1.15 - Homecoming

Title’s significance: This episode marks Claire’s “homecoming” of sorts

Recap: In flashbacks, we learn about Charlie’s girlfriend Lucy, whose father helped Charlie find a white-collar job after Driveshaft went kaput; Charlie was actually stealing from her family to fund his fix, and when Lucy found out she pushed him away. Claire returns to camp, but she can’t remember anything about the survivors or where she was taken; the last thing she remembers is the plane ride. Charlie tenders her diary in hopes of restoring her memory. While bonding with Jin, Charlie meets up with Ethan again, who demands Claire back and threatens to start killing survivors. The survivors ready for Ethan’s attack, but Jack refuses to dole out the guns found in Kate’s case. Claire gets upset when Charlie doesn’t tell her about Ethan’s demand, and after Ethan kills Scott, Jack and Locke share the guns, setting up Claire as bait for Ethan. As the survivors go off, Charlie stares pensively; there’s a tousle at the rendezvous point, but the survivors capture Ethan alive. Charlie puts a stop to that, though, when he blows Ethan away. Claire tells Charlie she remembers peanut butter, and she says she wants to trust him.

Thoughts: After three episodes of spinning their wheels, LOST gets its forward momentum back with “Homecoming,” which provided a lot of character motivation for Charlie but also pushed this “Others on the island” plotline in a new direction – apparently a dead end, with Ethan’s death.

Favorite moment: “Looks like Steve drew the short stick.” “Dude, that was Scott.” I also liked how Jack warned the survivors that they might end up shooting each other rather than the Others, since that's exactly what happens in Season Two.

Characters introduced (in order):

• LUCY HEATHERTON, Charlie’s love interest
• FRANCIS, Lucy’s father
• TOMMY, Charlie’s mate who helps him find heroin

What we learned:

• Claire’s back, and she’s got severe amnesia.
• Ethan must know the island very well.
• Ethan killed Scott.
• Locke knows how to use a gun (or is really good at faking it).
• Charlie had a job selling copiers off-island.
• Charlie killed Ethan.
• Charlie’s motivation for caring for Claire comes from Lucy having told him, “You’ll never take care of anyone.”
• Claire remembers peanut butter.

Questions:

• How did Claire make her way back to the survivors?
• Where’s she been?
• Why doesn't Claire remember anything?
• What sort of ramifications will there be from killing Ethan?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• Nothing really came up in this episode.