"LOST" RETROSPECT: (4.10) "Something Nice Back Home"

Five years ago, (4.10) "Something Nice Back Home", a Season Four episode of "LOST" aired for the first time and I wrote a review of the episode a year later. After a new, recent viewing, I decided to write another article on the episode: 


"LOST" RETROSPECT: (4.10) "Something Nice Back Home"

I am beginning to wonder if (4.10) "Something Nice Back Home", a Season Four episode from "LOST", might be one of the most misunderstood episodes of the series. When I recently viewed it for a third time after four years, I came to a realization that I may have misunderstood it.

"Something Nice Back Home" is basically a Jack Shephard episode that featured three main subplots - two of them about the very intense Dr. Shephard. One of them centered on James "Sawyer" Ford, Claire Littleton and Miles Straume's efforts to reach the Oceanic 815 survivors' beach camp, after surviving the near massacre at the Others' compound by mercenary Martin Keamy and his merry band of killers. The second subplot was about Dr. Juliet Burke's efforts to save Jack's life after he had been struck down by appendicitis. And the final subplot turned out to be a flash forward about Jack's time with fellow castaways Kate Austen and Aaron Littleton in Los Angeles, three years in the future.

During the first subplot, Sawyer, Claire and Miles' jungle trek to the beach camp proved to be a tense little adventure that obviously appealed to many viewers. Ever since Sawyer had rescued Claire during Keamy's attack upon the Others' compound in (4.09) "The Shape of Things to Come", fans began labeling him as the series' "hero". After my second viewing of the two episodes, I found this odd. Aside from his rescue of Claire, I cannot recall Sawyer doing anything worth noticing. Former Others leader Ben Linus had saved the survivors of Keamy's attack and the Smoke Monster by leading them out of the besieged compound in "The Shape of Things to Come". And in "Something Nice Back Home", pilot Frank Lapidus saved Sawyer, Claire, Miles and Aaron with a warning and prevented them from encountering a very angry Keamy and his surviving men. Frank also convinced Keamy to use another jungle trail in order to distract the latter from the castaways' hiding place.

One might view Sawyer's protective attitude toward Claire as an example of his heroism. People are entitled to do so . . . even if I have trouble accepting this. Mind you, I found the exchanges between Sawyer and Miles rather amusing. But when Sawyer caught Miles shooting odd stares at Claire, the former decided to go into a belligerent protective mode and warn Miles to keep his distance. This incident, along with Miles' detection of Danielle Rousseau and Karl's bodies were signs of Miles' psychic ability, but Sawyer was unaware of it. Eventually, Sawyer regretted his warning, when Claire disappeared into the jungle with the Smoke Monster, who was in the form of Christian Shephard - hers and Jack's father. Like I said, this subplot provided plenty of suspense, adventure and snark. But "LOST" never answered some of the questions that it raised. Why did Claire leave with the Man in Black (Smoke Monster)? Why did she leave Aaron behind? What happened to her during those three years before her reunion with her fellow castaways in Season Six? And was Claire's disappearance nothing more than a plot device for Kate's story line featuring those years with baby Aaron?

The second plot line focused on Jack's appendicitis. In fact, this episode began with this subplot, using the trademark shot of Jack's eye opening. Not much came from this particular subplot. While gathering surgical instruments and medical supplies at the Staff Station, both Jin and Sun Kwon discovered that one of the freighter newcomers, Charlotte Lewis, spoke Korean. Jin informed Charlotte that he will harm her fellow freighter passenger, Daniel Faraday, if she did not secure a place for the pregnant Sun aboard the Kahuna freighter. The subplot also revealed Juliet's talent for leadership. She also realized that Jack still loved Kate and that her romantic friendship with him was nothing more than an illusion.

In the end, Charlotte did not ensure Sun's departure from the island. Juliet did in the Season Four finale, (4.12) "There's No Place Like Home, Part I". Knowledge of Charlotte's ability to speak Korean only allowed her to issue a warning to Jin about the dangers of the island before her death in Season Five's (5.05) "This Place is Death". And Juliet's leadership abilities were never explored in future episodes. Adhering to Hollywood's sexist codes, John Locke ended up acting as leader of the castaways left behind during the island's time jumps. Sawyer assumed the role of "leader" following Locke's departure from the island, via the Orchid Station's donkey wheel.

And to this day, "LOST fans have no idea on what led to Jack's attack of appendicitis. Many have speculated, claiming that either it was a sign of the Island's displeasure over Jack's eagerness to leave or a symbol of his subconscious reacting to Jack's desire. Who knows? Fellow castaway Rose Nadler expressed her belief to husband Bernard that Jack's illness was an ominous warning. In her view, everyone "gets better" on the Island. Naturally, she could only speak from her personal experiences and knowledge of what happened to Locke's legs. I have decided not to view Jack's appendicitis from any metaphoric point of view and see it as nothing more than an opportunity for "LOST" writers to end the burgeoning Jack/Juliet romance. When Jack made it clear that he wanted Kate to participate in his operation, Juliet realized that Jack was not in love with her and told Kate. What made this whole mystery surrounding Jack's infirmity ridiculous is that three years and two seasons later, island guru Jacob told Jack and a few others that staying or leaving the island (and accepting the role as island leader) was a matter of choice.

The episode's last episode - the 2007 flash forward featuring Jack and Kate's romance in Los Angeles - seemed to have generated the greatest amount of contempt from the fans and the media. Many fans blamed Jack's personal flaws for his meltdown and break-up with Kate, complaining about his alcohol and drug dependence, his jealousy toward Kate's feelings for Sawyer (who had remained on the island), and his controlling nature. They believed if Jack had kept these flaws in check, he could have enjoyed a happy life with Kate and Aaron. Others believed that Jack's visit to Hurley at the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute triggered a realization that he needed to return to the Island in order to meet his "destiny".

I have a different views on the subplot featuring Jack's meltdown. One, I believe it was the best subplot in "Something Nice Back Home". It was the only subplot that helped drive the series' main narrative. And unlike the Sawyer/Claire/Miles and the appendicitis subplots, it did not end with unanswered questions. More importantly, the episode raised a question that many fans, including myself, had failed to notice. What really led to Jack's post-Island meltdown and break-up with Kate? In my previous review, I had expressed an opinion that Jack's perfect life with Kate and Aaron was too superficial to last. I never realized the extent of how shallow and false his life was. After viewing"Something Nice Back Home" for the second time, I realized that this question was answered in (4.04) "Eggtown" and in future episodes such as (4.12) "There's No Place Like Home", (5.02) "The Lie", (5.04) "The Little Prince" and (5.11) "Whatever Happened, Happened".

What am I trying to say? Simple. Jack and the other members of the Oceanic Six had created lives filled with unnecessary and/or selfish lies, deceit, illusions and grief. Audiences had already experienced Hugo "Hurley" Reyes' crash and burn in flashbacks featured in the Season Four premiere, (4.01) "The Beginning of the End". In this episode, audiences finally witnessed Jack's future meltdown. In a flash forward from "Eggtown", Jack revealed the Oceanic Six's major lie about the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 during Kate's criminal trial:

DUNCAN: Were you aware that Ms. Austen was a fugitive being transported by a United States marshal on that flight to Los Angeles for trial?

JACK: I did learn that eventually, yes.

DUNCAN: From the U.S. Marshal?

JACK: No, the marshal died in the crash. I never spoke to him. Ms. Austen told me.

DUNCAN: Did you ever ask her if she was guilty?

JACK: No. Never.

DUNCAN: Well, that seems like a reasonable question. Why not?

JACK: I just assumed that there had been some kind of mistake.

DUNCAN: And why would you think that?

JACK: Only eight of us survived the crash. We landed in the water. I was hurt, pretty badly. In fact, if it weren't for her, I would have never made it to the shore. She took care of me. She took care of all of us. She — she gave us first aid, water, found food, made shelter. She tried to save the other two, but they didn't—

As we all know, this is a load of horseshit. But what led Jack to tell all of these lies. The episode (4.14) "There's No Place Like Home" featured a scene in which Locke asked Jack to lie about the Island and their their experiences during the past three months . . . to protect the Island. Jack had announced his intentions to follow Locke's instructions in(5.02) "The Lie". Kate, Sun and Sayid agreed to support his lies. Hurley did not, claiming that they were unnecessary. Eventually, Hurley capitulated to Jack's demands. I never understood why Jack had created such unnecessary lies about the island. It had disappeared after Ben had pushed the Orchid Station's donkey wheel. By the time the Oceanic Six were "rescued", they had traveled many miles away from the island, thanks to Kahuna freighter's helicopter, floating in the ocean for several days and Penny Widmore's yacht, which conveyed them to the Java Trench, where a fake Oceanic 815 airplane was planted by Penny's father, Charles Widmore and near the island of Sumba. The only person who could have found the Island was Widmore. Being a former resident of the Island, he knew how to acquire information on the Island's locations. And once he did, Widmore dispatched Martin Keamy and his thugs there to collect Ben Linus. The authorities would have never found the Island, and the lie did not prevente Widmore from finding it again, as Season Six eventually proved. Leaving behind so many castaways and pretending they were dead did not serve a damn thing.

There was another lie that proved to be even more destructive . . . namely the lie about fugitive Kate Austen being the mother of Aaron Littleton, Claire's son. When "Something Nice Back Home" first aired, many viewers believed that Jack had coerced Kate into pretending to be Aaron's mother in order to protect him from the foster care system or Charles Widmore. In "There's No Place Like Home, Part I", both Jack and Kate learned that Claire's mother, Carole Littleton, was alive and well. Both realized they were keeping Aaron from his grandmother via the lie, but both continued the deception. A flashback in "The Little Prince" revealed that it was Kate who had suggested she pretend to be Aaron's mother, due to her selfish desire to use Aaron as an emotional comfort blanket:

KATE: I've been thinking a lot about him. Did you know that Claire was flying to L.A. to give him up for adoption?

JACK: No. No, I didn't.

KATE: I think we should say he's mine.

JACK: What?

KATE: We could say that I was six months pregnant when I was arrested and that I gave birth to him on the Island. No one would ever know.

JACK: Kate, no. You don't have to... [sighs] There's other ways too this.

KATE: After everyone we've lost--Michael, Jin, Sawyer... I can't lose him, too.

JACK: Sawyer's not dead.

KATE: No. But he's gone. Good night, Jack.

JACK: Kate... If we're gonna be safe, if we're gonna protect the people that we left behind, tomorrow morning, I'm gonna have to convince everyone to lie. If it's just me, they're never gonna go for it. So I'm gonna turn to you first. Are you with me?

KATE: I have always been with you.

Wow. I find it interesting that so many fans have complained about Jack's controlling nature. Yet, it is also easy to see that he can be very susceptible to Kate's manipulations. Yet, very few people have commented on this. By the way, Kate's suggestion was confirmed in a confession that she had made to Cassidy Phillips, Sawyer's ex-girlfriend and fellow grifter, in "Whatever Happened, Happened". And Jack . . . due to his selfish desire to earn or maintain Kate's love, agreed to support her lie. I suspect his encounter with Carole Littleton at his father's funeral service dealt two major blows to Jack's psyche. He learned that Claire Littleton was his half-sister, due to an affair between Christian Shephard and Carole. And two, he had allowed Kate to use his nephew as an emotional blanket, while keeping said nephew from the latter's very healthy grandmother. I suspect that this discovery had led Jack to stay away from Kate for a while. But after seeing her at her trial, he realized he could not stay away and caved in to her demand that he need to accept Aaron as hers in order for them to have a relationship.

But Jack's conversation with Hurley at the mental hospital only proved something that Jack could not face - he was living a life based upon lies about the Island, the survivors of the crash and especially Aaron. And I also suspect that his discovery of Kate's deception about the favor she did for Sawyer made him realized that he was maintaining lies for the love of a woman who was lying to him. No wonder he freaked out in the end with booze, pills and anger. I suspect that Jack's outburst about Kate not being related to Aaron was a hint of her own meltdown and realization, a few months later.

"Something Nice Back Home" was not perfect. The episode featured one entertaining and suspenseful subplot that brought up questions behind Claire Littleton's disappearance - questions that were never really explored after Claire's reappearance in Season Six. It featured another subplot regarding Jack's appendicitis that raised both questions and minor subplots that were never dealt with any satisfaction. The only subplot I believe that had any meat or merit was the flash forward featuring Jack Shephard's meltdown regarding the Island, Kate Austen and his nephew Aaron Littleton. So in the end, all was not lost for "Something Nice Back Home".