Risk is one of the greatest board games ever. The previews for last night’s episode teased Hurley’s big line, “We’re all gonna die,” so it was a classic Lost bait-and-switch when it turned out he was talking about his and Sawyer’s Risk armies.


Most importantly, there was another line that undoubtedly raised a few eyebrows. Hurley complained that Locke was letting Sawyer take Australia, whining, “Australia is the key to the whole game.” First, anyone who’s ever played Risk knows this is 100 percent incorrect. While Australia is a nice little place to have, owning it traps you in southeast Asia until the other players are strong enough to go in for the kill.

Therefore, we must discern if this statement is meaningful or misdirection. I have to go with misdirection, because while Australia is important inasmuch as it’s the place Oceanic Flight 815 departed from, I doubt it’s the key to anything. However, the line was probably just written to raise speculation and cause fans to debate its meaning, which I guess I’m doing, so congratulations, Lost writers, you win. But it’s not because you have Australia.

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