Re: Lost Season Four Finale: "There's No Place Like Home, Parts II & I
Excellent. That was quite a tense, suspenseful, shocking two hours of action-adventure. I really enjoyed this episode and this season.
A lot of lingering questions--most raised this season were answered--who were the Oceanic Six(Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sayid, Aaron, Sun), Why did these Six survive, how far ahead were the furthest flash forwards(3 years), how were they going to move the island(The Orchid), who was in the coffin(John Locke), why was Abaddon visiting Hurley(to learn what occurred on the island since Widmore can't find it now and hadn't heard from Martin or the Kahana), how the polar bear wound up in Tunisia(was a guinea pig in the Orchid experiment).
I anxiously waited to see what was in the Orchid and how they actually would move the island. We saw how he moved the island but I still don't understand what that dial/crank was or how it moved the island or where a man-made crank came from or why it was cold in the "heart" of the island?
We all knew the island was going to move but to actually see it was one of my favorite moments in the two hours. I also found the whole sequence before it to be exciting such as the chaos on the freighter
Widmore never heard from Martin because he is dead or the freighter so didn't know it exploded so he sent Abaddon to Hurley to get answers and find out what happened. Ben has not been back to the island since he left it at the same time as the Six did and the island disappeared. Does he know where it went? We also were treated to more context to what led up to his appearing in Tunisia in "The Shape of Things to Come"--he wasn't in some sort of struggle and suffered a gunshot wound but what we were actually not aware of at the time was he had just completed turning the dial to move the island and his wound on his arm was from falling down a fragile ladder frozen solid that broke.
I loved all the twists and turns and setbacks and toying with the audience the writers did in these two hours and even the previous hour in how the six became the Oceanic Six. I really enjoyed seeing this unfold and how it all came together. The helicopter makes it off the island. They think they are going home finally. Huh oh the helicopter is losing fuel because in the middle of the firefight a stray bullet or two between the Others and the mercenaries struck the chopper(That was one of the nice things about it-- all the complications/setbacks within the story made sense and felt natural). They make it to the freighter to only have enough time to tape the leaks and re-fuel before heading back to the island where they realize the best they can hope for is to have enough fuel and give up on getting home this time.
You just knew when Frank said they needed to lose a few hundred pounds the camera would focus on Hurley's face but Sawyer, continuing to be the nice guy, jumps out after whispering his request in Kate's ear referred to in "Something Nice Back Home". I appreciated that they mentioned the second island and Jack considered it as a possible aternative site to land and I appreciated the writers letting us know it disappeared along with the main island clearing that up nicely.
The writers were by now getting closer to whittling it down to the Six but there was still Desmond and Frank to deal with. Then that boat appeared which at first struck me as a bit forced given how all this time this region hadn't had much in the way of traffic. It did echo back to the encounter Sawyer/Walt/Jin/Michael had with the Others in "Exodus" so I wondered if there was something ominous about then when it was revealed it was Penny I let the writers off the hook. It made sense that she would find him since she had been looking for him along with the call he made to her in "The Constant" helped. So I liked from there you got to the Six--Desmond and Frank weren't on the passenger manifest so obviously they couldn't be a part of the survivors group. And of course, Desmond would want to remain with Penny. So that worked out nicely. I wonder if Desmond will be put aside like Michael was until it is time to get back to him as they develop the other story threads. Afterall I definitely see him being brought back into given Ben's vendetta against Widmore and his vow to kill Penny. That could also bring Sayid and Desmond into odds which would be interesting given their recent bonding this season. Afterall, Ben doesn't like doing his dirty work and Sayid has been his agent in wiping out the various threats. Also as we saw in "The Constant", Desmond is Daniel's Constant and we didn't see that play out this season so that is out there as well. And speaking of Daniel, I wonder what he is going to do in the raft? Wil he be able to make it to some island?
I also liked how the island disappearing explains why the Six were willing to leave behind the other survivors and not try to go back for them-- the answer:they weren't willing and they couldn't go back for them because there was *nothing* to go back to it and they had no idea where to begin to look for them. This is the most interesting and satisfying situation theycould have set up. All the Six could do is try to get on with their own lives. That had to have been very diffcult.
I also liked how it made for a chaotic bittersweet situation. They get off the island but there is no chance for good-byes or closure with each other. Jack left Juliet behind and all they had was an argument. The Oceanic survivors don't know that Jack, Kate, Aaron, Sun, Hurley survived. They'll assume they perished in the explosion. Kate doesn't know if Sawyer made it back to the island alright. Sun just witnessed the death of her husband in a fireball. Frank has to feel guilty in having to leave those people behind in order to try to safeguard the lives on the chopper. Juliet was so close to finally getting to return home to Rachel was stolen from her. The Six pretty much were thrown into this under not the most idealistic circumstances. They don't know what happened to Claire. Now all they have is a bunch of unanswered questions. I found it interesting that what started out as a hopeful time ended up being a depressing mess--their only way off the island destroyed, mercenaries running amuck on the island, loved ones presumably blown up.
Still though a lot of unanswered questions lingering--
If this wasn't the first time the island was moved, where is its origin?
Where did the island go? Did it just move through time into the past but simply remained in the same location?
Who was the last person to move the island?
Who is Halliwell--the name on the Orchid arctic coat Ben was wearing?
What are the whispers?
Who is Richard? Why doesn't he age?
What bad things happened on the island since they left?
I love the new more ruthless Sun. She is no longer a wallflower. I hope to see more of this Sun in the future. Who is the other person besides her father does she blame for Jin's "death"?(Is he even dead? Did he survive or get off the freighter in time?) Jack says Sun blames him so she might have been referring to Jack. If so, he better watch out. And I would actually like that.
Who is Kelvin?
What is the implant in Claire?
Why did Charlotte remain voluntarily on the island?
Was the island moved only forward or backward in time but left in the same spot?
Where did Sayid take Hurley?
Was Hurley really playing chess with Eko?
What bad things happened on the island since the Six had left?
Is John becoming the leader of the Others setting up the conflict that he referred to in season one with the survivors?
Why wasn't Frank the pilot on 815 on the day it crashed?
Why did smoke monster kill Seth the pilot?
Who killed Locke?
It looks like this is it for Michael. I'm fine with that. He came back got his closure and served his role in the story admirably. I guess both the Lost writers and the island were through with him. I suspect the helicopter crash helped Jack coming up with the cover story. Martin sure didn't know Ben if he thought threatening the lives of the 815 survivors would hold any sway over him. Loved seeing Kate working with the Others to free Ben.
I also liked the allusions back to season one as well. The episode boasted quite a few nice visuals and big stunts like the destruction of the Kahana or the chopper crashing or the island's disappearance. I also noticed in the repeat of Part I there were a few added scenes such as revealing that the other three in their cover story was Boone, Libby and Charlie.
This was a better finale than Exodus and Live Together, Die Alone both as season finales and cliffhangers and is on par or maybe slightly better than last year's finale and cliffhanger.
I'd give this season overall an A-. My favorite episods were Confirmed Dead, The Economist, The Shape of Things to Come and this three part finale.
