Tricia Tanaka Is Dead
Encyclopedia
"Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" is an episode of ABC's Lost
, the tenth of the show's third season and 59th episode overall. The episode was written by Edward Kitsis
and Adam Horowitz and directed by Eric Laneuville
. The character of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia
) was featured in the episode's flashbacks, as he reminisces over his father (guest star Cheech Marin
) abandoning his family for seventeen years. On the island, Hurley works with Jin-Soo Kwon
(Daniel Dae Kim) and James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway
) to repair an old Volkswagen camper van
while Kate Austen
(Evangeline Lilly
) ponders what to do about the still-captured Jack Shephard
(Matthew Fox
).
In interviews, Garcia, Dae Kim, and Holloway commented that they had a lot of fun shooting their scenes, as they had not worked together for a while. The episode marked the first appearance of recurring guest actor Cheech Marin. It first aired on February 28, 2007 in the United States on ABC, with an estimated 12.78 million viewers. The episode received mixed reviews, with many praising its humor but still noting that little was learned concerning the show's overall mythology.
), over an old Camaro
that they want to repair. It won't start however, and David assures him good things happen when you believe they will, and that in this world you have to "make your own luck." While leaving for Las Vegas
, David gives Hurley a chocolate bar and promises to return soon.
Now an adult, Hurley (Jorge Garcia
) watches as his new Mr. Cluck's chicken restaurant gets hit by a meteorite
, killing those inside, including Tricia Tanaka (Sung-Hi Lee
), the newswoman who just interviewed him about his lottery winnings. Hurley arrives home, telling his mother his intent to go to Australia
to end the bad luck curse
he believes was bestowed upon him after he won the lottery. She tries to disprove the curse by revealing his father has returned to them after seventeen years. Suspecting his father of only wanting the lottery money, Hurley reacts angrily. David brings his son to a tarot card reader (Suzanne Krull
), who tells Hurley she can 'remove' the curse before admitting that David paid her to say this. Hurley vows to give the money away, and begins packing for Australia. David acknowledges he just returned for the money, but approves of Hurley's decision and promises he will be waiting for him when Hurley gets back.
's grave about what happened to Jack Shephard
(Matthew Fox
), Kate Austen
(Evangeline Lilly
) and James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway
) after they were taken by the Others. Hurley learns that Charlie Pace
(Dominic Monaghan
) believes that Desmond Hume
(Henry Ian Cusick
) sees visions of Charlie's death. Hurley believes this and tells Charlie that he thinks he brings bad luck. Vincent the dog shows up with a mummified human arm, leading Hurley to a Volkswagen
camper van
on its side underneath the foliage. Inside is a skeleton wearing a DHARMA Initiative
jumpsuit sporting the name "Roger" on its chest and the Swan station's logo. On the beach, Hurley's requests for help are turned down. Jin-Soo Kwon
(Daniel Dae Kim), who doesn't understand what Hurley is saying, is roped into helping.
Hurley finds beer in the van and a returned Sawyer outside. He learns from Sawyer that he and Kate escaped but Jack is still prisoner. Hurley is very optimistic about the future and volunteers Sawyer to help him fix the van. Meanwhile, Desmond refuses to tell Charlie when he will die. Kate informs Sayid Jarrah
(Naveen Andrews
) of all she knows about the Others and then leaves, saying she's going to get help to rescue Jack, but she won't say from whom.
Hurley, Jin and Sawyer raid the van and find maps and beer. Meanwhile Hurley tells Charlie to stop moping and help him start the car, saying that he might die doing it but they should make their own luck, face death, and possibly win. Hurley eventually convinces the others to push the van to a slope in order to get it started. Despite Sawyer's warnings, Hurley goes through with the plan. Charlie declares "victory or death" and rides with Hurley, as Sawyer and Jin push the vehicle down the steep hill. At first it looks as though they will crash, but the van starts just in time. Later, the entire group enjoys a ride.
Hurley is later left with the van and continues driving. Jin gives Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) a flower, Charlie talks with Claire Littleton
(Emilie de Ravin
) and Sawyer brings some beer for Kate but finds that she isn't around. Meanwhile, Kate meets up with John Locke
(Terry O'Quinn
) and Sayid on her way to find Danielle Rousseau
(Mira Furlan
), who she hopes to get help from. Locke reveals he has compass readings from Mr. Eko
's stick. Kate's recruiting of Rousseau seems to fail until she mentions her suspicions about Alex
, who helped Kate escape, being Rousseau's daughter.
on Nash Bridges
, guest actor Cheech Marin
was called by Cuse requesting he appear on Lost, to which Marin responded "You know, that sounds like a lot of fun... It's in Hawaii
, right? I can do that!'" Cuse later commented, "He's quite a good actor. People only think of him as the doobie-smoking '70s dude. But he played Tyne Daly's love interest in Judging Amy. C'mon!"
While shooting the episode, Jorge Garcia noted "the group on the beach has been quite big. They laid out the most cast chairs I've ever seen at one time since the pilot
and it's been fun." Garcia previewed his character's flashback in a New York Post
interview, "[it is] the kind of relationship Hurley has with his father and how it's changed from when he was a kid now that he's an adult and a lottery winner. He finds something on the island that brings him back to that time and that's how it all gets started". Actor Josh Holloway
was told that an emotional undercurrent of the episode concerned his failed relationship with Kate. Holloway commented that Sawyer is thinking I have "my beer... but I don't have my girl. He's worried, and drowning it with beer".
To help train the dog playing Vincent for the episode's needed scenes, Madison
was given the fake arm to take home and play with; when finally brought on the set, the crew had difficulty shooting her because Madison would bring and drop off the arm slightly differently each time, causing trouble recreating the same camera angles. Actor Daniel Dae Kim described their scenes with the beer in the DVD
special features, "The comedic scenes with Josh
were so much fun to play because it was a lighter side. A nice change of pace." Like their characters, the actors had not been in scenes together in a while, so Dae Kim thought it "was fun to catch up and have fun in the process". The episode featured Hurley driving a bus down a hill. To create this scene, Garcia had to drive the bus down a small hill "very stead[ily]" to ensure the cameraman could record it all; towards the end however, they told Garcia to just "go for it", allowing him to "cut loose a little". For the close-up shots of Garcia and Dominic Monaghan, the production crew would shake the bus to simulate driving, and brush various pieces of foliage across the windshield to make it seem the bus was hitting bushes or trees. A stunt double standing in for Garcia performed the largest hill in the drive down; they were unable to rehearse due to getting rained out, so their first rehearsal was done on film. Dae Kim commented that "it was just great to have as much fun on camera as we do off camera", and that there was no real acting that day, as they were all enjoying themselves as much as their characters. The Volkswagen campus van
— still in operating condition — along with Hurley's Camaro, were later auctioned off with other Lost props and costumes at Santa Monica Airport
in 2010.
The song Shambala
by Three Dog Night
is used several times in the episode, both in Hurley's flashbacks and on the Island.
After what he felt was a period of bad episodes culminating with "Stranger in a Strange Land"
, critic Andrew Dignan of Slant Magazine
praised "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" as a "palate cleanser, reminding us that this show is meant to be, above all else, fun". He described the episode as an "expected pleasure, disarming in a way [Lost] hasn't been since Season One, back before these people became jaded by "Others" and consumed with tedious busy work while the show's producers figured out what frequently disappointing direction to push them in next." Dignan did however acknowledge that others might not have found the episode as enjoyable as he did. Erin Martell of TV Squad wasn't sure what to think of the episode, believing that it was "entertaining" but produced nothing new for viewers. She did note that the characters are now in place to take action for following episodes, and hoped that the episode's "slow-moving events" were "building up to some serious resolution". Rather than dismiss the episode for lacking a mythology-related storyline, Jeff Jensen from Entertainment Weekly
called it a "a joyous and poignant hour of television", and considered it "could very well be a cleverly crafted allegory for the history of The Dharma Initiative on The Island."
New York Magazine put "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" as third of its list of "Twenty Most Pointless Lost Episodes", claiming that "because with all his other problems, daddy issues don't feel like something that needs to be thrown at Hurley" and David could have been written as a positive character "just to add some variation to the bad-dad overkill on this show". IGN
ranked "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" as the second worst Lost episode, above only "Stranger in a Strange Land", explaining "Is there a better metaphor that Lost was running in circles at this point in Season 3 than seeing several of the castaways driving in circles on the island, with goofy grins on their faces?... With a dull story on the island and flashbacks weakly giving Hurley the requisite daddy issues so many of the other characters already had, it was clear Lost needed to make a big change soon to recapture what was special about the show. Thankfully, they did." A similar list by the Los Angeles Times
ranked the episode much higher at 31, writing "The haters need to shut up. This is a nearly pure embrace of the Lost ethos. You make your own fate up until the moment when you don't."
Various reviewers praised Jorge Garcia's performance, with one believing the episode "was a reminder that Garcia's not only a wonderful (and much needed) comedic outlet for the show but a fine actor who specializes in intimate dramas of anxiety and self-realization". Garcia submitted this episode for consideration on his behalf in the category of "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
" at the 2007 Emmy Awards
.
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...
, the tenth of the show's third season and 59th episode overall. The episode was 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 and directed by Eric Laneuville
Eric Laneuville
Eric Gerard Laneuville is an American television director, actor and martial artist. His first prominent acting roles were in the science-fiction film The Omega Man with Charlton Heston and the ABC television series Room 222 . His role as Luther Hawkins in the television series St...
. The character of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia
Jorge 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...
) was featured in the episode's flashbacks, as he reminisces over his father (guest star 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...
) abandoning his family for seventeen years. On the island, Hurley works with Jin-Soo Kwon
Jin-Soo Kwon
Jin-Soo Kwon, better known as "Jin," is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Daniel Dae Kim.- Prior to the crash :...
(Daniel Dae Kim) and James "Sawyer" Ford (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:...
) to repair an old Volkswagen camper van
Volkswagen Type 2
The Volkswagen Type 2, officially known as the Transporter or Kombi informally as Bus or Camper , was a panel van introduced in 1950 by German automaker Volkswagen as its second car model – following and initially deriving from Volkswagen's first model, the Type 1 , it was given the factory...
while Kate Austen
Kate Austen
Katherine Anne "Kate" Austen is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly. She is the de facto female lead...
(Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly is a Canadian actress, best known for her role as Kate Austen in the ABC drama, Lost.-Early life:...
) ponders what to do about the still-captured Jack Shephard
Jack Shephard
Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and protagonist of the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Lost follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to survive and escape, slowly uncovering more of the much broader...
(Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox (actor)
Matthew Chandler Fox is an American actor. He is mostly known for his role as Charlie Salinger on Party of Five, and for portraying Jack Shephard on the supernatural drama television series Lost.- Early life :...
).
In interviews, Garcia, Dae Kim, and Holloway commented that they had a lot of fun shooting their scenes, as they had not worked together for a while. The episode marked the first appearance of recurring guest actor Cheech Marin. It first aired on February 28, 2007 in the United States on ABC, with an estimated 12.78 million viewers. The episode received mixed reviews, with many praising its humor but still noting that little was learned concerning the show's overall mythology.
Flashbacks
Young Hurley (Caden Waidyatilleka) joins his father, David Reyes (Cheech MarinCheech 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...
), over an old Camaro
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is an automobile manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand, classified as a pony car and some versions also as a muscle car. It went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed as a competing model to the Ford Mustang...
that they want to repair. It won't start however, and David assures him good things happen when you believe they will, and that in this world you have to "make your own luck." While leaving for Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, David gives Hurley a chocolate bar and promises to return soon.
Now an adult, Hurley (Jorge Garcia
Jorge 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...
) watches as his new Mr. Cluck's chicken restaurant gets hit by a meteorite
Meteorite
A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...
, killing those inside, including Tricia Tanaka (Sung-Hi Lee
Sung-Hi Lee
Sung Hi Lee is a Korean American model and actress, who appears mostly in soft-core nude photoshoots. She has been featured in Playboy magazine as well as in numerous other magazines and some commercial advertising...
), the newswoman who just interviewed him about his lottery winnings. Hurley arrives home, telling his mother his intent to go to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
to end the bad luck curse
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...
he believes was bestowed upon him after he won the lottery. She tries to disprove the curse by revealing his father has returned to them after seventeen years. Suspecting his father of only wanting the lottery money, Hurley reacts angrily. David brings his son to a tarot card reader (Suzanne Krull
Suzanne Krull
-Filmography:*Good Luck Charlie - Joyce*Mr. Sunshine *Desperate Housewives *General Hospital *That's So Raven - Dog Show Host*ER *Lost...
), who tells Hurley she can 'remove' the curse before admitting that David paid her to say this. Hurley vows to give the money away, and begins packing for Australia. David acknowledges he just returned for the money, but approves of Hurley's decision and promises he will be waiting for him when Hurley gets back.
On the Island
On the island, Hurley sorrowfully speaks to LibbyLibby (Lost)
Libby is a fictional character on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the South Pacific. She is played by American actress Cynthia Watros...
's grave about what happened to Jack Shephard
Jack Shephard
Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and protagonist of the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Lost follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to survive and escape, slowly uncovering more of the much broader...
(Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox (actor)
Matthew Chandler Fox is an American actor. He is mostly known for his role as Charlie Salinger on Party of Five, and for portraying Jack Shephard on the supernatural drama television series Lost.- Early life :...
), Kate Austen
Kate Austen
Katherine Anne "Kate" Austen is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly. She is the de facto female lead...
(Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly is a Canadian actress, best known for her role as Kate Austen in the ABC drama, Lost.-Early life:...
) and James "Sawyer" Ford (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:...
) after they were taken by the Others. Hurley learns that Charlie Pace
Charlie Pace
Charlie Hieronymus Pace is a fictional character on ABC's Lost, a television series chronicling the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island...
(Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan is an English actor. He has received international attention from playing Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and for his role as Charlie Pace on the television show Lost....
) believes that Desmond Hume
Desmond Hume
Desmond David Hume is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick. Desmond's name is a tribute to David Hume, the famous empiricist author and philosopher. Desmond was not a passenger of Flight 815. He had been stranded on the island three years prior to...
(Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick is a Scottish-Peruvian actor of stage, television, and film. He is well-known for his role as Desmond Hume on the United States television series Lost, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination....
) sees visions of Charlie's death. Hurley believes this and tells Charlie that he thinks he brings bad luck. Vincent the dog shows up with a mummified human arm, leading Hurley to a Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
camper van
Volkswagen Type 2
The Volkswagen Type 2, officially known as the Transporter or Kombi informally as Bus or Camper , was a panel van introduced in 1950 by German automaker Volkswagen as its second car model – following and initially deriving from Volkswagen's first model, the Type 1 , it was given the factory...
on its side underneath the foliage. Inside is a skeleton wearing a DHARMA Initiative
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...
jumpsuit sporting the name "Roger" on its chest and the Swan station's logo. On the beach, Hurley's requests for help are turned down. Jin-Soo Kwon
Jin-Soo Kwon
Jin-Soo Kwon, better known as "Jin," is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Daniel Dae Kim.- Prior to the crash :...
(Daniel Dae Kim), who doesn't understand what Hurley is saying, is roped into helping.
Hurley finds beer in the van and a returned Sawyer outside. He learns from Sawyer that he and Kate escaped but Jack is still prisoner. Hurley is very optimistic about the future and volunteers Sawyer to help him fix the van. Meanwhile, Desmond refuses to tell Charlie when he will die. Kate informs Sayid Jarrah
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:...
) of all she knows about the Others and then leaves, saying she's going to get help to rescue Jack, but she won't say from whom.
Hurley, Jin and Sawyer raid the van and find maps and beer. Meanwhile Hurley tells Charlie to stop moping and help him start the car, saying that he might die doing it but they should make their own luck, face death, and possibly win. Hurley eventually convinces the others to push the van to a slope in order to get it started. Despite Sawyer's warnings, Hurley goes through with the plan. Charlie declares "victory or death" and rides with Hurley, as Sawyer and Jin push the vehicle down the steep hill. At first it looks as though they will crash, but the van starts just in time. Later, the entire group enjoys a ride.
Hurley is later left with the van and continues driving. Jin gives Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) a flower, Charlie talks with Claire Littleton
Claire Littleton
Claire Littleton is a fictional character played by Emilie de Ravin on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the South Pacific. Claire is introduced in the pilot episode as a pregnant crash survivor. She is a series regular until her...
(Emilie de Ravin
Emilie de Ravin
Emilie de Ravin born 27 December 1981)is an Australian actress. She is commonly associated with her roles as Tess Harding on Roswell and Claire Littleton on the ABC drama Lost....
) and Sawyer brings some beer for Kate but finds that she isn't around. Meanwhile, Kate meets up with John 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,...
) and Sayid on her way to find Danielle Rousseau
Danielle Rousseau
Danielle Rousseau is a fictional character on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the South Pacific. Croatian actress Mira Furlan plays the scientist who shipwrecks on the island sixteen...
(Mira Furlan
Mira Furlan
Mira Furlan is a Croatian actress and singer currently residing in the United States. She is well known for her roles as the Minbari Ambassador Delenn on all five seasons of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 , and Danielle Rousseau on Lost.-Early life:Furlan was born to an...
), who she hopes to get help from. Locke reveals he has compass readings from Mr. Eko
Mr. Eko
Mr. Eko Tunde is a fictional character, played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje on the ABC television series Lost. He is introduced in the second season episode "Adrift" as one of the plane-crash survivors from the plane's tail section. Flashbacks reveal that he became the leader of a gang of guerrillas...
's stick. Kate's recruiting of Rousseau seems to fail until she mentions her suspicions about Alex
Alex (Lost)
Alexandra "Alex" Linus is a recurring fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Tania Raymonde. She was born 16 years prior to the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, but was taken from her mother, Danielle Rousseau by the Others. She was raised among them, believing her mother to...
, who helped Kate escape, being Rousseau's daughter.
Production
Having worked with executive producer Carlton CuseCarlton Cuse
Carlton Cuse is an AmericanEmmy Award winning screenwriter and producer, most famous as executive producer andscreenwriter for the American television series Lost for...
on Nash Bridges
Nash Bridges
Nash Bridges is an American television police drama created by Carlton Cuse. The show starred Don Johnson and Cheech Marin as two Inspectors with the San Francisco Police Department's Special Investigations Unit. The show ran for six seasons on CBS from March 29, 1996 to May 4, 2001 with a total of...
, guest actor 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...
was called by Cuse requesting he appear on Lost, to which Marin responded "You know, that sounds like a lot of fun... It's in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, right? I can do that!'" Cuse later commented, "He's quite a good actor. People only think of him as the doobie-smoking '70s dude. But he played Tyne Daly's love interest in Judging Amy. C'mon!"
While shooting the episode, Jorge Garcia noted "the group on the beach has been quite big. They laid out the most cast chairs I've ever seen at one time since the pilot
Pilot (Lost)
"Pilot" constitutes the first and second episodes of the first season of ABC television series Lost, with "Part 1" premiering on September 22, 2004 and Part 2 on September 29, 2004. The episodes were directed by J.J. Abrams, and written by him along with Damon Lindelof, based on a story by them and...
and it's been fun." Garcia previewed his character's flashback in a New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
interview, "[it is] the kind of relationship Hurley has with his father and how it's changed from when he was a kid now that he's an adult and a lottery winner. He finds something on the island that brings him back to that time and that's how it all gets started". Actor 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:...
was told that an emotional undercurrent of the episode concerned his failed relationship with Kate. Holloway commented that Sawyer is thinking I have "my beer... but I don't have my girl. He's worried, and drowning it with beer".
To help train the dog playing Vincent for the episode's needed scenes, Madison
Madison (dog)
Madison is a Labrador Retriever, and an animal actor best known for playing the role of Vincent the dog on the hit television series Lost.Even though she is female, she plays a male dog on the TV show Lost.-Biography:...
was given the fake arm to take home and play with; when finally brought on the set, the crew had difficulty shooting her because Madison would bring and drop off the arm slightly differently each time, causing trouble recreating the same camera angles. Actor Daniel Dae Kim described their scenes with the beer in the DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
special features, "The comedic scenes with Josh
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:...
were so much fun to play because it was a lighter side. A nice change of pace." Like their characters, the actors had not been in scenes together in a while, so Dae Kim thought it "was fun to catch up and have fun in the process". The episode featured Hurley driving a bus down a hill. To create this scene, Garcia had to drive the bus down a small hill "very stead[ily]" to ensure the cameraman could record it all; towards the end however, they told Garcia to just "go for it", allowing him to "cut loose a little". For the close-up shots of Garcia and Dominic Monaghan, the production crew would shake the bus to simulate driving, and brush various pieces of foliage across the windshield to make it seem the bus was hitting bushes or trees. A stunt double standing in for Garcia performed the largest hill in the drive down; they were unable to rehearse due to getting rained out, so their first rehearsal was done on film. Dae Kim commented that "it was just great to have as much fun on camera as we do off camera", and that there was no real acting that day, as they were all enjoying themselves as much as their characters. The Volkswagen campus van
Volkswagen Type 2
The Volkswagen Type 2, officially known as the Transporter or Kombi informally as Bus or Camper , was a panel van introduced in 1950 by German automaker Volkswagen as its second car model – following and initially deriving from Volkswagen's first model, the Type 1 , it was given the factory...
— still in operating condition — along with Hurley's Camaro, were later auctioned off with other Lost props and costumes at Santa Monica Airport
Santa Monica Airport
Santa Monica Airport , also known as Santa Monica Municipal Airport, is a general aviation airport located largely in Santa Monica, California, United States. The airport is located about from the Pacific Ocean and north of LAX...
in 2010.
The song Shambala
Shambala (song)
"Shambala" is a song written by Daniel Moore and made famous by Three Dog Night whose cover reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.-Three Dog Night:...
by Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night is an American rock band best known for their music from 1968 to 1975. During that time the band charted 21 Billboard top 40 hits in America, three of which reached Number One...
is used several times in the episode, both in Hurley's flashbacks and on the Island.
Reception
On its original American broadcast on February 28, 2007, an estimated 12.78 million viewers tuned into the episode, making it the 24th most watched television program of the week.After what he felt was a period of bad episodes culminating with "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Stranger in a Strange Land (Lost)
"Stranger in a Strange Land" is the ninth episode of the third season of the American drama television series Lost, and the show's 58th episode overall. The episode was written by Elizabeth Sarnoff and Christina M. Kim, and directed by Paris Barclay...
, critic Andrew Dignan of Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
praised "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" as a "palate cleanser, reminding us that this show is meant to be, above all else, fun". He described the episode as an "expected pleasure, disarming in a way [Lost] hasn't been since Season One, back before these people became jaded by "Others" and consumed with tedious busy work while the show's producers figured out what frequently disappointing direction to push them in next." Dignan did however acknowledge that others might not have found the episode as enjoyable as he did. Erin Martell of TV Squad wasn't sure what to think of the episode, believing that it was "entertaining" but produced nothing new for viewers. She did note that the characters are now in place to take action for following episodes, and hoped that the episode's "slow-moving events" were "building up to some serious resolution". Rather than dismiss the episode for lacking a mythology-related storyline, Jeff Jensen from Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment 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...
called it a "a joyous and poignant hour of television", and considered it "could very well be a cleverly crafted allegory for the history of The Dharma Initiative on The Island."
New York Magazine put "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" as third of its list of "Twenty Most Pointless Lost Episodes", claiming that "because with all his other problems, daddy issues don't feel like something that needs to be thrown at Hurley" and David could have been written as a positive character "just to add some variation to the bad-dad overkill on this show". 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...
ranked "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" as the second worst Lost episode, above only "Stranger in a Strange Land", explaining "Is there a better metaphor that Lost was running in circles at this point in Season 3 than seeing several of the castaways driving in circles on the island, with goofy grins on their faces?... With a dull story on the island and flashbacks weakly giving Hurley the requisite daddy issues so many of the other characters already had, it was clear Lost needed to make a big change soon to recapture what was special about the show. Thankfully, they did." A similar list by 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 much higher at 31, writing "The haters need to shut up. This is a nearly pure embrace of the Lost ethos. You make your own fate up until the moment when you don't."
Various reviewers praised Jorge Garcia's performance, with one believing the episode "was a reminder that Garcia's not only a wonderful (and much needed) comedic outlet for the show but a fine actor who specializes in intimate dramas of anxiety and self-realization". Garcia submitted this episode for consideration on his behalf in the category of "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Drama Series
This is a list of the winners of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.-1960s:*1960: no award*1961: Roddy McDowall – Not Without Honor*1962: no award*1963: no award...
" at the 2007 Emmy Awards
59th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on September 16, 2007 and were televised live on Fox at 8:00 p.m. EDT for the first time in high definition...
.