If you do this - BOOM, do that? BOOM But what about this? Jin can you tell me what happens? "BOOM!!!" awesome!
• Dez couldn't figure out how to cut the signal to Keamy's transmitter thingy. But they keep starting at it.
• Michael goes up on Deck and talks to Sun with just enough time for her to tell him "I'm Pregnant!" I half expected her to assure Michael the baby wasn't his or something! (you know...because those Missing Pieces Mobi-sodes suggested there was some romantic tension between the two when Sun and Jin were on the outs in the season 1 days). But Michael had some liquid nitrogen and a bomb transmitter to freeze!
• Michael's plan was to freeze the transmitter so if the light went red, it would delay the explosion about 5 minutes. Giving them some time to get away from there.
• Sure enough, after Desmond gives up trying to figure out the bomb, the light goes Red. (Keamy is deaders) they only have a little left in the nitro-tank. Jin still stares at the C4 outline thinking he can stop it. But Michael, with the knowledge of Jin's pending parenthood, tells Jin to go. You are about to be a father Jin. "Thank you Michael" Thus, Michael's redemption tale ends. (ummm wait...Michael's a Father too! What on earth???) Jin makes for the exit to the deck.
  
• Meanwhile up on the deck, the chopper has landed and like a NASCAR Pit Stop, they begin to repair the chopper and refuel and get right back off the Island. I'm pretty sure I saw Duct Tape involved! Anyway, Desmond, Sun and Aaron get on the chopper and join the other 5 (Sayid, Kate, Jack, Hurley, Frank). Kate and Sun try to get them to wait as Jin is still below. But there's no time. Then we see Jin running out on the deck as the chopper is lifting off. They can't go back for him.
• Back below, Michael runs out of nitrogen and then of all people Christian Shephard appears out of nowhere. "WHO ARE YOU???" to which Christian responds: "You can go now, Michael"
• BOOM!!!!!!!
  
• Conspiracy Theorists begin your discussions! Did Michael and Jin die? I think Michael had to die. He fulfilled his obligations and redeemed himself for killing Ana Lucia and Libby. Even got a Thank You out of Jin. But what about a reunion with Walt? Is that not going to happen? Did Michael die close enough to the Island premises to be part of its ghostly lore? You would think so because Christian was there. But there's Ghosts appearing all over the crazy world now! Does it have something to do with your Body being on the Island? (more on that at the end of the blog!)
  
  And what about Jin? If you look closely at the before shot of the freighter, there is NO ONE on the deck, did Jin jump off the ship? And if he did? where did he go? There's no way he's on the Island right? We gotta think he is dead. But ugh...what a way to go out! I'm going to hold onto some hope that he survived. But I just don't know!
• The Chopper begins its trek BACK to the Island...but will the Island be waiting for their arrival?

The Frozen Donkey Wheel

We join Ben and Locke back in the Orchid to resume our tale.

• Ben resumes activating the Orchid VAULT with all the Metal Gizmos and Whozeewhatsits in it. When this happens, the VAULT malfunctions.
• Ben says he needs to get changed (and immediately I think - ohhhh yeah just like I predicted he's gonna put that Parka on and be transported to Tunisia in 2005! And some of you out there doubted me!!!) Sure enough, Ben suits up with Edgar Hallowax's Parka. I'm thinking if Ol' Edgar had a Parka, then he must've known what was behind and under the VAULT!
• Ben informs Locke that HE is going to move the Island, not Locke. Why? Because there are consequences to whoever moves the Island. Once you move the Island you can never return. Hmmmmm Wasn't there supposed to be consequences to summoning the Smoke Monster too? Is this all tied together? Do we care?
• Ben also tells Locke that he is sorry for making his life completely miserable. My first thought on this was that he meant after Locke arrived at the Island. But, I read that some are thinking Ben have been involved in many of the bad things that happened to Locke PRE-ISLAND. Could this mean Anthony Cooper was in cahoots with Ben somehow? And that Locke's paralysis was a result of Ben's meddlings? Would Ben have sent Richard to look for Locke? OR.....was Ben so obsessed with his Leadership of the Island, that he knew there were rumblings of John Locke - THE REAL CHOSEN ONE, that he tried to sabotage any chance of Locke getting to the Island to take his place? It would seem there is more to tell there. Once again, there's a large comments section ready and willing for some theories!
• Ben tells Locke that the OTHERS and all of the answers are all awaiting Locke's command and leadership. Locke, as always, is unsure what to do and what to tell them. And Ben said something to the effect that he'd think of something as he always does.
• We see Locke unite with Richard and the OTHERS. Richard happily states "Welcome Home John." Ahhhhh interesting stuff for season 5! (I think???)
• Let's rejoin Ben in the Orchid as he rips away the back wall of the VAULT to uncover a tunnel that goes to a ladder that goes down to a floor of Ice that once smashed goes to a frozen ladder that takes Ben into a frozen cavern. Full of hieroglyphics just like the ones that were on the Swan Hatch's infamous clock. It would seem that this cavern dates back to the ancient times that could be tied to the 4 toed statue as well as the sacrificial altar that Locke's father was tied to. But more importantly, next to the Lantern that Ben lights, is a giant FROZEN WHEEL. One that looks something like a DONKEY WHEEL! A FROZEN DONKEY WHEEL KIDS!!! (if you recall, Team Darlton told us that the secret scene this year would be referred to as the FROZEN DONKEY WHEEL. While this was not the most secret scene of the episode, you can sure see where they got it from!) By the way, Ben also cut his arm on the way into the cavern further proving that he immediately is sent to Tunisia October 2005 after this event. (he had the arm cut then)
  
• While I'm thinking about it....considering where Ben ends up after this little task. And considering there were/are Polar Bears on the Island and considering a Polar Bear ended up in the Tunisian Desert in an ancient past, do we think that they used to have the Polar Bears move the wheel to move the Island so that no people would have to be excommunicated from the Island? I dunno....crazy idea....but maybe???
• And still I'm confused, it seems that Ben has been to Tunisia before (traveling to and from the Island on crazy tasks), was he lying to Locke that he wouldn't be able to return to the Island?
• And one more question -Just a small issue, if the imminent threat of the freighter folk was gone - Why were they still going to move the Island? I guess we knew Widmore would never stop looking for the Island, so Ben seemed pretty determined to do this.
• Anyway...I'm delaying - Ben looks to the skies and says to Jacob "I hope you're happy" (still a little bitter)...be begins to turn the wheel.
• Above on the Island, Sawyer swims ashore and joins Juliet with a bottle of Rum. While he's ready to celebrate that they're leaving the Island, Juliet's face says it all....they both see the remnants of the freighter in the distance and assume everyone they knew that left is dead.
• The sky begins to beam a light very similar to that of when Desmond blew the hatch. I couldn't tell if it was a violet shade though as it just seemed like a bright white light. I am sure we're meant to tie the two events together. But does this mean that the Island moved when Desmond blew the Hatch? We know HE moved through time...but that's about it!
• The chopper continues to head towards the island and the bright light beams from the center of the Island outward and then we see a whirlpool like hole in the water where the Island once stood. It is GONE!!!!!
  
• Where did it go? When did it go? Well we won't find out until next season (maybe???) but what we do know is our future Oceanic 6 were stranded in the air with no fuel!
  
  

The Aftermath

• The chopper is going down, Jack suggests looking for Alcatraz 2.0 (the Hydra Island), but that is gone also!!! woaaa
• Sayid throws the life raft out of the chopper and inflates. The chopper goes down and flips and twirls....but every one of them survive. Frank, Desmond, Jack, Kate, Sayid, Hurley, Sun and little baby Aaron. (hmmm....kinda like maybe they can't DIE? the first hint? Kate suggests it's a miracle that Aaron survived it).
• They all get in the raft and let everything set in that went down. Sun, clearly upset that she has lost her husband (i forgot to focus on her crazy screaming when the Freighter blew up...woaaa).
• Hurley says that Locke moved the Island. Jack refused to believe even though he saw it with his own eyes.
• Then...the BOAT comes! And before it gets too close, Jack begins to explain how they're going to have to lie to protect everyone still on the Island. He explains about the staged plane crash at the bottom of the Ocean. There are people out there that want the world to know they're dead. What would happen if they knew they were alive? What would happen to the people on the Island? I'm not even sure I bought the story considering they don't even know where or when the Island is anymore!
• The boat gets closer and a guy leans over the edge and I thought "woaaaa it's the guy from the season 2 finale in the arctic!!!! It's PENNY's boat!!!!" Sure enough there was Miss Widmore herself and wow....I just did not expect to see this reunion until season 6! I wanted to weep like a little girl, but I had to keep it together as I jotted my notes down (that yes...I'm not even using!) Dez and Penny reunited at last, and all because of the Phone call ol' Dezzie made!
• Once all aboard there is the introductions and then Jack is ready to discuss the LYING PLAN.
• We see them a week later in ragged clothes and with the raft that we saw in the RESCUE PHOTO. Desmond assures Jack that he will not be going with them (how could he? he wasn't an Oceanic Passenger!) and as long as he has Penny he'll be fine. We get a nice "See you in another life brother" from Jack. Something tells me with Ben after Penny's head in the future, we haven't seen the last of ol' Desmond. The big question is will he need to return to the ISL---- whoops we're still not there yet!!!
• Hurley is still confused to why they have to lie, but at this point it seems Sayid is in agreement with Jack that they need to do this to protect their Friends. (wait...so are the only potential 815ers on the Island - Locke, Sawyer, Rose, Bernard and Claire? We know Miles, Charlotte and Juliet are there too. And they've killed so many of the other 48 survivors now I don't even know how many are left!)
• We have the emotional scene of them arriving at Membatta (just like the LIE they told in the press conference in part 1) and while they know they are about to lie you could still sense a little happiness that they are free from the Island (so they thought). Maybe all but Sun. And thus...Present Day has caught up with Future Day (except for what has happened on the Island after the "moving!").
  
  So let's proceed with the Flash forwards!

Flash Forwards

I feel like I've been typing forever! But there's still much to discuss! At least you have 9 months to read all of this! We begin our Flash Forwards where Jack and Kate's Airport discussion left off last season. We've been discussing the Coffin for 1 year and 1 week and we finally have gotten our answer. But they kept us guessing the whole episode long! We are reminded of Kate's "Why would I go to the funeral?" and Jack being upset over the whole death. We see Jack say "We have to go baaaaaack!" and Kate driving off and then the episode begins...

Jack and Kate

• Kate slams on the breaks and gets out of the car apparently SHOCKED at what Jack was saying. After all that the 6 of them were put through to get OFF of the Island and all of the lying that Jack made them do. He was now listening to ol' JEREMY BENTHAM. Someone that clearly Kate is not a fan of, and apparently Jack wasn't either. Anyone remember the newspaper obituary clipping from the season 3 finale? It did state a Jeremy Bentham on there. The man in the coffin was using an alias. Pretty much Kate is disgusted with Jack and says HOW DARE YOU!!?! Obviously, now knowing who is in the coffin has made this scene less important to discuss! But we'll discuss after the reveal!
  

Hurley

• Super Older Walt comes to visit Hurley (man that kid got old!). He must've come clean to his grandmother to what has been going on.
• Walt asks Hurley why no one came to see him? Why everyone was lying. Hurley apologized but said that the were lying to protect everyone. Walt said "people like my dad?" And Hurley says yes. Clearly he's lying because we have to think Sun filled him in that Michael was on the boat that blew up!
• Apparently, Jeremy Bentham came to visit Walt too.
• One has to think that Walt may be re-joining the cast next year as the crew will try to get back! But we shall see. My question is.....Walt didn't even look THIS old when he appeared to Locke last season. Will they be able to explain that?

Hurley and Sayid

• Sayid comes to Hurley's institution and kills a man parked outside apparently that was stalking Hurley for the past week?
• Sayid, with much longer hair, comes in and says that Bentham is dead and he needs Hurley to come with him to a safe place. He also promises they are not going BACK. He also says that many dead people have been coming to visit him.
• We find out that Bentham apparently committed suicide. But there is doubt that this is actually what happened. hmmmm
• Question - is Sayid still working for Ben at this point? Will that help Jack's cause in season 5? (we're getting there!) All of these flashes seem to be set up for season 5.
• Oh right, and Hurley had been playing chess with Mr. Eko and just handed him a checkmate. woaaaaa this is some bizarre stuff! I love it!

Sun

• We see Sun in London stalking Charles Widmore. Years have passed because she is talking to her daughter on the phone (she must be 2 or 3 years old).
• Apparently Widmore and Mr. Paik are old business associates. (Island related? who knows!) But is Charles Widmore the OTHER MAN Sun holds responsible for Jin's death? Well, here it looks like Sun is looking to HELP Widmore. And while Widmore pretended not to know who Sun REALLY was, she gave him her card and said to contact her when she changes her mind. Hmmm...maybe she holds BEN responsible for Jin's death? Could be problematic with Jack's pending mission!
• Revision: Forgot to mention Sun also implied that the Oceanic 6 aren't the only ones that got off the Island. Is she referring to Desmond? Considering Dez is with Penny...that could be the case. Frank? eh maybe.... Ben? Well does Sun know Ben is off of the Island at this point? hmmmmm

Kate

• Kate has a dream where she picks up her phone and hears the following audio in reverse: "The Island Needs you, you have to go Back before it's too late."
• Of course then in the dream, she hears a noise, grabs her gun and goes to check on Aaron and yells "GET AWAY FROM MY SON!" and Claire is there watching Aaron. woaaaaa creepy!!! She contradicts the phone message and says "DO NOT BRING HIM BACK TO THE ISLAND!!!! DON'T YOU DARE!!!"
• Kate wakes up and goes to Aaron and keeps saying "I'm sorry!" I'm sorry for taking you from the Island? from your Mother? hmmmm Will Kate be easily persuaded?

Jack

• It would seem Jack leaves the airport scene with Kate and heads right back to FLASH FORWARD Funeral Parlor (you know the Anagram Hoffs Drawler or something like that) and breaks the door open.
• The ultimate payoff...we are going to see the man in the coffin! Good ol' Jeremy Bentham!
• Just as I think "Well, I guess it's Ben because I heard he was going to be in the big secret scene!" Ben walks in to join Jack. woaaaa Then I kinda figured out by process of elimination who it had to be! (the most obvious choice at the end of season 3!)
• Ben knew that Jack had been trying to get back to the Island through Plane Crashes (dark, Jack, very dark!)
• Jack explains to Ben that Bentham had come to visit him and then Kate and explained to him how things became very very bad on the Island after they left. Locke explained how they all needed to go back. Hmmm I wonder if this is the visit that Charlie told Hurley about? And NOT Christian Shephard?
• Anyway, Ben explains to Jack that the Island won't let him go back to the Island alone. They ALL need to go back. Jack explains his current relationships with Sun (still blames him.... for Jin's Death?? hmm maybe HE's the other guy?), Kate (won't even talk to him), Sayid (don't know where he is), Hurley (is crazy). Ben suggested that maybe he could help and that he had a few ideas on how to get back. But will BEN be able to go back too?
• And do Desmond and Walt need to go back as well?
• We do know at least ONE other person needs to go back and that's ol' Dead in the coffin Jeremy Bentham. Who is none other than.....pan camera..........slowly.....slowly..... JOHN LOCKE!!!!!!!!

BOOM LOST!!!!!!

Dessert

Analysis, Thoughts, Next Steps...

Woaaaaaaa. Even though I knew it was coming by that point, it was still crazy to see Locke in that coffin and Ben saying that he needs to go back. Kinda like Christian Shephard being in the coffin but somewhat alive on the Island? I also read that maybe having Shephard in the coffin was one of the reasons the plane crashed on the island, similar to having Locke with them would allow them to get back as well. Hmmm Is Shephard a former Chosen one? I had the same question about Charles Widmore (since he went on that whole "the island is mine always was" rant.) Wooaaa so many questions...but here are the big ones that I'm thinking about:

• How will next year's format work? Real-Time has caught up with Future Time. Now we have a story to tell OFF the Island and On the Island. Will there be flashbacks still? I would think so...we need to find out how Locke got off the island and his apparent suicide (forgot to mention that) happened. Still gotta learn about the Black Rock and Rousseau's Expedition. What Desmond did to lose his Honor in the military. Lots of stuff there. But will there be episodes that flash back and forth to what happened on the Island while the Oceanic 6 were gone and then their plan to get back? We were confused about how this season would pan out, so I'm sure they have it all figured out already!
• When Locke gets off the Island, is he paralyzed again? Or will he be cured now kinda like people couldn't die off the Island. But why did LOCKE die off of the Island? Did Locke Move the Island again? But if he did, why is Ben saying he can go back? Maybe if you move the Island, you can't go back until you're dead? woaaaaa Did Locke leave the Island specifically to bring back Jack and crew? Is that why all of these Ghosts are visiting them? Did Locke send them through Jacob or something?
• What happened to Daniel and Raft crew? Alcatraz 2.0 went with the Island, so maybe he moved with it too? Maybe they picked up Jin??? (woaaaa I just thought of that!)
• And of course...where and when did the Island go to?
• And much much more!!!!
  

Well I've been writing frantically for quite some time now kids. And I'm sure you're all impatiently waiting for the blog. So I'm going to hand it over for discussion pretty soon. Just a few more things to take care of. Like last summer, any time I get news, I'll probably post a new blog with information. So please keep checking in! Bookmark this site for next season as well! Mark your calendars for January 09 to start checking back in!

Oh right, and the commercial that aired before the final scene? Go to the following website and get ready for the next OFF-SHOW LOST Experience that looks scheduled to kick off at this year's Comic-Con: http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/

Hope you enjoyed my ramblings today and all season folks. I've enjoyed all of your comments and theories all season (when people weren't fighting naturally!!) Keep it up because we have 9 months to keep ourselves busy with more and more theories....but no more theories on WHO IS IN THE COFFIN! and if TIME TRAVEL is possible! We have confirmd both of these! And yes, it is definitely not PURGATORY!

If you don't tune in for the random news all summer, then I will see you next year when we kick off Season 5! NAMASTE!

LOST: Season 4 Episode 12 - There's No Place Like Home (Part 1)

WOW WOW WOW!!!!! Okay got that out of the way! After "There's No Place Like Home (part 1)" ended last night, I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat, with paper and pen in hand, and my mouth wide open just starting at my TiVo screen saying "do you want to keep or delete this recording?" It took me a couple minutes to regain my composure. No, the episode didn't throw me for a loop like THE CONSTANT (although where it's leading may do so!) but I couldn't help but marvel at the sheer AWESOMENESS of this show. The amazing gift that we have been treated to for 4 years now. And I couldn't help but wonder "How on earth do they manage to write Finale after Finale that are so engaging and suspenseful and how on earth is any TV show ever going to match up to the brilliance of this show in the future?" The crazy thing? We're only an hour in and have 2 more to go! Yeah, that's one obsessed Lost Fan's reaction! But man, you put aside all of the mysteries of the show that we analyze to death, and you still have a fantastic drama with a whole slew of wonderfully portrayed characters in which we're all invested. You think the stakes can't get any higher each season, but they do! The fate of the island, the fate of their rescue are at stake. Lots of people are in harm's way. Adding to that the crazy LOST mythology with the mysterious Orchid Station? Well, that's the icing on the cake folks! Quality quality stuff!



Tonight's episode was pretty much a setup episode for the final 2 hours, very similar to season 1's Exodus Part 1. But they revealed a slew of good stuff about the Oceanic 6. I have to give a little kudos to myself for figuring out how the Flash Forward would operate. Similar to season 1's Finale Flashes where we watched as all of our 815 passengers prepared to board Flight 815, we saw the events that immediately led to them getting onto the island (if you skip the actual plane flight/crash). The Flash Forwards? Well, we see the events of all of our Oceanic 6 that occur as they head back home. We've already been treated to a bunch of crazy information. I'm just assuming that part 2 will continue following our characters towards the paths of their respective depressions! As for current day Island activities? Characters that haven't seen each other for the majority of the season are reuniting, most are trying to get OFF of the island while Ben and Locke are still working towards saving it from the likes of Keamy (supposedly working off of Charles Widmore's Plan B orders). No need to delay any further! Time to dive in!

Oceanic 6 Homecoming

We open up with our Oceanic 6 on a Coast Guard plane enroute to Hawaii. Our producers have told us that there needs to be a point where Island Present meets Island Future on the show. It would seem that the present day events during this finale should lead us to this opening moment of the episode. But, we've been duped before! But even from this opening shot there are questions to ask. And then it just unravels from there!

• We get our first sighting of 2 rabbit's feet in this episode. The Co-Pilot is nervous with the passengers they are currently carrying. Nervous because they've been on a plane crash? Or for some other reason? Probably looking too much into this one!
• Miss Decker (Dekker?), from Oceanic Airlines (we think), is asked to brief the Oceanic 6 whom we actually see receive this "catchy" label.
• The faces on the 5 (I won't count Aaron!) speak miles for what has happened to them. All of them are rather upset about the situation they're in. Jack seems to be the only one staying positive and telling everyone to "stick to the story" and not answer any questions they don't know how to answer. Add in Sun's comment "We are in Shock" and it just speaks volumes. Are they mad at Jack for decisions he made on the Island to get them in this position? Did the events of them leaving the island happen so quickly and randomly that they haven't had time to digest it yet? Did something happen to Jin? Did they ever find Claire? Why are THESE 6 the chosen people? Why did Sawyer choose to stay? Did they get picked up by this plane on the Island? Did they take the freighter full of C4? Did they fly the chopper to somewhere before they run out of fuel? Well, I could keep going! Lots to answer, but they are definitely not thrilled with returning home.
• That is, until the plane hatch opens and FAMILY awaits. Hurley's Parents, Jack's Mom (we haven't seen her since season 1), Sun's parents (I don't think we've ever seen her mother before?). We clearly see that Sayid and Kate/Aaron are alone. Hurley pulls in Sayid to meet his family. All is well for a brief moment in time.
• Then the Press Conference, we've were treated to the Cliff's Notes version of the "Fake Oceanic 815" crash story, but get a few more details on this one. We still don't know who is forcing them to lie and tell this story (Widmore? Ben? Oceanic Airlines? Someone else?), but something tells me this will be answered before the season ends, as well as who is in that crazy coffin!!
• FYI - This is the first time we're seeing Hawaii being filmed actually AS Hawaii for LOST. Miss Decker says they are being taken to a Military Base west of Honolulu. Not sure why I looked this up, but the Plane said Barber's Point. And there actually is a small airport called Kalaeloa Airport that is quite close to Pearl Harbor and the Luallualei Naval Reservation. I don't think this holds any relevance on the show except that it looks like they did their research!

The Oceanic 6 "Fake Crash" Story

• Our wonderful Maps to reference courtesy as always of Sledgeweb. Click on picture to enlarge.
  


• Location of crash site (Indonesia): South of small uninhabited island Membata. Plane carried by ocean's current to that island where they stayed for 103 days. (Note: Membata is an Indonesian word that means "uncertainty.")
• Day 103 - Typhoon washed up remnants of an Indonesian Fishing boat with basic supplies and survival raft. (103 days puts this pretty close if not dead on to the events of the real-life Tsunami. I wonder if this Typhoon is a result, or at least a loosely based reference to the event)
• Remaining 6 survivors (the Miss Decker clearly convinces the press that this includes baby Aaron) used the boat to travel to an island called Sumba.
• They came ashore through a village called Manukannga. There is a picture of them at this siting. So was this picture actually at Manukannga? Or from somewhere else? Or was it photo shopped? And where is Aaron in the picture? Also, I googled Manukannga ,there are no search results for this town. I put the word into an Anagram finder and all I got was Manana Gunk! (tomorrow gunk?? yeah, I'm thinking that isn't what they're going for!) Not sure if we're meant to look into this stuff, but why make up fake names of Indonesian towns?
  
• REVISED: How's this for irony? First of all disregard my analysis on the madeup Manukannga since I spelled it wrong! it's Manukangga and does exist! But second, now when you google "manukannga" THIS blog comes up instead of no search results and the trend seems to be continuing! Some useless pointless ridiculous knowledge for everyone right there!
• Once it was discovered who they were, they were transported to Honolulu by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Press Conference Q&A

1. Q: Dr. Shephard - Can you tell us what it was like when the plane hit the ocean? How you survived?
   
   A: Jack recounts how fast it happened, remembered the impact, the plane filling up with water and a few of them going for the emergency door to get out. They had cushions and life jackets and were in water for over a day before the current took them in. There were 8 of them left.
   
   NOTE: For the real crash of 815, I still wonder how they all were placed on the Island the way they were! Did they have to climb out of the fuselage? Sayid mentions (in season 1) they spiraled through the jungle and many of them don't have a scratch on them. I guess, we have to hope they'll show these events before the show is over!


2. Q: Considering being on a deserted island for over 100 days, you all look pretty healthy. Hurley interrupts. Woman changes question "How does it feel to know you'll be getting your money back?"
   
   A: I don't want the money, it's bad luck!
   
   Note: Was the woman referring to the large settlement the Oceanic 6 were receiving? Or did she mean since Hurley was not dead, his lottery winnings would return to him? Why wouldn't the money have continued to be paid to the family anyway? I know Hurley referenced this in episode 1 this season. But just wanted to bring up again. Not that there's any sense in exploring it!


3. Q: (to Sun) Was your husband one of people that died on island?
   
   A: Sun didn't know how to answer at first, but then said no, he never made it off the plane.
   
   Note: Could this be a hint to Jin never making it off the island? That he could be alive? Based on another comment she makes in these flashes, it seems to imply the other way. But with all of the lies the Oceanic 6 are telling, who knows? We'll find out after 2 more hours!


4. Q: (to Kate) What was it like giving birth on island? (Kate: Scary) Your son, how old is he? (Kate: 5 weeks) So that makes you 6 months pregnant when you were arrested is that correct?
   
   A: Miss Decker states that there will be no questions about Kate's pending arrest.
   
   Note: Okay, so Aaron is obviously older than 5 weeks (and looks it!). Did they do this to try and make it passable that Kate had the baby? If Kate was 6 months pregnant when she was arrested, she probably would have been showing a bit! There must still be some conspiracy theorists out there on the Mainland, like Frank Lapidus himself. Of course, because it's LOST, they sure know how to cut things off before they write themselves into a disaster!


5. Q: (to Sayid) Is it possible there are any other survivors?
   
   A: No, absolutely not.
   
   Note: I just kinda got the same vibe from this comment as when Abaddon says "There were no survivors of Oceanic Flight 815." to Naomi. I'm not saying he's behind the fake story, because Hurley obviously didn't recognize him in episode 1 this season. But, just noting the similar tone!
   
   

Flashes to follow:

We then proceed into individual flashes for 5 of our Oceanic 6. Here are tidbits we learn:

• We see the Sayid and Nadia reunion. Enjoy it while it lasts Sayid! She is sooooo getting whacked!
• Sun takes over her father's Company using the Oceanic Settlement. She blames Mr. Paik for Jin and her being on the plane. She is mad that he ruined Jin's life. Then she mentions two people are responsible for his death and that he is one of them. Now this is a comment we can take on the surface as, Jin was on the plane because he was doing a task for Sun's father. OR we can look into it more that possibly Mr. Paik has been involved with the Island, as we've always assumed and intentionally put them both on that plane. We also need to speculate, is Sun reflecting on Jin's ACTUAL death or just that he's still stuck on that island? AND - who is the OTHER person responsible for his death? Sun herself? Jin himself? Or possibly someone else that killed him on the island? Interesting stuff nonetheless!
• Hurley's Dad (aka CHEECH!) fixes the Camaro they were working on before daddy skipped town. How about the Odometer and Trip Meter folks? It's easy to please me whenever they throw the numbers back into things! I sure missed them! What's it all about? Probably a reminder that the Island is not through with Hurley yet. We already know we are not getting an answer to the significance of the numbers beyond the "The Valenzetti Equation" revealed to us during the summer Internet extravaganza THE LOST EXPERIENCE!
  
• 2nd Rabbit's foot siting on the Camaro keychain. Ironic because of Hurley's previous bad luck!
• During this same flash, Hurley is thrown a Surprise Party Luau. The coconut, the whispering was all a nice touch. But nothing topped Sayid stating that it was an interesting theme and Hurley stating about his parents "they don't get it!"
• Jack has memorial service for father. Jack says that he loves his father and misses him. And just as he's about to finally make peace with it all, Claire's Mom is out of her coma and there to reveal the connection of Jack and Claire! Woaaaaa never in a million years would I predict this is how Jack would find out! Them writers are CRAZY! Claire's Mom woke up??? Do we tie this into Kate's mother never succumbing to cancer also? Loved when she says to Kate that she has a beautiful child (since it's her grandson!). Jack's look after this revelation was priceless. This must be what drives him away from Aaron and Kate for the time being. And ultimately what drives him and Kate apart with the whole "You're not even related to him!" comment. The question is, is Claire still alive? Are the Oceanic 6 aware of her whereabouts prior to leaving the island? Did Christian take Claire as bait for Jack to return to the island? Very exciting stuff people!
• It's worth noting that all but Sun show up to Oceanic 6 events (birthday parties, funerals, etc...) Is this because she's in Korea? Or because she doesn't want anything to do with Jack, Kate, Sayid, Aaron? Remember Hurley is the only one that showed up in Korea when Ji Yeon is born. Hopefully we'll get more on this in the finale!
  

Jack's Rescue Mission

Lots of people all over the Island in this episode. We begin with Jack and Kate resolving to follow the signal on the SAT Phone for chances that Sayid and Desmond were on the chopper. He also wants that helicopter, for it's the only way off of the island (supposedly) Jack is still on his "I promised I would save everyone" kick. Juliet was very distraught by Jack's pending quest due to Jack's recent surgery. And for good reason as Jack starts bleeding not long after their trek into the Jungle. Not long after they ship out they run into Miles, Sawyer and Aaron. Here's what went down:

• Sawyer fills them in on Claire walking off into the jungle and how they looked for her for a day.
• How the Freighter Folk blew up New Otherton (nice name!) and how Locke was right.
• Jack instructs Kate to take Aaron and Miles back to the beach.
• Sawyer reluctantly follows Jack with a great line "You don't get to die alone!" Which, maybe not in line with Sawyer's intention, goes along with the mantra "Live Together, Die Alone." I've missed Jack/Sawyer interactions!
• Jack and Sawyer find the helicopter with Frank Lapidus there willing to lend a helping hand. Frank fills them in on what Keamy has in store for the Island and that everyone best be off of it. And Sawyer then realizes that Hurley is the midst of danger being with Ben and Locke. Gotta love Jack using Sawyer's favorite line "Son of a B***ch!" (sorry kids, we were in PG-13 territory last week, had to bump us down to PG mode this week!)
• Thus, we see Jack and Sawyer running off towards danger to rescue their portly friend!

Jacob Braintrust

Our favorite new version of the 3 Amigos (Ben, Locke and Hurley) are resolved now to MOVE the Island. It isn't long before Ben reveals that they are headed to the Orchid Station, a greenhouse.

• For some reason, I immediately thought of the Greenhouse Effect and while normal greenhouses do not emit radiation, perhaps the Orchid does! If we're dealing with Time Travel, didn't Dan make a reference to Radiation in The Constant as what causes the Consciousness Time Travel? Anyway, I won't claim to be an expert on the Greenhouse Effect, but I'm sure some out there are. So theorize away!
• Hurely asked a very logical question in if they're going to move the island, wouldn't the bad guys move with it? Ben said yes. Hurley wants to get off the island. Locke says it's too late for that! (oh yeahhh Locke? well maybe you haven't heard about Jack and Sawyer and a little thing called the Oceanic 6!!!)
• Ben brings the other 2 goofballs to a tree where there is some type of survival kit complete with 15 year old saltines, binoculars and a mirror. Hurley proceeds to eat crackers. Ben uses mirror to signal his buddies (we must assume). Perhaps High up on that mountain is where this "TEMPLE/SANCTUARY" is as Ben had instructed them to go there at the end of season 3. He also told Alex to go there too.
• Ben makes a comment about why they hadn't moved the island before. He states it's both dangerous and unpredictable and to be used as a last resort only. Hmmmm All roads point to moving this thing through space and time. And with rumors of Particle Acceleration being involved, my curiosity is peaked!
• They arrive to the Orchid Station, but too late as Keamy and crew have already planted themselves there.
• Ben states that Widmore knows what is in there and that he lied before when he said he didn't know what he wanted. Hmmmm All that we know WAS in there was Edgar Hallowax and a couple of the same bunnies! Curiosity still peaked!
• Ben begins to unravel a plan that has Locke crawling through a hole and activating an elevator. Hurley is confused. Locke asks how they'll get past the troops.
• "How many times do I have to tell you? I always have a plan!!" You sure do Ben, you suuuuure do! And this reminds us of his captivity by Jack/Locke/Sayid in season 2, his captivity by Locke again in season 4, and the fact that he is now leading this expedition to the Orchid. Does Ben's plan revolve around time warping himself into the Tunisian desert? If the actions of the Orchid are unpredictable, was he moved to a different time/location than the island was? And will he also not know how to get back to the Island? And what will happen to everyone else when the Orchid is activated? Does this factor into how the Oceanic 6 leave the island? Well....we have 2 weeks before we find out!
  

Operation: Retrieve Jack/Sawyer - courtesty of Sayid/Kate

Not long after Jack leaves the beach, Sayid returns to the beach stating everyone needs to get off of the Island, 6 people at a time. Kate returns to the beach and fills Sayid in on where Jack and Sawyer went. She can track them but needs Sayid's help. Daniel takes over the rescue mission (Have I mentioned how nice and helpful the Freighter 4 are these days? Well, besides Miles).

Kate recognizes that the tracks they are following are fresh, double backed on them and NOT Jack and Sawyer. They turn around, guns aimed. Who comes out of the Jungle? RICHARD ALPERT!!! YAY! he's in the finale too! He stares them down not even scared of being held at gunpoint. Why? Well could be because he knows he can't die. ORRRR It could be because many many of THE OTHERS are there!!!! Man, who would've thought last season that seeing The Others would be a welcome thing! And who knew there were that many of The Others left and with THAT many guns?? (all pointing at Sayid and Kate by the way). Perhaps, THESE are the stealthy others that we have seen/heard in season 2 and wondered where they have been ever since the domesticated Others revelation of season 3? You know the ones that TOOK the children from the tail section, the ones that walked barefoot and silently through the jungle in front of Eko and Jin. I'm sure they're still in cahoots with Ben, but ever since season 3, we lost that MYSTIQUE surrounding the others. But THESE guys, they sure looked like the Island natives under the command of Richard Alpert. But we shall see! My guess is while they have Kate and Sayid captured right now, they will all be working together against a common enemy in our 2 hour finale.

Operation: Bring People to Freighter and get Freighter Moving

• This is kinda out of order, but when Dan realizes the direction Keamy is headed he knows that Plan B has been initiated and that they are heading to the Orchid. He flips open his trusty notebook. We've seen the logo before, but notice the SPIRAL/Whirpool type effect it has. This plus Ben's comments about the Orchid station seem to imply we're in for quite a ride through space (and possibly time) by the season's end. If Time-Traveling Obsessee Dan is now obsessed with getting everyone off of the island PRONTO, we gotta think it's related, right? And if that wasn't enough to start the assumptions, note in the picture, that Dan's notes reference "Space like factors," "time like factors" and "possible!" woaaaa
  
• Dan begins to bring people to freighter. Sun and Jin are on first boat out (thanks to Juliet). Keep in mind, Jin already made a deal with Charlotte to get Sun off island. I have to think this will still be in play before the season is over!
• Notice Dan's look to Charlotte and Charlotte's clear concern for Dan's safety. Ahh romance yet again blooms on Paradise Island!
• Dan gets first crop of survivors to the Freighter. Desmond is there to bring them aboard. Michael mentions that the Engine is fixed and then it happens. Jin and Sun see Michael....ooooh and they're angry!!!
• We FINALLY get an explanation of how Michael and Walt got off of the island. They took Ben's boat, followed his bearing and came to an island that had people on it. The sold the boat and hopped a cargo ferry back to the states and told no one who they were.
• How Sun knew that Michael was working for Ben, I'm not sure. Since they had no communication with Ben and Team Locke until right when they got on the raft to head to the freighter. I don't think I recall Sayid or Miles telling Sun. Or Sawyer telling Kate who told Sun! But whatever, I can look past this and just assumed it happened!
• Anyway, Michael states that he's there to HELP and make up for what he did. Not work for Ben! He asks Sun to translate to Jin but he understood. Does that mean all is well between Han and Chewie? Well, time will tell...but in the meantime there's an emergency!
• Desmond goes to try out the new engine with the "Ship driver???" (I don't know what you call those people...Navigator??? Gilligan??) and clearly says that they must take the 305 bearing. I thought that the guy was just going to drive off (away from the island) for some reason, but he DID put the bearing to 305. The monitors however were jammed and he said he couldn't see the reef. Something is broadcasting off of the freighter. Desmond is confused since the communications equipment was down.
• interesting thing to note - Why was Desmond so determined to bring the freighter to the Island when he didn't want to go near that place again? I guess the savior complex got to him too?
• He heads to communication room and yells for Michael. Jin, Sun and Aaron follow. What do they find? The communications room is jam packed with C4! Uh oh! Jin says something to Sun which seems to be "get up on the deck ASAP!" What is going on here? Is the plan to blow up the freighter? Or they going to run the freighter into the island and blow it up? (I highly doubt that would torch the entire thing!) Will Michael, Jin and Desmond blow up with it? They can't possibly can they? Or will they be on the next raft back to the Island? Something tells me Sun and Aaron will be at least! Which could bring Charlotte's promise back in play.

Final Montage

In the closing suspenseful moments of the show, we see Sun and Aaron on the deck of the Freighter, Kate and Sayid captured by Richard and the OTHERS, Jack and Sawyer trekking towards certain doom at the Orchid and then we center in on Ben turning himself in. Keamy comes out with and points his gun at Ben. Ben stares down the barrell of the gun and like Richard, doesn't seem very worried. Why? Well, he could have the Michael Dawson disease and can't die either just yet. Keamy resists the urge to shoot Ben on the spot and slams him in the head with his gun.

BOOM LOST!!!!

Now THAT is an episode folks! Right now our Oceanic 6 are scattered all across the Island. Jack and Hurley are about to be paired up. Sayid and Kate are together. And Sun and Aaron are aboard a freighter that is basically a ticking time bomb. Not to mention Locke and Ben are literally trying to "change the course" of the Island forever! What's in store in the final 2 hours? We'll see the circumstances in which the 6 get off the island. We'll find out who is in that coffin in the future. We will see Sawyer make a decision to stay behind. Will we find out what's up with Claire? Will we see the Oceanic 6 in a further future time working together to get BACK to the Island? Are we ready for the big SECRET Cliffhanger this season entitled "THE FROZEN DONKEY WHEEL?" Will the frozen part have something to do with the Parka that Ben was wearing in the Tunisian desert?

Lots of Questions folks and just 1 more 2 hour episode this season. It shall air on May 29th. And we'll be debating this one all the way up until that date! And THEN, we'll have yet another 9 months to debate all that is LOST! Hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I look forward now to yours! SEE YOU IN 2 WEEKS!

LOST: Season 4 Episode 11 - Cabin Fever

Good Morning fellow LOSTIES! Whew, I think I'm still recovering from watching "Cabin Fever" last night. An episode clearly designed to set up the 3 hour finale, but with enough intrigue and action to hold up on its own! This is 2 seasons straight now where they've saved this creepy Jacob-related storyline for the penultimate season finale episode. Naturally, I loved it. But this time travel stuff is sure throwing me for a loop again! We'll get to that down below as it applies to the conversation! I'm fresh out of words for praising the wonder of this show right now so I'll just give "Cabin Fever" a big WOW!!!! and we'll move on to the good stuff!

Synopsis: 3 Storylines - We see the chess pieces put into motion on both sides. For now, we should believe Ben when he calls them "THE GOOD GUYS" - Locke/Ben/Hurley travel aimlessly in search for the Cabin and seek guidance in defending the Island. "THE BAD GUYS" - P.O.'d and Trigger-Happy Keamy returns to freighter with his crew - Drama Ensues. In the Flashback, we see the birth of John Locke and witness key moments in his life suggesting his pre-destination. Let's break it all down!

THE "BAD" GUYS

• It seems like there were minor casualties from their encounter with the smoke monster. 2 episodes ago, it seemed like all of Keamy's crew bought it. Last episode it looked like they were carrying one guy. This seems to remain consistent in this episode as they pull one man off of the chopper. Keamy explains that a large cloud of Black smoke took him 50 feet into the air and tore his guts out. Niiiiiice. Sounds a little like what happened to Seth Norris, our fearless Pilot of Oceanic Flight 815.
• Keamy goes straight after Captain Gault suggesting that he ratted the mercenary out to Ben. Gault denies this and takes Keamy to Michael's "CELL" where he is cuffed. Well, apparently Michael's task is not done yet. Because Keamy went right in for the kill and the trigger would pull with no bullet leaving the chamber. CRAZY!!!!
• Michael seems very proud of his working for Ben and providing him with information to use to his advantage. While the gun doesn't work on Michael, Keamy does get a nice elbow to Michael's face.
• The Black Smoke victim dies driving Keamy to further need for Revenge. He tells Lapidus to get chopper ready. Lapidus suggests that he was only supposed to fly SCIENTISTS to the island. I knew I liked that Frank guy!
• Gault suggests that people have come down with a "SICKNESS" with Regina throwing herself overboard (first time we blatantly see on the show the same term being used for what has happened to freighter crew as the "SICKNESS" that claimed Rousseau's crew.) He suggests maybe Keamy is getting a little sick himsef. He denies.
• Keamy, wasting no time (man this storyline was moving at light speed! thanks a lot writers strike!), ripped a key from Gault's neck to open a safe requiring 2 keys. Time for Plan B! Keamy refers to Ben knowing they were going to "TORCH THE ISLAND" We get confirmation that this is not what Gault signed up for either. (I'm sorry, but why were we so convinced to be scared of the Captain by everyone before we met him? He never seemed to do anything out of the ordinary except let Regina jump off the freighter!)
• Keamy opens the safe (apparently Plan B is sponsored by Widmore). He mentions that in the safe holds the secret to where Ben is going. Well, when he flips open the book, did anyone notice the DHARMA logo that we were all meant to see? Hmmmm opens up so many possibilities. But the initial possibility is that we are going to have that forseen showdown at the Orchid Station in the season finale (the logo is for the Orchid Station that we've seen in a pre-season 4 video and I believe we saw the logo on Ben's Parka when he mysteriously arrived in October 2005 to Tunisia)
  
• This suggests to me also that perhaps Widmore IS a descendent of DHARMA and still seeking revenge on Ben for the PURGE (of course Ben does not take the blame for this as we'll explore later). We were told in this week's podcast that more DHARMA mythology will be revealed to us in season 5 possibly explaining the Food Drops that occurred in season 2. But maybe Widmore's involvement is a connection. We'll see next year!
• Dez and Sayid have a chat with Captain getting caught up on what's going on. Sayid wants everyone off of the island. The captain is willing to help. He allows them use of the boat to go back and warn his friends and start bringing them back.
• Lapidus encounters Michael. He asks why Michael didn't tell him he was an 815 survivor. Michael reinforces that Keamy is going to kill everyone when he goes to that island. And he doesn't suggest anyone should live with that on their conscience. Here we go with Michael's redemption tale. Will he sacrifice himself for his friends? Will the island allow him to die in this fashion?
• Sayid jumps in the boat and is ready to go. Desmond REFUSES to go back to the island. "I've been there for 3 years brothaaaaaa. I love Penny!!!!" Sayid understands this. Dezzie clearly states to Sayid to stick to the right bearing. Don't want any crazy Time-Mind travels!!! Sayid ships off to the island.
• Oh right...so I forgot to mention OMAR (random Freighter folk that seems in line with Keamy) receives the MORSE Code message asking about the Doc from Daniel. Doc is still alive at this point. Omar brings up the Morse Code message to Doc later in the episode foreshadowing his ultimate death. Of course, the message stated a lot more detail that Dan had mentioned when he sent the message. (slit throat and showing up on the beach and all)
• Well the reason I menton all of this now is because there is the eventual stand-off between Keamy and Lapidus. Frank tries to hold his ground and say that he was not sent to fly these people to kill everyone on the island. Frank doesn't think Keamy will shoot him since he's the only pilot. So instead, Frank kills the Doc, slits his throat and throws him off of the freighter. Oh yeah, and he shoots Captain Gault too. Oops!!! Frank - "Okay Keamy - you're nuts, I guess we're going to the island!" Frank activites the SAT phone, wraps it up in a bag and they head to the island.
• Before we get to the final scene with this crew...let's dig into some crazy time things going on here! Okay, so producers mentioned in some crazy interview that Communications via a SAT PHONE would probably occur in REAL-TIME. But sending messages through a telegraph (a la Morse Code) or signals from a Radio Transmission (a la Glenn Miller on the Radio for Sayid and Hurley in season 2) would run into some crazy time-distortions. That's all well and good....so the Morse Code message seems to have been sent BEFORE the Doc was dead (minutes or hours before he died). But here's where my problem comes in. Keamy was ON THE ISLAND in the episode where Doc comes ashore. Are we meant to assume that these storylines aren't necessarily occuring at the same time chronologically? That can really screw us up because we're so focused on any time elements of the show! But that doesn't make sense either right? Because THEN it seems like minutes later the chopper is arriving ashore and this is a day or 2 after Jack's appendectomy. How did the BODY arrive to the island days before the Chopper? This doesn't seem to fit the mold of Dan's "your friends haven't been gone as long as you think they have" But maybe it does! I just don't see how they'll be able to logically explain any of this! With Michael Crichton-like fiction or not! But I'm anxiously awaiting their attempt!
• We should also note this RADIO thing that Keamy attached to his arm. They pointed it out twice. SLEDGEWEB says it looks like an XM radio. Any thoughts out there? I'm sure this will play a part in the finale.
• So yes, we do see a glimpse of our Team Jack Beach Dwellers as the chopper approaches. It flies right over them but it slows down just enough for Frank to drop that SAT Phone off. Jack sees that it is tracking their movement. "I think they want us to follow them" Hmmmm ultimate showdown at the Orchid Station for ALL Island dwellers? I'm sure they'll wait to make their next move until Sayid gets ashore, which will probably be perfect timing with Sawyer, Miles and Aaron returning. So 5 of the Oceanic 6 will be in one place. But Hurley is still with TEAM JACOB! Which reminds me...we need to talk about Locke!

John Locke - The Chosen One

Birth

• We open up the episode jamming to some Buddy Holly "Everyday." We all know that Buddy Holly died in a plane crash. Keeps with the theme of them using various musicians on the show that died in Plane Crashes.
• It would seem like the 1950's based on the outfits. Emily Locke and Mother have an argument. She runs out of the house and gets hit by a car. We find out she's pregnant. John Locke is born 3 months pre-mature.
• Locke fights off many illnesses but fully develops. The first sign that he is SPECIAL.
• He catches the eye of one RICHARD ALPERT - yep he still looks the same age! Thank God Nestor Carbonell is back on the show! Team Darlton should definitely sign him up as a regular for season 5 and 6 (if necessary) to ensure that we will be able to get his full story. Ever since he appeared to Ben as a 12 year old boy and looked the same age as he did in present day, he has our curiosity peaked! What is up with this crazy guy?
• Only thing else to note is that Emily (whom next time we meet she is helping Locke's Dad con John out of Kidney) abandons John. She had made claims to an Immaculate Conception during that CON with Locke's dad. Perhaps Anthony Cooper was NOT Locke's father? I think that would take away a lot from that story if this was the case though. So I'm not going down that road!

Childhood

• Locke gets a visit at foster home by Richard. Richard has a bag of tricks that he wants to show to John. He lays them out on the table and asks John which have belonged to him previously. Okaaaaay...this is weird!
  Baseball Glove, Book of Laws, Bottle of Sand/Pebbles???, Compass, "Mystery Tales" Comic Book with the text "Hidden Land," and a KNIFE
  
• Sledgeweb's site suggests that this process is gone through to find the new Dali-lama. It does have a bit of a reincarnation vibe going on with it. There is nothing still suggesting that Locke is NOT, in fact, Jacob. How Ben ties into all of this seems to be getting weird and weirder but more intriguing at the same time!
• Note: First thought is to assume this Compass is the same one Locke uses on the island. But if you examine the picture, it is not.
  
• Anyway, Locke picks the Sand, the Compass and the Knife. Upon picking the knife Richard seems upset, grabs his things...states that the knife did NOT belong to Locke and then he leaves. "he is not ready yet" woaaaaaa Now the Foster Home "MOM??" seemed to be in the loop on why Richard was there. Unless it was just about this SCHOOL FOR THE GIFTED that Richard went on about.

Awkward High School Years

• We find Locke "LOCKED" (no pun intended) in his high school locker. Lots of people laughing at him, a nice cut on his lower lip. And of course a GERONIMO JACKSON siting in his Locker!!
  
• Locke's sciene teacher approaches him about someone from Portland recruiting him for Science Camp. It was that crazy MITTELOS crew again (anagram for LOST TIME), that recruited Juliet to the island. Ahhhh remember back in the season 1 days when we thought everyone was on that plane for a REASON? When we pondered that there were people out there RECRUITING specific people for the island? Well in John Locke's case, this may be absolutely true! Richard was also the one who recruited Juliet under the Mittelos name.
  
• John tries to deny his fate by saying he's into Fishing, Sports and Boxing. The teacher tells him he cannot deny who he is. He can't be a superhero......John brings out his favorite line "Don't tell me what I cannot do!!" I'm gonna go ahead and guess that Locke did NOT go to Science Camp!
  

Locke - The REHAB Years

• No sense in drawing out the suspense to who was helping Locke in Rehab. It was Matthew Abaddon. The very same man we see meeting with Hurley in his flash forward, claiming to work for Oceanic Airlines but asking if there are ANY SURVIVORS. The same man that was seen giving Naomi her instructions to bring these 4 crazy people (Miles, Charlotte, Frank, Dan) to the island and apparently had some other mission PRIOR to them going to the island. The same man that told Naomi "There were NO survivors of flight 815"
• Well now Matthew pretty much convinced Locke to go on a "WALKABOUT" (yes the same as the title of Locke's first flashback episode that reveals he was in a wheelchair. the same episode we first heard him say "don't tell me what i cannot do! This is my destiny! I was supposed to do this!!!") Matthew says that the walkabout is a journey of finding onesself (or something like that). He says he went on one himself and came out a totally different person. I'm gonna go ahead and guess that ol' Matty intended for this "WALKABOUT" to occur on FANTASY ISLAND and not necessarily in Australia. Of course, directing Locke to Australia was the key to getting him on flight 815.
• So who IS this guy??? Is he an island native in cahoots with Richard? Why would he be haunting Hurley if he was? But why also would he be behind Naomi sending this group of scientists to the island along with a nut who believes the fake Flight 815 was indeed FAKE!? I'm intrigued. I'm sure he'll factor into our 3 hour finale but will we get any answers?
• He says he's a lot more than an orderly and when Locke finds himself "You'll OWE me" hmmmmmm foreshadowing? Is Abaddon Jacob? Now THAT would be crazy! I guess we'll find out in due time!

The "GOOD" GUYS

• Comical opening to this storyline when the 3 of them are wandering through the jungle and they all pretty much figure out that no one knows where they are going! Hurley - The man who has seen the moving cabin, Locke - the man who HEARD Jacob, Ben - The man who has previously been TIGHT with Jacob. Ahhh quite a braintrust! Well Locke decides to set camp for the night.....ENTER CRAZY DREAM LAND!
• We see Horace Goodspeed in the dream. No, kids, this is NOT Jacob! (Can't tell you how many people came up to me asking why ABC showed Jacob in the promos! We never even saw Jacob except for a glimpse that looked like John Locke with a lot of hair!) Anyway Horace was the man that was present at Ben's birth on the side of the road and also the guy that recruited Roger (Roger "Workman," ben's dad) to the fabulous life of a DHAMRA Janitor!
• We see Horace in some kind of loop chopping a tree. He says he's building a cabin for the family (ahhhh so he build Jacob's cabin!). Told Locke that if he finds him (horace) then he will find Jacob. And Jacob has been waiting a long time for him.
• When Locke wakes up he has a clear sense of where to go. And Ben states "I used to have Dreams" hmmmmm Maybe Richard gave up on Locke when he picked up the knife and then THOUGHT Ben was the Chosen One. And this inspired the Island supporting Ben.
• Locke leads Ben and Hurley to the DHARMA grave. Great clip with Hurley "What happened" and Locke pointing to Ben "He did."
• Of course Ben, as we stated earlier, claims it was not his call. He was not ALWAYS the leader of the Others. It seems Richard was appointed to find their next leader. This is all we have to go on for now!
• Locke jumped into grave and started looking for Horace. Hurley asks if this is where Ben shot Locke and left him for dead. He said yes and he wasn't thinking straight. If he was, he would've known it was pointless. (it's comments like this where I think...well maybe the producers are making it up "a little bit" as they go along!!)
• Locke finds Horace and the BLUEPRINT for the CREEPY SHACK! Apparently this tells Locke how to find a moving cabin!
  
• Locke tries to send Hurley back to the beach but Hurley doesn't want to risk the jungle by himself. Ben states something to the effect "you convinced him that it was HIS idea to stay. good job!" John "I'm not you" Ben "I know" hmmmmmm So did he or did he not CON Hurley? Weird.
• Anyway, they arrive to where the Cabin should be and Ben starts talking CONSEQUENCES. How he was ONCE the chosen one and then he got a tumor on his spine and his daughter died. "Being the chosen one is a Bitch!" he says! Sorry for making this a PG Blog this week kids!!! Apparently Consequences for actions will become a central theme on LOST. Ben may face consequences for summoning the Smoke Monster. Did Ben fault the island at some point during his leadership? Who knows??
• So anyway Hurley spots the cabin. Ben and Hurley refuse to go in. Locke enters on his own. Dum dum dummmmmmmmmm
• Okay....so this was some creepy stuff. So Christian Shephard is in there waiting for Locke. He is speaking on behalf of Jacob. We've already discussed to no-end how we know Shephard is dead. We don't have an answer to this yet. We should note that he's wearing different clothes than the normal suit and sneakers (he was when he was holding Aaron last week too). The big shocker is the CLAIRE is in the shack too! And man does she look creepy! "HI JOHN!!! I'm with him now"
  
  Okay, I'm sure many of you have heard the rumor now that Claire may have died in the explosion during the OTHERSVILLE Invasion. Hints towards this: She mentions Charlie when she wakes up, and Miles various comments and stares in the 2 episodes since the explosion. Miles has a tendency to pick out dead people from a crowd. When Claire makes a comment like "i'm a little woozy but I'll live." Miles responds "I wouldn't be too sure about that" Interesting right???
  
  Well Christian says she is where she is supposed to be and to not tell the others you've seen her. Aaron is where HE is supposed to be and that is not HERE. hmmmmm wasn't he supposed to be raised by Claire???
  
• Anyway, more on that to come in another episode! But discuss away your thoughts! I'm intrigued!
• Christian says that Locke should know why he's here. Locke says "I was chosen to be here"....Christian says "that's absolutely right" Locke FINALLY senses that he is getting answers in his island quest. Christian says to ask the question he is supposed to ask.
• "How do I save the island?" (we see Christian and Claire's faces...a smile on both)
• Next scene we see Ben and Hurley splitting a candy bar. Locke comes out......Ben "did he tell you what we're supposed to do?"
  "He wants us to move the Island"
  
  BOOM.......LOST!

Woaaaaaa So remember when we suggested that the island might be mobile? This explains the Nigerian Drug Plane being able to get to the island. Possibly why things from the Indian Ocean have ended up on the island. Lots of possibilities! How does the Island Move??? well I have no idea. Does it involve the Orchid Station? That would be my guess since that's where Keamy is headed! But this clarifies why Ben says to Widmore "you'll never find it" when we already knew he had found it!

Lots to discuss with this episode. But we have a great setup for a fantastic finale! What did you guys think of this crazy episode? I'm sure I missed stuff. It was a late night when I watched it. Discuss your thoughts and let's look forward to the 3 hour closer and what will most likely be another spectacular finale!! See you next week!

LOST: Season 4 Episode 10 - Something Nice Back Home

You know, I've gotten the feeling lately that people have given up on the Jack-centric episodes. Yes we can attribute 2 very weak flashback episodes and a total change in character for Jack in season 3 to this mentality. But come on! He is Dr. Jack Shephard! He is the man that gave the cheesiest inspirational speech in the history of television! And it's one speech I'm not afraid to push the button on my Jack Shephard action figure to get him to say over and over again "If we can't LIVE.....Together.........We're gonna die alone!" That's right Jack, you be that hero we always knew you could be! Well, if you want HERO Jack, then you're not going to want to see what the writers had in store for Mr. Shephard in this episode. But we must remember that there was this certain episode last season that focused on Jack and it just happened to be maybe the show's BRIGHTEST MOMENT. Yes, my friends the revelation of the FLASH FORWARD in the season 3 finale! We saw Jack in his worst state ever: Suicidal, Grizzly Fake Beard (but real on the show naturally!), Drunk, Drugged, possibly hallucinating. Once we found out that this was some moment in the future, we have questioned for a little over 11 months...what would drive Jack Shephard to this state? Sure, we got a clue to it when we saw the Hurley flash forward. But then we questioned it more because Jack was looking pretty normal in that episode. My friends: enter "SOMETHING NICE BACK HOME" where we bridge the gap! And that's just PART of the story folks! I mean, what episode isn't complete without an appendectomy on said hero? And deals being conducted in Korean? What would a LOST episode be without the mystery and intrigue and a few creepy supernatural events? Yes my friends, I guess what I'm saying is you're entitled to your opinion if you did NOT like this episode. Me? Well, I have one word for you and it's going to come as a big surprise....... W O W !!!!!!!!!!! It was awesome dudes. The suspense didn't waver at all with the Jack episode and we're closing in on the final hours of the season. Things seem to be leading to yet another fantastic season conclusion! Enough of me rambling on with my pseudo review....we need to dig into some pseudo analysis!

Team Sawyer's Expedition to the Beach

We last left Sawyer, Claire, Aaron and Miles leaving Locke, Ben and Hurley behind in order to return to the beach. In true LOST fashion, there wasn't a "sudden" arrival of Sawyer's crew to the beach. Nope, drama needs to occur on the journey and it has to take at least one episode! (contrary to my argument in Episode 2 of this season "Confirmed Dead" where off of the Lost Crew seemed to be traveling around the Island in new record speeds!). Just a couple things worth noting from this storyline (not to mention the crazy last scene of the episode!)

• Alex mentioned it last week, but in case we didn't believe her we get official confirmation of Rousseau and Karl being dead. We get a little more insight to Miles's gift when he walks over the murder scene and senses a bit of what went down when they got shot. Naturally, once Sawyer asks how Miles knew they were there he happened to ask a 2nd question immediately after. So instead of Miles coming clean on being a Ghost Whisperer, we just find out a bit of what we already figured. Miles doesn't want to be associated with the murderous freighter sect. He did not sign up for that. Nope, he just wanted to come to the island and get revenge for Naomi's Death and wanted 3.2 Million dollars from Ben. He seems like a guy worth giving a machine gun!
• Chopper Pilot Frank Lapidus shows up seconds ahead of the remains of Keamy's crew. He warns Sawyer crew to hide. Pretty intense stuff with Aaron making noises and crazy Keamy looking for blood. But Frank does his job well and they are swiftly heading to the chopper. Hmmmm they're LEAVING the island? Are they getting reinforcements?
• Oh yes, remember last week when I was talking about things given away in the preview for the following week? This was one of them. We saw Keamy in the trailer so we knew the smoke monster didn't kill him. In fact, it looks like it spared 5 people (although one was in bad shape). How many people were at the barracks attacking Ben and crew anyway?
• At first glance, it would appear that Miles has the hots for Claire. He can't stop staring at her or striking up flirtatious conversations with her. Big Brother Sawyer goes into full effect and places a 20 foot restraining order on Miles. Best line of the night "I'm the guy that's gonna put a boot in your face unless you say 'yeah I get ya!'"

There are a couple more scenes to discuss in this storyline but it would be more fitting to wait until the end of the blog

Operation Save Jack

Okay, plot #2 ruined by the previews for this episode. We end last week with Jack looking very sick to his stomach. And then the previews went ahead and let us know that it was his appendix that would been to be removed. Sure, it's not like the previews went ahead and revealed that the Island was the lost city of Atlantis or anything (I think that rumor has been debunked by the way!) or that the Smoke Monster is directly related to Smokey the Bear (Actually...I don't think anyone has ever considered this!)

....but at the same time, I think the ABC Marketing department could have gotten away without letting us know Keamy was still alive and kept Jack's "sickness" reveal until the actual airing of the episode. Do they think by including these 2 scenes that it drew more eyes to the TV? Ok, regardless, it has seemed for a majority of the 9 previous episodes this season there has been a struggle for a plotline for these beach dwellers to sink their teeth into. It's all been pretty much a waiting game. While Jack getting sick doesn't leave us with much drama since we know he will survive, the very essence of the sickness may have revealed something about this crazy non-Atlantis island in the process!

• Enter ROSE who returns to Hawaii to film with on-screen husband Bernard (side note: The producers always state that they rarely utilize Bernard and Rose because they have to fly them out to Hawaii, so they wait until there is a juicy story for them. I think with the Post-Strike situation with them filming multiple episodes at one time, it allowed them to utilize Rose and Bernard for possibly the remaining episodes of the season! Which is helpful for Beach stories since the only other 815 survivors currently there are Jack, Kate Sun and Jin.)
• Anyway - Rose notes her confusion on Jack getting sick. She was under the impression that the Island is a HEALING island. Yet, on the eve of the day they were supposed to get OFF of the island, Jack gets sick. (by the way, I don't know how Rose knows exactly what day they're supposed to get off of the island!) So now we've seen 2 situations where the Island healing powers don't come into play and surgery is required. Ben with the tumor on his spine and Jack with the appendix. We know that Ben has had some sort of falling out with Jacob and his whole big scene with Locke and being in communion with the island comes to mind. But Jack? Well Jack has always been a doubter of the mystical powers of the island. But why would he get sick? Was it because he led the expedition to get the crew off of the island? Do we really believe that the ISLAND has some sort of brain and can figure out what's going on in other people's brains? Or is Jacob making these decisions? And by the way...WHO is Jacob??? Possibly we'll find out more next week. A very interesting point Rose brings up, but something I don't think we'll be getting an answer to any time soon.
• Juliet takes charge of the "save Jack" situation. She sends Jin, Sun, Daniel and Charlotte to the Medical station to get surgical supplies. No one trusts Daniel and Charlotte but Daniel continues to try and be helpful and notes Charlotte's bad attitude as a reason the survivors don't trust them. Hmmm...probably also because you told them you weren't going to rescue them in last week's episode! Anyway, they are merely scientists and just want to help!
• We find out through a Sun and Jin conversation (not to mention Daniel's Chivalry of going first into the medical station) that Dan likes Charlotte. Something worth addressing in a minute or 2!
• Daniel at the medical station "where do you think they get this power from?" Charlotte "Add that to the list" A question we've always asked since the reveal of the Swan hatch. Is this foreshadowing that we may find out this season? Perhaps the Orchid Station is responsible for powering the island as well?
• Nice scene where Jin saw the ultrasound equipment that Juliet used to look at Sun's baby. And a reaffirmation that Jin will get Sun and baby off the island at any cost.
• Back to the beach, Juliet is prepping for surgery. Jack wants to be awake during surgery to help walk her through it, even though she said that she's done several appendectomies during her residency. And Jack wants inexperienced Kate in the surgery holding a mirror so he can see. Jack seems to have more confidence with surgeries when Kate's around. Reference: Pilot episode when she stitched Jack up, Ben Surgery where Kate explaining said pilot episode scenario helped calm him down and save Ben during the surgery.
• Okay fast forward to surgery. Pretty nasty stuff and tough guy Jack eventually couldn't handle it anymore. Juliet yells for Kate to leave. Bernard mentions to Jack that he should "dream of something nice back home (a la title of the episode)" and eventually knocks him out with chloroform. While I do think there was supposed to be a comparison drawn to Bernard's comment to Jack's flash forward, I do not think the flash forward was a dream sequence! The events that occurred in that flash were too important to the show for it to have been a dream! Even a LOST dream!
• Surgery goes well and we see Kate coming in while Juliet is stitching Jack up with "standard black" stitches (similar to when Kate stitched Jack up in the pilot episode). Juliet comes out and tells Kate that Jack kissed him and that "it was nice." That got a good laugh out of me. But then she tells Kate that the kiss wasn't for her. It was for Jack trying to prove to himself that he wasn't in love with someone else. dum dum dummmmmm Wow Shocker! Jack loves Kate! Didn't he tell her that in the season 3 finale? By the way, Jack was awake for the whole conversation. Well, considering at this point in the episode we already see what is going on in FUTURE-JACK land, this seems to be just a setup for that. But Jaters can still get excited temporarily seeing that Juliet is basically out of the picture!
• Oh right then there was that awesome scene with Jin speaking Korean to Charlotte and saying that he knows she understands him (as she smiled at the conversation Jin and Sun had earlier about Dan's feelings towards her). While she was in denial for awhile, Jin eventually made reference to breaking Dan's fingers one at a time. Charlotte asks (in Korean) what Jin wants. All he wants is for Sun (with child) to be on that Helicopter when it comes to take Daniel and Charlotte. Charlotte agrees. Well, looks like we have one of the Oceanic 6 all set up! (pending that's how they get off the island) So then the big question is DOES Jin die? It sounds like he already made a deal that would leave him on the island but allow Sun to get off. I think there may be some hope for him yet!
  

Flash Forward

• We kick things off with Jack in his birthday suit, probably to many female viewers' delight. Once I spotted the Millennium Falcon toy from Star Wars, I kinda figured Jack was at Kate's house and helping take care of Aaron. Indeed! Jack and Kate are living together and a happy couple in the future!
• Based on the newspaper referring to the Yankess sweeping the Red Sox, our Sledgeweb sources have confirmed that this flash forward is taking place in August of 2006 (may have been 2007 as another sweep occurred then too per Doc Jensen) As far as timeline goes, this flash forward takes place PRIOR to Bearded Crazy Jack, but AFTER Kate's trial and after his visit to Hurley at the mental institution.
• By the way, there are pictures from Sledgeweb that I did not see a point in sharing revolving around all of Jack's tattoos. Apparently people have noted some disappearing and reappearing on different arms. We all know Matthew Fox has tattoos, so I don't think the producers are trying to share with us anything new here! Probably just some crazy airbrush mistakes or camera tricks (with mirrors? I dunno). Also, some caller on a local radio show noted that when we see Jack in the buff, we see no scar near where his appendix would be. Yet there was still a blatant scene showing more of Jack than we really need to see. I'm still going to say that there's nothing to look into there.
• Jack reads a bedtime story to Aaron. It's Alice in Wonderland, a book referenced a couple other times on LOST (who can forget THE LOOKING GLASS station?). We find out that Jack did have GOOD memories of his father as Christian used to read him this story as well. Jack states that he was good at telling stories. Hmmm I wonder if any were about some mystical island?
• Jack's presence is requested at Hurley's mental institution. Apparently he has gotten worse and refuses to believe anything is real. He tells Jack that the Oceanic 6 are all dead. He tells Jack that he hangs out with Charlie a lot. Tries to convince Jack that his situation with Kate and Aaron is too perfect, like HEAVEN. Hurley said that Charlie told him that Jack would be visiting this day.
  (I still refuse to entertain any "They're all Dead" or "they're in purgatory" theories!! I don't think Hurley is crazy, but I think he really can't explain why he's being haunted by Ghost Charlie! And yes, we can't explain it either yet!)
• Charlie provided Hurley with a message "you're not supposed to raise him Jack" Okay, too coincidental not to be actually happening, right? This hearkens back to Season 1's episode "RAISED BY ANOTHER" where Claire visits the possible fraudulent psychic Malkin. Malkin tells Claire that no one else can raise her child. This definitely is being set up as a big plot point. But the question still remains, was Malkin a part of this setup, actually foresaw something, or really was just making up something to scare Claire? I think we can rule out the latter scenario. Afterall, he also told her that she NEEDED to be on flight 815.
• Hurley tells Jack that someone is coming to visit him too. Naturally, we already know Christian has appeared to Jack on the island, so we probably figured it would be him. The question was just WHEN? Jack thought he had spotted Christian earlier in the episode (and probably had) but daddy didn't stop to chat just then.
• Jack returns home late that night and asks Kate if she was serious when she told him that he's a natural at raising Aaron. Jack seemed a little shell-shocked by the Hurley visit. When Kate confirms that Jack is fit to be a father, he then pulls out a ring and proposes to Kate! Woaaa..... This is kinda crazy, since we already knew that at some point in the future they were apart. So we kinda figured that even though she agreed and everything was happy for 5 minutes, that something would be changing by the end of the episode. We needed to see Jack on the path to destruction! (alas, he already was)
• Jack is back at work and hears the Smoke alarm go off. Okay, I know I can't be the only one who thought this but we knew Jack was getting a visit soon and the SMOKE alarm goes off? Come on, that's not a coincidence! There's a SMOKE MONSTER on the Island that we have seen take human form before? Remember Yemi? Now, how the smoke monster would appear OFF the island remains to be seen. But with Christina Shephard making an appearance immediately following Jack removing the battery from the smoke alarm? I don't see it as a coincidence. AND NO! I refuse to entertain the idea that Christian Shephard is still alive! I know at least ONE reader out there is probably still considering this! Producers have confirmed time and time again that he is definitely dead! When you die on the show, you are dead but this doesn't mean you are removed from the LOST CAST payroll.
• So this is the first time that Ghost Christian SPEAKS to Jack. But he only gets a "JACK" out before being interrupted by random doctor! (Erica was it? I think it probably doesn't matter!)
• The big thing to note here is that Jack thinks he's going crazy and asks the doctor for a prescription for some stress reducing medication (began with a P but no way I could figure it out! If anyone wants to post the comment with the prescription, I'll revise. ) This would seem to be the beginning of Jack's addiction to prescription meds. He'll eventually up the ante to Oxycotton, but for now we just have that P-word drug!
• REVISED - Thanks Anonymous poster! "clonazepam--an antianxiety med"
• When Jack returns to Casa Heaven Kate is on the phone having some shady discussion including the words "Jack doesn't usually get home until after 8" which Jack happens to overhear. This causes Jack to start questioning things and to start to doubt Kate. He chugs down is new prescription meds with a beer (thus beginning the drinking as well).
• Next Scene, Kate returns home (before 8pm I would assume) and Jack is there with a few empty liquor bottles and a drink in hand.
  Jack: WHERE WERE YOU??????
  Kate: TRUST ME JACK!
  Jack: WHERE WERE YOU??????
  Kate: Doing something for Sawyer!!!! (man, Kate broke pretty easily)
• Okay, so Sawyer asked Kate to do something for him, my guess is that it was prior to the Oceanic 6 leaving the island. So apparently everyone is in the know with who is leaving the island and who isn't. (we still don't know what happens to everyone else though!) What do we think Sawyer asked her to do? Well, my first thought would be for Kate to check in on his daughter Clementine. Perhaps Sawyer taking care of Aaron (whoops not there yet) for the time being gets him thinking about his own kid. And perhaps while he's handing Aaron over to Kate, this is a discussion they have.
• Regardless, Drunk and Crazy Jack comes out and starts explaining his obvious jealousy over Sawyer. "I SAVED YOU!!!" "HE DECIDED NOT TO COME!!!" (hmmmm there were decisions on whether to go or stay???) Kate pleaded with Jack that she is with him and not to do this......and of course then came the big one from Jack "YOU'RE NOT EVEN RELATED TO AARON!!!!" (paraphrased). So there you go, Jack should be finding out before he leaves the island that Aaron is his half-nephew. Perhaps GHOST DADDY is going to tell Clarie soon (I know I know! we're not there yet!)
• We can only assume that Jack's falling into drugs/alcohol/sawyer hating distrust that Jack and Kate's engagement breaks off shortly after this and Jack goes into a tailspin.
• We can also assume that Jack probably will get another visit from Daddy which may lead to him yelling in the hospital in the season 3 finale for someone to "get my father down here and if I'm drunker than he is....."
• Can we assume that Kate is still referring to AARON in that final flash forward scene from season 3 when she said "he's going to wonder where I am?" For now, I'll say yes.
• Can we make any new assumptions on why Kate wouldn't go to so and so's funeral? I mean, I guess it COULD be Hurley. But it sounds like she would've wanted to go to the institution to see him. I think I'm done with the coffin watch, we'll find out soon enough!

End Scene

Okay, so I had to cut off our Sawyer expedition storyline for dramatic effect! Obviously there was a big setup that will be explored in coming episodes!

• First, Claire wakes up in the middle of the night and sees Christian Shephard holding baby Aaron and playing with him. Woaaaaaaaa Claire exclaims "DAD?" Looks like Christian is checking in on both of his children.
  
• But here's the kicker. When Sawyer wakes up, Miles fills him in on what went down. He saw Claire go off with some old man who she called "DAD" and they took Aaron with them. He would have followed but he had a restraining order (ba dum CHING!!!!) So Miles saw Christian too. I know he talks to dead people and all, but this is just more confirmation that it's not in people's heads. Kinda like that patient saw Charlie in Hurley's flash forward.
• Then, Sawyer and Miles hear a baby crying....and there is Aaron all by himself by a tree. Sawyer screams looking for Claire.....but no response....he screams again "CLAAAAAIRRRRRE!!!!!!!!!"

BOOM LOST!!!!

Well there you have it. The producers and Emile de Ravin (Claire) all have said there was definitely an interesting story twist for Claire to cap off this season. Well interesting indeed! My curiosity is peaked! I think this confirms also that Claire does not have to DIE to be separated from the Oceanic 6 when they leave the island. She may just be occupied elsewhere by GHOST DAD (anyone else thinking of that bad Bill Cosby movie right now?) . And judging by us already having seen Christian Shephard in the Jacob rocking chair in the Jacob Shack and with next week's episode being entitled "CABIN FEVER" and Locke, Hurley and Ben enroute to the cabin, I think we might see some immediate payoffs to this Claire storyline. But time will tell! Finally, we may be getting to see exactly how involved Daddy Shephard is with the Island activities.

Well, I enjoyed this episode as I do most of them. I know some people weren't looking forward to the Jack-centric story. But I'm interested to hear all of your thoughts! Any crazy theories out there? Did I miss anything? The floor is yours LOSTIES! COMMENT AWAY and I will see you next week as we all get a case of "CABIN FEVER" in our final NON-FINALE based episode of season 4. NAMASTE!