Lost Season Six, Episode Twelve "Everybody Loves Hugo"
I got in a heated conversation with a fella at work (whose opinions I generally respect) about the Ilana detonation scene. I loved it; Juice and I reacted viscerally, and then laughed. My co-worker hated it – thought it was cheap, saw it coming, they had done it before, etc. etc. I took more of an issue with some clunky dialogue – “I guess that explains The Whispers” or whatever – and how rushed Hugo’s acceptance of the alternaverse seemed toward the end. But I loved other moments, including pretty much everything with fake Locke and Desmond, in both worlds.
The episode moved the plot ahead nicely. The remaining candidates are now in Locke’s camp, ready to be tempted. There wasn’t a whole lot of food for thought, though; there were only two things worth marinatin’ on for a minute. One, the kid appeared again, the one that cropped up in The Substitute, when he appeared to Locke and Sawyer, telling Locke “you know the rules, you can’t kill him.” This time he appears to have dark hair. Why does the boy have a different colour of hair now? Who is he? Smart money’s on Jacob or the MIB, though as reincarnation or ghost, I don’t know.
The other thing that seemed to merit some reflection was the final scene, in which alterna-Des alterna-runs over alterna-Locke. It does indeed seem that Widmore had more detailed instructions for him than we got to see last week. But is he trying to kill Locke (as I thought) or trying to give him a near-death experience (as Noel Murray at the AV Club thought )? Or is he trying to force an encounter between Jack and Locke, when Locke goes in to the hospital? One thing’s for sure: heavy alternaverse shit is going to go down at what we must assume is alternaverse LA’s only hospital, as Claire, Sun and Jin, Jack and now Locke (with Ben accompaniment?) are all going to be there. Will Aaron be born? Will Jack save Locke’s life? etc. etc.
Speaking of Aaron, here’s some speculation I was working on before this episode: why is the Man in Black as yet nameless? It’s starting to get awkward. Things are often left out in Lost because the writers are saving them for a big reveal. So, perhaps there is something dramatic about his name. Two theories: 1. he and Jacob are the same person, 2. his name is Aaron (or someone else we have already met).
The Aaron theory holds up well when you consider the conversation MIB has with Kate about his mother earlier in the season – he could be talking about Claire, or Kate, or someone else (we don’t know yet who raises Aaron). I’m not sure however that a) all the details really make sense and b) the writers want to go back to time travel paradox loop territory. I personally hope they do, I loved season 5.
It was a pretty enjoyable episode, but i’d say it was pretty weak over all. And the whole, “oh the whispering is dead people,” seemed to play out in a contrived sort of way. I thought, “awesome, they brought back Michael”. But every scene he was in was kind of meh. And that actor is awesome. It seemed like a waste.
I think Desmond runs over Locke to give him the near death experience he needs to see the ‘other side’. I mean, what reason would he have for trying to kill Locke?
I hadn’t even thought about the fact all those people are converging on the hospital. Nice.
Well, if you subscribe to the theory that Locke “getting off the island” means him escaping to the alternaverse and/or making the alternaverse the only reality, as it were, then perhaps killing Locke means there is no body there for MIB to escape to. I mean, who knows – it’s not like we know how these things work.
But really, the way the scene is staged, sure looks like Brutha is out for blood.