Everybody Loves Hugo: All-Encompassing Recap/Theories by ISCOREHOOP

This theory is a bit long, but it recaps the most recent episode and provides some personal theories/insight as to what is going on. I think it is worth the read for anybody really interested in what is going on.

In the most Hurley-centric episode, we do not learn anything new or groundbreaking, yet there are several important things that seem to be strengthened and confirmed. I will discuss these in just a moment, but I’d like to begin by noting some observations I made throughout the episode.

In an episode that begins with what seems may be Hurley’s eulogy, we quickly learn that he is being honored for his philanthropic generosity, which is no surprise as Hurley has always represented the unadulterated heart throughout the series. Interesting to note that Pierre Chang, lead on-island scientist of the Dharma Initiative in the 70s, was giving the speech.

While the surface of the show was centered around Hurley, I think that more of the show’s substance was actually once again dedicated to Desmond. In a continuation from the final scene of last week’s episode when Desmond asks for the manifest of flight 815, we see Desmond now seems to be running the show in the ALT timeline. It is unclear what his ultimate plan is, but it is evident that he wants the other Losties to discover their other life, as he was able to do through remembering Penny.

It is interesting to note, that all the characters who have acted as a catalyst for remember the island timeline are actually dead in that timeline. Charlie was the first to have flashes of his alternate life (Claire) and he helped to spark Desmond’s memory. Likewise, Daniel also had knowledge of his alternate life (Charlotte) and he too spoke to Desmond about it. And now, in this most recent episode, we learn that Libby has had memories of her island timeline with Hurley. Certainly not a coincidence that all these characters, Charlie, Daniel and Libby were all killed on the island. Going a step further, I think it is also interesting to note that they all died valiant deaths.

Perhaps, such an on-island death allows these characters to pass on. And maybe, what is passing on, is their consciousness to their other timeline. As Charlie, Libby and Daniel all die a good death, maybe their consciousness passes on to their ALT timeline and they begin to have memories of their island timeline. Thus, contrasting with Michael, who we learn is trapped on the island and explicitly states that he cannot move on.

While on the topic of Michael, let’s discuss his role in this episode. So Michael tells Hurley not to blow up the plane or a lot of people will die. He also tells him he is stuck on the island and cannot pass on, presumably because of his sins of murder. But telling us that the whispers we’ve been hearing for 6 seasons are the dead people who cannot pass on? I mean come on. Talk about the writers delivering a cheap answer without any substance. I am all for answers—I mean who isn’t? But I am all about how those answers are delivered to us. I have heard many people criticize Lost for the lack of answers we get. Well, first off, over 6 seasons, we clearly have gotten a ton of answers and more so this season than any other. But the bottom line is, certain questions just won’t get answered, most likely the core question of what the island actually is. This is part of the show—it is part of what adds to the mystery and mythology of the island, making it such a special! place. And in this instance, I feel that the writers made a cheap sacrifice of the integrity of the Island to please impatient viewers. After 6 seasons of wondering Richard’s origins, we finally learn how old he truly is, where he originated from, how he got to the island—and all in a very rich way. And after 6 seasons of hearing whispers, all we get is Michael’s explicit statement to Hurley that all along this has just been the dead people who cannot pass on? Really disappointing stuff.

Also, Michael’s assertion that he is stuck on the island and cannot move on confirms that the Island does have some element of judgment and punishment. This has been a theme throughout the show but nothing that has ever been explicitly confirmed. Now it has been.

Moving on, Desmond starts his ALT timeline work with Hurley and is glad to hear that Hurley met Libby who had remembered Hurley. Desmond gently encourages Hurley to follow up with her, obviously hoping that he would remember her and the island timeline. As I’m sure you all noticed, Desmond was number 42. Now, I always have been a firm believer that the juxtaposition of the Valenzetti numbers is significant. That is, I do not believe the writers are randomly throwing in a ‘23’ here or a ‘42’ there. Moreover, I think the following line was more important than the placement of the number itself. Desmond does not say to Hurley “my food is ready” or “they called my number.” He boldly states to Hurley, “That’s me, brutha.” Now, I’m not really sure where that leaves of us. I am not stating that Desmond is number 42 or that this has an implication upon Jin (assuming Jin is the Kwan), but I think Desmond’s statement after hearing the number was important.
Another thing I found significant is the first words Flocke speaks to Desmond, as he has done so many times before. Again, this supports my theory that MIB really may not be evil and he genuinely may have been betrayed by Jacob who may of “stole his body, stole his humanity”, etc etc…The first thing he does when he sees Desmond is apologize for having to had tie him up—same way he has apologized to every single character he had to inflict any sort of pain or evil upon in order to help him achieve his goal. Yes, this could just be manipulation, but I genuinely think he may be misunderstood and he is not the evil character that we have been led to believe he is for so long. Again, remember, Richard was the only person who has ever spoken to Jacob on the island and all word between Jacob and the people of the island has come from Richard. All Jacob had to do was convince Richard, as we saw him do in Ab Aeterno and the rest would be history. But, we’ll see about this w! hen we see the origins of Jacob and MIB and how they came to fulfill the roles they did, how Jacob betrayed MIB (if he did), and why/how he is trapped on the island. And yes, I think we will definitely see this in one of the remaining six episodes.

Now, I will work my way towards the end of the episode, starting with the death of Ilana. After all the significance of her character, it was a pretty disappointing way to see her die. Her death leads me to one of two conclusions—either the Island was done with her as Ben states, or the Island had no role in her death at all. That is, maybe the Island was done with her and caused the freak death. Or maybe you interpret it that such a freak death could only mean the Island never had any role in it to begin with.

Moving on, after Hurley blows up the Black Rock and Richard has a hissy-fit, Miles asks Hurley why he listens to the dead people he meets. Hurley replies, “Because dead people are more reliable than alive people.” A seemingly meaningless statement, but one that affirms what we are seeing in the ALT timeline. As previously stated, in the ALT timeline, we are seeing that all those that died on the island are the ones who are the reliable ones with knowledge of their island timeline. And, even on the Island, the dead seem to have a greater knowledge of the end plan and how everybody works into it.

Now, let’s move into the final Locke-Desmond connection. As Flocke extends his hand to help up Desmond, Desmond grabs his hand and accepts the help without hesitation. In almost every episode, we have seen Flocke extend his hand to a character, most of whom have not accepted (e.g. when he extended his hand to Sun in the jungle and she ran). Like Jacob, it seems that MIB has a touch that is of significance.

In the third to final scene, Flocke takes Desmond out to a well where they have a brief conversation about it. Flocke states to Desmond “You’re probably wondering what this well is.” Desmond responds “You read my mind.” Again, no coincidental choice of words. A subtle reference to MIB reading/scanning people’s minds as Smokey.

In the end of this scene, Flocke asks Desmond why he is not scared and then throws him down the well. At this point, we can only really assume that Flocke was trying to kill Desmond because he knew that Desmond was Widmore’s “weapon” against MIB. If so, then his actions had no deeper meaning than trying to eliminate the defense against him getting off the island. What is way more significant is why Desmond is not scared and the action he took in the final scene of the episode.

In the ALT timeline, Desmond seems to finally be clear in what he is trying to do and that is getting the Losties to remember their Island timeline. So, it came as a shock when Desmond tries to kill Locke…Or did he? I have three theories regarding this final scene and I will present them in order that I believe they are true (the first theory is the one I think is most likely).

My first theory is that Desmond was not at all trying to kill Locke, but rather wanted to be the cause of a near-death experience for Locke. The reason for this is the same as all the other actions he has taken so far—he wants Locke to recall the island. It is important to remember that a near-death experience seems to spark these memories. We see this in the very first episode of season 6, as Juliette is near-death in Sawyer’s arms and she has some sort of memory or memory lapse and she states “it worked” right before she dies. Charlie also tells Desmond of how his memory of Claire and the island came just as he was about to die from choking on the drugs he had swallowed. So, Desmond was clearly armed with this knowledge and perhaps like Charlie had, he wanted Locke to have a near death experience in order to trigger memories of the island. In accordance with this theory, there is a distinct possibility that he could also be trying to trigger memories for Jack, as t! here is a fair chance that Locke could end up before Jack at the hospital. I can already see next week’s episode showing Jack operating on Locke and having flashes of him operating on Ben and/or Boone in the island timeline. Either way, I think his actions were to cause a near death experience in order to trigger Locke’s memories and quite possibly Jack’s too.

The second theory is a little more out there, but there is a very distinct scene at the beginning of the first episode which is really bolstering this theory for me. As I have stressed in my last three theories, consciousness, namely loss of consciousness, is a portal to regain conscious in the opposite timeline. We saw Sun run into the tree on the island, lose consciousness and regain consciousness in her ALT timeline with Jin. In last week’s episode, we saw the same happen with Desmond several times and every time he lost consciousness in one timeline he would awake in the other. Well, what would happen to Locke if he lost consciousness in the ALT timeline, since he is dead and MIB has taken over his body on the island? Could he regain his consciousness in his body on the island? Well, perhaps rather than trying to cause a near-death experience, Desmond was trying to cause a loss of consciousness for Locke. Keep in mind, at this point, Flocke had already thrown Desmond i! nto the well in the island timeline, so Desmond is well aware that this is not the real Locke on the island (and he probably was aware of this before he even got pushed into the well). Anyway, point is, perhaps Desmond wanted Locke to lose consciousness in the ALT timeline so that he could regain it in the Island timeline. Now, here is the kicker that really supports this theory. In the very first scene of this episode that we see Flocke, he is carving some sort of bamboo rod, to which Sawyer questions “Is that going to be a spear?” Now, the image of Locke with his trademark knife carving a piece of wood is not reminiscent of MIB, but classic Locke. As if that is not enough, (F)locke responds “I’m not sure what it’s going to be James, when the time is right, it’ll tell me.” An eerie throwback to the epitome of Locke’s character—the unwavering faith he had in the island that it would speak to him when the time is right. Again, I am reluctant to believe that! the opening scene of Flocke in this episode is an image that ! is reminiscent of Locke and his opening line is paradigm Locke response. So, tying this back into the theory, perhaps Desmond has actually caused Locke a loss of consciousness and perhaps we are seeing some slight reemergence of the true Locke in the island timeline. And if I am wrong about this theory as a whole, I still believe Flocke appearing as the true Locke in the opening scene has some significance.

The first two theories pertain to Desmond trying to cause a near-death experience or cause a loss of consciousness for Locke. The third theory is that he was genuinely trying to kill him. We know from several episodes back that MIB is trapped in Locke’s body on the island. Prior to this, he was able to assume many bodies while not being stuck in them and we have yet to really understand why. Perhaps because this was his form when Jacob died, or perhaps because Locke served as part of the loophole. Either way, we know he is stuck in Locke’s body and has some sort of concrete connection with him at this point. Well, what would happen if he gets off the island? Would he all of a sudden morph back into his human form and assume a normal life off the island? I don’t think so. I think the link to Locke is more permanent than that and I think that his way off the island would have something to do between the two timelines and I think that he would perhaps remove himself from! the island timeline altogether. So, I think that Desmond was potentially trying to actually kill Locke as some means of preventing MIB from getting off the island or being able to reach this timeline. Again, this is my third of the three theories and I think this theory to be the most unlikely, but still a possibility.

So, with six episodes remaining, where are we left and what can we expect to see?

As I stated before, I think the writers HAVE to show us the origination of Jacob and his counterpart. I think that we will see them as children and learn their originations and how they became how they are. I think that the story will follow true to the biblical story of Jacob and Esau and that MIB was telling the truth in what he told Richard in Ab Aeterno. I predict that we will see Jacob betray MIB somehow, even if it is for good purposes. I think we will learn of how and why MIB is trapped on the island.

I believe we will also be shown the origins of all the Egyptian references on the island, such as the statue and the hieroglyphs. The Egyptian stuff has played too prominent of a role on the Island for us not to learn more about it. I think that either Jacob and his counterpart are originally from this time period and this is the origin of all Egyptian that we see or that we will seen a much earlier people brought to the Island that spread this culture to the island. As I am personally fascinated by ancient Egyptian mythology, I know I will be sorely disappointed if the writers don’t clue us in on this.

I think we may possibly learn something revealing about the Island as an entity itself. Where does it get its powers? Where did it come from? And perhaps the biggest question of all: what is the island? I don’t think all these questions will be answered and I don’t think there is any way of truly answering those questions without ruining the mystery of the show that makes the island so special, but I do think we will find out something fundamental to the island that does not necessarily have to do with Jacob, MIB or any other power that affects or controls the island.

Expect to learn who the boy is that we have now seen on two separate occasions. I first theorized that this was Jacob as a child. The first time we saw him he had blood dripping down his face and this was just after Jacob was killed. Also, it looked much like a younger Jacob. However, this may be a bit too obvious so this might not be a young Jacob. Some have proposed that he represents the island itself and the “rules” of the island. Either way, I think we will definitely learn more about him, his origin and the rules of the island that have been referred to many times.

I think that we will learn something more about Widmore and Eloise. As mentioned in my last theory, in their ALT timeline, they both seem to have knowledge that spans both timelines, which no other character has. Every other character lives separate lives, completely unaware that their alternate timelines exist, although that is obviously starting to change, most clearly with Desmond. But in the last episode, when Eloise tells Desmond he has the very thing he has always wanted, Widmore’s approval, we obviously learn that she has knowledge that spans both timelines, as it was the island Desmond that wanted Widmore’s approval. And even before this season, Eloise clearly always had a greater knowledge of the grand plan than all other characters—I think we will learn more of this.

I think there is some chance that Aaron plays some sort of role in this all, but I really cannot say what role.