THE CHARACTER SUMMATION OF HURLEY

Hurley or Hugo may be considered by a few fans as the most important character in LOST. He was the everyman, our proxy into the show. He was the humor and human spirit that the show needed in order to balance a formulated drama of nonstop deaths and danger.

Hurley was born into a vast Puerto Rican family, instilling him with two great survival skills: a deep, abiding love of food and an amiable ability to wrest peace from the thorniest of family feuds. Unable to attend college (he is not what some may call ''book smart") Hurley parlayed his skills into a career in asset recovery - A REPO MAN able to talk anyone out of anything. 

Hurley's talent landed him in Sydney where hours before getting on the Oceanic flight, he talked a former millionaire into turning over his yacht. On the island, Hurley will be the one who responds to all of the strangeness with the bewilderment of an average Joe - He is the everyman, not to mention the primary source of our COMIC RELIEF.

 
Hurley was the first character cast, but in the show guide lists him as the one of the last of the main characters. Jorge Garcia had some sit-com roles in his resume before being hired for LOST, so the comic relief talent was a prime motivation for this character from the very beginning.

But the writer's perception of Hurley is totally different from what we saw in the show.

Hurley was not from a "vast" family. From his back story, we believe Hurley is an "only child," whose father abandoned him as a child. As a lone child, he was under the strict influence of his mother. His social skills were below average. If he was from a large family, he would have had the skills described to get along with other people because siblings fight and resolve conflict all during childhood.

Hurley's appreciation for food "is not a survival skill." In the series, it was addiction caused by abandonment issues. If the writers were inferring that his ability to wrangle food at the large family table was cunning, then that would make some sense with his other character trait.

But Hurley was not "a great peacemaker." If he was able to mediate and resolve loud family feuds and passionate, hot blooded arguments, those skills were not apparent on the island. Hurley was a background character who avoided conflict. He wanted to be friends with everyone so he rarely took sides. He would say "chill out bro," but never got heated except for the time he fought Sawyer in an uncharacteristic rage. Hurley did not show us in the series any ability to smooth talk his way out of situations.

If Hurley was a "repo man," he would have the confident swagger of someone comfortable in dangerous situations and the ability to think quickly on his feet. But our Hurley did not have the street smarts of a successful repo man. In actually, the writers changed course and "down graded" Hurley's intelligence for no apparent reason. His guide ability to talk and reason people to calm down or take a specific course of action would not have conflicted with Sawyer's like con-man style of manipulation. In fact, it could have been a even duel between the two characters -  - -  with sharp exchange of barbs and insults.

If Hurley was in Australia to repossess a yacht, he would have been a highly successful businessman since the Aussies have their own legal asset people. Hurley must have been in high demand in certain luxury business circles to have international assignments (much like a John MacDonald character).

Hurley would have been a more important character if the writers kept to the guide's character traits. He would have been in the center of the action, being able to digest all the yelling, screaming and plans, to make an informed opinion to what to do next. As such, Hurley would have been placed quickly into a leadership role in the island community, probably much to the chagrin of Locke or Sawyer.

What was clear from the writer's guide was that the "cursed" lottery winning Numbers man, Hugo Reyes, was not foundation for this character. Hurley was supposed to be a more confident, man-of-action, with a strong back bone in difficult times. For all the fans who loved Hurley as Garcia played him in the show, the guide's formation of the Hurley character could have been more compelling and more interesting than the fragile mental state and meekness of Hugo.

But for some reason, the writers fell toward adding mental issues, such as Daddy issues or socially unacceptable behavior, as the driving motivation of the character stories. It would have been just as interesting to see the guide's Hurley talk Sawyer out of his stash than Kate flirting with Sawyer for some medicine from his stash. Stronger characters could have made stronger stories.

Hurley, even with his guide back story, could have still been a lonely guy. But on the island, with a likeable personality, he could have found a soul mate other than the convoluted way with the mysterious Libby connection. In fact, the way Hurley was written in the series led many to believe, including ABC executives at one time, that the whole LOST saga was in Hurley's head; it was all a fantasy world that he made up at the mental institution.

The non-mental Hurley could have been an interesting character on the show. Again, why did the producers and writers change course so quickly with characters like Hurley?