The Lie (S5, E2)

I was curious how the structure of Lost would change with this new season. For seasons 1-3, for the most part, each episode was centered around a single castaway and featured flashbacks giving insight into their pre-island past. In season 4, there was a mixture of Flashback episodes, and then Flash Forward episodes, but they were all still focused generally around a single character. So, how would season 5 structure its episodes? Would they simply drop the idea of character-centric episodes, or would they once again find a unique way to still focus in on a single character?

It seems the later is true, because this episode was clearly a Hurley episode. There was one flashback at the beginning which showed the oceanic 6 discussing their need to lie to the world about those they left behind. Hurley is obviously not in favor of lying, but has no one to back him up, not even Sayid, which causes him to have to go along with it. This obviously provided the key element to the episode- how Hurley deals with having to lie. Hurley has always been one of the more moral characters on Lost, so it makes sense that he deals with this quite differently than the other oceanic sixers. This episode involved Hurley carrying around Sayid and trying to fix him up after being shot by a dart in the previous episode. Hurley gets a visit from Ana Lucia, telling him to avoid running into cops and getting in trouble. And then Hurley goes to his dad for help with his current situation.

Their solution is to take Sayid to Jack to get fixed up. While this is happening, Hurley reaches his breaking point and spills out 4 seasons worth of information to his mom who simply says, "I don't understand it, but I believe you." Then Hurley is approached by Ben. Hurley has been told by Sayid that he should do the exact opposite of whatever Ben tells him. So, when Ben tells Hurley that he should come back to the island so he can stop lying, Hurley runs out and turns himself to the cops for his 4...I mean 3...murders. Now, things are that much trickier for Ben, since he needs to perform a prison break with Hurley to get him on board to returning to the island.

Meanwhile, Jack is able to save Sayid. On the island an annoying guy named Neal gets struck with a flaming arrow and dies (after complaining about there being no fire, very ironic!). And the islanders get caught by men with guns, until Locke comes with his knife throwing action and saves the day. Also at the end of the episode, we get another glimpse of Ms. Hawking, who was a sort of guide to Desmond when he had his first flash when the hatch exploded. She is working hard with various devices and computers, and Ben comes to visit her. Apparently they only have 70 hours to get back to the island or else "God help us all." This was a great episode that gave us insight into Hurley's dilemma since he has been back. It also gives a time frame for the 6 to get back to the island. Can Ben work his magic and somehow get the oceanic six together? Will them coming back fix the island so it stops hopping around through time? And, how did Locke die, and is he going to stay dead? Hopefully these questions and others will be answered soon. I'm excited!