ABC/ART STREIBERIf you’re a Lost fan who watched last night’s episode, you must read this. My bat phone just rang up with Jorge Garcia on the other end to talk about Hurley’s mental status, Dominic Monaghan’s return and some things no one knows about last night's episode, including who was really in the chair in Jacob's house when they shot it. (Shhh!)
Read on for all the goods...
All I’ve wanted to do since last night is give Hurley a hug.
Really?
That was a fantastic episode, and you knocked it out of the park. I laughed when you cannonballed. I cried when you broke the news to Claire. Your performance was better than ever, and I know the fans loved it.
Wow. Thank you. That’s really good to hear. I felt good about that episode. When I got the script, it was like the heart of the show was back. And even more than that, I felt like—as soon as we all got our scripts for that premiere—that sense of "Oh my god did you read it?" or "Did you get the next script?" was back, just like we were back in season one. We couldn’t wait for the next script.
There was some creepy stuff in that episode. It took us a while to figure out where John Terry (Jack’s father) was. And then Damon said to "look for the white shoes" and it was like, "Holy crap! Jack’s dad is in Jacob’s house!"
Me too. That wasn’t the way it was in the script. There was someone else in the chair.
What? Really? Was it a different person, or they didn’t tell you who was in the chair?
We shot it with someone else in the chair.
Are you allowed to say who was in the chair originally?
Yeah. I think so. It was me. I was in the chair when we shot it.
Crazy town! Why did they change it?
I don’t know. At first I thought maybe they decided that putting Jack’s father there was a much better twist, which it was, so they changed it. But now I think maybe they planned that all along and didn’t want to have it in the script because they didn’t want anyone to know about it.
So, it seems the producers are getting very crafty in keeping those secrets.
Yeah, I think so. I know that when guest stars come on, they’ll have them read with one actor and a script, and then when they get it, it’s a totally different script and scene and actor. And last night, the scene in the police department also was different. When we shot it, it was an aquarium. Like, a real aquarium. And none of us knew it would be Charlie inside there. They added that later on.
Well, that was a great twist, too. Did you hear about what was written on his hand? "They Need You."
Oh, cool. I think that's what he said to me at the asylum.
So, how was it for you shooting that scene with Dominic? Was it a nice surprise for you all that he would be coming back?
Definitely. A lot of people have said that they felt Charlie and Hurley were really the most solid relationship on the island. And so to have him come back was just very cool. And I liked that he was sort of a better version of Charlie. A lot of people, when they die on our show, like with Ian, they come back and they are like the heaven version of themselves. How they would want to be.
Do you think that Hurley is really mentally ill? Or is there some mystical element from the island making him see things?
In [last night’s] episode, I was playing it that Hurley was so haunted by Charlie and by Charlie’s last words that he couldn’t get past it. And so he wanted to go to the one place, the last place where he felt safe, and that was Santa Rosa.
I have an interesting question from a fan, if you don’t mind. Nicholas in Peoria, Illinois, asks: "Please settle this ongoing debate from our Lost party last night. First, what did Jacob say to Hurley when Hurley was lost in the jungle by the house? Second, in the third-season finale, with Jack's flash-forward, didn't one of the doctors ask, 'Do you wanna go upstairs and talk to your dad?' So, would that mean more people are dying and coming back in the Lost universe? That would explain Jack's dad on the Island."
For the first part, um, let me look at my script to make sure...But yeah, there wasn’t anything in the script as far as what was being said. That was just jungle whispering. I don’t know if it was Jacob or the jungle or whatever, but it’s just whispering. I’m sure some guy somewhere will figure it out, like the guys who figured out what Shannon and Walt said.
As for the second part, did someone really say that to Jack? I didn’t know that. Maybe that was sort of a red herring to throw people off the scent of that being a flash-forward. I really don’t know. But I do know that the producers have said that when someone dies, they really do die. They are dead.
Do you feel like last night’s episode was representative of how good the next seven episodes will be? Are they on that same level?
The writing is really strong for all eight, and there are some really good twists. There’s definitely a big crazy moment that they end the eighth episode with that people are going to be talking about.
Was it sort of jarring, shutting down production in the middle of the season?
Yeah, but at least we have eight episodes, which is a good number, and I feel like every episode has some kind of great cliffhanger or question at the end of it that will have people coming back, and the thing at the end of eight is pretty major.
Do you think it will be possible to produce more episodes this season if the strike ends soon?
I honestly don’t know. I say all the time that I’m so glad I’m a very small piece of the pie that is the gigantic huge show Lost is. But I’m ready to go back. I’ve caught up on my fan mail, and now the boredom has sort of set in.
Well, thank you so much for calling. And congrats again on a truly great episode.
Thank you so much. I’m really glad to hear that the fans liked it, and I hope they like what comes next. I think they will.