Dave (episode)
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| --- | "Destination Lost" | (recap) | #09 | "What Kate Did" | (Kate) | #17 | "Lockdown" | (Locke) |
| #01 | "Man of Science, Man of Faith" | (Jack) | --- | "Lost: Revelation" | (recap) | #18 | "Dave" | (Hurley) |
| #02 | "Adrift" | (Michael) | #10 | "The 23rd Psalm" | (Eko) | #19 | "S.O.S." | (Rose & Bernard) |
| #03 | "Orientation" | (Locke) | #11 | "The Hunting Party" | (Jack) | --- | "Lost: Reckoning" | (recap) |
| #04 | "Everybody Hates Hugo" | (Hurley) | #12 | "Fire + Water" | (Charlie) | #20 | "Two for the Road" | (Ana Lucia) |
| #05 | "...And Found" | (Jin & Sun) | #13 | "The Long Con" | (Sawyer) | #21 | "?" | (Eko) |
| #06 | "Abandoned" | (Shannon) | #14 | "One of Them" | (Sayid) | #22 | "Three Minutes" | (Michael) |
| #07 | "The Other 48 Days" | (Tailies) | #15 | "Maternity Leave" | (Claire) | #23 | "Live Together, Die Alone" | (Desmond) |
| #08 | "Collision" | (Ana Lucia) | #16 | "The Whole Truth" | (Sun) | |||
Episode transcript
[[{{{transcript2}}}|Part Two]]
- This article is about the episode. For the character introduced in this episode, see: Dave (Hurley's friend).
"Dave" is the eighteenth episode of Season 2 of Lost. Hurley begins to experience hallucinations of his friend Dave from his past in a mental hospital. Meanwhile, with the truth revealed about Henry Gale, the survivors face the decision of what to do next.
Contents |
Synopsis
Flashback
In a meeting, Hurley's doctor at Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute, Dr. Brooks, checks on his diet. When Brooks mentions his mom, Hurley says he is not mad at her anymore for signing him in. Brooks also reveals that Hurley has been there for almost two months, and says it is time they start to "get their hands dirty". They start with discussing Hurley's homework of making a list of things he likes about himself, and end arguing about another patient, Dave, whom Brooks thinks is a bad influence on Hurley for encouraging him not to take the task. Hurley, however, rejects his opinion and declares Dave as the most normal person around. Next, at a basketball game in the hospital, Dave tries to get the ball but is continuously unsuccessful. Hurley arrives and talks about his meeting, but Dave distracts him with thoughts of food and the Taco night.
Later, Hurley is beaten at a Connect Four game by Leonard Simms, whom he mocks with Dave for continuously repeating the Numbers, 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42.In the last flashback, returning to the scene where the Polaroid picture was taken, the camera pans to show an apparently sick Libby at another table, watching Hurley posing for the picture with no one next to him, before accepting her medication from a nurse. Thus, through Libby's point of view of the scene, we confirm the imaginary nature of Dave.
On the Island
The episode begins at the beach, where Hurley is trying to catch up with Libby's walking pace, who has taken upon herself the task of getting him into shape. Hurley, however, is frustrated at his failing efforts, and rejects Libby's comforting words, and then asserts that he is "sick". Libby asks him to confide in her, so Hurley comes clean and confesses his food problem. He takes Libby to the jungle, where he reveals a stash into which he has been hoarding food from the Swan. He expresses his wishes to get rid of it, but apparently he was unable to so far. Libby advises him that change comes by action, and as an encouragement she holds a ranch jar out to him. In a move of bravery, Hurley opens the jar and dumps it on the ground, then proceeds to destroy the rest of his supply while Libby laughs and encourages him. Hurley and Libby then have an intimate moment, before they are interrupted by Jin, Sun, and others running in from the beach, to look for something in the Jungle.
Hurley follows them, only to be shocked by the tons of food boxes from the recent supply drop, labeled DHARMA, much larger than what he just wasted. Soon the survivors start fighting for food shares, before suggesting that Hurley should be in charge. Hurley panics at the suggestion, then he sees a man in his bathrobe walking away, whom he promptly follows. While searching, Hurley falls at what he discovers to be Dave's slipper. Libby soon catches up with him, and praises his strong head for not freaking out at the new food temptation. Hurley, on the other hand, is busy trying to hide Dave's slipper.
Meanwhile, in the hatch, Locke recovers from the incident with the blast doors, with the help of Jack and Kate. Locke comments on the controversy of "Henry" not using the chance he had during the Lockdown to escape, thinking that it was to help him. Jack, however, rejects that and says it was only because he thought his balloon story would check out.
In the Armory, the situation with the prisoner heats up. Sayid and Ana recount to a bound "Henry" that they had indeed found his balloon, but when they dug up the grave site of his supposed wife, Jennifer Gale, they discovered a male body: the real Henry Gale, as identified by the contents of his wallet. Inside the wallet was a driver's license featuring the real Henry Gale, who is African-American, and a twenty dollar bill, with an inscription that indicates he did not die in his balloon crash. Thus, they reveal that in spite of the right details he mentioned, "Henry" had been lying all along.
Reluctantly, the fake Henry finally admits that he is indeed an Other, but he would be killed if he talks. He also makes a comment on "the guy with the beard," whom he says is of no important position compared to "Him." When "Henry" says he cannot tell them anything about the Others, Sayid threatens "Henry" at gunpoint. "Henry" insists he cannot talk, and Sayid loads the gun, than counts to 3. "Henry" cries that Sayid can't kill him because he is not a bad person, but Sayid pulls the trigger. Ana, however, intervenes just in time by grabbing Sayid's gun arm, causing the shot to strike the wall, thereby saving "Henry"'s life. Locke shouts "Jack", as he is not in the loop and wants to know what is going on.
At the beach, Eko is sawing wood to build a church. Charlie approaches him and asks what he is doing, but Eko enlists his help in moving the wood without revealing the reason. Back in the Jungle, Hurley stumbles on a DHARMA box of "Fish Crackers" on his search for Dave, which he is soon unable to resist opening. While eating, Dave appears to him again, and throws coconuts at him after Hurley denounces his existence. Hurley runs towards Dave, escaping, and he quickly arrives at the beach where he stops at Eko's construction. He then heads to Sawyer to ask him for Clonazepam. Sawyer asks why, and Hurley answers: because he sees "a bald guy in a bath robe". Sawyer then mocks Hurley and hints that he is going nuts, which causes Hurley's temper to heat and soon he attacks him. Other people on the beach watch, including Sun, who encourages a highly amused Jin to go help break it up, which he does. After a quick fight, Sawyer calls Hurley "crazy", which Hurley strongly denies. Enraged, Hurley gathers his stuff and decides to go live at the caves, where now no one is living anymore, refusing Libby's attempts to talk him out of it. On his way, a jar of peanut butter falls open from his bag, which he stops to eat. As he licks some off a rock using a leaf, Dave appears again.
After a long talk, Dave convinces Hurley that he is actually still in Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute, but in a coma. He tells him that everything that happened from the moment Hurley locked him out of the institute: the lottery, the crash, and Libby, were only in his head. Dave then leads him to the top of a massive cliff that falls at a steep angle down to the ocean, and tries to convince him to jump off. He then assures him that after he jumps, he will wake up back into his old life. To convince him even further, Dave jumps off first.
Back at the Hatch, Locke finally confronts the prisoner, demanding to know why he let himself to be caught, thinking it might have been to locate the Swan. "Henry", however, calls the Swan a "joke". He also states that even God is unable to see the Island. When Locke asks him to elaborate, "Henry" says that after he crawled through the vents and reached the computer room, he never did push the button. He says he simply stood there, and watched the timer's numbers turn to red hieroglyphs before they reset back to 108 on their own. Locke, however, replies angrily that he is lying.
Elsewhere, the traumatized Hurley is watching as Dave falls, when all of a sudden Libby emerges from the jungle, asking him what is wrong. Hurley states to her that all that is happening is not real, and is only a comatose dream, including herself. His rationale is that in the real world, no good-looking girl like her would ever like him. Libby replies that he is regressing, and refuses his claims, noting that her dreadful experience with the tail-section survivors, most of whom he didn't meet, must be real. Hurley, however, is about to jump off of the cliff when Libby tells him that she likes him. She then moves in towards Hurley, and the two share a passionate and tender kiss, before she asks him if this felt real. Finally, Hurley comes back to his senses, and the new couple heads back to camp.
Trivia
General
- This episode contains the first Libby flashback.
- This was the first episode of the entire show to end with a flashback scene, followed by "Through the Looking Glass" at the end of season 3, which was actually a flashforward.
- In the first flashback, in Dr. Brooks' office, you can see behind Hurley a large picture of an island.
Production notes
- Claire and Michael do not appear in this episode.
- ABC execs rejected the original draft for this episode, arguing that it was offering an explanation for the show as a whole.[1] It's not known what changes have been done to the plot to address those concerns.
- This episode has no "Previously on Lost" recap at its beginning.
- While filming the beginning of the episode, where Hurley falls over while chasing Dave, Jorge Garcia cut his hand by accident on a piece of glass in the jungle. In a following scene, Hurley is seen with a plaster on his hands when picking up the DHARMA crisps.
Continuity errors
- The Polaroid photo Dr. Brooks shows to Hurley looks darker than the time it was taken and missing some of the people present at the time. This may be due to many reasons, including a production error, a deliberate use of a different photo by Brooks, or due to common darkening effect of Polaroid cameras.
- When Dave is being chased through the jungle by Hugo, he can clearly be seen wearing two different shoes (a slipper and an unidentifiable red shoe), even though he is shown with only one on in different scenes.
- While Hurley is walking through the jungle, for four seconds a white blur appears on the left of Hurley’s head.
Recurring themes
- Hurley reveals to Libby his food stash, which he destroys with her help. (Deceptions and cons) (Redemption)
- Hurley has visions of his imaginary friend Dave and doubts about his sanity. (Dreams and visions) (Psychology)
- Hurley tells Dr. Brooks that he is helpless about his weight, but Libby tells him "you wanna change, then change!". (Fate versus free will)
- The patients at Santa Rosa play a basketball game. (Games)
- "Henry" lies to Sayid, saying that the real Henry Gale was already dead when he found him 4 months ago. (Deceptions and cons) (The Numbers)
- Under the threat of being shot, "Henry" shouts to Sayid: "I am not a bad person". (Good and bad people)
- Ana Lucia stops Sayid from shooting "Henry". (Life and death) (Rivalries)
- When asked by Charlie what he is building, Eko refrains from telling him that it is a church. (Secrets) (Religion)
- Leonard repeats the Numbers while playing Connect Four against Hurley. (The Numbers) (Games)
- Hurley reveals to Dave that he faked swallowing his medicine. (Deceptions and cons)
- Hurley attacks Sawyer after he pretended to see his imaginary friend Dave. (Rivalries) (Deceptions and cons)
- Hurley sets out to the caves to live by himself. (Isolation)
- As revealed by Brooks, the deck where 2 people were killed was built for 8, while there were 23 people on it. (The Numbers) (Life and death)
- Although Hurley's picture was taken during daytime, when revealed to him, it appears darker (night time) outside the window. (Black and white)
- "Henry" lies to Locke, saying he did not push the button. (Deceptions and cons)
- Although initially convinced to jump off the cliff, Hurley refrains, with the help of Libby. (Life and death) (Redemption)
- Libby knows that both she and Hurley were patients at the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute. (Character connections) (Secrets) (Psychology)
Cultural references
| Cultural references in Lost (direct references only) |
|---|
| Art • Books • Cars • Games • Movies and TV • Music • Philosophy • Religion and ideologies • Science |
- Connect Four. Leonard Simms beats Hurley at this game. (Games)
- During the game, Dave says, "Pretty sneaky, Leonard." This is a takeoff on a line from the Connect Four TV commercial where a boy says, "Pretty sneaky, sis" after she defeats him by lining up her checkers diagonally. (Movies and TV)
- Connect four has 42 holes in the grid. (Numbers)
- Fantasy Island. While inspecting the supply drop, Sawyer calls Charlie "Tattoo" referencing a character from this TV show (1978 – 1984). Tattoo was famous for using the line: "The plane!". (Movies and TV) (Nicknames)
- In "Whatever the Case May Be", it was Walt who was called “Tattoo” by Sawyer
- Christianity. The way Ben is tied up during this episode is reminiscent of the way Jesus was put on the cross. (Religion).
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode premise is very similar to an episode of this series, where Buffy Summers is led to believe that she has been in a mental institution for the past six/seven years, and that her world of demons and vampires is a fantasy. As in Lost, death is also seen as the way of overcoming the "fake reality" (though on Buffy it was to kill her friends rather than kill herself). (Movies and TV)
- The Incredible Hulk. Sawyer claims Hurley “Hulked-out” on him after he teased him about Dave. The Hulk was a Marvel comic book character that was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963. (Books) (Movies and TV)
- Lassie. When Kate is teasing Sawyer about getting beat up by Hurley, he replies by asking her if she doesn’t have an adventure to get to and that he thinks "Timmy fell in a well over that way." Timmy was a main character in this TV show (1954-1974). (Movies and TV)
- Maybe Sawyer is also alluding to the fact that Kate is a bitch (Lassie is a female dog).
- Star Wars. Dave asks Hurley if he really thinks that they actually blew up the Death Star, a space station from the film franchise. (Movies)
- "Kumbaya". Sawyer tells Libby, "Great plan, Moonbeam. And after that we can sing Kumbaya and do trust falls." "Kumbaya" is a standard campfire song in Scouting, YMCA, and the Indian Guides. (Music)
- A "Trust fall" is an activity where one performs a controlled fall from a standing position into the arms of another person. (Games)
- "The Invention of Morel". In this book, a fugitive finds a deserted island. Later he encounters some people that appear and disappear randomly, repeating some actions. This people doesn't really exists, they are merely very lively recordings reproduced by a machine. This people are really dead. In one point of the novel, the main character gets several theories about what's happening in the island. One of these theories is that he is in a psychiatric hospital, dreaming he is on an island. This is exactly what Ben suggests in this episode. (Books)
Literary techniques
| Literary techniques in Lost |
|---|
| Comparative: Irony • Juxtaposition • Plotting: Cliffhanger • Plot twist • Stock Characters: Archetype • Redshirt • Unseen character• Story: Flashbacks • Flashforwards • Regularly spoken phrases • Symbolism • Unreliable narrator |
- With the help of Libby, Hurley was able to muster the courage to fight his eating disorder by destroying his food stash, only to discover that a pallet of food had dropped from the sky. (Irony)
- Libby claimed to be a psychologist, and helped people through mental health issues, but she herself was a patient at Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute. (Irony) (Plot twist)
- Hurley's friend Dave from the Mental Health Institute is revealed to be a figment of Hurley's imagination. (Plot twist)
Episode references
- Locke looks at his foot the same way he did on the day of the crash and during "Walkabout".
- Connect Four was also the game played by Leonard Simms in ("Numbers"). At the time he was playing both colors, while chanting the Numbers over and over again.
Unanswered questions
| Unanswered questions |
|---|
|
- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Dave (episode)/Theories
- Why was Libby a patient at Santa Rosa?
- How does "Henry" know what happens when the button isn't pushed?

