s4e12: There's No Place Like Home, Part 1

We get our earliest flash-forward yet, as it starts with the Oceanic Six on the plane about to land in Hawaii. I'm beginning to suspect (well, maybe not beginning) that the end of this season might do something like connect the "present" to the "flash-forwards" (in other words, could it possibly end with the same scene that this episode started with, or with what happens directly before it?). But as we've seen before, I am horrible at guessing where this show is going next.

Anyway, in flash-forward, we see that Sayid and Nadia get together; Hurley sees the numbers in the odometer of the car his dad fixed and freaks out; Sun somehow gets so much money from Oceanic that she can buy majority control of her dad's company (seriously? I didn't realize Paik Industrial was a lemonade stand), as she blames him for Jin's death; and Jack finally delivers the eulogy at his father's funeral, only to be told by a no-longer-comatose Claire's mom that Claire was/is his sister. I've long wondered how and when they were going to present this news to Jack, and I have to say it went off pretty well. Also have to love the irony they squeeze in there; Claire's mom mentions how Jack would have been a few rows from Claire without ever knowing she was his sister, then compliments Aaron to Kate, of course not realizing that he's really her grandson.

In present times, Jack and Kate go into the jungle after hearing that Keamy is headed for the Orchid. Kate swaps with Sawyer after they run into him (with Aaron and Miles in tow), and Sawyer and Jack make for the chopper. When Frank (cuffed to the chopper by Keamy) tells them that Locke and Hurley are probably going to be killed when Keamy finds Ben, Jack heads for the Orchid.

Meanwhile, Sayid arrives at the beach to get people off the island. When Kate arrives at the beach, she and Sayid head back into the jungle to warn Jack about how dangerous the mercenaries on the helicopter are; Kate leaves Aaron with Sun. In the jungle, Kate and Sayid are ambushed and captured by Richard Alpert and the rest of the Others. (I kind of wonder why those guys still bother to wear those outfits when everyone on the island knows they don't really live in huts or whatever; possibly something necessary due to one of the various mythological island factors?)

In lieu of Sayid, Daniel starts ferrying people back to the boat. Michael has fixed the engines, but due to some interference, the sonar isn't working properly, so the helmsman refuses to move the boat closer to the island (lest it run aground on the reef). When Desmond and Michael look for the source, they find a room full of explosives. Some connection here between this and the device on Keamy's arm?

Ben, Locke and Hurley make their way to the Orchid (Ben has some communication with the other Others by mirror first), which is already surrounded by the mercenaries. After telling Locke what to do to move the island once he's inside the Orchid, Ben surrenders himself, and Keamy hits him in the face with his gun (he apparently really likes doing this).

Two-hour second part of the finale coming on May 29. So what can we expect? Well, someone will probably be dying; the likelihood of Jin's survival in one form or another seems slim at this point, but I think Desmond will survive because of the integral part he has to play in the Ben/Widmore battle. Not sure about Michael; possibly he would sacrifice himself to save everyone else? Will the island actually move? And if so, will it move to the location of "Membata," or are the castaways moved there first, or is that entirely a fish story? With the various members of the Oceanic Six in four different places at the moment - Sun and Aaron on the freighter, Sayid and Kate with the Others, Jack heading for the Orchid, and Hurley at the Orchid - how exactly are they all going to be pulled together and yet no one else will be saved? It's seemed for a while that some sort of deal will be cut by the six who do get off, but why those six, and what kind of deal, and with whom?

Excited.