Lost: There's No Place Like Home, Part 2 & 3

Locke: "Was he talking about what I think he was talking about?"
Ben: "If you mean time traveling bunnies, then yes."

Well, that was epic.

Ben and the time machine

Ben has become one of the most fascinating characters on television. He can't be pigeonholed as either good or evil, and we still don't know what motivates him. But I really do think at this point that Ben believes what he's doing is right. At the same time, Ben caused the deaths of everyone on the freighter by killing Keamy, and he didn't seem to care.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a time travel device. But it made no sense. In the Orchid Station video that was over too soon, Edgar Halliwax said not to put metal in the Thing (which was sort of like a great big microwave, or possibly a space age shower stall). But that was just what Ben did, and he blew it up. Then Ben moved the Island by crawling through a frozen tunnel and turning a frozen wheel, just like there was a huge propeller under the Island. I'm so confused.

And did Ben go to Tunisia from there? It seems like he did, since he was wearing Halliwax's parka and he did injure his arm. Was that the same injury he had when he popped out in Tunisia? I don't recall. I thought he'd been shot. Ben said that if he moved the Island, he would never be able to return. Or so he said. Ben has lied before.

The Orchid station video, 6 of 6, started rewinding and we never saw the end, dammit. But we learned that the "unique properties" of the Island had a Casimir effect that allowed experiments in space and time. That might explain Richard. But it doesn't explain the Walking Dead, does it? Or maybe it does. Like I said, I'm confused.

The freighter and the helicopter

Michael's trick with the nitrogen saved the lives of the Oceanic Six plus Desmond and Frank. Michael redeemed himself. Several episodes ago, Michael told Sayid he was there to die; right before the freighter exploded, Christian appeared and told Michael, "You can go now." Fascinating. What did it mean?

Was Michael supposed to make certain that the Oceanic Six, and possibly Christian's grandson in particular, stayed alive? Was Michael only allowed to die after accomplishing this task? Or was Michael one of the Walking Dead all along? That might explain why he couldn't die. I think.

As soon as Frank said something about two hundred pounds too many on the chopper, I knew Sawyer would sacrifice himself for the others. That con artist has developed a noble streak a mile wide. At least he didn't end up shot when he hit the water this time. And I was really glad they didn't make us wait for eight months to find out whether he made it or not.

Jin's death upset me, and Sun's grief was epic. Of course, we didn't actually see Jin die, and on a show like Lost with so many dead characters, who knows what will happen? Dan thought that maybe Faraday would be able to pick up people in the water. But again, where could they go?

Desmond and Penny were reunited, which I hadn't expected until the end of the series. Is that the end of Desmond's character arc? Will he return next season? There's still Ben's reciprocal vendetta against Widmore via Penny. Yes, I think Desmond will be back.

The Island

Kate and Sayid allied with Richard and the Others against Keamy and his mercenaries, and I really got a charge out of that. Ben kept his word to them, and helped them get to the helicopter. Which turned out to be a bad thing, didn't it?

I was wondering where everyone was when we saw Juliet sitting on the beach getting drunk when Sawyer arrived. I did a fast cast head count, and nearly all of the remaining cast were accounted for. I saw Vincent in the distance on the beach when Faraday was loading the Zodiac, so Vincent must still be on the Island. I assume Rose and Bernard stayed, since they were still on the beach when Faraday left with the extras.

What happened to Faraday and the extras? Did they go with the Island, or stay in the empty ocean? (Come on, Faraday. On a show as dangerous as Lost, you don't get into a boat loaded only with extras.) If they're stuck on the empty ocean, where can they possibly go?

Miles and Charlotte chose to stay on the Island for reasons of their own. Was Charlotte born on the Island? Really? I got the impression that Miles stayed on the Island because he's psychic and knew it was the safest place to be.

As the last remaining members of the Island love quadrangle, maybe Sawyer and Juliet could take a little comfort with each other. At least until Jack and Kate return, which I fully expect them to do.

The Oceanic Six and Jeremy Bentham

I was surprised that the lies the Oceanic Six told were Jack's idea.

And we found out who was in the box at the Flash Forward Funeral Parlor: our very own John Locke. But where the hell did the name Jeremy Bentham come from? Why were the Oceanic Six so careful not to mention Locke's name? "Jeremy Bentham" seems unanagrammable, and apparently had nothing to do with Locke. (Other than it was also the name of a philosopher.)

Bentham/Locke had gone to visit them all in order to try to convince them to go back. If Locke were exiled from the Island and his paraplegia had returned, I could definitely see him killing himself. (Did Locke move the Island, too? Was that how it happened?) But Sayid pointedly said that "they said" it was suicide. Maybe Locke was killed. Another mystery for...

Next season

Will it be three years later? It would have to be, wouldn't it? Will we have parallel stories of bad things happening on the Island while the Oceanic Six try to return? Will we get flashbacks, flashforwards, flash sidewayses? Will Daniel Dae Kim, Jeremy Davies, and Emilie deRavin still be in the cast? I'm assuming Harold Perrineau will be gone, since his arc appears to be over.

We were told that bad things happened on the Island after the Oceanic Six left. Maybe the Oceanic Six took the miracles with them when they left. (The eight of them surviving that helicopter crash in the open sea was certainly miraculous.) Locke was convinced that crashing on the Island was their destiny. Maybe he was right. Maybe the Island really did, or will, suffer because the Oceanic Six left.

In the season opener, Charlie told Hurley to go back to the Island. Here, Ben told Jack that the Oceanic Six all had to return to the Island together, and they even had to take Locke's body with them. (Sort of like Locke dragging his father's body back to Ben.) But why just the seven of them? What about Desmond and Frank? Maybe it's supposed to be all the 815 survivors. But wouldn't that include Walt? In Kate's dream, creepy Claire told her, "Don't bring him back, Kate. Don't you dare bring him back." Him who? Aaron? Or Locke?

Surprise!

ABC aired an enhanced version of last week's part one right before this two-hour finale. And surprise! there was an extra added exchange in the press conference: the three who supposedly survived the crash but died later on the Island were revealed. (Yes, three. Aaron hadn't been born yet, which I should have thought of before.)

The three who supposedly died were Boone, Libby, and Charlie. Why those three? Did Jack pick those names out of a mental hat? Really interesting that those three actually did die on the Island, and that they were all Walking Dead. (Although Boone and Libby have only been seen in dreams. But I think they count.)

Character bits:

Desmond had six months experience with explosive ordinance disposal in the Army. Clearly not enough.

Too bad Walt won't get the big bucks from Oceanic, huh? As we expected, Malcolm David Kelley was a lot bigger. Huge. Practically an adult.

I was glad Frank made it. I liked Frank.

Hurley, institutionalized at Santa Rosa, was playing chess with Mr. Eko. Maybe after three years, Hurley had grown accustomed to visits from the Walking Dead. But the Walking Dead are corporeal and visible. Why couldn't Sayid see him, too?

Sun said that two people were responsible for Jin's death. Her father was one. Who was the other? Technically, Ben was responsible for the freighter go boom. It might also have been Kate, for not getting Jin to the chopper. Jack said Sun blamed him, though. That would make for some interesting Sun/Jack conflict next season. She's merciless.

Desmond's vision of Claire getting on the helicopter never happened. I sort of don't know what to say about that. The writers are usually so good about continuity.

Kevin Durand (Keamy) did a great job this season as a totally despicable villain. Although I kept looking at him and thinking "Joshua!"

The man in the coffin was supposedly from New York. Isn't Locke from California?

Sawyer called Frank "Kenny Rogers" and Jack "Sundance." Rose called Miles "Shorty."

Bits and pieces:

— This episode began with a continuation of the flashback in last season's finale, "Through the Looking Glass." That was cool. It was three years since the Oceanic Six returned. Longer than I thought, and almost present day.

— During the finale, ABC aired a commercial for Octagon Global Recruiting. It's a Dharma Initiative recruiting drive, to take place in San Diego July 24-27. You can insert your email address for updates. The joke, of course, is that's the time and place of the San Diego Comic Con.

— The whispers were back. Keamy heard them right before the firefight at the chopper. And Michael heard them before Christian appeared.

— I loved the way the Orchid station looked, at least on the outside: overgrown and wild. With a time and space machine on the inside. Yeah, I could move in, a few throw pillows, call it home.

— The time traveling bunny was number fifteen. Right before Sayid shot him, the guy in the car outside the hospital said it was 8:15. And Aaron had a number one on his blanket. Not one of Hurley's numbers, but I thought it was interesting.

— Big gun battle. They seem to reserve the big gun battles for finales. Plus we had an awesome hand-to-hand fight between Sayid and Keamy. Visceral and effective.

— Two very romantic kisses: Sawyer saying goodbye to Kate, and Desmond saying hello to Penny. And then there was Jack giving Desmond mouth to mouth. We don't get a lot of kissing on Lost.

— Clearly, crackers on the Island don't age. Just like Richard Alpert.

— What were they feeding the baby all that time?

— I thought I'd noticed a big continuity error. They threw everything out of the chopper to lessen the weight, but suddenly there were life jackets and a raft. When I watched the episode the second time, I noticed that they loaded the jackets and raft onto the chopper while they were covering the bullet holes with duct tape.

— Apparently, "Alcatraz" disappeared when the main Island did. I'm glad they covered that little detail, or the fans would have been all over it.

Quotes:

Jack: "There's no such thing as miracles."
Locke: "Well. We'll just have to see which one of us is right."

Locke: "Lie to them, Jack. If you do it half as well as you lie to yourself, they'll believe you."

Ben: "Couldn't find the antheriums, could you?"
Locke: "I don't know what they look like."
I couldn't pick an antherium out of a crowd to save my life, either.

Locke: "How deep is the station?"
Ben: "Deep."
With a tunnel to the arctic Island-moving machine? Yeah, pretty deep, I'd say.

Locke: "You just killed everybody on that boat."
Ben: "So?"
What, was he quoting Cheney?

Sayid: "We're being watched."
Hurley: "Dude, I've been having regular conversations with dead people. The last thing I need now is paranoia."

Sun: (to Widmore) "As you know, we're not the only ones who left the Island." Was she talking about Ben? Possibly Desmond? Was she sincere about allying with Widmore?

Ben: "Whoever moves the Island can never come back." Really? Ben does lie.

Jack: "Then I'll see you in another life, brother."
Desmond: "Aye. I guess you will."

Ben: "It's dark, Jack. Very dark."
You could say that.

This was, without a doubt, the hugest, weirdest cliffhanger-paloosa ever; it certainly deserves four out of four polar bears. And now the long wait for season five,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

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