Tricia Tanaka Is Dead
The character of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) is featured in the episode's flashbacks, as he reminisces over his father (guest star Cheech Marin) abandoning his family for seventeen years.
On the island, Hurley works with Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim) and James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) to repair an old Volkswagen camper van while Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) ponders what to do about the still-captured Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox).
Now an adult, Hurley (Jorge Garcia) watches as his new Mr. Cluck's chicken restaurant gets hit by a meteorite, killing those inside, including Tricia Tanaka (Sung-Hi Lee), the newswoman who just interviewed him about his lottery winnings.
Hurley arrives home, telling his mother his intent to go to Australia to end the bad luck curse he believes was bestowed upon him after he won the lottery.
On the island, Hurley sorrowfully speaks to Libby's grave about what happened to Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) and James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) after they were taken by the Others.
Vincent the dog shows up with a mummified human arm, leading Hurley to a Volkswagen camper van on its side underneath the foliage.
Meanwhile, Hurley tells Charlie to stop moping and help him start the car, saying that he might die doing it but they should make their own luck, face death, and possibly win.
Jin gives Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) a flower, Charlie talks with Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin) and Sawyer brings some beer for Kate but finds that she isn't around.
"[4] Garcia previewed his character's flashback in a New York Post interview, "[it is] the kind of relationship Hurley has with his father and how it's changed from when he was a kid now that he's an adult and a lottery winner.
[5] The Volkswagen campus van — still in operating condition — along with Hurley's Camaro, were later auctioned off with other Lost props and costumes at the Santa Monica Airport in 2010.
[9] On its original American broadcast on February 28, 2007, an estimated 12.78 million viewers tuned into the episode, making it the 24th most watched television program of the week.
[10] After what he felt was a period of bad episodes culminating with "Stranger in a Strange Land", critic Andrew Dignan of Slant Magazine praised "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" as a "palate cleanser, reminding us that this show is meant to be, above all else, fun".
He described the episode as an "expected pleasure, disarming in a way [Lost] hasn't been since Season One, back before these people became jaded by "Others" and consumed with tedious busy work while the show's producers figured out what frequently disappointing direction to push them in next.
[12] Rather than dismiss the episode for lacking a mythology-related storyline, Jeff Jensen from Entertainment Weekly called it "a joyous and poignant hour of television", and said that it "could very well be a cleverly crafted allegory for the history of The Dharma Initiative on The Island.
"[13] Alan Sepinwall called it the third season's best aired episode yet "by quite a stretch" for adding needed humor to the series and focusing on more of the cast and Hurley.
"[14] New York Magazine put "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" as third of its list of "Twenty Most Pointless Lost Episodes", claiming that "because with all his other problems, daddy issues don't feel like something that needs to be thrown at Hurley" and David could have been written as a positive character "just to add some variation to the bad-dad overkill on this show".
With a dull story on the island and flashbacks weakly giving Hurley the requisite daddy issues so many of the other characters already had, it was clear Lost needed to make a big change soon to recapture what was special about the show.
