Two awesome explosions, answers, Michael, Libby , bittersweet love story and a reunion. After two so-so episodes where it felt like the writers were either getting lazy or rushing things or both, this episode was tight: pitch perfect, paced well, great story construction, fabulous dialog and above all, satisfying. Even the title, "Everybody Loves Hugo" parallels a season 1 episode entitled "Everybody hates Hugo." Let’s dive in.
That Libby Chick is like totally awesome, dude.
Hugo is the great philanthropist introduced for yet another award by Dr. Marvin Candle. Dr. Candle works at the anthropology museum where he is awarding Hurley the Humanitarian of the Year award for donating a large sum of money to the museum for a new wing. We know that Dr. Candle also works with Charlotte, which is how Miles knows her to set her up with Sawyer. So kudos to the writers for fitting those pieces together so neatly.
After the awards ceremony, Hugo’s mother starts berating Hurley to find a girlfriend and informs him that she has set him up for a blind date with her neighbor’s daughter, Rosalita. Hurley is less than thrilled, but agrees. He’s sitting in Mexican Johnny’s Restaurant waiting for the date to show up, when:
“Hugo?”
And there’s Libby. “I wasn’t expecting someone like you,” Hurely says. “You know. Someone so…pretty.” Libby quickly clears up Hurley’s misconception that she is Rosalita. Then she explains that she just saw him from across the room. “Do you believe that two people can be connected? Like souls mates?” She asks, taking his hands. Hurley is ready to agree to anything she says,when his old Doctor Ed Begley Junior, comes over and apologizes. “I’m sorry for the intrusion. She just wandered off.” Hurley follows them outside to see Libby climb into the Santa Rosa Mental Health Facility van.
Hurely is a little upset at the way his blind date turned out, so he goes into the nearest Mr. Cluck’s and orders himself a family size bucket. He’s in the midst of drowing his sorrows, when he spots Desmond, who is giving himt he hairy eyeball. “What?” Hurley demands. Desmond introduces himself by way of saying that he recognizes Hurley from Oceanic 815. “That’s a lot of chicken, brotha,” He remarks. “I eat when I’m depressed!” Hurley says. “Ah. What’s her name?” Des says knowingly. When Hurley explains that the chick was totally awesome, but also, unfortunately, full on nuts. “She said we knew each other. And tha, I would totally remember.”
“Let me ask you something,” says Des leaning in. “Did you believe her when she said she knew you?”
Hurley considers. “Yeah. Kinda.”
“Then I say go wit yer gut! You shoud try to find out where she thinks she knew you from before you give up on her.” Then the number 42 is called, which is Desmond’s number, and Des takes his leave.
Hurley meets with his old therapist, Doctor Ed Begley Junior. He wants to see Libby and when the doctor balks, Hurley buys his way in. When Libby sees Hurley, she is relieved because she thinks he remembers when they met before. Libby explains that when she saw Hurley’s commercial, “It’s like I was hit over the head. All these memories of my life came back. But it was a different life.” She explains about the plane crash and the island. She tells him how they knew each other and liked each other. And then, it was like she was at Santa Rosa before and she has a memory of Hugo being there too. Libby explains that when she saw Hugo in the restaurant, she just had to talk to him, “Because if you remembered me….” Then she wouldn’t be crazy. Hurley realizes he doesn’t care if she is crazy. He likes this Libby chick. “Can you get out on a day pass and…do something?”
“You mean, like, a date?”
“Yeah.”
“I’d love that.”
Hurley and Libby’s date is the exact picnic on the beach with six different kinds of cheese that they were supposed to have on the island. Libby realizes this and says that everything is ok, just “off.” Then she shakes her head, realizing the craziness of that statement. “Why do you even want ot be with me?” She asks. Hurley can’t believe it. “Why do YOU want to be with ME? I mean, c’mon. LOOK at me.”
“I want to be with you because I like you.”
“Yeah, but you like me because you’re delusional.” Libby leans over to kiss him and Huirley remembers it all. He tells her she’s not crazy. And Des watches from the road.
When Des takes off, he drives to the school where Locke, Ben and Arzst are teaching. Ben mistakes him for a pedophile and Des, spotting the reason for his visit here, makes a lame excuse and takes off. He steps on the gas, and having a wheelchair bound Locke in his sights, floors it and runs him down. Des drives off, unconcerned.
I see dead people
Hurley is at Libby’s grave, talking with her, when Ilannah arrives and announces she’s going to the Balck Rock to get some dynamite so that she can blow up the plane. “Dude, you sure that’s the right move?” Hurley asks her. “It’s the only move we have,” Illanah answers. So she takes off and we hear the trademark “Other” whispering and Michael appears. Hurley isn’t too happy to see him, here at Libby’s grave. “What are you doing here?” Hurley asks. “I’m here to keep you from getting everyone killed.” Michael points out that the fact that he murdered Ana Lucia and Libby doesn’t matter, but that he needs to stop them from blowing up the plane. “Why are you telling me this?” Hurley asks. “Because people are listening to you now.” Then Jack comes and the spell is broken.
Illannah arrives back from the Black Rock with four pretty corroded sticks of dynamite. She starts barking orders to get everybody moving on the mission to destroy the airplane: the mission Richard dictated. Hurely’s still trying to talk her out of it, but Illannah is having none of it, saying the Jacob said Richard would know what to do and that she’s been training her whole life for this. Clearly, however, Illannah has not trained with Dr. Arzst on the properties of old, corroded dynamite, because she’s packing that bag like its not the most unstable explosive substance in the world. Right in mid-tirade:
BLAMMO!
And it’s bye bye Illannah.
Hurley starts going through Illanah’s stuff and singles out a book whose cover I can’t make out and the drawstring bag carrying Jacob’s remains. Richard, meanwhile, is freaking out, hell bent on tromping back to the Black Rock to complete the mission that Illannah carried out so….unsuccessfully. Jack tells Richard to slow down, that he promised Sun he would get her off the island. Richard says that he’s awfully sorry about that, but they we meant to blow up the plane. Jack says maybe Illannah’s vaporization is a hint that they shouldn’t be messing around with the dynamite. “it’s the only choice we’ve got,” Hurley says.” Trust me, Jack.” And just like that, they are off to the Black Rock.
“Kinda makes you wonder doesn’t it?” Ben asks by way of making conversation as they walk through the jungle. “What?” answers Jack. “Illannah. Hand picked by Jacob, trained to protect you candidates. And as soon as she tells you who you are, then she blows up. The island was done with her. Kinda makes me wonder what’s gonna happen when the island is done with us.”
Upon arrival at the Black Rock, Richard starts organizing things and tells everyone that no one but him can handle the dynamite. Then they discover Hurley is missing. As they are trying to locate him, they hear him yell, and see him running away from the Balck Rock telling them all to run. Then:
BLAMMO!
The Black Rock explodes in one of the most awesome explosions of the series.
“Why the hell did you do that?” Richard cries.
“I’m protecting us,” Hurley answers. The only one who doesn’t seem all that upset about the Black Rock exploding is Jack. Miles wants to know why Hurley did that. Hurley explains “Michael told me.” “Who?” Miles asks. Oh, you might know him better as Kevin Johnson. “He’s one of the people that comes back and yells at me after they die. He told me to stop everyone from blowing up the plane.”
“Does that happen a lot?”
“It happens enough.”
“And you just listen to whatever they say.”
“Dead people are more reliable than live people.”
Richard is still hell bent on blowing up the plane, so he’s up for a trip to New Otherton to score some explosives. Hurley says, “No. Jacob wants us to go talk to Locke.” Richard and Ben think that this is crazy talk: talking to Not Locke will get them all killed. Richard isn’t buying that Hurley is talking to Jaacob, so he asks Hurley to prove it by asking Jacob what the island is. Hurley walks up to Richard. “I don’t have to prove anything to you, Richard. You can either come with me, or keep trying to blow stuff up.” Interestingly, Jack has absolutely nothing to say about the decision being decided right now and is perfectly content to let Hurley and Richard hash it out. Richard calls Hurley’s bluff. “He’s lying. Jacob never tells us what to do. It’s over. I’m destroying that plane and I can use all the help I can get. Who’s coming with me?”
“I am,” Ben volunteers, quickly followed by Miles who has seen Smokey in action. Sun and Frank stay with Hurley.
“Sorry Richard,” says Jack. “If Jacob says we talk to Locke, then we talk to Locke. I’m staying with Hugo.”
“Really?” Hurely is surprised. This band of survivors makes off for the jungle. Sun, who hasn’t gotten her English back yet, jots a note to Frank: “Do you think we made a mistake?” “Probably,” Frank answers.
Hurley asks Jack what they should talk about when they get to Locke. Clearly uncomfortable with his bluff, he spills the beans to Jack that he didn’t see Jacob back there and they could all get killed. “I know,” Jack answers.
“Ever since Juliette died, ever since I got her killed, all I’ve wanted to do was fix it. But I can’t ever fix it. You have no idea how hard it is for me to sit back and listen to other people tell me what I should do, but maybe that’s the point. Maybe I’m supposed to let go.”
“Unless letting go gets us killed. Going to see Locke was my idea, not Jacob’s”
“Hurley, you asked me to trust you. This is me trusting you.”
“It’s a good thing you do, dude, because I have no idea where I’m going.”
The whispering starts again, and just as they are are about to jump out of their skins, Hurley says, “Wait! It’s cool, dude. I think I know what these things are.” And he walks off into the jungle for some privacy. He calls for Michael. “You’re stuck on the island, aren’t you?”
“Because of what I did,” Michael answers
“And there are others out here like you, aren’t there? That’s what the whispers are.”
“We’re the ones that can’t move on.”
Hurley asks Michael where Locke is and then if there is anything he can do to help Micheal. “Don’t get yourself killed,” Michael says. “And Hurley, if you ever see Libby again, tell her I’m very sorry.”
Our mutual friend
Over at Camp Locke, Sawyer and Kate are getting a little impatient with Not Locke. Possibly because Kate has not changed her shirt yet this whole season and she’s really looking for a little grooming time and not all this mopey sitting around and waiting for Not Locke to turn into the Smoke Monster again.. Anyhow, they want to know why the Camp is not trying to get Jin back from Widmore. “There’s a difference between doing nothing and waiting.” “So what are we waiting for?” Kate asks. “You were only able to come back to this island because you did it together. If we’re going to leave it has to be the saem way. I’m waiting for your friends to get here: Hugo, Sun, Jack. That’s the only way we’re going to get off this God forsaken rock.” Kate is skeptical: “Well, I don’t see that happening.” And with the old Jack, she’d probably be right. But new Zen Jack is a little more mellow and completely unpredictable. “Let’s just hope you’re wrong, Kate,” Not Locke answers with a big scowl.
Just then, Zombie Sayid returns and asks to speak to Not Locke in private. Sawyer looks at Kate in a Lando Calrissian “This deal is getting worse all the time” sort of way, and Sayid and Not Locke tromp off into the jungle.
Not Locke asks Sayid if he found what was behind the locked door, which of course he has. Not Locke seems a bit surprised that Sayid let the rest of Camp Widmore live, but Sayid simply tells him he didn’t see the point in killing them. Sayid doesn’t seem to see the point in much these days and indeed it seems like Camp Widmore is only alive because Sayid just didn’t feel like expending ht effort required to kill them.
Not Locke hunkers down and apologizes to Des about Sayid tying him up. Des is pretty chilled out, too, and says to Not Locke, “That’s ok, because as I explained to him, I’ve got nowher to run to, brutha.” So Not Locke cuts him loose. Not Locke wants to ask Des a few questions. IS that ok?
“Why did Charles Widmore bring you to this island?”
“Considering I was kidnapped, you’d have to ask him.” Sayid confirms that Des was kept under armed guard. “They threw me into a wood shack and blasted me with a massive amount of electromagnetism.”
“If you don’t mind my asking Desmond, how can you be sure what it was that they blasted you with?”
“Experience.”
“Do you know who I am?”
“Of course. You’re John Locke.” Locke reacts strangely to this strangely given answer and tells Sayid to head back to camp while he takes Desmond on a walk to show him something.
Desmond is not afraid because he saw the future? Does Desmond really think Not Locke is John Locke or is he only telling him that to throw him off? Whatever the reason, it’s what decided Not Locke to throw Des in the well.
Not Locke is commenting to Des about pushing the button for three years and how ironic it is that now he’s back here. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say this island has it in for you.”
“Do you know better?”
“Scuse me?”
“There’s nothin’ special about me, brutha. This island has it in for all of us.”
“Yes it does.”
Then Des and Not Locke spot the boy. Des wants to know who it is. “Just ignore him,” Not Locke is clearly rattled. “Do you know that boy?” Des asks. “I said, ignore him!” Not Locke barks. The boy seems quite pleased that he has gotten under Not Locke’s skin and smiles a great big SEG.
Not Locke takes Des to a well. He explains that it’s a very deep, very old well that was dug by hand. “That’s a lot of work for water,” remarks Des. “Oh they weren’t lookingfor water. They were looking for answers. The well you’re standing at now made compass needles spin. That’s why the dug.”
“Did they get the answers?”
“No. The reason I brought you here is because Charles Widmore is not interested in answers, he’s only interested in power. And he brought you back here to help him get what he’s looking for. After all, this isn’t the only well.”
“And that’s the reason you wanted me to see this?”
“Why aren’t you afraid? You’re out here in the jungle, not a soul alive knows you are here. Why aren’t you afraid?”
“What’s the point of being afraid?” answers Des. Then Not Locke pushes him down the well.
Not Locke returns to camp where Sayid wants to know how our friend is: “We won’t have to worry about him anymore,” and Sawyer is questioning where he’s been, “I’ve been for a walk, James.” Then Hurley walks out of the jungle: “Ummm. Hey. I don’t know who you are dude. Or what you want. But we need to talk to you. But I don;’t want anyone to get hurt. Or killed.” So truce being agreed upon, Jack, Sun and Frank come out and confront Locke. Sawyer and Kate smile at seeing their old friends, but Claire and Sayid are just creepy and unresponsive. Locke however, only has eyes for Jack.
“Hello Jack.”
Thoughts on this episode
First, I must reiterate how totally awesome this episode was. Last week’s episode felt rushed and the week before’s episode felt disjointed . Tonight’s episode felt like a perfectly fitting puzzle piece. Ben’s monologue about what will happen to them when the island is through with them; Jack’s monologue about “fixing” things since he caused Juliet’s death; the interaction between the unflappable Desmond and the now-slightly-off balance Not Locke; the nod to the numbers (Des’s order number in Mr. Cluck’s was 42); the tightly constructed sideways story incorporating Dr. Candle in Hurley’s humanitarian of the year award; and the absolutely perfect Hurley and Libby date scene on the beach: it all felt exactly RIGHT.
Though I'm shedding no tears at the departure of Illannah, I do hope that the writers will explain who she is and why she was and how she got so close to Jacob. Additionally, Hurley's little explanation of the whispering in the jungle, while pat, doesn't quite explain how the Others use those "stuck" souls to communicate, as Ben did when he used Harper to get to Juliet back in season 4 when Charlotte and Daniel went up to render the poison gas harmless. So, Lindeloff and Cuse? Thanks for answering, but you aren't quite done yet.
Color me intrigued with Desmond’s new role in the alternate timeline. Since the revelations of Charlie and Daniel in last week’s episode (both of whom are dead in the real timeline), it seems our Des has taken it upon himself to show the light to as many Oceanic 815ers as he can—or else, Des is simply the messenger this week. Perhaps Hurley will be the messenger next week, much like Charlie and Daniel were last week. Although, I get the distinct impression that Des’s role in the alternate timeline has a direct relationship to his unflappable cool in the real timeline. I also would like to pose the theory that Des is not afraid of Not Locke because he has seen the future. Or he's now Jacob. See below.
The character of Frank exists solely to fly the Ajira plane and selected characters off the island at the end of the series (Sun and Jin will leave; I will make no further predictions). If anyone here can think of any other reason he exists in this show, speak now or forever hold your peace.
The story of the date of Hurley and Libby that never happened but should have was a great scene. I loved the way they paralleled the original story and that it opened with Hurley spreading the blanket—the blanket he forgot back on the island, which Libby went back to get when she ran into Michael. Libby’s affection for Hurley, and his genuine surprise that someone like her would be interested in someone like him, never fails to get to me. Hurley is such a genuine good guy and we can’t help rooting for him.
Were Kate and Sawyer smiling when Jack, Sun and Hurley came into camp because they were glad to see them, or because they were glad they could finally get moving off the island because that's who Not Locke said they were waiting for, or because it's now finally starting to seem like Not Locke knows what he's doing? Again, I can't help but draw a parallel here with The Stand when Larry, Glen and Ralph finally make to to Vegas, but Randall Flagg has already begun to show he has feet of clay.
Who is the boy???? And why does he piss Not Locke off so much? And why was Not Locke so annoyed when Desmond said, "Of course I know who you are; you're John Locke." Additionally, I think it's worth noting that while Not Locke commented tonight on Desmond's distinct lack of fear, when Not Locke first recruited Sawyer, Sawyer knew immediately that Not Locke was not John Locke because "John Locke was always afraid. And you're not afraid." Is it possible that Jacob has taken over Des?
Next Week:
It looks like a Locke story and it looks like Desmond hit John Locke just hard enough that he’s a candidate for the near death experience that triggers the memories of the real timeline. The question is, what does Des hope to accomplish with this act? Is he just trying to get Locke to see the memories like Charlie did to him? Or is he trying to undo John Locke’s death so MIB is never able to posses him?
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