Last week on Lost, Hugo Reyes finally found happiness — of course, this happened in an alternate dimension that may not even exist in a few weeks. Such is life in Lost. Vulture spoke to Jorge Garcia, who told us all about tonight’s ensemble episode, “The Last Recruit,” and answered some of your questions, which we hope will tide you over for two weeks, after tonight, until the next new episode.
Hurley’s been getting a lot of advice from dead people lately. In last week’s episode, “Everybody Loves Hugo,” he lied about seeing Jacob. Is Hurley abusing his power?
That’s … that’s a tough thing to say. I mean, he does kind of have an assignment. He has been warned that people are going to die if he doesn’t do something about it. And it’s a pretty important thing, so, in a sense he’s kind of trying to do it by any means necessary. I wouldn’t say he’s abusing his power, like Ben was known to, and say, “Jacob said this and that and the other” — even though he never had any contact with the guy. But, yeah. He might be pushing the envelope a little bit on what’s completely on the up-and-up.
And convincing part of the group to talk to Smoke Monster Locke … smart move?
Was that a smart move? I’m going to go: Yeah? [Laughs.] Listen, I back Hurley up 100 percent, no matter what he does. So, yeah, I think it was a good way to go. What is a smart move? What’s a dumb move? Because every move we make is taking us to the finale. So, it’s the necessary move for the story to complete.
It was fun to see Hurley and Libby reunited. But when she was explaining to him that they already knew each other in another dimension, she tried to trigger his memory by saying there was a plane crash. I was expecting Hurley to answer, “Oh, you haven’t been around since season two, it’s not really about a plane crash anymore.”
[Laughs.] Right! That would have been a great thing to do in a take to have later for the gag reel. What we were talking about [on set] was how Hurley remembers things. What’s gong to happen the moment when they remember that Libby got shot and killed? It’s kind of like, “Oh, wait, you died.” And then the moment that we both remember that she dies, she literally dies right there.
Desmond’s order at the restaurant was order No. 42. Isn’t that the Kwon’s number?
For me, so much of this flash sideways there’s completely different sets of numbers that are appearing. None of the actual numbers that we know were around. And then, this moment here, where he makes this connection with Desmond, suddenly, one of the island numbers returns. I thought it was more that type of a symbol.
So, want to tell us something exciting about the finale you’re currently filming, even though you really can’t?
Well, there’s so many people who are coming in for it. So many people are going to recur on it that we didn’t expect, I almost feel like we should do one of those scenes at the end of 8½, with one big line and do a little bow thing.
So we lost Ilana last week. Assuming that’s the first of many?
Yes! This is the start of the house cleaning [laughs]. We don’t have any seasons to come back to, they can pretty much start picking us off as we approach the end. You never know.
BENLINUS99 knows from your blog that you love to cook. Are their any other cast members we would be surprised to learn are good cooks, too?
I hear … that Ken Leung makes an awesome spaghetti sauce.
Annie_in_NY is wondering if you have ever played the lottery using the Lost numbers?
I did, but it was only as a lark. It was actually for a magazine interview that I had done and they wanted to photograph me playing the numbers.
Did any of the numbers hit?
I think they made a little bit of their money back. I didn’t get to keep the ticket; I think the guy who interviewed me kept the ticket. I think it made a $5 return — but those $5 are really cursed! There’s a story that came out of Ireland that their lottery had almost all the numbers except for one.
Ntlzaglostie815 played the numbers and won $1.00. Is she cursed?
[Laughs.] Well, I don’t know. I guess it all depends on how she spent the dollar.
Poticklly feels you act as an extension of the voice of Lost fans. How do you feel your character has changed the relationship between fans and a show.
In general, for future shows? I have no idea. It’s helpful because of the level of complication of the show. When Hurley has to have things explained to him, it will reach the greatest number of audiences. I’ve enjoyed that role, myself, to get to play it. From season one, from the very beginning, I was wondering if the thing out in the jungle might be a dinosaur. It’s always tricky to try and explain something on a show by people just having a made-up conversation about it, because, sometimes, you feel a little bit like the narrator. But, I don’t know — it worked out for me, at least.
MattV wants to know what Lost character you would play if you could choose another one. Also, he wants to know if you’ll take him to the wrap party.
Yeah … sorry, Matt. I already have a date for the wrap party. I’ve always kind of dug the stuff Ben Linus got to do on the show. So that would have been a fun thing to take a pass at. There’s a lot of great characters on the show, but I still think Ben lines are the ones that I’ve enjoyed the most, perhaps.
Last thing: What are we in store for with tonight’s episode, “The Last Recruit”?
Before I had seen the show that aired [last week], someone had texted me saying that the trailer for the next one looked really creepy. I think we start having episodes that aren’t necessarily as specific to one character and we start having more ensemble flashes, and stuff like that. So we definitely start coming together and racing to the end.
