The Oceanic Stinkin’ Six (Lost Season 4 Episode 12: There’s No Place Like Home Pt1)

Sorry I’m getting this out a little late, Losties, it’s because I had a big big day yesterday! But don’t worry, my partying can’t stop my Lost-love. I got home at midnight (after a pre-screening of Prince Caspian) and immediately sat down to watch Lost. Alone. My dear husband, the false fan, couldn’t stay up that late. So, against my previous warnings, I watched Lost before bed. I dreamed of Prince Caspian and Sawyer running through the jungle. So, I’ll try to stay on task…

The Beach Party
Sun, Jack, Faraday and random Losties are arguing about the sat phone. Faraday calls the phone on the helicopter and they hear Keamy and Lapidus arguing about landing and making their way to The Orchid. So, the King of the Island, Jack disregards all their conversation, including the worried doctor, Juliet and calls Kate to him. The two lovebirds take off into the jungle to find The Orchid by following the GPS of the sat phone.

The only interesting part here is that Faraday begins searching his journals and finds a drawing (that he drew!) of The Orchid. He tells CS Lewis, “We must get off this Island, TODAY.” Chill-ing. (What is his deal?)

The Old Triangle & A Baby
Jack & Kate are walking through the jungle at top speed and gaining on the helicopter. Suddenly, Miles and Sawyer AND baby Aaron appear in their path. Sawyer looks, I don’t know, sad to see Jack & Kate together? Relieved to see Kate? Emotional because of Claire’s departure? I’m not sure, but he was visibly upset.

They all have a heated argument about Claire, the helicopter and what Keamy and his gang are up to. Miles and Kate (clutching Aaron) head back to the beach. Jack storms ahead while (sweet sweet) Sawyer follows Jack because, “You don’t get to die alone!”

Jack & Sawyer discover Lapidus handcuffed to the helicopter. Sawyer, of course, has never seen Lapidus and isn’t excited too uncuff him. Jack vouches for him and Lapidus says he’ll take them off the Island before Keamy and his bad dudes get back from The Orchid.

When Sawyer realizes Ben, Locke & Hugo are on their way to The Orchid, too, he refuses to leave. Jack reluctantly agrees.

(This whole episode was kind of our three different groups of Losties sharing information. The beach crew, the freighter crew & the New Otherton crew. FINALLY. It looks as if The Island is drawing our Losties together again.)

The Three Crazies
Ben is back to his old tricks again. He is leading Locke and Hugo to The Orchid so they can move The Island per Jacob/Christian’s instructions. Ben, of course, knows how to do this. He says it’s dangerous and that’s why he hasn’t done it before.

As they get close, Ben stops and uncovers an “emergency kit” with saltines (15 years old), a mirror, binoculars and some rope (was there anything else in there?). He uses the mirror to signal someone (the Others?). Locke asks what he’s doing and Ben says, “None of your business.”

(Is this the same Ben who acted like a baby last week because he wasn’t the Chosen Island Boy anymore? Please.)

When they get to The Orchid, Keamy and his crew have already arrived (please tell me someone else noticed that Keamy talks exactly like BTTF’s Biff!). Ben, in his USUSAL all-knowing-ness instructs Locke on where to go inside The Orchid. Locke asks, “What are you going to do?” And in a freaky-Ben-rage he turns to Locke and spits out, “How many times do I have to tell you?! I ALWAYS have a plan!”

He then walks straight into The Orchid, hands raised. Keamy and his buddies surround Ben, guns raised. Ben says, “I’m Benjamin Linus. I think you’re looking for me.” And Keamy knocks him out. (*sigh* How I’ve been wanting to do that!)

Sayid & The Zodiac

Sayid arrives on The Island (remember, he took the The Zodiac boat?). He is going to take SIX people back to the freighter. He tells everyone that they must come now before the helicopter (aka KEAMY) gets back to the freighter. They are confused and Sayid explains that Keamy is going to kill them all. Sayid then learns Jack (the ridiculous King of the Island) and Kate have run into the jungle and straight into Keamy.

Fortunately, Kate (and Aaron & Miles) show up on the beach just then. She explains where her two lover-boys are headed. But in a turn, she hands Aaron off to Sun and runs BACK into the jungle to track the boys with Sayid. (She’s got that all-powerful thing of Jack’s too. Seriously? She’s the ONLY one who can track? I’m pretty sure Sayid could do it, too.)

So, Faraday takes the reigns wheel rudder and begins ferrying the beach party to the freighter. First on the boat are Random Losties 1-4 and Jin, Sun & Aaron. It’s a sweet moment between Jin and Sun as he looks on at his wife cradling a baby. He says, “I told you I’d get you off The Island.”

The Freighter

They arrive on the freighter and Faraday quickly returns to The Island for more Losties. And here 3 things happen very quickly:

1. Sun and Jin see Michael for the first time. They confront him about working for Ben.
2. Michael says he’s fixed the engines. Desmond runs to tell the new captain (?). He explains he can’t get out on Faraday’s bearing because of some intereference. Desmond says he will find the interference (it’s something on the boat. I’m a girl, remember? I don’t understand technical jargon…)
3. Desmond runs out to Michael and yells FRANTICALLY. Sun, Jin and Michael follow Desmond and find an entire cabin wired with explosives. Jin tells Sun to “koreankoreankorean. NOW!” She obeys.

This is where it got weird. She runs on to the deck and I swear she was going to jump off or throw Aaron over. Very very eerie.

AND SPEAKING OF EERIE. Let’s get to our flashFORWARD. I saved this for last because it will be the most talked about. It’s the part I have the most !!!!! and ALL CAPS saved for. Not to mention a few thousand questions.

The flashFORWARD
The show actually begins with two pilots in the cockpit of a transport plane/jet. One is rubbing a rabbit’s foot. The other reprimands him for being silly. The superstitious one says, “We need it with our cargo.” They then tell another passenger who turns out to be an Oceanic Airlines representative that they are about to land.

She walks to the back of the plane and we see our Oceanic Six dressed, coiffed and makeup-ed and sitting awkwardly together. They don’t look relieved, happy or even tired. They just look…awkward.

The Oceanic girl explains the media has been calling them “The Oceanic Six”. She says, “Not the best branding, but it is catchy!” (hat tip from the writers?) She explains they don’t have to talk to the media because their family is meeting them in Honolulu (where they are landing) but they can if they want.

Jack answers for the group (big surprise) and says they will tell their story. Once Oceanic girl leaves, Jack coaches the others on their story. Jack says, “If you don’t want to answer a question, don’t worry, they’ll just think you’re shocked.” And Sun says, “We are shocked, Jack.”

YES. I’m thinkin’ they don’t love Jack as much as they did…

So, the door opens and they head out to their families. Hurley is greeted by his parents, Sun by hers, Jack by his mother. Sayid has no one until Hurley pulls him into his family. Kate and her fake-son stand alone watching the reunions.

And now, my favorite part—the Press Conference.

Oceanic girl, Karen Decker, begins. (Hope I can get this right…)

Basically, she says Oceanic 815 went down near Membata, an island by Indonesia. The survivors were carried by the current to the island (lowercase…). After 103 days, a fishing boat was washed to shore. The Oceanic 6 hopped on board and made their way to another island where they were rescued (on day 108) by fishermen. (Here she shows a picture of that rescue. They DO look bad. But Hurley is wearing the same shirt he had on in this episode!! Wow. I paused this like 5 times.)

Now the media gets their turn. Everyone is asked a question. We get to hear their story for the first time. Basically, 8 of them get off the plane, ride cushions to the island. Jin never made it off the plane. Kate was scared when she had her baby. The reporters also ask about Hurley’s money and Kate’s arrest.

It was all very…awkward.

(Oh, I almost forgot. When they leave the press conference who shows up? Nadia. She and Sayid have a tearful reunion. *sniff*)

Now. We get a welcome-to-the-real-world scene with each of the Oceanic Six. Let’s list them, shall we?

Hurley.
He gets to his parent’s mansion. The door is open and…a coconut is on the floor. He hears whispers. Yes. WHISPERS. He starts to freak out, picks up a gold Jesus statue and opens the door to the patio. SURPRISE! It’s a birthday party!

And who’s in attendance? Kate & Aaron. Sayid and new wife, Nadia. (Kate mentions Jack will be late…)

They talk about the interesting choice of an Island-themed party. Then Hurley’s dad ushers Hurley to the garage where he shows him the car. (Remember the car?) When Hurley gets inside he looks down at the odometer and sees..

THE NUMBERS.

(YES! They’ve been absent for quite awhile. It was nice to see their cameo.)

Hurley freaks and runs away from the party.

Sun.
She is seen walking up the stairs of a mammoth building. She is obviously pregnant. She enters her dad’s office (as he’s yelling at some employees). He asks about her pregnancy and Sun…goes off!!

She blames him as one of 2 people responsible for Jin’s death. (!!!) She explains that with her Oceanic settlement, she’s bought a controlling amount of his company. She is looking forward to seeing how THEIR company will change in the future.

I love a good hard-nosed Sun! Gosh, and isn’t she pretty?!

Jack, Kate & Aaron
Jack is giving the eulogy at his father’s long overdue funeral. He says he loves him and misses him, blah blah. Yeah whatever. He’s still alive….or something.

Kate and Aaron hang around until the very end. (gag.) A tearful blonde woman approaches Jack and asks to speak to him alone. She explains that Christian was in Australia because of HIS daughter. Actually, their daughter that was on the SAME flight as Jack. Their daughter, CLAIRE.

(So, he did know they were related when he yelled at Kate!)

Jack is obviously upset. But the best part is when Claire’s mother approaches Aaron and comments on how beautiful he is. OH THE IRONY.

THE END.

Questions
1. WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED? Why are the Oceanic Six shocked? Did you feel that Jack was trying to be their leader but they weren’t too excited about it?

2. Are the numbers coming in to play again?

3. Why is Sun so intent on getting back at her dad? Is there more than just revenge for Jin’s death absence? Who’s the other person responsible?

4. What in the HECK is going on at The Orchid? What IS Ben’s plan? How are they going to move The Island? And what in the world does that mean?

5. What’s going to happen on the freighter? How are Sun & Aaron getting off of there alive?

Questions Answered
1. The Oceanic Six’s arrival. Yeah. It’s been answered. But I feel like we just got a sliver of an answer. I’ve still got lots more questions about this!

Stuff I Didn’t Even Talk About
1. The Wizard of Oz allusion in the title.
2. Did I miss something else?

In Conclusion
I feel like there was tons of undercurrent in this episode. There was more to glean from expressions and the way lines were delivered than the actual happenings. Do you agree? I thought it was brilliant. I’m interested to see where this 3 part finale ends. (What is up with that, btw?) We get nothing next week, then 2 hours the next? Come on, spread out the Lostie love!

(whew! I’m worn out. Let’s rest our theories over at my place!)