Apr 14, 2010

Everybody Loves Hugo

Action? Check. Surprises? Check. Explosions? Double Check. Forward moving plot? Check. Answers? Check. We are now entering the homestretch of Lost and episodes like "Everybody Loves Hugo" are exactly what fans have been yearning for all season. Lost is now hitting its final season stride, and it should be an interesting ride.

Flash Sideways Story
As with last week's Desmond's story, this week focused on another character remembering his previous life. This week's sideways story focused on millionaire Hugo Reyes (Big surprise since the episode is titled "Everybody Loves Hugo"). The episode started with Hurley being recognized for his philanthropic efforts and none other than a rather young looking (considering his DHARMA timeline in the 1970s) Pierre Chang, who has two working arms, is honoring Hurley for his giving to the museum.

Hugo's mom is in attendance and when they leave she tells him the episode title that everybody loves Hugo, expect the ladies. Not to worry though, Mrs. Reyes has a blind date set up for him. You just knew that this Rosalita would be someone we already knew, right? Well, not so fast my friend.

Turns out Rosalita doesn't show up but a flash from Hurley's (island) past does in the form of Libby. Libby wasn't his blind date, but she wanted to know if he remembered her. He didn't at the time, and then Dr. Brooks shows up to take Libby away. Yep, she's in Santa Rosa Mental Institute, where Hurley was never a patient in this timeline. You following all this? Good, because it got way awesome from there.

Hurley is eating away his sorrows at Mr. Cluck's when Desmond David Hume shows up to give him a little bump. Desmond tells him not to give up so fast and to find out where Libby remembers Hurley from. So Hurley visits Libby at the mental hospital and asks her out on a date. Yay! We finally get to see their picnic, only 4 years later.

Libby gets a feeling right away that they were on the date they never had. Hurley still doesn't remember anything until she leans in and kisses him. Just like Desmond seeing "Not Penny's Boat" written on Charlie's hand and then flashes of his life with Penny, Hurley sees his time on the island with Libby and tells her that he remembers, that she's not crazy. A pleased Desmond is seen watching them from his car in the distance.

So once again love is used to break away from the sideways world and remember the island world. I wonder how this will work for all the characters? Do each of them have a love interest in the other time line to snap them out of it? Let's see. Jin and Sun have each other and Ji Yeon; Kate has Jack or Sawyer; Sawyer has Juliette or Kate or Clementine; Jack has Kate (but he also has a son in the sideways, who he loves); Sayid has Nadia in his life in both time lines, but what about Shannon?; then there's John Locke. He has his love, Helen, in the sideways world, but he was alone and is now dead in the island world. What to think of his situation? Well, Desmond helped muddy it up a bit this week.

At the end of the flash sideways, we see Desmond watching John Locke from the parking lot of his school. Dr. Ben Linus shows up and questions Desmond about his watching the kids, but Desmond easily dismisses him by saying he has a son and is checking out schools in the area. His son? Charlie. So does sideways Desmond have full memories of his island time line life now? He not only remembered his son, he knows his name.

After Ben leaves, Desmond backs up the car and starts after Locke. I thought that it would be similar to his conversation with Hurley earlier where Desmond would try to get Locke to remember his old life, nope, not this time. He steps on the gas and runs down the wheelchaired John Locke and flees the scene. OK, wow!? I'm not sure where this is going or why Desmond did this. Does Locke need to die in both time lines? Does Desmond remember Locke as the Man in Black? Certainly Locke will be brought to Jack's hospital. What will happen when they meet again? Will Jack save him and restore his ability to walk? So many questions, so few episodes of Lost left.

Hurley's the Man Without a Plan (Part 1)
Back in the island time line, Hurley takes charge after Michael appears to him on Boone Hill (the island graveyard). Michael warns that he has to stop the group from trying to blow up the plane. If they blow up the plane, a lot of people will die, and it will be Hurley's fault because people are listening to him now.

People started listening to him even more because ...

The Island is Finished with Ilana
Ilana is ready to go to Hydra Island to finish the mission of destroying the Ajira plane. She has four sticks of dynamite and is ready to man the outriggers (finally the outrigger scene from "The Little Prince" right? Nope.) Hurley tries to talk her out of it, but Ilana has trained her entire life to protect them and this is the plan Richard has come up with. She reiterates that they must stop that thing and sets her pack down forcefully, and BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE! There goes their island protector as millions of Lost fans' jaws hit the floor.

Wait, Ilana can't be gone. We haven't gotten her backstory. What about her being all bandaged up in the hospital when Jacob came to see her? What about her saying she's been training her entire life to protect them? Do we just forget about all that? Team Darlton have said that the only things answered on the show are the things that the characters themselves will be asking about. Do you think they will wonder about Ilana's backstory now? I doubt it. At least Hurley can see dead people. Maybe Ilana comes back that way.

It's Ben who later points out that the island was done with her. He wonders what will happen with the island is finished with all of them. Good question Ben. Maybe you end up in the sideways world teaching high school.

Hurley's the Man Without a Plan (Part 2)
Back to Hurley and his non-plan, plan. After Ilana is given the Arzt treatment, Hurley looks through her tent and finds a small bag (Jacob's ashes?). Richard wants to go get more dynamite, and Hurley agrees that's what they should do. Jack questions it because he made a promise to Sun that he'd get her off the island, and Richard says he wished he hadn't made that promise. Hurley tells Jack to trust him, and they make for Black Rock.

Once they arrive at Black Rock, Hurley is no where to be found. Was he abducted by the Others? Nope, he's just pulling a John Locke circa season 3 and blowing something up. This time, it's Black Rock. I question how Hurley was able to get so far ahead of the group, but that's not really important. What's important is that the group soon splits into two separate teams.

After Hurley is unable to prove to Richard that he's following Jacob's orders (Richard keenly points out that Jacob doesn't tell people what to do. Remember, Jacob is a free will kind of guy), he, Ben and Miles make for the DHARMA barracks to get grenades. Jack, Sun, Frank and Hurley stick together to go talk to Locke (Man in Black).

On their way to find Locke, Hurley wonders what they should say to him and asks how do you break the ice with a smoke monster. I guess the rest of the group filled Jack and Hurley in on the whole Locke=Smoke Monster business.

The Whispers or +1 For "The Island is Purgatory" Theorists
As they are walking to meet with Locke's group, the infamous whispers start up and after almost six seasons, Hurley figures out what they are. He calls out for Michael and confirms that he and others like him (those who can't move on) are the whispers. So are the whispers all of the people who have died on the island or just certain people like Michael, who have a checkered past?

After thinking about this reveal, I like that it was made, and we finally got an answer, but the way it happened on screen seemed kind of thrown in there. After all these years, Hurley suddenly realizes what these sounds are and then comes right out and asks Michael, and Michael provides an answer. So unLost, but I guess in season 6, answers must be given so the Lost way of being vague is now giving way to straight forward answers.

My other thought on this reveal is that it gives credence to the island being purgatory theories that were shot down years ago. While the entire island isn't purgatory, having some characters unable to move on after dieing sounds very purgatory-like to me.

The Package
Sayid returns with the package, aka Desmond. Desmond was tied to a tree, but Locke soon unties him, since there's nowhere to run. They have a great conversation (any conversation involving Desmond is a great one). Desmond shoots straight with Locke, but it seems like he knows a little more than he's leading on. He tells him about the electromagnetic test and that he knew what it was from experience. Locke asks him if he knows who he is, and Desmond replies John Locke. I wonder if he really thinks he's Locke? Is Desmond aware that the real John Locke died?

Locke says that there's something he wants to show Desmond. He offers his hand, and Desmond takes it (the touch?). On their way, they both see a boy in the jungle. Is this the same boy from before? This time he has browner hair. Locke says to ignore him, and the boy just smiles before leaving. Who is this kid? Why can certain people see him?

Locke brings Desmond to a well similar to the one that was at the Orchid location. He tells him that there are many of these on the island, and they are very old. At certain spots, compass needles started to spin (electromagnetism?) so people dug these wells by hand for answers. My first thought was that there was the frozen donkey wheel beneath that well, but he said there are many wells on the island. Locke said they didn't find answers and that Widmore doesn't want answers either. He wants power. He asks Desmond why he isn't afraid and then pushes him down the well.

I have to admit that as soon as I saw them at the well, I figured Desmond would get thrown in. I do wonder though, how much of what he told Desmond is true? Is Widmore only back for power? If so, then how will Desmond help Widmore? What's going to happen to Desmond now? Is he near a pocket of electromagnetic energy at the bottom of the well?

The Meeting with Locke
Finally, Hurley's group meets up with Locke's group thanks to Michael pointing them in the right direction. Just as Locke told Sawyer earlier, Jack, Sun and Hurley showed up. Man in Black seems pleased that everyone is together and his plan can move forward. Jack on the other hand had a look on his face like "I knew I was going to meet Locke, but I can't believe I'm seeing Locke again ... what is going on here?!?!" There next conversation will certainly be an interesting one.

So where do we go from here? Man in Black can start moving his plan forward. Desmond is stuck in a well, but I have a feeling he's right where he needs to be. Richard's group is still determined to blow up the plane. Widmore still has Jin, so we're still in for a Man in Black/Widmore showdown.

Next week's preview was awesome, not only for teasing the episode but for its use of Gene Wilder's "Willy Wonka" speech. Gave me chills.

Other Tidbits:
Richard asks Hurley to get Jacob to tell him what the island is. Back in "Ab Aeterno," Jacob told Richard that the island is like a cork in a wine bottle.

Desmond tells Man in Black that there's nothing special about him, but I think both Desmond and Man in Black know that's not true. I think Man in Black knows exactly what/who Desmond is and why Widmore brought him to the island. I'm just not sure Desmond knows exactly why yet.

Jack has lived his life as Mr. Fix It, but now he's realizing he can't fix everything, especially bringing Juliette back. He knows he needs to let go. With this new line of thinking, I'm leaning more and more toward Jack taking Jacob's place.

Sun's still having her issues with speaking English. She writes a note to Frank asking if they made a mistake (sticking with Hurley). Man, Frank has been underused this season.

Michael told Hurley that if he ever sees Libby again to tell her he's sorry. When Hurley started to remember their past together during their picnic, I thought he was going to tell Libby that Michael says he's sorry.

I wonder how long Man in Black has been on the island. Its obviously a long time, and I can't wait to find out more about his origins.

Did Hurley have the required mirror/reflection shot this episode? It could have been when he was looking at his dinosaur award, but it seems like there would be something more obvious.

Other Recaps and Analysis of "Everybody Loves Hugo":
Next on Lost: "The Last Recruit"

*Photos from Lost-Media.com & losteastereggs.blogspot.com
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