Thanks to UNAI from SL-LOST.COM for creating these graphics for us here at DarkUFO. Ratings were down last night which is probably a result of the poorly received Eggtown last week.
08:00 'American Idol' (Fox): 25.910.000 y 22% 'Survivor' (CBS): 13.120.000 y 11% 'Lost' (ABC): 5.180.000 y 6% (R) 'The Office' (NBC): 4.090.000 y 5% (R) 'Smallville' (The CW): 1.800.000 y 3% (R)
09:00 'Don't Forget the Lyrics' (Fox): 14.560.000 y 12% 'Lost' (ABC): 12.850.000 y 12% 'CSI' (CBS): 11.600.000 y 12% (R) 'Celebrity Apprentice' (NBC): 7.620.000 y 8% 'Reaper' (The CW): 1.530.000 y 2%
In a romantically moving episode, Desmond's 1996 consciousness takes over his mind now, but his connection with Penelope saves him
Is there a doctor in the house? I mean a real one? Because I need one. Yep, folks, I have the flu — the really nasty kind. The kind that sent me to the hospital on Wednesday. Ick! The last thing my doctor wants is for me to stay up into the wee hours of the morning. I need rest! So here's what we're going to do: I'm going to outline some talking points for your message-board discussion. Then, next week, I'll post more thoughts on the episode in my Thursday Doc Jensen column. Thanks for being gracious, kids.
''Unstuck in time'' That phrase, cited in last night's episode, comes from Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5, in which Billy Pilgrim finds himself toggling between time periods of his life, including a trip to an alien planet. In the process, Pilgrim nearly loses his mind. It's a good touchstone for Desmond David Hume, who began tripping the time fantastic after Frank Lapidus flew his chopper into an ominous (electromagnetic?) thunderhead, part of an offshore ring of weird-science weather that seems to encircle the Island. This is my interpretation of what went down: Desmond's Island-present consciousness was displaced by his Island-past consciousness. Then, that 1996 mind toggled back and forth through the entire episode while Island consciousness remained MIA until the end of the show. Am I getting this right? If I weren't so amazingly sick in the head right now, I'd be more confident. I'm counting on you to help a brother out here.
The anti-love boat We finally got to go aboard the freighter last night. Turns out it's not exactly a Carnival cruise ship. Sayid and Desmond were greeted by two creepy-tough deckhands, whose smug smiles were about as cryptic as the Mona Lisa's. What secrets do these two hold? After being thrown into sick bay, Desmond met a man strapped to a bed and also suffering from the time-warp blues. His name was George Minkowski — we've heard his voice on the satellite phone since the season premiere — and he shares the same last name as Hermann Minkowski, an egghead physicist who introduced the fourth dimension of time into standard 3-D models of reality to create ''Minkowski space-time.'' One last thing about the freighter: It appears Ben's spy (my bet: Michael) recently sabotaged the communication systems. No wonder everyone's a little paranoid. What do you think the freighter's true agenda is?
1996 Desmond's flashbacks took place in 1996. We finally got a peek into his military days, and I don't think we've seen the last of that story; we still don't know how he wound up in military prison. After receiving some cryptic instructions from Daniel Faraday, Desmond sought out the Island-past version of the quirky freighter physicist. Their encounter had a Marty McFly-Doc Brown meet-cute vibe to it. Faraday, we learned, is obsessed with time travel, and with Desmond's help, he was able to fine-tune his consciousness-transfer/time-travel device. One unfortunate side effect: death by brain aneurism. Oxford-era Faraday told Desmond that in order to keep sane amid this uncontrollable quantum leaping, he needed to tether himself emotionally to something that bridges the past and present — a constant. Desmond, natch, picked Penelope, giving the episode an unabashed romantic vibe that had my wife in tears. If I hadn't been experiencing a profound state of physical ickiness, I might have been squirting tears instead of coughing up phlegm.
Upon finishing that last sentence, I passed out for 30 minutes — kinda like the way Minkowski collapsed whenever he flashed. Poor Minkowski: He went the way of Faraday's lab rat, Eloise, and died from a killer nosebleed. And I was looking forward to the Fisher Stevens experiment, too.
The Black Rock ledger Continuing Lost's renewed interest in everyone's favorite beached slave ship in season 4, Desmond sought out Penelope's father, Charles Widmore, in order to learn her whereabouts. He found Widmore at an auction house, bidding on the ledger to the Black Rock. Why was Widmore so interested in the ledger? I don't think it's a simple matter of treasure hunting. I think Widmore thinks the ledger includes info on the Island's location. He wants either to find it or to prevent others from doing so. Another theory: Buying the ledger was designed to create the appearance of being interested in searching for the Black Rock. I wonder if he was setting that salvage vessel up to find the (faux) wreckage of Oceanic 815. Yes, I am saying that Widmore is one of the main puppet-master villains of Lost; he has traded off of forbidden knowledge of the future to build his wealth. In other words, he's Biff from Back to the Future 2.
''The constant'' The show ended with an emotional climax as Desmond made good on his promise to Penny to call her on Christmas Eve, 2004. (I guess that means next week's installment will be the very special Christmas episode of Lost. Also, isn't there supposed to be a tsunami occurring in the Lostverse about this time?) Yet as I watched Des and Pen declare their love for each other, I couldn't help wondering if we're being set up for a tragic finale. Wouldn't it stink if, in the end, just as Des and Pen were about to reunite, he suddenly collapsed from a killer nosebleed?
Okay, that's all I got in me, so I'm off to bed. Some other burning questions: What's up with Faraday's own spotty memory of his Desmond encounter? And what do you think his note about making Desmond his own constant meant? Post away!
Alright, the way I see it we’ve got two possibilities here. The first, and most likely, is that we’ve just been handed one of the failsafe keys to unlocking the overall mysteries of LOST. Then again, the possibility always exists that the writers are playing sick, twisted mind games with us. But this late in the game? Not a chance. I think for once we got solid answers. Things I Noticed:
I am your Density!
It’s hard to notice stuff when your jaw’s lying on the floor, but this episode was really that good. Watching Desmond’s consciousness catapult back and forth across eight years of his life should’ve been confusing… it should’ve been way too crazy to follow, way too far out to make much sense to people. Yet when you think about it, the writers of LOST have been gently herding (Shepharding?) us along, building us up, preparing us for this exact moment for over three years now. All of the answers weren’t just thrust upon us simultaneously in one season (cough… Heroes!… cough…) as if we, the audience, were a bunch of eager simpletons impatiently banging the table for immediate answers before switching over to 24. No – the writers and producers of LOST really took their time telling this story. They told it with great sets, beautiful scenery, incredible writing, and deep characterization. And this is why it so totally rocks the balls off any other television show.
That said, I’m not going to go into the metaphysics of inter-dimensional time travel, wormholes, or any of the technical crap we might’ve seen on Danny’s blackboard. Everyone else can do that. I’d get the science part wrong anyway, and discussing the theory itself is much more interesting. I’m also not gonna point out the ultra-cool painting and origins of the Black Rock (which I loved by the way), how Penny’s dad needs to buy the ledger in order to track it to the island, or the really great scene between Desmond and Penny that was a much-welcomed relief from all the Sawyer/Kate/Jack stuff. You all saw the episode, you all noticed it too.
Good night, future-boy!
The Lawnmower man is one hell of a pilot. I barely hold my heading over the Long Island sound on a clear day but Frank’s laser-locked onto 305 through towering thunderclouds culminating in a nasty time storm. But it’s not the storm; it’s the dusk-to-day landing wigs Sayid out. Looks like 31 minutes is out the window here. When Sayid finally does get the chance to speak with Jack, they’re speaking live but about a day apart (island time). It seems the definitive answer is that time does move slower on the island than in the real world. But is there a day-to-day (relative) difference? My gut instinct is no. I tend to think that no matter how long they spent on the island, they would’ve arrived back to the freighter at about the same time they left. Watch the crewmember’s reaction after Frank exits the chopper: “What are you doing back?” – almost as if the chopper team had just departed. Which makes sense, because looking for a black island against a black ocean (which was when the Naomi’s team showed up) would be a lot less sensible than launching such a mission in the light of day.
In either event, Desmond goes Marty McFly, and that’s the real story. This time we get to see a reverse trip as a very confused past Desmond is launched into his future situation. The “only the consciousness goes” part was extremely clever, but even more revealing. If examined closely and open-mindedly, this one phenomenon can decode almost every inexplicable part of the show. More on that in a minute.
The biggest shock to me was how innocuous the freighter turned out to be. The crewmembers weren’t bristling with guns, nor were they even overly hostile. In fact, there seemed to be a complete lack of discipline or direction on the ship. My opinion of Minkowski turned from evil overlord to strapped-down radio operator in the blink of an introduction. I saw no chain of command. You’d think if someone from (drumroll…) The Island had made their way back to the ship, there would be some kind of serious interrogation. Instead there was a perfunctory examination of Desmond’s pupils and a general dismissive feeling overall. Even Lapidus seemed to get into it, tossing an obligatory Baghdad reference along with the satellite phone to Sayid.
One point twenty-one gigawatts!!!
Desmond and Elouise aren’t the only ones trapped in a time fart. Daniel himself is skipping around, as foreshadowed by doc Ray’s exclamation that “Faraday can’t even help himself!” Later on we learn that excessive radiation (or electromagnetism, how convenient) lends to the problem, of which zap-happy Daniel has no shortage. Eventually we see that he’s even got an entry in his own log referring to Desmond as his constant, which means that up until he came to the island he was still searching for that one thing or person (wonder where he got that idea from?) to ground him. He found that thing upon meeting Desmond the morning the chopper took off, and was pretty sure that would be the end of his ‘problem’… but upon playing cards with Charlotte that night he still hadn’t made any progress. Perhaps the act of helping Desmond reach his own constant, Penny, will finally ‘unstick’ Danny once and for all.
Also skipping through his lifetime is Mikowski, who’s virtually an expert by the time they find him. I found his “I was just on a Ferris wheel” line interesting, because like everything else in LOST a Ferris wheel goes round and round and always comes full circle. Mikowski threatens the same thing will happen to his crewmates when they “go back to that island”.
And you know who else got a nasty case of the jump-through-life crazies? Rousseau’s entire crew. This could very well be the ‘sickness’ she referred to so early on in season one. Look at how bat-shit nuts Desmond went in the chopper – now imagine Danielle’s entire crew acting like that while she’s trying to “shhh!” them as the smoke monster stalks the jungle and the Others pick off whomever they feel are on Santa’s list. Kinda puts a new spin on that whole scenario.
While we’re at it, let’s think back to Juliet’s arrival by sub. Was it coincidence they knocked her out for the trip through the time barrier? Or by relieving her of her consciousness as she passed through did they save her from any of Daniel’s so called ‘side effects’? As Ethan said, it’s a hell of a ride. Totally Jauntish, if that’s the case, but then again I’m a firm believer you can draw a Stephen King reference to your morning stool if you looked hard enough.
But hey, let’s lock a really misshapen piece of the puzzle into place: Hurley’s friend Leonard. Could it be that he time-skipped his way into the mental institution after being stationed a little too close to the island? Imagine him living pieces of his life over and over again, in loops that get geometrically (Daniel’s wording, not mine) smaller. Now picture those loops getting smaller and smaller… until all that’s left is a tiny 10 or 15-second flash of time he has to relive over and over again: the radio transmission. The numbers. 4,8,15,16,23,42… hiccup!... 4,8,15,16,23,42. Wow, shoot me now.
And finally, let’s consider what a genius intellect with a rational approach would do with the near-infinite knowledge gained by such looping trips through time. Is Ben the ultimate product of the island’s abilities? Instead of being stuck like Dan’s mouse or quantum-leaping around at random, is it possible Ben was taught how to harness, control, and utilize these gifts? If so, are all his well-laid plans merely nothing but him molding and shaping future events the way Desmond did to prevent Charlie’s death a few times?
Yeah, well history is going to change!
This brings me to my own personal conclusion: LOST history has got to be alterable. Because if it weren’t, Ben (and now Locke) wouldn’t be going through all this trouble to finally get the event scenario correct. If whatever happens is truly going to happen anyway, regardless of what is done to prevent it (course correction), then wouldn’t Ben just grab some a box of Dharma wine and go fishing? I mean why bother, right? If the future can’t be changed, just what the hell is Ben doing?
I’m going against Ms. Hawking here, and maintaining that things CAN change. The very nature of her meeting with Desmond seems to prove this. Why’s she trying to convince him so adamantly that he’s got to dump Penny and head on over to the Swan hatch? According to her own course correction theory, wouldn’t the button still get pushed by someone else? But her insistence and general pissy attitude make me think she’s worried. Look looked hella-worried, and to me that translates into one thing: Desmond can mess things up. In a way, he’s not a constant at all – Desmond is a wild card.
Why don’t you make like a tree… and get outta here!
Dan’s reference to his mouse being ‘stuck’ this episode was extremely important. Desmond and Mikowski might’ve been stuck too (well, maybe not anymore), but the one person who’s really, really stuck is Jacob. His creepy “help me…” was an otherworldly call from beyond (Time? Space? Does it matter?) with his cabin representing the epicenter of some sort of temporal disaster that stranded him where he is now. Remember his magically re-constructing lantern? “Time is broken here” – Lara Croft.
Tearing a single page out of Dan’s book we now see mention of three events: A, B, and C. I’m willing to bet that two of those events pertain to both times Desmond failed to push the button; once at the crash of 815, and once when he turned the failsafe key. The third event we don’t know about or it hasn’t happened yet (the end event?)
I believe each event triggered an alternate timeline, and is responsible for the ‘rebirth’ of everyone involved (physical and spiritual healing included). This is hinted at multiple times throughout the show with “See you in another life”. But now, when we begin to factor the time hiccups into the equation, we’re not only looking at concurrent timelines. We must now also consider timelines where someone’s consciousness (and only their consciousness – that part’s important) is derived from their past or even their future. From the beginning, the producers have hinted that where flight 815 crashed wasn’t nearly as important as when it crashed.
Taking this into consideration, what if the plane crashed before September 22nd 2004? We’ve seen time differentials of 31 seconds and even a whole day now – who’s to say it couldn’t span a week or more? As we saw with Desmond, the consciousness is transferred but the body stays the same. So what if (and get ready to be totally creeped out here…) what if the plane crashed during a period in time when Christian Shephard was still alive?
What if the only place his consciousness had to go was into his current body, tucked neatly away in the coffin that turned up empty on impact? Could this explain why Jack kept seeing him? Could this explain why Jacob looked like him for that brief instant, yet still looks like an embalmed corpse? Yikes.
I guess you guys weren’t ready for that, yet… but your kids are gonna love it.
Okay, listen - I’m 99.9% sure I don’t subscribe to the Christian-corpse-consciousness theory I just hammered out. It’s 4am and I’m getting pretty loopy. Looking at it again, it kinda sucks. It was just something that occurred to me that needed to get thrown out there, because I can’t see any other logical reason for Hurley seeing Jack’s dad in that chair – especially since Hurley has never seen Jack’s dad before (unless it was in a time loop, and I’m not taking that ride again just now).
But it sure would pave the way for the LOST zombie season.
Quite a few new points were handed out this episode but masjdmirag is still in first place.
Points awarded this episode
Will we see Charles Widmore again in Season 4 - 10 Points Yes - EPISODE 5 (851 People Predicted this correctly)
In what episode will Desmond has his next "Flash" - 30 Points Yes - EPISODE 5 (72 People Predicated this correctly) In what episode will we first see The Black Rock? - 30 Points Yes - EPISODE 5 (58 People Predicted this correctly)
We also had another death in this episode making it 4 so far (Elsa, Golf Man, Naomi, Minkowski). This already puts 181 people out of the running for points here and the 142 of you who picked 4 deaths for the season better hope that everyone stays fit and healthy :)
Alright, the way I see it we’ve got two possibilities here. The first, and most likely, is that we’ve just been handed one of the failsafe keys to unlocking the overall mysteries of LOST. Then again, the possibility always exists that the writers are playing sick, twisted mind games with us. But this late in the game? Not a chance. I think for once we got solid answers. Things I Noticed:
Quite a few new points were handed out this episode but masjdmirag is still in first place.
