It is a long shot and I am not sure this time shifting is as common with other characters, but it will be interesting to see what else it is connected to.

But, I hope the producers come up with a good explanation for Ms. Hawking and the smoke monster, and all the coincidences that go beyond time self-correcting “itself” or this could turn into a episode of “Carivore”

http://www.tvscifi.com/content/view/13/35/

I think their main point about being anti-paradox it that conciousness shifting will not change events that we have alread seen as fact: no one will go back to prevent the plane crash, no one will go back to tell Hurley not to play the numbers, no one will go back to yank Locke back away from the window before he is pushed. There are quite a few events and mysteries that are probably fair game for messing with: Jack’s dad…dead? alive? where is his body?, Jacob’s cabin, Ben’s tricks and who is in the coffin.

I also listened to the podcast this am and they back of Bryan on the issue of consciousness travel. However, their “anti-paradox” stance makes me wonder. Desmond travelled back in time (mentally, not physically) and gave Daniel the numbers he needed to make his experiment work. Maybe Daniel would have eventually deduced them (I guess we can presume he did, since he told Des what to tell him), but wouldn’t you think if he was told these answers sooner it would affect the trajectory of his career and thus his life? Wouldn’t it perhaps minimize his radiation exposure, if we think that might be a budding story arc? Daniel may have essentially helped himself “cheat” via Desmond.

More to the point, if Des doesn’t go back in consciousness, he doesn’t see Mr Widmore, doesn’t get Penelope’s address, doesn’t get her phone number, and can’t call her on Christmas Eve. So his actions is the past *do* affect his actions in the future. You can’t tell me the universe “course-corrected” and he just would have remembered numbers he otherwise wouldn’t have known.

So I think that there is a paradox at play here. Still love the show, but I’m not keen on these fudge factors. I am very willing to continue to suspend disbelief though.

They also very emphatically said that they are anti-paradox when it comes to consciousness shifting and that nothing we have seen so far on the island, in flashbacks or flashforwards will be affected by someone else’s actions when they are time travelling.

Unless iTunes has fixed the link, you can’t download the Official podcast at this time from iTunes. I had to go to abc.com

I hear what you are saying but I don’t think it applies only because people cannot go back in time and alter the past or future unless they are aware they can do so. I think that there are characters who are just becoming aware of this and therefore I don’t think we will see that sort of story arc. Besides, I think the whole concept of time travel could be a “jump the shark” moment for this show if it weren’t for the fact that they are clearly referring to the consciousness, not the body. I think this is where Lost differentiates itself from other ‘time travel’ stories. And so far we aren’t really seeing a lot of tinkering with the past of future. Then again, we might find that this whole thing is a RESULT of someone tinkering and I don’t think that would necessarily be a bad thing.

I trust the writers of this show to be able to handle this subject with the intelligence they have thus far.

and yes I’ve see the troll under the bridge. Pretty cool.

Another thought I had was that if they do include the tsunami in the story line, maybe that is how some of the Losties die, including Clair, and why Kate has Aaron.

When Penny spoke to Charlie he told her he was a survivor of Oceanic 815. Naomi and her crew seem to be there not because of 815, but to get Ben. Up until Penny’s contact with Charlie, she wouldn’t have known about (nor had any interest in) either of them, just Desmond.

My suspicion is that when the Swan imploded/exploded/whatever-ploded, Penny’s people noticed. They called her (which we saw at the end of season 2) and she went looking. She in all likelihood was just trying to communicate with anyone in the region, which she did. And it might just be fate (or coincidence) that her father might be connected to the tanker (and interested in the Black Rock).

‘The thing is Dave, that this has been the plot of the show all along. If you didn’t get that from seeing Flashes Before Your Eyes” last season then this probably was a shock to you.
‘Yes the grounded in reality factor is a great part of Lost but seriously, smoke monster, four toed statue, ghost of Jacob, Jack’s father’s ghost, Kates black horse…
‘Should I continue?’

My point is that the island itself is not part of reality. This is fairly obvious and the conceit of the show. But if you now start introducing the notion that various different characters and move their consciousness forward and backward in space and time — including OFF the island — that’s no longer a slight conceit. That now opens the story up for anything happening. So, for example, Daniel could go back in time and prevent anyone from getting on the plane in the first place, and undoing the first three seasons of the show. That’s a cop out. If you have a character who has premonitions — psychic ability — that’s plausible, though I personally don’t believe in it. (Des is not the only character to have this in the series. The supernatural does not defy the laws of physcis.) But time travel/the ability to communicate with your past and future selves not only would be a total cop out for the narrative of the show, it would also be nearly impossible to tell in a standard linear narrative style.

“Flashes Before Your Eyes” was actually in several ways antithetical to this episode. The old woman in the jewelry store mentioned to Desmond that the universe has a way of “course correcting.” But what Desmond did this episode was not let the universe course correct but rather to alter the fundamental theories of time and space as if he were a god and change the future by altering the past. That’s not course correcting (e.g. fate vs coincidence), that is supposing that one individual can be able to edit their past. But if everyone can do that, you now have an infinite number of simultaneous possibilities to the point that time would never move forward, because anyone could go back and change the past so the present never happened.

THAT’s why I don’t like the concept. Fascinating, but it gives me a headache.

(And why can’t someone just build a four toed foot? Someone built a troll under a bridge in a suburb of Seattle just for the heck of it! Visual hallucinations — a la Hurley — are totally reasonable. I also don’t think anyone other than Jack saw his father or other than Kate saw the horse… but I may be misremembering. )

Bigebee, I do like the notion that Daniel’s radiation exposure would make him able to alter his consciousness from point to point and that he could have made the note for himself of Desmond being his constant in the future. I have no idea how that could show that on television but it’s fun (in the dizzying way above) to think about.

I’d submit that Desmond didn’t remember Daniel when he met him on the island because it hadn’t happened yet in the past. (Yet again, the whole show would be VERY confusing if everyone can do this.)

Thanks Ryan and Jen for a great podcast!

Question, could things in Daniel’s book change over time? The last scene where it said Desmond was his constant, Daniel looked as if he’d never seen that before.

” If time travel (either physical or mental) becomes a part of it, I think the show could potentially veer in a very different direction and lost some of its brilliance.”

The thing is Dave, that this has been the plot of the show all along. If you didn’t get that from seeing Flashes Before Your Eyes” last season then this probably was a shock to you.

Yes the grounded in reality factor is a great part of Lost but seriously, smoke monster, four toed statue, ghost of Jacob, Jack’s father’s ghost, Kates black horse…

Should I continue?

Jen and Ryan, you talked about being disappointed that the writers did not give Claire her ‘grieving’ scenes. This was weird. They have not given her much to do in this show except hold on to Aaron and whine. I thought, with the exception of Hurley, everyone would be very upset about Charlie’s demise. Not even a moment of silence. They made a big thing out of every death in Season 1, 2.

I love Desmond and I love his episodes. Also, I really like Daniel, he is possibly the best addition to the show that has happened lately.

Okay, so we know that Daniel knows about the oddities of the island because he arrived with equipment to do experiments. We don’t know how much he knows, but he seems like a pretty smart guy. I think it is possible that he has a brain tumor and that he knows about the strange healing properties. Maybe this is why he cried when he saw the wreckage on TV…of course, I’m not really sure what seeing that wreckage had to do with knowing about the island.

Okay, theory 2 is a similar take on what everyone else seems to think…that Daniel is going back and forth between times…the question is, what time is “real” for him…maybe 1996? Maybe he’s trying to get back there.

Anyway, what a fun episode.

Someone else said they are tempted to go back and rewatch every episode in light of the new info we got in The Constant. I, too, am tempted, but…so much Lost, so little time! Ryan and Jen, have you ever considered installing a “boss button” on your site? ;O)

“Flashes Before Your Eyes” title to episode with Desmond shifting and parallel to the doctor shining light into Desmond’s eyes to trigger shift, and the mention of the “light not being right” and the use of ‘eyes’ in the beginnings of many epis. I don’t know if there is a flash before Desmond’s first shift. There is a bolt of lighting on the helicopter. And the gizmo from Daniel F had a pretty strong light source.

Also, I was thinking about rain and whisperers. Storm generating electrical pulse might be reason shiftees communicate with people on island. Desmond shifts to time in his life when its raining.

Can you shift to a specific time? You would think so, because the communications officer shifted at the last moment before dying to help Sayid, Desmond, etc. escape from sick bay.

Desmond says “Help me.” just like Joseph in the cabin.

(1) Penny tells Charlie “…it’s not my boat…” but then the radio guy tells Desmond that Penny was trying to call the boat all the time. Is there a second boat looking for Desmond?

(2) At the end of season 1, someone one calls Penny and tells her “….I’ve found what you are looking for…” or something like that - so who were those people and if Penny knows where Desmond is located, why isn’t she going out there after him?

(3) When did Desmond start sailing around the world? He leaves Penny, joins the army, and then decides to sail around the world? Do we know how long Desmond has been on the Island?

(4) Why would Penny’s dad be so interested in the Black Rock log? And how did that log get off the ship (now on the Lost Island) and into an auction house?

Anyone care to guess??

I’ll look at the calendar. I don’t think it would be related to Lostie, as they were never suppose to come to the ship. It may have something to do with days since exposure to island’s effects.

I also just watched the segment about the cards that Daniell F is ‘guessing’. The ship must have come within the islands effect and some on the crew (those that have had recent exposure to EM or rad.) started shifting. Dan F was one of them that’s why when he landed on the island he was so confused. He must have started experiencing short jumps on the ship that allowed him to ’see’ cards (ESP test) revealed then shift his mind back in time to say what they were. Now that he has met Desmond, his constant, he is grounded and can’t shift.

Also, Charlotte L. shifted and knew to put on a bullet proof vest before jumping out of the heli. She knew she was going to get shot. What was her EM/Rad exposure.

Do you think that Miles’ device (mini-Ferrada) is on the ship?

I was also wondering about the ship. If Penny has been calling the ship often, but the communications guy (?) was told never to answer, maybe this was Penny’s boat to start with and Abbadon took over when she discovered the island.

I’ll go out on a limb and say that the flash forward shot with Daniel F crying as he watches the report of 815 crash is in the finalé. Somehow he knows that he could have saved them all, but something happens in his past that prevents him from learning the secrets of time shifting. Maybe Desmond never visits, because he never goes on that round the world race to end up on the island. He says yes to Penny. He lives happily ever after.

Or maybe he and Desmond try for years/minutes to stop as many as possible from the ‘need’ to be on flight 815 by changing something in each characters past. “You can’t change the future.” Equates to “You can change the past.” He must not be able to save them all.

This was a great show. It is very difficult to not get LOST weary. I’ll I write in my journal - “If feeling a bit LOST find the Transmission with Ryan and Jen”. You are my constants. Aloha

Outstanding writing, outstanding acting, outstanding editing. Henry Ian Cusick needs an Emmy, and he needs it now.

I’m so confused. I love this show.

About the calendar on the freighter…after looking at some screencaps I also notices the different colors, especially those marked in yellow. Is it possible that the calendar is a fake to keep the Losties from freaking out over the passage of time relative to their time on the island?

Charlie and brother’s song . . . very descriptive of Desmond in The Constant.

Jen, love your “dah dahs” and thuds (the Other foot droping) when there a big reveal.

I heard somewhere that 2010 was the ending year for this show and it would end on a special day? Any thoughts.

Once everyone finds their ‘constant’ then they can get on and off island. Maybe Ben’s trying to ‘reduce’ that number of people (constants) using Sayid.

If you can go back in time and affect people, then maybe that’s what Desmond will continue to do. Save the remainder of the people on the island by not having them ever get on the plane in the first place.

Do constants have to be people? Could they be objects? Can you have more that one?

I was thinking that Jack needs to ‘get back to the island by shifting. Was that device that Miles brought to the house where is found drugs and small EM device that allows you to shift?

Also, on the Miles ‘interview’ with Ben. I am wondering if that was also coded message like the one Naomi used. The 3.2 mill was just to weird. Is he passing on message from Abbadon?

Also, way do radio waves travel in real time (conversation to the boat) and not subject to shift?

So only John Locke and Desmond can shift due to electromagnetic exposure when hatch blew. Then Ben and Joseph would have been exposed to equal EM at some point. Hurley must be experiencing some shifts to ’see’ Charlie. and visa verse, Charlie shifting and trying to affect future/past. But I can’t remember if they were near the hatch explosion.

Sorry so disjointed thoughts.
Love the cast. MJ

As for Desmond not remembering on the island having every met Daniel Farraday…that I can’t explain. Am I on the wrong track here? Can someone offer any theories?

Losthsv — The black smoke moster and all the other unusual things about the island (hallucinations, people like Patchy not dying) are not within the realm of possibility here in our everday lives. But the island is very clearly not a normal place. I’m fine with any kind of plausible things happening on the island. (If the Losties turned into Heroes and were suddenly flying, invisible, etc, I’d call B.S.) But the smoke monster passes the whiff test, given that you could explain it as having to do with the abnormal electromagnetism. (Picture iron filings over a magnet.)

However, when you now start talking about the ability for people’s consciousness to move backward and forward in space and time and alter the past and the future, now we’re talking a four-dimensional show. You can’t really have a linear storyline if you can alter the past and jump through time. (Maybe it’s five dimensional: length, width, depth, time, and… ?)

By the way, who has come face to face with smokey so far? Locke, Eko, and… anyone else? They’re also people who were exposed to high doses of electromagnetism. And they’ve seen people/things from their past on the island. As have Jack and Hurley and Kate, all of whom are survivors but who have no known radiation exposure. What of Sayid?

I’m excited for the ride…

To wonder why I am still watching you is sane right? This is because you are confusing and because you have a slow and methodical pace at times. However, every now and then an episode comes along that blows me away and makes me want to watch every single episode all over again to look for things that I have missed and can now see…sometimes instead I just dance. These episodes tend to revolve around Desmond.

When I do a re-watch of the seasons my goal is to get someone else hooked. Getting someone new hooked is even better for me than it is for them in some respects. For me to watch them watch you from the begining and see their face when it starts all starts to click…and then not…and then click again….and then not….it’s great…it’s empowering.

Because of you I now have this awkward gift. I have become more and more like Ben ( without the murder ) in this respect. Knowing things that I cannot, or will not tell. It would be a trajedy to tell a newbie what I know because telling could ruin it for them, so I sit idely by and wait for them to catch up to me. Does that mean that if Ben tells everything that he knows it would ruin it for me? For that reason Ben is now my favorite character and the “good guy” I am rooting for. However…if anything goes wrong with my plan Desmond Hume will be MY constant.

While explained on the ABC podcast about the episode, that only Desmond’s conscience moved, what about the cabin?

Other questions regarding the ABC podcast, they mentioned there are special places on earth like Ayers rock… what is the place in Tunisia then?

Is there a special place near where Yemi’s plane took off? Perhaps the same place the Black Rock got sucked in to?

I think the helicopter pilot is the one that helped Desmond and Sayid. He does not seem to get along with the new people from the boat. It could be Michael as well. He felt bad for leaving everyone and wants to help get them rescued. When Ben told them of the certain heading to take and they will “Find Rescue” , he was talking about the freighter. He already knew about the boat and his person on the boat would take care of Michael and Walt. Ben never agreed to getting them home, just off the island.

You said, “we are now firmly out of the realm of possibility” because of the time change elements. Do you really think that only “now” we are away from reality. I think I know what you mean but what part of the smoke monster would you say represents reality?

Paul

Daniel might just be crazy, though… was he exposed to high doses of electromagnetism? Does his seeing Desmond mean that the two of them have consciousness oscillating through space and time or does he just fantasize about this? It might explain his being upset at not remembering the cards… maybe it disproves his ability to move consciousness.

The acting was wonderful, but the editing might have been even better; they managed to capture the actors in the same positions over and over.

Who cut the wires on the ship? Regina? Where is she?

There is clearly some kind of rift in time and space that one needs to pass through at the 305 degree bearing, hence the 31 minute tiem dealy and the prolonged helicopter flight. But maybe someone can explain… if Michael took a boat to 305 degrees at the north side of the island (or wherever the Pala Ferry was), and the helicopter went at a bearing of 305 from the beach, wouldn’t they go through totally different locations? It’s vector mathematics… if two people leave from different points at the same radial angle, they would be moving in parallel and not converging at the same point. (At least not without going a considerable distance.) Can anyone explain this?

My only complaint about this episode… as much as I loved it… is that we are now firmly out of the realm of possibility. If we start introducing the ability to move consciousness through time and space, that opens up a HUGE fudge factor. I love the concept from an intellectual and a sci-fi perspective, but part of what makes Lost so great is its grounding in reality. If time travel (either physical or mental) becomes a part of it, I think the show could potentially veer in a very different direction and lost some of its brilliance.

(Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still watch.)

I personally love every Desmond episode….this episode and “Flashes before your eyes” are two of my all time faves…

Desmond truly is the key to this entire show…every single major development about the island and the mystery surrounding the strange occurances can be tied to Desmond…..

Henry Ian Cusick brings a level of passion and realism to the character that you cant help but get sucked into his plight and feel for him..

As a grown man I nearly weaped when he finally spoke with Penny…

I swear ….the phone rang for so long I thought he was going to get thru

LOST ois back with a vengence people…..

First, this episode was a great tribute to Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonegut. Just like Billy Pilgrim, Desmond was unstuck in time. All Lost fans should rent the DVD.

So much for thinking that the time on island and off island is different. It is 12/24/04 in both England and on the island.

Clearly though there is a time effect while traveling to and from the island.

I think we have some clearly defined groups here. Hanso and the Black Rock wrecked on the island and Widmore bought Hanso’s journal.

I’m also pretty sure that the Others are descendants of the Black Rock crew. I always thought they’d be pirates or slavers, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.

Then we have Dharma but I’m not sure that they even exist anymore in 2004.

Then we have the Losties.

So, who is behind the freighter? I suspect Mr. Widmore is and that Penny doesn’t know he’s behind what’s going on. She has hired her own people to find Desmond and the island, so she must have learned some information from snooping into her father’s business or perhaps even the journal.

Yes, that does look like Ben sitting on the aisle in the back row of the auction.

Just a great episode.

John

This is not my original idea, but one I am intrigued about nonetheless. Has Ben perfected the art of projecting his consciousness, and perhaps his physical body, through time and space to the point where he can leave the island and not really leave the island? Would that explain his hidey hole of traveling gear? Miles certainly seems to know something about Ben’s “ability”. He seems pretty confident that Ben can get him his $3.2M and the fact that Ben is tied up and locked down does not seem to faze him one bit.

And if Ben has a constant what or who is it? Annie? The wooden doll she gave him? The island itself? Do all the “special” people (Walt, Locke, maybe Hurley) on the island have the potential to do what Ben does and does that explain why he wants to eliminate or contro them?

This was THE episode of LOST that I’ve been waiting for because I knew back when Desmond found the clue to use the key to trigger the killswitch in the hatch, that he’d play a much bigger part in the progression of why the island is so mysterious. It’s completely why he was remembering he saw something before because the oscillation was off which helped him see the future.

This is no high school physics–thank you–but it is very close to some of the book by Mircea Eliade, Youth Without Youth. Coppola adapted it to film–the transporting of consciousness is dealt with, particularly with male character’s MEMORY and loss of time. I’d be giving a lot away by writing more about the transformation of two characters in the movie, but it was discovered that reincarnated souls can appear suddenly in the future in a person after they go through a cataclysmic event. I don’t know or think this is happening in LOST or could it later?

There are questions answered about Jacob and about Charlie (”I’m dead, yet I’m here”). But what frightens me is that someone, probably a lot of people, have Ben Linus as their constant. He’s manipulative and could have convinced someone to believe a lie. Sayid could be manipulated into “selling his soul” if he trusted Ben when — if he loses his memory. Or could he be pretending to have no memory in the future? in the past? I think back to the LOST episode when Ben sees the plane falling out of the sky. He seemed really clear about what had to be done. Miles knows what he’s going to do with the people if they’re rescued or with the way he’s going to keep people behind and that’s why he can force him to give him money.

There’s something up with Juliet in that she could know the future.

I think this new perspective also answers why Locke could see his father, why the cabin changes locations. What did Mr. Eko finally realize and what did he see in the black smoke?

In a more figurative perspective, I thought about Rousseau because she lost her “constant” and went crazy; look how comfortable she has been now that she’s found Alex again.

To answer why Penny said, “What boat?” Penny has been looking for Desmond for three years and researched every vessel that came within the same coordinates of the anomalies in the area. As soon as she could learn which boat or which “underwater” station she could reach at those coordinates, she’d be able to know if this is where Desmond could have been lost. I think that he tells her about Dharma stations back in the past so she’d find him when he gets lost.

I’m looking forward to listening to the podcast.

Why then did she ask Charlie “What boat?” when he talked to her in the Looking Glass?

Writing error, confusion on my part, or is Penny up to no good?

Thanks Ryan and Jen for bringing back the podcast, and continuing this great dialogue. We all appreciate your efforts!

Was that a Wedding Ring?

IT WAS BEN!!!

It’s quick but it is definately him. Go back and look!

The Black Rock was not Reseu’ boat. She came with a scientific team afterwards. Remember, Reseu brought her daughter Alex. The Black Rock was “lost” in the 1700’s or whatever date they gave.

Oh, and Daniel was just terrific! He was acting like some kind of informative fountain– I kept thinking, dude, this is Lost, You can’t actually be *answering* these questions! And that look he gave Desmond when he asked about the radiation to his head? Yikes. I really want a flashback for him.

My husband and I think we saw an Easter Egg. In the scene where Desmond is going to find Faraday in 1996 Oxford, we noticed a student with a dog. Since we have a family of 8 dogs, we always notice the dogs. Anyway, when we backed up the dvr to get a better look at it, we noticed it looked suspiciously like the dog in the painting in Jacob’s cabin. If anyone can get side by side screen shots to verify, that would be cool.

Anyway, this episode completely rocked, Brotha!

Glad to have you back, Ryan and Jen!

Here is a question, does having a constant necessarily keep you from dieing, or does it just slow the process down, is Desmond out of the woods then? How does the black rock fit into all of this? Lastly, could it be Michael on the boat and he’s working for Ben, I mean..we find out the Sayid eventually works for him, can we rule out Michael?

How the writers of this show are able to weave all the elements of literature, science, philosophy into a consistent story - and include one of the classic love stories of our time - is awesome (in the truest sense of the word).

I am so glad to be along for this ride…

First off, Henry Ian Cusick should win an Emmy on this episode alone. The absolute confusion Desmond felt going back between 1996 and 2004 is exactly what I’m feeling as a viewer. As each segment ended tonight, my wife and I kept looking at each other saying, well, we said a lot of expletives! LOL.

I don’t know why but every Desmond episode seems to advance the storyline so much more than any other character. I believe when the series is done, we will look back on this particular episode as one of the turning points to the season.