With ‘Everybody Loves Hugo’, ‘Lost’ finally crosses the roller coaster apex and is in free-fall.  With more twists and turns in a single episode than I can recall in a long time, ‘Everybody Loves Hugo’ flaunts breakneck pacing coupled with the desperation our heroes are feeling to stop faux-Locke.

This episode reads like a laundry list of things the series is known for:

Unexpected character death? Yep.

Unexpected character ‘return’? Yes… twice.

Revelation of a long-standing Island mystery? Yes (and it makes sense).

Finally, some sort of resolution to a Hurley character arc that was never tied up, even if takes place in the parallel universe? You bet.

Twist ending? Sure, why not?

I’ll be the first to admit my impatience with how this season has played out. I was concerned about implementing such a different approach to the series (in the way of flash sideways) so late in the game and with a lot to wrap up.  As the season has progressed, the flash sideways have grown on me, in a funny way.

They are simultaneously reminiscent and make me nostalgic for the first season, when the real hook for ‘Lost’ was the character-oriented focus of the flashbacks and how they would often be a parallel to a predicament the antagonist was facing in the present.  No obsession with numbers or Others or hatches… just great storytelling.

The flash sideways give us the same but often reflecting (or is it refracting?) the personalities and choices of the characters as we know them.  Now they are on a collision course with the main storyline, and it’s an exciting ride.

I’m going to come out and say it: I’ve never been a Hurley fan. I don’t hate him, but I think he’s one of the weakest of the remaining characters; very one-note and not endearing as others find him.  His family is even more annoying.

Here, my only interest in this week’s flash sideways regarding Hurley is his encounter with Libby.  This has been a dangling plot thread for over 4 years, and the conclusion is satisfactory.  Of more interest is alt-Desmond and his motivations; his actions at the end of the episode were unexpected, and almost out of character.

Then again, this is ‘Lost’.

Other little bits I liked about this week’s episode: Boom; Jack admitting that maybe him not trying to control or fix everything is what he’s supposed to learn;  Desmond.

What didn’t work this week? Desmond getting thrown down the well.  I just kept thinking about ‘The Ring’ afterwards, and what an unusual mash-up that would be (‘Seven days, brother’).

Overall, a solid episode that finally has this train moving a full speed.