Lost
Dave
original airdate: 04-05-06
Those pesky producers just love to play with the fan community,
and "Dave" is one of those episodes that prove
that they’ve got their fingers on the fanbase pulse
and are eager and willing to exploit fan theories by turning
them on their ears all in the hopes of confusing the hell
out of everyone.
Ever
since the Losties found themselves stranded on the island,
speculation has run rampant through the fanbase community.
Perhaps they are in purgatory and are all awaiting judgment
post-crash? No! They must be the subjects of some massive
conspiracy/psychological experiment! Or maybe the whole
thing is just the figment of someone’s imagination?
The
latter is often touted as a reigning possibility, specifically
when looking at the centrifugal fashion in which the first
season seemed to focus on Jack. Many fans believe that it
is possible that the good doctor could just be dreaming
the whole thing, and although a cop out of the highest order,
other series have resolved themselves in similar fashions
before, so who is to stop Lost from doing the same?
Right?
Well,
wrong. If you’ve been listening to the podcasts for
the series, producers Damon Lindeloff and Carleton Cuse
insist that the “dream” theory is just simply
“theory,” and that what is occurring on the
island is in fact occurring in real life. Or at least the
kind of “real life” one finds on a TV drama
on Wednesday nights, but you get the point.
So,
with that said, why does "Dave" still manage to
raise the ugly question as a possibility yet again? Well,
this time the whole thing centers on Hurley, and given his
stay in a mental institution, the fact that many of the
island’s mysteries seem to be connected to the big
guy and/or his numbers in some way, and that all of these
pieces seem to fit together so seamlessly makes it difficult
to disregard entirely.
Granted,
there are seemingly too many stories happening on the island
to be entirely in the head of everyone’s favorite
lottery winner, but then again, "Dave" seems to
suggest that this just might be possible. Even Libby, who
argues that things have happened to her that have nothing
to do with Hurley has a tie to the big guy, as we learn
in the closing shot that she was also in the mental institution
with Hurley during his stay.
Weird?
Sure. Intriguing? Absolutely.
The
setup is simple. With the recent food and supply drop, Hurley
now has to deal with the fact that his resolution to give
up food entirely is just simply not fated to happen. The
reappearance of food also welcomes the reappearance of an
old friend of Hurley’s, a former and fellow institution
inmate who goes by the name, you guessed it, “Dave.”
Dave,
we learn, played the role of the enabler to Hurley’s
desire to retreat into unnecessary snacking. Urging him
to stray from veggies and pushing dips, pretzels, and other
fattening foods, Dave seems to be the devil on Hurley’s
shoulder and a poor choice of friends for the big guy.
That
is, until we learn that Dave is a figment of Hurley’s
imagination, which not only explains how he has suddenly
turned up on the island, but also gives us some added insight
into Hurley’s continually fracturing sanity. Hurley’s
desire to lose weight conjures up Dave, who immediately
attempts to dissuade the big guy to give up on losing weight.
However,
there is more. Dave feels threatened and even suggests that
Hurley never actually left the mental hospital, but has
in fact regressed further into his mind, concocting the
island and its inhabitants to keep himself distracted from
the real world around him.
Whether
any of this is true is not being shared, and rightfully
so as viewers should interpret the show for themselves as
much as possible. However, the thought that this could all
be in Hurley’s mind does feel a bit stretched on plausibility.
Connections between Hurley and nearly every Lostie undoubtedly
exist, but as with everything on the island, nothing is
ever what it seems initially.
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