Home'Lost': Who is Henry Gale?
Apr 10, 2006, 04:48 PM | by Scott Brown
Categories: 'Lost'
You tell us, Lost fans: Is this Henry: Portrait of a Serial Player?
After last week's startling revelation that Libby was also a patient in the mental hospital where Hurley convalesced, a rumor began circulating about another possible refugee from Santa Rosa. Yep, it's that pesky Henry Gale again -- or whatever his name is. In reality (remember reality, Lost fans? Because I don't), he's actor Michael Emerson.
The controversy: Did Henry Gale appear in Season 1, as a maintenance man at Santa Rosa? Remember, there was a scene at the hospital in the first Hurley-themed episode, when the heavy-set lottery winner decides he's cursed after witnessing the misfortunes of those around him. Hurley visits the hospital to see Leonard, the man who kept repeating those fateful numbers. In the lobby, there was a man swaying precariously on a ladder, trying to install a lightbulb. Hurley gets progressively more agitated as the man inches closer and closer to disaster, finally ordering him to stop what he's doing. If you believe this individual is, in fact, our Henry, as played by Michael Emerson, then the coincidence would seem to be more than a coincidence. It would suggest that the ol' Santa Rosa cuckoo's nest is perhaps a Dharma-infested talent pool. Perhaps the whole operation, including the number-spouting Leonard, is part of the Dharma experiment. (Libby's backstory might help fill in those holes.)
What do you think, Los Lost-heads? Is this the man? Personally, I'm not convinced. My friend Liz, Lost scholar extraordinaire, says "Henry" looks inexplicably older in the flashback, but then again, "he's got those bug eyes. And those stringy arms. I could see it both ways. What's brilliant is: The janitor never speaks -- so they never have to list him on the credits."
Oh, and here's your wrinkle: Michael Emerson doesn't appear in the Season 1 credits. But in 2004, he did appear in a video short called The Lost Season.
As a character named Henery [sic] Gale.
Discuss.
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