Tuesday, April 20, 2010

>: 109 EVERYBODY LOVES HUGO

A fine episode, one that possibly peaks too early, and I’m talking about that opening Hurley the Philanthropist montage narrated by Dr. Chang, hilarious stuff, particularly Mr. Cluck’s Experimental Farm. You just know that DJ Qualls and Starla pulled some off-screen chicken liberation in that timeline. Harrowing! I was beginning to think we wouldn’t get to see old Marvin Candle again after that one mention from Miles a while back, but here he is to drop the obvious episode title in the first frame. Direct counterpoint to the title of 2.04, which also featured the debut of Jin speaking English alongside Randy in the Mr. Cluck’s chicken costume. An unsettling entrance into the first episode after hearing the words DHARMA Initiative strung together for the first time. Meeeeeeeemories.

“A lot of crazy stuff’s been happening.” Haha. Hurley’s Voice of Constant Viewer rides again. Of course, as soon as his mom mentions a date, we’re all right away looking for Libby to show up. Certainly wasn’t thinking they’d drop Michael on us, though I wonder if the nationwide reaction resembled the one in my living room, which can best be summarized as, “Gah. Fucking Michael.”

Cool trick only apparent on the rewatch, when Hurley’s calling out to Libby, saying how dead people talk to him, there’s the pause, then Ilana says something instead, foreshadowing her own Artz moment. That same thing happens in a minute with Jack when Michael tells Hurley that people are listening to him now, cue the Shephard walkup. All Jack does this week is listen to Hurley.

Something about Ilana’s performance in this one comes across as really forced, I thought, like she couldn’t quite sink into her character, or was maybe trying too hard for the home stretch. I don’t know, it took me out of it just a bit. Didn’t diminish how insane it was when she exploded herself with enough dynamite to take out the entire airplane, though. If that were really true, seems like it would have blown up everybody else, too. I guess the Island didn’t demand it.

Aw. Probably the last Kitsis/Horowitz-written episode. Those men gave us some classics. And with Vaughan and, just realizing, Goddard out of the picture this season, our go-to guys this season after the varsity squad. (Go, CABIN IN THE WOODS!, which, just now shuddering at the synchronicity)

Spanish johnny’s is a hilarious name. Particularly that lowercase j.

Desmond as L.A. interloper/instigator is a fantastic twist. Was wondering how Hurley got Order #38, but of course he was just four back from Our Des.

Who is obviously addled from all this flashing back and forth. Pretty blatant something no good is afoot when he says, “You’re John Locke,” and the guy’s immediate response is, “Later, Sayid, I, singular, will be back to the camp soon, after we take this walk.”

So, halfway through the episode and aaaaaall the dynamite is out of play. Unfortunately, that shot of Hurley running right before the explosion looks just incredibly fake, possibly all-time worst for the series. Glad we got it out of the way?

“We’re dead, we’re all dead!” Shouldn’t Richard . . . not be pissed off at that concept?

For that matter, it’s been bugging me (and not just positive why they’re related in my mind, but): How exactly did Ilana train her entire life to take care of some Candidates on a Mystery Island?

That kid is sure creepy. Young or reincarnated Jacob? Young Monster? Next week, maybe . . .

Leonard! Not chanting numbers! Obviously. But this does beg a question that didn’t occur to me until now. Did Hurley win the lottery with different numbers, since he was never at Santa Rosa, and even if he had been, Leonard never heard the numbers because the Island sank? Did that stop being a question somewhere in there? And was that Hurley’s voice on the transmission? Are they just going to leave us twisting in the wind on that one?

And when are we going to get back to Officer Ford and his freckled fugitive?

“If You Remembered Me” was my hope for episode title, though it never really had a shot.

Giacchino brings back the Raft Theme. Parting Words! I need it.

Cynthia Watros is so great.

So wait, since Jacob wasn’t really there, why exactly did Hurley think going to talk to the Locke Monster was a plan? Just making shit up as he goes along? Talk about the worst guy around the campfire to follow. What does Miles think we should do?

Richard’s confirming question is huge! Ultimate, really. “Ask him what the Island is.” Yes, yes, ask him that! Or, or maybe you could take a break from trying to blow up 316 for like five minutes, Alpert, and crack open a DHARMA beer and just tell us. Mm?

Completely forgot Sun no longer speaks English until she busted out that pad. Kind of a lot going on.

Ah, the last time Jack decided to let go and do nothing, we got the Secret (incomplete) Origin of Ben Linus. So, yes, do that again.

Michael’s apology falls just all kinds of flat. Being sorry isn’t enough. I want to see you chained up on the mountain with Prometheus, the vultures picking at your organs, Brothah!

And, uh, yeah, that’s what the whispers were. Ghosts. Probably still animated by all the crazy EM. I mean, that was always the best guess, but wild just to get that dropped out of nowhere like that. Not unlike the double Black Rock/smashed statue answer. This was that, moving on!

What was Hurley going to say to Libby on the beach? “I figured you’d like cheese, because all crazy people like cheese”? Nice that they finally got that date, though. You knew a “Dude” was coming after the memory floodgates opened.

So, L.A. Desmond’s mission is to influence the 815 crew’s lives for the better? Or at least the ones he likes?

Right about the time they walk up to that well, I’m thinking maybe Desmond should ask this guy what one snowman said to the other. Just to be sure, you know?

O’Quinn is certainly acting his heart out, making that monster entirely relatable. I loved the way he responded to Desmond’s “Very old?” Even though you could see it coming a mile away, it still managed to be a bit of a surprise, the way they played that shove.

Then Hurley delivers every single remaining Candidate to the Locke Monster’s camp. Oh, and look, we brought a pilot, too. The pieces are certainly falling into endgame position. How many more “sonuvabitch”s will Sawyer utter? I think it’s time to start counting. I guess smart money puts it at four, but I posit that this was the first of those, so three to go! Another great fakeout, they’re doing it almost every time now, you’re sure the episode is over, both plots are resolved or hung off the cliff, but then some other crazy shit happens.

Who guessed that Desmond was going to mow down crippled Locke? I didn’t catch it until this scene, that his injuries are in both timelines and he is, yes, straight up jumping back and forth. Which is what I thought at first, but then when he went right back to Penny in the stadium at the end last week, it made me think that maybe both were going concurrently? But no, it’s clearly one Desmond who’s learning, that’s the motivation for taking out Locke, since they were nice and explicit earlier, that Desmond has no idea that’s the monster. So, DID he flash off of 815 back in the premiere? Or just go back to his old seat. That’s not an answer we’ll be getting, it doesn’t exactly rate very highly.

Well, based on Jack’s remark to Hurley about Locke doing a lot of talking, coupled with the last shot, I guess we’re due for a Monster-centric? Is that POSSIBLE? It could always be something out of left field, push the pause button with these guys and bop back across the pond for the Widmore-centric, but I can’t believe that what’s not out of left field would be a Monster-centric. And is he EVER going to turn back into Christian Shephard or is he locked into that form because it belongs to a Candidate?

Soon, said I, will know.

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