Season 6, Episode 12: "Everybody Loves Hugo"

The title of this episode was "Everybody Loves Hugo." Notice the mirror reflection there to one of the previous episodes way back from Season 2 called "Everybody Hates Hugo." I think this is important as it shows Hurley's life is the complete opposite from what it was pre-crash in the original timeline. He was cursed with bad luck, everything going wrong in his life, he was running from it all. Now here he is the complete opposite, as he says he is the "luckiest guy in the world," seems very happy and content, winning Man of the Year for his charitable work, and now a beautiful woman is in love with him. Total opposite from the original reality. Everybody loves Hugo/Everybody hates Hugo. It is the yin and the yang, the white rock/black rock, good/evil. Mirror opposites for everything.

Side note: Did you notice Dr. Marvin Candle (from the Dharma Initiative videos) was the man presenting the award? Funny.

I think Hurley's alternate timeline is very important in the theory that I talked about last week. LOVE is the connector of the two worlds. Even if they "erased" their past from their memories, they still have the emotion, love, that carries through in both worlds. It takes those feelings to bring back the memories of where they had been in their "past life." I thought it was interesting also that Libby asked him if he believed in soul mates, because soul mates are often referred to as being from another life. When Libby and Hurley are on their "date" and she kisses him, he suddenly remembers everything about her, about being on the island with her, etc. - it is his feelings of love that bring him back to that world. If they truly are "soul mates" it is because they DID know each other in another world, a past life.

I am curious which other survivors we will see encounter feelings of LOVE that will reconnect the two worlds. I am really hoping Sawyer and Juliet will be reconnected in the alternate world, and they will remember each other. She told him on the island just before she died that maybe some people just aren't meant to be together. I think (well, I hope) that they ARE meant to be together and we will see them meet again in their alternate lives. Who else could be connected again? Perhaps Jack and Kate? She has always told him that she is "with" him and always stands by him. I also think Charlie and Claire. He mentioned to Desmond that he saw a girl on the plane and had feelings of love. Remember on the island he always had a little thing for Claire. Maybe they will end up together and he will care for Aaron. I think it is interesting though, that in all the scientific theories about this show, in the end, it is LOVE that brings everything together. Also because the show has always focused so much on faith vs. science (remember, man of faith (Locke) vs. man of science (Jack), and now what prevails? FAITH.

I think it is also really interesting that back on the island, we are seeing different leaders emerge. Always in the past it was Locke and Jack trying to get the others to follow them (as I just said above, man of faith vs. man of science). Now, we have Hurley and Richard doing the same thing. Hurley wants people to go with him to talk to Locke, he does not want them to blow up the plane because he wants OFF the island. He says he is trying to protect them. However, Richard is doing whatever it takes to get rid of the plane so that fake-Locke cannot leave but Hurley blew up the Black Rock so they could not get the dynamite. This is ironic because it was Hurley who was the one to convince Richard that he needed to do whatever it takes to keep the man in black from leaving the island. Now dead Michael shows up and tells Hurley not to do it, and he listens to him? Mind you this is the man who killed the woman he was in love with, Libby. So, as Miles said, why are you listening to dead people who come back and yell at you? Maybe Hurley is "crazy" after all!!! Anyway, Jack tells Hurley that he trusts him and follows him. Once they arrive to see fake-Locke, Hurley makes a "deal" with him that no one will get hurt. Fake-Locke gives him his word. I thought it very strange that as soon as fake-Locke saw Jack, he gave him this very evil grin. Remember, it's not really Locke, it is the "man in black" - so what qualms could he possibly have with Jack? Unless Jack is "the chosen one" to protect the island, that would make HIM fake-Locke's new nemesis and a reason for him to be against him.

Something else I wanted to mention was that when fake-Locke and Desmond were walking through the woods, there was a young dark-haired boy that appeared. Fake-Locke got very upset and told Desmond to ignore him (I was surprised that Desmond could even see him). Anyway, remember a few episodes back there was another incident when fake-Locke saw a different boy - a younger blond boy, covered in blood - also running in the woods. Fake-Locke also got upset at that. My take is that the young blond boy was Jacob and that the dark-haired boy he saw in this episode was HIMSELF (the man in black) as a boy. I think their feud goes all the way back since they were children (I have said many times I think they are brothers), and that perhaps the man in black tried to kill Jacob as a child (which would be the image of him we saw when he was covered in blood). Anyway, just a thought.

So, the episode ends with Fake-Locke taking Desmond to the well (where the hatch once was) and gives him this whole explanation about how the people who dug it there long ago were looking for answers, and he tells Desmond that Charles Widmore is not looking for answers, but for power. Locke asks him why he isn't afraid, and Desmond says what's the point of being afraid? Then fake-Locke throws him down the well. Something tells me that Desmond will be able to get out of there alive, so he can carry out his plan to "save the world" which he feels is his destiny.

Meanwhile, in alternate reality time, Desmond is waiting outside of the school where Ben and Locke are teachers. Ben notices him sitting in his car and questions what he is doing. Just as Locke wheels himself into the road, Desmond floors it and hits him with his car full force. Ben comes running to help him. (Who wants to bet he is going to be taken to the hospital where Jack will be the one to "save" him.) I find it very strange that Desmond - who in the other timeline is ready to save the world from evil - now is the one executing it. All of the lengths the others are doing back on the island to keep Fake-Locke from leaving so as to protect the world from the corruption of "evil," and yet here we see that there is evil all around, even in the alternate timeline. So in this alternate world, did the man in black escape from the island and corrupt the world, or is it just to show that evil exists no matter what?