TV Watch: Lost, Everybody Loves Hugo

Indeed, everyone loves Hugo. This episode didn't do much for me in terms of moving the overall plot forward, but when it comes to delivering just great scenes overall - it hit all the bases. I mean, if you didn't have a bit of a moment with Hugo getting back with Libby in the "apparently love conquers all" LA X world, you've got a heart of stone.

Hurley on-island was a little more hit or miss - but thankfully we had big explosions to distract us. My first thought in seeing the Black Rock explode? Well, guess they didn't need that set around anymore. Ilana's Arzt moment was almost sadly cool - a reminder that the island is still dangerous (especially, as Ben noted, when it is done with you). At the same time, though - two things are sort of annoying me about last night's events:

OK, so Michael can't move on. But he also knows that "people will die" if they try to blow up the airplane. Death seems to bring this odd ability to know everything that's going on. Are they unstuck in time like Desmond was?

And more importantly - why can't he move on? The whole "I know what the whispers are" was the most anti-climatic reveal of the entire show. We kinda already knew they were the voices of the dead (Lost fans had uncovered Shannon's voice in the midst, if I recall correctly) - it is more about the why and how that we need to know. These are actually the kind of reveals I'm more afraid of as we get to the final episodes ... that it will be a "oh, Hurley knows" kind of thing.

Oh, and one more thing - the island is freakin' purgatory. OK, it may not be the Judeo-Christian style of purgatory ... but Michael died and he's a ghost and he can't move on so he's stuck here as .... that's purgatory. OK, so normally the living don't get to hang around all these purgatory types, so maybe it's more like purgatory's lobby. But how close were the early season one guesses about the show?

Desmond and The Man In Black brought us just a little more awesome though - especially with the climax of Desmond running over Locke in the LA X world. Locke is already living with the love he lost, so was this meant to remind him of falling out of the window? Will Lassie save him from the well? A well apparently dug by ancient compass-wielding power hungry island dwellers (Lost And Gone Forever points out that compasses are, in fact pretty ancient). This puts an interesting spin on the "Ancient Others" as it were .... did Jacob bring people to the island only for them to go digging into the island, creating wells and donkey wheels?

Speaking of - we have three front runners for Jacob's position. Jack is the most obvious - one of the major characters, always up against Locke in the past, etc., etc. Hurley is the fan favorite since, well, everybody loves Hugo. And Desmond - who is probably the most "Jacob" like. I'd love to nominate Sun for the job, but her sudden, writer-induced inability to speak English is already damn annoying.

Finally - I normally try to skip the promos for the next week's episode, but I'm glad I didn't. The tripped out Willy Wonka song was truly haunting. Another tip from the clue conscience producers? Wonka is often described as a Faustian character, offering deals of experience as a test of morality. Question is - is that Jacob or The Man In Black?