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Twitter'Light vs. Dark' in 'Lost': Hurley's cluckety cluck-cluck dream
It's been a while since I've brought the "Light vs. Dark" series back to the "Lost" blog. But with our two-week look at The Others drawing to its conclusion, it's high time to bring the series back. After all, while it may not feel like it, we're getting fairly close to Season 6, and we've got a lot of ground to cover in this series.As a reminder, "Light vs. Dark" concerns moments in "Lost" history in which either Jacob or The Man in Black may have had a hand in shaping major as well as minor moments. These are especially interesting when revisiting the show's early days, long before we'd ever heard Jacob's name. Not every moment in the series may ultimately be the result of the show's two apparent puppet masters, but it's nevertheless interesting for me to look back and see just how much the show's writers might have had the master plan in mind all long.
In today's edition, we're going to look at a very peculiar dream in the head of one of the show's most beloved characters, Hurley.
The Episode: "Everybody Hates Hugo"
The Sequence: After falling asleep during button pushing duty, Hurley dreams of pigging out inside the Swan's pantry. He suddenly sees Jin in the room, aside the man who sold Hurley his fateful lottery ticket. For extra funsies, that man is wearing a chicken suit. Like ya do. Hurley's surprised to learn that Jin speaks fluent English, although Jin insists that in fact Hurley is speaking Korean. Jin warns Hurley that everything's going to change, wishes Hurley a "cluckety cluck-cluck day" as the man in the chicken suit blinks in time with the beeps of the Swan's countdown alarm.
The Case for Jacob: Everything hinges on how you interpret things changing. People like me hate change. I like being able to find my way in the dark to the fridge if I need a glass of water in the middle of the night. So I tend to not move after learning that pattern if I can help it. Jacob sees change as an opportunity, not a liability. As such, he's presenting Hurley with insider info about his upcoming responsibility in the hopes that Hurley will learn that what happened after the inheritance of his fortune need not repeat itself on the Island.
The Case for The Man in Black: TMiB is all about exploiting weaknesses. What better way to exploit Hurley's emotions pre-Libby's arrival than remind him of all the problems that come with material possession? For Hurley, controlling the food is no better than having over $160 million in cursed lottery winnings. Mo' canned goods, mo' problems. With Hurley apparently a key cog in Jacob's master plan, TMiB is keen to strike whenever possible at this key figure.
The Zap2it Opinion: While Jacob offers choice as his standard operating procedure, he usually doesn't involve negative associations while doing so. If this theory is correct and Hurley's as central to Jacob's plan as many of us think, then it stands to reason that had Hurley actually gone through with his plan to blow up the pantry, people would have actually hated Hugo. Isolated from the group, he would have less of a chance to influence events to come and eventually take his place as a central player in the War of the Island. Thus, The Man in Black is more likely to have sent Hugo that cluckety cluck-cluck dream.
What do YOU think?
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while i think that most everything about Hurley is all about team Jacob, it wouldn't surprise me that TMiB would try anything to mess with him. TMiB gets my vote on this one...
Watching the second to last hour of the third season last night (the ABC weekend rerun), something struck me that never did before -- that Desmond was lying when he told Charlie that he had a vision of Claire and her baby being rescued by helicopter.
In all the discussions of Desmond's vision the last couple of years, and how can it possibly come true after everything we've seen (after five seasons), I don't recall anyone stating that Desmond could simply have been lying. (Though perhaps they did and I just don't remember it.)
We tend to think of Desmond as someone who would never tell a lie of this magnitude, but if you forget about that and simply go by what happens in the episode to me it reallys seems that he simply made the vision up to convince Charlie to sacrifice himself -- but then couldn't go through with it at the last moment (on the outrigger canoe) and offered to go himself. (But then Charlie knocked Desmond out with the paddle and swimmed down himself as planned, since he still believed what Desmond had told him.)
I hope I'm wrong about this -- but it seemed so clear to me last night. Anybody else have this same reaction (either when the episode was originally broadcast or watching it more recently)?
Sorry my previous post was a bit off-topic. Regarding the current topic, I agree with Ryan's analysis that TMIB is more likely than Jacob to have sent Hugo that cluckety cluck-cluck dream.
P.S. I also hate change! (Especially pennies.) (And Penny's, for that matter. Or at least the apparent diminished role of Penny and Desmond's once-epic romance.)
I think MiB was responsible for the dream, definitely agree with the goal being for Hurley to blow up the pantry, losing popularity within the group. Similar to Locke sending Boone into the plane, and lying about how he got hurt. Jack called Locke out, and the group's view of Locke turned decidedly negative, a successful strike on another of Jacob's key players.
@concerned
I've long thought something was up with Des's vision of Claire and Aaron getting on a helicopter as he told Charlie but thats just one of the many things they should cover in the final season.
You shouldn't dip the Appollo Bars in the Dharma ranch dressing, especially before bed!
I thought at the time, and still do, that the dream in this case was just a product of Hurley's over-productive imagination. Nothing more...just the way he sorts through his problems.
I don't have a firm hold on the issue of Hurley's dream, but I've believed from very early on that he was fated to be a (and possibly THE) key player-to-be in Lost's endgame. Dave's attempt to push Hugo over the edge (figuratively and literally) speaks to TMiB's strategy to keep him out of the picture as a hedge against Jacob's interests in what is yet to come. After all, he was almost an Oceanic 815 no-show, an Ajira 316 didn't want to show, the target of assassins, and the one character who, for my money, has been mercilessly manipulated more than any other.
RE concerned's observations: I'm glad to finally hear from someone who shares my misgivings about Desmond's apparent manipulation of Charlie to the point of bringing about what was a per se suicide. Among Desmond's true visions about the variety of ways Charlie could have died, perhaps the one with Claire and Aaron's escape helicopter was a red herring planted by TMiB. Charlie dies, and all manner of grief proceeds to engulf C&A...to whose benefit?