Lost (Episode 612) - Everybody Loves Hugo

Written by six from the blog The Lost Chronicles on 07 Jul 2010
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Lost
Episode 612
Everybody Loves Hugo

Everybody loves Hugo. They even give him T-Rex glass statues to show it. But then again, what’s not to love about Hugo – he’s rich, he’s successful and he’s kind and caring. Yes. Everybody loves Hugo. Even in the original time line, people listen to him. Yes... what’s not to love about this guy?

I just hope that he’s not being mislead and is not leading his group into a trap. Anyway, if you have not already figured it out, this was a Hurley-centric episode.

In the alternate universe, Hurley is loved by everyone. He’s set up on a blind date but meets Libby instead. She seems to know him and asks if he remembers her before being whisked away in a van belonging to a mental hospital. Hurley is unable to forget her, and a “chance” meeting with Desmond sends him to the mental hospital to find out more about Libby.

He makes a generous donation to the hospital and is allowed a visit with Libby. She explains to Hurley that she knows she sounds crazy but she knows him from another life, a life in which they crashed on an island and that they liked each other. Sadly, Hurley doesn’t remember any of this... but he asks her out on a date. She accepts – she’s able to get out for the day as she’s at the hospital voluntarily.

They go to the beach on their date. Libby says that it’s familiar, like a date they never had. Hurley wonders why she is with him and she replies it’s because she likes him. She kisses him. As they kiss, images from the island with Libby flash in Hurley’s mind. He remembers things and tells her that she is not crazy after all.

Desmond watches from afar. Sometime later, Locke is pushing his wheelchair up a road, outside the school that he teaches at. Desmond is parked nearby and watches. Ben approaches Desmond and questions his motives. Desmond states that he’s looking for a school for his son, Charlie. Ben accepts the explanation. When Ben leaves, Desmond starts the car and speeds up and runs Locke down. Locke looks be quite seriously injured.

Back in the original timeline, Hurley is at Libby’s graveside when Illana wants him to be ready to go to the Back Rock to get dynamite to blow up the plane. Hurley is not sure it’s the right thing. Illana stubbornly insists that it is and leaves. Hurley hears whispers before Michael appears.

Michael is there to try and stop Hurley from getting them all killed. Hurley doesn’t trust Michael but Michael says that everyone listens to Hurley now and it’ll be his fault if everyone dies. Back at camp, Illana arrives with the dynamite. Hurley again questions the plan but she says that she must destroy the plane so that “that thing” won’t be able to leave the island. She places her bag on the ground and it explodes, killing her.

Hurley goes through her things and finds a little bag and keeps it after looking inside. When Richard says that they need to go back to the Black Rock, Jack objects saying that the dynamite is too unstable. However, Hurley changes his tune and agrees with Richard, telling Jack to trust him (Hurley).

Once they get to the Black Rock, they realise that Hurley is missing. They hear Hurley shouting at them to run as he runs out from the Black Rock. It explodes. When a furious Richard demands to know why he blew the ship up, Hurley replies that he is protecting them and that Jacob says that they need to go speak to MLocke. Richard isn’t buying it and wants to go to Dharmaville to get more explosives.

The group spilts – those that want to go to Dharmaville for explosives leave with Richard (Miles and Ben) and the rest stay with Hurley (Jack, Frank and Sun). Hurley eventually confesses to Jack that he didn’t see Jacob and Jack tells him that he knows. Jack explains that ever since Juliet died, all he wants to do is fix things... and it’s hard to sit back and let other people lead.. But sometimes he thinks that the point is to let go.

They hear whispers in the jungle, and Hurley, recognising the sound goes to speak to Michael who points him in the direction of Lockeville. Michael also explains to Hurley that the whispers they hear are those who cannot move on. He also says that there are many like him. He also asks Hurley to tell Libby, if he ever sees her again, that he is very sorry.

Meanwhile, at Lockeville, Sayid returns with Des and binds him to a tree. MLocke questions him and sets him free – after sending Sayid back to camp. MLocke questions Desmond – asking him why Widmore brought him to the island, and if he knows who he (MLocke is). Des responds that he was kidnapped and brought to the island, and subjected to huge amounts of electromagnetism. He also tells MLocke that he is John Locke.

MLocke tells Desmond that the island seems to have it in for him (Des), but Des says that the island has it in for them all. They see a boy in the jungle, but MLocke tells him to ignore him. The boy smiles at Des before running off.

MLocke takes Des to an ancient well. He tells Des that Widmore is not interested in answers, only in power and pushes him into the well.

Back at camp, Hurley and co approach and they agree to talk. MLocke and Jack stare at each other.

Oh, my word. I don’t know where to start with this one.

Key Points from this episode are:

• We saw in one of the earlier episodes that Hurley is now, possibly, the luckiest man in the world. And things only get better for him when he meets Libby, alive and not-so-well and she remembers him.... from somewhere...

So, here again, as with Desmond, a touch rekindles some type of memory. So, the BIG question is – what exactly is this alternate reality... if it is, indeed, an alternate reality? And why is it that Jin and Sun (who are all lovey-dovey, touchy-feely) have not experienced similar flashbacks??

The key, I think, is Desmond. How exactly he is the key... well, that I cannot tell you. He certainly seems to be aware of what has happened on the island. But why would he run Locke down? I have two theories to this – The first being that Locke will end up in a hospital that Jack works in (shouldn’t be difficult as Jack seems to work in all hospitals in LA) and the two of them meet again and recognise each other from the island.

Or, for some reason, he wants Locke dead in this reality because Locke is dead on the island. The scene with Locke lying on the pavement is very reminiscent of Locke lying dead on the beach.

Anyway, the scenes with Hurley and Libby were both sweet and heartbreaking.

• We finally get an answer – an honest, straightforward answer. We now know what the Whispers are – voices of departed souls who cannot move on. Interesting. The island’s not done with them yet either, it seems.

Why do the whispers accompany Smokey? Way back in the 2nd season, Shannon heard the whispers before seeing Walt. And Sayid hears whispers in the jungle in the first season, AND Ben tells Danielle that if she hears whispers she needs to run in the opposite direction. So, clearly, they might be departed souls but they just appear at random?? I can’t remember, do whispers always announce Smokey’s arrival? That could just be the dead trying to warn the living.

Why does Hurley trust the dead? He clearly trusts them more than the living. Can they be trusted? So far, they seem to be assisting rather than hindering......

Oh, so many questions.

• A side note here on Jack. In the entire show’s history, I have never been a fan of Jack (Note, I am not even calling Jackass anymore). The guy is finally learning!! Yay, Jack. It only took you 5 and a half seasons, 2 plane crashes and crossing timelines to get it, but hey, better late than never.

• Back to more pressing things – Smokey tossing Desmond into the well. I’m pretty sure that Desmond didn’t really believe that it was Locke he was talking too. But he seemed completely unafraid of Smokey, and even Richard was afraid of him. Hmm... Maybe he didn’t know it wasn’t Locke. But that’s unlikely as Widmore knows that Smokey is Locke.

• Then there’s that kid they see in the jungle who looks exactly like the kid we first saw. I assumed it was Jacob. Maybe it’s young Smokey. Truthfully, like just about everything else, I have no idea and I am just widely speculating.

• Ooh and how could I (almost) forget this? Big Boom! Not one, but two big booms we’re treated to in this episode. Poor Illana. I never expected her to go all Artz on us. The island was done with her, it seems. And such a cruel death it was, too. You’d think that after all she’s done for Jacob she’d have something a bit more.... dignified. But hey, we’ll never forget that big boom!

As this season and this show winds up, I find myself going through various emotions – frustration, confusion, sorrow, joy.... I think that I have been a lot less frustrated during this season than I have ever been before, and that’s because I know that the answers are coming. We’re almost at the end of it all. And we have to ask ourselves.... is there life after Lost?

New Questions this week:

• What is Desmond’s story, off and on the island? This guy knows too much.
• Why did Smokey throw him into the well?
• What’s going to happen now that Hurley and co have met up with Smokey’s group?
• Who is this kid we keep seeing in the jungle?

Questions answered this week

• We know what the whispers are.

Interesting Trivia (from this site)

• Although Libby isn't the first character to be shown as a passenger of Oceanic 815 in the original timeline but not in the alternate timeline (Shannon was), she's the first one to appear.

• The Mexican restaurant where Hugo is meeting his blind date is called Spanish Johnny's, and the name of the girl he is supposed to meet there is Rosalita. Both names are references to characters in songs by Bruce Springsteen, from his 1973 album The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle (Incident on 57 Street and Rosalita). Writer Adam Horowitz is a well-known Springsteen fan.

• According to Jorge Garcia, the baby photo shown in the montage was actually him as a baby.

• The boy in the jungle in this episode has dark hair as opposed to the blond in "The Substitute".

• Jorge Garcia's real life dog "Nunu", appears in one of the pictures with Hugo during the montage at the beginning of the episode.

• DC Comics: Hugo asks Libby about this "bizarro alternate universe" she talks about. "Bizzaro World" is an alternate version of Earth in the DC comics (Superman) universe. It has all the same people as the original Earth, but everyone acts opposite of how they act on the original Earth.

• Seinfeld: As Hurley exits the award ceremony with his mother, he notes that the next award ceremony he will attend is that of the Human Fund, a reference to a fake charity that George Costanza creates in order to "donate" holiday presents in lieu of giving gifts to his colleagues.

• Notes from Underground (??????? ?? ????????): After Ilana's death, Hurley picks up a Russian-language copy of this 1864 novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Interesting Screencaps (from this site)