ABC's ‘LOST’ Everybody Loves Hugo (review)

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Hugo “Hurley” Reyes is the center of this week’s episode.  Hurley has a wonderful way of simplifying things.  When everyone else is worked up and things seem unmanageable, Hurley will give one statement and everything seems so much easier.  As the title of this episode states; everybody loves Hugo.


Let’s start with Hurley’s flash sideways.  He is the owner of Mr. Cluck’s, a chicken franchise, and has made a large amount of money over the years.  He’s being honored with a banquet for funding a Paleontology wing for the museum; the same museum that Charlotte works at and Mile’s father runs.  His mother is his date and informs him that she wants him to find a woman and that she’s set him up on a blind date.  Of course, this makes Hurley uncomfortable.  He may have millions, but he is still a shy little boy when it comes to women.

So, Hurley goes to the restaurant where his blind date is to meet him.  It’s pretty obvious that he’s been stood up.  A woman gets his attention by calling his name.  He thinks it’s his date, but it’s Libby.  Hurley doesn’t remember her, but she remembers him. (They met and started to fall in love on the island before she was mistakenly shot and killed by Michael.)  Before they can talk long, a man arrives and excuses Libby’s behavior and ushers her out of the restaurant.  Hurley tries to catch up to them and sees her getting into a van from the Santa Rosa Mental Institution.

We next see Hurley in one of his restaurants eating a bucket of chicken.  Desmond is watching him from across the room.  He walks over to Hurley and wants to know why he seems familiar.  He finally asks Hurley if he was on Flight 815 from Australia.  Hurley answers, “Yeah”.  When Desmond asks Hurley what’s wrong, Hurley says he’s depressed.  Desmond then asks, “What’s her name?”  After telling Desmond about Libby and how she’s “nuts”, Desmond convinces him to find her by telling him that it couldn’t hurt to find out where she remembers him from.

Hurley goes to the hospital and convinces the doctor (with a large check) to let him talk to Libby.  When she first see him she thinks that he’s remembered, but no. She tells Hurley about watching one of his commercials and suddenly having memories of another life; of a plane crash and an island; and him with her at this hospital.  He says that he’s never been here before which confirms, for her, that she’s crazy.  After a few more minutes, Hurley finds the courage to ask Libby out on a date.  She tells him that she’s at the hospital voluntarily and that she’d love to go out with him.

Then we see them both on the beach.  Hurley has finally gotten a picnic on the beach that they’d planned before Libby’s death.  Of course, Hurley doesn’t see the significance, but Libby senses something.  Hurley thinks that she’s having second thoughts about being with him, but is reassured when she says that it’s not him but that something seems “off”.  He asks her why she’s with him and she tells him that she likes him, leans close and kisses him.  That’s when it happens.  Hurley starts remembering.  He sees them on the island and their first kiss.

The camera pans out so that we see Desmond in the parking lot watching Hurley and Libby with a very knowing smile on his face.  He’s accomplished what he set out to do.

Back on the island: We first see Hurley at Libby’s grave.  He talks about how spirits keep showing up and talking to him and how he wishes that she would.  His musings are interrupted by Ilana who is headed to the Black Pearl to retrieve dynamite.  They have decided to blow up the Ajira plane to keep Flocke from leaving the island, but Hurley isn’t convinced.  After Ilana heads out, Hurley hears mysterious whispers (remember those?) and Michael’s ghost appears.  When asked what he wants, Michael tells Hurley that he needs to stop them from destroying the plane; that he’s trying to save them from getting themselves killed.  Jack walks up and wants to know who Hurley is talking to, but Hurley keeps it to himself.

Ilana is back at camp with the dynamite she’s retrieved.  Hurley tries to talk her and Richard out of blowing up the plane.  She becomes more insistent and drops her bag on the ground and a large boom shakes the camp.  The dynamite has just exploded and taken Ilana with it. (Wow!!  That was shocking!!)

Hurley has decided that he’s in agreement with Richard’s plan to destroy the plane and asks Jack to trust him.  Jack does and they all head off for the Black Pearl.

On the way to the Pearl, Ben wonders aloud how Ilana could be dead after spending her whole life preparing for this moment.  He then says, “I guess the island was done with her.”  Then he wonders what will happen to the rest of them when it’s done with them.

As they reach the boat, Hurley is nowhere to be found.  Then he races out of the ship screaming for them all to run.  There is a huge explosion as the Black Pearl goes up in flames.  Miles asks Hurley why he did that and Hurley explains that he’s protecting it. (What could he be protecting, the island?)  He then tells Miles that Michael told him to stop them.  Miles doesn’t understand why he would listen to the dead instead of the living.  Hurley explains that the dead are much more reliable.

When they get back to camp, Richard decides to go to one of the Darma sites to find more dynamite.  Hurley is still against him and tells them all that Jacob wants them to go talk to Flocke.  Richard doesn’t believe him and goes in search of explosives along with Ben and Miles.  The remaining few, Jack, Sun and Frank follow Hurley.

In the forest Hurley admits to Jack that Jacob didn’t tell him to talk to Flocke and that it was his idea.  He also wants to know why Jack would follow him.  Jack explains that when Juliette died he decided that he was going to “fix things”, but has come to the realization that he can’t.  He says that maybe what he needs to do is to sit back and let someone else lead.  Hurley hopes that Jack’s “sitting back” doesn’t get them all killed.

Again we hear the whispers and everyone starts scanning the trees frightened.  Hurley reassures them by telling them that he knows what this is and tells them to wait there for him.  He wanders deeper into the woods and Michael appears to him again.  He tells Hurley that he is stuck on the island because of what he did and that there are others with him.  (This adds credence to the purgatory speculation.)  Michael gives Hurley directions to Flocke’s camp.  Before leaving, Hurley asks Michael if there is anything that he can do to help and Michael tells him not to get himself killed.  He also asks Hurley to tell Libby, if he ever sees her, that he is very sorry.

While Hurley and the others are blowing themselves and ships up, at Flocke’s camp Sawyer and Kate are telling Flocke that they are tired of waiting around and want to go save Jin.  Flocke tells them that it took all of them, together, to get back to the island and it will take them, together, to get off.  Sayid enters the camp and tells Flocke that he’s retrieved what he wanted.  He then takes Flock to Desmond, who’s tied to a tree.  It’s pretty obvious that Flock does not like that Desmond is back on the island. 

He unties Desmond and asks him to take a walk with him.  Desmond agrees and follows Flocke to a very old well.  Flocke tells Desmond that the well was built long ago by hand and that the builders were looking for answers.  Places, like the well, would cause compass needles to spin uncontrollably and the people wanted to find out why, but were unable to.  He tells him that Widmore is not here for answers, but power.  He then wants to know why Desmond isn’t afraid.  Desmond replies with, “What’s the point of being afraid?”  Flocke then pushes Desmond into the well. 

When Flocke gets back to camp, he tells Sayid that there is no longer anything to worry about.  Then the camp hears something in the trees and they take up arms.  Hurley comes out of the woods and tells Flocke that they just want to talk to him, but he doesn’t want anybody to “get killed”.  Flocke hands Hurley his knife and gives him his word that all will be peaceful.  Hurley gives the ok and Frank, Sun and Jack walk into the open.  Jack and Flocke exchange a very long meaningful stare.  Flocke says, “Hello Jack.”  He’s extremely happy to have Jack with them.  He knows that if Jack decides to side with him, the rest will follow.

We end this episode with Desmond in the flash sideways sitting in his car watching John Locke wheel himself across the parking lot after school.  He is confronted by Ben, but gives a good enough explanation for being there.  He starts the car and pulls out of the lot.  He guns the engine and hits John Locke at full speed sending him flying and drives away.  Ben runs over to John and we see that John isn’t dead, yet.

This was a decent episode.  I loved seeing Hurley and Libby together again.  It was such a shock when she died.  I liked that Desmond was in the flash sideways.  It seems that he’s working his way through the list of Flight 815 travelers.  I’m also starting to see a trend here.  All of our Losties are ending up at Jack’s hospital in the flash sideways.  Is this where they will finally come together?  If so, what happens then?

I do have to say that I’m extremely disappointed in our “heroes” Jack, Sawyer and Sayid.  Sayid was my favorite, now he’s just a puppet for Flocke.  Sayid has been able to pull himself out of a pretty nasty past.  Will he be able to pull himself out of this trance?  Sawyer is just sitting around complaining, waiting for something to happen.  When will he “make” something happen?  It’s not like him to just sit there.  Then we come to Jack.  I guess we got an explanation when he told Hurley about Juliette, but it’s not enough for me.  I want Jack to do what he’s always done.  I want him to question what’s going on and to use that “doctor” brain of his to find a solution.

I’m still of the thinking that at the end of all of this we will have two of our losties left on the island in the roles of Jacob and the Man in Black.  How satisfying would it be to have Jack and Sawyer be those left behind.  It would fit, wouldn’t it?  Or would it?

April Starlett