LOST - 6x12 "Everyone Loves Hugo" - Episode Review
Plot summary: Hurley wonders what the group should do next, and Locke is curious about the new arrival to his camp.
Written by Adam Horowitz & Edward Kitsis. Directed by Daniel Attias.
Well, maybe it is as simple as that; maybe the flashsideways are just some “bizarro alt universe.” As the resident audience stand in, Hurley is often given the most direct, the most self-referential dialogue out of any of the characters, and more often than not they’re wrapped in his deadpan, everyman humor, and bolstered by Jorge Garcia’s impeccable line delivery. We all of course remember his hilarious BACK TO THE FUTURE references last year, and this year’s been no different. Hurley’s always been the heart of the show, and “Everyone Loves Hugo” is about as apt a title as they come - referring to both his standing amongst us fans, and his journey on and off the Island.
And just as last week introduced the “Love will save them all” conceit, this week continued the expansion of that conceit as the show’s heart got his own back in way, with a long awaited reunion between Hurley and Libby. It was lots of fun seeing Cynthia Watros back, and even if no significant pieces were added to the blank spots in her own narrative, it added further parallels to the tremulous connections between both timelines, especially insofar that the (formerly) dead characters see the future(?) / past(?) / concurrent(?) linkage more clearly than the living ones. It was also a nice inversion of the climatic scene in Season Two’s “Dave”, only this time Libby’s trying to explain to Hurley that he’s a figment of her “imagination.” Hurley / Libby wasn’t a great love story before a DUI killed it, but Garcia and Watros always had a sweet chemistry, both then and now, rending this week’s romantic curtain call rather bittersweet in the end, perhaps because he remember to bring the blanket this time.
Back on the Island, Iliana blew up just like Artz did (kudos to LOST for pulling off the same trick twice, and still remaining effective), Hugo blew up the Black Rock, Desmond got tricked into going down a hole again, and the gang finally got mostly reunited at Locke’s camp. I think it says something for the momentum of the show and the series that even though they finally gave us a real Answer for one of the long standing questions, it was small potatoes compared to the final scene of Desmond showing Locke some special pavement, or the next subtle chapter in the rehabbing of Jack’s character, or the concrete joy in just watching the show unfold under its own crazy terms and reveling in the limited time we still have left with our own beloved. Does that make us crazy? I think not.
Other notes:
• Hey, it’s Edgar Halliwax (with both of his arms!)
• The shots of Mr. Cluck’s franchises worldwide made me laugh. Speaking of, the Mr. Cluck’s employee that waited on Hurley was Sam Hamm, from FREAKS & GEEKS!
• I got a kick out of seeing the chicken costume DJ Qualls wore in “Everyone Hates Hugo”'s opening dream sequence again.
• For a second or two after his surprise intro, I thought Libby and Doc Brooks were married or a couple. I noted there was a different Island picture on the blackboard in the background (different from the one glimpsed in “Dave”). Also Hurley never got institutionalized after the balcony collapse (if there even was one) in the AU.
• Not a huge Springsteen fan, so I didn’t get the reference to Rosilta and Spanish Joe’s.
• With Locke down again in the AU, it seems as if the 815’s are all going to end up meeting together “accidentally” at Jack’s hospital by season’s end.
• Hope TPTB paid Harold Perinneau the big bucks for his all too brief return this week, considering his disenchantment with the way Michael was written out in Season 4.
• I watched “Dave” again earlier this week, and one of the theories it seemed to dissuade in its own meta way (the island is a figment of someone’s imagination), and “Ab Aeterno” seemed to do the same, but with the revelations of the trapped dead being the source of the Island whispers, it seems as if the purgatory idea is back on the table. Do the dead have an agenda contrary to the Island's?
• Richard was looking for the Island-is-a-cork story from Hurley’s “Jacob”, nice bluff on the big man’s part. Speaking of we, got another cameo from the mysterious ghost island kid, this time with different colored hair (dark, not light), making himself seen to more than just F-Locke again...
• It seems as if everyone flying without a plan (Hurley, Alpert, Jack, MiB) and relying on faith alone. I wonder what’s going to become of that. And can one trust the word of a smoke monster anyway?
• That was some bad fire cgi for the Iliana / Black Rock detonations, almost as cheesy as the submarine graphics. I hope they're banking their spx budget for the finale when the Island inevitably sinks...
• Amongst other inversions of the week, the Jack and Hurley discussion was a nice call back to their various confrontations in S3’s “The Beginning of the End”.
• The Hurley/Libby kiss resulted in the same editing flash / lack of sound as Desmond’s contact with Penny’s hand did last week.
Episode Grade: B+