New BifBangPow Lost bobbleheads: Jack, Sawyer, Desmond and Arzt

Thanks to Scott for the following.

The Island of Lost Megos blog has the first pictures of the new BifBangPow Lost bobbleheads: Jack, Sawyer, Desmond and Arzt!


Source: lostmego

Uniquely Miraculous: The Cultural Triumph of Desmond David Hume in Lost by Pearson Moore

He was the focus of the greatest single hour of LOST.

His countenance was the most expressive of any to have occupied the small screen in six years, for he was alone in being asked to perform deeds beyond the capacities of mortal men.

Yet he failed in every occupation he attempted. He backed out of relationships, after six years with Ruth, after several years with Penny Widmore. He was not religious, and he failed as a monk. He designed sets for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and was let go. He tried the life of a soldier, but couldn't follow orders; after several months in military prison, he was dishonourably discharged from the Royal Scots Regiment. Even pushing a button every 108 minutes was beyond him; his inattention caused the crash of Flight 815.

In spite of constant failure, he was unique. A miracle. Immune to the most severe effects of electromagnetism, he traveled freely in time, in any direction. He was the only person in over two thousand years to descend to the Cave of Light and survive. It was he who rendered the Smoke Monster mortal and frail, susceptible to Kate's bullet and Jack's final push.

But his greatest accomplishments were achieved in that fifth episode of the fourth season, when the greatest secret of LOST was revealed uniquely, miraculously, by the story's most expressive character: Desmond David Hume.



A Higher Calling



Desmond Hume had the most diverse background of any of the major characters of LOST, but his life was founded on some of the most predictable patterns as well. Most of his life was spent rudderless, relying entirely on the caprices of those around him to provide the wind to fill his sails and determine his life's course. Although he was dependent on the whim of strangers, he would not commit, even to his dearest friend and soul mate.

He met Ruth during the 1980s. Though we don't know how they met, later events in life give us a solid basis for extrapolating a reasonable guess as to circumstance. She was probably performing a function beyond Desmond's skill level and far outside his normal range of interests. The most obvious possibility is set design. Perhaps she was painting a bridge three metres across that would seem twenty metres wide on stage, explaining her creation to the admiring Scotsman. "Even you could do it," she might have said. Weeks later Desmond would be painting his own bridges, building his own platforms, designing entire scenes.

The beginning of their relationship would have been innocuous enough. Probably Desmond would have had no understanding of the direction they were headed. If he knew, he would have ended things sooner than he did. He was a free spirit. Even though he loved Ruth he could never commit his life to her, or to anyone else.
"Okay, yes, I was scared about the wedding, so I had a few pints too many... I asked am I doing the right thing, and that's the last thing I remember."

He couldn't commit to Ruth. His ignorance of the responsibilities of life proved to be a blessing in his next vocation, though; if he had known of the rigours and requirements of monkhood, he never would have accepted Brother Campbell's hand.
"And when I woke up, I was lying on my back in the street, and I dunno how I got there and, there was this man standing over me, Ruth. And he reached out his hand and he said to me, can I help you, brother? And the first thing I noticed was the rope tied round his waist, and I looked at him and I knew, I knew, I was supposed to go with him... I was supposed to leave everything that mattered behind, sacrifice all of it, for a greater calling."

He had no idea of the life he was pursuing. "We dated for six years," Ruth told him, "and the closest you ever came to a religious experience was Celtic winning the cup." He endured the brief test of postulancy, somehow remembering not to speak a single word for the several weeks of the examination period, and became a novice monk. But the Abbot knew he was not called to religious life, even before Desmond sampled an entire bottle of Moriah Vineyards red one evening.

DESMOND: Are you firing me?
BR CAMPBELL: I am indeed.
DESMOND: You can't do that, I heard the call.
BR CAMPBELL: I'm sure you did hear the call, but the abbey clearly isn't where you were meant to end up. I have little doubt that God has different plans than you being a monk, Desmond. Bigger plans...

We might have taken Brother Campbell's words as the reassuring but ultimately meaningless parting words of a former employer, except for one small photograph on the Abbot's desk.



Eloise Hawking may or may not have been related to Brother Campbell, but she was surely a significant donor to the monastery. She had no interest in the monastery per se, however she was most interested in the impressionable man who would briefly claim a cell in its dormitory.

The issue for Eloise was Charles Widmore's penchant for high-end wine and liquor. Moriah Vineyards was the most expensive Scottish red wine, and Charles ordered several cases at a time. Eloise knew Charles sometimes dispatched Penny to pick up a few cases, and that was the nexus of the problem. Desmond could not be allowed to meet Penny.

Perhaps Brother Campbell was delinquent in notifying Eloise of the monastery's most recent postulant. Perhaps she didn't make the instructions clear enough to the good Abbot's ecclesial mind. Or possibly it was an accidental result of miscalculation. Whatever the genesis, the result was not in accord with Eloise's plans: on the morning of his first day as an ex-monk, Desmond met Penelope Widmore.

A Tear in the Fabric of Time



Desmond's character and suitability for a sexual relationship with Penny were of concern to neither Eloise Hawking nor Charles Widmore. He might have been the perfect man for Penny, or he may have been the type of man who would use her, or ruin her life. None of that mattered to Eloise, and by force of her unopposable character, none of it could matter to Charles Widmore, either.

That Desmond could not be allowed anywhere near Penny was not due to any defect of character, but entirely the result of his necessary vocation. He had to go to the Island, there to push a button every 108 minutes. So Faraday's journal said, so it had to be. Widmore took extreme measures to prevent Desmond from involving himself with his daughter.

WIDMORE: You know anything about whiskey?
DESMOND: No, I'm afraid not, sir.
WIDMORE: This is a 60 year MacCutcheon, named after Anderson MacCutcheon, esteemed Admiral from the Royal Navy.... Admiral MacCutcheon was a great man, Hume. This was his crowning achievement.
[Widmore pours some into one glass.]
WIDMORE: This swallow is worth more than you could make in a month. [he drinks it down] To share it with you would be a waste, and a disgrace to the great man who made it -- because you, Hume, will never be a great man.
DESMOND: Mr. Widmore, I know I'm not...
WIDMORE: What you're not, is worthy of drinking my whiskey. How could you ever be worthy of my daughter?

Eloise and Widmore's efforts paid off. Combined with Desmond's innate fear of commitment, Widmore's psychological slap in the face and Eloise's insistence that he was destined not to marry Penny all conspired to force Desmond to reject Penny's love. "It's all happening too soon -- you moving in. Your painting rooms; your changing things.... Why would you leave your flat, your expensive flat... I can't look after you. I haven't got a job.... I can't even afford five quid for a bloody photograph. You deserve someone better."

Desmond's aversion to responsibility was real, but it is a common characteristic of those of us afflicted with the Y chromosome. Many of us overcome youthful stupidities; my wife and I will celebrate 18 years of marriage and 30 years of friendship this month. I was a much worse case than Desmond, and in many ways I still am. But the point I wish to make here is that settling down into a lifelong commitment is something that even the flightiest among humankind can achieve, and Desmond would have been not at all unique in turning his life around in this manner.

Whether Desmond was eternally destined to spend three years entering the same six integers into a computer every 108 minutes is open to debate. We can deliberate the failures and successes of his early life. We might even argue over the necessity of his actions at the Heart of the Island. But there is one matter to which I believe all must surrender any objection: Desmond Hume and Penelope Widmore were destined to spend their lives together.

This is no small matter. In fact, it is upon this relationship that LOST concentrated the full force of its dramatic energies.

Eloise and Widmore's actions to separate Desmond from Penny constituted a tear in the very fabric of time. They believed physical presence and action in designated locations of spacetime to have greater influence on events than the connections between people. In this false belief they erred. Neither space nor time, nor even the worst forms of psychological coercion and abuse, could prevent the inevitable union of Penny with her beloved. By attempting to pull Desmond away from Penny they were actually weakening the temporal fabric they so strenuously endeavoured to protect.

The Constancy of Time



"You are uniquely and miraculously special."

Faraday's words to Desmond in 2004 had their origin in Desmond's London flat in 1996. It was there, falling off a ladder while painting, in less than a split second, that Desmond traveled forward in time eight years.

I might have begun this section by stating that in late 2004 Desmond turned the key in the Swan Station reset box and this resetting of time was responsible for his strange spacetime epiphany in 1996. But this would be tantamount to saying the past can be changed, a statement very much in opposition to the prime rule of time travel: Whatever happened, happened.

That Desmond was the single exception, that he was able to work around this rule, should not be taken as licence for those of us endeavouring to understand to take illegal shortcuts in our pursuit of truth. We do not share Desmond's unique time travel abilities. In the end, who is to say that a fall from a ladder might be any less capable of inducing accelerated travel through time than the turning of a failsafe key at an electromagnetic research station? We are perfectly within the acceptable bounds of analysis to claim that Desmond's time travel adventures began in London in 1996 and not on an island somewhere in the Pacific in 2004.

Desmond was not able to control the flashes from one spacetime to another, but he did travel freely, in directions that we would understand as forward and backward travel in time. He predicted events, but not accurately. "I remember this night. [he sees a TV showing a soccer game] Graybridge come back from 2 goals down in the final 2 minutes and win this game. It's a bloody miracle. And after they win, Jimmy Lennon's going to come through that door and hit the bartender right in the head with a cricket bat because he owes him money." Desmond remembered the incident correctly--but he was exactly 24 hours off; Jimmy Lennon didn't come into the pub until the day after Desmond's prediction, but he did exactly as Desmond predicted.

Course Correction



Eloise wore an ouroboros pin during her lecture on the rules of time. Seeing the brooch made me deeply aware of what we lost on May 23, 2010. Such care was taken in enriching every scene with symbols and meaningful, multi-faceted images and dialogue. LOST had unparalleled depth and significance--to the extent that even months later we are endeavouring to unravel its meaning. LOST is a magnificent gift we can treasure, but there is a certain sadness in knowing we have only six years to examine.

According to Lostpedia, "Ancient civilizations used The Ouroboros as a symbol of Recurrence. Typically the symbol consists of a snake's body forming a circle with the head swallowing the tail." We know of several instances of time loops in LOST. I have written extensively about the compass, for example, endlessly exchanged between Locke and Richard in a continual loop between 1954 and 2007 (see http://pearsonmoore-gets-lost.com/TheGoodGuys.aspx, under the header "Compass").

Many such time loops were created, and in fact, the entire edifice of the series was built on the predictability and periodicity of temporal event and human behaviour. "They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt. It always ends the same." The Smoke Monster could never lose, because he knew the rules, and predictability, immortality, and imperviousness to any instrument of death meant he would always be several steps ahead of any challenger. The fabric of the universe was warped in his favour.

Changing a single event in the past was possible. Because Desmond floated freely between past and future, he knew the course of events, and he could take action to prevent undesired outcomes. But that was not enough, because the universe tended to correct course.

MS. HAWKING: That man over there is wearing red shoes.
DESMOND: So, what then?
MS. HAWKING: Just thought it was a bold fashion choice worth noting.
....
[Suddenly, there is a loud crash behind the bench Ms. Hawking and Desmond have been sitting on. Some scaffolding has fallen and killed the man with red shoes.]
DESMOND: Oh, my God. You knew that was going to happen, didn't you?
MS. HAWKING: [nods]
DESMOND: Then why didn't you stop it? Why didn't you do anything?
MS. HAWKING: Because it wouldn't matter. Had I warned him about the scaffolding tomorrow he'd be hit by a taxi. If I warned him about the taxi, he'd fall in the shower and break his neck. The universe, unfortunately, has a way of course correcting. That man was supposed to die. That was his path just as it's your path to go to the island. You don't do it because you choose to, Desmond. You do it because you're supposed to.



Charlie Pace had to die on the Island. He had been destined to die by electrocution in a lightning storm, but Desmond foresaw his death and used a golf club and wreckage wire as a lightning rod, saving Charlie's life. The universe course-corrected by planning Charlie's death by flying arrow through the neck, but Desmond saw the future, and again took steps to prevent fate from taking his friend.

Finally, after preventing the musician's death by drowning, Desmond told Charlie the truth: Charlie was going to die.

An objective observer might conclude that Charlie's presence in the Looking Glass Station, and his crucial three-word warning ("Not Penny's Boat") to Desmond altered the course of time. By delaying Charlie's death until he made a substantial contribution to everyone on the Island, any "course correction" would be partial at best. Therefore, Desmond successfully broke the rules of time travel.

Many sound theories have been based on this premise, and I have to believe there is merit to such a claim. Most importantly, Charlie's warning, and his death, served to enhance Locke's position, proving his actions--even his murder of Naomi--to have been more than warranted. Many on the Island would die because of the freighter mercenaries' unholy project, and Charlie's warning undoubtedly saved many lives.

There were obvious short-term effects, such as Hurley's decision to follow Locke so that Charlie's death would not have been in vain. The credibility boost that Locke received may have had long-term effects, as well. It is possible the Charlie's support of Locke's position may have helped sway Jack during his three years off the Island, possibly accelerating his movement toward life as a Man of Faith.

Sound arguments can be made against this theory, but I do not wish to debate them here. Whether Desmond's actions to save Charlie constituted a violation of the rules of time travel, he certainly achieved something of note to the story in saving Charlie's life three times, and in being present to receive Charlie's warning. I believe notable importance attaches to this fact, since part of Eloise's rationale for forcing Desmond to the Island was to ensure three years of code entry as "the only truly great thing" Desmond would ever accomplish. I disagree. I believe saving Charlie and at least three other acts were of greater moment than entering the integers every 108 minutes.

Physical Endurance



After rejecting Penny, Desmond walked by a Royal Scots Regiment recruiting office. Volunteering may have been the result of long planning and research, but this seems unlikely. Regardless of the time and care he may have taken in reaching a decision about military service, he was psychologically and physically unprepared for the rigours of life in the Royal Scots. Desmond had a strange knack for choosing vocations for which he was particularly ill-suited at the time.

But fate conspired against Desmond in ways he never could have prepared for. Even if he had been in top psychological and physical shape, he could never have steeled himself for the disorienting effects of suddenly traveling several years into the future.

He faced the deepest challenge of his life during the Christmas of 2004. He had no anchor in time, no Constant to orient him, and the result was physical trauma. The violent effects of sudden, involuntary time travel were literally ripping him apart inside, tearing him out of the fabric of time.

As his 1996 self struggled in the frightening and utterly disorienting environment of an ocean freighter in the Pacific Ocean in 2004, Desmond was in deep trouble. His nose had started to bleed. "When it happens again, Desmond, I need you to get on a train," Daniel Faraday told him. "Get on a train and go to Oxford. Oxford University. Queens College Physics Department." Daniel Faraday at that time was Professor Daniel Faraday, and he was conducting experiments in time travel. The younger Daniel Faraday was the only person in the world who could help Desmond.

Professor Faraday explained to Desmond his need for an anchor, or Constant. An anchor was "Something familiar in both times. All this, see this is all variables, it's random, it's chaotic. Every equation needs stability, something known. It's called a constant. Desmond, you have no constant. When you go to the future, nothing there is familiar. So if you want to stop this, then you need to find something there ... something that you really, really care about ... that also exists back here, in 1996."

Death in Its Many Forms



Minkowski was in the late stages of time travel-induced internal haemorrhaging. Bleeding from eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, he would be dead in hours or minutes, and no medication or surgical procedure could prevent his demise. This would be Desmond's fate as well, if he did not find a Constant.

In 2008 we didn't yet know the full ramifications of living life without a Constant. In the context of Minkowski's and Desmond's time travel it seemed the requirement of a Constant was a special case, that the majority of mortals who do not experience the frightening disorientations of time travel will never need to invest ourselves in "something that you really, really care about".

At the end of Season Six we learned one of the possible consequences of not vesting in something important outside oneself.

HURLEY: Hey, you around? Michael?
[Michael steps out of the jungle.]
HURLEY: You're stuck on the Island aren't you?
MICHAEL: [nodding] 'Cause of what I did.
HURLEY: And...there're others out here like you, aren't there? That's what the whispers are?
MICHAEL: Yeah. We're the ones who can't move on.

Michael committed horrendous deeds of murder and deception, but his acts did not compare to Sayid's multiple murders or the atrocities Ben carried out. Yet Ben was allowed into the sideways purgatory, and Sayid was allowed to "move on" in the Church of the Holy Lamp Post at the end of the story. Michael was left behind not because of what he did, but because of what he did not do. He did not forge an enduring relationship with his wife, and their marriage ended in divorce. He did not develop a strong relationship with his son, nor with anyone else, for that matter. Friends he might have retained he instead alienated by killing Ana Lucia and Libby, and by deceiving those he didn't hurt directly.

Michael had no Constant. It was this fact that prevented him from "moving on".

The importance of a Constant--something to which a person makes an enduring commitment that stands every test of time--is of paramount importance in the world of LOST. Without a Constant, one cannot receive a place in the pews of Our Lady of the Foucault Pendulum. Establishing a life-long relationship is the primary message of LOST, as explained here:
http://pearsonmoore-gets-lost.com/ConfluenceofRedemption.aspx

Those whose consciousnesses travel through time without a Constant will experience disorientation, internal bleeding, time seizures, and death. Those who die without a Constant will experience only whispers and shadows--the endless sadness of realising what might have been, the eternal emptiness of spiritual isolation.

Rectifying History



Eloise Hawking and Charles Widmore were not objective "time cops" selflessly devoting themselves to the maintenance of the universe's internal clock. Eloise's objective was to make amends for killing her own son. Widmore's plan was to seize control of the Island. When Eloise told Desmond that his destiny was not with Penny, she was wrong. She may have been correct that Desmond was destined to enter the Valenzetti coefficients every 108 minutes for three years until the computer was destroyed and he was forced to turn the failsafe key, but she was incorrect again in stating that "pushing that button is the only truly great thing that you will ever do."

Desmond’s trans-spacetime experiences of Penny had relevance to him because of the constancy of their relationship. Regardless of any of the particulars of the reality around them, they were destined to recognise in each other something essential to their being. In the sideways reality or on the Island, they found the completion of themselves in each other.

In the world of LOST, nothing is more important than the establishment of a personal Constant. A Constant is necessary to a life well lived, and it is necessary to those who wish to "move on" from this life to the next (see http://pearsonmoore-gets-lost.com/ConfluenceofRedemption.aspx). Without a Constant, one is destined to spend eternity with the whispers and regrets of a life devoid of meaning.

In contacting Penny from the freighter during Christmas, 2004, Desmond was not changing history. He was rectifying the time error that Eloise had attempted to perpetrate. Desmond needed Penny for his own survival, but he was accomplishing something much more important, for he was to become the central figure in the Island's most important event, and our story's final chapter.

The Triumph of Odysseus



Menelaus, the most powerful man in Mycenae, summoned the King of Ithaca, Odysseus, to fight a war in a foreign land to restore property rightfully his. Three thousand years ago the great adventure began with the launching of a thousand ships to recover from Troy the woman whose beauty has never been equaled. Our modern-day Menelaus, the most powerful man in England, summoned ocean-faring Odysseus to fight a war in a foreign land, to restore property he claimed as his own, a land whose power has never been equaled. Three years ago, in 2007, this final battle of the great war began with the launching of a single submarine. For the magnificence of our great Odysseus was such that he alone could usurp the power of the gods, turning their immortality to dust.

The Odyssey is the world's greatest adventure story, and Odysseus the world's greatest hero. Son of a god, Odysseus inherited deep masculinity and strength of purpose. He carried himself in the manner of all men aware of their abiding dignity; in Homer's words, he was "in bearing, like a god." The great king and hero of the Trojan War took a torturous ten years to return to Ithaca, facing every manner of physical test of his crew and himself.

But we know Odysseus not for his great physical strength, rare masculine beauty, or dignified bearing. We know Odysseus as the resourceful fighter, the cunning leader, the man who, by guile and force of character, finds a way out from seemingly impossible situations. During the war, he thought up and fashioned the Trojan Horse. To defeat the Sirens, Odysseus had his men poured wax in their ears so they could not be lured by the seductive devils' irresistible song. Captured by the giant Cyclops, facing certain death at the hands of the one-eyed cannibal, Odysseus plied the monster with wine, waited until he fell asleep, then burned out his single eye. After ten long years, he returned to his Penelope.

Desmond endured physical challenges of space and time in his quest to return to his Penelope--to his Penny. Shipwrecked, like Odysseus, spending long years on an island, like Odysseus, he never gave up hope of finding her. Most of all, like Odysseus, we know Desmond not for any physical ability, not even for the rare capacity to resist the terrible physical effects of unearthly magnetic force, but rather for his strength of character, for strength of spirit. Desmond deserved Penny not for any physical prowess or superhuman ability, but for entirely human reasons: for faith in their sharing, for hope of finding her, for love of her as soul mate, friend, wife. Most of all, for never giving up, for applying every resource he could muster to find her and keep her.

Desmond--the Island's Odysseus--is made hero because of his humanity, because of the choices he made, because of his relentless drive to share love with Penny. The awful force of the magnetic chamber--sufficient to kill ordinary mortals--was no challenge to our Odysseus. His easy triumph over the normal constraints of the physical world, and in fact his triumph over the very fabric of space and time, was not the message of the final battle. The lesson driven home is that Desmond's unrelenting focus on Penny allowed him to achieve in the spiritual realm feats that far outshine even the superhuman abilities he demonstrated with so little effort in the magnetic chamber.

Desmond's humanity is more important, and more powerful, than the greatest of superhuman abilities. This is an important revelation, and quite possible the single most critical truth of series. Desmond is the physical embodiment of the great truth of LOST:

Humanity is more important, more enduring, and stronger than anything in the physical world.

Odysseus' physical body expired thirty centuries ago. But his spirit lives on, and can never be vanquished. On the Island there is nomos (law) and physis (nature). The forces at play are stronger than anything known in the physical world. But the force above all forces is the only one that is truly irresistible and unstoppable: Pneuma (spirit). Desmond's success was inevitable, not because of Jacob's "progress", but because this is how we are made. This is who we are, as human beings, as those aware of innate, abiding dignity, carrying ourselves in calm possession of every faculty of mind and body, in bearing, like a god.

Our Necessity, Our Triumph



Favoured of the gods, Odysseus returned home to his Penelope, but only after enduring trials, torments, and tribulations. He was of all the characters of LOST the most expressive, the most adaptable, the most willing. He performed his mighty deeds and exited quietly without acknowledgment or fanfare. He saved Charlie, and by doing so enabled the musician to perform the single greatest act of his life. He defied Eloise and Widmore and restored his relationship with the only woman in the world who truly mattered. He moved a stone that no other could touch, a simple act that turned an immortal force of nature into a fragile old man, and allowed the great Man of Faith to restore peace to the Island and equilibrium to the world.

Fair Odysseus, in bearing like a god, was as human as any among us. He was our triumph, our necessity, for in every age women and men of character and will quietly perform great feats that no others dare. In a story of magnificent men who lead legions and armies, of great warriors who win against crushing odds, we remember first the quiet one. We read of wise Agamemnon, strong Ajax, good Diomedes, cunning Menelaus, kind Patroclus, incomparable Achilles. Their strategies and speeches and battles fill the pages, testament to heroism, record of brotherhood, witness to destiny. But the greatest of these is fair and strong, quiet and sure, testament of humanity, witness to civility. The greatest of these, the one we remember in our dreams, carry in our hearts, proclaim in our words, with wisdom surpassing Agamemnon, strength beyond Ajax, kindness above Patroclus, is the one beloved of Athena, beloved of Penelope: the quiet one, the good and fair Odysseus, the Scotsman, Desmond David Hume.

PM

Episode 6x11/12 - Suddenly Everything Has Changed (Happily Ever After / Everybody Loves Hugo) - By Anna

NOTE: These were initially posted a couple of days ago, but they seemed to cause some glitch on the site because of the code used. So we had to remove them, but they are back! So enjoy the double recap from Anna.

Dear Readers: In the interest playing catch up, I have combined my take on “Happily Ever After” and “Everybody Loves Hugo” together into this single article. Thanks so much for everyone who has been asking about the recaps. I hope once you read this you will find it worth your time as well as the wait. By the way, since it’s a double-episode article, it’s a LONG one, so grab a glass of your favorite Dharma beverage, hunker down, and enjoy!

INTRO: The Gold in the Mountain of Our Madness

In what would now appear to have overtaken “Ab Aeterno” as the best episode of season 6 thus far, , “Happily Ever After”, took a heady turn as the story of Desmond Hume was finally continued. It’s been a long wait, as the last we saw of poor Desmond, he was in the hospital after having been shot by Ben back in the season 5 episode, “The Variable”.

“Happily Ever After” was written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, and they really outdid themselves with this one. In a season that has been heavily tinged with the concept of faith and rife with religious references, science-fiction fans finally got their payoff with what can be seen as a companion piece to both “Flashes Before Your Eyes” and “The Constant”.

There was very little time spent on the Island in this installment, as once again Desmond’s special consciousness-jumping abilities were at play here, and just as in the past episodes mentioned, we had a bit of flashing to and fro happening for most of the hour. It really felt like an episode from one of the earlier seasons of LOST as well; there was no Jacob and no Man in Black to worry about. However, the shocks came fast and emotions ran high as at last so many of our questions in regards to Timeline-X and its relationship to the Regular Time-line were given a new depth and an interesting hint of clarification.

(Please note: From this point on, in order to save some time, “Time-line X” will be shortened to “TLX”, and the “Regular Island Time-line” will be denoted with “RTL”.)




Waitin' for a Superman

Poor Desmond. I mean, we all knew the Island wasn’t finished with him, and Charles Widmore made sure that was indeed going to play out. At some point Widmore had him kidnapped from the hospital, drugged, code-named “The Package”, and given a submarine ride to the Island. Of course I think I too would become a bit violent if the first thing I woke up to after that was Zoe. Not to mention, that enraged lip quiver Desmond showed as Widmore broke the news that they were back on the Island was COMPLETELY EPIC and deserves an Emmy in and of itself. Widmore also deserved that hearty beating Des gave him before being subdued by Charles’ ultra-lame band of gun-toting goons.

We soon learned that ol’ Charles had been preparing some type of experiment, and Desmond was about to be the main test subject. He explained to Jin that Mr. Hume was the only person on earth that he knew of who had survived a “catastrophic electromagnetic event”, and he needed to ensure that wasn’t just some fluke. Something larger is definitely in the works here; if we remember Zoe needed some information from Jin in regards to the pockets of electromagnetic activity around the Island. At this point, without more information, the only thing that I can think of is that Widmore is perhaps creating some type of a trap, or even has devised a way to kill the Man in Black. I could almost see Desmond as the bait that could lead MIB to his demise, serving as Widmore’s “Shaggy” in a plan right out of the ol’ “Scooby-Doo” playbook.

However, I still do not entirely believe that Widmore is on Team Jacob, either. I think Widmore will always be on Team Widmore, and could just as easily be planning to use Desmond’s ability for his own selfish reasons; i.e. ultimate control of the Island.

One thing I feel the need to ask here is how Widmore knew of Desmond’s talent for surviving catastrophic electromagnetic events, such as the Swan Hatch implosion. My only guess here is Ms. Hawking. She was the one who was right in place and time at that jewelry store during Desmond’s first flash backwards through time. More on her own special “talent” in a bit…


Redneck School of Technology

The last time Widmore assembled a team for “security” on the Island, he put together a most frightening group of mercenaries head up by the beast, Martin Keamy. This time, he brought a horrifying team of….scientists. No wonder they are so very un-threatening when they brandished firearms. This group was definitely not very adept at working under pressure, either, as Widmore decided to move up the timetable on their regularly scheduled plan of events and sent them into a tizzy.

They also don’t seem to be very bright, or at least they’re also horrible at safety protocols. One doofus even flipped the switch while another one of his colleagues was inside Widmore’s Electromagnetic Funhouse, resulting in one very crispy scientist. I was totally expecting to see Brundle-Fly come out of that box at first, but alas, no such luck. Everyone seemed wrecked by what had happened except for Widmore, who remained cold and focused on the overall task at hand. Removing Original Recipe Dead Guy from the fryer right in front of Desmond did wonders for making sure he kept calm and had no worries at all when he was then strapped to a chair and then locked inside, alone.

But not before Widmore gave Desmond a little speech about the sacrifices he has had to make in his efforts to “protect” the Island, and whatever is at stake if the MIB is not stopped from leaving it. He lost his son, the love and respect of his daughter, and the chance to know his grandson. He did leave out the part about all the deaths he is responsible for, and the fact that he also made the sacrifice of their lives. Charles then told Desmond he was going to ask for him to also make a sacrifice, and once again made it clear that some heavy stuff is going to go down if Des does not comply with this request when the time comes.


Feeling Yourself Disintegrate

So much went through my mind during this quick sequence. When I first saw that chair, I immediately figured they were somehow trying to summon Jacob, or force him to materialize in some way. I loved how fast Desmond was able to bust free from it though, making me think again that Team Widmore should have probably brought a more recently-made chair instead of using one that had been dry-rotting in the Hydra station for the last couple of decades. Just remember, no metal objects!

The actual machine reminded me of the photos I have seen of the Large Hadron Collider. The effects in this scene were pretty decent, even as Desmond looked like he was in horrible pain as he was bombarded with deadly amounts of energy. The thought came to my mind that he had literally become The Golden Child at that point; the unlikely savior, the “Fix It Man” for all that had gone wrong on the Island so far. How ironic for a man who once caused the crash of Flight 815 and who then completely abandoned the idea that the work he was doing on the Island pushing that Hatch button was ever helping to somehow “save the world”.


I Was Zapped by the Lucky Super Rainbow

It was pretty obvious that Desmond was going to have another one of his consciousness time-trips; however I did not expect him to end up in his X-Head. We surfaced in TLX just as Desmond was staring at his reflection, as he seemed to be “coming to” right after Flight 815 had landed in LA. At baggage claim he briefly reunited with Claire-X, a woman whose life he had saved back in season three, once from drowning and once from a lightning storm. Desmond’s RTL knowledge bled through a little as he correctly guessed her expected child would be a boy, and then proceeded to reunite with George-X, as in Minkowski from Widmore’s freighter crew. We remember him as the first man Desmond met who had also fallen victim to the electromagnetic time-crazies, and who later died as a result of not having a constant for his mind to ground itself with.

Come to find out, George was taking on a very Mathew Abaddon-like role as Desmond’s driver and employee of Widmore-X. How wild it was to find out that not only was Desmond working for Widmore in this iteration, but that they also shared a kinship not unlike father and son? Once again Charles’ office was ripe with nods and winks to the Island, from the sailboat model Desmond was seen staring at, to the lovely painting of scales with one black stone and one white stone on opposing sides just like the scales seen in the MIB’s cliff-wall cave. (Yes, I do believe that cave was MIB’s abode and not Jacob’s.)

Boy, Widmore laid it on THICK for our man, Des, too. Charles gave him a hug, and mentioned how Des was his top employee, blessed for not having the attachments that root one to a place such as a family. He even went so far as to then toast to Mr. Hume’s “indispensability” as Number One with a healthy shot of his prized MacCutcheon whiskey, something in the RTL Widmore had teased Desmond with as being too good for a such a failure of a man. I got the feeling that Widmore-X was in some way repaying Desmond for his service, or indispensability in the RTL in a very "Through the Looking (Whiskey) Glass" sort of way. In fact, the entire scene practically mirrored the one we had been given in season three’s “Flashes Before Your Eyes”.

It was almost too perfect, this new relationship between Desmond and the father of his bride to be, Penelope. Except in TLX, darling Penelope was completely unknown to Des. Oh well, I suppose a person can only be close to one member of the Widmore family at a time on LOST.


Buggin’

One odd thing that must be mentioned is that in the season premiere LA X, Desmond was seen on Flight 815 wearing a wedding ring. However, in this episode, Desmond-X did not have one on at all and several references were made to the fact that he was single.

Is this further evidence that the time-line(s) are still in the process of being altered? Could it be like all of the other bizarre items that have moved, or have been reversed, or have disappeared altogether throughout the show since the very beginning; some kind of butterfly-effect that alludes to the repercussions of altering the past, whether it be one time-line or the other? Is this going to somehow relate to what Daniel later talks about in this episode; about how they somehow changed things by setting off Jughead?

And finally, are the actions of our characters, namely Desmond, in one or even both time-lines still changing things? I do hope this is one mystery that is not dropped into the Ether of the Unsolved on LOST. Those re-arranging staircase photo frames from Miles’ ghost-busting flashback episode still bug me to this day!


Unconsciously Screamin'

Arguably the biggest reveal of the season so far, besides Richard Alpert’s history and the “cork = Island” metaphor, came through the scene in “Jax” Bar (complete with a Kangaroo logo) where Charlie challenged Desmond about his supposedly “happy” life. We then discovered that back on Flight 815, Charlie, in the bathroom, with the heroin, was not at all trying to commit suicide. He just got a wee bit paranoid at the sight of that Marshall with Kate, and decided to swallow his baggie right as the airplane hit turbulence. Once again the rock god went down via asphyxiation; down deep and into near-death unconsciousness.

During his time down under, Charlie experienced a vision of sorts. He saw a gorgeous blonde with whom he shared “consciousness-altering love”. I suppose it is safe to guess this person was Claire. But he didn’t just see that they were in love, and always had been as if it was pre-destined. He truly felt it.

Charlie somehow knew that there was a Greater Truth to what he had seen when he was knocked out, as if fate itself struck him in the face from his own knuckles where it was once written. Mr. Pace saw the mirror reality, the Real Time-Line, and after that moment every part of his being then wrote off the TLX he was living in as something unworthy of his efforts. This would explain his behavior from the moment he woke up and told Jack he should have let him die, to his death-wish Frogger-game through heavy traffic when Desmond arrived to pick him up from the police station.

Finally, we now know for sure the connection between the RTL and TLX, and that for some of our characters it is actually seeping through to the point where they are starting to remember. Even better, Love seems to be a main catalyst. The effects this will have on the RTL characters is yet to be seen. But it should get quite interesting if they too begin to realize there are additional versions of themselves in a timeline that now appears as if it was never meant to be.


Chrome Plated Suicide

On the way to the engagement where Charlie was scheduled to play with Widmore’s musically-gifted son, he and Desmond had a lovely discussion about choice. So many times we have seen this in LOST, as the show seems to have built itself upon the foundation of the entire Fate Vs. Free Will debate from philosophy. However, Charlie really wanted Desmond to understand what he had been trying to tell him in regards to their current state of reality, and pulled a bit of a “Jacob” in this scene. He told Desmond he has a choice, and then proceeded to give him a little push…by grabbing the steering wheel and heading right into the nearby marina (where RTL Desmond had been shot by Ben), car and all.

It is in this scene where Desmond (once again) tried to rescue Charlie from drowning that his memory of the RTL is finally sparked. All it took was Charlie’s hand to the car window and BUH-BLAM Desmond saw the “Not Penny’s Boat” message written when our favorite bassist died in season three’s “Through the Looking Glass”. Desmond was of course extremely shaken by this sudden flash of a memory that was from somewhere else. Charlie’s plan to wake Desmond up and open his eyes to the reality he was in completely worked.

On a quick side-note, I believe the one of the overall themes in LOST is not “Fate Versus Free Will”, but rather it should be seen as “Fate AND Free Will”. Again, we need both opposites to form the Whole, just as I have mentioned before that people are always going to have a little bit of both “Good” and “Bad” in them. The message of LOST is not really just a focus on opposites, but it shows us how they are reconciled within a person, within each of us throughout our lives. For this is how the Universe rolls.

It’s all one big Donkey Wheel of Yin and Yang, baby!


The Abandoned Hospital Ship

Of course, a local car accident would not be complete without a trip to St. Sebastian’s Hospital. Desmond’s second and more intense set of flashes to the RTL came from a ride through a magnetic scanner in the form of an MRI machine. This is the point where he saw Penny, and most likely felt their love just as Charlie experienced his relationship with Claire when he was unconscious.

Desmond’s abilities come from exposure to that original “catastrophic” Swan Hatch implosion, so it makes sense that further bombardment with electromagnetism would cue even more memories. I loved how the MRI technician gave him a BUTTON to push in case of panic, which he used with a quickness and then high-tailed it out of there to find Charlie. Desmond was totally spooked, and he needed to know for sure that what he was seeing had some grounding in some kind of reality, even if it wasn’t the one he was currently living in. And since Mr. Pace and his death-defying underwater vehicle stunt was the initial catalyst, Desmond went on a mission to track him down. Well, for that reason and for the fact that Desmond thought Charlie had tried to kill him.

As Desmond stood at the nurse’s desk and asked about Charlie’s whereabouts I turned to my other half and said, “I bet we’ll see a Jack cameo…”, but before I could finish the sentence, out he walked right on cue into the scene. Unfortunately Jack couldn’t help Desmond on his Pace-hunt, but it was nice that they ran into each other again, and I’m sure it won’t be the last time in TLX they meet, either. How many lives have these two bruthas now met each other in, anyway?


Do You Realize??

Cue a hospital-gowned and crazy-eyed Charlie, who dashed and darted through the hallways yelling, “None of this matters! None of this matters!” as the staff, and Desmond, chased behind him. Hysterical!

When Desmond finally cornered him, Charlie admitted he was trying to show Desmond something. Desmond demanded to see Charlie’s hands. With a sly grin Charlie asked Des, “You felt it, didn’t you?”, and then refused to accompany him to the concert that he was scheduled to play. Charlie then repeated the mantra once more at Des, “THIS doesn’t matter. None of this matters! All that matters is that WE FELT IT.” Desmond was stunned with that deer-in-headlights type of expression, and as Charlie walked off, he suggested that Des stop worrying about him and start looking for Penny.

Now I no longer feel bad for being unable to truly connect in an emotional way with the TLX. Shall I repeat what Charlie said once more? Feel free to join me here: “NONE OF THIS MATTERS!!!”

Ah the sweet, sweet smell of reveal!


Love the World You Find

After losing Pace, Widmore tasked Desmond with being the one who would break the news to his wife, who had been working on the big event. Surprise! Ms. Hawking from the RTL is now Mrs. Widmore-X. What an interesting twist that the “complicated” couple would still be together in this incarnation of their relationship. In addition from the way everyone acted, from Big Daddy Charles, to George Minkowski Driver Extraordinaire, to the party staff, Eloise was the one who ultimately wore the pants in the Widmore family.

With her huge, white Hair-Helmet of Higher Power and her butter-knife Nazism, Eloise was refreshingly cool about Drive Shaft’s inability to perform at the event, and accepted the “unpredictability” of working with rock stars. As she let Desmond off the hook, she even threw out Dan Faraday’s old mantra, “What happened, happened”, which we would soon learn to be oh so ironic in oh so many ways.

Eloise however did not predict Desmond would hear the name Penny Milton called from a guest list nearby and actually quesion it. In a huff she pulled Desmond aside and privately began to scold him for looking for whatever it was he was seeking. She demanded that he STOP, as someone had affected the way he was “seeing things” (i.e. Charlie). Furthermore she told Desmond that she didn’t understand why he would be looking for anything, as he already had a “perfect life” and had managed to attain the one thing he had apparently always wanted, her “husband’s approval”. I loved how Desmond refuted her claim to know what it was that he really wanted.

Overall the scene was a great shocker, as once again Eloise revealed herself to have more information about Desmond, his life, and their current “reality” than she ever should have. This completely mirrored her RTL role as advisor to Desmond and his ultimate Island destiny back in “Flashes Before Your Eyes”.

By the sounds of it, someone or something might have actually created TLX and set Desmond up with what they/it thought he wanted most in the RTL. LOST’s mysterious double time-line had just become even more delicious with the meeting of these two characters who both seemed to be able to step beyond the bounds of time itself. Even Eloise’s pin seemed to echo the fact that she knew that there are two timelines, as she wore two parallel lines of silver with a starburst-like explosion at a point along each one. Jughead, anyone?


The Observer

During their conversation, Ms. Hawking/Widmore also told Desmond that what he was doing by seeking out Penny was a “violation”. A violation of what, “The Rules”? Whose “Rules”...Jacob’s? I wonder. Call me crazy, but I am getting bad vibes from the White-Haired Wonder. As in, I am starting to wonder if she is somehow in cahoots with The Man in Black.

Based on what we have seen, it is MIB, not Jacob, who has been going around making promises to everyone in order to woo them to his ragged court of merry men. He told Claire she would see Aaron again, Sayid that he would see Nadia, Sun would be reunited with Jin, Sawyer could leave the island, and so forth. Is it possible that at some point, perhaps way back in the past after she shot Daniel, that MIB came to her as well and made a similar bargain?

This could potentially explain why all throughout Daniel’s life Eloise had been grooming him for his “destiny”, pushing him away from his love of music and instead towards science and ultimately the Island. It could also explain why she seems to know so much, more than anyone, and why she is constantly showing up at important decision-making moments in Desmond’s life, to ensure he continues on the proper path.

That path would be the one that would eventually help free the Man in Black and possibly create this “alternate” reality at the same time. As Ms. Hawking, she once told Desmond that pushing the Swan Hatch button would be the most important thing that he would do in his life. For if it wasn’t for Desmond being on the Island and being the one to allow the system failure at the Swan hatch, John Locke - the man MIB needed to find his loophole - would have never crashed there in the first place.

Of course I could be totally wrong here, but it is just very odd to me that she seems to be the only character in LOST that knows what is going on throughout both timelines. It is possible that some of her fore-knowledge came from owning Dan’s journal after she shot him back in the 70’s. However this does not explain her actions in TLX. I am definitely keeping my stink-eye on that woman now. In my view, if she was really one of the “good guys”, then she would want Desmond to find his love and wake up from the manufactured dream-world that TLX seems to now be.

She also told Desmond he is not “ready”. Does something have to happen in the RTL for Desmond to be ready to accept his role in TLX? Part of me doesn’t want to read too much into this line in particular. To me it sounds like Eloise being Eloise and talking down to him as she had before in that “knower of all things” kind of way.


Girl with Hair Like an Explosion

As a defeated Desmond stuck his tail between his legs and prepared to drink himself into oblivion, a knock came to the limo window from one Mr. Daniel Faraday…I mean, Widmore. I think I heard the entire East Coast viewing audience exclaim upon the sight of Our Beloved Physicist!

Except in this incarnation, Dan had been able to fulfill his dreams of being a musician, as he had been the one scheduled to play a classical piece with Charlie’s rock band. Even in TLX, Daniel enjoyed a little experimentation. You see, some things never change, no matter what the filmstrip says in Room 23.

Daniel immediately asked Desmond if he believed in “love at first sight”, and began to tell a tale of his own recent experience with the idea. He went on to describe a striking, blue-eyed, red-haired beauty at the local museum, eating a chocolate bar, which was a dead-on (no pun intended) description of his RTL love lost, Charlotte. Dan claimed it was as if he had “already met her” and “already loved her”. This story pretty much echoed what Charlie had relayed to Desmond earlier at the bar.

That same night, while he was presumably in a near-unconscious state, Dan woke up and scribbled some ultra high-level quantum mechanics equations into his journal. He claimed to have no knowledge whatsoever of what it all really meant, as he was just a musician.

However just like Charlie, he too got the sensation that their current lives in TLX were not proper, not correct. Daniel was able to go even further and proceeded to tell Desmond that he believed he had somehow, somewhere, set off a nuclear bomb in the effort to avoid some type of major catastrophe. He theorized that this is what had somehow caused them to now be in a different reality.  Dan said to Desmond, “What if this…all this…wasn’t supposed to be our life?” and that, “for some reason we changed things”.

I loved that the page from Daniel’s journal was also quite relevant. If one looked closely, it was the page which contained that diagram from the RTL journal that mentioned “Real Space” and “Imaginary Time”. It almost would seem this exactly mirrors the situation we now have on LOST overall where the whole has splintered into the two.


The Secret of Immortality: This Strange Feeling, This Impossible World

I also find it fascinating that so far the only characters to truly begin to see through the TLX reality on their own are Charlie and Daniel, two people who happened to have also died in the RTL. Whereas our other castaways have only demonstrated faint acknowledgement in fits and spurts (often sparked by looking into the mirror) these two men have experienced more than a glimpse to the point of being able to recognize the TLX as being something false. I believe this is due to their proximity to the unconscious, as Charlie’s visions came to him during a near death experience, and Daniel’s quantum epiphany came to him in a dream.

In LOST, unconsciousness and even death seems to be a portal of sorts; to where is left to our imagination. I like to refer to as The In-Between. My favorite example remains from the episode “?” where Charlotte Malkin was pronounced dead, and then came back to life while screaming John Locke’s name. She then later approached Eko with a word from his dead brother, Yemi.

In fact, all of the show’s references to the Underworld, Water, and Mirrors - all archetypal symbols of The Unconscious that I’ve discussed in article after article - have come to the forefront and their importance is now being revealed in a new and amazing way.

We saw the start of true cross-over last week in “The Package”, when Sun knocked herself out in the RTL, just as she was looking into the mirror in TLX, and then awoke to no longer be able to speak English just like her TLX counterpart. However with Charlie and Daniel, the bleed-through of timelines has been truly confirmed. I believe now we will only see it continue to escalate, and our still-living RTL characters will begin to feel that something odd is afoot as they continue along with their TLX lives.

Finally, showing our characters with an eye opened in a close-up was also given an even greater significance. It is love at first sight that initially clues Daniel into things not being what they appear to be. Charlie’s tattoo of the famous Beatles lyric, “Living is easy with eyes closed”, has also taken on a new meaning after this episode, where we learn he too had opened his eyes to a false reality.  

Vision and sight are now more substantially involved, yet the concept has been rippling through the show since the very first moment of the “Pilot” when we saw Jack’s eye open as all hell was breaking loose at the crash-site nearby. It almost makes one question which reality is true, if either one, and all of those discarded “VR theories” of seasons past start rushing back to memory, each carrying a new and urgent sense of truth.


Race for the Prize

Speaking of rushing, Daniel could tell that Desmond too had become aware and “felt love”, along with the fact that something was wrong with the current life he was living. His ultimate gift to Mr. Hume was the reveal that the Penny he was seeking was his half-sister, and he provided Des with the time and place (time and space) where he could finally find her.

What a perfect location it was to have them meet at the stadium where RTL Desmond once trained for a sailboat race, where he (presumably) first met Jack Shephard, and where he basically broke it off with Penny until the race was over and his mission could be accomplished. That mission was of course to gain her father, Charles Widmore’s, approval. I suppose this is why the “creator” of this TLX reality might think a connection between Charles and Desmond would be the more important issue that needed to be addressed.

Perhaps something (cough-MIB-cough) was even able to read RTL-Desmond’s mind in order to obtain this information when he was on the Island. Perhaps it misread Desmond’s motives as being all about Widmore, since he was technically not with Penny at that point in time. And perhaps this is why in TLX, Charles and Desmond are buddy-buddy and Penelope is out of the picture altogether. Not to mention, if Desmond was in love with Penny, this would create a “constant” bond of consciousness between time-lines, and he might just start to see through the veil-X that’s been pulled over his eyes, basically just like we saw happen in the episode anyway.


Hit Me Like You Did the First Time

Poor Desmond. The moment his hand touches Penny’s during their adorably awkward introduction, he instantly passed out cold. I suppose he had an overload of sorts, just through her touch. Now that’s what I call consciousness-altering love!

BUH-BLAM! Desmond woke back up in Widmore's Electromagnetic Fun Box, and discovered he had only been unconscious for a few seconds. Once again his eyes were checked, and Team Widmore remarked in amazement how he survived that huge bombardment of energy.

Charles once again apologized to Desmond, but before he could properly explain himself, Desmond interrupted him and said that he understood. Now that his RTL consciousness had connected with TLX, perhaps he suddenly became aware of some greater purpose in a way that he never had realized before. Widmore was visibly surprised at this; even more so when Des agreed to work with him immediately on the important task Charles had mentioned having planned for him.

As Zoe and a couple of tech-goons led Desmond back to the station, they were suddenly and violently jumped by The Zombie Sayid. Snap crackle pop! Necks were cracked and a gun was cocked. And of all people, he let Zoe live, and told her to run. Run away she did.

Thanks Sayid, thanks a lot. Zoe is the new Frogurt, and I eagerly await her flaming arrow.

Desmond, still in a state of “awareness afterglow” seemed as if he had no clue what was really going on, and since he only knew Sayid as a friend who once helped save his life, my guess is that he had no choice but to believe Mr. Unfeeling when he said that Team Widmore was a bad crowd to be running with. So without further ado, The Amazing Electromagnetic Dream-Des and The Zombie Sayid marched off into the jungle.

Guy Who Got a Headache and Accidentally Saves the World

Before the episode ended, we were given a quick trip back to TLX, where Desmond woke up after fainting right in front of one bewildered Penelope. Their chemistry was unmistakable, beautiful even, and they agreed to go out together for some coffee.

Raise your hand if you thought of Sawyer and Juliet at that moment. Yeah, I knew I wasn’t the only one still holding out for that reunion as well. Oh LOST, you saucy tease, you!

I believe Desmond’s ultimate desire to get his hands on the Flight 815 passenger manifest might just serve as the one grand catalyst for everyone to wake up and stop living with eyes closed in TLX. Just like shaking hands with Penny sent his mind into a whirlwind, perhaps getting the remaining survivors together for a little meet and greet with their RTL loved-ones might also help to jog memories a bit and wake them up from what might just be a type of living dream that they are all now a part of.

I have used the radio receiver as a metaphor for consciousness before. It seems that in this story, all one needs to do is play with the dials a bit; i.e. make physical contact, or even more drastically, be forced into unconsciousness in order to “tune in” to a new “station”. And if one really wants to change the ability to pick up new and exotic frequencies altogether, one simply needs a catastrophic electromagnetic event and voila, one becomes “unstuck in time” itself.

I don't know where the sun beams end and the star lights begin
It's all a mystery
And I don't know how a man decides what right for his own life
It's all a mystery

THE TEST IS OVER...NOW

All We Have is Now

The episode following Desmond’s trip through the light fantastic only continued the theme of consciousness-altering love. In addition, the Hurley-centric “Everyone Loves Hugo” (a title that we all know perfectly mirrors season one’s “Everyone Hates Hugo”) brought along with it of the longest-awaited reunions in the show’s history, a very shocking death, and a few more nice reveals.

Let’s get right to it, RTL events first.


Everything’s Explodin’

I really didn’t expect Ilana’s interruption of Hurley paying his respects to Libby’s gravesite would turn back around and bite her in the arse so quickly. But when she revealed her bag of dynamite that looked like it had just been tossed in there all willy-nilly, after everyone back in season one had made such an effort to wrap and carry each stick with the utmost care, it wasn’t too surprising to see her go BUH-BOOM, Arzt-style. I just didn’t expect it to happen so suddenly, and when she was in mid-sentence.

So much for Jacob’s specially-trained Protector of the Candidates. I mean, that had to be part of his plan, right? To have Ilana cover things until Desmond, Secret-Weapon-Super-Man arrived on the Island?  

Right?


Haven’t Got a Clue

Team Jacob is starting to remind me more and more of The Others with each passing episode. They don’t seem to do a thing anymore except blindly follow whoever decides to spit forth any given direction. The chain of command was completely whack, if not totally non-existent.

In fact, if I remember correctly, it all went a little something like this:

Ilana followed Jacob. Everyone else followed Ilana. Jacob told Ilana to follow Richard in the event of his death. Richard followed the Ghost Whispers of his dead wife. Everyone then followed Ilana, who was following Richard. Ilana went ba-da-boom, now everyone else is following Richard.

And Richard was still determined to blow up Ajira Flight 316, despite what Hurley tried to tell him in objection, which he had in turn heard from the Ghost Whispers of Dead Michael Dawson.

Meanwhile, Camp Lockeness was pretty much in the same situation. In fact, Sawyer even mentioned the fact that they all had just been sitting around twiddling their thumbs while Jin had been kidnapped, and asked MIB when they were getting off the Island. I do love it when a character plays “the audience”.

However, we were all schooled on the fact that “there is a difference between doing nothing and waiting”, as Lockeness put it. He went on to further explain that he still needed Hugo, Jack, and Sun if they were all going to be able to leave.

Cue The Zombie Sayid’s return to the camp after at some point having tied Desmond to a tree not too far away. He clued Lockeness in to the fact that he had obtained “The Package”, and they both then went off towards Desmond’s location. This did not bode well for Mr. Hume, not one bit at all.

However, Des remained for the most part unafraid and unaffected, even while tied to a tree by a man he thought was his friend. More on this in a bit…


Psychic Wall

In the meantime, the Beach Group had decided to go along with Richard on a quest for more dynamite and they would have succeeded, if Hurley hadn’t have blown up the entire Black Rock ship! And quite an impressive explosion it made, too. I must admit, ol’ Hugo had me fooled just like the other beach chumps, as he conned us all into believing he had given in to Richard’s plan after all.

He then pulled part two of his con in the form of telling everyone that Jacob said they should just try talking to Lockeness instead of trying to “blow stuff up”. Richard called him on his bluff, but Hurley brought it right back to Richard and said he didn’t have to prove anything to him. Team Jacob then basically split into the Blow It Up group, consisting of Richard, Ben, and Miles, and the Talk it Out group of Hugo, Frank, Sun, and Jack.

Way to stick together Beach Party!

Michael, Time to Wake Up

That night, Hurley run into Dead Dawson again, and we received an answer to one of LOST’s longest-running mysteries. The use of the tern Ghost Whispers earlier was for naught, as this is exactly what they have now been revealed to be. Not a huge surprise but it was nice to have it finally clarified once and for all. Michael explained to Hugo they are the voices of those who had not been allowed to leave the Island because of the bad things that they did in their lifetimes.

The Island isn’t just a “Cork” holding evil at bay. It’s also prison of sorts for Dead Bad Guys. The question is who’s in charge when the Warden himself dies? Anyone? Anyone…?

Maximum Dream for Evil

In my opinion, the most interesting part of the episode came from the meeting of Lockeness and Desmond. MIB’s way of navigating his way with words was matched equally with Desmond’s cool response to his every question. I must give my props to Henry Ian Cusick for his portrayal of this new version of Desmond who had mind-melded with his TLX-self. He got Lockeness to untie him, all during which he kept giving The Wolf in Locke’s Clothing a very calm yet suspicious eye.

At first, I thought that Desmond was completely clueless to the fact that Locke was not The Real John Locke. Upon re-watching the episode, now I could believe the opposite. Desmond’s attitude while answering Locke’s questions was much different that the way he had acted just a short while ago with Widmore. He was much more guarded, and not in the way a man should be who is among people he trusts.

Then again, he also could just be so used to being captive, in addition to a new laid-back approach overall that may have resulted from the knowledge that he now had a greater purpose.

That…and the fact there’s another version of his self in a parallel universe running about fixing things for everyone.

We briefly saw the strange jungle kid again, who seemed to smile and tease Lockeness this time. I am hoping that smile was for the idea that Desmond was back on the Island, and that a White Rock had just been passed to the MIB once again.

Lockeness and Desmond walked through the night to a location like one we had seen before. How appropriate that they reached one of the stone wells like the one that leads to the Frozen Donkey Wheel. It was revealed that a long, long time ago, an ancient culture on the Island found places on the Island that gave off certain energies and dug wells looking for the source of it. This particular well was so old, it was dug by hand.

Oh yeah, DHARMA did the same thing, just with bigger, more technological hands.

I don’t think that SuperHumeMan expected to be thrown down into the bloody well, man! Just like a kid tossing a coin into a shopping mall fountain, Lockeness made a wish and his Desmond problem went away. Never, ever ask MIB, “What’s the point of being afraid?” when he asks you why you’re not.

Desmond was then left down in the Underworld, fate at this point still unknown.


Thanks To You

Lockeness returned to his camp just in time for the players he had been waiting for earlier to finally show up. Hurley was the first to step out of the treeline and “break the ice with The Smoke Monster”. He negotiated a promise of non-violence between the two camps. Then one by one, Team Talk It Out stepped out of the jungle and right into the place I truly believe they needed to actually be the furthest away from. I am starting to think that Hurley was right, and Jack should step back in as leader before Hugo’s innocent, trust-you-first attitude gets them all killed.

And with that, we were left in the RTL with one mother of a Jackface.

Just Like Before

Ah, another day, another Man of the Year Award. Or so it would seem for Hugo Reyes-X’s mother who has had to repeatedly accompany him to the countless ceremonies and celebrations of his life as her own son’s date. Just as it was in the RTL, mamma Reyes wanted to see her Hugo with a real lady-friend on his arm.

However, Hugo-X, “luckiest man in the world”, world-famous entrepreneur, huge-hearted donator to various charities, was just as chicken as his chain of restaurants. He had everything, and everyone loved him…everyone except for the ladies, that is. Hugo had no idea how to meet women, and I suppose there was a fear that they would only be interested in his wealth, anyway. So his determined mother decided to help out by setting him up on a blind date, and in order to prove to her and to himself that he was not scared, he agreed to meet this “Rosalita” woman Mrs. Reyes played matchmaker with.


Satellite of You

Right as I was about to be totally bummed out that this Rosalita chick stood Hurley up on their blind date…HOLY SMOKES IT’S LIBBY!!! I’m trying to recreate my surprise at seeing her again, and if I could punch you in the leg like I did to my dear fella who was sitting next to me at the time…well, just imagine that, too.

At first, like Hurley, I thought Libby was for some reason now named Rosalita in TLX. He was so adorable as he immediately said how he didn’t expect someone so pretty, then blushed for being so forthcoming. But we then quickly learned that she was not his date at all. Instead, she had recognized him from across the room and was drawn over to introduce herself.

Just as our other currently RTL-deceased characters Daniel and Charlie, Libby seemed to have been experiencing some time-line breakthrough. She grabbed onto Hurley’s hands and held them as she confessed her belief that she was connected to him, “like soul mates”, and asked if he remembered her. I think my own heart skipped a few beats during that moment as I expected their touch would be some kind of fuel that would spark Hurley’s RTL consciousness to reveal itself and he would suddenly answer, “YES!”

No such luck. In fact, Dr. Brooks from the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute stopped by to interrupt them; the same man who was Hurley’s doctor during his own stay at Santa Rosa in the RTL. It would seem that Libby was still a patient in TLX however, and as she was rushed off into the crazy-mobile, Hurley was left standing alone and deflated.


Prescription: Love

Afterward, Hurley went on an understandable depression-fueled chicken-binge, during which a Mr. Desmond Hume “just happened to be” in the restaurant as well. Desmond recognized Hugo hiding behind his greasy bucket of drumsticks and introduced himself while asking whom it was Hurley seemed so upset over. He already somehow knew it was lady-related, that clever devil, Desmond. I think we all know Desmond was totally aware of what he was doing. I just don’t think he quite knew how to get the whole “waking up” ball rolling.

In fact, I think it surprised Desmond a bit when Hugo told him that the “crazy” woman he met mentioned that she already knew him. Wouldn’t you know, the universe seemed like it was doing some of the work for Desmond in that it set the play up, and he now only had to hit the ball; i.e. say the right thing that would get Hurley to make his love connection. After confirming that Hurley felt in his gut that Libby was telling the truth, he advised Hurley to find out where she thought she knew him from.


If I Go Mad

Dr. Brooks claimed that Libby had “issues with reality”, which gave me a nice chuckle since we all could have seen that one coming. With a slash of the pen to check however, Hurley was able to negotiate a little one-on-one time with Libby over at Santa Rosa.

During their conversation, Libby confessed the moment she saw Hugo in one of his commercials, a flood of memories rushed into her mind; memories of a plane crash, an Island, and her attraction to Hurley. I guess after such a conflict of consciousness it is understandable that she would check herself into a mental institution.

Hugo also understood this, and got up his nerve to ask her on a date. And the crowd goes wild!


Lightning Strikes the Postman

Hugo Reyes and Elizabeth Smith finally got their picnic on the beach. It was more than touching, as many of us fans have been waiting and hoping, hoping and waiting, that somehow, someday Libby’s story would be continued.

At this point it doesn’t matter if it had to happen in an “alternate” reality, and for the first time I became shockingly and emotionally involved in TLX.  The moment those two kissed and Hurley’s memories of their love came flooding back to him, in the same kind of flashes Desmond had seen, I began crying uncontrollably. It was probably the most tears I have shed since “The Constant”, and I applaud everyone involved with making that scene everything that it needed to be.  I now cannot even get a few screen-caps of this moment  without having to wipe my eyes.

Of course just as expected, Desmond was watching the two from the parking lot nearby. Mission Hurley Kiss completed. Check one passenger from the list!

The Spontaneous Combustion of John

Next up on Desmond’s Wake Up Tour would be one John Locke, Substitute Teacher. After surviving The Inquisition a-la Benjamin Linus, who assumed the strange man hanging around in his car out front of the school had pervy intentions, Mr. Hume decided to tackle his second Flight 815 passenger.

Or, run him over. My guess is that since Locke-X already had love, Desmond was going to have to do things the hard way. And so hard is exactly how he hit Locke with his car. The scene was so completely frightening, it made me punch my poor other half’s leg yet again at the sheer shock of it. Poor Locke was left shaking on the ground and near death…just where he unfortunately needed to be.

On a quick side-note, this scene occurred right after Lockeness had tossed Desmond down that well in the RTL. I suppose one could say…touché’.

Although I have done my best to avoid the various articles and theories out there, I couldn’t help avoiding the people who, being die-hard Locke fans such as myself, are still holding the torch that somehow he will return to us the man he once was and boot the MIB from that doppelganger body altogether.

We already know that all of Locke’s memories are in there, as MIB told Ben how he knew John’s last dying thoughts. In the event some thought that perhaps he was lying, we were later given a scene where MIB seemed to either be channeling The Real John Locke, or John’s consciousness had suddenly taken over for a second. “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!” Lockeness yelled out, twice.

The scene was curious then, but even more so now that we have connections being made between time-lines. I suppose the question is now about the repercussions of TLX Locke remembering his RTL counterpart.

How disturbing would it be if he remembers dying? Even more so, what would happen if he also “remembers” someone else in his body? Will this be the start of events which eventually allow The Real John Locke’s consciousness to “awaken” within the body that MIB currently inhabits? I don’t know if I really want to buy into that idea completely just yet. I am hoping that something else happens, perhaps something along these lines, but not so obvious.

I did think it was awesome that Ben-X was the first one at the scene of the accident, especially since his RTL counterpart once shot him and left him to die.


CONCLUSION: Oh My Pregnant Head

Since this is probably the longest article I have ever written, I am going to keep the conclusion short. To be honest, I’ve been writing for more than half the day, through the night, and into the morning. My head is spinning and the next episode of LOST airs in less than 13 hours. I believe I now need to go spend some of my own time unconscious so that I can be fully awakened for when our next installment plays out.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten something in this write-up. Or perhaps I mixed up a name. Maybe one of my ideas is so ridiculous, I need to be set straight. Too many puns? My apologies.

Do feel free to comment and let me know, because I also want to know who to thank for getting this far through this thing!

Until then, have a Cluckity-Cluck day!
a.N
www.FourToedFoot.com


*I write about LOST because I love the challenge of deciphering the clues and adding the pieces together. My thoughts are based solely on the show, the LOST Experience, and random research, as I try to avoid spoilers, promos, and even future episode titles. I love to guess what is going on, but I also like to do so in a way that leaves some of the conclusions still up to you. I do not know the answers and am often wrong. Whatever the truth turns out to be, it has been the journey that has meant the most to me.*
Posted By: The ODI