DESMOND IS MY CONSTANT: Not to adopt anybody else's
dayenu review format, but a Desmond episode of
Lost? And an exceedingly well-written one, tying together snippets of what we've seen already this season, looping back upon itself, alluding to scenes from past seasons, and offering hints but not explicit answers? Featuring some people we've missed? With even the annoying characters on their best behavior? Yes please, and on a quick first impression, one of my favorite
Lost episodes ever.
A great episode, and vital at this point in the series. I spent much of the episode nearly giddy that Charlie and Desmond were running around sideways time together with Des trying to keep Charlie from dying, again. Using the Desmond episode to begin unraveling sideways time made perfect sense considering his former time jumping storyline. And I loved the cold look on Eloise's face when she told Desmond that he wasn't ready, yet, and the surprised look on Charles's face when Des was so agreeable at the end.
ReplyDeleteEloise saying, "What happened, happened." I loved that. Also loved her pointing out the irony that all Desmond wanted was Widmore's approval, and now he finds himself in a world where he has it, but doesn't have Penny or Charlie.
ReplyDeleteAlso, great confirmation that the people in the flash-sideways stories DO have some sense of their island life, from Charlie's glimpse of Claire to Desmond's visions of Penny and "Not Penny's Boat."
Although this episode did make me realize how much of the Lost backstory I've forgotten, especially Desmond and Penny's history. Might need to visit Lostpoedia.
Just to flesh out a couple of my thoughts: I loved the parallel between the scene in Widmore's office and the analogous scene in "The Constant" -- same painting of the scales on the wall; the sharing of the 60-year old scotch, and also the parallel between Desmond's encounter with Eloise (what Sue says) and his first encounter with her in "The Constant," when she said to him, "no, no, this isn't supposed to happen." And I all-caps LOVED the parallel between Charlie trapped in the sinking car and Charlie trapped in the flooded control room with "not Penny's boat" on his hand, both for the symmetry and also for the fact that that it was a callback to one of the most moving scenes in the show's history, one of the few times a character (and an annoying one at that) actually was both trying to act heroic and got it right.
ReplyDeleteAnd in a show whose most irritating quirk is that the characters steadfastly refuse to pool information that would save them all some grief, when Charlie has Desmond in the car, he doesn't say "forget about what I experienced, you'll never understand." He says, basically, "I am going to force you to understand," and he subjects Desmond to the same experience that broke him through the alternate-reality barrier, a near-death lack of air. None of this hinting-and-withholding crap; Charlie flat out makes Desmond understand. Excellent work, Charlie.
Incidentally, Sepinwall says that Desmond is the only person that can share information between timelines, and that seems to be only half true. Four other characters have acquired information from the other timeline -- Charlie (his love of the otherworldly blonde), Daniel Farraday (his love of Charlotte and knowledge of physics), Juliet (who tells Sawyer that "it worked"), and Eloise. The first three are all dead, and Charlie and Juliet acquired their knowledge of the alternate timeline while near death. Desmond also got his cross-reality knowledge in two near-death/should-be-deadly situations (near drowning and being magnetized). Not sure what that says about Eloise.
episode reminds me of the Eden Ahbez song,
ReplyDeleteThere was a boy
A very strange enchanted boy
They say he wandered very far, very far
Over land and sea
A little shy
And sad of eye
But very wise
Was he
And then one day
A magic day he passed my way
And while we spoke of many things, fools and kings
This he said to me
"The greatest thing
You'll ever learn
Is just to love
And be loved
In return"
Mo Ryan linked to somebody's comment pointing out that the MRI machine's pulses sounded like Smokey. The commenter then extrapolated something about Smokey's nature -- he is basically a creature of electromagnetism -- and that Desmond may be immune to him. I'm not convinced about the conclusions, but the relationship between the MRI and Smokey's noises (I did notice that the pulsing was very prominent, very Chekhov's gun-like) seems both correct and significant.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a scientist, but if Smokey was made of electromagnetism, wouldn't Not Locke have a whole lot of Dharma-brand cutlery attached to his face at this point?
ReplyDeleteShort answer yes with an if, long answer no with a but . . .
ReplyDeleteThat's a great reply. . . though now I want both the short and long answer, and just have a ". . .". Which, it occurs to me, is kind of a nice little metaphor for "Lost"
ReplyDeleteIt didn't occur to me that the MRI machine sounded like Smokey, because I was busy trying to figure out why Desmond would have to be in it for 30 minutes -- that is what the tech said, right? Anyway, to me, it sounded just like an MRI machine (based on admittedly limited experience).
ReplyDeleteGreat, great episode. Looking forward to the stretch run.
Brain MRIs can take 30 mintues or longer. They generally do a series of scans, each of which can last between 1 and 10 minutes.
ReplyDeleteLoved this episode, obviously. Loved the Desmond/Charlie shenanigans, loved the Daniel Faraday return, loved the random Jack sighting in the hospital. Loved that no one even mentioned the name Jacob at all.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing I love is that after all the pevious episodes, I've been thinking that the whole thing is some sort of religious metaphor, it's all about the battle between Jacob and MiB, and that everything else is just background. I had been sad that Widmore et al had been made into side stories, since he was the primary baddie previously. Now I feel better that there is some connection that makes Eloise and Charlie Widmore more important.
One more thing- how gorgeous is Penny? No wonder why alternaDes fell for her all over again- her smile is positively magnetic! (although apparently Desmond is immune to high levels of electromagnetism, so... oh hell nevermind)
Another example of what's so great about this place: Ask a question, and someone has the knowledge to answer it. Thanks, Guest.
ReplyDelete