Lost Season 6: Everybody Loves Hugo (Epsiode 12)

I read a theory by Doc Jensen about how in the end of Lost our two realities will keep going but in sideways LA, everyone (hopefully) will remember The Island and their experiences will merge in their head making a full complete redeemed character. (I can’t remember what was going to happen to the poor Island Losties.) I kind of like this theory. You know I was dead-set against them NOT knowing about The Island. But if they get to have redeemed better lives, being reunited with their loved ones AND remember The Island, then I kinda like that.

And as I watched last night’s episode featuring our beloved Hurley, I thought this might really be the case. It seemed to good to be true–Hurley is loved, he’s rich, he’s found his true love, he remembers The Island and he’s happy! THEN DESMOND HAPPENED. And that theory totally got thrown out the window. What in the world is going on with Desmond? Desmond is giving me creepy Sayid vibes–on AND off The Island.

Let’s start in LA because I do like a happy Hurley…

Hurley is being named Man of the Year due to his philanthropy and generosity. He has just given enough money to fund a paleontology wing at the local something-or-the-other. As they introduce him I say, “That voice is familiar…Pierre Chang!!” Oh, I love the connections—just think Chang, Miles, Hurley, Charlotte and even Daniel could have all been in the same room.

As they leave the ceremony with Hugo clutching his dino shaped trophy, his mother (who is also his date) complains that he is single. It’s so perfectly big-fat-greek-wedding-ish and she tells Hugo that she’s set up a blind date for him.

Next we see Hugo downing chips at a Mexican restaurant. Apparently his date isn’t coming. But who does show up? Libby. A blonder, slightly scary looking Libby. She says, “Hugo?” and he assumes she is his date. He is the perfect gentleman and then she tells him she’s not his date. He’s confused especially when she takes his hands and says, “Do you think two people can be destined to be together?” She is about to explain how she knows him from another time and place but her PSYCHIATRIST interrupts. That’s right, Libby is livin’ in the loony bin. Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute (yeah, the same place they BOTH were before).

Hurley is completely disturbed, so disturbed he heads to the closest Mr. Cluck (“Mr. Reyes! What an honor!”) and orders a bucket of chicken. As he’s wolfing down the chicken who just happens to show up? Well, Desmond, of course. After wheedling his way into Hurley’s table, Hurley ends up telling Desmond about Libby. Desmond’s response freaks Hurley out even more, “Did you believe her when she said she knew you?” Hurley says, “Yes.” Desmond leaves with the admonition to make sure Hurley finds Libby before dismissing her.

Oh, The Island must have it’s hooks in Hurley because next thing we know he’s sitting in the psychiatrist’s office (uhm, also, Hurley’s old doctor). The doctor refuses to let Hurley see Libby, until Mr. Cluck pulls out his checkbook and gives the Mental Institute $100k.

Libby and Hurley sit down in the middle of our connect-four friend, Island chalk pictures and other crazies. Libby begins to tell her story: she saw Hugo on a commercial and was instantly flooded with memories of him and her together. Of their time on The Island. So, when she saw him at the restaurant she had to speak to him. Hurley is sorry but he just doesn’t remember—but he wishes he could. So, he asks her out on a date.

She says yes.

And they finally get their beach blanket date. Libby is disturbed because it seems so familiar but also wrong at the same time. Hurley is feeling happy to be with her but finally admits, “You only like me because you’re delusional.” Libby responds with a kiss. And then…fireworks? No. MEMORIES. He sees the two of them on The Island. He tells her, “I think I remembered something.” Libby begins to cry and says, “I’m not crazy?”

And looking on is our happy matchmaker, Desmond. (Also? Getting-creepier-by-the-minute Desmond. We’ll get back to him.)

The Island

Hurley is placing a flower on Libby’s grave. He is talking to her. In typical Hurley fashion he hedges around the question, “Why don’t you come to see me like all the other dead people?” Ilana suddenly interrupts and tells him they are about to leave for the Black Rock to collect dynamite. Hurley gets up to follow after her but hears The Whispers. He looks hard into the jungle. He’s hoping Libby will arrive. And suddenly, he does have a visitor:

MICHAEL

(Oh, I love having our Losties return to us! Even if they ARE dead!)

Michael tells Hurley he has to stop them from destroying the plane. It is his responsibility because people listen to him now. Hurley is not a fan of Michael (OBVIOUSLY) but for some reason, he believes him. This brings Team #4: Team Anti-Jacob, Anti-Locke. I am getting so confused as to whose team I’m even on anymore! (In case you were wondering the other teams are Team Jacob, Team unLocke and Team Widmore.)

He walks down to the beach to see Ilana frantically collecting supplies and corralling the rest of the Losties (by the way, why in the world do they follow Ilana so quickly?). Hurley questions her. He tells her the dynamite is unstable. He wonders if they should think of another plan. Ilana doesn’t care what Hurley thinks. She says, “I’ve been training my whole life for this! If Jacob said Richard knows what to do, then that’s what we’re going to do!” Suddenly Ilana drops her bag on the sand. And…

KA-POW.

That’s right, “I think you’ve got a little Ilana on you.” I so did not see that coming. Ilana is just dead?! I have to admit, it was kind of awesome. She wasn’t exactly Nikki&Paulo but still I didn’t like how she controlled our Losties so much.

An exploded Ilana doesn’t even make a ripple in the water for Richard. He is determined to get to the Black Rock to collect more dynamite and blow up the plane. But Jack and the other Losties suddenly think maybe Ilana’s death was a sign–a warning to stay where they are. Meanwhile, Hurley is looking through Ilana’s things and finds a book (Notes from the Underground by Dostoyevsky) and a bag full of seomthing they won’t show us. So, he looks up and says, “Richard is right. Let’s go to the Black Rock.” HUH? What in the world? Didn’t he just fight Ilana on this 10 seconds ago? Why would he want them to go to the Black Rock? And WHAT is in that bag? Was that the ash she picked up from Jacob’s body? Did Jacob speak to Hurley from the ashes?

Our Losties are walking to the Black Rock and we get Most Interesting Line #1:

Ben: It makes you think.

Jack: What does?

Ben: Ilana. She was doing what Jacob wanted. She was protecting you ‘candidates’. And when she announces who she is, she explodes. The Island was finished with her. Wonder what will happen when it’s finished with us?

Wow. I could talk about this all day. Ever since unLocke has come on the scene I’ve moved away from thinking of The Island capitalized. It seemed that The Island was really just “the island” and the craziness was just Jacob and the Man in Black. But what if The Island really is an entity? What if unLocke lied to Sawyer (and to himself). What if  The Island isn’t just a “rock”?

So, after this lovely conversation they arrive at the Black Rock. Richard says he will go in and get the dynamite. When suddenly Hurley runs out of the Black Rock screaming, “RUN!”. That’s right. He set off the dynamite and exploded the ship.

This tips poor Ricardo just a little more off his rocker. “WHAT IN THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?” he screams at Hurley. Hurley just puts on his I’m-in-charge face, points to the jungle and says, “He told me to do it. Jacob told me to do it.”

Richard doesn’t remotely believe him and asks Hurley to ask Jacob what The Island is. He says Jacob just told him what The Island was. And oh, I was hoping they were going to give us something here. Alas, Hurley becomes like a super leader and walks straight up to Richard and says, “I don’t have to prove anything to you.”

Richard is unimpressed. He says he’s going to get some more ammunition (from somewhere, I can’t remember) and he’s going to destroy the plane. Hurley says he is going to talk to unLocke.

And now our Losties must decide which team they are on (are you keeping a running total? Team Jacob, Team unLocke, Team Widmore and now Team Switzerland). Miles and Ben go with Richard. Sun, Lapidus and Jack go with Hurley.

This Miles and Ben with Richard is confusing to me. Poor Miles has been in every single episode with minimal lines, minimal interaction yet he is still here. Is he a warm body? Or does he have a big role to play? His reasoning for going with Richard is easy—the Smoke Monster is scary. Ben, on the other hand makes me wonder. He is dead set against Jacob. (Isn’t he?) He believes The Island took Ilana. So, why would he want to follow Richard, a Jacob-lover? I’m confused.

Anyway, Hurley and his crew begin to walk through the jungle and with each step Hurley is getting more and more upset. He finally stops and says to Jack, “I didn’t really see Jacob. I don’t know what I’m doing.” And Jack delivers Most Interesting Line #2:

Jack: I know.

Hurley: But what if I’m wrong?

Jack: Ever since Juliet died…since I got her killed, I’ve realized I just have to let go. I can’t fix everything. And maybe that’s the point. You have no idea how hard it is for me to have other people tell me what to do. I told you I trust you, Hurley. And I do.

Suddenly Hurley hears The Whispers. But he realizes what—and who they are. He steps into the jungle and sees Michael. And suddenly we have some answers. Did you hear me? LOST GAVE US SOME ANSWERS! The Whispers are people/spirits that are stuck on The Island. Michael tells Hurley where unLocke’s flock is and then tells Hurley he is very sorry about Libby.

And that’s that. Michael returns to being a Whisper. That was kinda sad.

With Michaels’ information, Hurley leads his crew to unLocke’s camp. Hurley enters alone and says, “I know you have weapons. So do we. We’ll put ours down but you can’t hurt us. We want to talk.”

unLocke: (hands Hurley his knife) You have my word.

And suddenly our Losties are united. Sawyer, Kate, Claire, Sayid, unLocke, Sun, Frank, Jack and Hurley all together in one place. But who does unLocke greet? What’s the only word he utters after they arrive?

JACK.

The Island. Desmond.

Sayid brings unLocke to Desmond. And when unLocke saw “the package” he was surprised. He had no idea “the package” was a person, much less Desmond. (Do you agree?) They begin to talk and Desmond is this new ethereal Desmond. Locke asks him why he is here. Desmond says he was kidnapped. He tells unLocke that he was blasted with electromagnetism by Widmore. This interestes unLocke and he says, “Do you know who I am?” Desmond replies confidently, “Of course. You’re…(OH, DO TELL! WHAT IS HIS NAME?!! COME ON! TELL US!)…John Locke.”

After this under-revelation, unLocke takes Desmond on a trip to the well. You remember the well, right? The one that John Locke went down to get to the Donkey Wheel? unLocke explains that this well was built by people who were searching for power and information. Their compasses were going crazy on this spot, so they dug. Desmond is clueless…or uncaring, I’m not sure which. And just as I knew was going to happen, unLocke grabs Desmond by the collar and throws him down the well.

When unLocke returns to camp, Sayid asks about “their friend”. unLocke says, “We don’t have to worry about him anymore.” Oh, I hope we do. I hope we do!

Now, let’s do one more scene…

LA. Desmond.

Desmond is sitting in his car watching a struggling wheelchaired Locke roll through the parking lot. Ben suddenly knocks on Desmond’s window and asks him why he’s sitting there. They talk about looking for a school for Desmond’s son, Charlie (!). Ben leaves and Desmond puts his car in reverse. He is still eyeing Locke. Then he turns completeley Island-crazy and revs his engine. He heads straight for Locke and RUNS HIM DOWN then drives away!

Ben runs to the convulsing Locke’s side and we end on Locke’s eye.

BLACK SCREEN O’LOST

Stuff To Talk About

1. WHAT IS GOING ON WITH DESMOND? Oh my lord. He just ran down LOCKE! I was ok with the reuniting of Hurley and Libby. I get that. I understand making the connection between the two of them. But running down Locke? It’s like he knows what everyone’s “thing” is. Did Locke have flashbacks to The Island when he got hit? Is his connection to The Island his legs? Will he be able to walk after this hit-and-run?

It makes a little more sense than the find-everyone’s-true-love thing that I was thinking in the beginning. But what? Why? If they remember, what happens next?

I think our new path to the finale is going to be following Desmond on his find-Oceanic-815-and-help-them-remember journey. The season will end with all of our LA losties remembering together. And one of two things will happen—1)they’ll be redeemed characters living happy lives in LA 2)they’ll get their Care Bear Stare on and somehow get back to The Island or fix The Island or converge the two timelines.

2. Locke and Jack. I just think they are somehow a picture of LOST in general. Originally we had Jack, the Man of Science versus Locke, the Man of Faith. Now we have a Man of Action (unLocke) parading inside of the Man of Faith’s body, while Jack is working on his Man of Faith persona. With Jack’s statement of letting-go, it reminded me of Locke’s perpetual, “NO ONE TELLS ME WHAT I CAN’T DO!” So, both Jack and Locke have gotten away from that–Locke through death and Jack through experience. And then, when unLocke only greets Jack at the end…I don’t know. All of it just seeemed to scream something. I don’t know what. It just felt significant.

3. Richard. There was lots more to the Beach crew’s conversations. Richard is adamant about blowing up the plane. And Richard’s crazed words surrounding his plan was almost disturbing.  I’m sure I missed something in all their conversations (pre-Ilana, post-Ilana, pre-Black Rock, post-Black Rock) but I wasn’t sure if this will lead us somewhere or not. Will the final Island show-down surround the plane? Is that really all they  needed–a plane?

4. Hurley and unLocke’s talk. What do you think is going to happen with that? Will they unite? Will they leave unLocke and form their own team? Will Sawyer and Kate join them? What about Claire and Sayid?

Conclusion

How great was this episode? I wish I had a transcript so I could pick apart every single line. I felt like they were all so full of meaning. And I just love having all our Losties together. Seeing them all on the beach together is just…rewarding! What was your big revelation or big question? What are you dying to talk about? Do tell!!

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