TV Review

Juliet looking over Jack in LOST Season 4(2008).
© ABC

Mania Grade: C
Series: Lost
Episode: Something Nice Back Home
Starring: Evangeline Lilly, Josh Holloway, Mathew Fox, Michael Emerson, Elizabeth Mitchell
Written By: Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis
Directed By: Stephen Williams
Network: ABC

TV Review: LOST: Something Nice Back Home

By: Stephen Lackey
Date: Monday, May 05, 2008

Brian K. Vaughn’s name is sadly absent from the list of writers that worked on this episode of Lost. That doesn’t promise a bad episode, but Vaughn has done some of his best work ever on the series, so not seeing his name is disappointing. This wasn’t a bad episode, but it felt deflated compared to the stellar past few episodes.

Jack has appendicitis and on this island, that fact is important from completely different reasons than the obvious ones. There are plenty of surgical tools and doctors to rip out Jack’s appendix – so the actual operation isn’t the issue that deserves discu8ssion. It’s Rose who puts a fine point on what matters when she asks why Jack is sick. She came to the island with cancer and once she sat on the beach she went into remission. People don’t get sick on the island, and if they get hurt they heal extremely quickly. Jack’s surgery gave the writers an excuse to do another flash forward with Jack and a few other Oceanic Six members. The flash forward is subtle and not exactly action packed but it does further deepen the post Kate and Jack story and it drops hints at what’s to come on the island.

This entire episode is fairly laid back not just the flash forward. While this episode won’t go down in Lost history as one of the best installments – the episode does perhaps feature one of the best scenes. Jin is a tough guy and it’s easy to forget that because he’s been locked in this emotional roller coaster with Sun for so many episodes. The scene where Jin confronts Charlotte and threatens to torture Daniel if she doesn’t make a deal with him is riveting. Jin could only be successful as a henchman if he had some of that attitude engrained within him and with this episode and this scene some of that tough guy attitude rises to the top.

This week’s episode is a quiet slow paced one that doesn’t feature much action and asks and answers very few questions. The cliffhanger ending was fairly exciting but the build up to the cliffhanger wasn’t as well executed as other episode finales. The episode is a solid character episode – not filler really – just slower paced and a lot less intense than previous installments. While there’s isn’t a lot of information in this week’s episode, it’s still required viewing. It’s a melancholy episode which may sound weird considering the evolution of Jack and Kate’s relationship. The truth is that destiny can’t be thwarted no matter how badly you want things to be different. It’ll be interesting to see where their relationship goes and how it’s tied to the island but the future certainly seems obvious by the end of this episode. You can never tell though, this is Lost after all.

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Comments/Responses

hanso • May 05, 2008, 04:35am •

What!? A C? REally, that's the best you could come up with, a C?
This episode was sweet, not an A episode, although I do love Jack eps, but certainly not a C. Jack's flash foward was nice. We learn why he started taking pills & drinking, he was being haunted by his father. What's up with Christian's nurse shoes while in a tux? lol. Anyway, now we also see why in Season 3's finale Jack said "go get my father", he actually sees him walking around. They brought up the Aaron thing from Season 1 when the skeptic told Claire that she's the one that's supposed to raise him. Charlie said Jack wasn't supposed to raise Aaron. One of the scenes with Jack & Kate where he says "Sawyer chose to stay" hints at what's to come for the season finale. Why did he choose to stay and did everyone of the passengers get a choice to stay or leave? They gave something for Claire to do now, apparently a lot of people on the island can see Ghosts ie, Jack, Locke, Ben, Hurley, Miles, Claire even Hurley later on. One more episode until the 3 hour season finale starts, can't wait. You know who I want to see more of and hopefully he shows up somewhere before the season ends, that Abbadon character, you know the dude that went to see Hurley in the first episode of the season, the guy that picked the 4 freighter guys to work with Naomi. He's been in like 2 scenes in the whole season. Anyway "Spoiler............this week is a Locke episode".

rgtchtiger • May 05, 2008, 09:36am •

I kinda figured Jack had been seeing his dad's ghost once Hurley had a vision of Charlie. I'm thinking each of the Oceanic Six will have visions of people they loved or were close to who will haunt them. These ghosts will drive them to all eventually wanting to go back to the island and rescue those left behind. Jack has his dad, Hurley has Charlie, Kate could have either the marshal or Claire (since she "adopted" Aaron), Sayid has Shannon, and Sun has Jin. I guess you can call this my Crazy Theory of the Week. :-)

slinger • May 05, 2008, 10:38am •

Agree with hanso that a "C" is ridiculously low for this episode. No one on this site - writers included - seems to want to admit that "Lost" has surpassed "Battlestar Galactica" in story and character quality. But all I ever see are "A"s for "Battlestar" and "B"s and "C"s for "Lost" in the episode reviews. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy both shows - but you have to admit that "Battlestar" has lost a step or two since the New Caprica story arc, while "Lost" is getting much more interesting and complex.

rgtchtiger • May 05, 2008, 11:32am •

slinger, since you mentioned BSG I will respond to the thread of messages under the episode review "Escape Velocity" because I was late watching that episode and really couldn't participate in the debate there. I think BSG has been very hot and cold this season thus far - the Cylon civil war and the 4 recently discovered Cylons in the fleet are very compelling storylines, but I am really getting sick of Baltar's anti-Christ storyline. Baltar hallucinating and seeing Six all around him was captivating. Baltar becoming an (overly) ambitious politician was interesting. Baltar becoming a messianic (or perhaps anti-messianic) figure leading a group of devotees is boring. I mean REALLY boring. I don't see how that storyline is relevant to everything else going on and I long for the days of the slightly crazy Baltar. Now compare that show with Lost and I absolutely agree that Lost has beaten BSG thus far this season week after week. I will say that BSG's most recent episode "Road Less Travelled" was a winner, minus Baltar's silly scenes with getting past the guards. I can't wait to see what becomes of Starbuck now that her crew has mutinied.

slinger • May 05, 2008, 03:00pm •

rgtchtiger ... good points all. The Baltar storyline is leaving me flat as well. I'm going to disagree a bit on the 4 recently discovered Cylons - that storyline came WAY too far out of left field for me, with no story foundation whatsoever. Starbuck's story is indeed the most interesting, because it's been set up well since Season 1. But back to "Lost" - since this is a "Lost" thread - the creators and writers have managed to keep the storyline evolving without making anything seem forced (unlike the New Caprica time jump on BSG). Now it's about the Widmore/Linus "war" and the flash forwards have added a great new dimension to the goings-on. Does someone know the endgame and is manipulating events? Is it Widmore? Ben? The Island? Is the timeline circular, a la "Battlestar" ("this has happened before and it will happen again")? Enjoying the puzzle but trying not to overthink it!

Muldfeld • May 05, 2008, 05:03pm •

I'm actually going to say that "C" is a bit harsh. I thought it had some interesting stuff and the revelation that it was not Kate's baby and perhaps that of Claire was quite shocking. Maybe a C+ or B- at best.

That's taking into context that all "Heroes" can ever amount to is a C-, though. Most episodes are D- or F.

Filch • May 05, 2008, 07:04pm •

I would agree about a C being harsh more like a B-but any way I loved what Jack said at the end(Hinting at that he knows he's related to Arron). I'm looking forword to next week with it being a Locke Ep.(thanks 4 the heads up Hanso). As for BSG it always takes me 1 or 2 eps to get in the groove and now that I'm into it im Love'n it. But I digrece, LOST seems to be back on track...So lets hope next week is writen by BKV.( Now I half to get Back to GTA4)

audioslave69 • May 05, 2008, 11:05pm •

And what about the part where Claire leaves looking for her dad and leaves Aaron alone, that could explain why Kate has him on the Flashfowards maybe claire doesn't come back on time for her to leave the island with the others. Sad to say this I dont agree with any TV reviews on this site anymore maybe they should let us know the way they grade them, is it based on fanboyism or personal opinion or is it something else? Only reason i keep checking is for the comments and giggle at the grade ofcourse.

hanso • May 06, 2008, 04:15am •

Mudfield - The revelation of that kid not being Kate's happened way back in Season 4 Episode 4 "Eggtown" where it was revealed that the kid was Aaron, who is Claire's son...........Filch - I agree that Jack's comment hints at Jack knowing that Aaron is related to him. I thought that also back in Episode 4 when Jack didn't want anything to do with him. I figured the guilt of leaving his half sister behind wouldn't allow him to spend time with Aaron.

75transam • May 06, 2008, 08:53am •

I thought that one of the things that was really neat was how Sawyer's request that Kate do something for him is destroying Kates/Jacks engagement. I think it's cool how the triangle between the three is still a factor after one of the three is out of the triangle. I also think that Sawyers shadow and love for Kate is partially eating up Jack because he can never have Kate. Just my opinion but I also think a "C" is a knee jerk grade. Lost episodes are so deep that i really think they get better with a weeks time of passing!!I for one watch the "enhanced" episoded with the pop-up screen and get a new respect for each episode and the EXCELLENT writing and detail that goes into each episode this year.

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TV Review: LOST: Something Nice Back Home

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