"Homecoming" is the 15th episode of the first season of the American drama television series Lost. It aired on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada on February 9, 2005. The episode was written by executive producer Damon Lindelof and directed by Kevin Hooks. The episode sees the return of Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin), who escaped after she was kidnapped by Ethan Rom (William Mapother).^[2] However, her return meant that all the survivors' lives are in danger, and the team have to figure out a way to stop Ethan. Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan) is featured in the episode's flashbacks.

"Homecoming" was seen by nineteen-and-a-half million American viewers, and received mixed to positive reviews, where Charlie's backstory received general praise. Lindelof, however, would later consider it one of his least favorite Lost episodes, as he felt exploring Charlie's drug addiction once again was a wrong move.

In one of the flashback scenes, Lucy tells Charlie that her father is out of town buying a paper company in Slough. This a reference to the British mockumentary television series The Office, of which Lost co-creator J. J. Abrams is a fan, and later director for the American version.^[6] William Mapother said that he was frustrated upon learning of his death scene as he looked forward to being in more episodes. The actor later declared he "felt sorry" and had sympathy for Ethan, as "he was unarmed, and Charlie pulled out a gun."^[7]

"Homecoming" received a total figure of 19.48 million viewers, and a rating of 7.0 in the United States. This placed Lost number six on the most viewed series for the week.^[8] In Canada, the episode was viewed by 1.849 million people, placing Lost the ninth most viewed series in the country.^[9] In the United Kingdom, the episode was viewed by 3.33 million people, placing Lost the third most viewed series on Channel 4 for the week.^[10]

Reviews of the episode were generally mixed to positive. Chris Carabott of IGN rated the episode an "impressive" 8.2 out of 10. He praised the episode for Charlie's role in it, stating that the backstory was a "straightforward flashback with no hidden message or deeper meaning, it simply does a great job of contrasting the Charlie we now know on the island". Charlie's jealousy, anger and fear of feeling like he is underused in regards to helping Claire develops well into the scene where he kills Ethan. Carabott also stated Ethan's death was to be expected, but didn't want it to happen.^[11] IGN ranked Ethan's death as number three in the Top 10 'Lost' deaths, stating that his death was the most frustrating on Lost because Ethan could have provided many answers to the island's mysteries.^[12]

Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly was overly critical of the episode, including how the writers wrote Claire to have amnesia during the episode, stating the series could do better with writing the episode, as well as being critical of Jack's success in subduing Ethan, since he lost to fighting Ethan previously on "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues". Jenson did however, like Charlie's "little anecdote" from his past, and the scene where his plan to be respectable backfired gave Monaghan a chance to demonstrate his gift for light comedy.^[13] Mac Slucom of Film Fodder dubbed the episode a "real treat", and though the Lost crew deserves praise for Ethan's capture and death, but described Charlie's flashbacks as a "big time distraction" from the developments on the island.^[14]

In 2009, episode writer and show creator Damon Lindelof quoted this episode as one of his least favorite, saying that it "was flawed on almost every single level that an episode of Lost could be".^[15] Lindelof would later detail that his frustration owed to the wrong decisions on expanding the Charlie character, given they were again exploring the drug addiction angle.^[16]