Lost, Ep 10: Tricia Tanaka Is Dead
Tonight’s ep of Lost felt more like a season 1 ep, with something being found in the jungle, great lines, Sawyer being laid-back and using nicknames on everyone around him, Hurley and Charlie goofing around.

Except there’s history now. Hurley has lost Libby, and is a broken man looking to reclaim a former happiness. Charlie believes he’s a man marked by fate, about to die at any instant. Sawyer’s slept with Kate and has been tortured by the Others.

In Hurley’s flashback this week, we finally see the father that I assumed was either dead or had left the family. Cheech Marin plays the deadbeat dad who walks out on his family, and 17 years later, when he hears his son has hit the jackpot, comes back. It’s not a big revelatory flashback, but it inspires Hurley to finally get out of that funk he’s been in the entire time, and begin to believe that he’s NOT cursed, which is a pretty big deal. In doing so, he helps convince Charlie that there is no such thing as fate (wonder what Locke would say to that?) We already knew a meteorite had hit Mr. Cluck’s, and now we see the circumstances surrounding it. We know that he goes to Australia, so there was no way his dad was going to keep him there, but it’s interesting to see what happened.

Highlights:
-How boring Hurley is on camera when Tricia Tanaka is interviewing him.
-Nikki and Paulo NOT going with Hurley. Thank the GODS. I was so worried for a second there…
-Jin inadvertently volunteering to help Hurley with the car, and Hurley’s amusement.
-Kate pulling the dart out of Sawyer’s foot and making fun of him saying “Little House.” It was like the old Kate and Sawyer again, however fleeting.
-“Dude… Roger was on a beer run.”
-Roger’s head popping off when Hurley and Jin try to pull him out.
-Hurley hugging Sawyer and being super-excited to see Sawyer
-Sawyer saying Jin’s hooked on phonics
-Mrs. Reyes covering her golden Personal Jesus’s ears to say she has needs (Locke would say that the Jesus was the thing that brought them the bad luck; it’s a false idol, after all)
-the butlers, Mr. Tran and Lady Tran, being from Bennigan’s
-Hurley referring to the dead guy as Roger Workman (and Sawyer calling him Skeletor)
-Hurley warning Sawyer the beer was there before Rocky III, maybe Rocky II
-the psychic admitting she lied after Hurley offers her $10,000
-Sawyer calling Hurley International House of Pancakes
-Sawyer teaching Jin the three things a woman needs to hear
-“What’s your problem, Jumbotron?” “Shut up, Red… Neck… Man.” “Touché.”
-the guys riding around in circles in the van
-Sayid mocking Locke by saying they know where to go by how the light hit Eko’s stick when they were burying him
-ROUSSEAU! When Kate first left the beach, I was SO hoping that’s who she was going to get. I cannot wait to see her reunited with Alex.

Oops: When Vincent’s first coming out of the jungle, the hand is in his mouth, but in the very next shot, the arm is turned and the hand is away from his mouth.
-Charlie shaved on the beach, and a couple of hours later riding shotgun with Hurley he’s got a full day’s stubble.
-the van looks like it’s going 100mph down the hill, but then Hurley just suddenly turns the wheel and it doesn’t flip over?

Questions:
-How did Randy end up at the box company in Tustin after this?
-what is up with Nikki and Paulo? Why did he grab her belt loop? Possessive much? Why do the writers insist that they're likable people, yet they keep making them so damn unlikable?
-how did Roger die?
-why was there a ton of recycling in the van?
-Did Hurley and Charlie break the curse?

Did You Notice?:
-near the end, when Sawyer sits outside his tent and drinks the beer, he looks like he’s returned home. The beach is home to them now.
-the song on the 8-track in the VW bus is the same song playing at the beginning of the episode in the early Hugo flashback. The song is Shambala by 3 Dog Night.

Shambala
Wash away my troubles, wash away my pain
With the rain in Shambala
Wash away my sorrows, wash away my shame
With the rain in Shambala

*Ooooh... yeahYeah yeah yeah yeah yeah*
*This part repeats twice after each verse

Everyone is helpful, everyone is kind
On the road to Shambala
Everyone is lucky, everyone is so kind
On the road to Shambala

How does your light shine
In the halls of Shambala
How does your light shine
In the halls of Shambala

I can tell my sister 'bout the flowers in her eyes
On the road to Shambala
I can tell my brother 'bout the flowers in his eyes
On the road to Shambala

How does your light shine
In the halls of Shambala
How does your light shine
In the halls of Shambala
Tell me how, how does your light shine
In the halls of Shambala
Tell me how, how does your light shine
In the halls of Shambala

Next week: “Enter 77,” a Sayid ep (wow, they're going to give Naveen more than 2 lines??). And we finally meet Patchy.