5.02 "The Lie"

Hurley's feeling guilty about those left behind. The "Lefties" start to feel the effects of time-jumping while Ben and Jack start planning how to reunite the O6.
We open on the Searcher, Penny’s boat, shortly after the O6 are rescued. They’ve discussed the lie they’re going to tell to protect those they left behind from Charles Widmore. Everyone reluctantly agrees (except Fariday who says he’ll roll with whatever) to go along with the lie except Hurley. He asks if Penny can just get her dad to back off but she says she can’t. Jack says no one’s going to believe them even if they told the truth and if Hurley does, everyone will think he’s crazy. He says they won’t if someone backs him up. He looks to Sayid who says he agrees with Jack. Hurley’s angry with him and says he’ll remember this and won’t be there for Sayid should he ever need him.

3 years later… Hurley’s driving like a crazy man with an unconscious Sayid in the passenger seat. While trying to put Sayid’s seatbelt on, he hits a newspaper vending machine, he gets pulled over. Immediately I thought, “it’s going to be Anna Lucia” but I couldn’t figure out *how* it’d be her. Luckily, the-powers-that-be figured out a way.. it’s Anna Lucia! LOVE THIS SHOW! Hurley looks shocked… by now you’d think this was second nature to him; seeing dead people and all. She tells him to be careful before he gets caught. She tells him to get new clothes, get someplace safe and get Sayid to someone he trusts. She tells him to stay away from the cops and “DO NOT get arrested”. After her pep talk she says “Libby says hi” and walks off. Hurley looks to see the cruiser behind him but it’s gone.

Back on the island… our last time shift happened while Des and Daniel were talking. We’re not sure “when” we are now since we weren’t shown what the hatch looked like after this flash.

On the beach the group is arguing about fire and food and how they have no control over when the island will move again. Sawyer finds a shirt and asks whose it is. It’s Frogurt’s. He asks if he can have it, Frogurt doesn’t care. Side note: the sci-fi world refers to the extras that get killed off as “redshirts”. You’ll notice that Neil is actually *wearing* a red shirt. Sad thing is… the shirt Sawyer just borrowed from him… red. Dan comes out of the jungle and tells the others that he got lost, that’s why he was so far behind them. Juliet wants to take the Zodiac (the raft) out to a shipping lane in hopes to find rescue but Dan says that he needs to figure out where they are first so they can take the correct bearing. In the meantime, Miles sets out to find food, Sawyer and Juliet to find water.

Hurley stops at a gas station to buy a new shirt. After swiping money from Sayid’s wallet (what was with the long blonde hair on his black shirt?) he goes in and picks out a t-shirt. The only one that fits says “I Y my Shih-Tzu”. The girl at the counter is worth every penny of her minimum wage… Hurley’s ON her TV because he’s a fugitive but she recognizes him from when he won the lottery like 4 years ago and *then* because he was part of the O6, 3 years ago. He says nope, not him, throws some money at her, tells her to keep the change and leaves.

As he pulls out of the parking lot, Kate pulls in. Small world huh? She parks her car, Aaron’s in the back seat coloring (shouldn’t he be in a car seat of some sort?). She looks flustered. Again, second nature should be taking over here. She’s lived half her life on the run. She pulls a map from her glove box then picks up her cell and debates calling Jack. Just as she decides not to, she receives a call. It comes up as an unknown number. Side note here… if *I* were on the run not only would I not be answering an unknown number phone call but I’d probably have ditched the phone long ago since “The Man” can track your whereabouts with those things. She answers and sounds excited to hear from whoever’s on the other end. She agrees to meet with them in a half hour.

Ben’s removing a vent cover in his hotel room and removes a box. Hmm…the things that could be in that box. My guess? His weapon (that black stick) and whatever he needs to revive “dead” Locke. Yeah, I don’t think he’s dead. Jack comes into the room looking for his pills but Ben tells him he’s flushed them. He says that was his plan. He asks where they’re going when he sees that Ben’s packing. Ben tells Jack to go home and pack a suit case with whatever he wants from this life because he won’t be coming back. “Good” he says. Jack asks what Ben’s going to do. He says he can’t leave Locke in the van. He has to put him somewhere safe. Jack notes that he’s dead… right? Ben doesn’t answer. HA! Told you! Ben says he’ll pick him up in 6 hours.

At Hurley’s mansion, his dad is making himself the grossest sandwich I’ve ever seen. He then plops down to watch Expose. If you remember… Expose was the soap opera that Nikki was on. Nikki was the girl that was buried alive on the island after everyone believed her and her boyfriend were dead from a spider bite. There’s a knock on the back door. It’s Hurley with an unconscious Sayid. He asks him if he’s seen the news but he says he just got up (ah, lap of luxury). His mom’s out shopping. They confirm that he’s alive and Hurley tells him what’s been going on just as the police show up. Hurley asks him to lie to them. The officers leave but wait in their car outside. Hurley’s dad says he thinks they should call a lawyer but he says they can’t because someone’s after them. He doesn’t even want to take Sayid to the hospital. His dad says they need to get Sayid a doctor. Hurley knows what to do.

Kate and Aaron are in a hotel and go to the top floor (#31). They’re meeting Sun.

Ben arrives at a butcher shop. (FYI – All we’ve ever learned of Charlie’s father was from a dream he had in the episode “Fire & Water”. In the dream his father was angry that his mother had bought him a piano for Christmas because he wanted him to follow in his footsteps and become…dum, dum, dum… a butcher!) Ben pulls #342 (42! Numbers alert!). Jill the butcher knows him. She even knows what’s in the van. Ben asks if she can watch him for him. He also asks if Gabriel and Jeffrey have checked in. Could they be Kate’s lawyers? She says yes, and that everything is moving right on schedule. She asks how things are going with Jack and jokes that he probably had to be bribed with pills. Ben defends him and she apologizes. He tells her to take good care of Locke because if she doesn’t everything they’re “about to do won’t matter at all”.

Night arrives on the beach without anymore flashes. They’re still trying to build a fire and get it to spark but it goes out. Neil (Frogurt) starts throwing a tantrum. Rose tells him to take a time out.

Charlotte brings Daniel a mango that she found in the jungle. He asks how she’s feeling; referring to the nosebleed she’d had earlier. She said she has a headache that she can’t shake. She tells him that she also forgot her mother’s maiden name earlier in the day. Daniel writes it off to stress but she can see that he knows something more. Just then Miles comes out of the jungle with a dead boar. He tells them that he’d found it and it’s only been dead for 3 hours. He can see the spirits of dead animals too huh? He asks if anyone has a knife and Neil starts another tantrum. He starts calling people names and complains that they can’t even get FIRE! Just then a flaming arrow comes flying through the sky and kills him. Suddenly the sky is full of flaming arrows. The group runs for the jungle as Sawyer yells to them to spilt up and meet at the creek.

Hurley’s dad asks him if he’s crazy. If he’s not, he’s lying. Hurley says he has a good reason for lying. Just then Hurley’s mom comes home asking about the dead guy on the couch. I’m wondering now if Locke and Sayid have been drugged with the same thing. Sayid’s been mistaken for dead twice now, that’s a powerful drug! Hurley says it’s time to go, now. Hurley’s dad sneaks Sayid out while Hurley stays behind with his mother.

While enjoying tea, Sun tells Kate that she’s in LA on business. She sees that Kate seems tense. After double-checking that Aaron’s sleeping she tells Sun about the lawyers. Sun says that it sounds to her that because they weren’t more aggressive, the client probably just wants to get Aaron from her rather then exposing their lie. Sun hints that Kate should kill whoever it is to protect Aaron. Kate’s offended by Sun’s assumption that she could just kill someone like that. Sun then mentions how Kate had promised to get Jin on the freighter but instead saved herself. She says that she doesn’t blame her because she was doing what she had to do. I’m not sure how I feel about this. She’s coming off as though she does blame Kate but then again, she could just be defending her actions for sending the lawyers the Kate’s house. Doing what “she has to do” to get to Ben maybe? I find it suspicious that she’s in LA and calls Kate the very same day she’s visited by the lawyers. She then asks Kate “so, how’s Jack”.

Jack meets Hurley’s dad and takes Sayid from him. Jack says Sayid needs to go to the hospital and to trust him as Hurley did. Hurley’s dad tells Jack to stay away from Hurley now. Jack takes Sayid and calls Ben. He tells him that he has Sayid.

Sawyer and Juliet clear the attack and head for the creek. Sawyer is still shoe-less and steps on something. He pulls it from just below his big toe just as he and Juliet hear something. They hide beneath bushes and see 3 sets of legs walk by. As they argue about who the people were, 3 men grab them from behind. They ask “What are you doing on our island?” with a British accent.

Back at home Hurley tells his mom the truth about everything. As wild as it sounds she tells him that she sincerely believes him.

In the hospital Jack checks Sayid’s vitals then tries to resuscitate him by giving him adrenaline. It takes a minute and Jack almost thinks it’s not working when Sayid awakes and immediate starts to strangle Jack before he realizes who he is. He asks what happened and Jack tells him that Hurley’s father brought him to him. He asks where Hurley is. Jack tells him that he’s at home, probably with is mother.

Later that night, while heating up a Hot Pocket, Ben greets Hurley from his back door. Hurley pitches the Hot Pocket at him, which made me literally laugh out loud. OMG was that funny! And the look on Ben’s face was priceless. Ben offers to take Hurley back to the island so he never has to lie again. Ben’s sweet talking appears to be working then suddenly Hurley says “Never dude” and bursts out the door and runs to the police sitting outside. He confesses to killing 3 or 4 people “however many are dead”. Figuring he’d be safe from Ben in jail. WTH, isn’t he doing exact what Anna Lucia told him NOT to do?

The men threaten to cut off Juliet’s “other hand” if Sawyer doesn’t start giving answers. “The first one’s not negotiable” he explains. Just as they’re about the cut off the first, rocks come flying through the air. 2 of the men are knocked down, Juliet grabs a gun and holds it on one. As Sawyer takes down the 3rd the other goes after Sawyer when a knife comes flying through the air and kills him. Bad-ass Locke is back. My first thought was that the flying arrows were coming from the crew of the Black Rock since they were such “old school” weapons but these men look to be 1940s military so that’d be way after the Black Rock. I’m stumped.

In our last scene we see a cloaked woman scribbling mathematical formula on a chalk board. Instantly we’re reminded of Daniel back at Oxford that day that Des visited him. This also could lead us to believe that this woman may be Daniel’s mother. She types some of her numbers into an old computer which then displays “EVENT WINDOW DETERMINED”. We also see a giant pendulum drawing out a large asterisks on a map. She leaves the room through a large hatch door and then climbs a flight of stairs to a church. We see Ben has been waiting for her. He asks if she’s had any luck and she says “yes, how about you?” He tells her that he’s having some difficulties. She tells him he better get busy because he’s only got 70 hours. He tells her that’s not enough time but she doesn’t care. She removes her hood to reveal that she’s Ms. Hawking. You’ll remember her from when Des was leaping time in "The Constant" and visited her store to buy an engagement ring for Penny. Below is a transcript of their meeting.

[Cut to a close up of wedding rings in a display counter.]

MS. HAWKING: Never done this before have you?

[Camera reveals Desmond in a second hand shop.]

DESMOND: Is it that obvious?

MS. HAWKING: I can always tell the first timers. Well, then, may I ask your price range?

DESMOND: I'm not a man of means...

MS. HAWKING: Oh...

DESMOND: I hope to -- one day...

MS. HAWKING: I have just the thing.

[she shows him a ring]

This won't blind any queens, to be sure, but still has the sparkle of life.

DESMOND: I'll take it.

MS. HAWKING [surprised]: I'm sorry?

DESMOND: It's perfect. I'll take it.

MS. HAWKING: No you won't. Give me the ring. Give it here.

DESMOND: I don't understand.

MS. HAWKING: This is wrong. You don't buy the ring. You have second thoughts; you walk right out that door. So, come on, let's have it.

DESMOND: I don't know what you're on about.

MS. HAWKING: You don't buy the ring, Desmond.

DESMOND: How do you know my name?

MS. HAWKING: Well, I know your name as well as I know that you that don't ask Penny to marry you. In fact, you break her heart. Well, breaking her heart is, of course, what drives you in a few short years from now to enter that sailing race -- to prove her father wrong -- which brings you to the island where you spend the next 3 years of your life entering numbers into the computer until you are forced to turn that failsafe key. And if you don't do those things, Desmond David Hume, every single one of us is dead. So give me that sodding ring.

MS. HAWKING [when Desmond doesn't give her the ring]: Oh, you're going to be difficult about this, I can see.

DESMOND: Who are you?

MS. HAWKING: Do you like chestnuts?

DESMOND: What?

[Scene switches to Ms. Hawking buying chestnuts from a street vendor.]

MS. HAWKING: Thank you.

[She notices a man climbing stairs from the Underground.]

MS. HAWKING: That man over there is wearing red shoes.

DESMOND: So, what then?

MS. HAWKING: Just thought it was a bold fashion choice worth noting.

DESMOND: This isn't really happening, is it?

MS. HAWKING: Sorry?

DESMOND: I've had a concussion. You're my subconscious.

MS. HAWKING [amused]: Am I?

DESMOND: You're here to talk me out of marrying Penny. Well, it won't bloody work.

MS. HAWKING: Oh, yes it will.

DESMOND: No, there is no island. There is no button. It's madness. I love her. She loves me. I'm going to spend the rest of my life with her.

MS. HAWKING: No, Desmond, you're not.

[Suddenly, there is a loud crash behind the bench Ms. Hawking and Desmond have been sitting on. Some scaffolding has fallen and killed the man with red shoes.]

DESMOND: Oh, my God. You knew that was going to happen, didn't you? [she nods] Then why didn't you stop it? Why didn't you do anything?

MS. HAWKING: Because it wouldn't matter. Had I warned him about the scaffolding tomorrow he'd be hit by a taxi. If I warned him about the taxi, he'd fall in the shower and break his neck. The universe, unfortunately, has a way of course correcting. That man was supposed to die. That was his path just as it's your path to go to the island. You don't do it because you choose to, Desmond. You do it because you're supposed to.

DESMOND: I'm going to meet Penny in an hour. I've got the ring; she'll say yes; I can choose whatever I want.

MS. HAWKING: You may not like your path, Desmond, but pushing that button is the only truly great thing that you will ever do.

DESMOND: How much for the ring?

[Ms. Hawking looks disappointed and walks away.]

Ben asks what happens if he can’t get them all back and she says “God help us all”. Word for word what Pierre Chang said to the foreman about drilling any closer to the "frozen donkey wheel".