Lost: Season 3 Episode 10 - Tricia Tanaka is Dead

Seems like there may have been mixed feelings from everyone on last night's episode. Well, I thought this episode was absolutely brilliant (big surprise, right?)! While we may not be scouring over the Internet to hunt down any clues, just getting back to the beach and having an old fashion good time with the original castaways just seemed to be a long overdue relief! And sure there was a little bit of plot movement at the end (come on, you didn't seriously think we'd get knee deep into Operation Rescue Jack this week did you? Just enough to keep the story on pace) The producers keep hyping up episode 11 as a BIG episode where we will learn more about the others, so we knew there had to be some uneventful ones leading up to it. And I thoroughly enjoyed myself last night! Even had to stop the TiVo a few times just to get the laughter out of my system!

Oh yeah: http://lost.abc.com/ Go there, explore, live it, love it! (eventually, I'm just going to do away with this link!)

Alright, so let's get into it. It's hard to break this one into storylines because all of the castaways kept interacting with each other. But we'll try!

Hurley Flashback

So Hurley's flashback was just adding some more depth to the tragedy behind his character. We learned a bit more about things we heard about before, or just saw. And we got to meet Hurley's Dad. Here's what transpired:

• Hurley used to be thin! We found out that his father abandoning him for 17 years and giving him a candy bar as a parting gift was what put Hurley into a downward (or upward if you consider his weight) spiral. The Candy Bar is a Glacier Candy bar which kinda ties into the whole Polar Bear mystery happening on the island.
  
• Oh yeah and Hurley's Dad is CHEECH!
• Let's see what else, we finally learn why Randy (Hurley's former boss) was both Hurley's boss at Mr. Cluck's (Season 2 - Everybody Hates Hugo) and Locke's Boss at the Box Company (Season 1 - Walkabout). Sure we had guessed previously. But now we see that once Hurley won the lottery and QUIT Mr. Cluck's, he bought it and then hired Randy. I guess we can assume once the Chicken shack blew up he gave Randy a job at the Box Company. Of course, this all must've transpired pretty quickly, because Hurley was practically on his way to Australia by the end of the episode. And Locke was heading to Australia when Randy was picking on him at the Box company. I think the timeline is a bit screwed up here, but maybe there is a piece of information we're still missing. I guess the detail is so minute, that no one will really care if it's a mistake. (I'm probably the only one that noticed!)
• Looks like Hurley's buddy Johnny (skinny guy from Road Trip) ran off with his girlfriend (the one he asked out in the Music Store) after winning the lottery. Just some additional info there.
• Hurley apparently hired the cooks from Bennigans as his butlers. I thought this was fantastic!
• The Golden Jesus for Mom was a nice touch.
• Mom having "needs" was a bit too MUCH! But funny regardless!
• And speaking of that Chicken Shack blowing up. That was pretty crazy eh? We had heard about this in season 1's Hurley Flashback episode when we were finding out all of the bad luck he has been encountering. Now, we got to see it. And we got to hear him mix up Meteors and Asteroids again. But this just reinforces that there is CLEARLY some bad luck or a higher power that Hurley is encountering. Will we ever found out HOW this bad stuff is happening? Who knows? But it definitely adds to the mystery of the show!
• The bit with the psychic was hysterical. I'll admit, I kinda saw where it was going but having Hurley name the right price and the psychic caving was fantastic.
• And the overall theme of the flashback was to "Make your Own Luck" which inspires Hurley back on the island to try and "finally win one"

Hurley and the NEW Adventures of Scooby Doo (err Vincent!)

Well, I'm convinced after this episode that we need more episodes that put Hurley, Charlie, Sawyer, Jin, and even Vincent together! I mean, the comedy that ensued was fantastic. Maybe Sawyer was just going through withdraw on his name calling, but he was spatting them off like there was no tomorrow. The plot? Hurley wanted to get a VAN started because it would be fun...and life on the island has been anything but fun recently (harkens back to the good ol' days when Hurley created the golf course). Here's some comedy, and some other tidbits that came out of the whole thing:

• Vincent has returned!
• Okay, I can't even save the best for last. The nicknames? They were a wonderful thing.
  
  Sawyer calls:
  Hurley - Snuffy (an old favorite), Jumbotron
  Jin - "Someone here is hooked on Phonics!"
  Charlie - Jiminy Cricket
  
  Hurley Retaliates to Sawyer with "Red....neck......MAN" followed by a fantastic drunken "touché " by Mr. Ford.
  
  Roger (The skeleton) aka DHARMA Janitor is called:
  Skeletor
  Roger Workman
  
• Teaching Jin English all episode was a fantastic subplot. And bets are on to who will learn English faster. Jin or Hiro (from Heroes)!
• Speaking of teaching Jin English, 3 things a woman needs to hear? "I'm sorry" "You are right" "No, those pants don't look fat on you" Thanks Sawyer!
• Hurley, please define CRAFTY for Jin? "Crafty is like....when you're good at Crafts!"
• Anyone else craving some old Dharma Beer? Everyone except maybe Hurley who suggested it had been there since before Rocky III or maybe even II! Oh, I could keep going, it was great!
• All of the comedy around Roger the skeleton was just fantastic (i think i've used that word one too many times now!). Hurley being so nonchalant about it, Sawyer getting scared by the detached skull. Really, we needed this episode to feel good about LOST again!
• Hurley slapping some sense (literally) into Charlie was a good time. And it got Charlie out of his "I'm going to die" funk. Was Hurley's logic correct though that if they defied death in the VAN PLUNGE that death is not out to get Charlie? And what did Desmond mean when he said "That's not how it works" in reference to telling Charlie when he's going to die? I guess he has to wait to get one of his crazy flashes of the future.
• Not sure if this was intentional but when Hurley and Charlie were sliding down the hill in the Van they were heading straight to some BLACK ROCKS.
• So the song playing in Hurley's flashback and also when the 8-track player started working in the Van was Three Dog Night's "Shambala" Now, I have too much of a life (debatable!) to look into what this song is about and if there are any ties to the meaning behind all of LOST. But if you really want to find out more about it...you can go to this wikipedia link right here.
• Oh yeah, and we saw a new MAP! From the explanation on lost.cubit.net, it appears the DHARMA crew was looking to build a dirt road to the Swan station. And the Swan station is pretty detailed. You can click on the picture to enlarge or just go here for a larger picture
  
  
  Plot Movement & Other Interesting Tidbits with the Castaways
  
• As Kate and Sawyer were returning to the island she gave him one last chance to apologize for saying that Kate prefers Jack. Sawyer refuses. I guess we can determine from the "Welcome Back Sawyer" comment (instead of James has she had been calling him) that whatever happened on Alcatraz 2.0, STAYS on Alcatraz 2.0. In other words....Jack is fair game for Kate again! (Too bad Jack is cozying up with Juliet!)
• Anyone remember why there was just a dart lying out in the jungle? Is anyone really intrigued to find out WHY it was there if we didn't already know about it? Yeah...I didn't think so!
• The reunion of Kate and Sawyer with the castaways was a touching moment, wasn't it? Kinda got the sense that everything would be going back to "normal" on the island. Except with Sawyer hugging everyone? That was kinda a bit strange. But at least it was soon followed by normal SAWYER...not "Tortured by the others" Sawyer.
• 2 Weeks in a row with Musical Montages! This one features our Couples: Jin and Sun, Charlie and Claire, Sawyer and his Dharma Beer and Hurley and the Van. Sawyer is obviously drinking his sorrows away and already misses the company of Kate. (So obvious, I'm not even sure why I wrote it!)
• I loved that the characters finally got each other up to speed (The braintrust of Locke, Sayid and Kate). Sometimes we're just meant to assume this happens. But I thought it served as a good reminder to even the audience of what was going on. A la...Michael and Walt have left the island (meaning we'll hear from them again eventually!), Eko's Death, Othersville, Karl. Was anyone else intrigued by Locke's fascination at the possibility that the others can get off the island? He is the one person that doesn't want to leave the island! Some people may see all of these details as space fillers and pointless, but I thought these "Catch Up" scenes were essential.
• And that leads to our big PLOT movement at the end. I'm confused to if Sayid was sarcastically commenting on Locke's "Compass Bearing of NORTH" and the explanation that the way the sun reflected off of Eko's Stick gave him the bearing. But apparently this all led to the explanation of why they haven't gone to look for Kate, Jack and Sawyer.
• I think we could've guessed that Kate would turn to Rousseau at the end of this episode once she said she was going to recruit help (if not Locke and Sayid, then who else could really help her?). Finally, someone remembers that Alex is the name of Rousseau's daughter and they TOLD her! Now, we may get to see whose side Danielle is on and if she DID know Ben before firing an arrow into his chest. But for now, the wheels are in motion to rescue Jack and Alex!

And that's that. As stated, I thought this episode was a much needed hour of comic relief with enough plot movement at the end to not make the episode totally pointless. As we should know by now, LOST moves at a slower pace than other shows to develop characters. If you are too frustrated with the snail's pace, then maybe waiting for DVD is the route for you! For me? I think 7 days between episodes is a short enough wait time now!

So next week is the big OTHERS episode. We get to meet Eye-Patch Man, maybe learn a little (or a lot) about the others and their connection to DHARMA. And of course we're going to start trying to rescue Jack! This is straight from the producers and not ABC, so I'm sure we can hold some weight in the words. But keep your expectations LOW because you'll only end up disappointed if you don't!

Hope you enjoyed the blog. Thanks to the NEW commenters for sharing your thoughts last week. Please keep it up. One day, my dream is that people will actually converse back and forth about the show in the comments! Ahhh and what a hopeless dream it is! Did I miss any of the good comedy from last night? Please share and see you next week!