'Lost': Tricia Tanaka is Dead

While not quite as divisive as "Exposé," this episode nevertheless starts a lot of fights among Lost fans. Some see it as a waste of time; others see it as the perfect tonic to the nearly morbid levels to which the show had sunk in the early part of Season 3. Me? I see both sides of the argument, but coming at it this time around, I saw it primarily as a palette cleanser: a way to segue between the Hydra arc and the search for New Otherton. Throw in some great character work, and you have an episode that might not sit atop the pantheon of great episodes but provides an enjoyable episode.

(Read my initial review here.)

Tricia Tanaka is Dead

4) In Short

"You ride shotgun, bang, whassup with that thang?"

8) On the Island

On the beach, Hurley is summing up the misery that is Season 3 to Libby's grave. Heartbreaking speech. Nearby, he comes across Charlie, still moping about that whole "you're gonna die, brutha" thing. Instead of telling Charlie he's insane in the membrane, Hugo quietly agrees, noting that he brings death to those around him. Way to be Up with People, Hurley. Just at that moment, Vincent comes to them bearing a present: a rotted arm with a set of keys on the end. On the set is a rabbit's foot.

Hurley chases Vincent into the jungle. Eventually, Vincent drops the arm, allowing Hurley to pick up the keys. A few yards later, Vincent leads Hurley to an overturned van. Hugo's reaction? "Awesome." Inside the van is the rest of the body to which the rotted arm used to belong.

Back on the beach, Paulo is complaining about the lack of oat bars. Meanwhile, on my couch, I'm complaining about the surfeit of Paulo. Nearby, Sun is trying to teach Jin English through complete immersion. Hurley interrupts the semi-domestic scene and tells everyone triumphantly that he's found a car that they can all fix up together. However, no one shares his enthusiasm for the project. Hurley tells the group that they all need some "fun" since the events following Michael's return to their group. No one is interested; but Jin gets "volunteered" thanks to his lack of English comprehension.

In the jungle, Kate and Sawyer are five minutes from the beach. Kate worries about telling the group why Jack is missing; Sawyer's more concerned with the dart suddenly stuck into his foot. After pulling it from his foot, Kate seeks to clear the air before they return to camp. Kate wants him to apologize, and I'm wracking my brain as to what he's supposed to apologize for. Then again, this happens a lot when it comes to my wife, so I'm just gonna assume Kate's in the right here. Sawyer refuses to apologize, and thus the two return to camp as a fractured pair. Montage time, as Kate and Sawyer reunite with their compadres on the beach. But Sawyer and Kate are only focused on what's been lost, not gained.

Back at the van, Hurley and Jin catch site of a tag on the man's shirt: "Roger Workman." In the back, Jin finds a stash of beer. Taste great, once you wash off the taste of aerosol-based weaponry.

On the beach, Charlie demands that Desmond tell him the exact time he's gonna die. He has a right, you know! A bloody right! Des tells him it doesn't work that simply, but before they can have a sexy accent-off any longer, Sawyer barges in. He wants to know where his stash went in his absence! For the second season in a row! He can't believe those two drank his scotch, and wants to know the third culprit that drank his precious libation.

Jin and Hurley have large poles to use for leverage and turn the van upright. Sawyer comes in seeking revenge, and all he gets is a massive bear hug from Hurley. Totally sweet moment that takes Sawyer as much by surprise as the viewing audience. Hurley takes the news of Jack's current incarceration quite well, all things considered. Things are looking up in Hugoville, and he bribes Sawyer with beer in order to help fix the van.

Back by the shore, Kate has brought Sayid and Locke up to speed on the events on Hydra Island. Locke's particularly interested about the stash of boats The Others have. "So...they can leave the Island," Locke muses, with a symphony of destruction tuning up in his head. Despite Jack's warning, Kate is going after Jack. And she's off to get help.

At the van: success! The van is successfully overturned, and the scavenging begins. Sawyer finds blueprints for a dirt road aside some beer and Roger's head, lost when Hurley and Jin tried to liberate him earlier. As Jin and Hurley try to fix the van, Sawyer drinks beer aside a newly assembled Roger. He notes that "Workman" isn't his last name, but rather a job title: work man, aka, janitor. Hurley can't worry about beer: all he worries about is the fact that the van won't start.

Sawyer gives Jin the Rosetta Stone treatment, teaching him words such as "car" and "beer" while Hurley prays for help. Sawyer tosses him help in the form of 12 ounces of flat beer, which rolls down a nearby hill. Hurley smiles as he watches the can tumble down the incline. He makes a beeline for the beach and finds Charlie in major mope mode. Hurley literally slaps the mope of Charlie's face, saying they both could use a "win" given recent events.

At the Dharma School for English, Sawyer's teaching Jin phrases to drop on Sun whenever she's mad at him. "I'm sorry," "You were right," and "Those pants don't make you look fat," make the list. I would have added, "It wasn't me," but this isn't the year 2000 anymore. Hurley returns with Charlie, and everyone but Hurley pushes the car to the edge of hill. As Vincent joins the foursome, they all notice that it's a lot steeper than originally anticipated.

Sawyer and Jin try to stop Hurley from driving down the hill. Hurley's plan: to pop the clutch halfway down and jumpstart the car. Charlie agrees to ride shotgun: "Victory or death!" Hurley's plan works, as the two narrowly avoid a series of rocks at the bottom of the hill after Hurley's constant refrain, "There is no curse!" An 8-track player in the car starts playing Three Dog Night's "Shambala" as the merry duo pick up their friends and have themselves a little drive.

It's a scene both inconsequential and completely necessary, as it brings back a human element nearly forgotten in the sci-fi/mythology-heavy Season 3. As if to drive the point home, the show then gives us a Season 1 staple: the musical montage in which we see various characters that we know and love interacting on the beach. Well, most of them are: Sawyer looks on jealously at several couples as he sips beer by himself on the shore.

At night, in the jungle, Kate finds one of Rousseau's old traps. She hears a noise nearby, and discovers not the French woman but Locke and Sayid. They want to know why she didn't seek their help in finding Jack; she cites their lack of motivation and knowledge of the Others' whereabouts. Locke cites Eko's Jesus stick as a possible clue ("Lift up your eyes and look north," John 3:05), something about which Sayid is clearly skeptical. At that moment, shots ring out: and who should appear but Danielle. She doesn't want to help Kate find the Others' camp, until she hears about a 16-year old girl named Alex who helped Kate escape them just a few days ago.

15) Off the Island

Young Hugo walks out to greet his father in their driveway. Thee Dog Night's "Shambala" is playing on the radio. Looks like this is their weekly ritual: fixing up a car that is seemingly beyond repair. Hurley thinks this repetitive act is stupid; Hurley father David replies that hope is never stupid, and in this world, you have to make your own luck. (I thought we had to make our own kind of music?) He then tells Hugo that car repair will have to wait; he's off to Vegas, but he'll be back soon. Riiight. As a going away present, he gives Hurley a candy bar. Gee, I hope Hugo doesn't associate food with stunting the pain of his father's loss.

Tricia Tanaka, local reporter, is interviewing newly minted bazillionaire Hurley. Looks like Hurley bought the old Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack in which he used to work. Instead of giving her the puff piece she seeks, he starts listing off all the bad things that have happened in the interim: Granddad's heart attack, the fire in his mother's new house, his best friend running away with his dream girl, Tom Brady suffered a massive knee injury...things have been tough, Tricia! Tricia angrily goes into the Shack to shoot some footage, and while she's inside, a frakkin' meteor falls from the sky and destroys Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack. Horrifying and hysterical all at once.

Hugo returns home, covered in the remnants of Mr. Cluck's. Hugo's mother refuses to believe in curses, what with the Christian imagery every sixteen inches inside the palatial mansion. Hurley insists on going to Australia, but Hugo's mom has a way to prove he's not cursed. Who should then appear but Hurley's long-long father. Now, I ain't sayin' he's a gold digger. But he ain't messin' with no broke Hugo...

Awkward dinner party alert! Hugo's furious about his David's presence, thinking he's only back for the money. His mother insists she called him to provide Hugo with a manly influence in order to get over the supposed "curse." Hugo freaks out, and it only gets worse when he realizes that his folks are at risk for giving him a younger sibling. Shudder. To break the tension, Hugo's mom suggests that he show David what's in the garage. Inside? A nearly full refurbished version of the Camaro.

The following morning, David wakes Hugo up. He wants to take his son on an adventure to break the curse. The two go to a psychic, who seems to know a lot about Hugo's recent fate. However, disbelief turns to anger as Hurley realizes that David previously paid off the psychic in order to alleviate Hurley's stress.

While Hurley packs, David admits he returned for the money, but thinks Hurley should give away the money if it means his son can have a little hope. He suggests the two make that road trip to the Grand Canyon discussed seventeen years ago; Hurley says he'll send him a postcard from Australia. As Hugo leaves, David tells him he'll be there when Hugo returns.

16) The Mythology

"Wash away my troubles, wash away my pain
With the rain in Shambala
Wash away my sorrow, wash away my shame
With the rain in Shambala..."

Just thought I'd quote that oft-used song here, given the oft-used rainstorms that seem to pop up in important scenarios in the Lost universe.

If so much of the Island is, as I theorize, not merely mind OVER matter but mind INTO matter, is it not possible than the various, frequent, violent, and geographically specific rainstorms on the show are not merely meteorological in nature, but psychological as well? In the movie Men in Black II, Rosario Dawson played an alien princess that could affect the weather with her moods. (Um, spoiler alert.) Could an entity likewise affect the weather? Or could the Island itself merely produce rain in much the same way it produces other aspect of a character's inner consciousness?

23) The Moment

I know I should go for the meteor, but the Hurley/Sawyer hug sets up their relationship over the course of the next two years. It's a wonderful, wonderful moment.

42) In Retrospect

How would Sawyer have reacted if he knew he was sharing brews with Ben's dad? Somehow I think he would have been less convivial.

108) In Summary

Earlier, I referred to the scene in which the Fab Four drive around in the Dharma van as "...a scene both inconsequential and completely necessary..." By that, I merely took Hurley's lead: the very act of driving a van around in circles is quite pointless, but the feelings which it produces are essential. Not only did the show finally see our heroes acting something other than "glum," it showed us the camaraderie that made us love these characters in the first place.

Now, I'm a mythology buff, no doubt. Little excites me more than trying to piece together than vast history of the Lost universe bit by bit. But what makes the exercise more than merely academic are the people that inhabit that universe. Were they not individuals we could root for, feel for, and yes, even yell at on more than a few occasions, what you are left with is nothing more than cold, clinical plotting. But in scenes in which our heroes do little else than enjoy their first vehicle ride in months, we once again are reminded of why we watch this show in the first place.

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Ryan also posts every 108 minutes over at Boob Tube Dude, then peruses Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to leave questions for the producers and cast of Lost here.