(from www.lostaddictsblog.com )  

Thursday, May 01, 2008

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 theYankess sweeping the Red Sox, our Sledgeweb sources have confirmed that this flash forward is taking place in August of 2006. 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!
• 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 prior to the Oceanic 6 leave. 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!