Lost/Something Nice Back Home

Something Nice Back Home
Season 4, Episode 10
Airdate	May 1, 2008
Production Number	410
Written by	Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz
Directed by	Stephen Williams
← 4x09 The Shape of Things to Come	4x11 → Cabin Fever
Lost — Season Four

Something Nice Back Home is the tenth episode of the fourth season of Lost, and the eighty-second episode overall.

When Jack's health is seriously compromised, Kate and Juliet must learn to work together in order to save him; and something goes wrong as Sawyer, Claire, Aaron and Miles continue their trek away from Locke's camp and back to the beach.

Starring: Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Jeremy Davies (Daniel), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Michael Emerson (Ben), Matthew Fox (Jack), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Ken Leung (Miles), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Rebecca Mader (Charlotte), Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet), Terry O'Quinn (Locke), Harold Perrineau (Michael).

Guest Starring: Sam Anderson (Bernard), L. Scott Caldwell (Rose), Kevin Durand (Keamy), Jeff Fahey (Frank Lapidus), John Terry (Christian Shephard).

Co-Starring: William Blanchette (Aaron), Bill Fiddler (Dr. Stillman), April Parker Jones (Dr. Erica Stevens), Traci Toguchi (Receptionist), Carla Von (Ms. Berenberg).

Plot Overview

The Island

• At the beach camp, Juliet rouses a sick Jack. The Oceanic survivors are arguing with Daniel and Charlotte about why their satellite phone has suddenly stopped working when they were able to use it the prior night. Jack tries to calm them down but collapses. He gets back up, believing that he's just a bit dehydrated, while Kate tries to tell him he's burning up and not all right. Juliet talks to Jack again, who has now changed his diagnosis of simple dehydration to food poisoning. She takes a look at Jack and diagnoses his problem as appendicitis.

  Juliet confers with Sun and gives her a list of instruments and supplies she needs from the Staff. Sun doesn't know what to look for, but Daniel offers his assistance as he's performed animal autopsies before. Juliet lets Daniel and Charlotte help, but gives a gun to Jin and tells him to shoot them in the leg if they try to run. The remaining survivors get to work in building a sterile environment where the surgery can be performed; they can't move Jack to the Staff as his appendix might rupture and he'll die. While Bernard and Rose work on the operating table, Rose wonders why Jack got sick a day before they're supposed to be rescued when the island is a place that heals people. While Juliet preps the incision site on Jack's abdomen, Jack tells her he wants to be conscious during the surgery in order to talk her through it and he wants Kate to help. Juliet reluctantly agrees.

  Night falls upon the camp by the time the group returns from the Staff with all the supplies Juliet requested. While Jin is alone with Charlotte, he tells her that he knows she can speak Korean when she smiled as he and Sun talked about her. Charlotte feigns ignorance, but Jin threatens to hurt her friend Daniel. In Korean, Charlotte asks Jin what he wants. Jin tells her to make sure Sun is on the helicopter when it comes. Asked about his other friends at the camp, Jin tells her to just get Sun on the helicopter. Juliet, Kate and Bernard prepare for the surgery, and Bernard tells Jack the group found some chloroform at the station and he could just knock him out. Jack refuses the offer. Juliet begins making her incisions, but the pain becomes too much for Jack. She orders Kate out and for Bernard to knock Jack unconscious. Bernard apologizes to Jack and uses the chloroform on him.

  After the operation is completed, Bernard speaks to Kate and tells her it went well and Juliet said she could go inside to see Jack. Kate goes in as Juliet finishes stitching up the incision site. Juliet apologizes for yelling at Kate, and Kate tells her it's OK. She then reveals to Kate that Jack kissed her and it was nice, but it wasn't for her. Rather it was for himself as she thinks Jack was trying to prove to himself that he doesn't love someone else. Kate thanks Juliet for saving Jack's life and leaves. Alone with Jack, Juliet tells him she knows he's awake.

• Upon reaching the Staff, Daniel stops Charlotte from going inside and offers to go first to make sure it's safe. Conversing in Korean, Jin asks Sun if she thinks Charlotte knows Daniel likes her. Sun tells him that Charlotte is a woman and knows. Inside the station, Daniel wonders where all the electrical power is coming from to power these stations. Sun doesn't believe the freighter people are going to help them, but Jin promises to get her and their baby off the island.

• In the jungle, Sawyer, Claire and her son, and Miles continue their trek back to the beach camp. As they pass through an area, Miles stops and experiences the sounds of Keamy's mercenaries killing Rousseau and Karl, and asks who Rousseau and Karl are. He starts digging through the dirt and uncovers their buried corpses. Sawyer asks him if his buddies did it, but Miles replies that they aren't his buddies and he never signed up for any of what happened. The group continues onward until they make another stop and Sawyer catches Miles watching Claire. He tells him not to look at her, talk to her or mess with her, that he has a 20-foot "restraining order". Miles nonchalantly agrees to Sawyer's terms and walks off.

  Continuing on, the group hear rustling in the jungle and are met by Lapidus. Lapidus warns them that Keamy is coming back and they need to hide immediately. The group hide and Lapidus greets Keamy and his mercenaries, one man injured badly. Aaron makes a noise, catching Keamy's attention. Lapidus covers for them, telling Keamy that it's going to be dark soon and he refuses to head back to the freighter using Daniel's bearings at night. Keamy agrees, and he and his men follow Lapidus back to the helicopter.

  The group set up camp for the night and fall asleep. Claire wakes up and notices that Aaron is missing. Looking around she sees her father, Christian Shephard, holding Aaron. In the morning, Sawyer wakes up to find Miles stoking the remnants of the camp fire and Claire gone. Miles tells him that Claire just walked off into the jungle in the middle of the night. She wasn't alone but with someone she called "Dad." He would've followed her, but reminds Sawyer of his "restraining order". Sawyer hears Aaron crying and finds him alone at the base of a tree. He calls out for Claire but receives no response.

The Flashforward

• Flashforward: Jack

After being woken up by a phone call, Jack rouses himself from bed and tosses a pair of panties from the floor into a hamper. Heading downstairs into the kitchen, he trips over a toy Millennium Falcon and expresses his dismay at a newspaper headlining the Yankees sweeping his Red Sox. Heading back upstairs, Jack greets a woman in the shower, Kate, and the two kiss. That night, Jack reads Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to Aaron until he falls asleep. Kate tells Jack he's a natural at being a father, and Jack tells her that his father used to read him the same story. Kate tells him it's sweet to hear him saying nice things about his dad. She loves seeing Jack with Aaron and is glad Jack changed his mind. The two kiss and Jack carries Kate off to their bedroom.

Later, Jack walks a patient he's consulting out to the lobby. After seeing her out, Jack notices a man similar to his father but his attention is diverted by Dr. Erica Stevens speaking to him. The receptionist flags down Jack and tells him a Dr. Stillman at the Santa Rosa Hospital wants to speak to him regarding a friend of his. Jack heads to the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute and speaks with Dr. Stillman, learning Hurley isn't taking his meds, isn't sleeping and therapy sessions aren't going well as he believes he's dead. Speaking with Hurley in private, Jack is told that all the Oceanic Six are dead and they never got off the island. Hurley says he was happy for a time until he saw Charlie, who now likes to sit with him on the bench of the institute's front lawn. Charlie has a message for Jack: you're not supposed to raise him, Jack. The message troubles Jack, and Hurley asks him if it makes any sense. Jack tells Hurley to take his meds and leaves, but not before Hurley tells him that Charlie said someone is going to be visiting him soon too.

Jack waits outside the mental health institute, seemingly waiting for something or someone to appear, but nothing happens and he drives home. Waking up Kate, Jack asks her if she really thinks he's good at being a father and is told yes. Jack asks her if she'll marry him and shows her an engagement ring. Kate accepts.

Spending another late night at the office, Jack hears a repeating beat from the lobby. Tracking down the source of the noise, he finds it's coming from a smoke detector and he removes the battery from the device. He hears his father call for him and sees him sitting in one of the seats in the lobby. Jack approaches his father when Dr. Stevens comes up behind him, diverting his attention. When Jack looks back, his father has disappeared. The experience has left Jack badly shaken. He asks Dr. Stevens to write him a prescription as he's been under a lot of stress and hasn't been sleeping very well. Dr. Stevens gives him a prescription and reminds him that getting engaged is supposed to reduce stress. Jack returns home to find Kate on the phone, telling the caller that Jack is never home before eight and they can stay for at least an hour. She notices Jack is home and tells the caller she'll call back later. Jack asks who the caller was and learns it was Naureen, another mother Kate met at the park. Kate kisses Jack and tells him she'll see him upstairs. Alone, Jack pops two pills and downs them with a beer.

The next day, Kate returns home to find Jack home early. He sent the nanny away and Aaron is asleep. She sees numerous open bottles of alcohol on the table and that Jack appears to be drunk. He asks her why the nanny was still there when he came home at 6PM when she only works until 4PM. Kate tells him she had to run some errands and asked the nanny to stay for a few extra hours. Jack reveals to Kate that he went to see Hurley and didn't tell her because Hurley's crazy and didn't want to upset her. But he then asks where Kate was. Kate doesn't answer, rather asking Jack to trust her and leave it be. Jack repeats his question and asks who she was talking to on the phone the previous day. Kate tells him to let it go, but Jack refuses and yells at her to tell him. She tells Jack that she was doing something for Sawyer as she made him a promise, that it has nothing to do with their relationship. She claims she couldn't say anything to him because Sawyer wouldn't want her to. Jack reminds her that Sawyer isn't here; he made his choice and decided to stay on the island. He's the one who came back, the one who's there now with her, the one who saved her. Kate tells Jack that he needs to figure out his problems as he can't have him in his state around her son. This sets Jack off, telling her that she isn't even related to Aaron. The two notice Aaron is up watching them argue.

Notes

Mysteries

• What was Kate doing for Sawyer? What promise did she make?
• How did Jack save Kate?
• Why did Claire abandon Aaron?

The Cursed Numbers

• Jack is asked to take a look at an X-ray regarding an L-4 vertebrae.
• Kate tells a caller on the phone that Jack is never home before 8PM.
• The nanny usually works until 4PM.
• There are 8 dots on the ladybug art hanging on the fridge.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Juliet performs surgery on Jack to remove his appendix.
• Jin coerces Charlotte into making sure Sun gets off the island.
• Rousseau and Karl's bodies are discovered.
• Keamy's mercenaries leave the island.

Characters

• Claire disappears, living Aaron behind.
• Juliet tells Kate that Jack loves her.

Referbacks

• 1x01 - Pilot (1): Kate tells Jack that she'll be his nurse, and Jack tells her it wouldn't be the first time. In "Pilot (1)", Jack talked Kate into stitching up a wound he couldn't reach on his own.
• 2x19 - S.O.S.: Rose wonders why Jack came down with a life-threatening sickness a day before they're to be rescued when the island is a place that heals people. In "S.O.S.", Rose told Bernard that her cancer has disappeared since they arrived on the island.
• 3x18 - D.O.C.: Inside the Staff, Sun tells Jin it's where Juliet brought her to see their baby. In "D.O.C.", Juliet brought Sun to the Staff to determine her date of conception.
• 4x04 - Eggtown: Kate tells Jack she's glad he changed his mind. In Eggtown, Kate told Jack that they could pursue a relationship until he could come to terms with her taking care of Aaron.
• 4x06 - The Other Woman: Juliet tells Kate that Jack kissed her. In "The Other Woman, Jack kissed Juliet.

Trivia

The Show

• Reused Art: There is artwork hanging on Jack and Kate's fridge including a ladybug and flowers. The ladybug and flowers are also seen hanging in the rec room of the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute in "The Beginning of the End".

Behind the Scenes

• The Sweep: Jack isn't happy with a news headline regarding the Yankees sweeping his Red Sox. The newspaper he reads is a prop with a different headline and a different writer, but the content of the article is a real New York Times article published on August 31, 2007.
• Location, Location, Location: The exterior of the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute is a building on the University of Hawaii Windward Community College campus in Kaneohe, HI.
• Missing in Action: Naveen Andrews, Henry Ian Cusick, Michael Emerson, Terry O'Quinn and Harold Perrineau, Jr. are credited but do not appear.

Allusions and References

• Millennium Falcon: Jack trips over a toy Millennium Falcon. The Millennium Falcon is a starship piloted by smuggler Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy. Certain phrases from the Star Wars films have been used in Lost.
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: The book Jack reads to Aaron is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.
• Donger: Sawyer refers to Miles as "Donger". In Sixteen Candles, a weird foreign exchange student named Long Duk Dong receives the nickname "The Donger". It takes him only five hours to find a girlfriend.