LOST, Love, and the Living

Tonight’s episode of LOST, “Everybody Loves Hugo,” was fantastic in many ways – if you have yet to watch it, I warn you that spoilers lie ahead.

Tonight’s episode offered an “explanation” of the whispers. The whispers are dead people, and they are ones that “can’t move on.” And so perhaps the series will end with Hurley looking at a static-filled TV screen shouting “Run towards the light, Michael.” This seemed an unsatisfying explanation made up for the sake of providing an explanation, but it isn’t clear how this relates to whispers heard off the island. And since the smoke monster seems to be unable to simply glide over water, presumably when Christian Shepard appeared to Michael on the boat, it was really the dead Christian Shepard. So the dead can appear on and near the island, not only to Hurley but to anyone they choose? To quote Chad Decker on tonight’s episode of “V”, “I’m not buying it.” It sounds like the producers may not have sidestepped the midichlorian trap after all, and may indeed be offering “explanations” that are worse than no explanations at all. But maybe this is just one more indication that Hurley was right, when he said “Dead people are more reliable than alive people.”

Having said that, there was a lot about this episode that was exciting, thrilling, and deeply satisfying. Having Libby return, in the way that she did, was profoundly moving, as was the interaction with Hugo. And Desmond’s final act in the episode was startling.

The image of the compass returned, as the smoke monster explained the origin of wells on the island. People found their compasses spun over certain spots, and dug holes looking for answers. Presumably in at least one case they found a wheel and some cold dark matter.

We also caught a glimpse of a young boy, one who looked just like the blond boy we saw not long ago. But this one has dark hair.

The light vs. darkness imagery and the relationship between Jacob and the man in black are topics I hope to explore further soon.

If you saw the episode, what did you think of it?