Lost – Desmond’s mission begins

During the final season of Lost, we’ve seen that after a mythology or story-heavy episode of the show, the following episode usually takes a bit of a step back to reconnect with the characters. Going into tonight’s Hurley-centric episode, I was sure that we were going to see an introspective, character driven story. I wasn’t completely mistaken, but there certainly was a lot of forward movement with the story in “Everybody Loves Hugo.”

In sideways world, we got to see Desmond begin his mission of showing all the passengers of 815 that there was another world out there. For Hurley, that meant reconnecting with Libby, yet another example of love bridging the gap between the two worlds. Hurley’s was certainly a tighter and more focused flashsideways than we have seen in some of the earlier episodes, but I enjoyed it. It was nice to see Libby again.

Desmond’s intentions still are vague at best. What is the endgame of showing everyone the island timeline? Is there going to be a switching over of consciousness? Will people be migrating from one world to another? Does Desmond suddenly know everything that’s going on? My assumption is that he killed, or attempted to kill, sideways Locke to prevent Smokey from being able to enter the other universe through Locke’s body. Could it be that when Smokey keeps talking about leaving the island, he actually means jumping timelines? Did Desmond lie to Smokey on the island when he said that he knew he was John Locke? Ack, there are so many questions.

Luckily, there were some answers to long standing questions tonight. I was certainly hoping that we were going to get a little more history on the Libby character. Was she working with Widmore at some point? Was it just coincidence that it was her boat that Desmond sailed to the island with? Those questions remain, but one question that was introduced as far back as season one was addressed: the whispers. It had been a long time since we heard the whispers on the island. They were used a lot during the early seasons of the show, but now we know exactly what they are: the spirits of those who died on (or around) the island and cannot move on. Because of the things that Michael did, presumably the murders of Libby and Ana Lucia, his spirit is lingering on the island. So, after all those denials, I guess the island is a purgatory of sorts.

I had forgotten that Jack hasn’t seen the resurrected John Locke yet. It’s going to be an interesting episode next week, as Smokey puts the hard sell on the rest of the group. I don’t think they are going to buy into his plan like Sayid and Sawyer have (even if Sawyer is really just looking out for himself).

I’m concerned that Ilana’s gruesome death marked open season of picking off characters. (As an aside, have these characters learned nothing in six years? Stay away from the Black Rock dynamite! At least it won’t get anyone else.) The previews made things look pretty dire for Desmond next week, though I can’t imagine that he’ll meet his end so soon after being given this very important mission. He certainly seemed to get under the Man in Black’s skin, though, didn’t he? Showing no fear in the face on the monster. It reminded me of Ecko’s encounter with the smoke monster back in the second season. We all know how that ended for Ecko.

The writers are certainly keeping a lot tight to the vest. With episodes coming up entitled “The Last Recruit” and “The Candidate,” I have a feeling that things will become clearer soon. Of course, they could just be saving everything for an insanely epic series finale. In any case, I still have faith that everything is going to fall into place. After five and a half seasons, with only six hours of Lost left, now is hardly the time to start losing faith.

Clacked by Bob Degon
on Apr 13, 2010 @ 22:30 EST5EDT