Lost - Dave

***/****

In the Lost episode, Dave, the Creative team work in a clever A Beautiful Mind trick to tell a cool island and back story for Hurley. And as typical with Lost it evolves the episode's focal character through the past and present. Dave, in a bathrobe and slippers, is Hurley's friend when his mother had him committed after his weight coincided with an accident that killed several people. Hurley has went into a catatonic state, lost to the world, eating the abusive treatment towards himself for the accident. Dave would always encourage bad behavior like resisting treatment and overeating. A Polaroid from Hurley's doctor shows him that Dave doesn't exist! And on the island, Hurley sees Dave, even enduring a shot to the chest with a coconut to reinforce his presence! Is the island dicking with him? Oh, and is the "Island Dave" a manifestation of Hurley's id? Is all that Hurley experiences on the island and before landing on it all within some type of "brain malfunction"? Is he still in that Santa Rosa mental hospital? Will Dave successfully encourage Hurley to snap out of this all and take a trip off a large cliff into the rocky crashing waves below?

With all that going on--quite weighty subject matter--that final scene with Libby in the hospital just further grabs two clinched fists on that rug and jerks the viewer off their feet and right off the cliff with Dave! That innovative twist and turn mentality never allows us to settle into the characters completely. Because perception and reality can be complicated.

I admit, Henry in the hatch is now a bit tiresome. Seeing him filthy, beaten up, and worse for wear has become almost a joke. I get it, though, they just have to know what this guy is up to, who he is, who he is afraid of, and what are the Others up to. Why take the name of a dead man with a broken neck who wrote to his beloved Jennifer on the back of a dollar bill? Why elaborate such a falsity that was doomed to fail? Why hold onto info about the Others and risk taking a bullet from Sayid who would have killed him had Ana not intervened? Was Henry telling Locke the truth about the countdown going all the way to 0 and never pressing Execute? Why didn't Henry leave the bunker when he had the chance? What are those red "hieroglyphics" that appeared when the countdown goes critical? Why, why, why?

The mysteries and intrigue are such delicious bait. The watercooler buzz that gets people talking. I totally understand why this show was a juggernaut. It leaves so much to contemplate.

• Sawyer getting beat up by Hurley was such a cathartic moment, wasn't it? With all his asshole tendencies, it is nice to see a dick get a little dose of his own medicine. Kate needling him about was fun afterwards. 
• Locke getting some existential dialogue from Henry about why God doesn't know about the island I feel isn't just some atheist denial. I think there's more to that. And Henry scoffing at the bunker's importance and Gainey's importance adds a nice bit of intrigue as well
• Hurley's bouts with food addiction were and still are quite timely. It is a serious issue that deserves mentioning and isn't disrespected.
• Evan Handler is just a delight as the audacious, lively, sarcastic Dave, a very un-Hurley personality I like to think Hurley wishes he could be.
• Nice to see Bruce Davison as the doc. He's one of the most prolific of television and film actors, and has this amazing ability to play any type of character. His doc gets through to Hurley eventually although Dave has one last stand with Hurley on the island.
• Libby shedding that tear as she kisses Hurley in embrace and her emphatic dialogue to him is just superb work from Watros.

I disagree with those critical of this episode, considering it pointless and just a waste of time. I thought Hurley's story had fresh wrinkles and Libby's twist further added intrigue that wasn't necessarily there before. Yes, the Wizard of Oz idea of the dream being addressed here might appear to be just trying to dissuade that line of thinking but why not at least contemplate that theory and give it credence? I have no problem with that.