Not much happened on this week’s episode of Lost. It wasn’t a bad episode by any means, it’s just that I don’t think anyone would notice if this episode was deleted from memory.
This week’s flashback went back to Hurley as we learned that he has father issues. Hey, who doesn’t on that show? His dad (played by Cheech Marin) walks out on him when he was a child (And also responsible for Hurley getting fat). But later we find out that he didn’t abandon his family completely, as Hurley’s mom knew how to contact him when she needed. We already knew that Hurley and his money are cursed (Because the numbers are baaaaaaaaaad) and this week’s example of that also gave the episode its title “Tricia Tanaka is Dead”. Tricia is a TV reporter who makes a story about Hurley and dies when a meteor (or an asteroid) hits Mr. Clucks with her in it. To prove to him there’s no curse, his mom calls Daddy Reyes to come back and this goes as well as can be expected from an encounter between estranged dad and son that only happens when the son wins the lottery. No matter how much Daddy Reyes tries to prove it’s not about the money and that he really cares about Hurley, it’s no go and Hurley’s off to Australia to break the curse.
In the present day, back on the island, Hurley has a new obsession an old VW that he finds, thanks to Vincent (And a lucky rabbit’s foot connected to an unlucky human arm). The only ones who will help him get the car going are Jin (Who didn’t know what volunteered to), Sawyer (Who’s back and will only do it because there’s Dharma beer in the car) and Charlie (Who’s obsessing over Desmond’s predictions and tries to make his own luck). AT first it seems like a “lost” cause, but at the end, using a little hope & faith (no pun intended) and some know-how, they manage to get it going for a little joyride. It’s the best Hurley felt since Libby died, but still, was rather pointless.
Speaking of Sawyer, he and Kate have returned to the lostaways beach. After the obligatory welcoming hugs, each is back to his own agenda. Sawyer looks for his booze and Kate is on a mission to save Jack. She tries to avoid Locke and Sayid as she doesn’t think they have enough motivation and don’t know where to look. Kate believes there’s only one person that can help her, and at the end of the episode she reaches out to that person Danielle Rousseau. And the way to get her to help the cause is telling her about Alex being captive by The Others. We don’t get Danielle’s answer, but she’ll probably do it.
Other than the last two minutes, where Kate is out to save Jack with Locke and Sayid, there wasn’t much advancement in this week’s episode. That’s one of my main beefs with Lost. The flashbacks may give us better understanding of the characters, but in many cases, like this week, they don’t advance the story. Lost has so many characters with screwed up dads (Jack, Locke, Sawyer, Sun and I’m sure there are others) that Hurley’s story, while he remains one of my favorite characters, wasn’t that special. The best thing I can say about this episode is that at least we didn’t get another unanswered question, but that’s not saying much.
