There's No Place Like Home

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“There's No Place Like Home”
Lost episode

The Oceanic Six at the press conference.
Episode no. Season 4
Episode 12, 13 & 14
Written by Carlton Cuse
Damon Lindelof
Directed by Jack Bender
Stephen Williams
Guest stars Malcolm David Kelley
L. Scott Caldwell
Jeff Fahey
Nestor Carbonell
Kevin Durand
Anthony Azizi
John Terry
Sonya Walger
Alan Dale
Francois Chau
Alex Petrovitch
Starletta DuPois
Veronica Hamel
Andrea Gabriel
Byron Chung
June Kyoko Lu
Lillian Hurst
Cheech Marin
Michelle Forbes
Susan Duerden
Noah Craft
Esmond Chung
Garrett Hughes
David Michael
Souhil Nimeh
Eul Noh
Alicia Rae
Joe Sikora
Production no. 412, 413 & 414
Original airdate May 15, 2008 (Part 1)
May 29, 2008 (Parts 2 and 3)
Episode chronology
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"Cabin Fever" "To be announced"
Lost (season 4)
List of Lost episodes

"There's No Place Like Home" is the season finale of the American Broadcasting Company's fourth season of the serial drama television series Lost, consisting of the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth episodes. They are also the eighty-first, eighty-second and eighty-third episodes respectively, of the show overall.[1][2] The three constituent episodes are split into two broadcasts; "Part 1" was aired on May 15, 2008 and "Parts 2 and 3" were aired on May 29, 2008 on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada. The second and third parts make up the two-hour season finale of the fourth season.[3][4] The episodes were written by executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof; "Part 1" was directed by co-executive producer Stephen Williams, while executive producer Jack Bender directed "Parts 2 and 3".[5] The narrative focuses on a confrontation between the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 and the mercenaries from the freighter Kahana as the survivors desperately try to escape the Island. Also, flashforwards show what the Oceanic Six, those who are rescued, first do after returning home. The title is a reference to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. "There's No Place Like Home" received critical acclaim.

Contents

[edit] Plot

[edit] Part 1

In flashforwards, the Oceanic Six— Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly), Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim), Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) and Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin)'s infant, Aaron— arrive in Honolulu where they are greeted by Sun’s parents (Byron Chung, June Kyoko Lu), Jack’s mother (Veronica Hamel), and Hurley’s parents (Lillian Hurst, Cheech Marin). In the ensuing media circus, the Oceanic Six give a press conference where they tell a cover story to appease the numerous reporters. Afterwards, Sayid is led outside where he reunites with Noor Abed “Nadia” Jazeem (Andrea Gabriel), his old girlfriend. Sometime later, Sun visits her father and informs him that he is one of two people responsible for her husband Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim)’s death, and that as revenge, she used the considerable compensation payment from Oceanic Airlines to buy a controlling interest in her father’s company. Back in the United States, Hurley’s parents have thrown him a surprise birthday party and his dad shows Hurley that he rebuilt their old Camaro. Hurley is excited until he notices that the odometer displays the Numbers, which causes him to panic and run away. In the final flashforward, Jack eulogizes his father, Christian Shephard (John Terry), at the latter's funeral. Afterwards, Claire’s mom, Carole Littleton (Susan Duerden) reveals to him that Claire is his half-sister.

On the Island, Jack and Kate follow the signal from the phone dropped from a helicopter by Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey). They encounter James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway), Aaron and Miles Straume (Ken Leung); Kate takes the baby and Miles back to the beach. Jack and Sawyer meet up with Lapidus, who has been handcuffed to the helicopter; they are set to leave when they decide they need to rescue Hurley from the mercenaries. Meanwhile, Sayid arrives at the beach on the freighter's Zodiac raft just as Kate returns. Sayid and Kate go after Jack and Sawyer, but are instead captured by Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell) and the rest of the Others. Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies) starts ferrying people back to the freighter Kahana; Sun, Jin, Aaron and 3 background survivors arrive at the boat, only to discover a large amount of C4 explosives onboard.

Meanwhile, in their quest to move the Island, Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson), John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) and Hurley arrive at the Dharma Initiative Orchid station, which is disguised as a greenhouse. Ben sends Locke to the "real" part of the station and surrenders himself to Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand) and the other mercenaries from the Kahana, who had previously arrived. Ben is not worried because he "always [has] a plan." A final montage shows the Oceanic Six in their respective predicaments.

[edit] Parts 2 & 3

On the Island, Jack and Sawyer go on to the Orchid station where they are reunited with Hurley and Locke. Jack and Locke once more argue about the Island; Locke pleads with him not to leave the island because he has not yet done what he is supposed to do there. When Jack refuses, Locke tells him to lie about the island once they leave, in order to protect the island itself. Meanwhile, Keamy, the mercenaries, and their prisoner, Ben, return to the helicopter. Kate, Sayid, and the Others ambush the mercenaries, who are all killed, except Keamy, who feigns death. In exchange for freeing Ben, the Others allow Kate and Sayid to leave the Island on the helicopter. Ben goes to the Orchid, where he advises Jack to leave the Island soon and gets in a hidden elevator with Locke.

Inside the underground chamber, Ben, clearly irritated by Locke's questions, tells Locke to watch the orientation video for the Orchid station. While Locke watches the video, Ben puts every metal item he can find into a small compartment at the back of the station, much to Locke's consternation, since the video explicitly warns against such actions. The tape begins to discuss time travel involving a pouch of exotic matter embedded in the mountain and rabbits when the VCR malfunctions and rewinds to the beginning. Locke again starts asking questions, which Ben refuses to answer. Shortly, Keamy arrives and tells Locke that if he (Keamy) dies, the bomb on the freighter will explode, because there is a remote trigger linked to a heart-rate monitor he is wearing.

Ben, still reeling over the loss of his adopted daughter Alex (Tania Raymonde), viciously kills Keamy with no remorse or sympathy for those on the boat, to Locke's distress. Ben then tells Locke that whoever moves the Island is forced to leave it and never come back. Ben says that he must do it so that Locke can lead the Others. Ben tells Locke where to meet the rest of the Others, so that he can take Ben's place as leader. They bid farewell to each other and Locke goes to the Others, who welcome him home.

Ben seals and then activates power to the compartment he had loaded with metal items. Instantly electrical arcs appear around the metal items and blow a hole in the back of the compartment. After donning a parka, Ben climbs through the ragged hole blown into the back of the compartment into a tunnel, and descends down a ladder into a frozen chamber. While descending into the chamber, he falls and cuts his arm. He then turns a very large metal wheel, apparently to initiate the process of moving the island. As he completes the rotation, weeping and apparently remorseful of his impending banishment, an eerie sound and flash of white light soon envelopes the entire island. The cut that Ben recieves links back to "the shape of things to come" where Ben wakes up in the Sahara Desert wearing a winter jacket and with a large cut on his arm. This suggests that Ben being banished involves him somehow being teleported away from the island to the Sahara Desert.

Meanwhile....

Jack, Kate, Sayid, Sawyer, Hurley, and Frank Lapidus leave the Island on the helicopter, but discover a fuel leak which occurred during the earlier gun battle between Keamy's men and the Others. In order to lighten the helicopter, Sawyer jumps out, but not before whispering something in Kate's ear and kissing her. The helicopter makes it back to the Kahana in the nick of time; they refuel it, fix the leak, pick up Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick), Sun and Aaron and leave before the bomb explodes, apparently killing Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau) and Jin, as well as many other nameless characters also on the boat. Just before the bomb explodes, Christian Shephard (John Terry) appears to Michael, who is busy attempting to stall the explosion by cooling the battery with liquid nitrogen, and tells him he "can go now". Daniel, who is ferrying people between the island and the boat, turns around. Sawyer makes it back to the Island to find Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) drinking rum and sadly watching the distant smoke rising from the wreckage of the ship.

The people on the helicopter decide to return to the Island, but as they approach, they see the island vanish in a whiteish-yellow light. With nowhere to land, the helicopter again runs out of fuel and the survivors are forced to ditch into the ocean. They drift in a rescue raft for several hours. Hurley suggests that Locke succeeded in moving the Island. Jack angrily disagrees, in accordance with his professed disbelief in miracles. At night, the survivors encounter a boat owned by Penelope Widmore (Sonya Walger). Jack then tells the other survivors that they must lie about what has happened to them to protect the people still on the Island. Desmond and Penny are reunited and Desmond introduces her to the other survivors. They reluctantly agree with Jack's plan to lie about what they've been through, and they come up with a plan for the survivors to arrive on a small island in Indonesia with a phony story about how they got there after the plane crash. They bid farewell to Desmond and Frank Lapidus and arrive on the island of Sumba, some 3000 miles away from where they were picked up.

In a series of flashforwards, Kate, Jack, and Walt Lloyd (Malcolm David Kelley) all recount stories of being approached by Jeremy Bentham, the man in the coffin that Jack visits in "Through the Looking Glass". In London, Sun confronts Charles Widmore (Alan Dale) and tells him that they have common interests. Meanwhile, Sayid breaks into the mental hospital where Hurley is staying to convince him to leave with him and go to "somewhere safe." Sometime later, Kate has a dream in which Claire tells her not to bring Aaron back to the Island. In the final flashforward, Jack returns to the funeral parlor where he is confronted by Ben, who says that the Island will not allow Jack to return without everyone else who left joining him, including Locke, who is revealed to be in the coffin and apparently has been contacting the Oceanic Six under the alias Jeremy Bentham.

[edit] Production

Originally the episode was planned to be split into two one-hour parts, but executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse petitioned ABC to include one of their three episodes "in the bank" (due to the WGA strike) at the end of the fourth season, leaving 34 episodes to be split over seasons five and six.[1][6][7]

Scenes featuring Alan Dale (who plays Charles Widmore) were filmed in secret in London as Dale was appearing as King Arthur in Spamalot there at the time. Dale was not made aware of the plot of the episode, saying that "the wording, the title and all the headings on the scripts were changed. Only [he] knew they were the Lost scripts, along with the director." Production staff were flown to London and sets for Dale's scenes were constructed at Shepperton Studios.[8]

[edit] Reception

[edit] Part 1

"There's No Place Like Home: Part 1" was watched by 11.40 million American viewers, achieving a 5.0/14 rating in the key adults 18-49 demographic.[9] The episode was watched by 464,000 viewers in Australia and was the thirtieth most watched program of the night, a feat that David Dale of The Sun-Herald thought proved that "there's hope for the world".[10] Patrick Kevin Day of the Los Angeles Times praised Michael Giacchino's musical score,[11] writing that "I'm reminded of the heights of emotion this series can evoke."[12] Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post thought that the finale's split and two-week break was "not cool", but asked "how brilliant was Sun's smackdown on her bad daddy?".[13] Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger wrote that "when Lost is at its best … it manages to balance revelations … with great character moments. I don't know that I'd put this one in the pantheon (again, a lot of it was set-up for … [Parts 2 & 3]), but it was definitely in the spirit of what I love about the show."[14] Kristin Dos Santos of E! praised the chemistry between Naveen Andrews and Andrea Gabriel, who play Sayid and Nadia, respectively.[15] Chris Carabott of IGN gave the episode a 7.9. He commended the music and called it "a good opening to what should be an exciting season finale"; however, the lack of suspense in favor of set-up was cited as the reason for the modest rating.[16] Dan Compora of SyFy Portal called "Part 1" "an excellent setup episode [with] fast pace, important revelations, and nearly a full utilization of the cast". Compora decided that "certain characters work much better in very small doses … a little bit of [Hurley] goes a long way [and] it was nice to see Jack featured without completely dominating an episode."[17] Oscar Dahl of BuddyTV summed up Part 1 as "very good", but said that the opening flashforward in which the Oceanic Six are reunited with their families was anticlimactic and "although each flashforward scene had minor and major revelations, it felt patched together and a little sloppy, like Lindelof and Cuse had all this ground to cover in their quest to link all the action up to the final scene of season 3 … That said, the flashforward scenes all played out exceedingly well."[18] Daniel of TMZ welcomed the return of Richard (on the island) and gave the episode an "A", saying that it had "more than a few fantastic scenes. All the flashforward scenes tonight were right on the money as far as I was concerned."[19] Jay Glatfelter of The Huffington Post "really liked this episode" and concluded that it "definitely showcased the new breath of life the fourth season gave to the show."[20]

Matthew Fox received much praise for his performance in the scene in which his character Jack reacts to the revelation that Claire is his half-sister. Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post called this "brilliant acting",[13] while Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger said that "Fox played Jack's anguish beautifully" and called this scene a contender for "Fox's single best moment in the history of the show".[14] Kristin Dos Santos gave Fox "mad props" and Chris Carabott of IGN said that "Fox hasn't been given much of an opportunity to stretch his acting muscles this season but he gives a great performance [in this scene]."[16]

[edit] Parts 2 & 3

"There's No Place Like Home: Parts 2 & 3" was watched by 12.20 million American viewers, achieving a 4.9/13 rating in the key adults 18-49 demographic, also making it the most watched show of the week.[21] The episode was watched by 603,000 viewers in Australia.[22] Robert Bianco of USA Today said that "a great season of Lost ended with a suitably great finale, which … ended with the … whoa-inducing discovery that Locke was the man in the casket. Didn't see that coming—and I can't wait to see what this terrific TV series has coming next."[23] Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe wrote that "the episode was dynamic and busy enough as it relied heavily on action-adventure… but the finale wasn't as mind-bending as [the third] season's farewell, during which we received the show's first flash-forward."[24] Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger enjoyed the triple-length "There's No Place Like Home", but ranked it in the middle of his list of the season's episodes from best to worst and decided that "'There's No Place Like Home" (all three parts) played fair with the audience 100 percent, answered [many] questions … and yet … I feel ever so slightly disappointed by all of this." He also found the special effects "looked much shoddier than usual" and praised the score.[25] Frazier Moore of the Associated Press thought that "it might be the most rewarding, deliciously challenging episode in the history of this mystical ABC serial."[26] Dan Compora of SyFy Portal wrote that "Part 2" "was perhaps the most action-packed, meaningful episode of television I've watched all year. The pace was excellent, and the revelations were plentiful." Compora also wrote that "though the pace was considerably slower, ['Part 3'] delivered in a big way … it was [not a letdown, being] well written and well directed in its own right."[27]

[edit] Alternate endings

On May 30, 2008 two alternate endings to Part 3 were revealed on Good Morning America. In one of the alternate endings, Sawyer was the man in the coffin, and in the other ending, Desmond was the man in the coffin. These variations were shot to minimize the risk of a spoiler leak; if one of the fake ones leaked, the surprise would not be ruined.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Lindelof, Damon & Cuse, Carlton, (April 17, 2008) "Teleconference with Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, Executive Producers of ABC'S Lost." Audio of Teleconference retrieved on April 17, 2008.
  2. ^ ABC Medianet, (April 18, 2008) "Weekly Primetime Program Schedule." Retrieved on April 18, 2008.
  3. ^ ABC Medianet, (April 14, 2008) "ABC Announces Special Two-Hour Finales of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost"." Retrieved on April 17, 2008.
  4. ^ ABC Medianet, (May 2, 2008) "Weekly Primetime Program Schedule." Retrieved on May 2, 2008.
  5. ^ ABC Medianet, (May 12, 2008) "As the Face-Off Between the Survivors and Freighter People Continues, the Oceanic Six Find Themselves Closer to Rescue". Retrieved on May 12, 2008.
  6. ^ Ausiello, Michael , (April 8, 2008) "The Ausiello Report." Retrieved on April 17, 2008.
  7. ^ Dos Santos, Kristin (April 11, 2008). Exclusive! Three-Hour Lost Season Finale Over Two Nights!. E! Online - Watch with Kristin. Retrieved on 2008-04-17.
  8. ^ Reynolds, Simon. "'Lost' films secret scenes in London", Digital Spy, 2008-05-03. Retrieved on 2008-05-04. 
  9. ^ Your Entertainment Now, (May 16, 2008) "Broadcast TV Ratings for Thursday, May 15, 2008". Retrieved on May 16, 2008.
  10. ^ Dale, David, (May 23, 2008) "The Who We Are update: Eurotrash will win the week for SBS", The Sun-Herald. Retrieved on May 23, 2008.
  11. ^ Day, Patrick Kevin, (May 16, 2008) "The Season Finale … Almost", Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on May 16, 2008.
  12. ^ Day, Patrick Kevin, (May 13, 2008) "Better Bring a Hanky to This Season Finale", Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on May 16, 2008.
  13. ^ a b Wieselman, Jarett, (May 16, 2008) "Lost's Blooming Orchid", New York Post. Retrieved on May 18, 2008.
  14. ^ a b Sepinwall, Alan, (May 15, 2008) "The Man With the Plan", The Star-Ledger. Retrieved on May 15, 2008.
  15. ^ Dos Santos, Kristin, (May 15, 2008) "Click Your Heels Three Times", E!. Retrieved on May 16, 2008.
  16. ^ a b Carabott, Chris, (May 16, 2008) "Pieces are Moved into Place in This Pivotal Episode", IGN. Retrieved on May 16, 2007.
  17. ^ Compora, Dan, (May 16, 2008) "Lost Review: 'There's No Place Like Home: Part 1'", SyFy Portal. Retrieved on May 16, 2008.
  18. ^ Dahl, Oscar, (May 16, 2008) "Act 1, an Anticlimax and Messy Flashforwards", BuddyTV. Retrieved on May 18, 2008.
  19. ^ Daniel, (May 16, 2008) "Lost Diary: 'There's No Place Like Home' (Part 1)", TMZ. Retrieved on May 18, 2008.
  20. ^ Glatfelter, Jay, (May 16, 2008) "On Lost: 'There's No Place Like Home Part 1'", The Huffington Post. Retrieved on May 18, 2008.
  21. ^ ABC Medianet, (June 3, 2008) "Weekly Primetime Ratings". Retrieved on June 4, 2008.
  22. ^ Seven Network, (June 6, 2008) "Ratings Report". Retrieved on June 6, 2008.
  23. ^ Bianco, Robert, (May 29, 2008) "Lost Solves a Big Mystery—and Raises More", USA Today. Retrieved on May 29, 2008.
  24. ^ Gilbert, Matthew, (May 29, 2008) "Lost Finale: Questions, Always Questions", The Boston Globe. Retrieved on May 29, 2008.
  25. ^ Sepinwall, Alan, (May 29, 2008) "Dude, Where's My Island?", The Star-Ledger. Retrieved on May 29, 2008.
  26. ^ Moore, Frazier, (May 29, 2008) "Review: Lost Brilliantly Ends Season with Answers, Mystery", Associated Press. Retrieved on May 29, 2008.
  27. ^ Compora, Dan, (May 29, 2008) "Lost Review: 'There's No Place Like Home, Part 2'", SyFy Portal. Retrieved on May 30, 2008.
v • d • e
Lost
Production DVD releases • Episode list • Music • Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Season 4
Main characters Ana Lucia • Ben • Boone • Charlie • Charlotte • Claire • Daniel • Desmond • Hurley • Jack • Jin • Juliet
Kate • Libby • Locke • Michael • Miles • Mr. Eko • Nikki • Paulo • Sawyer • Sayid • Shannon • Sun • Walt
Supporting characters Alex • Bernard • Christian • Ethan • Rose • Rousseau • Tom
Groups Dharma Initiative • Hanso Foundation • Oceanic Airlines • The Others
Miscellaneous Awards • Find 815 • Lost Experience • Lost: Missing Pieces • Lost: Via Domus • Mythology
Lost Season 4
"The Beginning of the End" · "Confirmed Dead" · "The Economist" · "Eggtown" · "The Constant" · "The Other Woman" · "Ji Yeon" · "Meet Kevin Johnson" · "The Shape of Things to Come" · "Something Nice Back Home" · "Cabin Fever" · "There's No Place Like Home: Part 1" · "There's No Place Like Home: Parts 2 and 3"