6:12 Everybody Loves Hugo

I love Hugo (who doesn't?) and I loved this episode. It had so many warm fuzzy moments, some big answers, TWO big explosions plus a hit-and-run (maybe a record for a non-finale?) and the pace is seriously picking up as we get closer and closer to the end.

Flashsideways Connections

-The man announcing Hurley's Man of the Year Award was Pierre Chang, who we learned earlier works at the museum and is Charlotte Lewis' boss. Funny that he's narrating Hurley's award ceremony rather than the Dharma Initiative films.

-Did Hurley win the lottery in the sideways? Dr. Chang says he was "born to humble surroundings" but doesn't mention how he got enough money to buy Mr. Clucks. We do know that in this timeline he never went to the mental hospital where in the original timeline he got the winning numbers from Leonard, so if he did win the lottery it was with different numbers. Maybe that's why he's lucky instead of cursed.

-I think it's hilarious that Hurley is this incredibly wealthy big-shot humanitarian, and his mom STILL isn't happy with him. I guess in any timeline she's destined to be a complainer.

-Hurley says he has an upcoming award from "The Human Fund," which is the name of the fake charity George Costanza invented on Seinfeld. ("The Human Fund: Money for People")

-The restaurant where Hurley's blind date stands him up is called Spanish Johnny's, which is a reference to the Bruce Springsteen song "Incident on 57th Street". His date was named Rosalita, the title of another song from the same album.

-When Hurley tells Desmond he's eating chicken because he's depressed Desmon responds "So what's her name?" It's similar to what he asked Jack when he met him running a tour de stade in season 2.

-Desmond's order at Mr. Clucks is #42

-The scene with Hurley and Libby's date opens with Hurley spreading a blanket. On the Island, he forgot the blankets for their picnic, which is why Libby went back to the hatch where she was shot by Michael.

-When Libby tells Hurley about her memories of the Island he calls it a "bizzaro alternate universe." In Superman comics, Bizzaro Earth is a world just like ours where characters act opposite to how they act normally - very similar to Through The Looking-Glass.

-Hurley's conversation with Libby mirrors their conversation on the clifftop in season 2 when Libby talks Hurley off the ledge and convinces him that he's not crazy, and that the Island is real.

-Libby was able to remember her time on the Island from seeing Hurley on TV, and he remembered when they kissed, so apparently the characters don't have to be close to death to catch a glimpse of the other timeline. Someone should have told this to Charlie before he drove Desmond's car into the water.

-I think Desmond is the most interesting character on the show now - he's filling the place of both Jacob and Ben. A slightly creepy matchmaker who has good intentions but runs over paraplegics with his car...more please!

-I just noticed that in the sideways Locke doesn't have a scar under his right eye, because it was supposed to be from the crash of 815. Very cool detail.

Revelations

-After 6 seasons, we now know what the whispers are! The voices of people who died on the Island and are stuck there, unable to move on because of what they did. Why are they stuck there? Remember the cork analogy Jacob used? Maybe the "cork" that's keeping the Man in Black on the Island is also keeping all these departed souls there. If he leaves, they get to leave too. In which case Hurley should probably not be following Michael's advice.

-Locke/MiB clarifies that in order to leave the Island they all have to go together, similarly to how they got there in the first place.

-Locke says that the well was dug by hand by people who were "looking for answers" about the electromagnetism on the Island, which reminded me of the Swan Hatch. It's not the same well that was dug near The Orchid, and Locke hints that there may be more of them on the Island.

-Before being thrown into it Desmond says the well is "very deep", yet another Alice in Wonderland reference - at the very beginning of the story the rabbit hole she crawls into turns into a "very deep" well. 

-In a bit of ominous foreshadowing, Ben points out that Ilana died suddenly after doing the job Jacob assigned her because the Island was done with her, and he wonders what will happen to the rest of them when the Island is done with them. Dun dun DUN.

-By bringing Jack and Sun with him to talk to Locke, it looks like Hurley just delivered the remaining candidates to the Man in Black. Uh-oh.

Questions

-Why hasn't Libby ever visited Hurley when so many other deceased people have? Is it only the ones who are stuck on the Island who can visit him?

-Does Desmond really believe that Locke is still Locke? Or does he know more about it than he's letting on?

-Who is the boy who appeared (again) to Locke and Desmond in the jungle? (He looked different to me than the boy we saw before, but imdb.com confirms that he is the same actor.) Why is Locke afraid of him?

-Why isn't Desmond afraid of Locke? What does he know that is making him so confident? I had to chuckle when Desmond asks "What is the point in being afraid?" Clearly the answer is "So you'll be better prepared when someone tries to throw you down a well."

Moments of Pure Awesomeness

-The Locke/Jack confrontation right at the end sent chills up my spine. I can't wait to see the face-off.

-Ilana blowing up à la Arzt. Not that I wanted her to die or anything, but I totally saw it coming. I cringed during her entire monologue because of the way everyone was watching her while she tossed that bag of dynamite around. Ouch. 

-Locke: If I didn't know better I'd say this Island has it in for you.
Desmond: Do you know better?
Locke: Excuse me?
Desmond: There's nothing special about me, brother. This Island has in it for all of us.
Locke: Yes it does.

-The book Hugo finds is Dostoyevsky's "Notes From Underground". I'm not familiar with the story, but found this little gem on Lostpedia:

In Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Notes From Underground" the narrator muses that science will one day teach man that he possesses neither will nor uncontrollable urges and is nothing more than a piano key or organ stop operating by laws of nature, and that if discovered, these laws could be used to compute human actions mathematically like tables of logarithms up to 108 - 000.

-I loved the juxtaposition of Locke throwing Desmond in the well and Desmond hitting Locke with his car. Really great storytelling.

Not So Awesome

-I'd hoped to learn more about why Hurley is so lucky in the sideways, but maybe that's coming later.

-Does anyone else get tired of the groups constantly splitting in two? I know why the writers do it; it sets up conflict between characters, and it goes along with the theme of each individual having to chose, trying to determine which side is good and which side is bad (which is always a moving target on LOST.) But because they use it so often, it starts to feel cliché. Maybe it's just me.



So...what did you think of this episode? Did you like it as much as I did? And what do you think will happen to our Losties when the Island is done with them?