Lost 1.15: "Homecoming"

Written by Damon Lindelof
Directed by Kevin Hooks

In which Claire returns with no memory of the crash or anything after, and when Ethan comes looking to get her back, one survivor will die and another will make a terrible choice…


Status Report

Coming off of a three week break, a lot of people in the audience thought that this would be an episode filled with revelations about Ethan’s motivations for kidnapping Claire and the nature of the “others” on the island. That was the direction that the previous episode seemed to be moving, and certainly the promos from the network promised a big reveal. But it’s also true that the narrative pacing has slowed down a bit, now that the situation on the island has become more complicated.

This first season has been extended to a total of 24 episodes, according to sources, so if the writers are using the typical season arc format, breaking the season into three large acts (introduction, complication, resolution), this episode comes towards the tail end of the “complication” phase. Typically this is when the plot elements introduced in the first third of the season begin to come together, resulting in new associations and conflicts. New information does come with the territory, but usually, the big answers are left for the final third of the season, when the conflicts begin to come to fruition.

That’s assuming that the writers follow the same logic that other arc-driven series have followed, but so far, it’s not a bad assumption. The complications began with “Solitary”, when Sayid learned about others on the island, and everything that has happened since then in terms of the plot arc has pertained to those “others” in some shape or form. Claire’s abduction seems to have been a key part of the mystery surrounding the “others”, and one would think that the reason for her abduction is rather important. But if taken as only a part of the larger question surrounding the motivations of the “others”, it makes a certain amount of sense that answers wouldn’t be provided this soon.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that the amnesia angle isn’t slightly annoying, as it has become a cliché plot device over the years. Based on what has been revealed thus far, it seems unlikely that Claire would get through the plane crash with relatively little trauma (compared to some of the others, anyway) and yet slip into amnesia weeks later. Locke also worries over this, and one wonders if that has something to do with his apparent knowledge of the island. The writers seem to be suggesting that Ethan did something to Claire to make her forget everything after the crash, and perhaps some of the time leading up to it.

Could Ethan or someone in his (assumed) camp of “others” have known about the warning that Claire received in “Raised by Another”, and attempted to make her forget about it? Perhaps they wanted her to willingly give up her baby to them, as if in some ritualistic context. While the characters don’t discuss it (Claire doesn’t remember, and Ethan doesn’t speak much), the scratches on Ethan’s face suggest that Claire somehow managed to get away. It seems hard to think of how that might happen, considering how resourceful Ethan had been in his previous appearances, but until more information is revealed, that might be the only supposition to make.

The last few episodes were more about how the featured character (the one with the flashbacks) affected others through their decisions or how they were treated: Kate’s story in “Whatever the Case…” told more about Jack and Sawyer than her own motivations, Boone’s experience in “Hearts and Minds” was ultimately revealing about Locke, and Michael’s story in “Special” was designed to reveal Walt’s apparent abilities. This episode places the focus back on the featured character, because the momentary resolution to the threat posed by Ethan intersects directly with Charlie’s psychological baggage, which in turn informs his previous relationship with Claire.

Charlie latched on to Claire as her self-appointed protector very early, and the two of them have built something of a romantic friendship, which contrasts nicely as a more innocent counterpoint to the Jack/Kate/Sawyer dynamic and the uncomfortable Jin/Sun marriage. This episode makes it clear that Charlie isn’t just a good guy doing what he thinks is necessary; he’s looking at Claire as a chance to redeem past sins. This makes perfect sense, especially considering the fact that Charlie took the short-term step of giving up the drug addiction, but the question of his long-term redemption was still on the table. Claire always appeared to be a part of that, but now it’s clear why that would be the case.

Charlie’s attraction to Lucy is a nice breaking of stereotype, especially since he stands in contrast with his partner in crime on the issue. This demonstrates that Charlie has always been more interested in women for who they are rather than how they look, which also goes a long way towards explaining why he wouldn’t necessarily be stymied by Claire’s delicate condition. There’s no question that Claire is gorgeous, but how many other men on the island have kept their distance, probably to avoid being ensnared in the eventual responsibility of helping with the baby, if it survives? Charlie seems more interested in the purity of Claire’s soul.

It was easy enough to guess that Charlie would kill Ethan by the end of the episode, but as always, it’s the consequences that should prove the most interesting. Charlie is a man with a religious background who seems to have recognized how far he’s fallen. He’s worked his way towards personal redemption for his self-loathing drug addiction and his poor treatment of a woman he could have loved, but now he’s also killed a man in the process. Will that eat away at everything he’s regained?

There’s also the matter of his relationship with Claire. Claire doesn’t remember much about their proto-courtship, after all, and what little she does remember must be hard to place into context. As far as she knows, she was dropped into a situation where crazy, murderous men keep fighting to claim her. It would have been easy for Claire to see Charile as something of a stalker. True to her previous characterization, however, she seems to give Charlie the benefit of the doubt, though it’s not certain that it will remain that way.

On the other side of the situation, the rest of the characters must deal with the threat posed by Ethan and his unknown agenda. It’s interesting to note that Ethan doesn’t simply kill anyone in his path to get his hands on Claire again; he does everything possible to get Claire back through threats and targeted murder. That’s a very peculiar rationale, since if Claire is his only concern, why give the survivors a means of limiting the body count?

The answer might have something to do with the nature of Ethan and his band of potential Merry Men. If they are, as previously theorized, a population that has failed the test posed by the island, rejecting redemption in favor of a more predatory and primal version of humanity (represented by black stones in some instances). If Jack’s cave group is meant to be those accepting redemption and passing the test, at least for now, then getting them to compromise their reality would undermine their collective “goodness”. In this sense, Charlie could be Ethan’s unwitting victim, should his decision to kill Ethan in cold blood be enough to take him off the path.

Jack is still finding his voice as a leader, and he’s still having issues with Locke in the process. Locke pushed Jack into accepting the leadership role in “White Rabbit”, and since then, Jack has been torn between accepting Locke as a shaman figure and rejecting him as a father figure. Jack asserts himself in this case, which is good to see, but there’s more than a little hint that Sawyer won’t be his only rival for eventual control of the survivors. How Jack responds to others questioning his authority could be interesting to see: will he become more despotic, or will he fall back into old patterns?

Kate has very little to do in this episode, other than to remind Jack (and the audience) that there are more deadly resources at his disposal. One interesting possibility is that the discovery of the case, in conjunction with Claire’s abduction and the threat from Ethan, was designed to deliver guns into the hands of those who are effectively the “alphas” in the group. By episode’s end, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, and Sayid all have guns. For now, Jack has the power, because he holds the ammunition. Could Kate’s wavering between Jack and Sawyer ultimately change that?

Sawyer plays an interesting role in this episode. It’s entirely to his advantage to play nice with the other kids, because he’s been holding on to the Marshall’s gun all this time. Sawyer is resourceful, and he’s already been shown to hoard anything he can get his hands on, specifically because it might come in handy. By keeping the gun, Sawyer could have been keeping his options open, just in case they ever found ammunition. Now that he has ammunition, and he knows where to find more, will he make a bid for control?

With Claire’s return and the threat from Ethan taking priority, Sayid shifts from interpreting Danielle’s notes to supporting the defensive effort. For now, Sayid seems to be firmly behind Jack, taking the other man’s lead and advising where necessary. It’s quite clear, however, that he’s being courted by Locke at every opportunity. If Sayid continues to get closer to Shannon, while the inevitable conflict with Boone derail Locke’s attempt to gain more converts?

Hurley remains in the background for the most part, but his one significant contribution was priceless. Hurley finally gets to use some of that census information, and while he doesn’t seem at all pleased with the duty, he knows that laying Scott to rest is the right thing to do. His gentle nature has made him perfect for moments requiring comic relief, but one has to wonder, what would drive him into violence?

Jin and Sun have quite a few short scenes in this episode, and it’s not at all clear where those scenes were going. Jin seemed very concerned about Claire’s baby, and the context of the scene made it sound like he was wondering if Sun was interested in having children. But there are still some disturbing overtones to that relationship, and one wonders if Sun is still interested in Michael. Jin was already willing to kill Michael earlier in the season; if Jin were to think that Michael was taking Sun from him, would he try again?

Michael, Walt, and Shannon have very little to do in this episode, though Shannon’s scene with Claire was actually quite enlightening in its own way. Boone, on the other hand, has been doing everything possible to gain Locke’s trust and confidence in the wake of “Hearts and Minds”. In the previous episode, he seemed like a zealot; this time around, he makes a critical error and only gets away with it because Ethan took a different route to get into the camp. It’s only a matter of time before Locke sees Boone make another error; how will Locke react to having someone “weak” in his corner?

Speaking of Locke, he seems to continue working from some sense of what the island wants them to do. His relative inexperience continues to emerge over time, but his determination continues to overcome most of those obstacles. He seems to be losing patience with the fact that Jack is not always seeing things his way, or falling into the role of Arthur to his Merlin, tribal chief to his shaman. One also gets the feeling that he’s impatient when Jack is distracted by Kate and Sawyer. Will Locke always keep full leadership at arm’s length, or will he ultimately decide that taking over is the only way to fulfill the wishes of the island?

It would be easy to say that Claire’s amnesia and Ethan’s death are a ploy to keep stringing along the audience. That would presume that the series is all about the mysteries to be solved. The format of the series is geared more towards the characters, however, and the mysteries and related plot elements are used as a means to challenge the characters and push them to unusual limits. In essence, the mysteries are used as a device to make the pseudo-“Survivor” theme less cliché; the same forces are at work, but the unusual circumstances continue to force them into areas of psychology that might normally remain unexplored, if survival were the only consideration.

There’s a danger to this kind of storytelling, however, because a lot of people watch the show simply to discover what might really be happening. This is similar to “Twin Peaks”, which David Lynch and the writing staff always intended to be more about the quirky characters than the murder of Laura Palmer. When the audience got the impression that the mysteries would never be solved or explored in a consistent fashion, the characters weren’t enough of a draw to maintain interest.

On the other hand, the writers are doing everything possible to avoid the problems that plagued “X-Files”. The writers for that series became so obsessed with the idea of stringing along the audience with plot complications that they eventually wrote themselves into a quagmire. There wasn’t enough character depth and exploration, never mind character continuity, to keep the series going. (Granted, nine seasons is a very good run, but the series wasn’t the same once the central mysteries were more or less explained and the writers had no idea where to go from there.) In retrospect, focusing on only two characters and a Byzantine plot was a mistake, especially in the middle years where new characters could have been smoothly introduced to add additional perspectives.

The writers for this series can probably get away with another episode or two of complication before they have to start delivering on answers to some of the mysteries. Character dynamics should remain at the top of the priority list, but the audience should get some sense that the story is going somewhere. This is especially true if (as one would expect) the series is renewed for second season. Episodes like this continue to shift the various players into position for a long and brutal struggle, and that’s absolutely necessary to maintain the excellence in storytelling. The writers just need to make sure they don’t let the plot threads linger too long.


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode takes one of the prevailing plot threads and turns it into an interesting crucible for challenging the characters. Many character arcs are beginning to fall into place, and while the lack of answers regarding a central mystery is somewhat disappointing, the stakes are raised enough to make it easy to overlook. The writers show more interest in where the events take the characters and what that might mean, and that focus is the series’ strength.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10

Season Average (as of 1.15): 7.7