The Tail Section

Episode 4.10 “Something Nice Back Home” Afterthoughts

Lost Recaps — May 1, 2008 at 7:00 pm by admin

Last week on Lost, Ben went on a globetrotting adventure that culminated in a riveting confrontation with his nemesis, Charles Widmore.  He let Charles know that he plans to kill Penny to get revenge for Alex’s demise.  We also learned that Ben has the ability to unleash the smoke monster from a secret chamber inside his house, though it’s unclear how much control he has over it.  On the beach, Jack came down with a case of stomach pain after figuring out that the freighter folk aren’t on a rescue mission.

Tonight, Jack’s illness got much worse, and the crew led by Sawyer ran into some trouble in the jungle.


I was just talking to a friend the other day about how Lost often finds itself in a lose-lose situation with the pickier fans.  In the first couple of seasons, when island answers were a rarity, many people complained that Lost wasted time with boring character stories instead of thrilling island adventures.  In the fourth season I’ve noticed the opposite complaint.  Some people think that Lost is focusing too much on mythology, and they’re getting upset that the stories of the castaways are taking a backseat to trippy sci-fi.  Sometimes Lost just can’t win.

Those who wanted a more intimate character study were in luck tonight, as the show slowed down a bit to show us how Jack went from island hero to pill popping drunk.  We may not have learned many secrets of the island (except that Smokey can be rather ineffective at times), but we did learn a lot about Jack.  He eventually got together with Kate after adjusting to the Aaron thing, he actually learned how to shave, and he was seeing an apparition of his father all over the place.  That certainly helps to explain why Jack referred to his dad in "Through the Looking Glass."

The conversations with dead people were the most interesting part of the episode.  Was it a coincidence that the smoke alarm was beeping when Christian appeared in Jack’s office, or was that a subtle hint that Smokey traveled off the island?  Christian also appeared to Claire in the jungle, and then she followed him. . .well, where exactly?  To Jacob’s cabin?  To her doom?  To Smokey’s underground lair?  Maybe we’ll find out before the end of the season.

Charlie is also rather chatty for a dead guy.  He told Hurley that Jack is not supposed to raise Aaron, immediately reminding us all of Richard Malkin’s warning to Claire.  I feel a theory coming on. . .

The island obviously wants Jack back.  Like Rose pointed out, it’s no coincidence that Jack came down with crippling appendicitis when rescue was on the way.  It didn’t want him to leave, and the instant he did leave, it haunted him with visions of his dead father.  It eventually broke Jack down until he got to the point that we saw him at in the season 3 finale.

The island also seems to want Hurley back, which explains why Charlie is haunting him.  But what about the rest of the Oceanic 6?  Sayid, Kate, Aaron and Sun have their problems, but they don’t appear to have dead people following them around everywhere.  What makes them different?  Why did the island let them go?

Let’s move on to other parts of the episode.  Much to my delight, it appears that Sawyer is still alive in the future.  Much to my confusion, Kate is somehow able to communicate with him on the island and help him out with some sort of favor.  What could it be?  Could it involve his daughter, Clementine?

While I’m happy that Sawyer won’t be six feet under anytime soon, the same can’t be said for Karl and Danielle.  I still can’t believe that Danielle went out like that, but alas, the French Woman is truly dead.  I’m crushed, as she was an extremely awesome character and I’m still dying to see more of her back story.

This may have been a slower, less action-packed episode than last week’s, but it was filled with intriguing tidbits and hints of mythology.  Here are the burning questions for this week:

What favor was Kate doing for Sawyer?

Is there any chance that Hurley’s "we’re all dead" theory is correct?

What happened to Claire?

Why is Jack not supposed to raise Aaron?

Why are Jack and Hurley the only two haunted by dead people?

Does Jack know that he’s related to Aaron?

Beeping smoke detector: subtle clue or random coincidence?

Comment with your spoiler-free answers below, or send your theories in to TTS by following these guidelines:

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