"There's No Place Like Home: Part I"

Written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse
Directed by Stephen Williams


In which the story of the Oceanic 6 finally told, as the second assault on the island begins amidst the attempt to get the survivors off the island...

Status Report - Final Analysis




Status Report
There's little doubt that the three-hour finale was conceived as a cohesive whole, based on the how this episode begins. The finale will be the story of the Oceanic 6 from their return to the "real world" to, presumably, the now-classic scenes from "Through the Looking Glass". While that mini-arc is critical to the finale itself, it also serves to bring one of the key season arcs to a conclusion. The third and fourth season finales bookend what has been one of the best game-changers in recent memory.

If nothing else, the Oceanic 6 scenes clarify a few items. For one thing, the "Hurley in the coffin" theory has been all but debunked, which is fine; it was a low-probability bet anyway. The safe money would be on Michael, despite the fact that it would be remarkably predictable for this series. It's good to see, however, that part of Hurley's impending madness could be related to his reaction to "the numbers". That concept has been downplayed far too much since the end of the second season, given its initial importance.

The near-future scenes also flesh out the "story" that the Oceanic 6 tells the media. It's surprisingly weak, but if the current action on the island leads directly to the "rescue" of the Oceanic 6, then it's hardly surprising that they had little time to develop a solid story. In particular, it seems rather easy to figure out that Kate is not Aaron's mother, especially during the eventual trial.

Jack does learn the truth about his relation to Claire, which was actually one of the more disappointing scenes. It felt like the writers had been struggling with the dialogue for a while, and finally gave up and accepted that it would be clunky exposition. Given Jack's personality, that's the sort of information that he would have questioned immediately; it would have been more realistic (if perhaps more frustrating) for that to have been the main subject of a Jack-centric episode. But, at the very least, it ties off one of the open items from previous flash-forwards.

It was bittersweet to see Sayid with the gorgeous Nadia again, because for all their happiness now, it will be over all too soon. The real surprise came out of Sun, who took sweet revenge over her father in one of her best scenes yet. Sun hasn't had much to do for the past couple seasons, so this was quite welcome. It might also be setting the stage for the eventual return of the Oceanic 6 to the island, since her new business resources would come in very handy.

Back on the island, in the "present", most of the time is spent moving the various characters into position for the massive events to come. Ben, Locke, and Hurley race Keamy's team to the Orchid Station, but they arrive too late. In the process of getting there, Ben apparently signals Rcihard and the Others to grab anyone who happens to be on the same trail. They miss Jack and Sawyer (who are coming from a different direction), but they do take Kate and Sayid into custody. Perhaps this will finally provide a glimpse at the previously mentioned "Temple".

Back on the beach, Daniel displays some surprising leadership when he begins shuttling the survivors to the Kahana. Unfortunately, nothing is quite so simple as that. The writers used Michael to foreshadow the possibility of blowing up the freighter in "Meet Kevin Johnson", but the circumstances are different now. The massive stash of C4 primed for detonation is inevitably linked to the biometric sensor Keamy had strapped to his arm in the previous episode. Defeating Widmore's mercenary team means destroying the most obvious means of leaving the island (thus explaining, in general terms, why only six survivors can ultimately escape).

As with most "Lost" finales, there is always an introductory hour, and this is clearly intended for that purpose. Some small items are revealed, but the story is more remarkable for clarifying the scope of the rest of the finale event.



Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was mostly setup for the remaining two-hours of the season finale. While a great deal of time was spent moving the characters into position for the conflict to come, there were a few minor tidbits revealed along the way. The true joy here is in the artistry of the storytelling, which continues on the strong trend established this season.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10





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