Watching Lost

Hurley and his dad have a complicated relationship, to say the least. Hurley’s flashback showed Hurley as a young boy working on a car when his dad leaves for “a trip” to Las Vegas. We find out later that he left them for over 17 years. His dad, played by Cheech Marin, shows back up after Hurley’s won the lottery. It seems his mom has some “needs” and asked her estranged husband to come back to live with them. Hurley’s not pleased. But his dad is full of nice one-liners, like “Having hope is never stupid” and “In this world, you’ve gotta make your own luck.”

One of the big questions I had going into this episode was, “Who is Tricia Tanaka?” It turns out that she was a reporter who was interviewing Hurley about his lottery win in front of the Chicken Shack that he’d just purchased. She gets fed up with Hurley’s bad attitude and leaves him standing outside to go into the restaurant. A meteor crashes into the restaurant killing Tricia Tanaka. This is just the first incident in a string of bad incidents that happen to Hurley, leading him to believe that he’s cursed because of the money. He believes he needs to get rid of the money to get rid of the curse. His dad takes him to a psychic to figure out if he’s cursed. Unfortunately, good old dad paid the psychic to tell Hurley that his curse could be exorcised. Hurley figures it out and decides to leave for Australia to figure out where the numbers he used for the lottery came from. His dad says he’ll be there when he gets back, and maybe they can have a fresh start. Wonder if his dad’s still waiting for him??

The first shot back on the island was heartbreaking. Hurley was talking to Libby’s grave and telling her that he’s not scared when he’s with her. Poor Hurley! Even though I’m not sure if Libby was all good, I hate it that Libby was taken away from him so quickly.

Charlie tells Hurley that Desmond told him he was going to die. Hurley thinks that Desmond may be right and that it may be Hurley’s fault. He says, “I’m bad luck. Death finds me, dude.” Just then, Vincent the dog runs out of the jungle with a skeletal arm with a key on it. The key happens to be to a bus that Hurley decides he needs to fix. It’s a feel-good project that Hurley believes they all could benefit from. Sadly, no one really wants to help fix up the bus. Eventually, Jin and Sawyer pitch in. There were some funny scenes while Hurley, Jin, and Sawyer were working on the beer-filled van. Sawyer had a Sesame Street shout-out when he called Hurley “Snuffy,” and he said to the English-learning Jin, “Well, look who’s Hooked on Phonics.” I laughed out loud. Finally, after rolling down a large hill, the van starts, and Hurley, Jin, Sawyer, and Charlie have a little joy ride. It was good to see them having fun again. After that joyful scene, poor Sawyer was left sitting along on the beach drinking beer. Obviously, he loves Kate, but Kate was off to rescue Jack.

Kate, Locke, and Sayid went into the jungle looking for help. They found Rousseau. Kate told her that she believes she met her daughter, Alex. It looks like Rousseau will be helping to save Jack. We’ll see.

So, what did you think of this episode? It was a nice change from previous episodes, but did you find yourself missing the drama and the intrigue or was the break good? Talk to me.

Lost, Tricia Tanaka is Dead, Hurley, Charlie, Desmond, Sawyer, Kate, Jack