There's No Place Like Home, Part 2 & 3

LOST Season Four Finale

I would like to thank you all for once again helping me have a great season finale party. I’ve have heard it called "The Best One Yet!" We didn’t get a chance to play the quiz but Lost Scattergories was a blast! I will think up new categories by Feb 09 as well as change things around a little bit. But thanks to all who attended and for the best line of the night, “Knees!!!”. You will have to show next time to find out what that means!

Last Friday there was all kinds of drama going on in my life and I wasn’t sure why I was even involved and why it bothered me so much. And then it dawned on me. It’s gone. For the next 8 months, I will have to rely on my own life to get me through. I was overanalyzing everything going on in the world around me because I don’t have my guilty pleasure to do it with anymore (And why does that sentence sound so naughty?!?). I will suck it up so that we can complete this season off right, knowing that as soon as I hit save, it's over.

Before I get into the final episode, I’d like to say that I felt the shortened season due to the writer's strike still packed a punch. It’s hard to remember all the oohs and ahs but they were lots of them. I have compiled a list of the top 10 events of season four – in my humble opinion. I think once we reflect, then we can really move on.

10. Michael’s return – Even though we new it was coming since it was the most hyped return of a character in quite some time, it was great to see him turn around on the freighter. Of course now he is screaming racial discrimination because they killed off key black characters. Too leave a great show like this, I would be pissed too! But there are no guarantees and everyone is potentially expendable. Michael (Howard) better shut it up before he goes the way of Isaiah Washington. The TPTB still had nice things about him and wished him well. He even got a new job on ABC. That was smart on ABC's part to squelch the potential media storm. But it was the answer we needed and a story line that definitely needed tying up.

9. Jin and Sun – They had 3 great moments. When Jin found out she cheated, when we realized that it was a flash forward and flash back in the childbirth episode, and Jin’s “death” scene. They are a great couple and to see how far their characters and relationship has grown has been extremely satisfying. I don't think Jin is dead and am waiting for him to appear at the end of an episode in season five and then the fade to black w/ LOST written in white and the Dum!

8. Oceanic Six - Before all the crap about Aaron being one of the six (not going to get into it again!), it was exciting to learn exactly who was and wasn’t part of the Oceanic Six. Guessing the who, what, when, where and why of it all was part of many hours of debate. As each week unfolded and another one was revealed, it was great tv.

7. Time shift confirmation – The test with the rocket and the death of the doctor confirmed time shift. That was exciting to learn that that theory was correct. It also set up questions as to how it all would eventually fit together. The actual island disappearing in a flash of white was magnificent. Even though we saw it coming, it was great.

6. Miles – He has proven to be a great new character this season. All his freaky moments and connection with the dead are what the island needed. I like that fact that he has sort of an attitude and a chip on his shoulder. He is also a multidimensional character that can use his powers for good, evil, or not at all. Sort of like Sawyer...the anti-hero hero.

5. Christian as Jacob’s representative – We were unclear last season when Locke and Ben saw him. When Hurley saw him, we guessed correctly but still were not completely sure. When Locke SPOKE with him we were floored! Add in Claire sitting there all cryptic, fantastic!

4. Alex being murdered – You thought that Ben would find a way to talk his way out of the hostage situation. Then Keamy shoots her in cold blood. My heart stopped. And THEN Ben’s revenge with the smoke monster. Brilliant even if the monster didn’t kill them all off. It was a powerful scene that left my mouth wide open and my finger on the rewind button.

3. Sayid working for Ben – As he was being patched up in the vet office and is speaking to his employer. Then the slow camera pan to that employer being Ben was a jaw dropper. To find out that not only was Ben off the island but had manipulated Sayid into working for him. Wow!

2. Aaron being passed off as Kate’s son – Shocking is all I remember when she first spoke his name. Some of us believing it was Sawyer’s baby and she was impregnated on the island. All the questions, Is it hers? Is it adopted? Where is Claire? That moment was spectacular.

1. Locke in the coffin – Although in some ways not as shocking as the other 9 events were, this one may take a minute to develop. Ben right behind Jack made me jump. And if I hadn't been an information whore and let the story unfold, this would have been an extremely shocking moment. But I am willing to wait for all the questions and doors this event opens up for everyone off as well as on the island. It is still significant moment for this season.

Thank you for coming along with me down memory lane. Now…on with the show!

Summary

They filmed 3 alternate endings to the show to throw the spoiler sites off. It didn’t work very well. Based on the dialogue, it really only could have been Locke in the coffin. The other scenes had Sawyer and Desmond. I’m glad it wasn’t Desmond because someone has to have the happy ending. And Sawyer had just sacrificed himself for Kate, that just didn’t make sense. I read one thought that it was Ben behind Jack and then Ben in the coffin. That would have been cool! But still Locke being dead raises so many questions. It was a good episode for this time in the series.

Connections

Jeremy Bentham is the name of an English philosopher in the 1800’s who advocated for economic freedom, end of slavery, discrimination against homosexuals, the right to divorce and the freedom of expression. This is Locke's alias off of the island. Remember that commercial for Octagon Global Recruiting? That was a recruitment video for the Dharma Initiative. Funny, we saw it and joked about their request for teachers. The job fair is in San Diego July 24th - 27th…the same days of Comic Con. Too cool! When Hurley was playing chess with the ghost of Mr. Ecko, he was on the black chess pieces side and Mr. Ecko was on the white. The black logo on the funeral home is the same as the white logo on the Pearl station. When Sawyer whispers to Kate in the helicopter, he says “I have a daughter in Albuquerque, you need to find her. Tell her I’m sorry.” The voice on the phone speaking to Kate says,”The island needs you. You have to go back before it’s too late.” Sawyer uses more nicknames, calling Jack “Sundance” and Frank “Kenny Rogers.” I love that Charlotte was revealed as being on the island before. I believe that she could have been a Dharma kid and she was either taken off the island so her mother wouldn’t die or after. But who’s kid could she be to be that significant? Maybe the bodies in the cave?

Questions

The island moving was cool. If we base it on the Orchid Video, when it shifted forward in time if “disappeared” but is still in the same place it was. It only appeared to disappear and if you were on that same heading you could no longer see it because its on another plane in time. Just like the whispers. I think its people trying to talk to them but they cannot understand because of the time difference. Desmond goes to the past to tell Penny to wait for his call in the future. They speak then and again while Desmond is on the freighter. So she is on her way. Ben turns the wheel and the island moves further in time and takes the freighter and the raft with it. The helicopter is off course and is not caught up in the time shift. So Penny finds them after the crash and they are now on the same plane in time as the rest of the world. They didn’t leave the island the island left them. I guess Ben still had to move the island because Widmore knew the coordinates and Penny's boat was close. Since the underwater station was still considered part of the island, I see why the freighter was still visible and why Faraday's raft will still be there.

It was scary when Kate found Claire next to Aaron’s bed. Claire, “don’t bring him back to the island.” Who is “him”? I thought Aaron. But now I am starting to think she means Ben. Ben is obviously working the angles. He doesn’t care about them as evidenced by him allowing the freighter to blow up. He has always thought of them in relation to how they can help him. He must need them so that he can go back. This brings me back to the Ben Widmore meeting. Ben can't kill Widmore. Does that mean Ben can't be killed either? If Locke is a leader, why has he presumably been killed? Also "I know who you are boy." That line always made me think that Widmore was much older than Ben. Perhaps centuries. Also this line: That island's mine, Benjamin. It always was. It will be again. What if Widmore spun the wheel, tricked by Ben, and can't go back? They both want to go back - but how if it was Jacob's wish for Ben to leave in the first place? So many questions.

When Locke asks if the vault was the black box, Ben is like No you idiot. I think they traveled back and picked up Locke’s dad and made it seem more mystical than it actually was. When Ben entered the vault, that was the island working its magic. I think its funny how even now Locke can't tell Ben's lies apart. I found a timeline and Ben ended up landing 10 months into the future, since that is when he sees Sayid on the television carrying Nadia’s coffin. So I'm not sure if the island moved forward or if it moved back sense Ben moved ahead in the real world.

Locke in the coffin was a good way to end things. I guessed it was him after analyzing the part about the funeral director saying “Friend or family of the deceased”. I was thrown about him being survived by a teenaged son since he didn’t have any children that we knew of. I assume Walt but it didn't seem that they had enough contact for him to be considered a father figure. He was found hanging from a beam according the obituary in the season three finale. He was the leader of the Others and had everything he thought he wanted. Why would he have left the island? Why would he visit them and try to convince them that they needed to go back? What went terrible wrong after Jack left? I HOPE they can tie this up neatly in 2 mini seasons. Even though these 13 episodes were more than enough to move things forward.

Conclusion

I will keep you posted regarding any information I learn about LOST at Comic Con. I will send an email letting you know when I am going just in case you want to come along. Also anything new during the off season will be put on the blog and emailed out. There are tidbits and lost seasons popping up from this season so I will be sure to direct you to the correct links.

Thank you all for visiting the site and sharing my favorite past time with me. Be safe and hope see you all again Feb 09 for the season five season premiere of LOST. C-ya!