Not necessarily, if he was a former binge eater.

True -- I'm not sure why I didn't think of that. I honestly don't know anything about the problem or its treatment. Could it land someone in a psych ward on its own? I know that anorexics have to get to the verge of death to be hospitalized, but I don't know at what point obesity would cause that.

Massive weight also can cause depression.

Of course -- a classic vicious circle.

But does that mean no more Locke flashbacks?

Although I suppose the tan is faux, anyway.

Massive weight also can cause depression. You see the world around you looking at you and sometimes gasping and tittering, it eventually can get to you.

I felt that it was interesting that Charlie is very much this guy on the island. He made remarks to this effect several in last night's episode.

Which kind of made me hate him. STFU, Junkie!

I had some deep thoughts about the issue and how the writers handled it, which I blathered to Tom last night as we were drifting off to sleep, but damned if I can remember any of them except the STFU Junkie! part.

Yeah, of all the backstories we've got, I feel Charlie's was by far the weakest, like, we're talking, deafening anvil chorus in both of his episodes. It's a pity because DM's an excellent actor and could have handled a more complex storyline with ease.

I don't think making Hurley a former psych patient is that obvious a storyline. It threw me, because Hurley comes across so mellow and well-adjusted most of the time. If this is where they're going, I'm curious to see whether they'd make it a temporary, situational type of illness, or give him an actual chronic psychiatric condition such as a major depressive disorder or schizophrenia--'cause if it's the latter, the chances are that Hurley is on a medication and liable to run out soon.

'cause if it's the latter, the chances are that Hurley is on a medication and liable to run out soon.

And then Hurley kills everyone in their sleep and runs off with Danielle!

I have very limited experience with a psych ward of a reg. hospital and no experience with a psych hospital, but the food was very starchy and there were few execise options and no large places to exercise.

The whole situation was vague enough that in the future they could play it different ways.

I watched-and-posted on cleolinda's LJ. They ask better questions over there, like "Why are there so few animals on the island?"

Polar bears ate them. Duh.

For some reason I saw Hurley as a rehab kind of guy. Assuming he was a patient, and it wasn't that, I'd suspect something more like depression and maybe suicide attempt rather than schizophrenia or any hard-core psychosis.

It's unlikely Hurley had any condition that made it necessary for him to take medications beyond the treatment phase. Mostly because there has not been one instance of forshadowing for such a thing. Whereas there has been for other aspects of his personality.

They've supposedly dropped the psychotropic meds running out storyline (which would have been a Boone arc), but maybe they decided to transplant a history of mental illness to Hurley's background in the wake of that? I definitely got a former patient vibe off the flashbacks, but reasons for hospitalization can be so varied in form and severity that I don't think we can jump to any conclusions about schizophrenia.

Oh, and it was Frederick Noonan that Amelia Earhart disappeared with. Chalk me up as another viewer who'd love for someone to stumble across the wreckage of the Flying Laboratory under some vines in an episode.

I don't think making Hurley a former psych patient is that obvious a storyline.

Oh, I don't think such a *storyline* would be obvious; I just think that *if* Hurley is a former mental patient, the way in which it was revealed last night was a little too obvious for the show.