"Something Nice Back Home" is the tenth episode of the American Broadcasting Company's fourth season of the serial drama television series Lost and 82nd episode overall. It was aired on May 1, 2008, on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada.ABC Medianet, (April 4, 2008) "Weekly Primetime Program Schedule ." Retrieved on April 5, 2008. The episode was written in February and March by co-executive producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and directed in March and April by supervising producer Stephen Williams.ABC Medianet, (April 14, 2008) "When Jack's Health is Compromised, Kate and Juliet Must Work Together to Save Him". Retrieved on April 14, 2008. Critical reviews were mixed and the broadcast of "Something Nice Back Home" brought in 13 million American viewers, one of the smallest audiences for an original episode of Lost in the show's history.
The narrative begins on December 28, 2004, 98 days after the crash of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815. The leader of the survivors, Jack Shephard (played by Matthew Fox) develops appendicitis and Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) operates on him. Meanwhile, James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway), Miles Straume (Ken Leung), Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin), and her baby Aaron continue their trek to the beach from the Barracks. In a flashforward, Jack experiences visions of his deceased father Christian Shephard (John Terry), while his relationship with Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) is strained soon after he proposes marriage. Kitsis said that the episode "was interesting because [it shows] a time, maybe brief, where Jack was happy."Godwin, Jennifer, (May 5, 2008) "Six Lessons From 'Back Home'", E!. Retrieved on May 12, 2008.
Plot On the beach After feeling ill for a day,Vaughan, Brian K. (writer) & Goddard, Drew (writer) & Bender, Jack, "The Shape of Things to Come". Lost, ABC. Episode 9, season 4. Aired on April 24, 2008. Jack faints. Juliet diagnoses him with appendicitis and deems an appendectomy necessary. She sends Sun Kwon (Yunjin Kim) to get medical supplies from the Staff Dharma Initiative medical station. Sun is accompanied by Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim), Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies) and Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader); the latter pair are increasingly distrusted by the survivors. Jin realizes that Charlotte is fluent in Korean and confronts her after their successful trip, threatening to hurt Daniel if she continues to lie about her agenda and does not get Sun off the island. Jack convinces Juliet to allow him to remain awake during the surgery, with Kate holding a mirror, so that he can see and direct the surgery. As Juliet operates, Jack's consciousness proves to be a detriment and her nurse—dentist Bernard Nadler (Sam Anderson)—knocks him out with chloroform. The appendectomy is a success; afterwards, Juliet tells Kate that Jack really does love Kate and not Juliet. When Kate leaves, Juliet tells Jack that she knows he's awake, after which he opens his eyes.
In the Jungle En route back to the beach camp, Sawyer, distrustful of Miles, gives him a "restraining order" to keep him away from Claire as they travel to the survivors' beach camp with Claire's infant son, Aaron. On their way, Miles discovers the partially buried bodies of Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan) and Karl (Blake Bashoff). They encounter Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey), who saves their lives by instructing them to hide from the nearby band of mercenaries led by Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand), who are revealed not to have been killed by the smoke monster in the previous episode. The mercenaries are on their way back to the helicopter to return to the freighter Kahana. At night, Miles watches Claire as she leaves with her deceased father, Christian. Sawyer awakes the next morning to find Aaron alone under a nearby tree and calls out for Claire with no response.
Flashforwards In flashforwards, Jack has returned to work as a doctor in Los Angeles. He is engaged to Kate and lives with her while helping to raise Aaron (William Blanchette). Jack visits Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia), who is in a mental institution. Hurley has not been taking his medication and suffering from hallucinations of his deceased friend, Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan). He believes that the Oceanic Six have died and gone to heaven. Hurley gives Jack a message from Charlie: "You're not supposed to raise him." Charlie has also told Hurley that Jack will be receiving a visitor. On two separate occasions, Jack sees his father; Jack asks his colleague Erika Stevenson (April Parker Jones) to prescribe him the anti-anxiety drug clonazepam. After overhearing a phone call, Jack becomes suspicious of Kate. The next night, a heated argument ensues, in which she reveals that she is doing an errand for Sawyer, who Jack says is on the island by choice. Aaron walks into the room as Jack blurts out that Kate and Aaron are not related.
Production
The episode was written by March 10, 2008Lindelof, Damon & Cuse, Carlton, (March 10, 2008) "The Official Lost Audio Podcast", ABC. Retrieved on April 5, 2008. and was done alongside "The Shape of Things to Come" and "Cabin Fever".Lachonis, Jon "DocArzt", (March 13, 2008) "Darlton Lost Interview ", UGO Networks. Retrieved on March 22, 2008. Shooting began by March 24,Perez, Mario, (March 24, 2008) "Elizabeth Mitchell and Matthew Fox Asset Display Photography Caption Information ", ABC Medianet. Retrieved on May 18, 2008. alongside filming of the previous episodeGarcia, Jorge, (March 25, 2008) "Hey Jorge! A Question for You…", The Fuselage. Retrieved on March 26, 2008. and continued through April 4.Perez, Mario, (April 4, 2008) "Emilie de Ravin and John Terry Asset Display Photography Caption Information ", ABC Medianet. Retrieved on May 18, 2008. The flashforwards were written partially to explain what led Jack to become the drug addict that he is in third-season finale's flashforwards, who believes that his father is alive.Jensen, Jeff "Doc", (May 1, 2008) "An Indiana Jones Connection?", Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on May 13, 2008. Matthew Fox stated that the fourth season is "starting to close the loop on the end of [the third] season. Jack in the future is a man marked by weakness, but the Jack [on the island in December 2004] is strong. ['Something Nice Back Home' explains] how he made that transition."Jensen, Jeff "Doc", (April 10, 2008) "Secrets from the Set!", Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on May 13, 2008. When asked why Hurley does not take drugs to see Charlie, but Jack starts his drug addiction to try not to see Christian, Edward Kitsis said that "Jack has … always been a man of science, and there has to be something logical. The scene where Jack is staring at the bench where Hurley sits when Charlie visits him, I think in that moment he's thinking, my life right now is pretty good, I don't want to end up here." In regard to the contrast in Kate's character on the island and after the island, Kitsis said that "you could say [that] motherhood suits her. In the flashforwards … there's a sense of purpose to her, there's some clarity to her. There's so much devotion to that child, and she appears to be such a great mother … taking care of Aaron may have helped her put away some other issues."
Reception
"Something Nice Back Home" was viewed live or recorded and watched within four hours of broadcast by 10.726 million American viewers,Seidman, Robert, (May 6, 2008) "Idol Still Tops, But CBS Shows Dominate Weekly Nielsen Top 20 ", TV by the Numbers. Retrieved on May 13, 2008. scoring a 4.7/13 in the key adults 18–49 demographic,ABC Medianet, (May 6, 2008) "Weekly Primetime Ratings Report". Retrieved on May 9, 2008. ranking Lost as the twenty-first most watched series of the weekABC Medianet, (May 6, 2008) "Weekly Program Rankings". Retrieved on May 9, 2008. and setting a ratings low for the series.Hinman, Michael, (May 3, 2008) "Lost Ratings Match Season Low ", SyFy Portal. Retrieved on May 9, 2008. A total of 12.946 million Americans watched the episode live or recorded it and watched it within seven days; this number was factored into the season's average.Seidman, Robert, (May 19, 2008) "Idol, Grey's, House, Lost, Desperate Housewives and The Office Lead Total DVR Viewing ", TV by the Numbers. Retrieved on May 20, 2008. The episode was viewed by 1.322 million Canadians, making Lost the nineteenth most watched show of the week. 647,000 in the United Kingdom tuned in to the local broadcast.Holmwood, Leigh, (May 12, 2008) "Gladiators Gets Thumbs Up from Viewers", The Guardian. Retrieved on May 18, 2008. In Australia, "Something Nice Back Home" was watched by 505 000 people,Dale, David, (May 9, 2008) "The Who We Are Update: Nine Will Win the Week", The Sun-Herald. Retrieved on May 9, 2008. having been moved to a later timeslot of 10.30 pm, outside the prime time viewing block.Mercado, Andrew, (April 27, 2008) "Underbelly's Ladies are on Top", The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved on May 9, 2008.