The Finest Kind of Pork

Lost, Season 3, Episode 10, “Tricia Tanaka is Dead” (2/28/07)

Hi gang! Thursday morning means Lost wrap-up.

For those of you who feel that you’re losing your grip on this show I say C’MON! You bought into the whole mystical/bizarre/eerie nature of the show in the first season. You knew this would not be your typical boring formulaic TV show (a la the boring “Law & Order” spinoffs; “Prison Break”; “CSI”) where you get the set-up in the first 10 minutes, the possible killers/guilty person in the next 15 minutes, the gather of clues in the next 10 minutes, and the nice neat little wrap up right before the show ends in the last 7 or 8 minutes. Granted, there’s a place for that kind of tedious TV show. But this LOST. And LOST is about the entire arc of the show, not each individual episode.

So, if you’ve grown weary of having the island mysteries partially explained by having the Others highlighted in the last several episodes (because let’s face it, the LOST island is all about what is being done and how it affects the Losties), then you must’ve been overjoyed to have the show return to the beach with the familiar faces that launched this show.

And what better way than to make it a Hurley-centric episode. Remember, “Everybody Loves Hugo”! Ha ha!

There was a theme of “hope” running through this episode: Hurley hoping to get rid of his bad luck; Kate hoping for an apology from Sawyer; Charlie hoping he doesn’t die; etc.

Hurley: What a shocker…another Lostie with father issues (a regularly recurring theme). Hurley’s flashback shows him as a boy watching his dad walk out the door and heading to Las Vegas, but not before he apologizes to Hugo (Hurley) for having to cancel their trip to the Grand Canyon. It ends up being 17 years before the father returns, and he returns to try to get some of Hurley’s lottery winnings. As a kid, Hurley was working on a Camero with his dad, but they couldn’t get it to work. Also, the candy bar he was eating as a kid was a “Glacier Bar”, not an Apollo Bar. Hurley buying Mr Clucks and hiring Randy Nation, his old boss from Mr Clucks (and remember that Randy was also John Locke’s boss at the box factory). The reporter, Tricia Tanaka, from a local station is doing a puff-piece about Hurley’s lotter winnings when he tells her of his streak of bad luck. She tells him “this is a puff piece”, and to stop with the gloom. She enters the restaurant with her camera man to start getting interior shots of the store, while Hurley and Randy are outside. At this point, a meteor comes crashing down through the sky and destroys Mr Clucks. At this point, “Tricia Tanaka is Dead”. (How cool was that asteroid/meteor scene???!!!) Back on the island, the opening scene with Hurley talking to Libby at her gravesite was kind of nice. **tearing up** Hurley follows Vincent, who is carrying a mummified looking arm in his mouth and a set of keys hanging from the hand, into the jungle. Vincent leads Hurley to a VW-looking van (the Dharmamobile) which is laying on its side. In the van is the decayed body of a Roger (Work Man), and lots of Dharma Beer in cans. Hurley recruits Jin to help him right the van, and they try to get it started. The return of Sawyer and Kate puts Hurley in a great mood, eh? He gets Sawyer to help he and Jin get the van up on its tires, and they try to get it running. Hurley also gets Charlie to come to the van, and the two of them take the joy ride down the hill and are able to jump-start the van. They then pick up Jin and Sawyer and ride in circles on the grassy plateau. Great scene with everyone enjoying themselves. For the first time Hurley actually looked relaxed and stress-free.

David Rayes: Hurley’s dad, played by Cheech Marin. Leaves the family while Hurley is still a boy to go to Las Vegas, and returns 17 years later to try to get some of Hurley’s lottery money. Hurley does not have any respect for his father, but the dad tries anyway. Hurley not interested in giving his dad any of the lottery money, but the Dad tries for redemption when he sees that Hugo still has the Camero, and wants to help him fix it. The Dad does not win any favors though by hiring a psychic to tell Hurley that the numbers are not cursed. Hurley sees through this and makes his plans to go to Australia to find Mrs Toomey (Season 1….remember??) to find out about the curse that the numbers carry. (NOTE: I think the writers missed a golden opportunity here: it would’ve been SO funny if when Hurley, Sawyer, and Jin had gotten the van righted if Cheech would’ve come stumbling out of the back in a cloud of smoke with Chong and big fattie being shared between them!!!)

Charlie: Still freaked out about Desmond telling him that he’s gonna die, Charlie sulks a bit in this episode, especially after Desmond tells him that he’s not able to tell him WHEN he’s going to die. Hurley, however, finds a way to lift Charlie’s spirits by taking him on the ride in the Dharmamobile, down the steep hill. When Hurley was able to pop the clutch and get the van started, he narrowly avoided crashing into some rocks. By not crashing (and not dying), Charlie looked a little less worried about it, and amazingly happy to be cruising around instead of moping around. His days, however, are probably numbered.

Sawyer: The arguing between him and Kate continued. But more importantly was how cool he was received by Hurley. Hurley has endured the brunt of Sawyer’s nicknames (Sta-Puff; Snuffalupagus; Hurley-Man, etc), but was so excited to see Sawyer when he came looking for him to ask about his tent being raided. Hurley hugged Sawyer and was so excited, it immediately diffused Sawyer being mad. And, Hurley was able to recruit Sawyer (“Hey, you guys found a hippie-car!”) to help him and Jin get the Dharmamobile back in operation. Of course Sawyer was more interested in getting the Dharma-suds, but he helped them none-the-less, and by the end of the show, the happy 4-some was joy riding around the glen in the beat-up van. But, the funniest was Sawyer teaching Jin some English, especially teaching him the 3 things that women like to hear:
1. I’m sorry
2. You’re right.
3. Those pants don’t make you look fat.
Also funny his comment about the dead/mummified driver looking like Skeletor (for those of you not aware, Skeletor was the bad guy in the He-Man cartoons).

Jin: So, he didn’t have much to do or say this episode, but it was good to see him back. As he was welcoming Sawyer back in his slow, broken English, Sawyer did reply “look who’s hooked on phonics”, which was quite funny.

Kate: Still peeved with Sawyer, says it’s okay for him to say ‘he’s sorry’, but Sawyer won’t do it. Kate tells Sayeed and Locke about what happened on the Others island, and tells them that the Others gave Walt and Michael a boat and allowed them to leave. She has an idea of where to get help, and goes looking, and finds, Rousseau. She tells Rousseau about a girl named Alex who is about 16 years old and helped them escape.

Sayeed/Locke: Again, not much to do in this episode, but Kate does tell them about the Others’ work island (Alcatraz), and about what happened to them over there. She tells them that the Others still have Jack. Sayeed mentions that he and Locke may know where they’re at based on the clue from Eko’s Jesus Stick (Lift up your eyes and look North).

Vincent: Finally, the dog returns! His big thing is leading Hurley to the Dharmamobile. Wonder if they let him keep the mummy-arm as a treat, y’know, like a doggie biscuit! Or maybe a hand-burger!

Miscellaneous:
1. The tune playing on Hurley’s 8-trak in the flashback was Three Dog Night’s “Shambala”. Shambala is a mystical kingdom in the Tibetan Buddhist philosophy that is hidden beyond the Himalayas. Shambala is Sanskrit meaning “place of peace/tranquility”. So, it was interesting when Hurley is able to pop the clutch and get the van going that “Shambala” also comes out of the van radio.
2. The Map in the Van: Hmmm…..this island must be bigger than originally thought to have a road as big/long as the one on the map. I’ll assume this map comes back into the story at a later date. Maybe it leads to where the Others live on that island? After all, where would Roger have been going with all that beer??
3. Rousseau: She’s back……