5.02 - The Lie

Title’s significance: This episode deals with the psychological ramifications of “the lie” that the Oceanic 6 told, particularly on Hurley.

Recap: After a brief flashback to the decision to lie about the island – Hurley wanted to tell the truth but was outvoted – we’re back on the skipping island. When night falls, Neil Frogurt is peeved that Bernard can’t start a fire, and Charlotte tells Daniel that she’s having headaches and spells of forgetfulness. The Others launch a flaming arrow attack, and the 815ers flee the beach; Sawyer and Juliet are then attacked by Others in army uniform. As The Others imperil Sawyer and Juliet, they’re saved by Locke (with knife-throwing accessory).

Hurley madcap-drives an unconscious Sayid around town before he’s pulled over... by a hallucination of Ana-Lucia, who tells him to pull it together and that he still has work to do. Kate gets a mysterious phone call from “a friend,” and Ben gets rid of Jack’s pills before he tells him to pack as if he’s not coming back. Hurley returns home with Sayid over his shoulder, looking for Papa Reyes’s help, while Kate visits her “friend” – Sun, who tells Kate that the lawyers must have something other than “the lie” on their agenda. Papa Reyes brings Sayid to Jack and tells Jack to stay away from Hurley. Jack alerts Ben, and Hurley spills the beans to his mom about the whole shebang. Jack revives Sayid, as Ben comes to Hurley and invites him to join his group; Hurley rebels, though, and turns himself in rather than join Ben. In a curious math/science lab that looks suspiciously like a Dharma station, someone’s calculating an “event window” - it's Mrs. Hawking, who's helping Ben get the Oceanic 6 back to the island.

Thoughts: Much less of a bang-up affair than the previous episode, “The Lie” is a much more subdued episode, digging in a little deeper rather than showing us just how wide the hole is that the survivors are in. Having said that, I think this episode was funny (as most Hurley-centric episodes are) and easy to follow, but there’s much more of a sense of mystery in this episode than in “Because You Left.”

Favorite moment: “Welcome back, Dr. Wizard.” “I think it’s Mister Wizard.” “Shut up.” That, or Hurley’s mom exclaiming, “Why is there a dead Pakistani on my couch?” Or even when Hurley admits that he “was never really clear on” what would happen if the button wasn’t pushed – in fact, that whole narrative Hurley gives his mum.

Characters introduced (in order):

• JILL, a butcher running a front for Ben
• JONES, British military Other

What we learned:

• Anything the islanders had with them is time-traveling, too.
• Mrs. Hawking is indeed real – and she’s working with Ben.

Questions:

• Why didn’t Ben answer Jack when he asked if Locke was dead?
• What’s Jill’s connection to the whole thing?
• Who do the lawyers represent?
• Who are the military Others?
• What’s Mrs. Hawking calculating?
• How does Mrs. Hawking know Ben?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• “Everything’s gonna make sense, I promise,” Hurley says. But I’m with his mom on this one – “It better!”