Dave (Lost)  "Dave" is the 43rd episode of "Lost" and the 18th episode of the second season. The episode was directed by Jack Bender, and written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. It first aired on April 5, 2006, on ABC. In flashbacks, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes is in a mental institution, where he deals with an imaginary friend, Dave. Libby also has a brief flashback in this episode, revealing that she attended the institution along with Hurley. The island events in the present day have Hurley seeing Dave on the island, while other survivors confront "Henry Gale" (Michael Emerson) after his stated backstory is revealed to be false. The episode addresses a fan theory which considered the events of the series to be hallucinations or dreams. The character of Dave was written as both a side of Hurley who denied his problems and an analogue to Hurley's disappeared father, and his scenes were filmed so that his reveal as imaginary would be a plot twist. Hurley (Jorge Garcia) is in a mental institution, where he is friends with Dave (Evan Handler), who tells Hurley to ignore the doctors, avoid his medication, and try to escape. One day, Hurley's doctor, Dr. Brooks (Bruce Davison), proves to Hurley that Dave is not real, by taking a photo of the two, and then showing Hurley that Dave is not in the picture. Later that night, Dave wakes Hurley up to escape with him from the institute, suggesting that the photo was doctored. Dave hops out of a window, but Hurley confronts him and declares that Dave is not real, and shuts the window on him before going back to bed. A later flashback reveals that during the moment Dr. Brooks took the picture of Hurley and Dave, another patient was staring at Hurley from across the room, Libby (Cynthia Watros), which explains why Hurley has had this faint recognition of Libby while on the island. Hurley confesses to Libby that he has an eating disorder, and shows her a stash of Dharma food. Hurley expresses interest in getting rid of it, and she encourages him to do so. Just after Hurley destroys his supplies, other survivors go into the jungle. Following them, Hurley and Libby see that an enormous package of food parachuted from the sky. After Hurley panics at the suggestion of again being in charge of the supplies, he sees Dave, and tries to follow him as he goes into the jungle.