Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: B | 1953 USERS: C+ YOU GRADE IT I Will Be Your Father Issues
By Cindy McLennan | Season 5 | Episode 13 | Aired on 2009.04.15
Miles asks Hugo if he's writing his "memoirs." Jorge Garcia then decides to experiment with the Joey Tribbiani smell-the-fart approach to acting, but only because he thinks Miles cut the cheese. Miles says he didn't and tells him to open a window, but it doesn't help, because it's either the stench of dead body or rancid garlic mayo wafting through the van. Hurley insists they pull over so he can check the sandwiches, because he doesn't want everyone to get sick, and that's when he discovers the unadvertised special of the day. I love how Miles begrudgingly obliges Hurley contrary to orders throughout this episode. Until I learn otherwise, I'm taking it as more evidence that basically, Miles is a good guy.
Once Hurley finds the corpse, Miles explains that the guy's name is Alverez, so he's probably not Sayid's brother come back in time. Oops. "He was digging a hole and thinking about some chick named Andrea," (Ahn-DRAY-uh). "Then he felt this sharp pain in his mouth, which turned out to be a filling from his tooth being yanked right out of its socket and blowing through his brain. Then he was dead." I've had a sensitive tooth since I watched this episode, but I'm afraid to call the dentist.
Hurley wonders how a filling goes blasting through a brain and I yell at my TV the same thing I've been yelling for at least three years, "MAGNETS!" Nobody listens. Miles doesn't have an answer to that question, but Hurley wants to know how he knows everything else, like what the guy was thinking. Miles won't offer anything more than that he just knows. But Hurley gets it. "You can talk to dead people." Miles wants to leave, but Hurley's not done. "Don't worry, dude. Your secret's safe with me. You wanna know why?" Miles says he doesn't. Hurley doesn't care. "'Cause I can talk to 'em, too." He slaps Miles' van door and then heads around to the passenger side. Miles ponders his friend, while we jump to...
Mainland; 2004ish: Miles sits at a picnic table with a middle aged man, Mr. Gray (Dean Norris) who is holding a picture of his high school football-playing son. The boy was killed by a drunk driver "last Labor Day weekend." Miles wants to visit the grave, but they cremated the boy and scattered his ashes on the High School football field. Legalities aside, how exactly is the Pep Squad supposed to overcome that shit? Miles says what he does works much better with a body, even though we've seen him talk to ghosts. I guess Mr. Gray is only haunted by the idea that his son didn't know he loved him. When Miles learns that, his daddy issues wake up and nudge him to jack up his price. He takes the grief-stricken Mr. Gray's hands, and pretends to converse with his son, Russell. When he's done pretending (and don't you think he should have faked it for a little longer; give the guy a show, you know) he says, "Your son says he knew that you loved him. He always knew." Mr. Gray thanks Miles, who says, "I'm sorry for your loss." He picks up his case, which I hope contains that little fake ghost-buster Dust Buster, and leaves the yard.