LOST Rewatch: Everybody Loves Hugo

LOST Rewatch: Everybody Loves Hugo April 24, 2015

Hugo eats chickenThe story of Hugo Reyes in the afterlife is the starting point of the episode. His incredible success and philanthropy. Dr. Chang describes his life at an event connected with the dedication of a paleontology wing which he paid for. The title contrasts with the earlier episode title, “Everybody Hates Hugo.” At a restaurant where he is supposed to have a blind date, Libby comes up to him. She has wandered off from a group from the Santa Rosa Mental Hospital. She knows him. Later, Desmond finds Hugo in the Mr. Cluck restaurant and talks to him about it. Hugo then goes and makes a generous donation to the mental hospital in exchange for a chance to talk to Libby. She tells him that a few days ago she saw him on a TV commercial and it was like being hit over the head, and all these memories of a plane crash and an island came back to her. He does not remember, but he asks her out on a date. They go for a picnic on the beach. She kisses him and he remembers. Desmond watches from his car, then drives off.

In the present on the island, Hugo places a flower on Libby’s grave. He suggests that she come talk to him the way others have who died. He hears whispers and then Michael appears to him. He says that people listen to him now, and people are going to get killed if they try to blow up the plane. A little later, Ilana accidentally blows herself up with dynamite. Ben comments that the island was done with her, and that he wonders what will happen when it is done with them. Hugo detonates the Black Rock, saying he was protecting them. Talking to Miles, Hugo says that dead people are more reliable than alive people. Richard, Ben, and Miles go to find more explosives. Hugo persuades Jack, Sun, and Frank to go talk to Locke, claiming that Jacob spoke to him. But later he admits that he lied to get people to listen to him. Richard knows that Jacob didn’t tell him what to do, because he knows that Jacob simply doesn’t tell people what to do on principle. Hugo hears whispers and realizes what they are. He goes to talk to Michael. Others like him who can’t move on are stuck on the island, and that is what the whispers are.

Smokey is waiting because he believes that the only way they can get off the island is with the candidates together, the same way they returned to the island. Sayid returns and has Desmond tied up. Smokey takes Desmond to see something. On their way, they see Smokey as a young boy. They go to the well. Smokey says it is so old that the people who dug it had to do so by hand. He said the people were not looking for water, but for answers – the place made compass needles spin. He says that Charles Widmore is not interested in answers, he is only interested in power. Smokey asks Desmond why he isn’t afraid. Desmond asks him what the point is in being afraid. Smokey throws him down the well. When he gets back, Hugo and his group reach Smokey’s camp.

The episode ends in the afterlife with Desmond driving straight into John Locke’s wheelchair.

There is an important religious theme explored in this episode. On the one hand, we have the notion of a god who doesn’t tell people what to do, wanting them to figure it out for themselves. On the other hand, we find people appealing to what that god said, not always for evil purposes, but still claiming an authority that they have not been granted.

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