Lost: 4.12 “There’s No Place Like Home, Part 1”
Before I go any further, some of you may have heard that a scene-by-scene spoiler of the final two-hour episode on May 29th is already circulating the Internet. I’m disappointed it managed to get out again, but please note this is a spoiler-free blog. I don’t want to know anything, nor do most of my readers, so please please don’t spoil us. Thank you!!

Previously on Lost:
There was a lot of discussion last week about “Cabin Fever” – Is Abaddon a grown-up version of Walt who is time travelling? Is Richard Alpert really Locke’s father? Did Hurley really say Mallomars? – and you can check out the posts on that episode here, here and here. Be sure to check out the comments.

This week’s episode showed the Oceanic Six becoming the Oceanic Six. Four years ago I imagined this to be the series finale – the rescue, the press conference, the reunion with the families. But by the looks of it, this is only the beginning. I imagine the next two seasons will show what happened after Jack began to lose it, and his manic hunt for the island. We’ll probably see a lot more of the Ben/Locke/Widmore stuff and the secrets of the island will be revealed. In the present, Sayid’s trying to rescue the survivors, Jack’s trying to fix things, Juliet’s been given a few throwaway lines, Jin and Sun are gobsmacked to see Michael again, Ben and company are heading to the Orchid where they’ve been beaten to the punch by Keamy and friends, and Frank is promising a helicopter rescue. There is so much going on, I cannot WAIT for the next episode.

This week we knew in advance the group was going to end up at a new station. My seven-month-old son wore his new Lost shirt in anticipation of the show, and he had his ideas of where the station would be. He was wrong, but I’m thinking after a day of being carried around by Sawyer, maybe Aaron could use this station (the poor kid could also use something to eat!) By the way, seeing as we’ll be watching Aaron get older, I missed the boat on getting my son onto the show when he was the perfect Aaron age during the writer’s strike. Now I see I have a second opportunity. I’ll be working on getting the casting people to fall in love with him and want him on their show. :)

“There Are Two People Responsible for His Death”
I think, despite all our hope to the contrary, that Jin really is dead. In this episode, Sun looks shell-shocked when she’s on the cargo plane, and I don’t think it’s because she just left Jin behind. First, she tells Paik that there are two people responsible for his death, with Paik being one of them. That, of course, leads us to wonder... who is the other one? Jack? Ben? Keamy? Michael? Secondly, the fact that Michael, Desmond, and Jin walk into a room of C-4 explosives and send Sun away is NOT good. (Am I a bad person for immediately thinking, “Uh... explosives... DESMOND, GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!!”) Will Jin stay behind and be blown up? Or are we just being led by the writers to think these things, when in fact he’s alive? I’m still holding on to a tiny possibility that he’s alive but left behind, but her anger and sorrow when she confronts her father seemed to suggest Jin is no longer alive.

The Reunion
When I saw Hurley’s ma, I grinned from ear to ear, and then that smile was totally wiped off my face when I saw Paik. I loved that Sun wouldn’t even look at him, and he knows it. Any power he once had over his daughter appears to be gone, and there’s a moment where you can tell by the look in his eye that he knows it. Sun has come back a very different person. I LOVED the look on Sayid’s face when he sees Nadia. And the last we saw of Jack’s mother, she was yelling at him that his father’s downfall was totally his fault. It was nice to see a happy reunion there. It must have been so hard for her to lose both men in her life, and she’s probably replayed that final night with her son over and over in her head. Now she gets a chance to change the ending. Poor Kate... vindictive Diane just wouldn’t be there. I really hate that woman.

The Press Conference
(Did anyone think, “Hey, it looks like they’re at a sci-fi con! Only.... better dressed.”) This scene is interesting, because Decker first confirms that their plane had gone down near the Sunda Trench (which was in the Find815 game), which is not true. Are they in cahoots with Widmore? Secondly, when the Korean reporter asks Sun if Jin had died on the island, Jack looks at her anxiously. Why is it so important that she say no? Do they have a story involving three other people who died, and it’s important that one of those people can’t be Jin? (Before you correct my math, Kate would have been pregnant according to their story, so she and Aaron would both just count as one, meaning there would be three people besides the five.) Also, wouldn’t any prenatal ultrasounds show that if Jin didn’t make it to the island, then Sun was impregnated by someone else? I’ve had prenatal ultrasounds, and they can determine conception pretty much to the day. Clearly the reporters are smelling something fishy, especially with the pointed questions at Kate regarding her being pregnant with Aaron. Why didn’t the police report mention she was pregnant? I don’t care who you are, if you are a size 2, you are SHOWING at six months (take a look at Angelina Jolie pictures right now). And if Kate ever goes to a doctor to have a physical, the doc will probably figure out she’s never given birth. How will they get past the little hiccups like these?

Highlights:
• Sawyer calling Miles “Genghis.”
• Sawyer momentarily silencing Jack by reminding him that things are playing out exactly as Locke said they would. Take THAT, Jack.
• After Jack heads off into the jungle, Sawyer following him while muttering, “You don’t get to die alone.” HAHAHA!!
• Ben to cracker-eating Hurley: “You know those are fifteen years old.”
• “Jesus Christ is not a weapon.”
• Hurley’s parents putting on a theme party in bad taste.
• Ben “admitting” he wasn’t entirely truthful. Ha!

Biggest “GASP!” Moments:
• Sun buying a controlling interest in Paik’s company. GO SUN!!
• Claire’s mother is ALIVE!!!!

Hurley’s Numbers:
Jack says there were only 8 people left by the time they got to the island. The Coast Guard plane is number 1717 (1+7=8). Hurley's crackers were 15 years old.

Did You Notice?:
• Michelle Forbes rocks. I was so happy to see Cain at the beginning of this episode.
• The plane lands in Honolulu, according to Decker, so for the first time Hawaii gets to play itself on this show.
• I’ve never noticed how many of the survivors are only children... Sun, Kate, Jack, and Hurley have no siblings. (Same with Sawyer, Jin, Claire, Locke, Ben, Walt... Boone and Shannon are only step-siblings.)
• Clearly The Orchid is a need-to-know station, because Juliet had no idea what it was.
• Sawyer calls the Others camp “New Otherton,” which is the first time it’s called that on the show (it’s what the crew has been calling it on set).
• Kate lied about Aaron’s age (the younger they say he is, the less pregnant she would have been before the crash). She says he’s five weeks, when in fact he’s a little over two months.
• Decker says they were found on day 108, and by the Lostpedia timeline, we’re currently on day 97.
• Just before Sayid kisses Nadia, he blinks, as if to check if he’s dreaming. What a tiny but perfect gesture.
• When Sun ascends the staircase, it’s the same camera angle as when she ascended to ask her father for money to pay off Jin’s mother. But now she’s in a completely different power position.
• Mr Tron and Ladytron were apparently rehired (remember the bundle of money they accepted in “Tricia Tanaka Is Dead” to leave the place?)
• Mrs. Reyes has moved her own personal Jesus from the centre of the table to her dresser... or maybe she has two of them.
• Jack wasn’t at Hurley’s birthday party.
• The co-pilot at the beginning of the episode kisses a rabbit’s foot for good luck, and later Hurley’s dad hands him keys with a rabbit’s foot on them.
• Several times throughout this episode, someone looks at Aaron’s face and he’s a picture of serenity, and they seem to calm down after doing so.
• Clearly Jack and company won’t be seeing Christian before they leave the island.
• The Flame station had also been rigged with C-4 explosives, just like the freighter.

So Many Questions...
• Where were the Oceanic Six coming from at the very beginning? They’re all in very nice clothes, and have had time to coordinate their story. Were they coming directly from the island, or did Oceanic stop somewhere first to clothe them and allow them to sit and chat alone? (This is the mom in me, but all I could think of was how weird it must be for Aaron to finally wear clothes.)
• What has happened that makes Jack want to lie?
• Are the five survivors the ones who have come up with the lie, or is Oceanic blackmailing them somehow? Is Oceanic telling them to use the elaborate lie for some reason?
• The plane they’re on at the beginning is a Hawaiian Coast Guard plane.
• How does Daniel know about the secondary protocol?
• Daniel flips through his journal and finds a page where he’s written about The Orchid Station, and says we have to get off this island right now. It seems to only ring a bell with him, and he needs to flip through his book to confirm his suspicion (we’ve talked here before about his apparent memory loss). I think it’s pretty clear that The Orchid is a time travelling station, so did Dan somehow end up there at some point? Has he been to the island before? Another thing: he’d written earlier that if anything happens to him, Desmond will be his constant. Shouldn’t he be staying a little closer to Des?
• I thought Hurley had decided he could make his own luck in “Tricia Tanaka,” and the catharsis he has with the whole VW van barrelling down the mountain scene was him proving to himself that he’s not cursed. So why is he so freaked out by the numbers still? I could see him getting upset when all of the numbers are on his odometer, but why does he tell the reporter that he doesn’t want his $150 million? Didn’t he decide that money was NOT the curse after all? Will we see the numbers one more time, and they’ll send Hurley over the edge again, erasing any progress he may have made?
• Notice that Ben doesn’t answer Locke directly when he asks who he’s communicating with. So who was it, Richard? Richard and company are in the jungle nabbing Kate and Miles... did Ben tell them to do it? Or is he communicating with someone else?
• Paik is yelling at two men who seem to be talking about someone stealing money from the company (they mention the person did it through 5 different banks). This is probably just a scene set up to show loud, blustery Paik, but you never know if it might be relevant later on. It would be pretty funny if it were Ben or someone time travelling and siphoning Paik’s accounts.
• How much money did Oceanic pay out? I was under the impression that Paik’s empire was huge, but if Sun was able to buy a controlling interest, did Oceanic pay them all $100 million or something?? Or is Paik’s company smaller than I thought?
• Did anyone else hear gunshots as Hurley was walking up to his house?
• Who really put the odometer to those numbers? Something tells me Hurley’s being manipulated to end up back at the institution. Could Widmore be involved? Did Charlie reset them?
• Who rigged the ship with the C-4 explosives?
• What is Ben’s plan?

Next week: No episode next week, but please tune in: I have a Lost announcement to make.

In two weeks: Ben’s given himself up, Sayid and Kate are with the Others, Jack and Sawyer are with Lapidus, Locke’s about to go into the Orchid station, Sun’s standing on the freighter deck, and Michael, Desmond, and Jin have to defuse the explosives. Should be an exciting week!!! (No preview on stupid CTV. Argh.)

UPDATE #1: Oops, a reader confirmed that the writers seem to have forgotten about Hurley's brother Diego. So did I. Also, a few people speculated that Paik's people are actually talking about Sun buying up shares through five different banks, which makes perfect sense to me.

UPDATE #2: Here is the ABC preview for the finale, for all those poor Canucks like me who were denied by stupid CTV:



UPDATE #3: I was just watching the episode again, and during Hurley's birthday party, you can see a Geronimo Jackson album on the DJ's table. HA! You have to look really carefully. It's on a tilt beside him, and you can only see the band's name on the album cover when he lowers his arm.