Episode Title: "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead"

Flashback Character: "Hurley"

Episode Number: 3.10 (Overall: #57)
Production Number: 310
Air Date: 02/28/07


Synopsis: At the start, we see a flashback that goes a long way in explaining how it came to be that Hurley became the fat, mentally ill depressive that we know him as on the island. Hurley's dad, played by Cheech Marin, plays some kind of head game with Hurley (when Hurley is an 8 year old skinny, moptop named Hugo) involving a camaro, a carbeurator and a trip to the Grand Canyon which was never going to happen, that leads to Hurley's dad driving off on a motorcycle, duffle bag on his back, heading to Vegas, never to be seen again, or at least until 17 years later when Hurley has won the lottery.

We learn nothing new as we see things go terribly wrong for Hurley after he wins the lottery. Tricia Tanaka is the reporter who is doing a puff piece on Hurley's lottery win. She dies when an asteroid crashes into the hut, in the midst of setting up the interview with Hurley. Hurley lists all the terrible things that have happened since he won the money, and he generally feels listless and hopeless. He tells his mother that he feels cursed. This is anathema to his mother's Christian beliefs. His mother calls upon the long lost father to help Hurley realize that he is actually blessed.

The father comes back, but instead of succeeding in helping Hurley, he antagonizes Hurley, solidifying Hurley's resolve to visit the man in Australia who gave him the numbers in the first place. Before we leave the flashback, we do get a chance to see how Hurley has kept that long-dead Camaro on blocks in the garage. It seems to represent hope that things can somehow work out for him in his life.

On the island, Charlie is the one who is filled with the most crushing hopelessness, thanks to Desmond's prediction of Charlie's death. Desmond tries to backtrack, but Charlie will have none of it. Hurley is also feeling down and miserable. He confesses to his memory of Libby at Libby's gravesite that she is the only one he can talk to, the only one with whom he feels no fear.

As Charlie and Hurley commiserate and continue to bring each other down, Vincent appears with a Lucky Rabbit's Foot keychain, attached to a long-dead skeletal arm. Hurley suddenly feels energized. He runs to find what Vincent has found. Turns out to be a VW microbus that tipped over in the jungle, killing its driver, Roger Workman, or Roger THE Work Man. Somehow, the name feels significant, but it will probably be several seasons before we learn how!

Hurley runs back to the campsite and asks for volunteers to see if they can get the car to work. No one seems to know why they would need or want a car on the island, and no one seems to care. Only Jin will go with him, and only because Jin has no idea what Hurley is talking about.

Meanwhile Sawyer and Kate have returned, and it seems that tensions have gotten between them, apologies have not been offered to Kate, reassurances of love have not been offered to Sawyer, and their general commitment-phobic personalities have ripped the fabric of what they had together at the Other's Prison on Alcatraz. They come back not as a couple.

Sawyer and Charlie end up helping out Hurley and Jin, and they manage to unload beer off the VW and to have some laughs, commiserating about women and guy stuff. Eventually, Hurley determines that it is time to get the van moving on its own, and that the only way to do that is to put the transmission in neutral, roll the van down a hill to let it gather speed, and then releasethe clutch so the transmission catches the gear . No one wants to be a part of this, which appears to be a suicide mission.

Then Charlie decides to ride shotgun, apparently having realized that life without hope is not worth living anyway, and besides, everyone is going to die, and no one knows exactly when. Their bravery and hopefulness pays off after Hurley releass the clutch and the VW's starts just a moment before it crashes into a huge mountain of rocks. The four men return to camp relieved and happy and just a little bit hopeful.

In a darker mood is Kate, who has decided to search for Jack. But first, she needs to find The French Woman, Danielle. Sayid and Locke have trailed her, and the four of them meet in the jungle where Kate tells Danielle that Alex, her daughter, may be amongst the Others.


Guest starring are Mira Furlan as Danielle Rousseau, Rodrigo Santoro as Paulo, Kiele Sanchez as Nikki, Lillian Hurst as Carmen Reyes, Billy Ray Gallion as Randy, Cheech Marin as David Reyes, Caden Waidyatilleka as young Hurley, Suzanne Krull as Lynn Karnoff and Sung Hi Lee as Tricia Tanaka.

"Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" was written by Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz and directed by Eric Laneuville. (ABC Press Release, 2/12/07)


Flashback: Hurley


OMG Moments: The van has an eight track tape of Three Dog Night!

Dharma Initiative Beer- Flat and Old still gets the job done!
The meteor on the restaurant! hey they stole my idea...

New Clues:


Questions:

The Surreal of Tricia Tanaka Is Dead: Okay, we've had an episode full of Illusion, last weeks episode full of Metaphor, TTis Dead,,was full of ...Juxtaposition of the Incongruent. What makes Juxting the Incon Surreal?..Juxting the Incon is supposed to Jar your awareness,,make you wake up,,snap to,,kinda like what Hurley did to Charlie, a slap up along the side of your head inorder for you to see another possiility, another reality. Juxting the Incon was all over this episode.. a VW in the middle of a jungle?.Skeletons as drinking buddy,.a solid gold Jesus?,,a dad returning after a 17 yr abscense..many more..plus the big one,,Hope in the reality of the Island. All of the juxtaposition has metaphoric value. The big one is, Hope in the face of Death. At least Two ways that was answered.. Cheech, I mean Hurleys dad saying, I'll be here when you come back and of course Kate telling Danielle about Alex. That map with the road,,okay another one, perhaps mysterious but Hope for the viewers of a path to more possibilities, another reality....and oh yea, another one..Charlie makes it thru another episode.


Trivia: After a few different male latino actors' names were passed around, it appears that Cheech Marin gets the prime role of Hurley's absent father.

The song played in the bus is "Shambala" by Three Dog Night.


Theories:

So Hurley's dad is Dave and his imaginary friend from the "Squirrel Cage" was Dave and Libby's deceased husband was Dave. I see a pattern emerging here. Help me out guys...