7 Things About LOST: Everybody Loves Hugo

So before we get into things here, a couple of random thoughts:  Who’d have thought there’d be a day when the majority of Kate’s lines were in a L’Oreal commercial and not the actual show? Did you catch that the guy who played Dharma hatch designer Radzinsky is going to be in Modern Family this week? The former LOST cast is going to start showing up everywhere!

And oh, by the way, the plots of the shows are  getting so intricate, it’s a real bear to write about them in any sort of linear way. So pardon this blog for being a little all over the place... just like Ilana (sorry).

Here are "7 Things About LOST: Everybody Loves Hugo".

We start with a stronger Hugo in a better world
Finally! Pierre Chang is back! He gives Flashsideways Hurley his latest trophy, a thank you for funding a paleontology wing at the Golden State Natural History Museum. Both Flashsideways Dr. Chang and  Flashsideways Charlotte work there, by the way.  It’s apparently only one of many trophies on Hugo’s wall. Not only is he much luckier in this world, he’s also someone people have faith in. You may recall Version 1.0 Hugo had a heck of a time convincing anyone on the island that he had won the lottery back home and was worth $140 million. But just as with most of the other Flashsideways characters, this is a stronger, more functional Hugo we are seeing . He does shares some characteristics with his other-world self: He’s shy about dating, for instance. But overall, he’s a person in a much better place. I think the name of the museum is kind of a tongue in cheek reference to this better world the Flashsideways characters live in.  It's as if this reality has been constructed just so that the characters get a chance to live out the life they wish they had. I may be way off, but it feels more and more like the Flashsideways world is a device meant to help the Candidates progress to where they need to be, and once they get there that whole world might just disappear as fast as Ilana did last night.

Ilana Got Arzt’ed
Speaking of which – wow.  Talk about the island being done with someone. Just when Ilana started to get more interesting, giving Ben another shot in life, revealing how Jacob was like a father to her, she suddenly blows up. And we are talking a big bang. When science teacher Doc Arzt blew up transporting dynamite from the Black Rock back in season one, it was practically in slow-mo compared with this. Was Ilana destroyed by Smokey? She was talking about how evil he is just as the blast struck, but there’s no direct cue that he caused it. Did Jacob take her out of the picture to manipulate Hurley’s decision making process? In the end, Hurley makes sure there’s no way to blow up the airplane because there is no dynamite left with which to do so. Or was Ilana, despite all her years of training, just plain stupid to be jamming water bottles into a sack full of dynamite and flinging them all around so casually? I’m still not clear who was zooming who with this bit of the plotline, whether it was the characters messing with each other or the writers and producers messing with us a bit.

Flocke and "this God-forsaken rock"
Smokey spends another week trying to keep his troops in line. Kate and Sawyer are getting irritated that he just doesn’t seem to be hands on enough about getting off the island- and he explains that they have some waiting to do. But he’s not just waiting around; he’s had Sayid on a mission to kidnap "The Package," (Desmond). Flocke no sooner gets his hands on Desmond than he takes him for a walk, apparently to kill him by pushing him down a well. Down the rabbit hole? There is a lot of Alice in Wonderland symbolism in this show, and I can’t help wondering if he was giving him a push into that other world more than trying to actually kill him. Maybe wherever he lands has its own donkey wheel, just like the wheel Ben and John Locke pushed to move the island. May be thinking too much here, but what would be the point of taking him to the well and giving him that lecture if his only goal was to kill him? 

Desmond gets points for subtlety -- when it’s needed
Desmond is on his mission to influence the Oceanic 815 folk and nudge them toward remembering their other lives. But he’s not doing so by trying to awkwardly blurt it all out to them. He gets his message to Hurley in such a subtle way – he sidles up, he says ‘hi’ and that he’s just recognized Hurley from the flight. So funny the jaded way in which Hurley responds "What a coincidence."  He influences him to get back in touch with Libby, leading to their date, and Hurley’s sudden recollection of his other life. With Flashsideways John Locke, he’s a whole lot less subtle – he plows him right over with his car. Was he trying to kill him? Was he trying to dislocate Flocke on the island, just as Flocke tried to neutralize Desmond back on the island? It’s the biggest question mark we’re left with, just as the show ends.

Michael is trapped with the Whispers
Michael Dawson is back – but who is he "working’ for in the afterlife? He tells Hurley the fact that he killed Libby and Anna Lucia "doesn't matter right now," and that he needs Hurley to change what’s about to happen on the island before a lot more people die and it ends up being Hurley’s fault. He points out to Hurley that "people are listening to you now…."  They really are, even Jack – and it’s another example, it seems, of the stronger, Flashsideways character having an influence on how people perceive the island version. Hurley’s a leader in both worlds – and has some tough decisions to make. Later, Hurley makes a big connection between Michael’s appearance and an important piece of show mythology – the Whispers. All through the series, the Whispers have happened at key moments and often just before The Others appeared. Now Hurley understands what they are all about and through Michael explains to us that they’re the voices of the dead whose spirits are trapped on the island. They’ve passed on, but they can’t get away because of what they did during their lives. That big reveal felt a little heavy-handed to me, but an interesting moment to have such a key  show element defined for once and for all. I sure hope the Losties don’t all end up Whispers themselves.

Libby’s back – and now she’s the one who isn’t so sure what’s real and what’s not
Remember when all we had to wonder about is whether Libby is sane? Now we’ve got to see if she’s well in two worlds. Whether she is truly sane or not, she, like Desmond, seems much more in touch with both sides of the mirror worlds. She didn’t need someone prompting her to recall it.  Just as in the first go-around, Flashsideways Libby is spending some time inside Santa Rosa Mental Institute. But Hugo’s never been there in this world. We still don’t know why Libby ended up there- but now we know it was a voluntary decision, not a forced admission. Nice touch having Flashsideways Doctor Brooks from Santa Rosa along for the ‘fajita field trip’ as Hugo dubs it later. Doctor Brooks was instrumental in the season two episode "Dave," where he shows a sad and anxious Hurley how he’s turned all his woes into a phantom person named Dave who lives at Santa Rosa, and who constantly urges Hurley to do things that are not best for him. In that episode, Hurley nearly jumps off a cliff on the island, convinced nothing that is happening there is real. It’s only Libby’s guidance that keeps him alive. This time he’s the one helping Libby define what’s real, and she returns the favor by cueing him into the existence of his other self. Interesting how that revelatory moment so often involves touching-Libby touching Hurley, Desmond touching Charlie’s outstretched hand underwater after his car ends up in the marina.

John blew up the submarine, Hurley blew up the Black Rock – and now he’s channeling big Ben moments from season three.
Boy, Hurley worked fast. How did he manage to rig the Black Rock to blow up so thoroughly up before anyone even noticed he wasn’t nearby? Well, we’ll suspend our disbelief on that one. It seems like the producers were just in the mood to blow some things up this week. Richard’s line, "What the hell were you thinking? We’re dead, we’re all dead" was delivered with a believable degree of frantic frustration. Nice job by Nestor Carbonell again this week, don't you think?  Hurley decides that the way to stop Evil Incarnate isn’t by blowing up the plane, but by having a talk with Flocke. That moment reminded me of the end of season three, when Ben told Richard he was going to march to the radio tower and singlehandedly convince Jack and the gang that they shouldn’t leave the island. That didn’t work so well. Ben ended up beaten to a pulp, Naomi ended up stabbed in the back by John Locke and the Oceanic Six got off the island. Will Hurley’s approach work any better, considering he’s trying to reason with a being who is hell bent on getting away?  Doesn’t seem likely. And after channeling that Ben moment, Hurley latches onto another: He tries to convince the group that Jacob is standing there giving him directions. Ben tried the same thing with John Locke in Jacob’s cabin in season three. It didn’t work then – Locke saw through it. And it doesn’t work now, Richard calls his bluff and leaves --  determined to still destroy the plane. Great, so now we have four factions: Richard’s small group, Hurley’s group, Flocke’s ragtag, partially-zombified army and Charles Widmore’s science team. Just how fractured can this get? Forget I asked. :)

And there were, as usual, a dozen little moments that caught the eye, and this time the heart.  Hurley and Libby finally get their date on the beach, the one that never happened when Michael shot Libby.  Dr. Linus asks Flashsideways Desmond what his son’s name is – and though Flashsideways Desmond does not have a son, he immediately answers "Charlie."  Yes, Desmond’s food order at Mr. Cluck’s was order #42. Also, did you notice Desmond can see the boy who keeps appearing to Flocke. Sawyer could see him back a few weeks ago, too, but Richard Alpert couldn’t. Why?  There were some great lines, tonight, too,  like Hurley’s "How do you break the ice with the smoke monster?" and Flocke calmly saying "Hello Jack" – was he acknowledging the real leader in the Hurley/Jack troupe? The look on Jack’s face seeing Flocke for the first time was priceless.  

So much to chew on – I think we’re going to have to watch that one again.
NamasteAndGoodLuck

Comments

[Joan]

Michael never said he was "dead" just trapped. Everyone who has come to Hurley that is actually dead does not appear with the whispers. I belive anyone who shows up with the whispers is actually time jumping.

[NamasteAndGoodLuck]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! There are a couple of web pages dedicated to transcripts of the text of the Whispers over the years. I'm definitely going to be reading them over with an eye toward what Hugo and Michael said in this show.
http://lostwhispering.blogspot.com/
http://www.losthatch.com/whispers.aspx