“Everybody Hates Hugo”
Hey John, my name is Lee Baxley, and I’m a fellow Pulse writer (Mid-Week Mid-Boss and reviews in the games section), and Lost addict.
I wanted to say, first and foremost, that your columns are great and I love your recaps. But since I watch it every week, I mainly read the recaps for speculation that you and your other readers give. So I have some speculation of my own to discuss. Actually, I watch Lost every week with my mom and brother, so I can’t take total credit for some of these ideas.
First, in this episode, we are introduced to Helen, who is Locke’s love interest. If you remember, wayyyy back in episode 3, Locke talks to a woman on the phone that he refers to as Helen, who turns out to be a phone sex operator.
What we think is that the Helen played by Katey Segal is not the same that he talks to on the phone. We seem to think that whatever accident that cripples Locke ends up killing Katey Segal’s Helen, and he just pretends that the phone sex lady is his Helen, and that’s why he calls her that. It could be that Katey Segal’s Helen just leaves him or something, but I don’t think so. I think something traumatic happened and the two of them are seperated in a very unhappy fashion, and he tries to compensate for that with the fake Helen.
Next, the “Others” that captured Jin, Sawyer and Mike. I don’t think they are others at all, but are in fact all survivors from the tail section. I think I heard somewhere (maybe your column in fact) that the tail survivors could have just had it worse off than the survivors we know and love, and therefore are more feral and more like Lord of the Flies, which is why they captured our friends. I believe this is why they sent Michelle Rodriguez down into the pit, so she could find out their intentions and who they are. And when Adebeci pulls her out, he says “Who are they?” which leads me to believe he doesn’t actually mean them harm, but he just trapped them to be safe. And you saw in the preview for next week when they let Mike out, so I think they will be friendly. Maybe.
Lastly, this isn’t so much speculation as it is analysis on the state of the show. Personally, I think the whole computer thing is a bad, bad idea. In every episode now, they are going to drive home the fact that they have to hit this stupid button every 108 minutes. The whole idea is kind of ridiculous to me, but I can get past it, but I just don’t like that they are going to have to do this every single episode for a seemingly unknown purpose. And they made it too obvious that at some point, the timer is going to run out. And in all likelihood, nothing is going to happen as a result.
And Desmond likely won’t be seen again. So that makes a character that was introduced for a specific purpose and is going to be gone now.
What I guess I’m trying to say is that I’m pretty disappointed with these first 3 episodes as compared to the first 3 episodes of the series. They are focusing too much on very specific characters, mainly the people in the “Swan”. The most interesting scenes for me have been the ones with the other 3 who got captured. It feels like the show is slowing down. Now that they know it’s popular, they’re trying to drag the show out as long as they can go. That’s how I feel anyway.
Anyway, sorry to keep blabbing your ear (or eyes in this case) off, so keep up the good work! I’ll keep reading.
Locke was hit by a car–the same model that hit Michael, actually. Maybe Locke just became too much of a hassle to take care of after the accident, and Helen couldn’t get the job done.
Yes, the “Others” are the tail survivors, and we learn a little bit more about them in this episode, including an explanation as to why they are so primal compared to the other survivors.
As for the computer thing, my theory is that more and more evidence will pop up suggesting that the button needs to be pressed to avoid an “incident”. Finally, Jack loses his shred of faith for the button, and puts a gun to Locke or maybe Hurley’s head, telling him not to hit the button. As the timer rolls down to 0:00, the season ends and that’s the cliffhanger.
I’m fine with not seeing Desmond again based on the explanation as for why he disappeared in this episode–he seems to have found his replacements for the job of pressing the button. I would say that we’ll find him dead somewhere down the road and that’ll create a big mystery.
I’m perfectly content with the first three episodes of the new season, but comparing it to season 1 just plain isn’t fair. That was some of the best TV ever.
Previously, on Lost: Charlie hands over the messages in a bottle to the men on the raft, but that raft doesn’t make it and Michael, Jin and Sawyer are captured by the survivors of the tail, as Ana-Lucia pretends to be captured to learn about their prisoners and steal the gun from Sawyer.
Hurley raids the pantry, drinking and eating everything in sight, including taking a swig from a milk carton that has Walt’s picture on it, until Jin interrupts him…in English. Well, Hurley’s the one speaking Korean. Jin says that everything is going to change, and then a chicken man appears beside Jin. Hurley is confused as Jin wishes him a “cluckety-cluck-cluck day”, and the Chicken Man speaks in Kate’s voice…
…as Hurley wakes up in front of the Swan’s computer. Hurley was merely resting his eyes as he puts in the numbers and resets the timer. Kate will be taking the next shift in place of Locke, who went to the beach. Kate thinks it’s neat that they have jobs again, but Hurley is less than enthused.
Sawyer, Jin and Michael are still in their underground prison, as Jin unsuccessfully attempts to suggest in Korean that they do more human pyramids. Michael starts screaming for someone to let them out, but Sawyer thinks Michael should chill as they’re not going anywhere until “Rambina” and her buddies decide what they want to do with them. Just then, Adebisi pops open the cage and lowers the rope to Jin and Michael. Sawyer invites Ana-Lucia to come down and get him, but Ana-Lucia just shuts the cage on him.
“Bitch.”
LOST
Flashback: Hurley’s the big winner of the lottery, and that sends him into the coffee table in front of him. Hurley’s mom slaps him back to life, ut Hurley hides the ticket from her. His mom suggests that he change his life, since no one else will do it for him. Even if Hurley prays to Jesus Christ that J.C. take 200 pounds from him and make a decent woman and give him a new car. The phone rings and Hurley’s mom jokes that that must be Jesus Christ now, as Hurley takes another look at his winning ticket.
Back to the island as Hurley is washing up, and here comes Charlie with Claire’s baby to ask about the hatch. Hurley dodges the question as much as he can, but Charlie doesn’t appreciate being lied to. Hurley would never lie, but Charlie mentions being told that Hurley was worth $156 million and storms off.
Rose is doing her laundry, as Hurley waddles over to help out with the laundry and have a chat with Rose. Hurley assumes that Rose, like everyone else, wants to know what the hatch is all about, but Rose doesn’t see how that would get the laundry done any quicker. Hurley thinks it might, though.
With that, Hurley leads Rose through the jungle, and Hurley goes through the back door. Rose is amazed by the structure and asks what it’s for. Hurley says that it’s a long story, as Jack appears from around the corner, seeing Rose right away and asking Hurley who else he told. Hurley only needed one person, though, because it was a big job to take on alone. Rose wouldn’t even know what to say about the hatch, so it’s doubtful she’d tell anyone anything.
Claire is walking along the beach, until she sees something bobbing into the water and washing up onto the shore: The messages in a bottle.
In the pantry, Jack gives Hurley and Rose the job of doing inventory on the pantry and finding out how to make it last. One more rule, though: No one gets anything from the pantry. No exceptions. Hurley and Rose chat about Bernard for a moment until Kate arrives asking for some shampoo. Hurley tries to stop her, but is not assertive enough as Kate ducks out of the pantry quickly. Rose says that it’s only one bottle of shampoo, but Hurley thinks that’s merely where it starts.
Flashback: Hurley is spacing out looking at his winning ticket as Special Guest DJ Qualls asks him if he is OK, but then the boss orders Hurley into his office. The boss–the same boss of Locke’s box company–shows him the surveillance tape from last night as it shows Hurley eating an eight-piece dark meat combo. The boss also criticizes Hurley for handing out more than two napkins to a customer, since they cost money and Mr. Cluck’s is not made of money. The boss suggests that if Hurley is made of money, that maybe he shouldn’t be working here. Randy asks if that’s going to be a problem for Hurley…and Hurley quits. Outside of Mr. Cluck’s, Hurley breathes into a bag, as Mr. Qualls appears again, telling Hurley that they have a day off–he just quit, too. “Who needs money when you’ve got good looks?”
Locke is looking for fruit in the jungle and he calls out his follower, since he saw him at the rock and again at the mangrove tree and has actually been leading his follower along. Charlie pops out from behind the trees and asks for some answers about the hatch, and Locke invites him to ask anything.
Sayid is trying to break through a wall, but he informs Jack that there’s just more thick concrete on the other side. Jack also notes that the other side has something magnetic in it, so Sayid’s curiousity leads him to wonder if they can go under the concrete instead of going through it.
Back at the cage, Adebisi lowers the rope to Sawyer, and Ana-Lucia warns that if Sawyer doesn’t grab the rope now it’s going back up. Sawyer thusly grabs it, and Michael explains that everything’s cool now, the tail survivors believe that they were on the plane as well. Ana-Lucia notices something in Sawyer’s hand, and assuming that Sawyer is looking for revenge, she tells Sawyer to drop it on the count of three but punches him on the count of two, asserting herself as the leader of this pack, and if that’s a problem Sawyer can go in the pit cage. Sawyer is cool with that, but threatens to kill Ana-Lucia if she hits him again. It’s getting dark, so they move out.
Locke tells Charlie about everything, and Charlie finds it all to be a bit nutty. He asks what happens if the Execute button isn’t pressed, but Locke is determined not to let that happen, establishing two-person shifts of six hours each. Charlie wants to know what Hurley’s business at the hatch is, and Locke answers that he’s in charge of the food. “Food?”
Hurley tries to get some peace by the beach, but Charlie interrupts that and asks for some peanut butter for Claire. Hurley has to say no to the nursing mother, upsetting Charlie as he pitches a fit again and claims that he thought Hurley and him were friends.
Flashback: Hurley and Qualls try to recite the lyrics to “You All Everybody” in a record store, but they get mixed up and Qualls thinks they are “Suck Shaft” anyways. Hurley goes to talk to one of the record store workers that he’s crushing on, Starla, and asks her out to the Hold Steady concert, which goes off unrealistically well. Hurley just wanted to ask her out before, well, you know.
Sayid and Jack are under the hatch now, but they only find more concrete. Sayid believes there’s a geothermal generator on the other side of the wall that powers the hatch, and the last time Sayid something that was completely surrounded in concrete, it was in Chernobyl. They both hear something in the distance, and Jack goes to investigate it, but it’s only Kate in the shower. Kate invites Jack to take a shower himself, but Jack will do it later. Kate promises that Jack will get her shampoo, and blah blah blah.
Ana-Lucia leads the pack through the jungle as one of the tail survivors, Libby, tells Michael that 23 survived in the tail section. Adebisi apologizes once again to Sawyer, but Sawyer finds their imprisonment to be more than a misunderstanding. Ana-Lucia says that they’re here, and rhythmically knocks on a door that looks very similar to the back door on the Swan. A man opens the door to let them inside, leading them to an open room with about two or three other people. See, there were 23 survivors. Michael looks horrified.
Claire and Shannon, with baby and Vincent in tow, respectively, arrive in Sun’s garden to hand over the messages in a bottle. They decided that Sun should get to choose what to do with it.
Hurley confronts Locke about telling Charlie everything, and says Locke should’ve listened to him about coming down in the hatch at all. Locke thinks that change is good, but Hurley doesn’t think so since it makes him into the bad guy for denying peanut butter to the nursing mother. Hurley wants to quit his job, but Locke doesn’t let that be an option since everyone has their job to do. Hurley decides to walk off into the jungle, and finds the left over dynamite from the Black Rock.
Flashback: Hurley and Qualls steal a bunch of lawn gnomes, and arrange them in Randy’s yard to spell out “CLUCK YOU”, before running off laughing and screaming “Freedom!”. Hurley makes Qualls promise that nothing will change between them, no matter what happens. Qualls promises, and then asks Hurley for a couple of bucks.
Hurley rigs the dynamite in the pantry, as Rose arrives asking what Hurley’s planning to do with that dynamite. “I’m sorry, I can’t let it happen again.”
Flashback: Hurley and Qualls stop at a gas station, but Hurley notices a news crew surrounding the gas station attendant, and realizing that this gas station is the one where he bought the winning loterry ticket.
Rose asks Hurley why he’s going to risk someone getting hurt to do this. Hurley explains that food will change everything between him and the rest of the survivors.
Flashback: “Dude, somebody won the lottery!”
Everything was fine before the Swan, but now if Steve gets potato chips instead of Charlie, Charlie’s not pissed off at Steve, he’s pissed off at Hurley.
Flashback: The gas station attendant fingers Hurley as the man who won the lottery and Qualls seems stunned by this recent turn of events.
Hurley finishes his monologue declaring that in the end, he’s going to be in the middle and everyone’s going to end up hating him. He doesn’t know what to do.
At the beach, Hurley tells Jack that the food in the pantry will feed one man for only three months, so Hurley wants to do something else with the food, and since he’s in charge, that’s final. Jack OKs it…
…and a montage begins with Hurley handing out food to everyone from the pantry, including peanut butter to Charlie. Everyone is happy and everyone loves Hurley…except for Sun who is too busy burying the messages in a bottle in the sand.
The man who opened the door to the tail survivors’ hatch asks Michael and Sawyer about Rose, and we learn that Bernard is not only alive and well, but also white. He’s also a very happy man to hear that his dear wife is still alive.
And on the other side of the island, Rose tucks an Apollo bar into her dress, saving it for when she’s reunited with Bernard.
End episode.
