Get LOST: There's No Place Like Home, PT. III

Posted by Ben Piper on 06.05.2008

And the long, sad wait until 2009 commences.



Okay, we're going to take up where we left off, if that's alright with all of you…

What We Learned, Continued: As the freighter sinks into the sea, Sun is basically going apeshit onboard the copter, completely inconsolable. While she yells for the copter to be lowered so they can rescue her husband, everyone lists a litany of reasons why they can't do that. As she rails against Sayid and Hurley, who really isn't saying anything but is in her line of fire, Jack looks down sadly upon the wreckage. Finally he speaks up and tells her that Jin's gone. The weight of this finally appears to sink into her as she falls silent while Kate does her best to quiet a wailing Aaron. As Des buries his head in his hands, Jack simply shakes his head to convey the message that he's so sorry. As tears stream down Sun's face, Jack yells for Lapidus to fly them back to the island. As they move away from the wreckage Sun screams out in agony.

Flash-forward: Sun is near London bridge, wearing a smart pant suit, when her cell phone rings. She answers it to find her mother on the other end. Ji-Yeon is put on the phone, and we cutely hear the little one calling out for her mother. Sun's mother gets back on the phone, and asks where she is. London, she states. She plans on leaving later on that night. She just has some business that she needs to take care of. Sun's mother tells her to fly safe, and the phone conversation ends as Sun spots the individual whom she has business with. It's Charles Widmore. She approaches, and quickly introduces herself. Widmore seems to know who she is, as well as her family connections, and asks how is her father, and she states good, thank you. He says that her father is quite the golfer, and that he believes he owes him dinner after their last game together. Sun then proceeds to cut the crap, and asks Widmore if he's really going to pretend that he doesn't know whom she is. He feigns cluelessness, but she calls him out on it. She tells him that he does in fact know who she is, as well as the fact that he's also aware that the Oceanic Six have been lying about just where they were all those months they were missing, and presumed dead, as well as what happened to them there. Widmore says nothing so Sun continues the conversation on her own, stating that they have common interests. She takes a business card out of her pocket and hands it over, saying that once he's ready to discuss them, he should call. Before she turns to leave she says "as you know, we're not the only ones who've left the island". Widmore then calls out to her, asking why she would want to help him. She doesn't respond, and goes about her way.

In the Orchid, John Locke wants to know why Ben would kill Keamy, seeing as his doing so meant the deaths of countless more on the freighter. Ben explains that he really wasn't thinking straight. That sometimes good command decisions get compromised by bad emotional responses. As he finishes loading up the Vault chamber with the last of the metallic objects he could find, he assures John that he'll do a much better job separating the two than he ever did. Ben then proceeds to throw a switch that closes the Vault's doors. As Locke inquires what in the hell is going on, Ben advises him to duck. An explosion occurs within the Vault, with sparks flying everywhere within. Ben then tells Locke that he'd better change. (his clothes)

Back at the beach, Juliet sits with a half-empty bottle of Dharma issued rum between her feet. She watches as a now-shirtless Sawyer completes his swim back to the island and emerges from the surf. He's clearly exhausted, but plays coy, stating that it's a nice day for a swim. She asks what he's doing here. He responds he'd thought he'd take a dip. He notices the bottle between her feet and asks what she's celebrating. Juliet fires back that she's not celebrating, and Sawyer follows her look towards the horizon. He sees the plume of smoke emanating. He turns back and asks Juliet if that's their boat. She answers "it was".

In other words, the people still stuck on the island now think that Jack Kate, et al, are all dead.

At the Orchid, Ben reaches into a locker and pulls out a heavy winter-season parka with the name "Halliwax" on it. Locke wonders what that's for and Ben states that he's going somewhere cold. This causes John to feel left out, prompting him to ask where his is. Ben tells him that he doesn't need on because he isn't going with him. This causes Locke to cry "shenanigans" seeing as Jacob told HIM what to do. Ben points out that he told John what to do but he did not bother to tell him how to do it. That's because Jacob wants Ben to suffer the consequences. When John asks about these consequences, Ben steps close to him and lays it on the line. Whoever moves the island can never come back to it. He instructs John to get back on the elevator and go up to the surface. Richard and the rest of the Others will be waiting for him two miles due east. Ben says that they'll be ready willing and able to share what they know, and then they will follow his every word. Ben tells John goodbye, and sticks out his hand. He apologizes for making his life so miserable, and he actually seems to honestly mean it. Locke finally excepts his handshake and with that, Ben heads off. Locke calls after him, asking what should he tell them to do. As Ben picks up a heavy looking crowbar, he assures Locke that he'll find his way, he always does.

Cut to Locke now trekking through the jungle before ultimately coming upon the Others camp. Upon seeing him arrive, everyone quickly stands, perhaps in a show of respect. When Richard sees him, he gives him a "guy nod" and greets him, before stating "Welcome Home".

Locke, the eternal outsider always yearning for somewhere to truly belong, begins to smile.

Back in the Orchid, Ben sifts through the debris left in the vault, and finally makes his way through the sizable hole in the back due to the explosion he just caused. He makes his way down a narrow cavern until he comes upon a ladder heading downwards. He descends, and once he reaches the opening at the bottom finds it completely iced over. He taps the ice a couple of times with his foot before smashing it in the same fashion. He proceeds through the opening to yet another ladder. This area appears to completely ice aged. He begins to climb down but one of the rungs gives way underneath his weight and he gashes his right arm on a large screw or nut before landing on his back, holding his arm. He gets to his knees and looks around. He slowly gets to his feet and takes out a book of matches from one of the parka's pockets and strikes one, lighting a nearby lantern. Once he does he winces in pain and again grabs at his injured arm. This is when we first see it. The frozen donkey wheel. (hey, don't look at me, I didn't name it) Ben slowly approaches and places both his hands upon it. He looks up and tells Jacob that he hopes that he's happy now. He then proceeds to try to move it manually, but it refuses to budge. He quickly grabs the crowbar and chips away at all the ice holding the wheel in place before inserting the crowbar into a hole at the end of one of the wheel's spokes. Struggling mightily while using the crowbar for leverage, Ben finally causes the wheel to move just a little. He tosses the crowbar aside and pushes against the spoke with he has, causing it to now slowly turn. As he pushes the wheel forward, a machine like whirring sound can be heard gradually growing louder. Meantime, elsewhere in the island, this sound of this is noticed by Locke and the rest of the Others, as well as Sawyer and Juliet back at the beach. Not to mention Faraday and the redshirts stuck on the raft as well as those attempting to fly back to the island upon the chopper. As Ben slowly pushes the wheel forward, he begins to tear up and eventually cry. As he does, light and energy begin to emanate from the wheel's center. Once he pushes all the way over to the left, everything fades to white as whatever Ben has done goes into effect. On the rest of the island, everything goes blindingly bright, and this energy emanates outward from the center of the island. Affecting everyone nearby seemingly.

As the brightness starts to dim, and the sound of whatever primal energy Ben unleashed dissipates, from the copter's point of view, the island is now gone. There is only a ripple effect in the ocean where it once was. Naturally, Frank begins to freak the hell out, yelling where is the island? Everyone on board is equally confused. Franks wonders where in the hell he's going to land this thing, and Jack advices him about a smaller island close by that they were once taken to. Frank responds that there's nothing but water in every direction. A buzzing from the dashboard bears bad news, and Frank yanks off his headset in frustration. They're out of gas, and they're going into the drink. Everyone takes this in and panics in their own way. Most pronounced is Kate, who looks at baby Aaron in complete fear, not for herself, but for him. As the overhead blades begin to sputter, Frank yells for everyone to put their lifevests on, for they are going in. Everyone quickly clamors to do this. As Lapidus yells for everyone to brace themselves, Sayid yells for Des to hand him the liferaft. Des quickly hands it over, and Sayid pulls the sting to inflate it before shoving it out his window. A moment later, the copter crashes into the ocean full force, and upends.

Back from commercial, we are greeted with underwater shots. Air bubbles floating everywhere. Jack comes to, underwater, and can hear the above surface shouting of somebody. He makes his way to fresh air, and is met with a cacophony of shouts from different characters. Hurley is already in the raft, and is handed Aaron by Kate. While holding the baby in one hand, Hugo helps Kate on board with the other. Jack looks around in confusion, to find Lipids swimming towards and finding a face down Desmond in the water, whilst simultaneously yelling out for the good doc. Kate and Hurley quickly collect both Sun and Sayid while, Jack has met up with Lipids in the water as they both ferry an unconscious Desmond to safety. Kate jumps back into the water to help, while Hurley hands Aaron over to Sun. Sayid and Hugo tag team in an effort to get Des on board amidst cries of "is he breathing?" Jack climbs aboard and quickly places his ear to Desmond's mouth in an effort to hear if he's taking breaths or not. He quickly begins to desperately perform CPR as everyone else watches on. Finally, Desmond spits up water and comes to, much to everyone's relief.

With that out of the way, a grim reality begins to kick in with everyone. They're all basically screwed. They are out in the middle of nowhere with no food or no fresh water to drink. Jack does his best to assure everyone that they're okay, in that they're still alive.

Flash-Forward: Kate is asleep in her bed, when she is awakened by a creaking sound from within her house. She stirs and turns on the light, looking down the hallway towards Aaron's room. Just then, her bedside phone rings. She answers, only to find a clicking sound, before a backwards-sounding voice speaking to her in gibberish.

Just then, the whine of a rusty door hinge being opened down the hall. Kate drops the phone and proceeds to rifle through her dresser until she finds a shoebox in which she keeps a firearm. She cocks the weapon and quickly proceeds to Aaron's room. She finds it slightly ajar. She points the gun and kicks the door open, telling the person know sitting over Aaron not to move. Once she sees that this individual is cradling the boy's hand with theirs she screams for them not to touch her son! This person turns to face Kate. It's Claire. Kate's jaw drops as she lowers the gun at the same time. Kate whispers her name. As she begins to ask a question Claire cuts her off. "Don't bring him back, Kate". Claire stands and gets in Kate's face. "Don't you DARE bring him back!"

Just then, Kate bolts upright in her bed, awakened from a bad dream. She quickly kicks her covers off and runs down the hallway to Aaron's room. She opens the door, to find the boy alone and asleep. She sighs in relief as she makes her way to his bedside. She kneels beside him, and cradles his hand in her own. As she weeps she apologizes to the sleeping boy, for what, we do not now presently.

Nighttime on the raft. Baby Aaron is sound asleep, cradled in Kate's arms. Hurley asks if the child's okay and Kate beams as she states that he's fine. She declares that to be a miracle, which causes Jack to become completely uncomfortable in his own skin, considering his most recent conversation/argument with Locke. Hurley states that he can't believe that he did it. Kate asks what he's talking about, and Hurley imparts the notion that Locke moved the island. Jack completely pisses all over this train of thought. Hurley then quickly calls him out in it. One second it was there, the next it was gone. So unless Jack has an explanation for it, that's precisely what Locke did, as far as Hugo is concerned.

Lapidus then spots a light upon the horizon. He exclaims that there's a boat out there. Everyone scrambles to see. Sure enough, everyone spots what he has, and begin to yell frantically to gather its attention. As they all continue to shout, their rescue seems imminent, as the boat slowly draws closer. Jack nods to himself in an act of personal affirmation that he has done the right thing. He also affirms something else.

Jack: We're going to have to lie.

Kate: What?

Jack: We're going to have to lie.

Sayid: Lie about what?

Jack: Everything. All of it. Everything since we crashed on the island.

Lapidus: Jack, now I know I'm new to this group and everything. But isn't this the place where everybody starts jumping up and down and hugging each other?

Jack: Your freighter? Those men came to kill us, all of us! You said that our plane was discovered at the bottom of the ocean? Well someone put it there. Someone that wants everyone to think that we're all dead! So what do you think will happen to us once when we tell them that it wasn't our plane? What do you think is going to happen to the people that we left behind?

Kate: Jack, we can't. We can't pull it off.

The ship draws ever nearer.

Jack: Just let me do the talking.

As the boat slowly approaches, trepidation crosses everyone's faces as voices yelling out in Portuguese can be heard emanating from the vessel. As the liferaft drifts alongside the vessel, we can see that the name of the boat is "Searcher". One of the men on board yells out something indecipherable, but finishes the sentence with "Miss Widmore". Which causes Desmond to take a step forward in disbelief. Just then, sure enough, a moment Penny steps into view upon the upper deck, ordering the men to throw them a rope. Des doesn't wait for it as he instantly springs from the raft and quickly climbs aboard calling out her name. Seeing this, she turns and runs down to greet him. Finally, they now stand in front of one another in shock, tears welling up in their eyes. They embrace and kiss, and embrace some more before they stop and look at one another yet again, smiling. Penny asks if he's okay. He says that he's brilliant and wonders how she found him. She answers that she has a tracking station, so she was able to locate his coordinates from the phone call that he made to her. Des tells her that he loves her, and that he'll never leave her again.

As the rest of the helicopter survivors climb on board, Desmond brings Penny down to meet and greet them. He introduces everyone to her with Jack being last. Jack says it's nice to meet her, but that they need to talk.

Cut to daylight. The caption at the bottom of the screen reads "one week later". On deck, Hurley asks Sayid what the place is called again. Sayid replies "Membarta". Hurley repeats the name. He then asks why they are doing this, sailing three thousand miles to another island? Sayid says it's because it's the only way to keep them safe. Meanwhile, Laipdus, Jack and Des all ready the raft for the coming journey.

Jack: How long 'til we hit land?

Frank: Aw, if the wind's not too brutal, eight or nine hours. Just long enough to give you a nice, convincing sunburn.

Jack: Well, it's been a pleasure Frank. I hope we'll never see each other again.

The two men shake hands.

Frank: Roger that, Doc.

Frank makes his way back onto the ship, while Penny tells Aaron goodbye before handing him back over lovingly to Kate. Meanwhile, Des and Jack have one last brief conversation.

Desmond: You sure about this, brutha?

Jack: (Nods) Are you sure?

Desmond: As long as I have Penny, I'll be fine.

Jack: Don't let him find you, Desmond. Then I'll see you in another life, brother.

They shake hands.

Desmond: Aye. I guess you will.

Jack: Alright. Let's go home.

The rest of the Oceanic Six join Jack on the raft and they shove off, with Jack and Sayid using wooden planks as rudimentary paddles. They finally make it to land, and are quickly spotted by the natives. As this occurs, Jack breathes a sigh of relief, while Sun looks less than thrilled. As the island's friendly natives help pull the raft ashore, the Oceanic Six share a bittersweet moment in which they all find solace in one another, and the fact that they have all survived their ordeal together, but at what cost? Jack finds Kate looking back at the ocean in longing for those left behind, but once he places his hand in the small of her back, she quickly turns with a smile to face her post-island future.

Flash-forward: A clearly inebriated Jack drives fast while blasting The Pixies. He pulls his vehicle over at a familiar location; across the street from the Hoffs/Drawler funeral parlor. He gets out of his car and walks across the street. He tries the door, but finds it to be locked. He picks up a nearby brick, and proceeds to smash the knob and kick open the door. He turns on the lights and approaches the coffin. As he paces before it, he begins to weep. Sitting on top of it is a clipboard with a body release form, with the name of the deceased listed as Jeremy Bentham. Jack takes the clipboard and sets it aside, opening the coffin to view the body stored within. Just then, a voice peaks up from behind.

Voice: Hello, Jack.

Jack damn near jumps out of his skin. Stoned out of his mind, he turns to face this person, and when he does, he somehow does not seem in the least bit surprised to find this individual there.

Voice: Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you.

We get see who this person is. It's Ben. (And once I saw him, I knew who was in the casket)

Ben: Did he tell you I was off the island?

Jack: (nodding) Yes, he did.

Ben: When did you speak to him?

Jack: About a month ago.

Ben: And Kate?

Jack: Yeah, he came to see her, too.

Ben: And what did he say to you?

Jack: He told me that after I left the island, some very bad things happened. And he told me that it was my fault. For leaving. And he said that I had to come back.

Ben: Yes, I've heard that you've been flying on passenger planes. Hoping that you'd crash. It's dark, Jack. Very dark. I'm here to tell you that the island won't let you come alone. All of you have to go back.

Jack: Are you…? Sayid, I don't even know where Sayid is. Hurley, (sighs) is insane. Sun blames me for… And then Kate… She won't even talk to me anymore.

Ben: Perhaps I can help you with that. This is the way it has to be, Jack. It's the only way. You have to do it together, ALL of you.

Jack: How?

Ben: I have a few ideas.

Jack nods in agreement. He sighs and becomes emotional at the fact that he is now in collusion with his bitter sworn enemy, but there is simply no other choice in the matter. He then turns to leave, but Ben stops him.

Ben: Jack, I said all of you. We're going to have to bring him, too.

Jack's knee jerk expression is that of "if you say so" as they both turn to look back upon the body. The camera pans up to reveal that the dead man in the casket is non other than John Locke.

Easter Eggs: The backwards message Kate received said "The Island needs you. You have to go back before it's too late"…. Several NUMBERS references, which I won't mention one by one here… Jeremy Bentham was a real life utilitarian philosopher… Plus a lot of stuff that I previously covered in earlier columns. (Hoffs/Drawler and the like)

Final Analysis: Holy crap!

Sorry. There's just so much to love about this season finale. While I felt it wasn't quite on par with last year's, what we were given was goodness all the way around. We got answers, as well as new questions. There were tear-jerking moments, jaw-dropping moments, "WTF" moments, and moments that had me leaping out of my seat and yelling emphatically.

Last things first, John Locke is dead? Well, that explains why Jack was so emotional when he visited that casket in the season three finale. He finally knew that what Locke had been telling him all that time on the island was the truth. The argument of faith vs. science had played out enough to the point that Jack finally knew he was beaten, and could no longer lie to himself about it. It seems to me that Locke's death was the final breaking point for Jack, which lead inevitably to his "WE HAVE TO GO BACK" cry to Kate.

Which begs the question, how did John eventually leave the island? Was he forced to "move" it himself, like we watched Ben do? Did he return to the "real world" with the understanding that he would be banished from the island thereafter in order to save it?

Which brings up even further questions. Locke sought out the Oceanic Six to implore them to return to the island, due to seemingly catastrophic events occurring as a direct result of their leaving. That the hell went down? Did a volcano blow it's top? With Keamy and the rest of his Mercs dealt with, what could have possibly forced Locke to return to civilization?

Then there's the matter of his mysterious death. When Sayid told Hurley of it in the sanitarium, he implied that his "suicide" wasn't that at all. He further insinuated that the death of Locke had basically changed everything. WTF?

Seems apparent that once Locke showed back up in civilized society, Widmore caught wind of this and somehow had him snuffed. With the island's new de facto leader out of the picture, Ben is back putting all the pieces into place. He sent Sayid to collect Hurley, and went to Jack himself, and appeared to have him on board. When the subject of Kate came up, Ben calmly stated that he could probably help in that regard. Sun? We'll get to that…

Now, with regards to everyone has to go back shpiel Ben was springing on Jack. Obviously this is not limited to the Oceanic Six themselves, since he specifically stated that they had to take Locke's body back with them as well. Which brings up the question, does Walt have to go back? Does Desmond? How about Lapidus?

And yes. Locke may in fact be dead. But if and when his body is returned to the island? Will perhaps a miracle happen?

At this point in the long term, Sun is now the wild card in this whole matter. Her father has had a long-standing business relationship with Widmore. In a flash-forward, she reached out to him, saying that they had mutual interests, while also bringing up her sojourn to the island, whilst calling him out for playing stupid with regards to the matter. That implies that she is wanting to work with him to somehow exploit the island, which means she's working against Ben.

Anyone else thinking she's playing double agent?

Michael is undoubtedly a goner. Christian's appearance just as the bomb was about to go off re-enforced that idea. "You can go now, Michael". BOOM!

Tsk. Goodbye, Michael. I never could stand you as a character, but you did your best to redeem yourself this season. Not sure that you exactly achieved it, but you undoubtedly served your purpose.

Jin? I'm not so willing to write him off just yet. While it seemed apparent that he was blown up with the freighter, it's entirely possible that he somehow managed to jump over the side at the last second. And let's not forget that Faraday was speeding back to the boat in the Zodiac raft when the whole thing went kablooey. It's entirely possible that Jin jumped into the water beforehand, and Daniel somehow lucked upon him in the water, saving his life.

Until I'm presented proof positive differently, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. If he in fact died, we know how it went down. But no one can say that the showrunners didn't give themselves an "out" with regards to how Jin may have possibly survived the blast.

Kate's flash-forward in which she received a creepy phone call and saw Claire visiting Aaron before snapping awake and going to the boy to tearfully apologize to him for something while he slept raises question. First thing, we have no perspective with regards to when this took place in the timeline. So perhaps, just perhaps, this takes place later on after her confrontation with Jack, and her steadfastness that she has no need to go back to the island may have been somehow challenged in the meantime.

Desmond. Now that he is reunited with his one true love, Penny, it would seem that his storyline is over. While their reunion did prove to me that my tear ducts still are functional, it was kind of underwhelming, compared to the phone call between them that took place in "The Constant" episode earlier this season.

That said, I expect and hope that this will not be the last we see of the valiant Scotsman. After all, Ben has avowed to kill Penny, which would most likely bring Des and Sayid into conflict in the near future.

Not to mention Jack's warning to Des not to let "him" know where he is. The "him" in that equation is undoubtedly the senior Widmore.

I'm so genuinely happy that Des got off the island and was reunited with Penny. But I'm also quite certain that they will both have a role to play in what will transpire henceforth.

With regards to Charlotte and the whole being "back" on the island and all the hooha about her trying to find where she was born? My theory is that she is the reincarnation of Ben's childhood sweetheart Annie. I don't have anything to back that up, mind you, but I figured I'd run it up the flagpole.

And in regards to what happened to the island once it was moved. I have read a theory on the internet that since Ben was transported into the future (October 2005) once he turned the frozen donkey wheel, then perhaps the same thing happened to the island. It didn't actually physically changed location, it just skipped time ten months before reappearing.

I haven't read anything else or thought up my own theory that works as well as this one, at least for me. Anyone else have any ideas?

Okay, that's all I've got. If I forgot anything vital, I do apologize, but I've just spent an entire week since this episode aired working on this column. After spending all my free time each and every day typing frenetically on my keyboard in an effort to get this done on time, to say that I'm happy that I'm finished would be a bit of an understatement.

That said, it's been a truly great season for this show. Several pieces of the overall mosaic have been put into place. We've gotten a few vital answers and a few new meaty questions in the process. It's going to be a long hard wait until we get a fresh installment of this truly epic narrative visual poem.

Thanks again to everyone that has been a fan of this column. Again, it means a lot to me that you enjoy my work with regards to my favorite show. When LOST returns in 2009, so shall this humble column to the webpages of 411. (And yes, I'll be writing it, of course)

In the meantime, I'll still be around. I'll continue to be in charge of the movie zone's version of Fact or Fiction, and I'm sure that I'll get a few DVD reviews done here and there as well.

Sincerest heartfelt thanks yet again to everyone.
Until 2009,
Stay LOST!
-BP