LOST: There's No Place Like Home Pt. 1 [Recap]

The Return of the Oceanic Six

The episode starts with blue sky, then we find out we're actually in the cockpit of a US Coast Guard C-130 transport. A "Ms. Decker" goes back to inform someone that they'll be landing soon. Sure enough, it's the Oceanic Six. Jack is sound asleep. There'll be a press conference. Jack seems to speak for all of them at this point.

When Decker leaves them, they agree to get "their story" straight, and not to answer any questions that might blow it. "They'll think we're all in shock." "We are in shock, Jack," says Sun.

They finally land, and as the ramp comes down we see a horde of reporters, and some familiar faces from the O6's past. Hurley's mom and dad are there, Jack's mother, Sun's father and (presumably) mother...

... but no one for Kate and Sayid. Hurley seems to notice this and takes Sayid to meet his parents. Kate's still left holding Aaron, looking around, maybe to see if the feds are there for her, maybe for someone else, who knows.

At the press conference, the expected questions arise, and they seem to pinpoint a location of the island(!) and go through the "story" of how they were found. There is footage of the six pulling a small boat up onto another island. Oh, and they were there for 108 days. Good number.

Sun is asked about her husband, and she tells everyone that Jin died in the crash. There seems to be some disbelief in the questions asked, like "how did you survive the impact" and "how did you manage to get to the island." Another reporter appears to call Kate on her so-called pregnancy. Did I fail to mention that she's claiming Aaron as *hers*? Yeah, that's a nice twist, isn't it?

After the conference, Sayid is told there's someone outside, a woman who claims to know him, she's not on the list. He goes outside to find Nadia waiting for him.

The Stairs

We find a pregnant Sun, standing at the bottom of the imposing staircase leading to her father's office. We've seen these before, if you remember, and at the top is usually something bad for her. Not this time.

She goes up, and basically tells her father off. Turns out she's bought a controlling interest in Paik Industries with the Oceanic Six settlement money, and that she deserves some respect now. She also blames her father for Jin's "death." (If he's really dead or not at this point we don't know.)

I'm Drunk on Unleaded!

Skip ahead a bit. A beat-up Ford Pinto drives up to a large mansion. Hurley gets out, and the car diesels on and backfires a couple of times. The door is standing open, and Hurley approaches with caution. He hears some whispers, sort of like the whispers on the island. There's something in the next room. He grabs his mom's gold Jesus statue (flashback!) and mutters "Why am I doing this?" He opens the door to the courtyard, raises the statue, and....

"Surprise!" It's Hurley's birthday, and most everyone is there. "What are you doing with that? Jesus Christ is not a weapon!" His mom and dad have thrown him an island Luau. "Interesting choice of theme," Sayid remarks. "He just doesn't get it."

His dad takes him to the garage, where his birthday present awaits. Its the (bitchin!) Camaro, from flashback AND flashforward. They both get in, and as Hurley goes to start it, he notices the reading on the odometer. 48151.6, and 234.2 on the trip OD. He freaks out. "Those are the numbers! It's not a coincidence!" And he runs away yelling.

The Big Reveal

Skip forward again, this time to the funeral for Christian Shepard which never happened the first time around. Jack is up giving a eulogy. When its all over, a woman approaches him, with an Australian accent.

"I believe I'm the reason he was in Australia in the first place. He didn't come to see me, he came to see his daughter, my daugher, Mr. Shepard." "My Father didn't have a daughter." "Yes he did, check his phone records.

"Would you like to know the strangest part of all of this? My daughter was on the plane. You were in the air for six hours, probably just a few rows away, you never knew she was your sister. She was one of the ones who died.

"Her name was Claire."

Jack is floored, obviously. "I didn't mean to burden you but you needed to know."

Then the woman goes to Kate and Aaron, who were just out of earshot. "Your son is beautiful." And then she leaves.

Follow the Chopper

Back on the beach, Rose and company are there, talking about the chopper that flew overhead, and dropped the bag with the sat. phone. "It was Sayid and Desmond on the helicopter, right? It had to be? Why not land, then? Well can't we call? It is a phone, right?"

Jack hands the phone to Faraday, "Don't try anything stupid." Daniel puts the phone into "monitor" mode, and we can hear Keamy and Frank arguing, and a little interesting tidbit about deploying to "The Orchid."

Strangely enough, Juliet claims to not know what The Orchid is. But quite obviously, Charlotte and Daniel do.

"Kate? Wanna take a walk?" Jack says as he starts rounding up some gear. Juliet protests (she doth too much methinks) and Jack re-iterates his promise to get everyone off the island. "Don't bleed to death, Jack." "See you in a couple of hours."

Meanwhile, Faraday is hunting for his journal. He comes to a page, with the DHARMA Orchid station logo scribbled in it. "Did you hear what he said? They're using the secondary protocol!! We have to get off this island! RIGHT NOW!"

She's Gone

So Jack and Kate are off following the satellite phone. Jack starts bleeding from his incision, but claims its just normal "discharge." Kate calls him on lying about it. "You know when people are lying, they can't look you in the eye? You do the exact opposite."

They hear something in the brush, and draw up their guns. Miles comes stumbling out, and they surprise him. "Whoa! Long time no see!"

Sawyer emerges next, carrying Aaron. Jack and Kate both realize something must be terribly wrong. "Where's Claire?" Sawyer tells them he hoped she'd made it back to the beach already. When Sawyer learns of the plans to go after the chopper, he starts arguing with Jack about it. But, as it usually happens, he hands off Aaron to Kate, and goes with. "That sonofabitch is stubborn! You don't get to die alone..." (ref. to Jack's live-together die-alone speech...)

As the two of them continue to follow the beacon, Sawyer notices Jack's bloodstain. "Cut yourself shaving?" "You're kidding me? What else did I miss?" They hear a clunking sound, and go on alert. The helicopter is just around the corner, and they approach it carefully.

"Lapidus?" Frank is inside doing something-or-other. "You know this yahoo?" Sawyer asks Jack. "Yahoo? This Yahoo dropped that phone so you could find me, and we can fly your people out of here." "You heard the man! Get her packed up!" "You want me to get some lemonade while I'm at it?" Saywer quips. "Where are Sayid and Desmond?"

"Your buddies were smart enough to stay on the boat, its the safest place to be right now. Keamy's up by some greenhouse where they can snatch Linus." "What are they gonna do with the people with Linus?" Sawyer inquires. "Nothing good."

Sawyer gets that "oh crap" look as he says, "Hugo's with Ben," and they realize what they have to do.

The Zodiac

I should briefly mention that we get to see Sayid land on the beach in the raft named The Zodiac. Sayid learns of Jack and Kate's mission, and loads up his pistol, intending to head off into the jungle alone. Just then Kate, Aaron and Miles return. Kate hands off Aaron to Sun, and she goes with Sayid, with her tracking abilities.

Faraday takes the first batch of beachies off to the freighter, and Charlotte's look as he leaves is a curious one. Does she have something for him? Just a bad feeling? That was really rather vague....

Anyway, they arrive at the freighter, and they all get on board, with the help of Desmond. "The engines are fixed," a voice says behind them. They all turn around and their jaws hit the deck as they see Michael cleaning his hands. He looks quite guilty, as he should.

Desmond and the new man in command go into the bridge. Desmond tells him to stay on heading 305. But he can't. There's some kind of interference with his depth finder(?) which makes him unable to see the reef below. They can't get closer than five miles out.....

Michael tells Sun the story of how he and Walt got back. "And now you work for Ben." "I do not work for Ben! I'm trying to make up for what I did, trying to help you out here."

Desmond bursts in, "Michael, I need you, NOW!" They go to the engine room (I think) to find the place stacked floor-to-celing with bricks of C4. Not good.

Finally!!!

Kate and Sayid are in the jungle trying to follow Jack and Sawyer. Kate notices some tracks, and its not Jack or Sawyer. They look like they're doubling back upon them. She hears something, and draws on the bushes. "Whoever you are, come out now!"

"Alright, relax!" says a familiar voice. Out of the weeds comes Alpert. "Just drop your guns," he tells her. And as Kate threatens him again, the rest of the Others pop up out of the jungle, leaving them surrounded. "I said, drop the guns."

The Orchid, Part I

"We're going to a place called 'The Orchid.' It's a greenhouse." "Why?" "You heard John, we're going to move the island." "How are we going to do that?" "Very carefully."

"If you can move it, why didn't you move it before those psychos got here?" "It's a measure of last resort. It's dangerous, and unpredictable."

"Awesome."

The trio arrive at a pile of stones, and Ben starts moving them away. Underneath is a wooden chest, which they open. There's a DHARMA tin with some crackers in it, and Hurley happily partakes. Ben asks for a mirror from the chest, and Locke pulls a pair of binoculars out. "You know those are 15 years old..." Ben tells Hurley about the crackers.

He takes the mirror and starts signalling someone on top of the hill with it. "Communicating with who?" "Who do you think?" Someone signals back. "What did you tell them?" "None of your business, John."

"OK, lets say the greenhouse place, lets suppose it works. Doesn't that mean they guys with the guns will move with it? Hey, I still want to get off the island!"

"I'm afraid its a little late for that. You might want to get lower to the ground." "Why?"

"Because we're at the Orchid." There's a structure of some kind, looking quite overgrown with the jungle. John cocks his pistol as Ben checks out the situation. "What are we waiting for?"

"We're waiting because Charles Widmore knows about this place, and knows what we need is inside."

"I thought you said he didn't...." "I wasn't entirely truthful." "When are you?"

They spot Keamy and his men guarding the station. "They're already here."

Ben gives Locke his collapsing baton-of-death. He gives Locke and Hurley instructions on how to get to "the real" Orchid station, which is below the greenhouse, via an elevator.

"What about the armed men inside?" "Leave that to me." "How are you gonna do that?"

"How many times do I have to tell you, I always have a plan." And Ben heads off, unarmed now.

He approaches the station with his hands up. "My name is Benjamin Linus, I believe you're looking for me." Keamy grins, and puts his pistol right between Ben's eyes. Then smacks him, knocking Ben out cold.

BONK. (part 1!)

Well, I think we'd better withhold analysis of all of this until the big 2-hour finale, in two weeks. Don't want to go second guessing things until we have the big picture....

...

What?