Lost: Season 2, Episode 18: Dave Review
Dave
Original Airdate: April 5, 2006
Writers: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz
Director: Jack Bender
Like "Everybody Hates Hugo", this Hurley centric episode goes darker than its predecessor, which is a good thing, as it leaves the audience devastated over seeing the guy we could all root for's dark side take him to rock bottom. We learn a little more about why he has this dark side: Hurley blames himself for the deaths of two people. Although it was an accident and the deck had almost three times as many people as it could hold before Hurley stepped on it, Hurley is haunted by guilt. This leads us to assume that Hurley was always overweight, but the accident caused him to grow as big as he became. If he were in shape when the deck collapsed, he wouldn't be as likely to pin himself as responsible. While Hurley has a moment of clarity in the episode, he still has to come to terms that what happened was an accident.
Although characters who are really subconscious manifestations of the protagonist have been done to the point where I initially rolled my eyes when it was revealed "Dave" wasn't real, it fits the episode. "Dave" is the way Hurley punishes himself for what he believes he did. "Dave" speaks just like Hurley and under the guise of friendship, gives Hurley a justification for his deadly overeating. Thankfully, he has been able to keep "Dave" at bay, but once a new food drop appears after he had a breakthrough destroying what was left of his stash, his dark side rears his ugly side again. One has to wonder if Hurley had similar visions in "Everybody Hates Hugo" where he was fighting another battle against food. It helps to remedy the "Hurley eats a lot because he's fat, and fat people can't control themselves" phase his character went through.
With Hurley's secret stash, and whatever Dharma sends via the parachute drops, one major question pops in my mind: just how much ranch dressing do they expect the people in the hatch to consume? Michael shot through one, Hurley was having some in "One of Them" and if you consider the jar he dumped in this episode another, that's three large tubs of ranch dressing. Despite that, we haven't seen any salads or chicken wings. Who's in charge of what food is sent there?
One of the most common theories, debunked by the creators frequently, is that everything that has happened in the series has been the figment of someone's imagination; call it the "St. Elsewhere" theory. It would explain the coincidences in the show and the recurrence of the evil numbers. However, a simple solution like that to the complicated mythology of Lost would be a cheat that viewers wouldn't forgive. Throughout this season, the writers have placed some jokes about the theories and nitpicks fans have toward the show. This episode is the most obvious example of such inside references.
"Dave" is the latest in a series of apparitions the castaways have faced. However, this time we have to consider Hurley's mindset. He had vivid hallucinations in the hospital, so the island may not be responsible for the hallucinations he has now. It's more likely, for the sake of drama, that the island manifested Hurley's imaginary friend somehow, maybe via the smoke monster. I suspect that it is to get him out of the way. Like how the numbers were everywhere in his "Exodus" flashback, maybe the island didn't want Hurley on the island for some reason. One theory entails that an Other was disguised as "Dave", and his fall off the cliff sent him to the underwater hatch. This may be much, but it is interesting.
The revelation at the end, with Libby being a fellow patient at the mental hospital, comes off as an anti-revelation. We knew that Hurley recognized her, and that caused some to speculate that she was a doctor at the hospital. Realizing this was obvious, the next theory would be that she was a patient herself. Perhaps a bigger shocker would've been if she was the third theory; she was a model or porn star. However, it does make us look at her in a different light. Was she ever a clinical psychologist? She could've been and driven to be committed, or perhaps she "became" a psychologist because one helped her.
It also makes us look at her feelings for Hurley differently either (they couldn't leave the fat guy/hot chick dynamic alone!) Is she genuinely interested in him? Is she stalking him? Is she still unbalanced? Or could she be involved with Dharma? If they had a part in getting the plane there, it wouldn't be too hard to believe that they had plants on the plane to analyze the castaways. Perhaps she is one of the theorized "Dharma Recruiters", whose job is to make sure the people on the island got there? Even if she is just a patient, such a revelation will likely hit Hurley hard as she has helped him.
Although a lot of this episode focused on Hurley's painful demons, it was funny to see him flip out and pin Sawyer, mostly for Jin's reaction. He must've been thinking "I'll pull him off Sawyer…in just a minute." Sawyer usually needs to be taken down a peg, and the fact that Hurley does it makes it rather surprising.
Considering the bombshells dropped in "Lockdown", this episode scales back a bit, having "Henry" only in two scenes. However, these scenes are huge. "Henry" tied up in the hatch resembles a crucifixion. If this is deliberate, it is an interesting choice, one that may point to the Others being genuinely good. Sayid and Ana-Lucia's interrogation felt like "good cop-bad cop", but the results aren't clear enough to prove that. Although Sayid probably would get immense satisfaction from gunning down "Henry", he's not in the best position to do so.
As far as Henry and his counterfeit counterpart are concerned, there is a lot that needs to be explained. How did "Henry" and Henry meet? "Henry" claims he didn't kill him, so who did? He told Sayid that he "wouldn't understand" the details. What does that mean? Did they discover that Henry wasn't "good" and had to be killed? Was it an accident? Why did "Henry" use the real one's identity when he got caught?
Obviously, there is something up if he gets caught in one of Rousseau's traps, despite being one of the people who should know this island well. The most likely theory is that he got caught on purpose, in hopes of being brought to the castaways for his end game. He's obviously manipulative, but what does he hope that will do? Hopefully we won't have to wait too long before we get a "Henry" flashback episode to help explain any of this.
Locke is in a very vulnerable position with his faith, and his legs place him in a position he has no intention of going back to. "Henry" is exploiting that. "Henry" knows more about the island than any of the castaways. I've speculated that Locke hopes that The Others can help set him on the right track with his faith. However, it is clear that "Henry" has no intentions to do so. Rather, he'd just place Locke in a position that this island is conning him, just like almost everyone else in his life.
Despite not doing a lot of follow up on the previous episode, this episode does a good job with Hurley's character. It is sad to see him at this level, but it makes us sympathize with him more. In addition, it plants a lot more seeds for what is to come as the season winds down.
Score: 8/10
Although characters who are really subconscious manifestations of the protagonist have been done to the point where I initially rolled my eyes when it was revealed "Dave" wasn't real, it fits the episode. "Dave" is the way Hurley punishes himself for what he believes he did. "Dave" speaks just like Hurley and under the guise of friendship, gives Hurley a justification for his deadly overeating. Thankfully, he has been able to keep "Dave" at bay, but once a new food drop appears after he had a breakthrough destroying what was left of his stash, his dark side rears his ugly side again. One has to wonder if Hurley had similar visions in "Everybody Hates Hugo" where he was fighting another battle against food. It helps to remedy the "Hurley eats a lot because he's fat, and fat people can't control themselves" phase his character went through.
With Hurley's secret stash, and whatever Dharma sends via the parachute drops, one major question pops in my mind: just how much ranch dressing do they expect the people in the hatch to consume? Michael shot through one, Hurley was having some in "One of Them" and if you consider the jar he dumped in this episode another, that's three large tubs of ranch dressing. Despite that, we haven't seen any salads or chicken wings. Who's in charge of what food is sent there?
One of the most common theories, debunked by the creators frequently, is that everything that has happened in the series has been the figment of someone's imagination; call it the "St. Elsewhere" theory. It would explain the coincidences in the show and the recurrence of the evil numbers. However, a simple solution like that to the complicated mythology of Lost would be a cheat that viewers wouldn't forgive. Throughout this season, the writers have placed some jokes about the theories and nitpicks fans have toward the show. This episode is the most obvious example of such inside references.
"Dave" is the latest in a series of apparitions the castaways have faced. However, this time we have to consider Hurley's mindset. He had vivid hallucinations in the hospital, so the island may not be responsible for the hallucinations he has now. It's more likely, for the sake of drama, that the island manifested Hurley's imaginary friend somehow, maybe via the smoke monster. I suspect that it is to get him out of the way. Like how the numbers were everywhere in his "Exodus" flashback, maybe the island didn't want Hurley on the island for some reason. One theory entails that an Other was disguised as "Dave", and his fall off the cliff sent him to the underwater hatch. This may be much, but it is interesting.
The revelation at the end, with Libby being a fellow patient at the mental hospital, comes off as an anti-revelation. We knew that Hurley recognized her, and that caused some to speculate that she was a doctor at the hospital. Realizing this was obvious, the next theory would be that she was a patient herself. Perhaps a bigger shocker would've been if she was the third theory; she was a model or porn star. However, it does make us look at her in a different light. Was she ever a clinical psychologist? She could've been and driven to be committed, or perhaps she "became" a psychologist because one helped her.
It also makes us look at her feelings for Hurley differently either (they couldn't leave the fat guy/hot chick dynamic alone!) Is she genuinely interested in him? Is she stalking him? Is she still unbalanced? Or could she be involved with Dharma? If they had a part in getting the plane there, it wouldn't be too hard to believe that they had plants on the plane to analyze the castaways. Perhaps she is one of the theorized "Dharma Recruiters", whose job is to make sure the people on the island got there? Even if she is just a patient, such a revelation will likely hit Hurley hard as she has helped him.
Although a lot of this episode focused on Hurley's painful demons, it was funny to see him flip out and pin Sawyer, mostly for Jin's reaction. He must've been thinking "I'll pull him off Sawyer…in just a minute." Sawyer usually needs to be taken down a peg, and the fact that Hurley does it makes it rather surprising.
Considering the bombshells dropped in "Lockdown", this episode scales back a bit, having "Henry" only in two scenes. However, these scenes are huge. "Henry" tied up in the hatch resembles a crucifixion. If this is deliberate, it is an interesting choice, one that may point to the Others being genuinely good. Sayid and Ana-Lucia's interrogation felt like "good cop-bad cop", but the results aren't clear enough to prove that. Although Sayid probably would get immense satisfaction from gunning down "Henry", he's not in the best position to do so.
As far as Henry and his counterfeit counterpart are concerned, there is a lot that needs to be explained. How did "Henry" and Henry meet? "Henry" claims he didn't kill him, so who did? He told Sayid that he "wouldn't understand" the details. What does that mean? Did they discover that Henry wasn't "good" and had to be killed? Was it an accident? Why did "Henry" use the real one's identity when he got caught?
Obviously, there is something up if he gets caught in one of Rousseau's traps, despite being one of the people who should know this island well. The most likely theory is that he got caught on purpose, in hopes of being brought to the castaways for his end game. He's obviously manipulative, but what does he hope that will do? Hopefully we won't have to wait too long before we get a "Henry" flashback episode to help explain any of this.
Locke is in a very vulnerable position with his faith, and his legs place him in a position he has no intention of going back to. "Henry" is exploiting that. "Henry" knows more about the island than any of the castaways. I've speculated that Locke hopes that The Others can help set him on the right track with his faith. However, it is clear that "Henry" has no intentions to do so. Rather, he'd just place Locke in a position that this island is conning him, just like almost everyone else in his life.
Despite not doing a lot of follow up on the previous episode, this episode does a good job with Hurley's character. It is sad to see him at this level, but it makes us sympathize with him more. In addition, it plants a lot more seeds for what is to come as the season winds down.
Score: 8/10
posted by Matt @ 12:54 PM
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