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Hero of the episode: Libby, Hurley Zero of the episode: Sawyer
Quote(s) of the episode: “I kind of prefer breathing.”—Hurley to Libby while they’re exercising | “Don’t you got an adventure to get to? I think Timmy fell down a well over that way.”—Sawyer to Kate | “I’m just imagining it. This isn’t real life. Because in real life no girl like you would ever like me.”—Hurley to Libby
Music vibes: piano, single beats; music becomes dark when Hurley sees Dave; simple notes of piano at the end, with strings
Little things: Hurley tries to get help from Sawyer, but he ends up mocking him
Episode notebook:
Hurley-focused flashbacks. Hurley is sweet and kind of sheepish around Libby.
The other survivors raid the airdropped cache of food. Was the hatch lockdown to prevent the survivors from seeing with the airdrop came from?
Hurley sees a bald man in the jungle. Libby knows something is wrong with Hurley, despite him denying it.
Flashbacks to Hurley’s time in a mental hospital.
Hurley is friends with Dave, a fellow patient. This is the same man Hurley is seeing in the jungle.
Locke has a hairline fracture. He refuses to be in a wheelchair, choosing crutches instead.
Fake Henry is still telling lies, claiming he found the real Henry Gale hanging from a tree by his neck. Sayid still doesn’t believe him.
Charlie helps Mr. Eko with a building project.
Hurley’s doctor forces him to face the truth—Dave doesn’t exist. His mind created Dave to help him cope with his mental health struggles.
Sawyer mocks Hurley, resulting in a beatdown. In between punches, Hurley yells all the insults and nicknames Sawyer has given him.
Hurley starts to listen to his doctors, much to the chagrin of Dave.
Dave tries to convince Hurley that the crash and the island aren’t real.
Jack goes to the beach to tell the rest of the group about Fake Henry.
Fake Henry claims to John that he didn’t put the numbers in the computer.
Libby brings some reality to Hurley’s struggles.
Episode recap: The battle between what’s real and what’s imaginary and/or a hallucination is a recurring theme in this show. Jack saw his dead father, Kate saw a black horse, and Shannon saw Walt in random places in the jungle. None of them ever had their sanity questioned or questioned their own sanity, but that’s not the case for Hurley. He sees a random bald man, a familiar face, a face that shouldn’t be there. Is Hurley losing his grip on reality or is the island trying to send him a message?
The visions of this random man started just when Hurley was beginning to feel better. He’s getting close with Libby, even letting her in on a secret—his food stash. The hidden cache has felt more like an albatross than a treat. Will people start to ask why he hasn’t lost any weight? Will people find it? The food is a burden that needs to be lifted. A burden that Libby stresses Hurley should let go of if he really wants to. Destroying the food is a bit of a catharsis for Hurley, he doesn’t have to feel ashamed, he can have a little bit of peace. A short-lived peace, as his fellow survivors find the air shipment of food and start grabbing everything they can carry. More temptation and stress for Hurley, reminiscent of his time in the mental hospital.
Flashbacks show Hurley suffering from a deep deep guilt. He blames himself and his weight for the death of two people. Hurley stepped onto a crowded deck and believed his added weight caused it to collapse and the death of two people. His weight and looks are a source of shame. What woman wants the fat guy? Who wants to be friends with the fat guy? Who lets themselves get so fat that they can kill people? All of that was swirling around in Hurley’s head. To make matters worse someone else keeps trying to sabotage Hurley’s progress—a bald man. A bald man named Dave, the same man Hurley is now seeing on the island.
Back on the island, Fake Henry is still lying, claiming he was part of a search party to find the real Henry Gale—only to find him hanging dead from a tree by his neck. If that’s true, what happened to the rest of the search party? Why not tell the truth from the start? Sayid has no doubt the prisoner is still lying, as he found a letter the real Henry wrote to his wife. If the real Henry was hanging by his neck, how did he have time to write a goodbye letter? Questions the fake Henry can’t answer, but he finally admits he’s been on the island for a long time. People will kill him if he talks, Sayid will kill him if he doesn’t.
What was Fake Henry’s goal? Just gathering intel? That’s also Locke’s question. What was all this going to lead to? Did he intentionally get captured? Why did he help Locke when he could have gotten away? The only answer Fake Henry gives is one that Locke doesn’t want. The imposter alleges he never entered the numbers in the computer, all that happened was loud noises and the counter reset. I still don’t believe that. The fraudster did something, something that resulted in the airdrop of food and the doors lifting back up. Claiming he did nothing is just another means of manipulating Locke. He needs Locke to lose faith in the hatch. The hatch has some kind of power, and Fake Henry can’t risk Locke discovering it. The only thing Locke does believe is that the prisoner is a liar.
Meanwhile, Hurley is losing faith in himself. How can Dave be on the island? Why is he seeing Dave on the island when he let him go years ago? Hurley’s doctor got him to see reality, it wasn’t his fault people died and that Dave doesn’t want him to get better. Dave also isn’t real. Hurley sees Dave whenever he’s making progress physically and mentally. Dave wants Hurley to stay fat and within his own delusions, rather than face reality. Hurley did get better and got out of the hospital, but the line between reality and hallucination is happening again on the island.
Dave has convinced Hurley that the island isn’t real. The plane crash never happened. His new friends are just figments of his imagination—including his crush, Libby. The only remedy is to jump off a cliff, waking him up. Everything will go back to “normal,” he will be back in the mental hospital—with Dave. Thankfully, Libby, like his doctor, brings Hurley back to reality. She experienced the crash, that was real. She lost friends after the crash, that was real. She’s made new friends, one of whom she cares for very much—Hurley—that’s real. A kiss for a man she cares about, that’s real. The episode could have just ended with Hurley and Libby kissing, but no the writers and producers had to take it further with one final flashback. Libby was once in a mental hospital, the very same one Hurley was in. Shocker? Yes, but only if this is followed up on later in the season—spoiler alert it wasn’t. The Libby reveal had potential, but this plot point wasn’t addressed again until season six. This is why I believe the creators did this for shock value, without fully fleshing out the storyline. Grrr! Please come back next week for recaps of episodes nineteen and twenty.
Upcoming posts
Monday: Words of Aspiration for 1000 Words of Summer
Thursday: Lost Rewatch for episodes nineteen and twenty.