Summary: In flashbacks, Hurley wins the lottery of over 100 million dollars. After winning he is faced with bad luck; his grandpa dies, his mom's new house burns down, Hurley is falsely arrested and more. Hurley thinks he is cursed and realizes his winning numbers were the cause. He investigates the origin of the numbers from his friend from a mental hospital but finds no answers. On the island, Hurley notices those same numbers in Rousseau's notes. He goes to hunt her down under the guise of getting batteries for Michael so they can detect ships from the raft. Charlie, Sayid and Jack go after Hurley who pushes on. Hurley eventually meets Rousseau who reveal a transmission of those numbers are what sent her to the island. She agrees they are cursed. Hurley, satisfied, heads back with the batteries. It's revealed that the numbers are written on the side of the hatch. Meanwhile, Locke builds a crib for Claire as a birthday present.
The Good: This was a huge episode for the show. Hurley has been such an innocuous side character that I don't think anybody was particularly excited to get his backstory. But to my absolute surprise, Hurley's backstory is proven to be essential for the story, and it changes my view of the entire show as a whole. Once I realized how significant these numbers could be for the show, I was immediately engrossed by the episode. There was a sense of importance to everything that was happening once I realized how key Hurley's backstory was, and that added a lot to the suspense of the episode. I was fully immersed into everything that was going on. And this episode rewards you for getting fully invested. For pure entertainment value, this is about as good as it gets. It's so rare to see an episode of television that balances tension and comedy so elegantly, and with such purpose. Every laugh is meticulously inserted into the episode, and somehow the many jokes in this episode don't take away at all from the tension. There are moments in this episode that switch from goofy to serious extremely quickly, but it's all done so masterfully that it only adds to the experience. And on top of this wonderfully entertaining, game-changing plotline, we get a fantastic character journey for Hurley to give the episode an emotional core. Both on and off the island Hurley is going through the same journey: he's looking to prove that he isn't crazy and that this curse exists. But nobody ever seems to believe him, and he is left desperate for somebody - anybody - to just agree with him and not question his sanity. Furthermore, this desire to prove his sanity does stem from deep inside Hurley's character, evidenced by his apparent connection to a mental hospital (see: The Unknown), suggesting that there is still a lot more to Hurley than what we have been shown. Anyhow, Hurley's desire to prove himself leads to a number of great conversations throughout the episode. In the flashbacks, Hurley goes hunting to find an explanation for the curse which takes him to Leonard and Martha Toomey in 2 fantastic scenes. The first scene with Leonard is awesome because of how brilliantly it reveals information. Hurley talks and slowly feeds the audience information in an organic way. But then the scene really takes off when Leonard actually starts speaking. He completely panics and throws out tons of surprising information. The moment is outstanding because it confirms to us that there is something supernatural going on, immediately getting me invested in the numbers. The ensuing scene with Martha is just as well done as the Leonard scene, only it's even better. Once again, a ton of new information is slowly revealed to us through Martha's story. It seems clear that there is a curse. But impressively, the show offers up an alternative perspective as Martha says that she doesn't believe that numbers are cursed at all. It opens up our mind to the possibility that the curse may not be real. Since we are watching a TV show, we immediately assume that there is a curse, but what if there isn't? Nothing is made explicitly clear, and that makes for some fascinating television. On the island, Hurley's still looking for the same thing: confirmation that this curse is real. This takes him to Rousseau where he finally snaps in a terrific scene. Hurley's frustration is easy to understand, and his demand for answers is very well-acted. Rousseau agrees that there is a curse, but considering her mental state, it really shouldn't mean anything to Hurley. But Hurley has been so desperate for somebody to believe him that even the tiniest victory means the world to him. Hurley's hug to Rousseau is such an awkward moment, yet it's a powerful one; a wonderful climax for Hurley's character arc in this episode. The Locke/Claire side story was fine television. It's nice to get some character interactions between two people who I don't think have ever actually talked. Plus we get to see Locke helping out a fellow survivor yet again, which is always fun to watch. Locke certainly comes off as the most endearing and likeable of the survivors so far. Lastly, I'll draw some attention to the humour in this episode. "Lost" is a fairly funny show, but this episode has some of the best comedy so far. Moments like Hurley telling the man on the ladder not to put the light bulb in while he's there, and Hurley's terrible lies to Charlie were standouts. The Bad: Charlie is a bit out of character in this episode. He's pretty mean to Hurley in a lot of scenes which doesn't seem like the Charlie we know. I had a couple of extremely nitpicks that I might as well put in here. For one, you can't actually make glue out of animal fat, so Locke's glue doesn't make any sense. You can make glue out of animal hide though, so an easy fix could have made this make more sense. Additionally, there is an odd moment at the end of the episode where Sayid hands Michael the battery after returning from Rousseau. It's an odd moment because Michael can't do anything with the battery. Sayid is the one who needs to use the battery to create a device, so why would he give it to Michael? The Unknown: What is the significance of the numbers? Is there actually a curse? Is there a way to break the curse? What created this curse? Why was it playing from the radio tower? Who made that transmission? Why did they make that transmission? What did Leonard mean when he said that Hurley opened the box? Where is the radio tower? Who built a radio tower on the island? Why was it built? Why was Hurley in a mental hospital in his past? What was wrong with him? Does he still have mental issues to some degree? In the flashbacks, it's mentioned that Hurley has become majority shareholder for a box company in Tustin. Is that the same box company that Locke worked at? Best Moment: The Hurley and Martha conversation was the highlight of the episode for me. Character of the Episode: Hurley. Conclusion: What a spectacular episode. I don't think anybody expected Hurley of all people to have such a compelling and important backstory. This episode completely changes the way that we have to watch this show and it pushes the supernatural elements of the show to the forefront. But what is most impressive is that the character-based storytelling somehow doesn't get lost in the shuffle like it did in "Raised By Another". This was a brilliantly put together episode in every way. Score: 83
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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