Ben Linus Always Has A Plan

Not only did ABC decide to break the three-hour season four finale of Lost, No Place Like Home, into two episodes, but to add even more punishment, they’ve added a week break inbeween installments.  So this season of Lost won’t wrap up next Thursday, but rather, on May 29th.

Thanks a lot, ABC!

Tonight’s episode definitely felt like it was the first part of a larger story.  Characters got put into place and plans put into motion, but at the end, I felt like I was waiting for the action to happen.

I was surprised to see the flash-forwards revolve around the return to the mainland for the Oceanic Six.  I thought we’d have to wait till next season for that.  My guess is the action of next week’s episode will show what happens before the O6 get on that cargo plane, while the flashforwards show what else happens before Jack and Kate’s encounter at the airport in last year’s season-ender.

But that’s just my guess.

There were enough good little moments in tonight’s episode to make it worth watching- Hurley reunites with his family, Jack finds out about Claire, Jin/Sun meet Kevin Johnson, Sun buys out her dad, etc. But the one stand-out moment for me was near the end, when Alpert came walking out of the clearing with the rest of The Others in tow.  It’s nice to see them as part of the story again, rather than an afterthought, even if they are dressed in rags again instead of J. Crew. Seems like there are more of them than Keamy and Company, but who knows at this point where they’re going.

Some other random thoughts:

-I really wanted to see the Orchid tonight.  We never really got a follow-up to Ben’s “magic box” of last season. Is the Orchid the magic box?

-Sun’s hostile takeover of her father was great.  It’s already been established that she can be manipulative.  It’s nice to see her use those powers for good.  But who is the other person she blames for Jin’s “death”?

-I don’t think we needed Ben to tell us those crackers were 15 years old.  And I don’t think we should be surprised that Hurley ate them.

-How did Claire’s mother get out of the coma? Did Kate hear any of that conversation between Jack and Clarie’s mom?

-I couldn’t tell whether Jin and Sun were happy to see Michael or not.

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