Lost/Numbers

Numbers
Season 1, Episode 18
Airdate	March 2, 2005
Production Number	117
Written by	Brent Fletcher David Fury
Directed by	Dan Tallias
← 1x17 ... In Translation	1x19 → Deus Ex Machina
Lost — Season One

Numbers is the eighteenth episode of the first season of Lost, and is the eighteenth episode overall.

Michael begins building a new raft. He tells Jack that the chances of them being found while they're on the raft will be increased if they can send out a distress signal. With the transceiver needing new batteries, Hurley remembers Sayid mentioning that the Frenchwoman had batteries. He suggests that they try and find her. While searching for Rousseau's lair, Hurley discovers that the island may be linked to a secret from his own past.

Starring: Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Matthew Fox (Jack), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Maggie Grace (Shannon), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Malcolm David Kelley (Walt), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), Terry O'Quinn (Locke), Harold Perrineau, Jr. (Michael), Ian Somerhalder (Boone).

Guest Starring: Mira Furlan (Danielle Rousseau), Lillian Hurst (Carmen Reyes), Jayne Taini (Martha Toomey).

Co-Starring: Ron Marasco (Ken Halperin), Ron Bottitta (Leonard Simms), Dann Seki (Dr. Curtis), Michael Adamschick (Lottery Official), Archie Ahuna (Tito), Derrick Bulatao (Diego), Joy Minaai (Reporter No. 1), Brittany Perrineau (Lotto Girl), Maya Pruett (Nurse).

Plot Overview

The Island

• Michael, Hurley, Jin, and other survivors are working on the raft. Jack stops by and Michael informs him that nobody is sabotaging the raft as he has people standing guard 24/7, but he could use something to send out a distress call to any ships. Jack tells him he'll ask Sayid if he can make something, but they don't have anything to power it with. Hurley brings up the French woman —she has batteries.
• Jack asks Sayid to tell him how to find the Frenchwoman, but Sayid tells him he doesn't know how. Sayid shows them Rousseau's maps and tells them they could just be ravings of her disturbed mind—song lyrics mixed with equations. The map points to an area she calls the Dark Territory. A page with "4 8 15 16 23 42" written repeatedly catches Hurley's attention. That night, Hurley asks Sayid about the numbers and about the wire he found on the beach, then leaves. Sayid, Jack, and Charlie discover that Hurley has taken off after Rousseau. The trio head off after him. He Along the beach, Hurley discovers the same wire Sayid found and follows it into the jungle until he steps on a trigger. The trio are able to make it to Hurley in time and Sayid tells him not to move, else he'll trigger a trap. Disregarding his advice, Hurley leaps out of the way of the trap. The group continues on until they reach an old rope and wooden plank bridge. Hurley and Charlie make it across, but the bridge collapses as Charlie makes the attempt. He and Hurley continue on while Jack and Sayid try to find a way around. As Jack and Sayid make their way through the jungle, Jack hits a trip wire and Rousseau's shelter explodes. The two scour the wreckage but discover that Rousseau abandoned the shelter and booby-trapped it. As Hurley and Charlie try to get back to Jack and Sayid, someone starts shooting at them and they make a break for it. Separated from Charlie, Hurley trips and, after he gets up, finds Rousseau pointing a rifle at him. He asks her what the numbers mean and she tells him she doesn't know. He tells her the numbers are cursed and, since the numbers are what brought her to the island, Rousseau agrees with him. Charlie and then Hurley eventually make it back to Jack and Sayid. Hurley gives them a battery from Rousseau.
• Locke asks Claire to help with a little project he's building. He asks about her memory and she tells him bits and pieces are coming back, but nothing that makes any real sense. He tells her he might be able to help. Locke asks her if she's thought of a name, but she hadn't yet and tells him she was going to put the baby up for adoption. Today is Claire's birthday. Locke finishes with his project and, turning it over, reveals it to be a cradle. He wishes Claire a happy birthday.

The Flashback

• Flashback: Hurley

Hurley is on a couch at his mom's house eating a bucket of chicken and watching television. He flips to the Mega Lotto Jackpot drawing and discovers he was the winning ticket - 4 8 15 16 23 42 - and faints.

Outside of his house, Hurley and his family are fielding questions from reporters about him winning the near record jackpot. He introduces his mom, Carmen. And his brother, Diego and his wife, Lisa. He introduces his grandpa, Tito, who's been working for 52 years and tells them he's going to use the money to give him the rest he deserves. As Hurley continues talking about how he'll help his family, his grandpa collapses to the ground.

Later, Hurley is driving his mother in a Hummer. He tells her he's taking her to a surprise and that she could use one after his grandpa died. Then at the funeral, Father Aguilar was struck by lightning. And Diego moved back home after his wife left him for a waitress. Hurley has her put on a blindfold as they near their destination. He stops outside a large house and tries helping his mom out of the Hummer, but she slips and hurts her ankle on the curb. Hurley looks up at the house and sees that it's on fire and, as he tries to call 911, two police cars roll up and arrest Hurley.

At the office of his accountant, Ken Halperin, discussing his assets. Ken tells Hurley that every one of his stocks is up. His interest in orange futures went up afteer tropical storms hit Florida. He's the majority shareholder of a box company in Tustin, California. He had a sneaker company in Canada that burned down, killing eight people, but they over-insured it. And he's got a generous settlement from the LAPD for his false arrest. Hurley tells him the numbers he used are cursed. Ken tells him there's no such thing as a curse... as a body falls past the window behind him.

Hurley visits a mental hospital looking for a man named Lenny or Leonard. Dr. Curtis recognizes Hurley and asks him what he's doing back at the mental hospital. The two take a walk and Dr. Curtis tells him he doesn't remember him and Hurley being friends during Hurley's stay, but lets Hurley talk to Lenny who's repeating the numbers over and over. Hurley tells him he used the numbers to play the lottery which sets Leonard off, telling him he shouldn't have used the numbers, that it doesn't stop. An orderly drags Lenny away, but not before he tells Hurley he got the numbers from Sam Toomey in Kalgoorlie, Australia.

Hurley ends up at a house in the middle of nowhere in Kalgoorlie. He meets Sam Toomey's wife, Martha, but discovers Sam is dead. Martha tells him her husband served with Leonard Simms in the U.S. Navy and were stationed at a listening post monitoring long-wave transmissions out of the Pacific. They listened to nothing but static until one night, 16 years ago, they heard numbers being repeated over and over. A couple days later, Sam used the numbers to win a prize at a fair in Kalgoorlie, but Martha lost her leg in a car accident on the way home. Sam became convinced that anything bad that happened was related to the numbers and finally killed himself to stop it.

Notes

Mysteries

• How did the doctor at the mental hospital know Hurley?
• What are the numbers - 4 8 15 16 23 42? Are they really cursed?
• What is the Dark Territory?
• Where is Danielle Rousseau's new shelter?

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• The survivors continue working on the raft and are guarding it 24/7.
• Rousseau gives a battery to Hurley for the raft.

Characters

• Locke and Claire foster a friendship.
• We learn that Hurley won the lottery and, through his other assests, is worth 156 million dollars.
• Charlie reveals to Hurley that he was a heroin addict.

Trivia

The Show

• Lotto Girl: The Lotto Girl that Hurley watches on TV is the same woman that Sawyer brought to his hotel room in 1x16 - Outlaws.
• Boxes, Mostly: The box company Locke worked for in Tustin, CA is owned by Hurley.

Behind the Scenes

• Location, Location, Location: The scenes inside the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute were filmed at the Laniakea YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association) in Honolulu.
• Nielsen Ratings: On its original airing this episode scored 18.8 million viewers for ABC, being the highest-rated scripted series of the night.

Allusions and References

• A Wrinkle in Time: In this episode Sawyer is seen reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle and first published in 1962. in the novel, the galaxy is being conquered by a dark cloud — the visible manifestation of evil — which has partially covered the Earth. The protagonist must rescue her father who, after working on a secret government project to achieve faster-than-light travel, has become imprisoned on an alien planet inside the darkness — Camazotz.
• Short Round: Sawyer refers to Walt as "Short Round." Short Round is the name of Indiana Jones' sidekick in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
• Colonel Kurtz: Charlie refers to Hurley as acting like "Colonel bloody Kurtz." Walter Kurtz is the name of a rogue U.S. Army Special Forces colonel in the movie Apocalypse Now. Set during the Vietnam War, a U.S. Army captain is sent into the jungles of Cambodia to find and assassinate Colonel Kurtz. He is told by his superiors that Kurtz, once a model officer and considered to be a future general, has gone insane and is commanding a legion of his own troops by his own volition.

Quotes

• Lenny: You used those numbers to play the lottery?
  Hurley: Uh... Yeah.
  Lenny: Well, you shouldn't have done that. You've opened the box!
  Hurley: I what?
  Lenny: Aw, you shouldn't have use those numbers!
  Hurley: Why not?
  Lenny: It doesn't stop! You gotta get away from those numbers! You gotta get far away!
• Hurley: Your husband worked with a guy I know, Leonard Simms.
  Martha: That's right. They served together in the U.S. Navy. How is Leonard? Still in the service?
  Hurley: Uh, he's, um... retired. Anyway, he told me about Sam... hearing something.
  Martha: You're talking about the numbers.
  Hurley: Yes. The numbers. Exactly. Do you know anything about them?
  Martha: Sam and Leonard were stationed at a listening post monitoring long-wave transmissions out of the Pacific. Boring job. Sam hated it. Nothing to do but listen to static, night after night. Until one night, about 16 years ago, there's something in the static. A voice comes through, a voice repeating those numbers over and over again. Couple of days later, we're at the fair in Kalgoorlie, and some wally there's got this jar, must have been big as a pony. And it's filled to the rim with beans. Fella's offering 50 grand to anyone able to guess how many beans are in that jar within ten.
  Hurley: Sam used the numbers.
  Martha: Yep. The answer was exact. To the bean. Men had been running the same scam for 40 years, and nobody had ever come close. So we won the money. On the way home a pickup truck blows a tire on the highway, hits us head-on. Lost my leg that night.
  Hurley: What about Sam?
  Martha: Barely a scratch. Most people would consider themselves lucky, but not him. He was never the same after that. He started keeping a record. Anything terrible that happened to anyone around us, he believed it was all because he used those numbers. He moved us out here in the middle of nowhere, hoping it would stop.
  Hurley: Did it? Did he ever find a way to make it stop?
  Martha: Yep. He put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
• Rousseau: Our ship picked up a transmission, a voice, repeating those numbers. We changed course to investigate. After we shipwrecked, my team continued to search for the transmission source. It was weeks before we found the radio tower.
  Hurley: There's a radio tower on this island?
  Rousseau: Yes, up by the black rock. Some of us continued to search for the meaning of those numbers while we waited for rescue. But then the sickness came. When my team was gone, I went back, up to the tower... and changed the transmission.
  Hurley: That distress signal we heard.
  Rousseau: Yes.
  Hurley: But the numbers... Did you ever find out anything about them? Do you know where they got their power?
  Rousseau: Power?
  Hurley: They bring bad stuff to everyone around you. They're cursed, you know that, right? The numbers are cursed.
  Rousseau: The numbers are what brought me here. As it appears, they've brought you. Since that time, I've lost everything, everyone I cared about. So, yes... I suppose you're right. They are cursed.
  Hurley: Thank you. Thank you. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for somebody to agree with me. Thank you! Oh, God, thank you.

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