"There's No Place Like Home" Part 1 (Season 4, Episode 12)

I believe if you re-watch last night's show (which gets its title from the famous line in "The Wizard of Oz") in two weeks when it airs before the two-hour finale, you will see the foundation that was being laid down in this episode. Although not overwhelming in revelations or introducing a myriad of new questions, the stage is being set for the final confrontation between the freighter folk and the survivors, with the island's original Others thrown into the mix for good measure.

Best Line

• "Jesus Christ is not a weapon." Hurley's mom as her son brandished a golden statue of Jesus.
  

Did You Notice?

• Oceanic rep Karen Decker was played by Michelle Forbes, who sci-fi fans may know as Cain from "Battlestar Galactic" or Ensign Ro from "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
  
• Along with the reoccurring them of car accidents and a soundtrack with songs from dead singers, "Lost"has perfected the dialogue-free reunion scene with an appropriately moving instrumental score. Last night's reunion of the Oceanic Six with their respective families on the airport tarmac was one of the best, especially Sayid being embraced by Hurley's parents and Kate noticeably without anyone.
  
• Jack's mother was once again played by Veronica Hamel, who may be best known for her role on "Hill Street Blues". (For you youngins, this was the police show of its time, long before Law & Order even was around, let alone had its first spin-off.)
  
• Faraday's notebook pages featuring the Orchid logo also contained the phrases "TimeLike Factor" and "SpaceLike Factor".
• Faraday obviously knows something about the Second Protocol and of what the Orchid Station is capable.
• Sawyer refers to Ben's village as "New Otherton" which is the name given to it by the show's writers.
• Although the Indonesia island of Sumba is a real place, the supposed crash site of Membata is not. However, the word "membata-bata" in Indonesian means "ambivalent", kind of like the Oceanic Six's feelings about their supposed experiences after the crash.
  
• Who is responsible for the elaborate story the Oceanic Six are obviously telling under duress? Charles Widmore?
• Why does the cover story include two survivors of the crash who then didn't make it?
  
• What a bittersweet reunion of Sayid and Nadia, seeing them reunited at last but knowing she will be killed.
• Ben states that moving the island is "dangerous and unpredictable" as well as "a measure of last resort." If he's not going to move it in time, then I don't know this show as well as I think I do.
• I believe Ben was signaling Richard Alpert and the Others with the mirror.
• Didn't Charlotte actually seem sorry to see Faraday go off on the raft?
  
• I loved Sun in Alexis-Carrington-from-Dynasty mode as she informed her father that she had bought the controlling stock in his company.
• If Sun's dad is one of the two people responsible for Jin's death (presuming he is dead), then who is the other? Her? Widmore?
  
• Hurley had a takeout bag from Mr. Cluck's Chicken Snack, his former place of employment.
• Was the whispering heard as Hurley entered his parents' house really just those of the party guests or remnants of the island?
• The disc jockey at Hurley's birthday party had a Geronimo Jackson album by his turntable.
  
• The car Hurley's dad gives him is the one he drove in the police chase in this season's first episode.
• The car's key chain is a rabbit's foot not unlike the one the Coast Guard pilot is holding in the beginning of this episode.
• I loved the look Sun and Jin gave Michael upon first seeing him on the freighter.
  
• I wonder when Claire's mother came out of the coma she was in? If you remember in Claire's flashback when it was revealed that Christian was her father, her mother had been involved in a car accident and was hospitalized.
• I feel that the expression on Jack's face when he realized Claire was his half sister may have been one of the best acting moments on this series.
• Terrific irony that Claire's mother is unknowingly looking at her own grandson when she compliments Kate on Aaron.
• So does the hold full of C-4 explosive and the mysterious broadcast signal have anything to do with the device strapped to Keamy's arm?
• I loved Locke's reaction when Ben handed him his Sharper Image retractable cattle-prod thingy.
  
• Is there a legitimate reason that the actual Orchid Station is underground?
  
• I am still anxious to see how the group that are the Oceanic Six manages to be the ones who make it off the island since at this show's end, they were all scattered about.
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• Over the satellite phone, we hear Lapidus say the chopper is 5 klicks from the site.
• Oceanic rep Karen Decker said that on day 108, the 6 survivors made to the island of Sumba.
  
• Aaron is said to be 5 weeks old at the press conference.
  
• The reporter wants confirmation from Kate that she was 6 months pregnant when she got on Flight 815.
  
• Ben points out to Hurley that the Dharma soda crackers are 15 years old.
• Mr. Paik is told by his associate that 5 different banks were used, presumably in Sun's takeover of the company.
  
• On Hurley's car, the speedometer read 481516 and the trip meter displayed 2342.
  
• The closest Hendricks will approach the island is 5 miles off the coast.
• Jack said he wrote his father's eulogy on a cocktail napkin 10 months ago.
• Claire's mother said Flight 815 was 6 hours in the air when it crashed.
  

Previews - No new show next week but then on May 29, this episode will rerun at 8 p.m. EST with the final two episodes airing at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. It all comes down to this!