Lower Decks

We’re down to the home stretch with the Lost Season Four rewatch. Only the last two episodes remain before Season Five premieres on Wednesday, January 21st with a three-hour event (a one hour recap special and the first two episodes of the new season back-to-back). This edition of the Lost Season Four Rewatch involved “Cabin Fever” and “There’s No Place Like Home (1).”

“Cabin Fever” (Originally broadcast May 8th, 2008)

On the island, Locke, Ben and Hurley search for the cabin. Locke has a vision that leads him to the pit filled with the bodies of DHARMA Initiative personnel. He finds a map to the cabin in a pocket. At the cabin, he meets a man named Christian (Jack’s father) and is stunned to also find Claire. He is told that the only way to save the island is to move it.

On the freighter, Keamy and his thugs return. The man who was wounded by the Monster dies. Keamy initiates the secondary protocol which is to “torch” the entire island. Captain Gault is shot and killed while trying to stand up to Keamy, but not before he helps Sayid launch the freighter’s zodiac raft to return to the island. Desmond refuses to go back to the island and stays behind. Before leaving on the helicopter, Keamy also kills the doctor. Frank is able to toss a sat phone from the helicopter to the beach, where Jack finds it and decides it means they should follow the chopper.

In flashbacks, we see John Locke born and learn that Richard Alpert had an interest in him from the very start. But Locke failed to live up to Alpert’s expectations. In high school, Locke is a bit of a nerd but doesn’t want to be a scientist. After his accident, he meets Matthew Abbadon who suggests he take a walkabout.

Did You Notice?

Despite spending a day or two in the jungle Ben looks remarkably clean-shaven with just a trace of a five o’clock shadow.

“There’s No Place Like Home (2)” (Originally broadcast May 15th, 2008)

In the future, the Oceanic Six make their triumphant return to the United States and answer questions in front of a large group of reporters. Aside from Kate and Sayid, everyone is reunited with their families. Sayid is later shocked to find Nadia waiting for him. They have a cover story in place that explains how only eight people survived the crash and only six were able to eventually make their way off the uninhabited island they washed up on.

Also in the future, Sun uses her settlement money from Oceanic Airlines to buy a controlling interest in her father’s business. Hurley’s family throws him a surprise birthday party with a luau theme but he is disturbed when the odometer on the car he was repairing with his father displays the numbers. Jack gives the eulogy at his father’s funeral/wake and is shocked when an Australian woman comes up and tells him that he has a half-sister who was also on Oceanic Flight 815: Claire.

Jack and Kate head off with the sat phone to follow the helicopter. They run into Miles and Sawyer, who is carrying Aaron, and learn that the men on the helicopter attacked the Barracks (or New Otherton, as Sawyer calls it) and that Claire is missing. Kate takes Aaron back to the beach with Miles while Sawyer and Jack continue on towards the chopper. They find Frank there, handcuffed, and are told that Keamy is heading to a greenhouse to get Ben. Sawyer tells Jack that Hurley is with Ben and the two leave to go find him.

Sayid returns from the freighter with the Zodiac raft just as Kate, Aaron and Miles show up. He goes with Kate to try to find Jack and Sawyer. Faraday takes Sun, Aaron, Jin and several others back to the freighter and heads back to the beach for another group. Jin and Sun are shocked to find Michael on the boat and even more shocked when Desmond shows them a huge stack of C4 explosives in the communications room.

Locke, Ben and Hurley find the greenhouse but Keamy and his thugs are already there. Ben gives himself up in order to allow Locke time to get inside the actual Orchid station beneath the greenhouse. Sayid and Kate are captured by Richard Alpert and a group of his fellow Others, who were earlier contacted by Ben.

Did You Notice?

As is often the case, there appears to be a significant timeline skew in this episode that allows the various groups of people enough time to get from one end of the beach to the other (i.e. Alpert’s group who appeared to be quite a distance from Ben when he contacted them are able to make their way to Kate and Sayid).