Lost: Something Nice Back Home
By fred | May 2, 2008
(S04E10) Last week was another masterpiece, and as always it’s a tough job to have to come next after such a great episode. Added to the fact that this season has been nothing but fantastic, plus the fact that we’re getting closer and closer to the big finale, and we’re all expecting a lot when we sat down for another hour of Lost. Of course, that’s the beauty of this show, especially this season, fans are extremely demanding, and the show delivers and surprises them week after week.
Last week was also an episode filled with actions, while with this one we took a seat back. This episode was more of a “transitional” episode, it was bringing up new questions, lots of them, it was setting up the pieces on the board game, before things get really serious. Not that this is wrong, because this episode was still a pretty good one.
And I say that while not really a fan of Jack, and not having only good memories of Jack-centric episodes. Of course, thrown in the gorgeous Kate not always wearing much and it surely helps.
Seriously tough, this episode was slowing down a bit, and I wouldn’t be surprised if many felt that this flash-forward had a taste of flashback, because if it wasn’t for Hurley and a couple more things, it really didn’t reveal anything we didn’t already knew. That Kate loves to hide things from people, that Jack has trust issues and loves to hit the bottle, nothing new there.
But let’s slow down, and go back to the Island first. On the beach, Jack is still sick, he might actually die if he doesn’t get a surgery soon. Of course, they now have everything they need close enough, and sure enough there couldn’t have been any less tension since we all knew Jack was not going to die, obviously, since he left the Island and is asking Kate to marry him before destroying their relationship and starting to morph into the guy Kate didn’t want nothing to do with back in last season’s finale.
The only thing that this whole thing did, along with moving things forward on the love triangle between Jack, Juliet and Kate, was something that I’m not sure actually existed. Did I read things wrong, or not : Jack is a control-freak, so he wanted to see everything, he couldn’t be unconscious during the surgery, he wanted to see it and guide Juliet through it, a nice slap in the face for the blond doctor. Yet the way Jack acted had me to wonder : was he just a control freak, or did he actually really not trust Juliet ?
That he would not trust her anymore might sound a bit off, but I don’t recall Sawyer ever being so protective over Claire, Aaron, or anyone for that matter.
As Jack was getting sick, and before we could think of it, Rose was the one asking the question : on the Island, this special and mysterious Island, people don’t get sick, the get better. So why was Jack getting sick, why now as he’s trying to get everyone out ? Of course, Ben has a cancer and Shannon asthma attacks, so it’s not actually necessary relevant, and to tell the truth I don’t think it actually matters/mean anything.
Still, I was pretty happy to see Rose & Bernard doing something amazing : asking Charlotte and Dan questions, questions that everyone should have been asking, questions that we are wondering about, questions that do matter. Seemed it took for the boat not to respond anymore for them to get there, but at least someone asks questions, and that cannot be a bad thing.
I wonder if the smoke alarm going off right before Jack’s dad appears means that the smoke monster is somehow related to the apparitions of dead people. If so, that would be very interesting. Perhaps they are being controlled by someone in the same way Smokie was by Ben last week.
To be honest, I didn’t really like this episode. It, as well as next week’s preview, added a lot of credence to the purgatory-related theories, which I would hate to be true. Supernatural spiritual Lost is far less interesting than crazy sci-fi Lost.
I’m not sure the smoke alarm going off actually meant anything really, but you’re right I’m pretty sure it was put there to have us wondering about it, and what it would mean… One thing that seems to become more and more obvious in the show, I think, is that it’s not about “someone” controlling Smokey, the whispers, the ghosts, and everything that’s happening, it seems that it the Island, that the Island itself has a conscience. It’s the Island who thought Michael still has work to do, and as such wouldn’t let him die.
And more and more it looks like it’s not someone, even Jacob, behind it, but the Island. Not that it means anything, I’m just saying that’s an idea they seem to really throw in there…
About the previews : I have no idea, I avoid those like I do spoilers. But I’m guessing the writers are having lots of fun “bringing back” those theories now, after having buried them back in the days.
I agree with you, I like sci-fi Lost more than I do spiritual Lost, but both aspects are part of the show, and from the start they stated it was a mix of science and faith, it’s actually a very big thing on the show, and I’m sure it’ll stay that way till the end, because neither science or faith will be able, alone, to “explain” the show. I just hope they can find the right amount of each to create the perfect mix. For instance, I’m all for making things “happen” with the power of your mind (Hurley playing basketball, Locke throwing knife…), but I’m not liking the purgatory-like idea, not on the Island or off the Island.