4.10 Something Nice Back Home

Jack’s stomach problems have gotten worse. When he tries to intervene in an angry confrontation between Bernard, who tells Dan and Charlotte that they are lieing, Jack passes out. When he comes to, Juliet makes a more careful examination, rather than taking his word that he has food poisoning. She discovers that his appendix is about to go supernova. She sends Sun and Jin back to the medical station, stating that Jack cannot even be stretchered there for fear of his appendix bursting in transit. Jin and Sun do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of the required shopping list of surgical intruments; Dan heard this and volunteers to go (along with Charlotte). When Sun expresses distrust, Charlotte fires off another quip, and is strictly warned by Dan to cut it out. Dan and Charlotte do go, and they help to gather the materials. While there, Jin and Sun converse in Korean. Jin picks up on Charlotte’s hidden understanding of the language. Later, when he confronts her on this (in Korean), she lies and replies in English, stating that she has no idea what he is saying. He then tells her (again in Korean) that if she doesn’t admit her knowledge, he will break all ten of Dan’s fingers. She replies in Korean that she understands. Jin then makes her promise that when the helicopter takes them away, that Sun must be on it. Charlotte agrees with a tiny nod of her head.

Jack is now ready for surgery. He asked that he be given a local anaesthetic, and tells Kate to hold a mirror so he can watched Juliet. But when he panics and shifts around too much, Juliet asks Bernard to put him under. Jack pleads with Kate to help, but Juliet strongly insists, telling Kate to leave. Tears stream down Kate’s cheeks, but she is unable to react. Jack is sent under, and IMUPOHERE

Sawyer and gang:

Sawyer, Claire, Aaron, and Miles are making their way back to the beach when Miles senses something. He asks who Danielle and Karl are, then digs up their bodies in shallow graves. Sawyer steps between the site and Claire, seeking to protect her. Sawyer also steps between the glances that Miles throws at Claire, warning him that he will get a boot in the face if he doesn’t stay away. Their journey is interrupted again by Frank, who, armed with a tracking device, warns them that they must hide before the quickly advancing soldiers find them. Frank is able to bluff the soldiers into leaving the area.

They stop to camp, and, in the dark of night, Claire wakes to find what appears to be Jack’s father holding Aaron. She calls him ‘dad’. In the morning, Sawyer sees that Claire is gone. Miles tells that he watched her walk off into the jungle with someone she called ‘dad’. Sawyer hears Aaron close by, and finds him, alone but safe, under a tree. He hears Claire cries but cannot find her as the episode ends…

The flash-forward:

Jack has accepted Aaron, and he and Kate are living and loving together. Jack has become a model father figure, and all seems perfect…but then Jack thinks he sees his father walking away through the lobby. Ghosts are also haunting Hurley. He has stopped taking his meds, believing that they all died on the island. Jack visits Hurley; Hurley tells him about a visit he had from Charlie, where Charlie gave him a message for Jack: "You are not meant to raise him." Hurley also said that Charlie said someone would be visiting Jack soon.

Rather than being spooked by Hurley’s comments, Jack returns him, wakes Kate, and asks her to marry him. She readily accepts. But Jack is being haunted by the specter of his father. Visibly shaken, he asks his fellow doctor for a script for ?diazipane.

Jack gets suspicious of what Kate is doing when she has strange phone calls and stays out late. Fueled by drusgs and drink, he angrily confronts her. She tells him she was doing something for Sawyer. Jack says Sawyer chose to stay, and he (Jack) is the one who saved her. When Jack yells that Kate is not related to Aaron, and Aaron hears him, it seems certain that Kate will tell Jack to leave.

Comments

Kudos to the writers! I was wondering why Jack couldn’t be brought to the medical station; then, a few moments later, Kate asked Juliet that same question. And later, I was wondering why Jack didn’t just perform the operation himself (it is feasible). Soon after, Jack does say that he wants to watch the operation using a mirror. And few moments after that, Kate says she is surprised Jack didn’t take out his own appendix!

We can see now how Jack deteriorated into the bearded, alcoholic drug addict we saw in a later flash forward.

Nits

When Jack passes out, Juliet yells his name at him a lot – as if that is really going to work.

If the survivors were worried about Dan and Charlotte going to the medical station, why doesn’t Bernard go instead? Like Dan, he has medical training and can identify medical instruments.

Quotable Quotes

Rose: The day before we're all supposed to be rescued, the person that we count on the most suddenly comes down with a life-threatening condition, and you're chalking it up to bad luck?
Bernard: Well, what are you saying, that-that Jack did something to offend the gods? People get sick, Rose.
Rose: Not here. Here, they get better.

Jack: But he's not here, is he? No. No, he made his choice. He chose to stay. I'm the one who came back. I'm the one who's here. I'm the one who saved you.

Kate: Jack. You can't-you can't do this. If you have problems, you need to figure them out. Alright? 'Cause I can't have you like this around my son.
Jack: Your son? You're not even related to him!

Juliet: (To Kate) You know he kissed me.
Kate: What?
Juliet: The other day, when you came back from the other side of the island, Jack kissed me. It was nice. But it wasn't for me, it was for him. I'm pretty sure he was trying to prove something.
Kate: Prove what?
Juliet: That he doesn't love someone else.
Kate: Thank you, Juliet. Thank you for saving his life. (She leaves)
Juliet: (to Jack) I know you're awake.