After “Happily Ever After” and its Dharma Palette full of revelations, one would think “Everybody Loves Hugo” would let off the gas a bit. Nothing doing. This Hurley –centric episode continued with the stream of answers, intriguing new mysteries, and character work that LOST is known for. Here’s a quick review of some of the episode’s more revealing moments.
OMG Pierre Chang is the new Richard Alpert!
Seriously! This dude has not aged in 30 years, why isn’t anyone whipping up mad LOST theories about this? (Who am I kidding, I’m sure the boards are overflowing with them) This is a plot hole that LOST fans will probably have to live with – and please Darlton, no cop out explanations like “That wasn’t actually Pierre, but Mile’s older brother Pierre Jr.”
Illana Blows Up Real Good
Dude, you got some Illana on you. Don’t get me wrong, Zuleikha Robinson has crafted a great presence for Illana – but that’s all she has really ever been. The most important thing she has accomplished so far is getting Sayid on Ajira 316. I’ve been wondering if they were ever going to actually go anywhere with her character or if she was just filling the bossy/militant chick hole left by Anna Lucia. Payback for those of us who labored through her seemingly pointless scenes came via a massive explosion that ranks amongst the most unexpected, and well deserved, deaths in TV history.
On the less cathartic side of things, Illana’s death gave LOST’s final arc a much needed boost in narrative. No longer is the chain of events being dictated over by a character that we feel no connection to. We know have team Hurley and Team Richard, one determined to close all exits and one determined to get off the island – and we know why they are doing what they are doing. Season 6’s narrative has been largely driven by the actions and needs of Fake Locke and Illana acting as proxy of Jacob. I don’t have an issue with our characters being at the mercy of mysterious leaders, but Sawyer’s confrontation with Locke who has spent the last couple of episodes doing scintillating things like carving spears sort of summed things up. Are we just going to sit around, or are we going to do something. It’s as if the generic B-story for each episode has been “the teams sit around and whittle.” Glad that is over.
Libby, Libby, Libby, In the Asylum, Asylum, Asylum
Dead characters seem to be more prone to flashes of the island universe, as Libby demonstrated. Other than that, yeah we’ve got nothing to tell you. Libby’s appearance was definitely good, and not nearly as cheap as Charlotte’s wham bam thank you ma’am
Desmond, Meet Well
Desmond’s fearlessness got him in a bit of trouble – but also served as a revelation, of sorts. Locke threw the Scotsman in a well, apparently for safe keeping. The prevailing knee-jerk theory is he tried to kill Desmond, but if he wanted Desmond dead wouldn’t he have… killed him?
First observation: the well looked a lot like the one that lead to the Frozen Donkey wheel. Locke’s awe of the ancientness of this well was telling – these things seem to predate Jacob and Man In Black. The fact that explorers came looking for them suggests that these same explorers were responsible for constructing the Donkey Wheel. The question is, what were they actually looking for? This sort of suggests that the substance of the island was something that was known, at least in legend – water from the fountain of youth, perhaps?
Locke Meet Wheel
Inter-dimensional revenge, or act of love? Did Desmond run over Locke because he is now a man of two universes and one mind, so his Alt-self felt the need to get some revenge for the dip in the well – or did running over Locke somehow set Alt-Locke on a collision course with his dimensional constant? What if Locke winds up in the ER of Jack Shepherd, who somehow restores Locke’s spinal function – maybe that would be the occurrence that brings about Locke’s cross-dimensional epiphany? Then again, if dead characters are more prone to latent flashes of the other universe, why hasn’t Locke had any? Is it because he is dead in the future in the other universe, since Ben killed him in 2007? More questions! Damnit!
… And the whispers are…
Another batch of fan theories were put to rest last night. The whispers are the voices of the souls trapped on the island. We know this because, well, the whispers told us. Michael returned to tell Hurley it was time for him to step up as the leader, and in the process spilled the beans on what the whispers are.
Geeky Lit Thing of the Week
The book in Illana’s tent was “Notes From Underground.” Not only is the Underground a significant place in fantasy myths, usually housing a beast full of knowledge and evil, but this book in particular is partly from the point of view of a “..bitter, isolated, unnamed narrator..” according to Wikipedia, called “Underground Man.” Sound like somebody you know? It gets better. The book is all about passing judgment both externally and internally on the human condition. It’s sort of anti-philosophy, if you ask me, but some call it the first existential novel. Wonder if I can get this on audio book… hmmm….
Theory - Ashes to…
What did Hurley see when he looked into the satchel of Jacob’s ashes. Did he have his own existential moment while palming the former island protector’s charred remains? Has Hurley become some sort of hoodoo prophet who can see the future in the smatterings of a burnt man’s flesh? Whatever gave Hurley that look of revelation, it probably wasn’t ash. I’m guessing Jacob has one other means to communicate with the big guy, and those ashes are not ashes at all – but rather some new substance that relates to Jacob’s end game. Significance next week. Maybe.
