“I mean, am I tough, organized? I CAN’T EVEN BALANCE MY CHECKBOOK.” - Sarah Connor

by Teresa Jusino

I’ve come to an important realization about one of the more misunderstood characters on Lost!  Juliet is Cupid.  Think about it: She tells Jin about Sun’s infidelity, and instead of destroying their marriage, their bond is now stronger than ever!  In this week’s episode, “Something Nice Back Home”, after having performed an emergency appendectomy on Jack (I can’t believe I had reason to just type that), Juliet tells Kate that Jack kissed her, but that she knew that it was only to prove to himself that he didn’t still love Kate.  What she didn’t tell Kate was that Jack wasn’t still unconscious.  She knew he was awake, and she wanted him to hear her reveal this to Kate.  Well, as this episode was largely about how Jack and Kate end up together after their time on the island, we see that her saying this spurs things along for our favorite annoyingly inevitable couple!  Jaters of the world rejoice!  Juliet for the save!  Now, if only we could find her a nice young man who doesn’t get killed by the nervous survivors of a plane crash…

“Something Nice Back Home” was definitely a “filler” episode, but a surprisingly good one!  Especially surprising considering that it featured Kate so prominently.  It begins with Jack doing a bad job of convincing those at the beach camp that he’s “fine.”  It’s hard to convince people you’re fine when you’re staggering around like a drunk and collapsing into the sand, I suppose.  Their story continues with Juliet determining that Jack is suffering from appendicitis and performing surgery on him.  Jack, in his overcompensating way, asks not to be put under for the surgery.  He wants to be awake, and he wants Kate to hold up a mirror so he can watch the surgery being performed and “help.”  Meanwhile, Sawyer is leading Claire, Aaron, and Miles through the jungle toward the beach camp.  Miles, in his Ghostbuster-ish way, hears the voices of the deceased Danielle and Karl, following them to where their bodies are buried.  Sawyer is quite endearing in his protectiveness of Claire, warning Miles to keep “restraining order” distance from her and Aaron.  That’s too bad, because Claire is lured away in the night by a vision of her (and Jack’s) father, Christian, and when Sawyer finds Aaron left alone in the jungle the next morning and Claire’s missing, Miles reminds him that he could’ve helped, but was told to stay away from her.  This episode also features a flash forward.  Jack and Kate are living together and raising Aaron.  Things seem idyllic at first.  Then, Jack visits Hurley at the Santa Rosa mental institution and receives a strange message.  Hurley seems to believe that they are all dead.  He also believes that Charlie told him to tell Jack that he’s “not supposed to raise him.”  Aaron?  Jack leaves, trying to convince himself that Hurley is crazy.  After Christian appears to him in his office and some suspicious behavior from Kate, Jack asks Kate what she has been up to.  Doing something for Sawyer, it seems.  Something that Sawyer wouldn’t want her to tell.

“Something Nice Back Home” reminded me why I am a huge fan of the Oceanic Six “flash-forward” convention.  It opens up so many possibilities in the storytelling and keeps the show fresh by both starting new storylines and alluding to stories from the island.  I love looking for the details that tie everything together, like being able to see Jack’s appendectomy scar in the opening scene where he was walking around in a towel (*drools*).    I also love that we’re given the flash forwards out of order, giving us information on a need-to-know basis.  The writing on Lost is so intricate and precise that even when it falters, you can trust that the ball will be picked up and thrown in a more interesting direction.  Kudos to the entire writing team!  I can’t wait to see how Charlie’s appearance will pay off.  Is Hurley crazy?  Is Charlie actually dead?  Are the Oceanic Six?  I can’t wait to see what Aaron’s true significance is.  Children seem to play an important role in this world.  What is it about Walt and Aaron that make them both so “special?”  And what is it that Kate was doing for Sawyer?

The flash forward wasn’t the only interesting part of this episode.  Shenanigans on the island got pretty interesting, too.  Jin had a moment of quality badassery when he discerned that Charlotte speaks Korean.  And now we know that Jin makes her promise to get Sun off the island when they leave, making no arrangements for himself.  Interesting, too, that Claire got lured away by her father without Aaron.  Her function on the island seems to just be “Aaron’s mother”, this is the first time she’s encountered Christian Shephard since the crash, and we know that she doesn’t make it off the island… Has she fulfilled her only destiny and is she now being disposed of?

Fine acting performances, strong writing, and questions answered by more questions.  No, this wasn’t one of those “MIND-BLOWING OMG CLIFFHANGER” episodes, but “Something Nice Back Home” still represents Lost at its finest.
 
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TERESA JUSINO was born on the same day that Skylab fell. Coincidence? She doesn’t think so.  She is currently playing a lead role in Stone Soup Theater Arts’ latest original play, “The Ghost Dancers”, by Adam Hunault.  As a writer, her work has appeared in Elmont Life newspaper, and on the sadly defunct website, CentralBooking.com. She is currently at work on a collection of short stories. As a geek, Teresa loves Star Trek, Lost, comics, and anything Joss Whedon ever touched. Also, she has a fangirl *squee-ing* crush on Brian K. Vaughan. Yes, she knows he’s married.