Dude, this episode was ridiculous. Things were blown up, new teams were created, characters got thrown down wells and hit by sedans, and even more familiar faces reappeared.
Contrary to this episode’s title, I don’t love Hugo, not this season anyway. Hurley has been given little to work with so far, which has made me think that he comes in handy only for comic relief and for communicating with Ghost-Jacob. That all changed last night, as Hurley takes a leadership role and sets things in motion for the final few hours of LOST.
My newfound interest in flash-sideways has increased exponentially with this episode’s alternate universe story. Through the help of Libby and a Jacob-esque Desmond, Hurley becomes aware of the Island timeline. Hurley and Libby finally have a picnic date on the beach. (Thank goodness he remembered the blankets this time around.) One by one, the passengers of Flight 815 are visited by Desmond, who also finds Locke and deliberately runs him over with his car (?!).
On the Island, however, Team Jacob splits after Ilana gets blown up by dynamite from the Black Rock and Hurley blows up the Black Rock itself. Richard is enraged and says he will go to the Barracks to get the explosives he needs to blow up the Ajira plane, bringing Ben and Miles along. Hurley takes the rest of the team to Flocke.
Flocke leads Desmond to a “special” well and throws him inside, then returns to camp and sees Jack, Sun, Hurley and Frank. The candidates, except Jin, are together at last.
This was an extremely entertaining and packed episode. I still worry that all of these developments are coming a little too late in the season, but I trust the writers. The teams are now well-defined and the flash-sideways are making more sense.
OMG WTF Just Happened Moments:
- Ilana explodes. RIP Ilana. The characters from the Ajira crew sure were expendable.
- Flash-sideways Desmond runs over Locke. Ouch.
- Flocke throws Desmond down a well. Another ouch.
- Hurley blows up the Black Rock. RIP Black Rock.
- Michael appears! He reveals that the Whispers come from the souls who are chained to the Island as punishment for what they’ve done. There was also a poignant moment when he apologizes for shooting Libby back in Season 2.
- This week’s cameos: Dr. Pierre Chang! Libby! Dr. Brooks! Mama Reyes!
- Hurley taking control of the gang. It’s nice to see Jack stop trying to fix everything.
Some New Questions:
- Michael appears, telling Hurley to not explode the plane. How does he know what will happen?
- There are now four teams: Team Richard, Team Hurley, Team Flocke and Team Widmore. This is making out to be a really complicated war. Team Richard and Team Widmore both want to blow up the plane, while Team Hurley and Team Flocke are against it. How will the teams interact?
- Flocke said the well was dug at a spot where compasses would spin continuously. I have a hunch that electromagnetic pockets will be important, but how?