Lost: Everybody Hates HugoAfter three episodes examining how we found the bunker and what's inside, we finally get to a story that begins to examine the impact on the castaways. It's interesting to see how each of the various castaways who are "in the know" react to people outside the select group finding out what's inside the bunker. Locke is willing to share the story, but only if people ask about it (in this case Charlie). Jack wants to keep the information on a need-to-know basis, possibly going back to his bed-side manner of not getting the group's hopes up too far and let them be dashed when things don't quite work out as promised. And Hurley isn't quite sure what to make of the big secret, knowing that that promise of the new-found wealth inside the bunker will change everything on the island in a big way.
It's interesting to see that Hurley is the castaway least likely to like huge changes. We see this reflected in his flashbacks this week--flashbacks that actually tie-in very well to what's happening on the island. As much as I've liked the first three episodes this year, I think this one was the more solid than those, simply becuase the flashback plots tied in to the events unfolding on the island in a tangible way. It felt more authentic than Desmond being in Jack's flashback and then showing up on the island...and maybe that's because we see an internal struggle in Hurley. Hurley realizes the perception of him is going to change on the island when the natives find out that he's the one in charge of inventorying and alloting the supplies to his fellow castaways. Interesting that in both cases, Hurley wants to find out who his friends really are first--he asks out the girl he's had a crush on in the record store and tries to get his friend to swear that nothing will ever change between them, before the announcement that he's rich beyond his wildest dreams gets out. Interesting that in both cases, Hurley wants to do the right thing and make sure people like him for him but his reluctance to share his good news leads to hurt feeling and disappointment. I have to also admit I'd really be interested to go back into the backstory of Hurley and find out how the girl at the music store felt after finding out Hurley's big news....did it change anything? Did they still go out? What exactly happened there? We have little indication of how things progressed from Hurley's last flashback, but then again, his intial backstory episode was very broad, hitting a lot of highlights and meant to show us the numbers have a bad karma to them.
Also, I have to wonder if Kate's attitude about the supplies might not come up. When she first finds the food, she stops and has a candy bar. Then here she gets some shampoo and such to take a nice long shower. It sets up that Hurley realizes he's going to be in a precarious place when people start wanting a certain item and he can't supply it, but what does it also say about Kate? She seems to have the attitude of finders-keepers and first-come, first-serve here. Now, I can chalk up a candy bar to the whole it's-been-40-days-since-I-saw-chocolate thing, but her wanting the shampoo is a more interesting case and may speak a bit more about who this character is.
On a side note--getting shampoo leads to a nearly-naked Kate sighting and for my money, you can't go wrong there. Let me just say--woo-hoo! I think we'll classify this one under nearly-naked-wearing-a-towel Kate for future reference.
But back to the storylines at hand....
Good to see Rose again. I like the character and I love that she has faith her husband is still alive. It's a nice moment when we, the audience, find out he's alive and well somewhere on the island. Of course, you have to wonder just how welcome he'll be by Rose when she finds out just how far the other group of islanders have gone in order to stay alive. ("I thought there were 23 of you." "There were."
::shivers::)
Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, our trio of heroes is brought to the secret hideout of the group of others--but for what purpose? I aslo like how certain new roles just organically come up. I'd heard that Cythnia Watros was joining the cast back in the summer but just to see her character appear without any build-up was nice. She's just there and then contributes one huge line...I hope we'll see more about her character and that of Anna Lucia once we get the two groups together....or will they get together? I have to wonder if these "Others" might not have gone too far down the path to the dark side to be accepted by our usual gang of heroes that we've all come to know and love. I have to admit I am liking how Lost is doing a good character thing of having us not like them that much, but ya know, we can kind of understand why they were driven to do what they did. They serve as an interesting mirror for Jack and company and how things could have gone for our group under the circumstances. (Makes you wonder if Jack hadn't accepted his role as reluctant leader for the group, what would they have become?)
And all the players seemed to get a moment this week. I saw a preview during
Alias last week of Jin's speaking English and had to wonder--how is that going to work? I have to admit that dream-sequence was the last thing I'd've guessed. And to see a bit from Claire and Sun was nice. Interesting that Sun chooses to bury the bottle with the notes in it rather than bring down the morale a bit in the light of finding the bunker. I have a feeling that just like Hurley, she's going to find it difficult to keep her secret from the main group for long....
posted by Michael Hickerson at 10/13/2005 07:32:00 AM |
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