Lost - Everybody Hates Hugo



Claire finds the bottle with the written messages from those on the island washing ashore and gives it to Sun-Hwa. Sun decides, in her pain at the possibility Jin is lost at sea, to bury the bottle. It is for the best. Let’s pretend that they are okay. Why break the spirit of those on the island. Even as Sun’s heart is breaking, why not spare others?

Whatever is running the bunker, causing the electromagnetic atmosphere, is investigated by Sayid and Jack, trying to figure out why there is such concrete and strong metal. Sayid mentions Chernobyl and the bunker’s “clock” watch seems to carry greater significance. Locke sure feels it is important to type in those cursed numbers every 108 minutes. But as Hurley was asleep at the monitor, awaken by Kate just minutes before the numbers must be typed in; I could not help but wonder if this is a sign of things to come. Will somebody eventually sleep all the way through or will there be interference? What then?
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I was thinking about human nature when starting the fourth episode of LostEverybody Hates Hugo. Whether to trust those you don’t know on an island where plenty can happen. Mistrust can take root and create paranoia that is certainly not healthy. What do you do when there’s a whole chamber full of food and supplies? Do you conceal this from those on the surface, outside the bunker, who could sure stand to benefit? Hurley realizes that his camp should know of the existence of what exists in the bunker, as does Jack, but there’s a dire need for a plan so that the products and goods are used efficiently and not abused. There is no telling how long they will be on the island so dispersing items is in need of an inventory. Hurley needs someone he can trust and depend on to help him itemize and inventory so Rose seems like as good a candidate as any. Sawyer hasn’t ingratiated himself to very many and even those who do are tolerant and patient of his attitude and off-the-handle temperament. But what happens when Sawyer encounters those who simply aren’t so willing to put up with his shit. And he has a bullet wound in that should that badly needs tending to. But he immediately found an enemy in Ana. Her holding the gun on him while Sawyer continues to remain seemingly helpless is quite a lot for someone of his ego to take. When a rope is dropped for Jin and Mike, and not him, that mistrust is obvious. Sawyer is considered a danger so his peeps might be given a reprieve while he is still left to stew and brood in the pit.
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I watch Wet Hot American Summer (2001) from time to time and I always ask myself how it was possible Marguerite Moreau didn’t hit paydirt and find stardom. I mean she’s so fucking cool in her limited time on the episode of LostEverybody Hates Hugo (in the second season), and I think it is totally understandable why Hurley would be so crushing hard for her. We as guys do throw around the SHE’S FUCKING HOT a lot to describe just some random babe we might see crossing a street or moving past us as if in slow motion, but Moreau is totally fitting the bill on that one to me. Yes, in …American Summer she just continues to be duped by selfish, afraid-of-commitment egomaniac, Andy (Paul Rudd), but I can’t for the life of me take my eyes off her. That doesn’t change with Everybody Hates Hugo, either. She is in it how long, a few minutes? Doesn’t matter to me because I’m like thinking about her after the episode is over. She just might be one of the reasons I watch …American Summer every now and then.

In saying that, her character of Starla, works in a music store (she would…) and Hurley is sweet on her. Hurley has a buddy (played by DJ Qualls) who ribs him for it. He does get up the nerve to ask her out, and Starla accepts…on a different day. Sometimes you just have to ask. At least Hurley didn’t have to contend with Andy.
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If Lost could do anything it was provide us with the idea that there is always hope. Whether it was Rose truly believing Bernard (wonderful character actor, Sam Anderson, known for playing every kind of human being, from rotters to likable sorts) was alive, with no doubt despite the hangdog looks of those with no faith that anyone [in the back of the plane] else survived other than them. She never wavers, too. When a sweaty, weary, anxious Bernard asks Mike, Sawyer, and Jin if Rose is alive, that answer following just seems like a cool breeze on a hot summer day…it brings calm and ease. Those folks on the back of the plane are more than a bit worse for wear, as Ana seems to be the one mostly in charge, quite tough and no-nonsense. Even Mr. Eko (previously portrayed as this silent badass hoss) seems to obey Ana, emerging not as menacing as inquisitive and apologetic. I mean, they had to be sure. There is another Dharma station, it seems, as Ana has Mike, Jin, and a reluctant, defiant (but eventually compliant) Sawyer follow them back to it where only a small few remain out of 23 survivors. Libby (Cynthia Watros) strikes up a conversation with Mike, not at all as dangerous as perhaps her crew might lead us to believe. In Everybody Hates Hugo, Ana’s gang looks shaken, defeated, rattled. Perhaps Mike, Jin, and maybe even Sawyer can be of help to them. They sure could use it, it appears.

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Lost does really well with its musical montages. At the end, without any dialogue shared for us to hear, it doesn’t matter. The smiles and laughter, emerging joy and exhilaration as Hurley passes out the food from the bunker chamber storage, speaks for itself. If they are to go through the food supply, instead of rations, just give everyone what they want and let the folks be happy even if just for a little while. Why say Charlie can’t have the peanut butter to share with Claire or allow Kate to have some shampoo? Hurley just doesn’t want the anger to be directed at him when he must distribute food and goods at his discretion because he must be in charge…according to Locke. Everybody has a job to do, including Hurley, whether he likes it or not. So Hurley, being in charge, will either blow up the chamber with dynamite or just let everyone have what they want and let the supply run out whenever it does. Rose plays a role in Hurley’s decision. His past lotto win, where he hid it from everyone so “no one would change”, saw his friendship with Qualls undermined by it. Hurley just can’t let that happen on the island. Rose tells him that he is beloved by all, but Charlie just wants peanut butter. Kate just grabs the shampoo. When the creature comforts, and the sweet tasting goodies, have been denied you for quite a while, having them available is like manna from heaven. So Hurley decides to let the folks have their manna. How the show ties the flashbacks with current events on the island is to give us a before and after. How does the past dictate what a person will do in the future or at present. This is a storytelling technique that can’t be overstated or overused because characters are developed right before your eyes and each human being we follow have secrets kept from those around them. We all have secrets. But we all also are shaped and molded by the past and present, determining who we are and will be in the future. Everybody Hates Hugo is another example of all of that.

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