Lost clues: "The Beginning of the End" Ep. 1, Season 4

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Episode summary:

We see a 1970s Camaro leading a high-speed police chase through Los Angeles. The car crashes and the driver emerges as the cops train their weapons on him. It's Hurley. This isn't a flashback. At least not like one before. It takes place after Hurley has left the island.

We learn Hurley is one of the "Oceanic 6," and has attained celebrity status as a result of having survived the plane crash. We also learn he's very troubled. He's haunted by visions of Charlie's death and the island experience in general. He's also carrying tremendous guilt over having left the island and, presumably, other people who are still on it.

After his arrest, Hurley is committed to a mental hospital where he's visited by Jack, another of the Oceanic 6. Jack is worried that Hurley is going to tell the truth about the island and the Oceanic 6's return to civilization--we don't know how/what occurred. Hurley says the island wants them to return. Jack doesn't want to hear about it.

Hurley also is visited by the ghost(?) of Charlie, who makes him feel guilty for having left the island, and those apparently still on it, behind.

A man visits Hurley in the hospital (he may have been a vision, not real) saying he's an attorney from Oceanic Airlines. Before he leaves, the man says "they're alive, aren't they." Hurley freaks out, yelling for a nurse.



Back in time, on the island, we see Jack and the other survivors excited about the prospect of rescue. They're used Naomi's satellite phone to make contact with her ship and it sounds as if people are coming to retrieve them soon.

Ben, now captive to the crash survivors, insists Naomi's people won't help. They'll harm those on the island.

Back at the beach, Desmond emerges from the waves and brings pretty much the same message. Charlie died shutting down the jamming signal in the underwater Looking Glass station. But before drowning, signaled to Desmond that Naomi and her crew were not sent by Desmond's girlfriend Penelope. We don't know who they are.

Naomi dies as a result of Locke's stab wound, but she covers for the survivors when talking to her crew on the satellite phone, saying that she'd been injured by a tree branch in her parachute fall.

We also see Hurley, temporarily separated from the rest of the survivors in the jungle, encountering Jacob's creepy cabin--and Locke.

Torn about whether to stay and await potential rescue or hunker down in the Others' barracks and defend themselves against these alleged invaders, the survivors break into two groups.

Jack leads those awaiting rescue. Locke leads those who are afraid.



Questions/clues/observations:

* Who are the rest of the Oceanic 6? Are we counting Kate? We know she also returned to civilization. But has she attained the same notoriety? After all, she's a fugitive and likely would've been tossed in prison upon return. Perhaps the rest are keeping her return secret. Or she's assumed another name, leaving the world to believe the "real" Kate died in the crash. Are we counting Michael and Walt? We were led to believe at the end of the last season that maybe Sawyer made it back too. Maybe he's one of the six. And then there was the mysterious person in the coffin. This will take some time to figure out.

* Why did only six of the survivors return? Are the rest dead? Still on the island?

* Why are Hurley and Jack so guilt-ridden? What happened to allow their return?

* How the heck did these folks get back? Boat? Plane? Inter-dimensional travel?

* Who are Naomi's people? Are they associated somehow with Penelope's father? Is the Widmore company somehow a rival to Dharma and/or the Others? Do they have dark plans for the island?

* There's speculation that Jacob is Jack's dad, Christian. And, y'know, in profile, in the dark, he kinda looks like he could be. Maybe Jacob took the shape of Christian. Or Christian popped by Jacob's place for a visit. Who knows.



* Was that Locke's eye that popped up in the window of Jacob's cabin and scared the bejeezus out of Hurley? Is it Patchy the Russian? Or is it Jacob himself peering out?



* Character connections: The cop who questions Hurley states he was Ana Lucia's former partner. He's under the impression Ana Lucia died in the Oceanic crash but wonders if Hurley met her before the plane went down. Hurley lies, saying he didn't know Ana Lucia.

* Drawings on the chalkboard in the sitting room of the mental hospital show a shark and waves, etc. They seem inspired by the island and look a bit like those seen in the Hatch during season 2.



* Hurley is seen doing a watercolor showing an Eskimo and igloo.

* In the vision Hurley has of Charlie while in the police station, Charlie has "they need you" written on his palm.



* Before she dies, Naomi tells her crew mate over the satellite phone to tell her sister she's sorry. Who is her sister? Or is she sending the crew a coded message?