The Tail Section

The episode begins with Hurley and Libby jogging on the beach. Hurley is lamenting about not being able to lose weight and winds up confessing to Libby about his little private stockpile. In a cathartic moment, Hurley leads Libby to the stash and they obliterate it. Hurley feels liberated by the act. Moments later, in a moment of great irony, Jin and Sun lead the duo to the air-drop of supplies. The survivors are descending on the goods like a pack of looters. When Charlie suggests Hurley be in charge of distributing it, Hurley loses it. As the group reverts to a state of "everyone-for-themselves", Hurley spots a bald guy in a flannel robe. The shaken Hurley chases this stranger through the jungle. He loses him, but finds one of his shoes.

Later, when Libby asks him what was wrong, we segue into Hurley’s flashback. It begins with a therapy session between Hurley and Dr. Brooks, they are discussing Hurley’s diet and faltering self-esteem when the conversation shifts to Dave. The doc believes that Dave is a bad influence on Hurley. We meet Dave on the basketball court at the asylum. It is the same guy Hurley was chasing through the jungle. He is a hyper young lad indeed, and very quick to tempt Hurley’s appetite with talk of food.

Back in the hatch, while Jack works on Locke’s leg Sayid and Ana begin to interrogate "Henry". FauxGale claims he was part of a search party that was looking for the real Henry and came upon him dead in the balloon. Sayid is quick to punch holes in his story, revealing a note written after the crash. There are a few frustrating moments here with unfinished sent

ences. For instance, Henry begins to say "I’m just a …" Hmm. Just a Doctor? Just a scientist? Just a janitor? We learn that Zeke (A.K.A "Mr. Friendly") is, according to FauxGale, a nobody.

Charlie begins to pitch in on Mr. Ecko’s mysterious building project, asking the big question "What is it?", Mr. Ecko says mums the word. Hurley comes upon some Dharma fish crackers and begins cramming them when his buddy Dave from the asylum shows up and starts throwing coconuts at him which leads to yet another chase through the jungle which brings him to, ta-da, Ecko’s building project.

Back in flash-back land we revisit Leonard, and the magic numbers. Dave shows himself as a negative influence indeed, first steering Hurley away from healthy snacks, then encouraging Hurley to ditch his meds. Dr. Brooks shows up and snaps a picture of Hurley and Dave.

Hurley goes to Sawyer and tries to get some of the very same meds he was ditching in the asylum. Hurley makes the mistake of explaining to Sawyer why he needs the meds, because he is seeing things. Sawyer pokes fun at Hurley, claiming to see Dave, and Hurley explodes attacking Sawyer and beating the crap out of him. Shortly after the incident, Sawyer is quick to start leaking the fact that Hurley is nuts.

Later, Libby comes upon Hurley packing up. He says he is moving back to the caves to live by himself. In the jungle, he drops some peanut butter and here comes Dave. They have an interesting conversation. Hurley says Dave can’t be there because he is in the hospital.

Back in flashback land we find out just why Hurley was in the asylum. He was at a party and had walked onto an already overloaded deck and it collapsed, killing a couple of people. Hurley went into a catatonic state. Dr. Brooks shows Hurley the picture he took earlier, but Dave is not in it. Dr. Brooks reveals that Dave is only in Hurley’s imagination. Whoa, wait a second… didn’t Hurley actually find one of the Bald dudes slippers? He was even holding it on the beach in the next scene. Things have gotten a lot more interesting in this episode at this point.

Later that evening, Dave wakes up Hurley in the asylum. Dave convinces Hurley that the picture was a fake and they bust out. Their mission: food. At the last minute, Hurley faces the fact that Dave represents his unconscious desire not to change, based in the guilt he feels for the deck accident.

Back in real time Jungle, Dave is still there. And he wants his slipper back. He sits down to have a little one on one with Hurley. His explanation will be theory fodder for the rest of the season. Dave tells Hurley that he was never released from the asylum. He is still there. And the lottery, the plan crash, and everybody of the island is a delusion taking place in H

urley’s mind. In reality, he is back in his comatose state. Dave points out the ‘bizarre’ connections to the hatch numbers, and how Hurley has not gained weight, and how unlikely it is that Hurley has snagged a cute blonde. Dave leads Hurley to a cliff and tells him if he jumps, he will wake up from the comatose state. Dave jumps, Hurley is in shock.

Back in the hatch, Locke is speaking with Ana. Jack has gone to the beach to tell everyone that they have captured one of the others. Locke goes in to have a word with FauxGale. He asks him his name, FauxGale decides to stick with Henry. Henry says that God and the rest of the world cannot see the island. Henry says that the hatch is a joke. He said he

did not enter the numbers into the computer. That the hieroglyphics flipped, and he heard a sound like a big magnet, and then the clock reset itself without the numbers being entered. Locke does not believe him.

Meanwhile Hurley is still at the cliff and surprisingly Libby shows

up. Hurley is now convinced that nothing is real and that Libby represents the part of him that is afraid to wake up. Libby is able to persuade him otherwise by pointing out how Hurley cannot remember details of things she told him, which he would know if he made her up. She says he was not holding a slipper on the beach. They have a smooch, and everything is cool. People, Hurley is getting his loving.

Back in the flashback, we see the earlier photo-shooting scene from another perspective. The perspective of another patient, someone we know very well: Libby.

So, what should be resonating here is this: is it possible Libby is playing a game with everyone? Or that Libby is a patient at the asylum and an unwitting player in Hurley’s delusion? Is this the ultimate answer? Is the island, and all the adventures just a figment of Hurley’s imagination?

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