“Everybody Hates Hugo”
Poor Hurley. He is faced with the daunting task of inventorying the hatch’s pantry filled with his favorite thing in the world: food. He even has a dream in which he pigs out and Jin appears to him, speaking English. Yes, they teased us last week in the previews with Jin apparently speaking English, but alas, it was just a dream.
But figuring out how to make the food last isn’t and until then, Hurley isn’t allowing anyone to get anything–no exceptions. He enlists Rose’s help and confides in her that his biggest worry is that everything is going to change. That he’ll be the most hated man on the island once this job is put into action because everyone will want something from him–and he might not be able to give it to them.
Flashing back, we find out Hurley actually kept his winning lottery news from his best friend for the very same reason. He quits his job at a fast-food chicken joint and embarks on a journey to enjoy all the little things he loves best in his life. He acts as if nothing has happened and enjoys the freedom he knows will be lost once he comes clean about his newfound wealth. He asks his best friend to promise that no matter what happens, their relationship will never change. But of course, that doesn’t happen.
Back on the island, Sawyer, Jin and Michael are lifted out of the trap to learn that their captors are actually survivors from the tail section of the plane. “Tailies” as the Lost enthusiasts are calling them. But that doesn’t lessen the antagonism between our hapless three and these survivors. It becomes very clear that the Tailies have had an entirely different 44 days on the island. One of the women tells Michael that 23 of them survived, but when they are taken to yet another bunker (we knew there had to be more than one since the “Dharma Initiative” film mentioned several “stations”), Michael realizes there are only five left. Something went terribly wrong. The good news is that one of those survivors is Rose’s husband, Bernard. Of course, he survived. She never believed he was ever dead.
Back on with our gang, Charlie and Sayid explore the inside of the hatch and come to the conclusion that the strange magnetic wall is made up of Chernobyl style concrete–somebody wanted to cover something up. On the beach, Claire finds the message bottle from the raft and gives it to Sun, fearing the worst. But Sun decides to spare everyone and keep their hope alive by burying the bottle.
Meanwhile, Hurley is at wit’s end about the pantry. So much so he decides to just blow it up in order to spare any unpleasantness. But Rose interrupts him before he manages to pull it off, so Hurley comes up with an alternative solution that satisfies everyone. There’s plenty of food to last for a while, so why not just go hog wild and feast on as much as they want.
It’s a nice reprieve for everyone.
