After a few weeks focused on “the other island”, it was nice to return to the beach and see our other favorite Losties. Jack was completely excluded from this episode (can you believe it?).

Instead, we had a Hurley-centric episode and learned why he was in Australia. (I always wondered what brought him there!) I think his flashbacks are interesting because his connection to the numbers and the supposed “curse”. I thought it was sweet to see his conversation with dead-Libby and I really wish TPTB would share more on their connection pre-island!

If last week’s episode object was Jack’s tattoo(s), this week’s focus was on cars. Hurley couldn’t control his father leaving or returning and thus still had an unfinished car sitting in the garage of his multi-million dollar mansion.

Meanwhile on the island, Hurley was able to rally support to get the old Dharma van rolled over and even started. For once, he was able to “beat” the curse and make his own luck – just as his father advised.

From this episode, we know that Hurley won the lottery somewhat recently before his trip. We already knew that Libby had given Desmond the boat at least 3 years prior to the Oceanic crash. Hurley and Libby were in the mental institution at the same time, so I’m trying to recall details whether that would have been before or after the 3 year mark. I’ll have to do some research…

The one-liners in this episode were hilarious! Especially Sawyer’s I laughed out loud so many times tonight!

Paraphrased quotes and moments in no order :

• “You go on chasing after the dog with the skeletal arm into the creepy forest…”
• “Dude, Roger was on a beer run”
• Pop culture and TV references from Sawyer: Little House/Laura Ingalls, Snuffy (as in Sesame Street LOL), Skeletor, Jumbo-tron
• “Well, look who’s Hooked on Phonics!”
• “Hugo found them at Bennigans and now they are our butlers.”
• “Son of a… what’s a head doing back here”; “Oh, that’s just Roger”
• Jin surprising Sun with a flower (like at the airport)
• Hurley doing donuts in the valley
• Breaking the “curse”
• Cheech cameo
• “I’m sorry”, “You are right”, “No, those pants do not make you look big”
• Finally, someone on the island mentions the Alex connection
• The VW bus brotherhood
• Red. Neck. Man
• 8-track. Three Dog Night. (I’ve seen them in concert LOL )
• A meteor/asteroid? Did anyone get a screen shot… almost looked like the production “error” during the pilot (Screen shot here from DarkUfo’s site)

Hope/New Beginning themes were mentioned a few times
“Clean slate” – Sawyer
“Fresh start” – Cheech Hurley’s father (I think)

Quotes from Cheech
Grand Canyon will still be there when I return
I’ll be here when you get back

I know we’re accustomed to the Losties finding defunct modes of transportation in odd places (Black Rock ship, the hot air balloon, drug-lord’s plane), but we’ve had no explanations as to their demise with the exception of Oceanic flight 815. (For the record, Libby/Desmond’s sailboat was also found, but it was still functional and docked in the water where boats belong.)

Now, we have Hurley’s VW bus in which poor Roger was laid to rest. The difference with this vehicle is that it was Dharma-owned with Dharma personnel (or at least, a corpse dressed in Dharma gear).

What was Mr. Work Man doing in a van on its side in the middle of nowhere and why had he not been retrieved? Surely, someone must have known he was missing… Maybe all the beer was for him to take his own drunken roll down the hill into the boulders at the bottom…

Any thoughts on how Roger got there? Did you miss the “Others” or enjoy the flashbacks/character-development? Any predictions on who the man-with-the-patch is or what he does (from next week’s scenes)?

By TVJunkie Jenn