Everybody Loves Hugo

For over five years we have watched the story of LOST unfold. For the most part we know what parts are played by who. Jack has been the hero, the man of science and lately, the man of faith. Sawyer has been the villain, the antihero, and the hero. He plays Lancelot to Jack’s Arthur and in turn Kate’s Guinevere. We have the romantic parts played by Sun and Jin as well as Desmond and Penny. Sayid is the man of action but of few words. Hurley has been a voice for the viewers. Remember him freaking out on Danielle “I want some freaking answers!”? He was speaking for us. Hurley is also the heart and soul of the show. He builds golf courses because people need some good news sometimes. He believed unwavering in getting that old blue Dharma van started so it would give Charlie something to think about other than dying. He’s also the islands resident ghost whisperer and that is a double edged sword for him at times. One thing is for sure though, not Everybody Loves Hugo as the episode would have us believe. Although, how can ya not?



As the episode began we heard the familiar voice of Pierre Chang talking about Hugo Reyes. Some people said it felt like they were watching a memorial service but it quickly turned out to be a tribute. Hugo Reyes: Man of the Year. That's Jorge Garcia's Chihuahua Nunu playing the part of Hurley's dog. After the event Hurley walks outside with his mother. The award was a dinosaur and it made me recall back to when Hurley remarked that maybe the smoke monster was a dinosaur. I wonder where Hurley's father is. Did he not come back to see his son after he won the lottery. Maybe he did and along with his mother they sent him packing. Either way I missed seeing Cheech as Hurley's dad one more time. Hurley’s mom says that she has set him up on a blind date with Grandpa Tito’s neighbors’ daughter Rosalita.


On the island Hurley places a fresh flower onto Libby's' grave. As he talks to Libby hear the emotion in his voice as he tells Libby it would be nice if she came to see him like the others do. Ilana tells him that she is going to the Black Rock to get some dynamite. She asks Hurley about Libby's' grave and hear and feel the emotion in his voice as he tells Ilana about the date with Libby that never happened and that Libby was murdered. The whispers kick in as Michael appears. Hurley asks him why he is there and Michael tell him he is there to stop him from getting everyone killed.


Hurley asks Michael why he should trust him since he murdered Ana Lucia and Libby. Michael says that doesn’t matter right now what does matter is him stopping Hurley from blowing up the Ajira plane. Michael says that will get a lot of people killed. Michael says that people are starting to listen to Hurley. Jack shows up and asks Hurley who he is talking to. Hurley says nobody as we can only guess that Michael had left by then. At this point though, why not just tell Jack? Jack tells Hurley that it's time for them to go.



Probably the only thing more embarrassing than having your mother set you up on a blind date is having said blind date stand you up. Hurley checks out Spanish Johnny’s menu as Libby walks up and says hello to Hurley. Like Hurley, I too thought she was his blind date. Hurley asks her how she knows him and she tells him that he is going to think she is crazy. Libby talks about being soul mates and says that he doesn’t remember her. Dr. Brooks comes over and breaks up their discussion. Brooks takes Libby outside and puts her into a van from Santa Rosa Mental Hospital. Hurley waves and watches her leave. So it would appear we continue the theme of the people who have died in the OTL are “in the loop” in the ATL and are somewhat aware of the OTL.


Ilana returns from the Black Rock with dynamite. Hurley says he doesn’t think it's a good idea. Hurley says that blowing up the plane will make “that thing” mad at them and then they will be stuck there with it. Good point. Ilana says that this is what she has trained her entire life for; protecting all of the candidates. Really? This is what you trained for? Because if it is your entire life has been for nothing Ilana, especially considering you just Arzt-ed yourself. Nice job. Not what I was expecting and I think she deserved more than what she got from TPTB. Turns out she was just a disposable character after all. I guess the good part is nobody got any Ilana on them this time.

Sawyer, still relegated to being the one in the group with the pestering questions, asks UnLocke what they are going to do next and why they are just sitting there doing nothing. Unlocke tells him not to confuse doing nothing with waiting. Unlocke goes on to tell Kate that they needed to get everyone together for them to get back to the island and it works the same way for them to get off of the island. He says that they need to get Hurley, Jack, and Sun with them before they can “get off of this godforsaken rock”. These are the exact words that Sawyer used so it isn’t a coincidence that we hear them again now. Sayid shows up and ignores Sawyer who asks him where he has been. Sayid asks if he can speak to Unlocke privately.


The two walk off and Unlocke asks Sayid if Widmore saw him. Sayid says he didn’t but his people did. Unlocke asks Sayid if he killed them. Sayid explains that there was no point killing them because he had what he came for. UnLocke asks if he found out what was locked away on the sub. Sayid says he did and pulls a palm frond back to reveal Desmond who is tied to a tree.

While going through some of Ilana’s personal things Hurley finds the bag of Jacob's ashes. Richard says they need to get more dynamite or else Ilana died for nothing. Jack says maybe she died to tell them to stay the hell away from dynamite. Good point Jack. Hurley says that he thinks Richard is right. Jack just gives Hurley a look and Hurley asks Jack to trust him. They all leave the beach and head out to the Black Rock.


Hurley gets a bucket of chicken like some people get a bag of heroin. Desmond comes in and sees him. After last week Desmond should already know Hurley was on flight 815 and he is one of people he needs to “show something” to. Hurley says that he eats when he is depressed and Desmond laughs and asks “What’s her name?”. Desmond tells Hurley that all women are a little crazy. Hurley tells Desmond about Libby and what she said at the Mexican restaurant. Desmond asked him if he believed Libby. Hurley says he did. Desmond puts Hurley back onto Libby's trail to get answers. Desmond’s order is ready and it was order number 42, of course. Besides being one of the numbers, 42 is also the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything in the Hitchhikers’ Guide To The Galaxy. Desmond tells Hurley it was nice bumping into him and then leaves. We know that their meeting wasn’t an accident. Desmond is like Jacob now in this reality. He’s planting seeds and recruiting people. He knows the rules and although not able to directly interfere, he is pointing people in the right direction.


Unlocke apologizes to Desmond for Sayid tying him up. Desmond tells Unlocke he has nowhere to run. Remember back when Desmond was running from the hatch Jack said Desmond had nowhere to run to. At the time Desmond said he didn’t know but he just wanted to get as far away from the hatch as possible. Desmond tells Unlocke that he was kidnapped by Widmore and brought back to the island. Sayid confirms that Desmond was being held under armed guard. Des goes on to tell him about the electromagnetic experiments he was put through. Unlocke had an interesting look on his face when Desmond was telling him about this. He asks Desmond if he knows who he is. Desmond says of course and Unlocke has an “Oh, really?” look on his face. Then Desmond says “You’re John Locke.” which makes the look change. This time his face seems to say “That’s not what I wanted to hear.”. So does Desmond know who he really is or does he not know about the MIB? I think Desmond knows this isn’t really John Locke. Unlocke tells Sayid to go back to their camp. He says that Desmond is going to take a walk with him. Unlocke tells Desmond that there is something he wants to show him. Notice that Desmond accepts the hand of Unlocke when he offers it to Desmond. Don’t know if that means anything but it could. There has been a pattern of them showing us who has taken the MIB's hand and who has not.


As Richard and the rest of his group make their way to the Black Rock, Ben comments that Ilana died because the island was done with her. Ben adds he wonders what will happen to the rest of them when the island is done with them. Richard tells the group that he will go alone to get the dynamite. He notices that Hurley is missing. Hurley said he was pretty spry back in Catch 22, guess he was right as he somehow made it to the Black Rock before the rest of the group without them seeing him do it. Hurley comes running from the Black Rock and shouts for them all to “RUN!”. The Black Rock explodes and unlike the title of the episode would have you believe, at this point Richard does not love Hugo. Hurley says he blew up the Black Rock to protect them all. In Exodus it was Hurley trying to stop Locke from blowing up the hatch. After Locke did Hurley asked him why he did that. This time Hurley is the one blowing up something and being asked “Why did you do that?”.



Jack tries to calm down Richard as he continues to freak out about Hurley blowing up the Black Rock. Hurley tells Miles that Michael told him to blow up the slave ship. Miles asks who Michael is (Miles would know him as Kevin Johnson) and Hurley tells him that Michael is one of the dead people that show up every now and then to yell at him. Hurley says it happens fairly often. Hurley goes on to tell Miles that dead people are more reliable than the living ones.


Hurley goes back to Santa Rosa and asks Dr. Brooks if he can see Libby. The familiar island picture is in the office as Brooks tells Hurley that Libby has issues with reality. He says that seeing Hurley might confuse her. Hurley pulls out his checkbook and it would appear that money can buy you love. Or at least it can buy you a face to face talk with love in the rec room. We see Connect Four being played and whatever is on that blackboard I could wonder about for days but there’s not enough time left so we will just move on. Libby comes into the room and asks Hurley if he remembered her. He says he didn’t but wants to know where he is supposed to know her from. Libby says that he won’t believe her. He says “try me". She tells him that a few weeks ago she was watching television and she saw his commercial. She says that as soon as she saw him the memories started. She says that the memories are from a different life. She tells him about them being on the island together after a plane crash. She says that when she went to Santa Rosa it felt like she had been there before as well. She thinks she remembers Hurley from there as well. Hurley says he wishes he could remember her but he still doesn’t. He points out he has never been in a mental institute. You can tell he really does want to remember Libby though and the relationship she is talking about. Hurley asks Libby if she can get a day pass so they can go out. She says she can leave whenever she wants because she is there voluntarily. Libby asks Hurley if he is asking her out on a date. Hurley says he is and she says she would love that.


While they walk through the jungle, Unlocke asks Desmond about being stuck in the hatch. Unlocke says that if he didn’t know better he would think the island had it out for Desmond. Desmond says that he is nobody special and that the island has it in for all of them. Unlocke sees the boy in the jungle again. Desmond can see him too and the boy is a little older that the last time we saw him and has brown hair instead of blond. It is the same actor playing both parts I can tell you that. Desmond asks Unlocke who the boy is and if Unlocke knows him. Unlocke gets angry and tells Desmond to ignore him. The boy smirks and walks away. It seems like he accomplished whatever he was trying to do. So is this the same boy that we saw with blond hair or is he a twin? Perhaps a Bad Twin. Is he the other half of the same entity?


The Black Rock continues to burn as Richard asks Ben if there are grenades back at the Dharma barracks. Ben says there is so Richard says that is where they are headed next. Richard says he is ready to hear Jack’s plan if he has a better one than blowing up the Ajira plane. Hurley says what they should do is go talk to Locke. Hurley says it’s Jacobs idea. Richard calls Hurley’s bluff and tells him to ask Jacob what the island is. He knows Jacob isn’t there because Jacob doesn’t tell people what to do. Hurley approaches Richard and says he doesn’t have to prove anything to him. He says that he has a choice between going with him to see Locke or to go and blow up more stuff. Richard again tells them they cannot allow “that thing” to leave the island or it’s all over. Richard asks who is going with him. Ben joins him and Miles does as well saying he saw Unlocke in action and it’s not interested in talking. Jack, Frank, and Sun stay with Hurley. Richard tells them to stay out of their way. Jack tells Hurley that they should go talk to Locke if that is what Jacob says they are supposed to do. Hurley looks worried as his eyes are flying all around looking pretty shifty.

As Hurley leads the group through the jungle Sun writes on her pad since she still cannot speak English. She asks Frank if they made the wrong decision. Frank says “Probably.”. That’s the extent of their parts in this episode. Thanks for showing up. Hurley asks Jack what they should say to Locke when they see him. Hurley asks how do you break the ice with the smoke monster. Nice time to be having second thoughts! Jack says that Unlocke will probably do most of the talking so it won’t matter. Hurley says that he might just kill them all. Hurley tells Jack he didn’t talk to Jacob back at the Black Rock and he only said that so they would listen to him. Jack says he knows. Hurley asks Jack why he came with him. What Jack says next is probably the most UN-Jack thing I have ever heard him say. He tells Hurley that ever since he got Juliette killed (took a lot just for him to admit that) all he has wanted to do is “fix it” but he can’t ever “fix it”. He says it has been hard for him to just sit back and wait to be told what to do. That just might be the point though he says. Jack admits that maybe he is supposed to let go. Hurley confuses things a little by asking Jack what if him letting go is what ends up getting them all killed. Jack says Hurley asked him to trust him so this is him trusting Hurley. Hurley tells Jack he had no idea where he is going. Remember back to a time where Hurley was playing HORSE with Jack at Santa Rosa. Hurley told Jack that he should have trusted him and went with him instead of going with Locke. Here the rolls were reversed. Jack chose to go with Hurley as Jack was able to put his trust in Hurley. Complete trust. Having been able to “let go” Jack is now fully a Man of Faith. We hear the whispers again and Hurley says he thinks he knows what they are now. He tells the rest of the group to wait as he goes off into the jungle.


Michael shows up again and Hurley asks him if he is stuck on the island. Michael says he is because of what he did to Ana Lucia and Libby. It turns out that the whispers are people like Michael who are stuck on the island and can’t move on. Stuck on the island and can’t move on? I thought the island wasn’t purgatory. Sure sounds like it to me, at least for the people that are the whispers. The whispers have been one of the biggest mysteries of the show and here we got the cliff notes version on what they are. Seems kind of weak to me. Maybe there will be more later on about them but for now color me disappointed. Hurley asks if Michael knows where Locke is and Michael shows him a light in the jungle where Locke’s campsite is. Michael tells Hurley not to get himself killed. He also tells Hurley that if he ever sees Libby again to tell her he is very sorry. You can feel the pain in Michael’s voice as he says this. Not to be outdone, listen to the emotions in Hurley’s voice as he tells Michael he will.


Back on the beach in the ATL Hurley spreads out a blanket. "Everybody loves cheese, right?", Hurley asks as he makes small talk. Then he asks Libby if something is wrong. She says that it’s not wrong, just “off”. Libby says that this all feels familiar, like the date they never had. They each ask the other why they are there. Libby says that she is there because she wants to be with him because she likes him. Hurley says she only likes him because she is delusional. Libby leans over and gives Hurley a kiss which brings the memories; or maybe passes them onto him. Hurley tells Libby he is starting to remember stuff. He tells Libby he doesn’t think she is crazy. When Hurley is talking to Libby he refers to the memories Libby has as being from bizzaro world. In DC comics there is a Bizzaro World in Superman comics where everyone from our reality is also in that reality. The difference being everything is exactly opposite as it is in our world. Sort of like a mirror reflection of our world. Through a mirror darkly indeed. As the camera pulls back we see Desmond is watching all of this play out. Appearing satisfied with what he sees, he drives off.

Unlocke and Des arrive at a well. Unlocke says that it is very old, so old in fact that the people that dug it did so by hand. They dug wells because years ago that spot made compass needles spin. In order to get answers they dug but they never got the answers they were looking for. Unlocke tells Des that Widmore only wants power. Desmond asks if that is why he wanted Desmond to see the well. Unlocke asks Desmond why he is not afraid. He says that Desmond is out there with him alone and not another person knows he is there but yet he is not afraid. Desmond says there is no point in being afraid. With that Unlocke pushes Desmond down the well. Somebody call Lassie, Timmy’s fallen into the well. Or how about Vincent? Is this the same well that Locke fell down before he turned the frozen donkey wheel or is this a different one. Unlocke did say there were other wells on the island. This scene almost had a “Man Behind The Curtain” feeling to it for me. Unlocke leaves Desmond in the well for dead almost like Ben did to Locke in the Dharma pit after he shot him. It was around this point that I thought that this all seemed to be pretty violent considering this was a Hurley episode.


Unlocke gets back to his camp and tells Sayid that they don’t have to worry about Desmond anymore. Unlocke tells Sawyer that he went for a walk and faster than you can say “Son of a bitch.”, Hurley walks into their camp. Unlocke greets Hurley who tells him that he doesn’t know who he is or what he wants but they need to talk. Hurley says he has people with him and they all have weapons. Hurley doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, or killed, he adds. Hurley seems to be negotiating a truce. Unlocke accepts and offers Hurley his knife in good faith. He tells Hurley that he has his word. Hurley tells the rest of the group to come out as Frank, Sun, and Jack come out of the jungle. Jack and Kate exchange quick smiles as Unlocke says “Hello Jack.” the way we have heard John Locke say it dozens of times before. Jack looks angry at just hearing the voice and then looks surprised to see John Locke standing in front of him alive and well. So Unlocke was right when he told Sawyer he was waiting. Hurley just brought himself and the other two people Unlocke needed right into his camp.


Desmond watches Locke wheel down the sidewalk outside of the school where Locke is a substitute teacher. Ben approaches and asks Desmond what he is doing and if he has a child that goes to the school. Desmond says he is checking out schools and that this one could be a possibility for his son to go to. Desmond is very distracted as he is trying to watch Locke at the same time as having a conversation with Ben. Ben quickly asks Desmond what his sons name is and ATL Desmond is obviously blending memories very well from the OTL Desmond as he quickly says his sons name is Charlie. Ben says that it is a wonderful school and tells Desmond to have a good day. Desmond tells Ben it was nice talking to him and raises the car window. I could tell as soon as Desmond pulled away fast that he was going to hit John Locke with his car. I didn’t know he was going to hit him that damn hard though. Holy hell! So is his thinking that he wants Locke to have a near death experience in order to remember his other life? As Locke rolls over and Ben is talking to him does it seem that Locke already has had some flashes? Is is possible he has? If so then did he see flashes of Ben Linus killing him? Perhaps he saw the same Ben Linus who, in this reality, is running to his rescue telling people to call 911.


So where does the ending of this episode take us? It takes us to the hospital with John Locke and I am willing to bet Jack will be his doctor. It looks like next week is a Jack episode. So will he be able to “fix” Locke? One thing for sure is after seeing each other on the island this week we are in for some intense moments between them on the island next week. Perhaps we will see Jack try to “fix” Locke in both realities. Maybe in the ATL Jack and Locke will have a moment of clarity where they share memories from the island. Whatever is going on in the ATL will definitely have an impact on the island. Just how it will effect it and how much of an impact it will have remains to be seen. We now know that Unlocke is definitely the bad guy. I can’t allow him to shove Desmond down a well and leave him for dead and not think he is the bad guy. Jacob, however, isn’t off the hook either. What about poor Ilana? She looked up to Jacob as a father and this is how he treats her? He puts her on the island to get blown up? He uses people to get what he wants but when he is done with them he just lets them die. Seems like when Ben says the island was done with her maybe a more correct thing to say would be that Jacob was done with her. Perhaps the biggest question asked this week was made by Ben. What does happen to us when the island is done with us? I guess I will have to start another blog when that happens. Anybody think that new show “Happy Town” will need recaps?