In the Race

''No Place Like Home'' — which promises to elaborate upon John Locke's stated ambition to ''move the Island'' — is not the first time Lost has referenced The Wizard of Oz. Ben's origin story episode last year was dubbed ''The Man Behind the Curtain.'' And in season 2, there was ''Henry Gale,'' Dorothy's poor, catastrophe-rocked uncle and the alias Ben used during his Hatch captivity. Given the strong Ben/Oz link, we can presume the former uber-Other will figure prominently in the season finale.

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 "In light of last week's cryptic business in which Richard Alpert tried to awaken young John Locke to his true self, it makes more sense that John Locke is our resident Graham. What has emerged over the course of the past 13 episodes is the story of two rich and powerful candidates, Ben and Charles Widmore, battling for control over the Island, and perhaps the course of history itself. Their fates rest on the shoulders of a single super-delegate, John Locke. Judging from ''Cabin Fever,'' they have clearly spent considerable resources over the span of his troubled life to influence the kind of man that will one day make the defining choice of their lives. And it appears that day has arrived. Step into the box and pull a lever; it's time to move the Island.

In light of this political subtext, the old speculation that Lost's four toed statue = The Statue of Liberty now seems relevant to me. Inside Lady Liberty you will find a poem written by a woman with a great Lost name: Emma Lazarus. ''Emma'' is close to Emily, a name shared by Ben and Locke's respective mothers; the name means ''universal.'' ''Lazarus'' evokes the dead man raised to life by Jesus in the New Testament. The famous poem linked to the monument is called ''The New Colossus,'' a swipe at another Four Toe possibility, the Colossus of Rhodes. Her poem reminds us that America is a lot like the Island: a home to ''the homeless,'' to ''exiles,'' to ''the tempest-[tossed],'' and to ''huddled masses'' yearning to ''breathe free'' from old, oppressive circumstances. But specifically, the poem speaks of paradigm shift; this statue, this symbol, this country, Lazarus says, signals a change in what has come before. The poem:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
''Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!'' cries she
With silent lips. ''Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!''

Will Locke lead his fellow exiles in a revolution that will save the Island and renew its magical promise? Or will Keamy follow through on his threat to ''torch the Island'' and bring it to ruin?

Hmmm....