# Lost 1.18 "Numbers" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600 "2005-03-02T15:48:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Jenny\_Haniver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Jenny\_Haniver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenny_Haniver)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/141 "2005-03-03T16:33:34Z")
> [@dreamer](#): > > Anybody catch what book Sawyer was reading? My sources tell me it was [A Wrinkle in Time](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0440498058/qid=1109868559/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1252163-4448750?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). Sawyer’s got good taste in scavaged reading material. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/142 "2005-03-03T16:39:12Z")
> [@Jenny Haniver](#): > > My sources tell me it was [A Wrinkle in Time](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0440498058/qid=1109868559/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1252163-4448750?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). Well, that’s going to start off a whole new set of WAGs, isn’t it? 🙂 I can’t come up with a theory because I’ve never actually _read_ either that or _Watership Down_, but I’m relatively certain they’re both applicable, aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/143 "2005-03-03T16:43:36Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > And thanks to **Monstre** for the summary of the scene of Hurley and Lenny in the psychiatric hospital (we had an Amber Alert just then). Our Amber alert (No. CA) was when Hurley visited the Australian widow. She just mentioned the car crash that lost her her leg, when BBBBRRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! So, anyone mind recapping the rest of that conversation? As for other things: I was assuming that Hurley wasn’t a patient at the hospital, but one of the nurses (since movies and TV have always taught us that hospitals like that always have nurses with Hurley’s build. 😃 ) Also, I am in the clear minority who has always taken Locke at face value, so have never read any sinister intentions in his various statements, actions, looks, glances, etc. But the discovery of the numbers on “his” hatch was the first time I genuinely wondered–is he in thrall of the numbers now? And I think, just like Locke and his wheelchair, Hurley’s bad luck ended when the plane crashed. That’s why he hasn’t been a conspicuous bad mojo magnet since. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/144 "2005-03-03T16:51:20Z")
Well, my boyfriend came by last night and almost got stabbed when he kept talking. Anyway, I think I need to rewatch the episode to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Just about everything has been covered but some quick observations. -I caught the box company reference. Poked the boyfriend and said “Locke’s box company!”, he said “What do you mean?” and I said “shut up now.” -Did anyone catch when Sayid said that there is a note on CFL’s map about the “Dark Territory” and that doesn’t sound like a place they want to go. -Crazy French Chick (good thing Hurley left out the “crazy” part when he talked to her) is probably not as crazy as we think. She seemed quiet lucid with Hurley (of course he’s so cuddley you don’t tend to be suspicious of him). But it really makes me wonder what sort of symptoms this illness has that would make her kill the rest of her team. -Isn’t the number 4 considered very bad luck by the Japanese? Another good episode. I agree though, I wish people would just open up to each other. When Charlie confessed his secret I thought we would finally get some sharing. Charlie was kind of a jerk in this episode. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/145 "2005-03-03T17:11:21Z")
**ATTENTION!** The following people are cursed: Post #4- John Mace Post #8- Draelin Post #15- Harborwolf Post #16- ivyglass Post #23- jmizzou Post #42- UncleRojelio ---
**Author:** ![Legolamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@Legolamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legolamb)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/146 "2005-03-03T17:13:09Z")
> [@Wile E](#): > > Another good episode. I agree though, I wish people would just open up to each other. When Charlie confessed his secret I thought we would finally get some sharing. Charlie was kind of a jerk in this episode. Wouldn’t you be a little pissed off if you’d been led on what seemed like a wild goose chase, almost dropped to your death from a collapsing rope bridge, and been shot at, only to get back and hear what, let’s face it, is a highly incredulous confession such as Hurley’s? I wouldn’t have believed him either, particularly in the way he phrased it. > [@Draelin](#): > > Oh! And the numbers–the survivors now number 44, total. 48 survived the crash, then the marshal died, Joanna drowned, SteveScott (I forget which it was) got killed, and Ethan should never have been part of the count in the first place. Do we actually know if Ethan was part of the original count? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/147 "2005-03-03T17:18:03Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > **ATTENTION!** > > Post #16- ivyglass Whew. Thought you were talking about me there for a second. It’s a good thing there’s no “g” in my user name. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/148 "2005-03-03T17:23:07Z")
> [@Legolamb](#): > > Do we actually know if Ethan was part of the original count? I guess we don’t _know_, really. But I would think he’d have to be around more or less from the beginning in order to fool everybody. And Hurley didn’t discover he wasn’t on the plane until he got the manifest–not because they suddenly had an “extra” survivor. And _woooooo_, I’m cursed! I could have told you that _long_ before this episode aired. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/149 "2005-03-03T17:28:39Z")
> [@Severian](#): > > Sorry, I meant full real name. I don’t remember hearing his last name before. Yes, we did. In the census episode he very distinctly said to Jack, “My name is Hugo Reyes.” And **Legolamb** , it was an “incredible” confession, not an incredulous one. Now somebody else say something wrong! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/150 "2005-03-03T17:28:55Z")
> [@Wile E](#): > > -Isn’t the number 4 considered very bad luck by the Japanese? Yes, although that originally comes from the Chinese. The word for “4” in Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese) sounds very similar to the word for “death”. It’s somewhat analogous to the number “13” in western cultures as you will often find buidlings in Asia do not have a 4th floor. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/151 "2005-03-03T17:45:37Z")
Any thoughts on how Australian-Suicide-Guy used the numbers to guess how many beans there were in the contest? I’m having a difficult time envisioning how someone could collect 4,815,162,342 beans in one place… Maybe it was 4+8+15+16+23+42 = 108 beans, but that seems like too few… ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/152 "2005-03-03T17:51:24Z")
As usual, I’m coming into the Lost thread very late. This was definitely one of the best episodes so far. I loved it. It was semi-lighthearted and funny, but the undertone was mucho creepy. Very cool. I don’t think Locke is under the spell of the numbers. We’ve seen two examples of what the numbers can do, and Locke isn’t demonstrating anything like that. He’s not consumed with the numbers. He might want to open the hatch, but who wouldn’t? ---
**Author:** ![Severian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@Severian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Severian)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/153 "2005-03-03T17:53:02Z")
> [@Fiver](#): > > Yes, we did. In the census episode he very distinctly said to Jack, “My name is Hugo Reyes.” > > And **Legolamb** , it was an “incredible” confession, not an incredulous one. > > Now somebody else say something wrong! Well _fine_! I guess we didn’t learn anything new in this episode then. Heheh. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/154 "2005-03-03T17:54:32Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > **ATTENTION!** > Post #42- UncleRojelio Now if I can just figure out how to use the number 42 for my own personal gain. I could start raking it in while all those around me start dropping like flies. You guys better look out! ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/155 "2005-03-03T18:12:05Z")
> [@Oslo Ostragoth](#): > > I doubt you can from fat, but yes for skin - “hide glue” is favored by persnickity furniture restorers, as far as I know. Any animal protein can be boiled down for glue. Skin, bones, hooves, whatever. On the one hand its cool they thought of this (Locke could have gotten all he needed from the remains of a boar) but on the other its weak that they got it wrong. At my old theater department we used to make our own scenic paint from powdered animal glue (essentially rendered protein), water, and pigments. Cheap, but it gets to rotting after a couple of years and smells vile. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/156 "2005-03-03T18:21:27Z")
I seem to be distinctly in the minority, but I didn’t like this episode so much. I mean, there were parts of it that were good, but overall, I was disappointed. Up until now, they’ve done a nice job of maintaining a balance between more of a science fiction scenario and more of a fantasy scenario, and always keeping us guessing as to just exactly where things come down. Not that I have an objection to straight out fantasy in fiction, but I liked the way they kept us guessing. And what happened to those quotes from one of the show’s creators to the effect that what was going on had some sort of allegedly rational explanation? I also thought Hurley’s curse was overdone. Having his grandfather drop dead at the news conference was one thing, but the “bad luck” was almost played for slapstick–random people plunging to their doom in the middle of conversations; the dream home for his mother burning down right as he’s showing it to her for the first time, while she twists her ankle, and he gets falsely arrested by the police. I think it would have been better if it had been less overwhelmingly obvious that Hurley _wasn’t_ crazy; so much stuff happened to him so fast that almost the only rational response would be to conclude that he was jinxed. It would have been more in keeping with the show’s previous tone to have the curse be a little more ambiguous. I think they could have portrayed a run of bad luck that might befall a newfound lottery winner (or those around him) that would have even a hardened skeptic _wondering_, but wouldn’t necessarily overwhelm any other explanation. I also am a little afraid the show’s heading for _Twin Peaks_ territory. I do hope that someone somewhere has some sort of overall master plan for this show, rough-hew it how they will. > [@ivylass](#): > > Whew. > > Thought you were talking about me there for a second. > > It’s a good thing there’s no “g” in my user name. > > 😃 Clearly, your curse is to have your username perpetually misspelled. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/157 "2005-03-03T18:26:16Z")
I realize we’re all in agreement that Hurley is all full of cuddly good cheer, but there were a few points in this episode where he glared at somebody and suddenly looked like somebody who went around killing people with hammers… ---
**Author:** ![Legolamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@Legolamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legolamb)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/158 "2005-03-03T18:31:06Z")
> [@Fiver](#): > > And **Legolamb** , it was an “incredible” confession, not an incredulous one. > > Now somebody else say something wrong! Pah! I knew what I meant! 🙂 :smack: Preview is my friend, preview is my friend… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/159 "2005-03-03T18:31:12Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I realize we’re all in agreement that Hurley is all full of cuddly good cheer, but there were a few points in this episode where he glared at somebody and suddenly looked like somebody who went around killing people with hammers… But his name is Hugo, not Maxwell… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Severian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@Severian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Severian)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600/160 "2005-03-03T18:32:14Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > I also thought Hurley’s curse was overdone. Having his grandfather drop dead at the news conference was one thing, but the “bad luck” was almost played for slapstick–random people plunging to their doom in the middle of conversations; the dream home for his mother burning down right as he’s showing it to her for the first time, while she twists her ankle, and he gets falsely arrested by the police… I’m with you here. I had to roll my eyes at the priest getting struck by lightning at the funeral. I think Hurley even said something to imply that it wasn’t even raining minutes before. “That sure was a freak storm too”, or something to that effect. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-1-18-numbers/292600.md?page=9)