I have chosen to review "There's No Place Like Home Part 1" as a different episode than the other part of the season 4 finale which aired two weeks after this because this seems to me much more like a setup episode for the events of the finale than truly part of the finale. Though it is, like "Exodus", the season one finale, an episode which is very clearly the inspiration for the season four finale, more intrinsically linked to the events of the usual two-hour "Lost" finale than "Three Minutes" or "Greatest Hits".
The press conference, which has often been criticized, was decently-written as far as I'm concerned and I'm willing to forgive its clear flaws and suspend disbelief. After all, this is TV, and compared to most TV shows "Lost" rarely puts something out there and doesn't do something with it or go somewhere with it, so I'll trust the writers here. The rest of the off-island events show us what happens in the lives of the Oceanic 6 upon their return home and shortly after. I loved Hurley's party, it was so nice to have a bit of humor in this now very depressing show. I loved Cheech asking Sayid, Nadia, and Hurley if they were thinking about making fires and hunting boar, in the midst of an island-themed party. Yep, real smart. Of course even that scene has tragic undertones thanks to what we now know.
The island events are pretty standard for this time in the season, though very well-done. Lots of running around, characters meeting others and tying up loose ends, getting all the pieces in place for the traditionally epic, explosive finale. A fantastic set-up episode really, I can't think of any major flaws.