LOST- Episode 18: Numbers

  Well, for some reason I woke up at 3am and decided to get out of bed.  My wife has off tomorrow and gaining custody of the television and computer at the same time is a shaky proposition at best so I'd like to think my body woke me up out of dedication to my fans.  Go to them, my brain says.  ...And then go to the 400 posts on the message boards or you will never be able to get through them all by the time you sit here tomorrow night.  Let no one say that I don't listen to my brain, so here we go.

  Previously on LOST: Locke and Boone found that hatch and Sayid found Danielle Rousseau.

  Hurley doesn't get an opening eyeball but he is the first character we see today.  He is frustrated because he is helping Jin with Michael's boat but can't understand what the man wants him to do.  Hey, at least they're on speaking terms now- Jin is trying, folks!  Jack shows up to see how it's going and Michael tells him that guards are on duty and no one gets near the thing with or without malicious intent.  He says this despite the fact that Jack just walked right up to the thing.  Someone is asleep at the switch already.  I guess Boone.  Michael asks for a way to send out an SOS, but Jack tells him that even if Sayid could make something, it would need power.  Hurley points out that Sayid said the French woman had batteries.

  Cut to Sayid saying no to the idea of going out to find Rousseau.  He says he was brought to her camp unconscious and couldn't find her if he wanted to.  Jack and Hurley push harder, but Sayid is just a grumpy gus today (Shannon must not be putting out or something).  He throws Rousseau's maps at them and says he doesn't even know what they mean.  Sayid tells Jack that Rousseau resides in a place she dubbed "dark territory".  Meanwhile, Hurley stares hard at one of the papers- it has the same sequence of numbers written on it repeatedly.  This triggers a flashback to a seemingly normal night of watching TV with a bucket of chicken while wearing the uniform of the chicken place and being bugged by your mother to go out and meet girls.  Yes, everything is normal here until Hurley turns on the lottery drawing and becomes one of the biggest winners in history.  He faints, which cues the creepy LOST title screen.  I should probably mention that the numbers he won with are the same as the ones Danielle wrote on her gibberish papers, but I'm sure you deduced that.

It is nightfall on the island and Sayid awakens to find Hurley staring at him and ready to talk about Rousseau.  He says he is just making conversation but he seems like he is up to something since he's bumbling through his speech like Chris Farley on SNL's Chris Farley show.  Hurley does manage to learn that Sayid doesn't know what the numbers mean and that the wire on the beach leads to a trap.  As Hurley walks out of Sayid's tent with some of the papers he stole, he flashes back to the news coverage of his lottery win.  He stands in front of the cameras and tells everyone that he has put his family through a lot and is going to pay them back with kindness and money and the kindness money can buy.  He would especially like to send Grandpa on a vacation because the dude has worked three jobs for 52 years.  Unfortunately, Hurley can't even finish this interview before Grandpa keels over and dies right on the spot.

  Back to reality: Hurley is filling up some water bottles and tells Charlie he is going for a walk.  Charlie becomes suspicious when Hurley says he wants to be alone, then drops his bag and a quarter of a million water bottles fall out.  Actually, I think it was four bottles and true fans know what that means!  (PS- If you know, e-mail me)

  Claire is sitting alone on the beach when Mr. Locke comes along and recruits her to help him build something.  She will be in charge of using the saw.  Locke is weird.  He helps her up and they walk off.  The scene cuts out before he tells her what they will be building.

Back in Cavetown, Sayid confronts Jack and demands to know where Rousseau's maps are.  He is especially mad that Jack sent Hurley to do his dirty work...then realizes on the spot that Jack had nothing to do with it.  The two question Charlie about the big guy and he happens to be just the right guy to ask because he saw him walk off two hours ago acting strangely.  Sayid puts it all together and says, "He's gone after her."  Cut to the beach, where Sayid says his good byes to Shannon, who almost admits she will be worried about him.

  As Hurley walks along the beach with a determined stride, he thinks back to a conversation he had with his mother in their new Hummer.  He mentions how Grandpa died and how the priest at the funeral was struck by lightning and how Hurley's brother's wife left him- all this seems to point to the money being a curse.  Mom scoffs at this notion because they are Catholic and don't believe in such things.  Hurley blindfolds his mother so that her new house will be a surprise but unfortunately more bad luck gets in the way.  Mom trips on the curb and breaks her ankle, the new house is on fire and lots of cops show up with guns pointed.  They roughly put the cuffs on Hurley who asks his mom if she still thinks there's no curse.

  By the time he is done thinking about all that, Hurley has reached the first milestone on his trip.  He picks up the wire and follows it into the jungle as he calls out for the "French chick".  He flashes back to a meeting with his accountant, I guess.  Whoever the guy is, he is telling Hurley that he is worth even more now thanks to some good investments with the money- including a box company.  [*Connection alert* Hurley owns the company Locke works for.]  Also adding to his fortune was the insurance from one of his companies burning down and the settlement from the false arrest seen earlier.  As they talk, Hurley begins to suspect that it is the numbers themselves which are cursed.  The accountant tries to dismiss this notion... as out the window, a person screams and falls past them.

  Sawyer is at the beach on guard duty, but he is getting a headache from all the pounding and arguing between Michael and Jin.  He walks off- leaving the door open for more arson!  Sun and Kate watch the argument and Sun says she thinks her husband will never speak to her again because she humiliated him.  Kate has no answer when asked if he will leave when the boat is done.

  In the jungle, Sayid, Jack and Charlie catch up to Hurley just in time to warn him that he has stepped on a pressure sensitive trap.  The others try to find something to replace his weight with (good luck) but Hurley says he is spry and can dodge the ball of doom waiting to strike him- which he does.  They ask him what he is doing out there but don't believe that he is trying to get a battery.  Hurley asks if they are all going with him and they reluctantly agree.  Then he thinks back to his visit to a mental hospital- where he apparently was a patient once.  A friendly doctor helps him get in to see Lenny- who is some crazy dude playing Connect Four by himself.  Connect FOUR, mind you.  True fans will know what that means.  The important thing about this guy is that the only thing he says are those lottery winning numbers over and over...

Back from commercial, Hurley mentions to Lenny how he won the lottery with the numbers which wakes the man out of his stupor and into a frenzy.  Hurley definitely shouldn't have used those numbers.  Before the man is dragged off by orderlies, he mentions how his friend Sam heard the numbers in a broadcast while in Australia.  Back in the jungle, our gang finds a dangerous looking rope bridge.  Against everyone's better judgement, Hurley crosses it after some tense, time-killing moments.  After even more tense, time-killing moments, Charlie makes it across- but barely because the thing breaks.  Jack tells them to stay put until he and Sayid can get to them another way, but Hurley wants to go off on the path he found.  Charlie calls him a lunatic which triggers a flashback to Hurley's reason for being in Australia.

  He meets up with Sam's wife.  Turns out Sam was stationed with Lenny in the Navy when they heard the mysterious numbers on a radio transmission sixteen years ago.  Sam used them to win a contest at the fair where you guess the number of jelly beans.  He was fifty thousand dollars richer, but it seemed to bring him nothing but bad luck.  His wife lost her leg in a car accident that night.  Sam started keeping track of all the bad things that happened and blamed the numbers every time.  Until he killed himself, you guessed it, four years ago.  Hurley mentions that he now has the curse and this angers the woman.  She says the numbers are just an excuse.

  Back on the island, Sayid finds some familiar looking trees and thinks he and Jack are close to Rousseau.  Then Jack hits a tripwire and causes an explosion.  Charlie and Hurley hear it and Hurley stares into space with an expression that says 'here we go again'. 

  Jack and Sayid are fine- the explosion merely blew up Rousseau's underground lair.  Sayid speculates that she knew he would come back so she abandoned the place and booby trapped it.  She took all her stuff too, batteries included.  Elsewhere, Hurley and Charlie are looking for the other two but they seem to be LOST.  Just when Hurley is about to reveal to his friend why they are out there, they hear gunshots meant for them and have to run for their lives.  They become seperated and Hurley trips.  When he stands up, there is a gun pointed at him.

  Hurley introduces himself to the "French chick" and asks her what the numbers on her notes mean.  Unfortunately, she doesn't know.  Well, this is just the final straw of frustration for Hurley- "You don't know!?  Okay, that thing in the woods?  Maybe it's a monster...maybe...it's a pissed off giraffe, I don't know!  The fact that no one is even lookin' for it- yeah, that's weird!  But I just go along with it cause I'm along for the ride.  Good old fun time Hurley!  Well, guess what!  Now, I want some freakin' answers!"  He sticks Rousseau's papers in her face with a manic look on his face, which somehow gets her to lower her gun.  Crazy knows crazy, I guess. 

  Danielle tells the tale of how her crew became shipwrecked because they heard the radio broadcast of the numbers and went to investigate.  Her team found a radio tower by the 'black rock'.  After the team all got sick and *ahem* died, she went back and changed the transmission to the distress call the plane crash survivors heard.  Hurley questions her about the source of the numbers power to bring bad luck, and a look of recognition hits Rousseau's face.  She agrees with him that yes, the numbers could be cursed.  Hurley is relieved- all he ever wanted was someone to agree with him.  He falls into her arms and gives her a big bearhug of thanks.

  In the wreckage of Danielle's place, Sayid finds his picture of Nadia- a little wrecked but still good. Charlie shows up, followed shortly by Hurley, who now has a battery and tells Sayid that Danielle said, "Hey."

  That night, the gang returns to camp to give Michael the battery.  Elsewhere, Locke and Claire continue building.  Claire mentions that it's her birthday but that doesn't really matter now.  Locke flips their project over and reveals that they have been building a cradle.  He wishes Claire a happy birthday. 

  At the campfire, Charlie comes back to hear the end of Hurley's tale.  Hurley reveals that the plane crash was his fault because he is a jinx.  Charlie tells him that things happen and he is not the only one with baggage.  He tells Hurley his big secret about the drug addiction and demands reciprocation.  Hurley reveals his secret that he is worth 156 million dollars.  Unfortunately, Charlie doesn't believe him and storms off in anger.  As Hurley is left alone to ponder his own thoughts, we get a rare camera shot from the perspective of no one in particular.   The camera closes in on Locke and Boone's hatch to reveal that Hurley's cursed numbers are, in fact, printed right on it. 

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...Haunting aren't they?

Next week:  A rerun of All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues.