Lost: Season 6, Episode 12 Review: Everybody Loves Hugo

Everybody Loves Hugo

Original Airdate: April 13, 2010

Writer: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz
Director: Daniel Attias

Following last week’s game changer, the flash sideways story expands upon the notion of the timelines bleeding over each other.  Clearly that is a huge piece of the series’ end game.  Finally, the producers’ assurance that they were important to the story is coming to fruition, even if it’s unclear where it will go from here.  It also doesn’t hurt to have to focus be on Hurley who like Desmond, Locke & Ben, is pretty dependable to crank out a good episode.

LA X Hurley, never referred to as Hurley as far as I’ve noticed, mentioned in the premiere that he thought he was the luckiest guy on earth.  Chang, alive and with two arms (wonder if he recognized Hurley), introduces why his life is so good: his winning the lottery was the beginning of him becoming a fast food magnate and a philanthropist, establishing museum wings and centers for kids in need (LA X George Costanza is also good person as his “Human Fund” is mentioned).  However, much like LA X Desmond, he doesn’t have someone in his life except for his overbearing mother and like Desmond, an encounter with someone else sets the gears in motion.

The LA X world has a lot of wish fulfillment: Daniel gets to be a musician, Ben gets to see Alex be successful and the picnic Hurley and Libby never got is shared by their LA X counterparts.  Although Hurley and Libby’s relationship was short, when it’s brought up again it still elicits a strong response.  Of course, it helps that it so deeply affected the heart and soul of the show.  Seeing Hurley speaking at Libby’s grave, much like he did in “Tricia Tanaka Is Dead”, breaks our collective heart.  In LA X world, they get their second chance.  Cynthia Watros & Jorge Garcia have terrific chemistry.  Libby’s initial pain that Hurley doesn’t believe her is really well played, and sets up their kiss on the beach, which is disarmingly sweet.

With the emphasis of love last week, it makes sense that LA X Libby’s kiss brought Hurley flashes of their time together in the 815 world.  So extreme emotions, whether it is trauma or love, can bring about the flashes.  Some have also pointed out that those in the LA X world who first discovered it are dead in the 815 world (Charlie, Daniel & now Libby), and that probably is a deliberate choice.  In the master timeline, the closest we’ve come that is Juliet’s remark about “going Dutch” and possibly Sun’s aphasia.

It seems that LA X Desmond is some kind of matchmaker.  However, the rug is quickly pulled out as he stalks and eventually runs over Locke (great job on the stunts here).  This shocking twist has generated one popular and intriguing theory: Desmond wants to get everyone to the hospital.  Jack is there, Sun is heading there and now Locke is as well.  It doesn’t explain why Hurley and Libby don’t wind up there, but that may be explained later.  What Desmond plan is is still unclear: how exactly does someone unite timelines, but this development is a sign that Desmond is going to extremes to make sure his plan works.  The way Locke is splayed on the concrete, looking like 815 Locke in “The Incident” following his fall, had to be deliberate.

In the main timeline, the plan to destroy the plane and keep Johnny from leaving hits a snag when Michael’s ghost shows up warning Hurley that if they succeed everyone dies.  With the island spirits working to keep Johnny at bay, I wonder why they would send Michael, the man responsible for Libby’s death and Hurley’s broken heart to convince Hurley.  This may tie into an answer to one of the long standing mysteries.

Checking a major mystery off the list, the whispers are explained as the whispers of the dead who haven’t moved on.  For some reason, Hurley’s been able to tune in to this frequency more sharply than the rest.  This is the writers’ way of having their cake and eating it too.  They frequently debunked the idea that the island is purgatory countless times, but it turns out it is for the people who died there, not those alive.

This explanation works for me: Michael’s story didn’t get a good resolution for a character around since the Pilot.  Besides the lack of closure with Walt (something that sadly seems unlikely to be resolved in the series), the redemption he got didn’t seem enough to make up for his crimes.  This answer adds a twist to Christian’s “You can go now” message before the bomb went off on the Kahana.  Now it reads like “Nice try, but you failed.”  Helping Hurley defeat Johnny can be that redemption.

Also, why doesn’t he say anything being about sorry for killing Ana-Lucia?  Did she deserve it?  Her death wasn’t a punitive measure for her crimes, but to facilitate Ben’s escape.  The writers have said killing off Libby was to give Michael’s betrayal more emotional impact since Ana-Lucia didn’t go off well with viewers, but that attitude shouldn’t boil over to the on screen stuff.

Then comes the first explosive (get it?) twist when Ilana goes up.  So what was the purpose of her anyway?  They introduce her early in season five, hint that she is important to the plot, then Arzt her before she does anything significant.  What did she do that couldn’t have been fulfilled by Richard, Ben or another character?  Ilana, like Miles & Frank, was a character the writers didn’t know what to do with this season.  This is sometimes a problem with ensembles as large as Lost’s, and usually they do a better job, but in Ilana’s case, they ran out of time and couldn’t give her character much besides a glorious exit.  Nikki & Paolo had a better arc than this.  This is like an Austin Powers joke: giving a red shirt a background (or the promise of one) and killing them off abruptly.  Once the initial shock wore out, the disappointment set in.

Her death motivates Richard to destroy the plane despite Hurley doing everything, including blow up the Black Rock and its supply of dynamite, to stop him.  In the flaming wreckage, Hurley’s growing position of leadership is put to the test.  Ultimately Hurley betrays his moral compass and refusal to deny a lie by playing the “Jacob only I can see tells me” card.  Richard calls his bluff, and leads to Team Jacob splitting with Richard, Ben & Miles heading to Dharmaville as possible x-factors and Hurley, Jack, Sun and a doubting Frank heading to Johnny’s camp to negotiate.  Here’s another test for Hurley as a leader: having a bad hand and having to play it anyway.

Not doing as much leading is Jack, whose character has improved a lot since the heartsick mopster at the end of season five.  He’s accepted that unfortunately nothing he does can make up for the fact that the Jughead mission got Juliet killed, but is willing to let go of his messiah complex, one thing that’s made liking Jack difficult.  Of course, no one in the 815 timeline save Desmond has a clue of the LA X universe, which may change his attitude when they collide.

At Johnny’s camp, more cracks form in his resolve with the return of the apparitions and Desmond’s arrival.  It’s hard to gauge what Desmond is thinking, but he is unusually calm considering the circumstances.  No doubt the trip to LA X world affected him, but what is his plan besides survive the fall down the well?  Whatever it is, Desmond is a threat to Johnny, presumably because of his second electromagnetic blast, who decides to throw him down the well.  Despite that, he gets three of the candidates in his camp when Hurley’s crew arrives.  Sun’s looking for the absent Jin, Frank is still wondering if he chose the right side and Jack facing the big bad using the disguise of the man he regrets not listening to.

Going into the final third of the season and final 6 hours, things for the big showdown are falling into place.  Unfortunately some things are rushed, but the sweetness of the love story and the escalating flash sideways work.  In the final episodes, there’s a lot of ground to cover and little time for it.  Let’s hope the big things are handled better than dynamite in Ilana’s care.

Overall Score: 8/10