| LOST: Something Nice Back Home |
| Thursday, 01 May 2008 | |
 LOSTSomething Nice Back Home aka: "Charlie Brown Syndrome Attacks!" by Peter Sorensen In the tenth episode of Season Four, Jacks health is seriously comprimised, forcing Juliet and Kate to work together to save him. Something goes terribly wrong as Sawyer, Claire, Aaron and Miles make their trek back to the beach from Locke's camp. Also, Jack mopes. A lot. After being on the receiving end of a cyclonic 1-2-Vaughn/Goddard knock-out punch of an episode last week, I knew that there would be no possible way to follow that up and that I would undoubtedly leave this week's episode feeling let down and disappointed. Sufficed to say, I hate being right sometimes. Now, don't get me wrong - tonight's episode was good... in it's own way. While it may not have the shock-n-awe of last week's action-packed return, it did have a calm subtlety to it, a peaceful breeze if you will. A long, slow, boring peaceful breeze.  'Now is not the time for a tickle fight, Juliet' The episode begins with the getting-close-to-cliche eye opening shot, this time belonging to Jack. He is woken up by Juliet and is led out of his tent where Bernard is arguing with Daniel and Charlotte. He tries to calm everyone down, but he's not looking so hot. Sweaty and disoriented, he renews his promise to get them all off the island, then succumbs and faints in mid-sentence. This should be the first warning sign: tonight's episode was slapped silly by the foreshadowing stick... twice. Flash forward to Jack waking up to his cell phone ringing. On the other end, his secretary reminds him of an appointment because she knows he's "not good with his calendar". Jack climbs out of bed and picks a pair of women's panties off the floor (which should give you an idea of where he is), tossing them in the hamper before going down to the kitchen. He steps on a child's toy (which should give you an idea of where he is) and then picks up the paper and reads an article that reads "Yankees bludgeon Red Sox in series sweep" which would put this on or around August 31st, 2007 - before "Rock-n-Roll Jack" but after his first meeting with Hurley at the looneybin. He goes upstairs and talks with a mysterious woman in the shower (c'mon! Do you really not know who this is by now?) and taadaa... it's Kate! Despite being totally spoiled from the get-go, it's still nice to see them end up together. Back on the island, Jack tries to play strong, but is burning up with a fever. Meanwhile - Sawyer, Claire, Aaron and Miles make their way back to the beach and Sawyer asks Claire how she's feeling, and she replies "Better. At least I'm not seeing things anymore." (Apparently, this is in reference to a scene that got cut from last week's episode in which Claire has strange prophetic visions after the RPG explosion but it was cut due to the shortened season schedule). They continue their walk, but suddenly Miles starts hearing the voices of Russeau and Carl which leads him to find their dead bodies, buried in the dirt. I'm the guy that's gonna put a boot in yer face unless you say 'Yeah, I getcha'. -Sawyer While Bernard and Rose argue over why Jack is sick when the island seems to heal people, Jack insists on being awake through the surgery so that he can talk Juliet through it, and that he wants Kate to hold the mirror. Way to go, A-Hole Jack! Not only do you insult the person who's going to be slicing into you shortly, you also manage to break her heart. Well played, sir. Well played. Flashing forward to 2007 again, Jack gets a call from a Dr. Stillman at the looneybin about Hurley. Jack goes down there and finds out that not only has Hurley not been taking his meds, but that he also doesn't think his doctor exists. Jack tries to talk to Hurley and ask why he stopped taking his meds and Hurley just replies "because we're dead. All of us. We're all dead. We never got off that island." Jack scoffs at the idea (which should come as no surprise because Jack scoffs at EVERYTHING) but Hurley says that Charlie visits him and gave him a message for Jack - "You're not supposed to raise him", it says. Jack tells Hurley to take his meds and leaves, but not before Hurley tells him that someone will be visiting Jack soon, too. (smack! says the foreshadowing stick)  'What do you mean you want a Brazilian, too?' Back on the island, Sun, Jin, Dan and Charlotte make it to the medical station and Daniel chivalrously offers to go in first. Sun and Jin make a crack in Korean about him liking Charlotte, and she glances over and smiles before entering the station. (smack!) As they gather the supplies they need, Sun relives the memory of Juliet taking her there and seeing the baby. Jin swears to her that he will find a way to get her and the baby off the island. (smack!) Once again, Sun and Jin talk about Charlotte and Dan in Korean and Charlotte glances over at an appropriate time (the foreshadowing stick is getting worn down by this point). Flashforward to 2007 again, and Jack is starting to lose it. He sits in the parking lot of Santa Rosa, looking at the bench where Hurley says he talks to Charlie. Finally, he goes home and wakes Kate up to ask her if she really thinks he's good with Aaron. She says that he is, and he surprises her by proposing. No big sweeping event or nothing, he just asks her and then pulls the ring from his pocket nonchalantly. Surprisingly, she still says yes (I'd be jealous if I didn't know that this whole thing ends with Jack in a Black Crowes beard screaming crazy at an airstrip). Back at the beach, Jin pulls Charlotte aside and calls her on her big secret: he knows that she can speak Korean. At first she plays dumb, but Jin threatens to hurt Daniel and she fesses up. In return for keeping it quiet, Jin asks for one thing: when the helicopter comes to pick Charlotte up, she take Sun and his baby with her. Juliet begins the operation on Jack, but the anasthesia just isn't enough and Jack starts to wince from the pain. Finally, he squirms too much and Juliet makes the hard decision and kicks Kate out of the tent and orders Bernard to sedate Jack completely, which he does, care of a chloroform rag to the face. In his office in 2007, Jack hears a strange beep and follows it to it's source: a smoke alarm with a bad battery. He takes the battery out and hears his name spoken aloud. He looks over and Christian is sitting in one of the lobby chairs, just staring at him. Jack begins to walk towards him, but is interrupted by a colleague and when he turns around, Christian is gone. Visibly upset and confused, he has his colleague write him a prescription for sleeping pills. He arrives home to overhear Kate talking to someone on the phone and begins to suspect her (looks like losing his ex is still weighing on his mind). It's ok, though, because he drowns all those thoughts and emotions in a sea of beer and sleeping pills. In the jungle, Claire wakes up to find Aaron missing. She stands up frantically to find him, but instead sees Christian Shepherd (her father) holding Aaron. Creeeeeepy! She calls out to him and wanders into the jungle. Meanwhile, Juliet finishes the surgery and invites Kate in. She tells her that everything went OK, and tells Kate about the kiss she shared with Jack when Kate returned from Locke's camp. "I think he was trying to prove something", she says, "that he's not in love with someone else." Kate thanks her and leaves, and Juliet tells Jack that she knows he's awake. His eyes open and he looks at her sheepishly. Ouch, that's not a good way to get dumped.  'A couple more of these and I'll forget I did Speed Racer' Flashforward to - Jack, more drunk than Liz Taylor on her birthday, sitting in Kate's living room waiting for her. She arrives home and Jack tells her about his visit to Hurley and questions her about why she wasn't home with Aaron. She begs him to trust her and to just let it go, but he doesn't. He keeps pushing and finally she admits that she was doing something for Sawyer - something she promised him she'd do. Poor Jack - he just keeps kickin' at that football, but he just keeps coming up short. "He made his choice", he tells her, "I'm the one who came back. I'm the one who's here, I'm the one who saved you." Waah, waah. Cry me a friggin' river, Jack. Kate bucks up and tells him to pull it together because she can't have him like this around her son. "Your son?!" Jack yells,"You're not even related to him!" (how's that for irony?) Too bad Aaron is standing right there. Way to go, Jack. Score another one for Team A-Hole! Back on the island, Sawyer wakes up to find Claire missing, and Miles tells him that she wandered off into the jungle with someone she called "Dad". Sawyer runs after her and hears Aaron crying in the distance. He follows the sound and finds Aaron, all alone at the base of a tree - Claire is nowhere in sight. Sawyer yells out for her again and again, but she's not there. Now, there's not much to this episode theorywise, but there may be hints at what's coming next...
Sorry, this part is for members only and may contain spoilers. If you'd like to read it, please LOG IN or REGISTER. As for this episode, this serves as a greater example of why Lost can sometimes feel... uneven. On one hand you have episodes written by people like Brian K. Vaughn and Drew Goddard, both masters of science fiction action blended with romantic overtones. Then, on the other hand you have episodes (like tonight's) written by people like Adam Horowitz, who previously wrote for Felicity. The difference is noticeable. However, next week we have a Locke-centric episode written by Elizabeth Sarnoff, who's previous episodes include "Meet Kevin Johnson" and "The Man Behind The Curtain". Combine that with the return of "BatManuel" himself - Nestor Carbonell - and hopefully we're in for one hell of an episode. Will Jack ever get the redheaded girl to notice him? Has Claire picked a bad time to play hide-and-go-seek? Post a comment below and let us know! Comments (5)
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