Dave (Lost)
Encyclopedia
"Dave" is the 43rd episode of Lost
and the 18th episode of the second season. The episode was directed by Jack Bender
, and written by Edward Kitsis
and Adam Horowitz. It first aired on April 5, 2006 on ABC
. In flashbacks, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes is in a mental institution, where he deals with an imaginary friend
, Dave. Libby is also featured in a flashback, revealing that she attended the institution along with Hurley. The island events in the present day have Hurley seeing Dave on the island, while other survivors confront "Henry Gale" after his backstory is revealed to be false.
The episode addresses a fan theory which considered the events of the series to be hallucination
s or dreams. The character of Dave was written as both a side of Hurley who denied his problems and an analogous to Hurley's disappeared father, and his scenes were filmed so his reveal as imaginary would be a plot twist
.
) is in a mental institution, where he is friends with Dave (Evan Handler
), who tells Hurley to ignore the doctors, avoid his medication, and try to escape. One day, Hurley's doctor, Dr. Brooks (Bruce Davison
), proves to Hurley that Dave is not real, by taking a photo of the two, and then showing Hurley that Dave is not in the picture. Later that night, Dave wakes Hurley up to escape with him from the institute. Dave hops out of a window, but Hurley confronts him and declares that Dave is not real, and shuts the window on him before going back to bed.
A later flashback reveals that during the moment Dr. Brooks took the picture of Hurley and Dave, another patient was staring at Hurley from across the room, Libby (Cynthia Watros
).
, and shows her a stash of Dharma
food. Hurley expresses interest in getting rid of it, and she encourages him to do so. Just after Hurley destroys his supplies, other survivors go into the jungle. Following them, Hurley and Libby see that an enormous package of food parachuted from the sky. After Hurley panics at the suggestion of again being in charge of the supplies
, he sees Dave, and tries to follow him as he goes into the jungle.
After Hurley loses Dave's trail twice, and attacks Sawyer (Josh Holloway
) for mocking him, he decides to leave the beach and go to the caves. On the way, Dave reappears, and tells Hurley that everything that has happened since the night of the escape attempt has been a fantasy — that after Dave escaped, Hurley went into a catatonic state and has imagined everything since then. As proof, Dave points out the appearances of the numbers said by another intern, Leonard (Ron Bottitta
) in both Hurley's winning lottery ticket
and the hatch computer. Dave takes Hurley to a cliff, and tells him to jump and get out of his dream, before jumping off himself. Before Hurley can decide whether or not to follow Dave, Libby finds him. Hurley states to her that all that is happening is not real, and is only a comatose dream, including herself, but Libby convinces him otherwise, in part by kissing him.
On the hatch, Sayid
(Naveen Andrews
) and Ana-Lucía (Michelle Rodriguez
) interrogate "Henry Gale" (Michael Emerson
). After Henry's new cover-up story is proved false, Henry finally admits that he is indeed an Other, but says he would be killed if he talks. Later, Locke
(Terry O'Quinn
) confronts the prisoner, demanding to know if he let himself be caught, thinking it might have been to find the Swan. "Henry", however, calls the hatch a "joke", saying that during the lockdown
, he never entered the numbers into the computer or pushed the button; he simply stood there, and watched the timer's numbers turn to red hieroglyphs before they reset back on their own. Locke, however, replies angrily that Henry is lying, but he replies that he's "done lying".
ABC was concerned about the content of the episode, arguing that the idea that the story could be all in Hurley's head was offering an explanation for the show as a whole, since a recurring theory among the fandom was that the events of the series were hallucinations. The character of Dave was meant to be a side of Hurley who felt he had no problem, and encourages Hurley to overeat, and is played by Evan Handler
in a way director Jack Bender
described as "mischievous, impish-like". Showrunner Carlton Cuse
revealed his name comes from Hurley's father, David Reyes - who would later appear in the series played by Cheech Marin
- because the writers "wanted Hurley to imagine a friend and have that be wrapped up in his unresolved relationship with his dad". The final scene with Libby was so secret that only Jack Bender and his assistant director
had it in their scripts, and to prevent Libby from being the only woman in the mental institution, every woman on the set, including Bender's daughter Sophie, was dressed in robes and pajamas to appear as background characters.
Director Bender decided to depict Dave in a way audiences would first believe him to be real, but without the character actually interacting with the physical world, similar to films such as The Sixth Sense
and A Beautiful Mind
. For the scene in which Dave walks through the jungle with Hurley, red and orange flowers were placed to add some "magic" to the scene, something Bender described as a "'Hurley in Wonderland
' feel". The scene in which Hurley attacks Sawyer was intended to be a humorous moment, with Bender suggesting that the tent be knocked over, and Josh Holloway
adding Sawyer trying to escape but being pulled back.
The scene in which Dave starts listing to Hurley why the island events are occurring in his mind suffered from continuous interruption, as military exercises on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam
led to many takes being ruined by plane noises. Weather problems also plagued production, with loud waves causing Hurley's and Libby's beach scene to be redubbed in post-production, and rain on one day changing the location of the basketball game scene to an indoor court, and also leading to a second day of filming on the cliff. The cliff was digitally redesigned in post-production to appear as if the actors were standing on the edge. Dave's jump was done by making a stunt double jump in front of a bluescreen, with the body hitting the water and resulting splash being rendered through computer graphics
. The mental hospital was shot at the Laniakea YWCA
in Honolulu, except for Dr. Brooks's office, which was done inside a studio.
praised Jorge Garcia's and Michael Emerson's performances, and said that the episode made the island "feel dangerous again". Ryan J. Budke of TV Squad felt that the B-story in the hatch was more interesting that Hurley's scenes, and considered "Dave" depressing, in opposition to the other "so light-hearted" Hurley-centered episodes. IGN
's Chris Carabott gave the episode a 7 out of 10, considering it entertaining even if it "doesn't really impact the series as a whole", but the website later ranked "Adrift" as the 9th worst Lost episode ever, describing it as meaningless and saying the flashback "felt pretty extraneous". New York magazine
listed "Dave" sixth in a "Twenty Most Pointless Episodes of Lost" list, considering that "using an episode to disprove a theory that wasn’t so prevalent was a waste of time". On the other hand, the Los Angeles Times
ranked the episode as the 30th best of the series, describing it as "perhaps the most misunderstood episode of Lost ever", saying that Dave not being real was meant to be a twist, but just "the biggest expression of just how messed up Hurley was before he found the island".
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
and the 18th episode of the second season. The episode was directed by Jack Bender
Jack Bender
Jack Bender is an American television and film director, actor, television producer and also a screenwriter. Bender was an executive producer and lead director on the ABC television series, Lost. He directed the series finale of Lost. Bender has also directed on other popular shows such as The...
, and written by Edward Kitsis
Edward Kitsis
Edward Lawrence Kitsis, also sometimes credited as Eddy Kitsis, is an American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on the popular American television series, Lost and Once Upon a Time.-Life and career:...
and Adam Horowitz. It first aired on April 5, 2006 on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. In flashbacks, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes is in a mental institution, where he deals with an imaginary friend
Imaginary friend
Imaginary friends and imaginary companions are a psychological and social phenomenon where a friendship or other interpersonal relationship takes place in the imagination rather than external physical reality. Imaginary friends are fictional characters created for improvisational role-playing. They...
, Dave. Libby is also featured in a flashback, revealing that she attended the institution along with Hurley. The island events in the present day have Hurley seeing Dave on the island, while other survivors confront "Henry Gale" after his backstory is revealed to be false.
The episode addresses a fan theory which considered the events of the series to be hallucination
Hallucination
A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
s or dreams. The character of Dave was written as both a side of Hurley who denied his problems and an analogous to Hurley's disappeared father, and his scenes were filmed so his reveal as imaginary would be a plot twist
Plot twist
A plot twist is a change in the expected direction or outcome of the plot of a film, television series, video game, novel, comic or other fictional work. It is a common practice in narration used to keep the interest of an audience, usually surprising them with a revelation...
.
Flashback
Hurley (Jorge GarciaJorge Garcia
Jorge García is a U.S. actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show Becker and later for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in the television series Lost. Garcia also performs as a stand-up comedian.-Early life:García was born...
) is in a mental institution, where he is friends with Dave (Evan Handler
Evan Handler
Evan Handler is an American actor who is best known for playing Harry Goldenblatt, Charlotte's divorce attorney and later husband, on Sex and the City, and Charlie Runkle, Hank's comically bumbling friend and agent, on Californication.-Early life:Handler was born in New York City, the son of Enid...
), who tells Hurley to ignore the doctors, avoid his medication, and try to escape. One day, Hurley's doctor, Dr. Brooks (Bruce Davison
Bruce Davison
Bruce Davison is an American actor and director.-Early life:Davison was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Marian E. , a secretary, and Clair W. Davison, a musician, architect, and draftsman for the Army Engineers. His parents divorced when he was three years old. He was raised by his...
), proves to Hurley that Dave is not real, by taking a photo of the two, and then showing Hurley that Dave is not in the picture. Later that night, Dave wakes Hurley up to escape with him from the institute. Dave hops out of a window, but Hurley confronts him and declares that Dave is not real, and shuts the window on him before going back to bed.
A later flashback reveals that during the moment Dr. Brooks took the picture of Hurley and Dave, another patient was staring at Hurley from across the room, Libby (Cynthia Watros
Cynthia Watros
Cynthia Michele Watros is an American television actress, who also starred in films and on stage. She is known for her roles as Libby on the ABC TV series Lost, Kellie in The Drew Carey Show, Erin in Titus, and Annie Dutton in Guiding Light...
).
On the island
Hurley confesses to Libby that he has an eating disorderEating disorder
Eating disorders refer to a group of conditions defined by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive food intake to the detriment of an individual's physical and mental health. Bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge eating disorder are the most common specific...
, and shows her a stash of Dharma
DHARMA Initiative
The Dharma Initiative, also written DHARMA , was a fictional research project featured in the television series Lost. It was introduced in the second season episode "Orientation". In 2008, the Dharma Initiative website was launched. Dharma's interests were directly connected with fringe science...
food. Hurley expresses interest in getting rid of it, and she encourages him to do so. Just after Hurley destroys his supplies, other survivors go into the jungle. Following them, Hurley and Libby see that an enormous package of food parachuted from the sky. After Hurley panics at the suggestion of again being in charge of the supplies
Everybody Hates Hugo
"Everybody Hates Hugo" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American drama television series Lost, and the show's 29th episode overall. The episode was written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, and directed by Alan Taylor...
, he sees Dave, and tries to follow him as he goes into the jungle.
After Hurley loses Dave's trail twice, and attacks Sawyer (Josh Holloway
Josh Holloway
Joshua Lee "Josh" Holloway is an American actor and model from Free Home, Georgia. He is best known for his role as James "Sawyer" Ford on the American television show Lost.-Early life:...
) for mocking him, he decides to leave the beach and go to the caves. On the way, Dave reappears, and tells Hurley that everything that has happened since the night of the escape attempt has been a fantasy — that after Dave escaped, Hurley went into a catatonic state and has imagined everything since then. As proof, Dave points out the appearances of the numbers said by another intern, Leonard (Ron Bottitta
Ron Bottitta
Ron Bottitta is a British actor appearing in theatre but also in minor roles in both television and film.-Filmography:* 2004 - Boston Public* 2004 - In Good Company* 2005 - A Lot Like Love* 2005 - Mr. & Mrs...
) in both Hurley's winning lottery ticket
Numbers (Lost)
"Numbers" is the 18th episode of the first season of Lost. The episode was directed by Dan Attias and written by Brent Fletcher and David Fury. It first aired on March 2, 2005 on ABC...
and the hatch computer. Dave takes Hurley to a cliff, and tells him to jump and get out of his dream, before jumping off himself. Before Hurley can decide whether or not to follow Dave, Libby finds him. Hurley states to her that all that is happening is not real, and is only a comatose dream, including herself, but Libby convinces him otherwise, in part by kissing him.
On the hatch, Sayid
Sayid Jarrah
Sayid Hassan Jarrah is a character from the ABC show Lost portrayed by Naveen Andrews.-Season 1:Sayid fixes the transceiver recovered from the cockpit, and leads a group into the jungle in order to send out a distress signal. Instead, he picks up a looping message . He tries to locate the...
(Naveen Andrews
Naveen Andrews
Naveen William Sidney Andrews is a British American actor. He is best known for portraying Kip in the movie The English Patient and Sayid Jarrah on the American television series Lost.-Early life:...
) and Ana-Lucía (Michelle Rodriguez
Michelle Rodriguez
Mayte Michelle Rodríguez , known professionally as Michelle Rodriguez, is an American actress. Following on from her breakthrough role in 2000's Girlfight, she is best known for playing tough-girl roles and starring in Hollywood blockbusters such as The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil,...
) interrogate "Henry Gale" (Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...
). After Henry's new cover-up story is proved false, Henry finally admits that he is indeed an Other, but says he would be killed if he talks. Later, Locke
John Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
(Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
) confronts the prisoner, demanding to know if he let himself be caught, thinking it might have been to find the Swan. "Henry", however, calls the hatch a "joke", saying that during the lockdown
Lockdown (Lost)
"Lockdown" is the 42nd episode of Lost. It is the 17th episode of the second season. The episode was directed by Stephen Williams, and written by Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. It first aired on March 29, 2006 on ABC...
, he never entered the numbers into the computer or pushed the button; he simply stood there, and watched the timer's numbers turn to red hieroglyphs before they reset back on their own. Locke, however, replies angrily that Henry is lying, but he replies that he's "done lying".
Production
Evan Handler
Evan Handler is an American actor who is best known for playing Harry Goldenblatt, Charlotte's divorce attorney and later husband, on Sex and the City, and Charlie Runkle, Hank's comically bumbling friend and agent, on Californication.-Early life:Handler was born in New York City, the son of Enid...
in a way director Jack Bender
Jack Bender
Jack Bender is an American television and film director, actor, television producer and also a screenwriter. Bender was an executive producer and lead director on the ABC television series, Lost. He directed the series finale of Lost. Bender has also directed on other popular shows such as The...
described as "mischievous, impish-like". Showrunner Carlton Cuse
Carlton Cuse
Carlton Cuse is an AmericanEmmy Award winning screenwriter and producer, most famous as executive producer andscreenwriter for the American television series Lost for...
revealed his name comes from Hurley's father, David Reyes - who would later appear in the series played by Cheech Marin
Cheech Marin
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges...
- because the writers "wanted Hurley to imagine a friend and have that be wrapped up in his unresolved relationship with his dad". The final scene with Libby was so secret that only Jack Bender and his assistant director
Assistant director
The role of an Assistant director include tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, maintaining order on the set. They also have to take care of health and safety of the crew...
had it in their scripts, and to prevent Libby from being the only woman in the mental institution, every woman on the set, including Bender's daughter Sophie, was dressed in robes and pajamas to appear as background characters.
Director Bender decided to depict Dave in a way audiences would first believe him to be real, but without the character actually interacting with the physical world, similar to films such as The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...
and A Beautiful Mind
A Beautiful Mind (film)
A Beautiful Mind is a 2001 American drama film based on the life of John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics. The film was directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman. It was inspired by a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-nominated 1998 book of the same name by Sylvia Nasar...
. For the scene in which Dave walks through the jungle with Hurley, red and orange flowers were placed to add some "magic" to the scene, something Bender described as a "'Hurley in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
' feel". The scene in which Hurley attacks Sawyer was intended to be a humorous moment, with Bender suggesting that the tent be knocked over, and Josh Holloway
Josh Holloway
Joshua Lee "Josh" Holloway is an American actor and model from Free Home, Georgia. He is best known for his role as James "Sawyer" Ford on the American television show Lost.-Early life:...
adding Sawyer trying to escape but being pulled back.
The scene in which Dave starts listing to Hurley why the island events are occurring in his mind suffered from continuous interruption, as military exercises on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam is a United States military facility adjacent to Honolulu, Hawaii. It is an amalgamation of the former United States Air Force Hickam Air Force Base and the United States Navy Naval Base Pearl Harbor, which were merged in 2010.-Overview:Joint Base Pearl...
led to many takes being ruined by plane noises. Weather problems also plagued production, with loud waves causing Hurley's and Libby's beach scene to be redubbed in post-production, and rain on one day changing the location of the basketball game scene to an indoor court, and also leading to a second day of filming on the cliff. The cliff was digitally redesigned in post-production to appear as if the actors were standing on the edge. Dave's jump was done by making a stunt double jump in front of a bluescreen, with the body hitting the water and resulting splash being rendered through computer graphics
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
. The mental hospital was shot at the Laniakea YWCA
YWCA
The YWCA USA is the United States branch of a women's membership movement that strives to create opportunities for women's growth, leadership and power in order to attain a common vision—to eliminate racism and empower women. The YWCA is a non-profit organization, the first of which was founded in...
in Honolulu, except for Dr. Brooks's office, which was done inside a studio.
Reception
16.38 million American viewers tuned into this episode. Reviews were mixed. Scott Brown of Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
praised Jorge Garcia's and Michael Emerson's performances, and said that the episode made the island "feel dangerous again". Ryan J. Budke of TV Squad felt that the B-story in the hatch was more interesting that Hurley's scenes, and considered "Dave" depressing, in opposition to the other "so light-hearted" Hurley-centered episodes. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Chris Carabott gave the episode a 7 out of 10, considering it entertaining even if it "doesn't really impact the series as a whole", but the website later ranked "Adrift" as the 9th worst Lost episode ever, describing it as meaningless and saying the flashback "felt pretty extraneous". New York magazine
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
listed "Dave" sixth in a "Twenty Most Pointless Episodes of Lost" list, considering that "using an episode to disprove a theory that wasn’t so prevalent was a waste of time". On the other hand, the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
ranked the episode as the 30th best of the series, describing it as "perhaps the most misunderstood episode of Lost ever", saying that Dave not being real was meant to be a twist, but just "the biggest expression of just how messed up Hurley was before he found the island".