First watch: Why does everyone love Hurley so much? He’s kind of annoying…

Context: I’m only 3 seasons in, but I don’t care about spoilers at all if you want to reference other seasons in the comments. I welcome differing opinions, as id love to understand the hype!

Before I actually started watching Lost I’d say Hurley was THE most talked about character I saw. I expected he’d play a bigger part in the story, or have a more interesting backstory. But he’s so…. Boring?

Everyone else seems to have their own character motivations, but Hurley is such a passive, aimless character.

He gives me major self-insert from the writers vibes, on account of how he never really has any flaws or contributes negatively to anyone’s experience. It comes across as super one dimensional. The dude just sits on the sidelines and throws out the odd ‘joke’.

I was under the impression he was going to be the comedic heart of the show, but his quips seem to be of the pretty barebones ‘uh well THAT happened!’ and ‘speak English, doc!’ variety.

His flashback was pretty underwhelming to me! I’ve heard people call it THE best flashback of the show. My dislike might just be personal taste, since I can’t really connect with the concept of cursed numbers. I thought the episode was lacking heart. I think the lack of range of emotion Hurley seems to display makes it difficult to ‘believe’ he is actually anxious, or stressed, or guilty.

Only two non-flashback Hurley moments really stand out to me: his setting up the golf in S1, and handing out the food in S2.

While I can understand why the golf moment was sweet, it felt like the impact was stifled by the character not really having anything else to do. It was easy for him to prioritise leisure, he wasn’t dealing with his own unique stressors on the island, like others. I still think this works very well as a plot point! Just doesn’t do much for his individual character. It felt like anyone could’ve set it up.

I did appreciate the way he handed out the food, and I think watching him grapple with the authority was interesting! I hope to see more actual character development moments like that moving forward.

I also enjoyed his flashback with his father.

All in all I just think the actor might not be very good… he feels very stilted and one note in his delivery.

I would very very much like for anyone to weigh in and explain their affection for the character. I don’t hate him by any means, but I am most definitely bored when he appears on screen, and im surprised he seems to be considered such an essential character. When compared to other light-hearted characters, he doesn’t have the humour of Charlie, the charm of Desmond or the cultural references of Sawyer. Does he simply survive beyond them?