Let the games begin.
Things start off with the cops chasing a red Camaro. We see Jack watching the chase on the TV, looking a lot less disheveled than the last time we saw him and drinking some O.J. The cops finally corner the car and ask the occupant to come out with his hands up. Hurley slowly steps out of the car. But then he tries to run, and the cops catch him. “Don’t you know who I am? I’m one of the Oceanic Six! I’m one of the Oceanic Six!,” he screams as they drag him away.
Yep, it’s another flash forward that begs at least one question: Only six get off the island?
Later, Hurley is in a police interrogation room, head in hands. Hurley does not look at all like the happy Hurley we once knew. From a surveillance videotape, it looks like Hurley was in a convenience store and saw something or someone that spooked him and made him run. The cop questioning him asks who he was running from. Hurley doesn’t reply. The cop also says he knew someone on Oceanic 815: Ana Lucia. Oh boy. As the detective describes her as being a good cop, Hurley simply says he never knew her. Why lie?
After the cop leaves, he’s looking at the two-way glass mirror and suddenly he’s looking at an underwater scene. Someone in a hooded jacket swims up and touches the glass, breaking it and letting the water rush in. He freaks out and starts banging on the door. The cop opens the door and shakes Hurley out of it. “Do you want a ticket to the nuthouse? If that’s what you want, I get it for you, my friend,” the cop says. “Please, can you?,” Hurley begs, as he hugs the cop. Poor Hurley.
Cut to our intrepid crew back on the island. Starting from the point we left off, everyone at the radio tower is thrilled about going home. Hurley calls from the beach on the walkie talkie and Jack explains the freighter is on the way. Woohoo! Hurley is so excited, he runs off to do a cannonball in the ocean. When he resurfaces, he sees Desmond, Sayid, Sawyer, Juliet, Jin and Bernard bringing the canoe up to the beach–but no Charlie.
Desmond is frantic to stop them from calling the ship. He says they aren’t who they say they are because of something Charlie told him. Everyone is talking at once, throwing questions left and right until Hurley screams, “Where’s Charlie?” Desmond looks at him, crestfallen, “I’m sorry, brother.”
Sawyer wants to call the Doc, but Sayid thinks they should keep radio silence should the suspicious boat people intercept the message. Hurley simply grabs the walkie talkie and throws it in the water. “We better get going,” he says matter of factly. “Get going where?” Sawyer yells. To the radio tower, of course.
Back at the radio tower, the freighter calls Jack on the phone. They can’t get an exact signal and want to talk to Naomi so she can adjust the frequency on the phone. Jack looks at Kate, standing next to him. Then they look over where Naomi’s body was lying, knife in the back. It’s gone. Jack runs up to Ben, still tied to the tree, and asks where she is. Ben just looks at him calmly, “I don’t know.”
Jack wants everyone to get back to the beach, while he tracks Naomi’s blood trail with Rousseau and Ben. Kate says she found another trail, too, and wants to follow it, just in case Naomi is trying to double back. But Jack tells her to take everyone back to the beach, instead. Naomi is hurt, how could she possibly be in the right frame of mind to double back. Besides, Jack says, “We’ll be sitting on a boat in six hours, laughing about the one last thing we couldn’t agree on.” Kate laughs and they hug–but Kate sneakily takes the phone off Jack’s belt, and Ben sees her.
Back in flash forward land: Hurley is back at the mental hospital–and happy about it. It’s safe there for him–or so he thinks. While in the common room, a man comes up to Hurley saying he is a lawyer from the Oceanic Airline. They feel bad about Hurley’s meltdown and want to extend an invitation for an upgrade at another facility. Maybe a view of the ocean? “I don’t want to see the ocean,” Hurley shoots back. Hurley declines the offer, saying he’s fine. “Are you fine, Mr. Reyes?,” the man asks. Hurley is suspicious: “Who are you again? Can I see a business card?” The guy doesn’t have one. Then he looks at Hugo carefully, “Are they alive?” Hurley jumps up and runs for help, but the guy is gone.
Then later, Hurley is outside when another patient walks by telling Hurley there’s a guy staring at him. He turns, and it’s Charlie. Huh? A dapper looking Charlie, I might add. It was Charlie Hurley saw in the convenience store. Hurley starts to hyperventilate, but Charlie tells him not to freak out. He is dead, that’s true, but he is also here. He slaps Hurley to prove it. Hurley doesn’t want to believe it; he doesn’t want to have an imaginary conversation with his dead friend. He closes his eyes and says to go away. “They need you Hugo. You know they need you,” Charlie hauntingly says before he disappears. WHO needs Hurley and why?
Meanwhile, on the island, Kate has indeed followed the right blood trail, because the one Jack and company are on runs out. Suddenly, the phone rings, and Kate answers. “Where’s Naomi?” the person keeps asking so Kate hangs up. And then Naomi comes out of the jungle and attacks her, trying to find out why she was stabbed after she tried to help them get rescued. Kate says it was Locke and not them. The phone rings again, and this time Naomi answers it. She re-sets the phone so the right signal finally goes through, but she’s dying. “I’m sorry George,” she tells the person on the line. “Tell my sister I love her.” And then Naomi is no more.
Walking to meet everyone else, Sawyer reaches out to Hurley, knowing the big guy is hurting after hearing the news about Charlie. Sort of uncharacteristic of Sawyer, but then again, he might feel a little guilty for shoving Hurley off before, when Hurley wanted to help rescue Jin, Bernard and Sayid. But Hurley doesn’t really want to talk about it. Sawyer says if he wants to, he’ll be there for him and walks ahead.
Suddenly, Hurley loses sight of them, and starts running to find them. That’s when he gets to Jacob’s cabin–and someone’s home. Uh oh. Hurley goes up to the cabin and looks in. Someone, I guess it’s Jacob, is sitting in that damn rocking chair, but someone else comes right up to the window and startles Hurley. He runs away, turns and the cabin is gone. He turns back and the cabin is right in front of him. He closes his eyes, “It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream,” and falls back on the ground. He opens his eyes and Locke is standing there. “Hello, Hugo.”
Hurley admits to Locke, “Jack should have never called those people.” Locke replies, “I couldn’t agree with you more,”. They’ve got to convince Jack these people aren’t coming to rescue them; if they can’t, then Charlie died for nothing. Hurley and Locke catch up with Sawyer, Sayid et. al., who then, in turn, run into the radio tower crew. Tearful reunions abound, but then Hurley sees Claire, looking for Charlie. Hurley says he’ll tell her. Sobbing, he tells her Charlie is dead. Very touching moment.
Then Jack shows up, with Rousseau and Ben, takes one look at Locke and punches him. Then he points the gun at him. “You’re not going to shoot me–“ but Jack pulls the trigger. Nothing. “It’s not loaded, Jack,” Locke says. Oh, Jack’s reeeeally pissed now, but the others stop him from killing the man with his bare hands. Kate finally joins the rest to say Naomi is indeed dead, but she fixed the frequency and the freighter is on the way. Locke knows he has a lot of explaining to do, for all his actions. But the most important thing right now is to get as far away from where they are, as soon as possible. When the boat people show up, they’ve got to be gone. The Others’ barracks is about the only safe place, with some form of security. If they want to live, they need to follow him. Now.
Jack can’t believe it, but Hurley steps up to defend Locke. He says he is going to listen to his friend Charlie, who said the boat people are not who they say they are. He’s going with Locke. Suddenly, the group is splintered. Claire goes with Hurley. Even Sawyer decides to go with Locke; Kate’s incredulous. About half of the others are going with Locke, the other half is staying with Jack. Man of Science vs. Man of Faith, once again.
Kate and Jack are back on the beach, sitting in the fuselage, while it pours outside. Suddenly, they hear a helicopter. They rush to where it lands, and out pops a new guy. “Are you Jack?” The boat people are here.
One last flash forward: Jack visits Hurley at the hospital. He seems to be all cleaned up, but then says he’s thinking about growing a beard. I’m thinking this is a Flash Forward Jack BEFORE he has is breakdown. Hurley asks him, “Are you here to see if I went nuts and was going to tell?” Jack replies, “Are you?” What are they keeping a secret? Then Hurley softens, “Sorry I went with Locke. I should have went with you … but I think it wants us to go back, Jack.” Jack is adamant, “We are never going back!” Hurley simply replies, “Never say never, dude!”
What a trippy beginning to the season. So many new questions, more answers to be had. Can’t wait to see how this whole thing turns out.
