LOST: Everyone Loves Hugo

"Kind of makes you think, doesn't it? Ilana. No sooner does she tell you who you are then she blows up. The island was done with her. Makes me wonder what is going to happen when it's done with us." Excellent point, Ben. Excellent episode. We got answers. We got Libby and Hurley's picnic. Love them! Oh and we got explosions! And death! Woo hoo!

I am much happier with the sideways timeline now that we know what it is. I loved that Pierre Chang (Miles' dad) narrated Hurley's award tribute. This was a cool nod to his Dharma orientation videos. I want Hurley's really cool T-Rex shaped award! Even though I knew Libby would be back in this episode, I was so excited to see her! When she and Hurley met up in the restaurant, I totally started crying, especially when Dr. Brooks came to get her. I loved that their sideways storyline mirrored their island one, where Libby helped Hurley when he thought he was crazy. This time he believes in her when she seems crazy. In this timeline Des is going to work by helping reconnect people. Thanks to his encouragement, Hurley decides to go see Libby. It was cool to see Hurley back at Santa Rosa without being a patient. Did you notice the island drawing on the chalkboard in the rec room? Creepy! When they were talking in the mental hospital, I kept yelling at Libby to touch Hurley (I was sure they could hear me) because that had to be the key to helping him remember. So Libby and Hurley finally got to have their picnic. Once Libby kissed him, Hurley remembered knowing her before. Of course, I teared up again. I love these two together. See everyone really does love Hugo!

Back on the island, things got even more interesting. "God help us if that thing ever leaves the island, because if it do.." BOOM! Bye bye stupid Ilana. I'm glad Jack didn't get a little Ilana on him.. like he got some Arnzt! Ha ha Michael's ghost appeared to tell Hurley that they shouldn't blow up the plane. So what's Hurley's new plan? Uh-oh, it's to pull a Locke by blowing up the Black Rock just like Locke blew up the submarine in season 3. So the group split into Team Hurley and Team Richard. I really liked the scene when Hurley confessed to Jack that he wasn't getting directions from Jacob. I liked it because Jack realized and admitted he had to let things go. He can't fix everything. I can proudly say I no longer think of Jack as a huge jerk (I've always been Team Locke, so me and Jack have had some serious issues.)

A few highlights from island time - I did not like the way Sayid ignored Sawyer and went straight to Flocke. I know the Sayid I loved is gone, but I still can't accept it. Sun's face when she didn't find Jin with Team Flocke was pretty sad. I knew Flocke was going to push Desmond down that damn well. Why didn't Des know it too?! What the hell is up with kiddo in the woods? It appears to be the same actor from the last time a kid showed up, but that kid was blonde and bloody. (Just checked IMDB.com and it's the same actor.) This kid had dark hair. Who the heck is he??!! Old Smokey's smile when he saw Jack was just plain creepy! He must be excited because he thinks his plan is falling all into place.

Finally dumbass Michael apologized for killing Libby. (I still give him props for taking out Ana Louhoa though.) The Whispers come from dead people who are trapped on the island. These spirits cannot move on because of the bad things they did in life. Does this mean every ghost Hurley sees is bad? If that's the case, then doesn't that make Jacob bad? Or is it just the ones who make the whispering noises before they appear? Can the whispering ghosts only show up on the island? He sees Mr.Eko and Charlie both off island. The Whispers have appeared before Walt before but as far as we've seen Walt isn't dead. I'm kind of confused about this whole thing. I think the show just wanted to give an answer for the Whispers and we're just supposed to accept it. But the Whispers appeared before Ben saw his mom when he was a little kid. Does that mean mom was a baddie too? I guess I'll just assume that was Old Smokey using Emily Linus' body to recruit Ben over to Team Other. Just like Old Smokey showed up as Yemi to Eko.

I think I figured out how Desmond is going to fix Flocke. Flocke has shown traces of John Locke already. This has to be original Locke bleeding over into Fake Locke. I think Des is going to talk to Flocke and somehow get Locke to come out in him. Locke's goodness will override Flocke's evilness. Desmond hit sideways John with his car so that John can have a near death experience and remember his island self. Hopefully when John starts to remember, he can start to overtake Flocke's spirit inside his body. I hope the writers know how much we love Locke and that the show cannot end with Old Smokey still in good old John's body!

Next week's episode is called "The Last Recruit" and is rumored to be a multi-centric one. I know it'll be a good one because the story is finally back on track and moving along quickly. FYI, the creepy music in next week's promo is from the original Willy Wonka. (Thanks, Yesenia for figuring that out!) It's "The Wonderous Boat Ride." The song Willy Wonka sings when they are traveling through that freaky tunnel. I just re-watched the clip and there was an eye close-up and crazy brainwashing looking stuff. How very Lost!