Dave

This page concerns the Season 2 episode "Dave". There is a separate article on the character "Dave" that was introduced in this episode.

"Dave"
Season	2
Episode	18
Airdate	April 5, 2006
Flashback	Hurley
Days	60
Writer	Edward Kitsis Adam Horowitz
Director	Jack Bender
Guests	Michael Emerson - Henry Gale Evan Handler - Dave Bruce Davison - Dr. Brooks Ron Bottitta - Leonard Simms Grisel Toledo - Nurse Lazenby
Transcript	S2E18 - Dave Transcript

"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 to decision of what to do next.

Synopsis

Flashbacks

Hurley at Dr. Brooks's office

Hurley remembers his time at Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute. In a meeting, Hurley's doctor, 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 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.

Hurley and Dave, getting ready for the picture

Hurley then proceeds to eat his diet celery's, but Dave dares him to take one of Leonard's graham crackers, which Hurley eventually does. Nurse Lazenby then gives him his medication (Clonazepam), which Dave advices him not to swallow. Dr. Brooks arrives and talks to Dave and Hurley, before taking a picture of them. After he leaves, Hurley shows Dave the pills, kept in his mouth.

In another meeting, Hurley reads his list of good points to Dr. Brooks. When Brooks mentions that he did not write about the way he looks, Hurley starts to talk about the the accident. Apparently, after going up on the deck of a boat, it soon collapsed, with two people killed, leading Hurley to think his over-weight caused it. Brooks, however, says that it wasn’t his fault, since there were already 23 people on, while it was built to hold 8. He also reveals that after the accident, Hurley was in a catatonic state, in which he stopped talking, going out and even sleeping. However, he never stopped eating, which was the way he chose to punish himself. Enraged, Hurley says that his friend, Dave, was right about Brooks being a "quack", to which Brooks shows him their taken picture, from which Hurley sees Dave missing, since Dave, as Brook reveals, is a figment of Hurley's imagination.

Libby watching Hurley

Later that night, Dave wakes Hurley up to escape with him from the institute. At the last moment, Hurley confronts Dave and declares that he isn't real, and refuses to follow him. In an act of bravery, Hurley then locks Dave outside the institute, and goes back to his bed.

In the last flashback, returning to the scene where the Polaroid picture was taken, Hurley seems to have a shared moment with Libby. The camera pans to show an apparently sick Libby on another table watching Hurley posing for the picture and 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.

Realtime events

Hurley destroying his food stash

The episode begins at the beach, where Hurley is trying to catch up with the jogging Libby, 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, 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 dumbs 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 and Libby arrive at the Food Supply drop spot

Hurley follows them, only to be shocked by the tons of food boxes from a 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 (Dave) in his bath robe 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 will check out.

Sayid and Ana interrogating a hanged Henry

In the Armory, the situation with Henry Gale heats up. Sayid and Ana recounts to a hanged 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, which 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" was 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 Mr. Friendly, 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 gun-point. "Henry" insists he cannot talk, and Sayid loads the gun, than counts to 3. "Henry" cries that Sayid can't kill him because he (Ben) is not a bad person, but Sayid pulls the trigger. Ana, however, intervenes on time, and saves "Henry"'s life.

Hurley attacking Sawyer after mocking him

At the beach, Eko is sawing wood to build a construction. 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 at him coconuts after Hurley denounces his existence. To escape, Hurley runs towards 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 bold guy in a bath robe". Sawyer then mocks Hurley and hints that he is getting nuts, which causes Hurley's temper to heat and soon he attacks him. 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, refusing Libby 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 using a leaf, Dave appears again.

Dave trying to convince Hurley to jump off a cliff

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 "Henry", demanding to know why he let him self 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" claims that after he crawled through the vents, and reaching the computer room, he never did push the button. He says he simply stood there, and viewed the timer's numbers turn to hieroglyphs before they reset back to 108 on their own. Locke, however, replies angrily that he is lying.

Libby kisses Hurley

Elsewhere, the traumatized Hurley is watching Dave falls, when all of a sudden Libby emerges from the jungle, asking him what is wrong. Hurley states to her that all what is happening is not real, and is only a Coma dream, including herself. His rationale is that; in a 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 Tailies whom most of them he didn't meet must be real. Hurley, however, goes insane, and 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 head back to camp.

Trivia

Cultural references

• Leonard Simms beats Hurley at a Connect Four game.
• During the episode, the patients at Santa Rosa played a Basketball game, which is used to hint the imaginary nature of Dave.
• While inspecting the supply drop, Sawyer calls Charlie "Tattoo" referencing a character from the TV show, Fantasy Island (1978 – 1984), famous for using the line: "The plane!".

General

• So far, this is the only episode of the entire show which ends with a flashback scene.
• In the first flashback, in Dr. Brooks' office, you can see behind Hurley a large picture of an island.
• 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.
• While filming the beginning of the episode, where Hurley falls over while chasing Dave, Jorge Garcia cuts 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.

Recurring themes

• Hurley reveals to Libby his hoarding food stash, which he destroys with her help. (Deceptions and cons), (Redemption)
• Hurley tells Dr. Brooks that he is helpless about his weight, but Libby tells him "you wanna change, then change!". (Fate versus free will)
• Although Hurley's picture was taken during daytime, when revealed to him, it appears black (night time) outside the window. (Black and white)
• As revealed by Brooks, the deck where 2 people were killed killed was built to hold 8, while there were 23 people on it. (Numbers), (Life and death)
• Hurley reveals to Dave that he faked swallowing his medicine. (Deceptions and cons)
• Leonard repeats the Numbers while playing Connect Four against Hurley. (Numbers)
• Although initially convinced to jump off the cliff, Hurley refrains with the help of Libby (Life and death), (Redemption)
• Libby knows that both her and Hurley were patients at the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute. (Character connections)
• Libby, however, mysteriously refrains from telling Hurley of their earlier connection. (Deceptions and cons)
• Ben claimed he was part of the search party looking for Henry Gale, 4 months ago. (Numbers)
• As revealed by the events of the episode, Ben was lying all along. (Deceptions and cons)
• Under Gun threat, Ben shouts to Sayid: "I am not a bad person". (Good and bad)
• Sayid was about to shoot Ben, but was stopped by Ana. (Life and death)
• Ben claims to Locke that he never pushed the button. (Deceptions and cons)