Lost Recap: "Happily Ever After" and "Everybody Loves Hugo"

As you probably know, I failed to deliver on last week's recap. So for that, I give a double-dose of the LOST blog this week!  Rather than write out a blog for Happily Ever After, I would like to share a video I found on a fellow blogger's website (logankstewart.blogspot.com). This video recaps the episode better than I could ever hope to. Trust me...you MUST see this video.



In short, I loved Happily Ever After. Desmond has long been one of my favorite characters on the show, and definitely one of the most intriguing characters as well. He's clearly a game changer and one who will play a huge role in how the show ends.

Let's move onto Everybody Loves Hugo and seriously, who doesn't love Mr. Hugo Reyes? The guy is one of the most fun, lovable characters on the show, and ultimately, he's just so darn nice. Often times, Hurley has simply been there for comic relief, delivering one liners that bring a smile to our face. At other times, he's served as an advocate for the viewer by asking some of our biggest questions. In season 6 however, Hugo has taken on a much greater role. He's slowly making his voice heard and dare I say it...he's becoming a leader.

Let's start with the flashsideways, which have now become incredibly interesting. I'm really glad that they didn't leave Desmond out of the story for long. Right away we see that he has indeed set out on his mission to contact all the passengers from flight 815 and to show them their island memories.

His meeting with Hugo was charming and insightful. Desmond perks up when he hears that Hurley has already come into contact with Libby, which makes his job even easier. He tells Hurley to go with his gut-feeling. He follows up later and observes Hurley and Libby having their picnic on the beach. Once Hurley and Libby kiss, Desmond can see that his job is done.

On the island, Team-Jacob is scrambling about as they try and figure out what to do next. Richard and Ilana seem determined to blow up the Ajira plane, but Hurley and Jack aren't so sure. In one of the first three jaw-dropping moments of the episode, Ilana is literally blown to pieces when she throws her bag of dynamite to the ground. Poor, poor Ilana. Jacob stopped the dynamite from killing Jack and Richard, couldn't he have done the same for her? I still think Jacob is the good guy, but come on! She devoted her whole life to Jacob and now she will forever be remembered as Artz part II.

Meanwhile, MIB and Desmond are trekking through the jungle when they come to an ancient well. MIB tells Desmond a story of the island's original inhabitants and how they had dug the well to try and find the source of whatever it was that messed with their compasses. He then asks Desmond why he isn't afraid to which Desmond replies, what's the point in being afraid? We then get the 2nd "holy crap!" moment of the episode when MIB proceeds to throw Desmond into the well. I guess I should have seen this one coming, but I sort of expected Desmond to have something up his sleeve. Instead, he just allowed it to happen. At this point, I'm thinking Desmond definitely knows something that we don't (As a side note, I'm a little ticked that the previews for next week showed Desmond alive at the bottom of the well. I mean, I'm thrilled he's alive, but a little suspense wouldn't hurt).

Team-MIB is also trying to decide what to do next. Sawyer is growing impatient, but MIB says they must wait for the rest of the candidates to come to them. Oddly enough, Hugo suggests just that and unfortunately, Team Jacob comes to a crossroads. Richard, Ben, and Miles head to the Dharma barracks to stock up on grenades so they can blow up the Ajira plane (I just have a bad feeling about these three. I don't seem the surviving to the end). Jack, Sun, Lapidus, and Hurley head for camp-MIB thanks to some help from Michael's ghost (finally an answer to the whispers!).

Hurley enters the camp first and makes MIB swear that he won't harm them. Yeah, good luck with that. So now the stage is set for next week when MIB will make his case to Team-Jacob. It will be interesting to see how they respond and also interesting as to whether or not ghost Jacob will make an appearance.

Now back to the flashsideways. For some people (i.e. Hurley), Desmond only needs to show them their loved one to get them to remember. Unfortunately for one John Locke, he's already found the love of his life and she wasn't on the island. Therefore, it's reasonable to assume that there is no reason she would trigger his island memories. So what does Desmond decide to do? He runs over a man in a wheel chair. I have to say, this seems like something we should have guessed, but my jaw fell to the floor (for the 3rd time this episode) when Desmond's car smashed into Locke's wheelchair.

I now find myself asking some very interesting questions about the flash-sideways. How many people will just see their loved one and how many will have to have near death experiences? Let's do a quick tally to see where we stand.

Hugo- Kissed Libby. No near-death experience needed.
Locke- Ran over by Desmond. 'Nuff said.
Sun and Jin- They're already together in the sideways. Near-death experience needed to remember.
Kate- She's already seen both Jack and Sawyer and even though she had a moment of recognition, none of her memories came flooding back. Looking like a near-death experience for her as well
Sayid- He's seen Nadia, but she was never on the island to begin with. Who was you ask? Shannon. He definitely cared about Shannon, maybe even loved her. Lucky for Sayid, no near-death experience required.
Sawyer- He's already seen Kate...but not Juliet. No near-death experience required.


As for Mr. Jack Shephard, here's my semi-bold prediction for the coming weeks. At some point in the next couple of episodes, sideways-Locke is going to be taken to a hospital where he will come into contact with...you guessed it...Jack Shephard. Jack is going to operate on Locke and when he does, I think that will be his moment to remember the island. He will flash back to the moment when he operated on Ben Linus to remove the tumor from his spine. Once Locke wakes up...who the heck knows what he and Jack will set out to do.

If you've been a fan of the show for very long, there are three things you know for certain about LOST. Episodes that focus on Desmond, Locke or Hurley are absolute gold. They seem to stand alone as some of the best episodes in the entire series in part because not only are they well written, but they usually contain quite a few answers as well. Everbody Loves Hugo was no different. The writers have really stepped up their game and the final season has hit the home stretch. I can't wait for it to end...but I'm going to be very sad when it does.