Hurley Burly

A lot of action in this week's episode, "Everybody Loves Hugo," but even more confusion. They're starting to have a sense of purpose, but there's still a lot of waiting for all the pieces to fall into place. Still, we got some short, sharp shocks this week.

I like the character Hurley a lot, but he's usually best on the sidelines, making comments. This episode forced him to be a leader, but the results are still very open.

We start with museum master Pierre Chang introducing Man Of The Year Hugo Reyes. This is the altaworld, of course, and we learn Hurley's past--not a lottery winner (I think), but a chicken magnate.

Meanwhile, he's even less lucky in love here than in the Island world. He's even more shy, as well. His mother sets him up on the blind date to get things going. Moms.

Back on the island, Hurley is talking to Libby's grave. He realizes the irony--dead people come to talk, but not the one he'd most like to see. Ilana comes by and tells Hurley pretty soon they'll be moving on to Hydra Island to blow up the plane (which everyone thinks is gonna fly, but I still say it's grounded). She leaves and who should show up but Michael, probably the last dead person Hugo wants to see. Shooting Ana Lucia, okay, everyone gets that, but did you have to shoot Libby?

But it's time for a message from Michael. If you blow up that plane, people will die. And since people are listening to you for the first time, it'll be your fault. Jack comes by and says they're leaving. What will Hurley do?

In the altaworld he's sitting in a restaurant waiting for his date. It turns out to be...Libby?! It's sweet to see the reunion, but Libby's acting strange. He can't believe his good luck, but it turns out she's crazy, out on a field trip from the Santa Rosa nuthouse. However, Libby senses the connection the two have. If there were only one world, this could be sitcom fodder, but with two worlds, she's on to something. Hugo's touched by the soulmates talk until Libby's doctor finds her and leads her away. It's also Hugo's old doctor--good thing Doc has no memories of the other world or he'd scoop up Hugo in his net.

On the island, Ilana's got the dynamite and is making big speeches. Not a good thing to do around Hurley, and she blows up just like Arzt. Ilana is just doing what Richard said and Richard isn't thinking clearly, but her death is still a major shock. Guess she won't get her own episode.

Sawyer and Kate ask Flocke why are they just sitting around. I want to know, too. He says good things come to those who wait, and explains to them what the real plan is. All the candidates need to get together and get on that plane. Just then, zombie Sayid comes to fake Locke to tell him about zonked out Desmond. All three have a scene, but it's almost like the altaworld--we know all these characters, but none are quite the same.

Back to the beach. Richard just wants more dynamite. No Plan B for him. Just the same plan, sans Ilana. Jack isn't happy--he promised people they'd get off the island--but new leader Hurley steps in and agrees with Richard. Finally, his words, and not just him, have weight.

Meanwhile, "Lucky" Hugo is eating a bucket of (free) chicken. Des spots him. I don't think this is a coincidence. He starts talking to Hurley, who's willing to listen to this stranger. This might normally be odd, but in the altaworld, people have connections.

Hugo says he met a great gal, but she's nuts. Des says go with your gut, and don't give up on her. It wasn't clear last week how Des would go about it. Apparently he won't take the full-on Charlie route, but will try the nudge technique. (His number at the chicken place is..well, you can guess).

Flocke talks to Des, but it's not clear how much either knows, or how much either knows what the other knows. Is this a real conversation, or cat and mouse? Des says "you're John Locke." Does he know better? Flocke sends Sayid away (we know he doesn't care) and Flocke and Des go for a walk.

Ilana's former group is walking to the Black Rock. Ben says what a lot of us are thinking. Ilana spent her life training for Jacob, yet she blowed up real good. That's what you get for working with Jacob. As Ben puts it, "The Island was done with her. Makes me wonder what's gonna happen when it's done with us."

Two things 1) What do you mean "us," kemo sabe? We're the candidates, we're not in the same outrigger with you. Or are we? 2) More important, we're seeing a little spark of the old Ben. Good.

They get to the Black Rock, but Hugo got their first (I thought he was weak on island directions) and he blows it up. That was his plan, as we suspected--anyway, we knew he wasn't going along with Richard. Speaking of whom, Richard blows his top. Why did you do that, he asks the guy who not too long ago was speaking to the dead for him and helping him regain his sense of purpose.

(By the way, we keep seeing ads for ABC shows that star one Lost actor or another.)

Miles and Hugo have a talk. Hugo mentions Michael, a dead person Miles isn't familiar with. Hugo explains he'd rather listen to dead people--they have less reason to lie.

At the sanitarium, rich Hugo bribes his way in to see Libby. It's famliar territory for him, if he only knew. "Just visiting," as they say in Monopoly.

Libby is glad to see him. And like any guy, he's just glad a hot chick likes him. She wants to know if he remembers. Since he hasn't been near death lately (though all that fried chicken...) he doesn't. But he's willing to listen. She saw him do a Mr. Cluck's ad and knew there was something (and they call it, Charlie). She remembers a plane crash, an island, Hurley there, etc. (Does she remember anything about her backstory in that world, because we're not getting any in this episode.) She also remembers Hurley in the hospital, with her. If only he'd remember, it'd prove she's not crazy. But hey, crazy is one thing, let's have a date anyway. She's there voluntarily, so no problem.

Flocke and Des walk and talk. They seem to have trouble with the island, though both are hiding what they know (it would seem). Flocke sees the weird kid (a little older, I think) and almost freaks out. For an all-powerful monster, he's sort of a scaredy cat.

At the former Black Rock, Richard is panicking, and fights with yesterday's benefactor, Hugo. Hugo claims to see Jacob (we see, I think, he's lying), who says it's time to talk to Locke. So that's Hugo's plan. Funny, I thought that was Locke's plan too. I guess Hugo wasn't at the Temple when he killed everyone, so he figures it's worth a powwow.

Richard's not buying it (though he bought it easily enough about his gal) and demands proof. Jacob never tells people what to do. (Is that true? Didn't he have lists? Didn't he tell Hurley what he should do?) He says ask what the island is, some time ago Jacob told him. W-w-w-what?! So Jacob usually keeps everyone in the dark, but he told Richard what the island is. I guess he's referring to the cork in the bottle that keeps evil fresh in the fridge. Or was there some other meeting we didn't see when Jacob explained it's an Egyptian spaceship?

You'd think everyone would beg Richard to tell them what this place is, even Sun in Korean, but the standoff is what counts here. Hurley don't play dat, and says he doesn't have to prove anything. Richard's going back to the barracks to find more weapons--what else can he do? )(Though you can probably destroy a plane with the stuff at the Hydra station, when you think about it.) Ben decides to go with him--maybe he can be king of Dharmaville again. At least he can sleep in a nice bed. Miles goes, too. He saw Flocke's damage, and besides, he's not a Candidate so who cares. But Jack goes with Hugo this time. Let Hugo lead. All the others go along, too.

On the torchlight parade to Flocke, Sun and Lapidus admit it may be a mistake, but hey, it's a small island, might as well confront Smokey. Jack admits he knew Hurley lied about Jacob, but he's got a new attitude--gotta let go. All those years of being the leader, he now figures the Island has a plan, and maybe Hurley knows it. Certainly Jack's leadership didn't work out too well.

Then they hear something. The Whispers!!! Hurley says he thinks he knows what these things are. We've been waiting since season one to find out. Hurley goes and sees Michael. Hurley knows Michael's stuck on the island, as others are. He's stuck because of what he did.

Now just what does this mean? Hard to believe they're in purgatory, or they're ghosts (as we normally understand ghosts). More likely (I'd guess) they're just people who could exist in the altaworld--the people Hurley can see--but aren't allowed to get off the island because of how they acted. He at least seems like one of those "ghosts" Hurley saw back on the mainland. Are they all old Candidates? Is Smokey on of these people not allowed to leave?

It doesn't seem to fit with what little we know about the Whispers. The only info we had on them was a young Ben telling a young Rousseau to run the other way when she heard them. I thought he said that because it had something to do with the Others. Maybe they were Others--Others who'd screwed up some way, and weren't revived properly at the Temple or something like that. Just like Lost. Answer one question, raise ten more.

Speaking of which, how does Michael, dead or alive, know so much that he can give Hurley good advice? Does he have extra vision?

Michael points Hurley toward Locke. Before Hurley can leave, he apologizes for Libby (but not Ana Lucia). What's interesting is Michael figures Hurley may see Libby again.

And there they are, on the beach in altaworld, having that long postponed date. She knows they've done this already, but Hurley's still not feeling it. And then she kisses him. Hurley doesn't need a near-death experience (or is this his near-death experience), this alone gives him those flashes. He gets it. That's so nice. We were all hoping they'd get together, and you don't date delusional hot chicks more than a few times.

By the way, I don't believe Hurley had a chance to look at his reflection this episode (except maybe in Libby's eyes). Guess he didn't need to--he saw the other world, didn't need anything else.

Looking on is Des. He's not rounding up everyone, he's doing it piece by piece. It seemed a little haphazard at first, but this is Des the fixer, he's in control. He drives off.

Flocke has led Des to the well. (Well, "a" well. It can't be the Orchid well, can it?--that would still be in the building.) We know something's gonna happen. (We can also guess Flocke can't use the donkey wheel to get off the island or he would have done it long ago.) Flocke explains it's an old well--it screwed up compasses, so they dug it by hand. (How old are compasses, anyway?) They were looking for answers. Good luck, this is Lost island, no answers here.

Flocke says Widmore just wants power, not answers, which is why he brought Des. I'm inclined to believe him. Widmore can't just be on the same side as Ilana, can he? Now the mask comes off. Flocke wants to know why Des isn't afraid, all alone with him in the jungle. Des says what's the point of being afraid. Is that a que sera sera attitude, or is it more a "I'm living in the altaworld, I see where things are going, so do your worst, I've got my own plans." Anyway, Flocke tosses him down the well, as we sort of expected. Will this kill him? Well, Locke fell halfway down the well and broke his leg. Juliet fell even further and survived long enough to explode a bomb. What do you think?

It's getting hard to believe Flocke is the good guy, though I still think he believes he's the wronged party. He gets back to Sayid (did he travel smoke express?), wipes his hands and says that problem's been taken care of.

Meanwhile, Sawyer and Kate are still tired of no explanations from Smokey. But before Sawyer can say something clever--son of a bitch, it's Hugo. (He always was sort of a warrior.) Hugo confronts Flocke and says he comes in peace. Flocke hands over his knife and says fine. A nice gesture, but the guy can turn into smoke and kill everyone if he wants. (We know he won't--he needs them--but does Hugo know?)

Jack and the rest come out. There's Sun--she looks around. Still no Jin. Wouldn't it be funny if they never get around to meeting again?

Flocke seems most interested in Jack--the old rivalry, no matter what spirit is in the body. It also seems that Flocke knows what he's doing, which is actually pretty scary.

Cut to Locke the substitute wheeling his way home. Des is watching from his car. The officious Ben wants to know what he's doing. Ben thinks someone else is too creepy? Anyway, Des handles Ben--even tells him his son's name is Charlie (just like Claire knew her son's name was Aaron) and then drives over to get to Locke--and drives into Locke. Locke bounces off the car and isn't looking too well.

LOST

Now what are we supposed to make of this final action? For a while I figured Des figured the whole Hugo scheme took too long, let's just throw 'em right into near death. But then I figured that's going too far--and how can he be sure it'd be just "near" death.

My guess is this is Des knowing what to do. Ever since the electormagnetic moment last week, Des is a changed man...on the island, anyway. He knows his purpose (even if we're not sure of it). Maybe some of that crossed over to the altaworld. Charlie might have helped a bit, but perhaps somehow the new Des know Locke is the center, maybe the evil center, of the whole game. And he has to be dealt with. Not necessarily killed, but shaken up enough so that it effects the game back on the island.

In fact, maybe Flocke tossing Des down the well was part of the game. Des just knows it's a bigger game--not merely about the well. Why worry about that when a whole 'nother game is being played out elsewhere. Maybe even somehow Des, with his compass spinning around, can send a message to Fixer Des, and tell him "he throws you down a well, you run him over."

Or maybe they both think they're doing what should be done--Des is doing what needs to be done to Locke, and Flocke doing what needs to be done to Des.

We'll see. While the story is getting tighter, we're still not exactly sure what anyone's doing. Let's review a bit. Des in altaworld is trying to wake everyone up, but what's his endgame? When they become more aware, what will they do next? Will they all get together. Will they off themselves to find true love in the other world? Will they go to Eloise and demand answers? Will they fight Smokey there?

On the island, well, the big news is Ilana's gone. She was the one with a plan, except it was Jacob's plan, and he never tells you what to do. This wasn't the first time she took one for the team, but it's the last. The island was finished with her, but so were the producers. You couldn't have a bunch of pampered Candidates counting on her to save them. Too bad we'll never get to see a rematch with Sayid. Maybe she'll be in the altaworld, though. She and Bram can finally get it on. (Good thing Miles didn't go with them when they kidnaped him, I guess.)

Flocke sort of has a plan--he's finally got the gang together, and should be ready for an assault on Widmore. But does he know how to take on Widmore? And will the gang be amenable? Even before that, what are they gonna say. Is he gonna convince them, like he convinced Sawyer? And if they don't agree, what will they do, where will they go, who will have the upper hand?

On Hydra Island, Widmore, for whatever reasons, is setting up his endgame. It's probably for power, though what kind of power and what will he do with it. And can he do it with Des at the bottom of a well? (Maybe that's where he'll want Des.) No doubt Zoe has already told Widdy they've lost the Package, so he'll have to make a move somehow.

Then there's the last of the Others, Ben and Richard, the leader and the advisor, with no one to boss around but Miles. (Is he still waiting for his $3.2 million from Ben?) They're wild cards now. But does Ben, as always, have a plan? They can't stand pat, can they? The war has come, and no pacifists allowed.