Summary: In flashbacks, Hurley is at a mental hospital with a friend Dave. It's revealed that Hurley has been obsessively eating to cope with how he indirectly killed two people when he caused a deck to collapse. Hurley's doctor lets him know that Dave is imaginary and personifies Hurley's negative behaviour. Hurley is able to rid himself of Dave. Libby is revealed to be in the mental hospital with Hurley. In the present, Hurley destroys his secret stash with Libby's help but immediately stumbles upon more food. He encounters Dave again, who tells him that everything isn't real and that he has been asleep this entire time. Dave tries to get Hurley to jump off a cliff but Libby stops him and they kiss. Meanwhile, Sayid continues interrogating Henry but Henry doesn't reveal anything. Locke speaks with Henry who tells him that the button doesn't do anything.
The Good: Hurley gets some of the best character work of the season in this episode. We learn a truckload of things about him in this episode, and for once it feels like an episode this season is completely dedicated towards telling a singular, focused story about the struggles of a character. It works very well and leads to one of the more emotionally powerful episodes of the season. This episode surprisingly focuses on why Hurley is so fat. Hurley's size is something that needs to be acknowledged, and I'm very happy that that writers had the courage to tackle this subject. The background we get on Hurley is very sad and it brings his story full circle in a brilliant way. We finally learn that Hurley's past in a mental hospital was due to a traumatic experience he had when he accidentally killed two people. As a result, he picked up the habit of eating as a way to both cope with guilt and punish himself for what he did. This story is really easy to relate to, and it humanizes Hurley even more, revealing a surprisingly tragic past that Hurley carries around with him. The Dave aspect of the episode is also very well done. Dave is cast very well and he plays Hurley's subconscious very well. Dave clearly represents that part of Hurley that hates himself for what he did, and across both the island and the flashbacks plots, the story is that Hurley needs to free himself of his self-hating qualities (Dave) and move on with his life in a positive way. It's a very satisfying story to tell, and both of the cathartic moments in the episode work well. Hurley letting Dave leave in the past is a good moment, but even better is Hurley choosing not to jump and going back with Libby to move past his baggage and get on with his life. It's surprisingly heartwarming stuff that is very well executed. I really love that the show acknowledges the "dream theory" that everything is taking place in somebody's head, a joke theory that always seems to be suggested as an answer to complicated plots. Furthermore, the writers fully went through with the idea of dream theory, basing an entire episode around it rather than just poking fun of the idea. It made for a surprisingly effective story, and Hurley seemed suitably crazy for suggesting that nothing is real. The story is also helped by Dave giving surprisingly good reasons for everything being in Hurley's head. Sayid's interrogation of Henry was stellar stuff for the most part. I liked the way that he caught Henry in yet another lie, and Sayid's growing frustrations were very understandable. The Locke/Henry scene was also terrific, and one of the episode's best scenes. It's so unclear if Henry is lying or not, and that makes it fascinating for us to be given this "reveal" that the button does nothing. It's also a great move for the show because it forces Locke to face the idea that all of his faith may have been for nothing, which is the next step towards advancing Locke's character arc this season. There were a lot of little things I appreciated. Locke refusing to be put back in a wheelchair was a nice tough. Hurley beating up Sawyer is probably one of the best scenes of the entire show from a comedy/entertainment point of view. I'll always enjoy that scene. Lastly, Hurley eating peanut butter off of a leaf was suitably disgusting, and it demonstrated how horrible Hurley's eating habits are in an unexpectedly effective way. The Bad: The Dave twist is unfortunately quite easy to predict. Being predictable doesn't necessarily hurt the story too much, but it does diminish the emotional impact of Hurley realizing that Dave doesn't exist because we already know that fact and aren't experiencing the same emotions as him. Sayid attempting to murder Henry was completely idiotic. How do you plan to get information out of him if he's dead? The Unknown: Was the island testing Hurley by giving him more food immediately after he destroyed his stash? It doesn't seem like a coincidence that Hurley was given more food immediately. Could Dave have been sent by the island somehow as another test? Who is this leader that Henry mentions? How does the others' hierarchy work? What is Eko building? Was Henry telling the truth about the clock resetting on his own? We really can't trust anything he says now that he's been exposed as a liar. Why was Libby in the mental hospital? Does this have something to do with why she is getting closer to Hurley? Best Moment: Hurley revealing what happened in the accident to Dr. Brooks was fantastic stuff. It's really powerful, and all of Hurley's self-destructive behaviour is explained wonderfully in this scene, from his eating habits to the existence of Dave. Character of the Episode: Hurley. Conclusion: This was a fantastic character episode for Hurley. Sure, it was predictable and there wasn't much plot advancement, but the character work here was some of the season's absolute best. Score: 70
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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