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Lost: Dave

Hurley: "Did either of you see a guy run through here? In a bathrobe, with a coconut?"
Charlie: "No. But I saw a polar bear on roller blades with a mango."

Okay, show of hands. Who knew that Dave was an imaginary person right off the bat? Wow, that's quite a few hands. I think they could have been a lot more subtle. This episode was way too cloying and predictable... right up until the shock ending.

Who is Libby? She seems sweet and treats Hurley so well; I want her to be good. But despite the fact that he's a dear guy, how likely is it that she truly has a thing for him? Does she have an ulterior motive? The biggest is always money, and Hurley is a millionaire, after all. Did she follow him to Australia? Is she planning to be Mrs. Reyes by the time they're rescued?

Or is it more devious, and possibly nefarious? It would be very difficult to keep her hair dyed on the Island. Which means she's probably a natural blonde and it was dyed in the hospital. Why would a mental patient dye her hair? Was she spying on Lenny and/or Hurley? Is she an undercover spy for the Island Powers That Be, whatever they are, or possibly for another faction? Dan still thinks she really is a shrink, and he may be right. Who better than a shrink to fake a mental illness?


"Dave" was Hurley's way of punishing himself for the accident. It certainly explained a lot about Hurley's fatalism and his self-destructive eating. But I don't think depression and guilt can explain such realistic and consistent hallucinations, and Hurley doesn't seem to be schizophrenic. I'm going to ignore the implication that the Island is just an hallucination of Hurley's because I have to believe it's real, not purgatory, the afterlife, or someone's delusion. Although Dave pointing out the unreality of the Island and Hurley winning the lottery was a lot of fun and totally true.

Note that Dave's appearances were all connected to food. On the Island, Dave appeared (1) after the Lostaways found the food drop, (2) when Hurley was stuffing the goldfish crackers into his mouth, and (3) during the peanut butter scene. In the hospital, Dave showed up three times specifically to talk Hurley into escaping in order to get junk food. And in the photo, Hurley had his arm around nothing, but right below where Dave should be was the snack plate.

The second really fascinating revelation in this episode (unless it was a lie) was that Henry said he never punched in the numbers. He said he let the count go down to zero, saw the red and black glyphs, the super magnet went on and off, and the clock re-set to 108. So this means – I think – that the inputting the code keeps the super magnet inactive. Right? If the magnet causes the crashes, are we going to see the wreckage of another plane (or balloon) and another group of survivors soon because of what Henry did? Let me mention the lying thing again. Unless he lied. Henry lies a lot. He lied multiple times about the real Henry, after all.

Character bits:

Hurley's mother committed him because of his catatonia after the accident, a deck collapse that killed two people. The deck was built to hold eight and collapsed because there were twenty-three; Hurley was the one that set it off. Note Hurley's numbers. And that Hurley has killed someone, just like many others on the Island.

In Santa Rosa, Hurley's shrink was Dr. Brooks and there was a nurse named Lazenby. I'm recording these names because flashback characters keep turning up in other peoples' backstories.

Sawyer's nicknaming came back on him in a big way, pun intended. "Pork rinds! Jabba! Stay-puft! Lardo! Kong!" Jin was in hysterics. So was I. Kate also thought it was pretty funny, but later on.

Locke has a fracture and has to stay off his leg for two weeks. He was understandably unwilling to get back into his own wheelchair. He was also seriously frustrated that Jack was running things unimpeded.

Sayid and Ana Lucia continued to bond with a rousing game of good cop/bad cop. I'm starting to think they may just have potential as a couple.

Henry said that "Zeke" wasn't important, and that the Hatch was a joke. Henry also appeared to be deathly afraid of the real leader of the Others.

Jack finally told the other Lostaways about Henry.

Before Hurley attacked Sawyer, we got more than the usual assortment of nicknames: Deep Dish (Hurley), Tattoo (Charlie), Baby-napper (Charlie), Moonbeam (Libby). And of course, the perennial Freckles (Kate).

Unlike everyone else in the United States, Sawyer doesn't know the right way to open an Oreo cookie.

Bits and pieces:

— Dave tried to talk Hurley into jumping off the cliff. Since Dave was part of Hurley's subconscious, that meant Hurley was thinking about suicide. Note the parallel between the cliff and the deck that collapsed.


— The shot of Hurley at the locked windows of the mental hospital reminded me strongly of scenes in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. And the name "Dave" always reminds me of the character in 2001. ("I'm sorry, Dave. I can't do that.")

— Loved Hurley throwing away all the food right before everyone discovered the drop. It was a lot like Charlie giving up dope and then finding an airplane full of it. Although throwing away all kinds of food while living on a desert island was stupid and wasteful. Give it away, don't throw it away.

— They finally mentioned that the caves were abandoned. Makes sense, since the Hatch has all the amenities and the beach appears to be less likely to provoke attacks by the Others.

— Hurley was taking clonazepam.

— We got a good look at three of the extras, something that rarely happens.

Quotes:

Sawyer: "He just hulked out on me."

Charlie: "What are you making? Is it a Starbucks?" Is Eko building a church? A raft? A puppet theater?


Sawyer: "Got enough food now to open up a chain of mini-marts. Hey, you think Sayid needs a job?" That one was terrible. I groaned out loud.

Dave: "Kinkos? Photoshop? What, do you think they really blew up the Death Star?"

Dave: "See you in another life, Hurley." LostReviews members caught that this was what Desmond told Jack.

Henry: "God doesn't know how long we've been here, John. He can't see this Island any better than the rest of the world can." That was somewhat metaphysical. Like "See you in another life."

Much of the episode was a two, but the ending was a four. Three polar bears,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

4 comments:

  1. I love Hurley and want to see as much of his back story as possible, but this was so sad. And, while it was obvious from the beginning that Dave was an hallucination, all credit to Evan Handler who did a fantastic job.

    The food drop was interesting. Rather ties into the notion that somewhere there are PTB who are controlling everything that happens.

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  2. "God doesn't know how long we've been here, John. He can't see this Island any better than the rest of the world can."

    While Henry is obviously untrustworthy, I think this is a fascinating statement, especially in light of some of the issues raised in "?," which I bring up in the comments thread.

    Obviously, though, that statement only works if we're dealing with a very narrow version of God. Fate, karma, redemption, and the balancing of scales are clearly at work on the Island in a way they're not in the real world. But maybe Henry is just indulging in some wishful thinking? Feeling invisible, unseen?

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  3. Why do they keep asking Hurley to be in charge of the food lmao. I mean I get it, trustworthiness, but c'mon. At first I was getting angry at Hurley and TV depictions in general of food being wasted but it transferred onto whichever dumbass went "HEY LET'S HAND IT ALL OVER TO HURLEY AGAIN"

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  4. Not a favorite episode of mine.

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