LOST - There's No Place Like Home pt. 1

Another "WOW" of an episode last night. The writers seemed to be offering up a timeline and explanations for the fans, even going as far as to have the Oceanic PR rep explaining to reporters how the fishing raft washed up on the island on day 103 and how the Six used it to get off on Day 108. The Six--Kate, Aaron, Jack, Sayid, Hurley and Sun--collaborated on their story which included the lie that Jin died in the plane crash while some survivors were able to make it out of the submerged plane and eight made it to the island. When asked by a reporter, "Is it possible any other survivors from the crash are yet to be discovered?," the answer is a big fat NO. The Six also stuck to the lie that Aaron is Kate's baby--albeit a rather large one for only 5 weeks old...

We saw how Sayid was reunited with Nadia and how Jack found out that Claire was his half-sister when her Mom (surprisingly coma-free) shows up at his father's funeral. So when Jack lashed out at Kate that she's not even related to Aaron, he knew he was. Speaking of reunions--seems Kate (and Aaron) were the only members of the Six not to have one upon their return to civilization. We found out that the Six got hefty settlements (actually we knew this after watching The Economist earlier this season)--so generous that Sun could afford to buy a controlling interest in her evil father's company. We witnessed Hurley's edginess after his return which turned into a full-fledged freakout when he noticed the odometer in the Camaro his father had fixed and given him as a birthday present had the infamous numbers--4815162342.

Back on the island, we had questions answered via Hurley who was sensible enough to ask Ben if he could move the island, why didn't he do it BEFORE the guys with guns showed up? (Answer: It's dangerous, unpredictable and a measure of last resort...) Hurley also pointed out if the island was moved, wouldn't the dudes with guns move, too? Good ol' Hurley. No wonder Sawyer was so worried about him when the handcuffed Lapidus told him and Jack about the dudes with guns after Ben Linus. He didn't seem at all worried about Locke... Sawyer had the night's best line as well, following Jack on his mission to track down the chopper telling him, "Hold up--you don't get to die alone!" Nice riff on Jack's mantra, huh?

While Sayid and Kate go after Jack, Daniel ferries one group of survivors to the freighter: Sun, Aaron and Jin--and two random people who will no doubt be killed off in the finale. On the freighter, Sun and Jin are reunited with Desmond and Michael--who insists that he is NOT working for Ben. The engines are working, but there's a room full of explosives that prevent the boat from going to the island. Wonder if this is part of the secondary protocol? It would explain the device attached to Keamy's arm--a detonator, perhaps? Although it would contradict Lapidus' assertion that the ship is the safest place.

At the end of the episode, there was Jack and Sawyer ready to rescue Hurley, Kate and Sayid captured by Richard Alpert and the Others, Ben offering himself up to Keamy and Company as a diversion so Locke can get into the Orchid station and move the island and on the freighter--Jin, Michael and Desmond (Nooooooo!!!) in a room that looks ready to explode. Does Sun get back into the raft with Daniel and escape the pending explosion that way? The raft only holds six people--the same number of alleged survivors known as the Oceanic Six. I can't help but think that's not a coincidence.

In an interview on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof said next season would concentrate on the loss of Jack's body hair. I think they were kidding. Josh Holloway (Sawyer) was on Kimmel last night and Jimmy brought up the fact that Sawyer wasn't part of the Oceanic Six so there was a chance he was going to die. Holloway's response was that it was possible--but on the other hand, since the island is one of the major characters on the show, he thought staying with the "big guy" might not be a bad thing. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

We have to wait until May 29th to get parts 2 and 3 of this episode when LOST returns with a two hour season finale. In the meantime, check out the recap on Lostpedia, screencaps at Dark UFO and the Dueling Analyses (ignore the inane speculations about Alpert being Locke's father or wanton misspelling of character names) on Celebritology.