April 13, 2010: Lost Recap: Everybody Loves Hugo

Jack Shepherd was the Man of Science, John Locke was the Man of Faith, but Hugo “Hurley” Reyes has always been the heart of Lost. Think back to the pure unfettered moments we’ve shared with Hurley over the course of Lost’s run, from building a golf course in Season 1, to his joyous cannonball into the ocean in Season 4, to his heartbreak over learning of the deaths of Libby and Charlie, to his self-convincing efforts to start the Dharma Van, and all the way to his current role as Jacob’s conduit. Hurley has arguably been the emotion of this show for 6 seasons (Sorry Desmond and Penny lovers, myself included)…he has been the voice, the conscience, the one who says what we’re all thinking as we watch. Tonight, with only 6 episodes left to go before we reach the end of this road that we all anticipate and dread with equality, we get our Hurley episode, “Everybody Loves Hugo.”

As the episode opened with what may have appeared to the naked eye as a eulogy, we quickly learned that in the Flash Sideways (FS) world, Hurley was being honoured as Man of the Year, partially due to his "lifelong love affair with chicken" as the owner of Mr. Clucks. Did you recognize the MC's voice as that of Pierre Chang before the visual reveal? How many Dharma Initiation tapes do you need to see to catch that one?

Yes, Hurley is overweight, and yes he has physical self-esteem issues, but is there anything more emasculating than having your mother set you up on a blind date with Uncle Tito's neighbour's daughter, Rosalita? Ouch.

On the Island as Richard and Jack ready the troops to head out, Hurley has a private moment on Boone Hill, talking to Libby. From the onset of this scene, I started crying just listening to him talk to her, womdering why she didn't appear to him the way that others did. As he explained to Ilana who Libby was, it was heartbreaking, and I was a mess. Jorge Garcia was fantastic in this scene, and I knew it was going to be a long, emotional roller-coaster of an episode.
Cue the whispers and the appearance of Michael, who told Hurley that he needed to stop him from blowing up the Ajira plane. As Hurley astutely asked "Why should I trust you? You murdered Libby and Ana Lucia", Michael responded with a dismissive "That doesn't matter right now." Well, I'm sorry, but if you murdered my girlfriend (and presumably my soulmate) and then just gave me a "doesn't matter" when I was hesitant to trust you, I'm not sure I would be ok with that. And as much as Michael gave a solid argument, I wasn't sure that Hurley would listen.

Back in the FS World, Hurley waited for his blind date at Spanish Johnny's, making me think that the only thing more emasculating than having your mom set you up on a blind date with your Uncle Tito's neighbour's daughter, Rosalita...is to have your Uncle Tito's neighbour's daughter Rosalita stand you up.

But then Libby arrived...

And that first moment between Hurley and Libby tugged on my heartstrings again, as Hurley's breath was taken away seeing her for the "first" time. As Libby tried to explain that she was connected to him, and that they were soulmates, you could see him wanting to believe it while not understanding it in the least. Then Dr. Brooks rained on everybody's parade and corraled her, herding the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute crew into a waiting van outside.

Last week in Vozzek's recap of Happily Ever After, he suggested the theory that the ones that can trigger the memories in the FS World, the ones who are, as he put it "in the know", are the ones who have died on the Island. I loved the theory when I read it, and now after seeing this, it appears to be true. First Charlie, then Daniel, then Libby...who's next?
Ilana retrieved the dynamite from the Black Rock as they prepared their plan to blow up the Ajira plane. As she was explaining things to everyone, I watched her tossing bottles of water on top of the dynamite in her bag, and made a note that I would have to point it out as a problem. I mean, how could Arzt blow up from barely handling a stick, and she can use it as a cushion for her water?

Then...BOOM!

Ok, I have to admit, that was seriously unexpected. And as shocking as it was, I have to think that after establishing Ilana as a caring, protective, and sympathetic character, she probably deserved a better end than just to be blown to bits by being careless. But perhaps, as Ben stated, "The Island was done with her."
At Flocke's camp, Sawyer has once again morphed into Stompy McStomperson, the angry sarcastic guy who storms around camp demanding answers. He corners Flocke who explains that they are waiting for Hugo, Sun, and Jack. I had to note that he didn't mention Frank, which may possibly debunk my theory that he needs Frank to fly the plane, but perhaps he was just referring to the ones that arrived on the Ajira plane. But then again, he told Claire that he didn't need Kate, so that likely isn't it either.

Flocke then told then that the were going to "get off this godforsaken rock", which is the exact phrase that Sawyer used in Episode 7, "Recon". What is the significance of the phrase being exactly the same? It can't just be a coincidence, I think. Your thoughts?

Sayid then showed up at camp again with Desmond in tow...and "in tow" is an appropriate description as Desmond was tied to a tree. Why on earth was he tied up when he went with Sayid so calmly and willingly? That didn't make a lot of sense to me, and even though it was explained that Sayid was afraid he would run...it still didn't taste right to me.

Desmond and Flocke had a one-on-one conversation about Widmore, electromagnetism, and his time on the Island. But when Flocke asked if Des knew who he was, and Des answered "John Locke", I couldn't tell if Flocke reaction was happiness, disappointment, or simply confusion. But the key element of this scene may be the fact that as Flocke offered his hand to Desmond to help him up...Desmond accepted it, which Sun and Kate bothe refused to do in earlier episodes. Why did he take it, and what does it mean. Flocke's touch clearly means something, as Jacob's did, so did Desmond just get "affected" by whatever that is, or he exempt from this, too?

As Richard and Jack argued about whether to return to the Black Rock for more dynamite, a key turning point came for Hurley as he told Jack to trust him. Hurley has always been the one who looks to Jack for direction, and now he was taking the leadership role...as Michael pointed out in their first scene together.

So off the the Black Rock they went, and before you can say 'Tricia Tanaka is Dead", the slave ship we've come to know and love since Season 1 exploded at the hands of Hurley, who declared that he did it in an effort to protect everyone. At that point, despite this episode's title, I would say that Richard definitely did NOT love Hugo.

Richard had a drama queen tantrum after the Black Rock explosion (Oh, those 140-year old's can be so moody!), and we learned that Hurley did indeed heeds Michael's advice from the beginning of the episode. When asked why he listened to Michael, Hurley answered with what I feel is the core theme of this episode:

"Dead people are more reliable than live people."

In the FS World, Desmond waited at Mr. Clucks for order #42 (nice touch!), and ran into Hurley, who he recognized from the plane. Did you notice how happy and at peace Desmond was in this scene as he talked to Hurley about his girl troubles? "All women are a little bit crazy, brutha", Des told him with a smile, as he pushed Hurley in the direction of pursuing Libby and looking for answers...
Which led Hurley to Santa Rosa in an effort to find Libby again. And after asking about the "fajita field trip" and not being able to get Dr. Brooks to agree to allowing him in to see her, he resorted to old-school bribery. $100K later we were treated to the familiar images of a game of Connect 4 and a chalkboard that will be analyzed all week, and then Libby came out...

How poignant was it to watch an Off-Island scene with someone trying to explain that they're not crazy...and it wasn't Hurley. This time, he's the one with the sympathetic ear, listening...wanting to believe. And even though he doesn't remember or understand what Libby is trying to tell him about there being "a different life", he still wants to know more. As he asks about this "bizarro alternate universe", he once again echoes what we the viewers are thinking.

And as he asks her on a date, she looks at him and genuinely declares, "I'd love that." Hurley's face lit up again, and I reached for the Kleenex again.

I'm still not prepared to fully analyze the relevance of the Kid in the Jungle that Flocke saw again in this episode. I've heard the theories that it is a young Jacob, or a young Flocke, or Aaron...but I just don't know yet. All I know is that I found it interesting that Desmond was not shocked in the least, even when Flocke became visibly angry, and telling him to "ignore him." That smirk before the kid ran off had to mean something, like he was pleased that Flocke was aggravated.

The scene between Richard and Hurley was relevant because it signalled a peak for Hurley. All throughout the episode, his confidence had been building, in the Island World and in the FS World, and as he came to a standoff with Richard on what to do next, he invoked Jacob's name. As Richard tried to call Hurley's bluff, Hurley told him "I don't have to prove anytthing to you Richard. Come with me or keep trying to blow stuff up. Your call, dude."

So, as is the case in each season of Lost at some point, we saw a splintering of factions, as Richard, Ben, and Miles left for the Barracks to retrieve grenades, and Hurley, Jack, Sun, and Frank proceeded on to look for Flocke and a face-to-face meeting.

And now Sun's obligatory one-line question per episode has been relegated to being written instead of spoken? Tell me again why this she is relevant? Tell me again (as some commenters have done in the past) that Sun and Jin are Season 6's love story...after seeing Des and Penny last week, and Hurley and Libby this week.

Hurley: "How do you break the ice with a Smoke Monster?" Seems like a pretty fair question.

The scene with Jack and Hurley was a turning point for both of them, as Hurley admitted to Jack that while he appeared confident in his standoff with Richard, he was lying about Jacob and had no idea where to go next. Jack reassuringly told him that he did indeed trust him, and went on to give us the most un-Jack-like speech in 6 seasons, as he explained that he can't fix everything, and that Hurley has no idea how hard that is for him. (But we viewers sure do, don't we?)

And then we heard the whispers again, and the next arrival of Michael. It was a scene in which I interpreted Hurley apparently silently forgiving Michael, but more importantly it gave us one of the answers to a long-held mystery: the whispers. Michael explained that he's stuck on the Island, with others, "who can't move on." (Good God, not the Purgatory Theory again!)

That's it?

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy we got the actual answer, which had been suspected for quite some time, but it seemed to just be a toss-aside answer to appease the viewers, like a casual "Jacob had a thing with numbers."

Back the FS World as Libby and Hurley prepared for their date. It was eerily reminiscent of the planned date on the Island, with a picnic on the beach. Libby declared to him how familiar it was, like a date they never had, and when she leaned over to kiss him, it happened...

With that one kiss, Hurley saw the same flashes that Desmond saw last week, and he knew that she wasn't crazy, that it had all actually happened...and now he remembered. I did a major fist-pump at the moment he flashed to the Island.
Then we panned back to see Desmond in his car watching them. And as he smiled and fixed his glasses in a move that would make Horatio Caine proud, all of a sudden, the end of last week episode made sense.

The reason he wanted to get the Oceanic 815 manifest, is to find the passengers and push them towards their own individual triggers that would allow them to see and feel the OTHER world. That's what he meant when he said "I need to show them something."

With only 5 episodes left after this one, I didn't think we were up for much more Island Mythology, but as Flocke explained to Desmond about the well, and the people who dug it, and Widmore's quest for power, I was trying to figure out what it all meant. And even though I saw his imminent fall coming, when Desmond declared "What's the point in being afraid?", I knew that Desmond had it all under control somehow. I don't know how, but I'm confident. This scene reminded me a lot of the end of "The Man Behind the Curtain", where Ben left Locke for dead in the Dharma Mass Grave.

Upon his return to camp, Flocke declared that "we don't have to worry about him anymore." And quicker than Angry Sawyer can say "son of a bitch", Hurley showed up and cut a deal with Flocke to talk and not have any weapons or violence. As Flocke handed over his knife and told Hurley "you have my word", did you believe him?

Then Flocke said "Hello Jack", and with his tone of voice, and Michael Giacchino's score, we're clearly in for something intense next week.

The final scene was an overload for me. I watched Ben act as the protector, and Desmond run down a wheelchair-bound John Locke. It all just seemed so wrong...and as I write this only 2 hours from the end of the show, I still don't know whatit all means in terms of timelines and ramifications, but Desmond is clearly working at something. Help me out in the Comments section and let's figure this out together.

Now, a couple of quick notes. I know that part of the appeal of my posts is that they get posted on the same night due to the fact that I can watch the show 2 hours early here in Canada. Next week, Lost will not be shown at 7 pm here, so my post will be a little later. It should still be up by midnight, but not as early as usual.

The second note that next week’s episode will be on Tuesday night as usual, but then there is a 2-week hiatus until the first of the final 4 episodes airs on May 4th. Also keep in mind that the series finale will be airing on May 23rd, which is a Sunday night. If you live in Canada, that’s the Victoria Day weekend, so you Lost Junkies had better make sure to plan in advance so that you are prepared.