Next: “Happily Ever After” (Episode 6-11)

After a near half-season absence, Desmond returns to the foreground this week, and not surprisingly, his story is once again a game changer. As the only person to survive a cataclysmic magnetic event, he is key to Widmore’s plan on the island. And in the flash-sideways, he gets a taste of “the truth” from Charlie, and will be the one to finally bring our wandering, disconnected survivors together. In this final chapter of “LOST,” the end game has never been in sharper focus. And yet we’re still confounded as to what happens next.

“You felt it, didn’t you?” So love is all you need… to see beyond the edges of the universe. Charlie, choking on his drugs, sees (presumably) Claire from the original timeline and realizes that nothing else matters, that nothing else is real. Desmond, after nearly drowning and getting zapped in an MRI machine, sees Penny and the birth of Charlie. Daniel falls in love at first sight with Charlotte, and he gets a brainload of quantum physics. I would guess that the intensity of premature labor and natural, maternal love is what connected Claire with the name Aaron earlier this season. And now Desmond wants to share his revelation with the rest of the passengers on Oceanic 815.

Forgetting for a moment that few people will be receptive to an invitation to have a near-death experience (breath-holding exercises? elective MRI scans?), it bears noting that not everyone in the flash-sideways world would give up their lives for the ones we know they had in the original timeline. If “redeemed dad” Jack somehow gets a glimpse of “Oceanic Six” Jack, for example, I don’t think he’ll be as convinced as Charlie and Desmond that the vision is “the truth.”

In fact, now that our flash-sideways characters are becoming aware of the original, island timeline, the question is whether the opposite will happen. Will Unlocke or Jacob show our LOSTies a glimpse of their sideways selves? Will the final sides in the war be determined by which timeline each character wants to win out?

And the fact that Desmond has a plan in the flash-sideways now suggests that the fate of our characters might not only be decided on the island. Widmore’s high-powered test tonight suggests that his final play involves another failsafe-level release of magnetic energy. But his insistence on a timeline, coupled with how things may soon unfold in the flash-sideways, make me think that something big will happen on both sides simultaneously.

Finally, Eloise. She still seems to be the most in-the-know in any timeline. Her shock at seeing Desmond, supposedly for the first time, was palpable. And the way she turned from surprisingly understanding to angry and frustrated was telling. Desmond is not ready. And for him to start asking questions is not just wrong, but a “violation.” A violation of rules? Of time and space? We shall see.

Notes and Notions:

  • “Intense” is the word of the evening. Desmond enduring the energy test was as wild as any climactic moment in “LOST,” and could easily rank as an iconic image through all of science fiction. And Desmond’s claustrophobic MRI flash scene was also powerful.
  • Seeing flashes of Charlie drowning once again still put a lump in my throat. But that’s an emotional card the writers probably can’t play much longer.
  • The contrast between Desmond’s two lives — globetrotting businessman with no attachments versus loving husband and father — could have probably been drawn a little more subtly. Why would he want Charles Widmore’s approval more than anything else in the world, if there wasn’t a Penny to motivate him? Still, the moment where Widmore let him have a sip of MacCutcheon was great.
  • On the other hand, was there something more to the fact that Desmond had no family to declare as an emergency contact? His lack of daddy issues, or even mommy issues, remains one of the biggest blank spots among our characters’ backstories.
  • The MRI machine definitely had a little bit of smoke monster in it, at least in terms of sound design. And actually, the smoke monster probably has more in common with MRI machines than you’d initially think.
  • I’m not entirely clear if sideways Daniel thinks setting off a bomb was a good idea or not, though he definitely doesn’t want to do it again. He does seem to know that Jughead did detonate, and that it was key to creating “some other life.”
  • Daniel is a Widmore, and Penny is not (if she was, indeed, the “Penny Milton” of the mysterious guest list). And the two are half-siblings, as many suspected was the case in the original timeline. Presumably Penny is still Widmore’s first daughter by another woman, but the whole family seems to be pretty even keeled.
  • Will we ever learn who Penny’s mother is? I’m not sure. I think giving her the name “Milton” is a way of saying it doesn’t matter. John Milton is the author of “Paradise Lost.”
  • I’m not sure there’s much more to George Minkowski turning up as Desmond’s driver, either. But I’m a fan of the cameos.
  • With Daniel now a musician, the number of likely suspects for the person who programmed the computer in The Looking Glass underwater station has doubled. It always seemed poetic that Charlie be somehow responsible for the “Good Vibrations” code, but Daniel works too.
  • On the island, I’m not entirely sure why Desmond went with Sayid so willingly. Maybe you just don’t want to mess with a killer with a knife? But the way he was so at peace after the energy test makes me think he’s now absolutely convinced of his importance in the universe, and simply doesn’t see Sayid (or anyone) as a threat.
  • Locations: So many! The baggage claim was at Honolulu International Airport. Widmore’s office was built inside King Kalakaua Plaza, also known as the former Niketown Honolulu building, in Waikiki. The Airport Courthouse was the State Attorney General’s Office building on Queen St. off Punchbowl St. The bar, “Jax,” was Anna Bananna’s near University Avenue. The marina where Charlie and Desmond drove into the water was the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor behind the Ilikai Hotel. The hospital where Desmond, Charlie, and Jack turned up was Hawaii Medical Center East on Liliha Street. The museum where Eloise was staging her concert was Bishop Museum. And the stadium where Desmond met Penny was Aloha Stadium.

But that’s just us. How did you like the episode? We’d love your feedback! Please share your reactions, theories, favorite moments and other thoughts from “Happily Ever After” below, and join in one of the best post-episode conversations you’ll find anywhere. You can also e-mail us at lost@hawaiiup.com, or leave a brief message on the LOSTLine at (815) 310-0808.

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388 Responses to Next: “Happily Ever After” (Episode 6-11)

  1. Coolpeace says:

    @ Steve : Charlotte and Daniel were not engaged. Daniel had only seen Charlotte at the museum.

    ps… I can’t remember who was asking above, if Charlotte was referencing chocolate as she was dying. Yes, she said that she was not allowed to have chocolate before dinner. She was seeing the FS but remembering a childhood memory.

  2. Coolpeace says:

    @ Yann : thanks for mentioning the Violation statment… that was the point I was trying to make when I got all tangled up in the time descrepancy explanation above.

    Because Widmore changed his schedule, it changed the time when Desmond learned about Penny and thus Hawking said it was a violation.

    Although, I must admit that a violation sounds more like it should be about rules. Maybe you are right 🙂

  3. Doug from NZ says:

    Loved the Driveshft song ‘You all, everybody’…

    A nod to the Transmission??

  4. Todd X says:

    Of course Widmore changed the schedule.

    To live in a world where he is powerful and afraid of no one or to live in a world where he is only as powerful as his wife lets him be.

    Widmore is clearly the one that allowed Desmond to see what he was not yet ready for.

    So Yann and Coolpeace nailed it. Widmore is the violation as he is the only one that we know that has broke the rules.

  5. Coolpeace says:

    On more comment, about season 6 as a whole.

    After rewatching last nighta episode several times and actually seeing it without worry about reveals, mirrorings, and timelines… let just say that Henry Ian Cusick was outstanding in his performane. He carried us through the various emotional elements of Sideways Desmond and the fear and frustrations of Island Desmond.

    If Lost does not win a Emmy for Best Drama, and really anyone of Emerson, Carbonell, Cusick, O’Quinn, Holloway, could win an Emmy for Best Performance by a Supporting Actor. Really, who would you choose… They all showed real brillance.

    Kuddos to the actors who are really stepping up their game and I for one am loving it.

  6. Coolpeace says:

    Ooooppps : about Charlotte and chocolate, it should read:

    She was NOT seeing the FS but remembering a childhood memory.

  7. Regan says:

    With Charlie acting as a sort of prophet to Desmond, implying a different reality, I’m reminded of “The Beginning of the End” (Season 4 premiere) when Charlie visits Hurley. He says something to the effect of “I am dead, but I am also here.” Could this be more than just the ghost of Charlie? Maybe this is a Charlie (and other deceased characters) that communicate to Hurley from a separate reality?

  8. Bonita in Atlanta says:

    Carol to Butch: I understand your point of just letting the writers just do their thing and just sitting back and enjoying it. But for other people like myself the enjoyment is increased in the discussion of the show.

    Amen, sister Lostite!

  9. Coolpeace says:

    @ Regan : Bingo. I believe Hurley is also “special”, however, it may be different than Desmond’s flashing consciencousness.

  10. Rich in Cleveland says:

    Whoa. I’m in the middle of my rewatch and something seems very familiar about the way Desmond struggled to free himself in the Gauss shed. Then, it occurred to me–the motions of the chair mirror exactly what invisible Jacob did with the chair in “The Man Behind the Curtain.”
    So does this mean that Desmond was the poltergeist pleading for help, out of phase and rendered invisible by the extreme electromagnetic exposure? (And I still believe it was Desmond’s eye that Hurley glimpsed when he found the cabin floating around.)

    On the other hand, Desmond’s motions as he tries to free Charlie from the submerged car also mimic exactly Charlie’s motions as he drowns in the looking glass. Perhaps these memories get reconfigured in the dream state a la Vanilla Sky as I’ve always contended, except that the flash side is the dream state from which they must wake up. Either way, I appreciate the devotion to detail that creates an intricacy to the narrative that goes way beyond mere dialogue.

    The double entendre of this phrase caught my ear: Charlie’s not allowed to leave the “state.” Naturally, we think California, but “state” can also be interpreted more generally as a condition. Charlie’s not allowed to leave the dream. In The Matrix moment of awakening, I actually picture them groping about in a dense, all-encompassing fog of Smokey with flickering scans of light tricking their senses.

    How about this line: Desmond’s been in love thousands of times. Standard hyperbole. But not if you are enrapt in this condition for an eternity.

  11. MRPEMSTAR says:

    “Tricks aren’t just for kids”

    Looks like Widmore tricked Desmond again!

    Look who benefits from X-verse, NOT DESMOND!

    I knew it! This is about WHAT WIDMORE WANTS!

    Boy is Desmond a sucker!

    Looks like Hawkins is in on it too!

  12. JonY says:

    @Isaac, from a few posts ago…

    I don’t think Desmond is a pawn in Jacob or MiB’s game. I think he is solely a piece for Widmore. I don’t remember him from the cave, I don’t think he’s met either Jacob or MiB, and as I said earlier Widmore (or Eloise) seemed to be a major influence in everything Desmond ever did – recall Eloise picture is on the desk of the monk that fired Desmond.

    I wonder if Widmore is the only real, well not good guy, but the only guy that has the right plan in mind… Or will he be eventually motivated by not losing his son (I certainly think that is Eloise motivation for telling Des to mind his own bidness in the sideways)…

  13. BTwigs says:

    Not since the CONSTANT, has an episode blown me away so much.
    The Desmond Penny story line has been my favorite Love Story of the show.
    Also, I totally freaked when CHARLIE put his hand up to the window.
    Lost is a total thrill ride. I am so sad we are nearing the end.
    I will miss LOST.
    And I’ll miss the TRANSMISSION!
    A tad early but —
    Thanks for the beautiful job you’re done!

  14. Rus from Texas (Lonestare) says:

    Baby Aaron is in the clouds.

  15. Jo from New York says:

    Wow – one of my all time favorite episodes of Lost! Desmond is the key to bringing down the MIB. Didn’t that Electromagnetic machine remind you of the Hadron Collider a bit? Very interesting. Perhaps MIB/Smokey is dark matter and somehow Desmond is going to have to lead him in there for for him to be drawn into the machine. There were so many moments that brought you back to other episodes and I found myself gasping at times through it! Being a piano player I wished that we had seen Daniel really letting go on the keyboard in a longer scene! How different and kind of cold and materialistic Desmond’s life was without Penny and how touching it was to see that even in this flash sideways their chemistry was palpable. I would not be surprised if when they meet in the coffee shop they run into James and Juliet. I hope so. I cannot wait to see how the two realities merge together! Everyone hang on and enjoy the ride!

  16. Mimi says:

    Can I please address all of the folks out there who are of the opinion that Eloise is and has been the “most in-the-know in any of these time lines.” This includes, I’m afraid, you Ryan.

    I hate to point out the completely obvious, but for goodness sakes THE WOMAN SHOT HER OWN SON IN COLD BLOOD! Sorry guys, that doesn’t seem like a person who is “in the know” to me. Plus, if I remember correctly (don’t own any of the seasons on DVD yet, unfortunately… ) in “The Variable” doesn’t Daniel say to Jack, “My mother was wrong?” A couple of clues there that even though she sounds super confident, she may just be as clueless as the rest of us, but she happens to be a really good BSer!

    Now that I got that off my chest, I think it’s kind of cool that in the flash-sideways Daniel did finally devote his life to classical music and not physics (the way his mother hounded him to do in last season’s episode “The Variable.” Where I do believe he was playing the same classical piece on piano that Jack’s son David played for his audition.

    I love that George Minkowski showed up in this episode as Widmore’s driver taking Desmond around the city. We don’t hear it from his mouth this time, but we heard it quite a few times in “The Constant.” Where he kept saying to Desmond, “It’s happening to you, isn’t it?” “You felt it, didn’t you?” Maybe more than just a shout out cameo?

    To everyone who has been complaining about hating the flash-sideways for all this time… ARE YOU HAPPY NOW? Oh, you of little faith. If you have not completely bought into the flash sideways after last night’s episode… then you all should just mail it in and start concentrating on the V count down clock in the corner.

    One last thought… who thinks Daniel has already written (or at least found in his book) his note saying, “If anything happens, Desmond Hume can be my constant.” I think that could be why he revealed Penny’s identity and location to Desmond. So Desmond will have his constant and Daniel will have his constant too. Together, perhaps they will be able to set things right in the sideways world. Although I did wonder if Daniel would still be a believer in love at first sight if he had first spotted Charlotte doing the walk of shame from Saywer’s apartment instead of seeing her for the first time at the museum.

  17. BTwigs says:

    Not since the CONSTANT, has an episode blown me away so much.
    The Desmond Penny story line has been my favorite Love Story of the show.
    Also, I totally freaked when CHARLIE put his hand up to the window.
    Lost is a total thrill ride. I am so sad we are nearing the end.
    I will miss LOST.
    And I’ll miss the TRANSMISSION!
    A tad early but —
    Thanks for the beautiful job you’ve done!

  18. Rachael says:

    Correct me if I’m wrong . . . But in the past, something happened to Desmond that he had two pasts or past realities: – the one where he met and was having a relationship with Penny *for years) and then they broke up and the one when he was in a monastery and/or the army. His two realities resulted in Penny and him getting together anyway (Penny finding them with her boat), but we were never assured as to which actually occurred, or rather to which past he actually remembers experiencing. So it makes sense that he and everyone else should have more than one present and more than one future. Right? Does anyone else see it this way?

  19. zoomzoom says:

    i love lost it is so cool but it is so confusing!

  20. Carol from Boston says:

    So many posts, I would love to respond to you all just to let you know that I read them all and enjoy them all. I had to even take some notes there are so many posts. I’ll keep this short and sweet.

    @Genevieve – Desmond has no idea of what is going on with Sayid and considers him a friend, so he probably thought Sayid was just helping him escape. He did see Sayid when he was tied up.

    @Andy – I think you are right, Desmond definitely seems aware of both realities, just like he finally did in the Constant.

    @KK – I was noticed the lack of Whoosing myself, I agree about your opinion about what it means. Makes sense.

    @Yann – Like your rat theory

    @mimi- re: Eloise – think of Yann’s rat theory. I agree Eliose isn’t a great person, but we don’t know everything Daniel experienced and wrote in the notebook, maybe he knew all this and wrote it and that is who Eliose knows. Too far out a theory?

    @Jo from NY – glad to know I wasn’t the only one gasping throughout the episode. 🙂

    @cat – Eliose (can’t spell her name) probably wants to keep the flash sideways to keep Daniel alive and wants Desmond to but out.

    Well my other notes are too messy to read, sorry! example in my notes I have “coolpeace” – dharma light? What the heck does that mean?

    I still haven’t watched the episode a second time but I really hope that the writers think like bonita and have a happy ending planned where people chose their life. But I think it will end up all them having to choose one or the other, can’t have two existing all the time.

  21. Carol from Boston says:

    @Cat – I think that I meant that maybe the dharma station the lamp post might have given more info to Eloise, we don’t know everything the station did. Dharma Lite would be a good beer though wouldn’t it? lol

  22. Denise from the Bronx says:

    Through most of the episode my mouth hung open. I just knew that in the underwater scene, Charlie’s hand was going to pop up with “Not Penny’s Boat, but when it happened, I let out a gasp as if these words affected me personally. What a terrific episode, so filled with what we needed to know, and yet, we still don’t know it all. Desmond is such an important piece of the puzzle and its terrific that he is back. Once again, I cannot wait for the next episodes, knowing that it will be over soon. I love this show.

  23. coolpeace says:

    @ mimi : about Eloise, when she shoot Daniel it was the 1970s (I think), it was her past and Daniel’s present. At that time, she was not aware of the future nor who Daniel was. She found out that she shot her own son, and probably used his journal to understand the future events, as @Carol mentioned.

    @ Carol : true Island Eloise has had access to Daniel’s journal, but Sideways Eloise probable does not. If Daniel is alive, then our Losties did not time travel, Daniel is musician not a physicist, his journal would not contain physics equation, nor would it mention Desmond being his constant, (they only just met) and of course Eloise did not shoot Daniel, therefore there must be another reason why she seems to know ‘stuff’. At least in the Sideways.

    Ideas anyone?

  24. hubmacfan says:

    Can someone who recorded the show freeze-frame the shots of the MRI? It looked like the numbers were on a display above the “entrance” to it. Can someone confirm?

  25. lucydog says:

    Great episode.

    I suppose the big question is which Losties would be happier living in the sideways world and which would rather be in the island world. It sounds as if Daniel feels like something is wrong regarding what is “right” but he doesn’t realize that Charlotte dies in the island world. (Or maybe her comment about Geronimo Jackson is something she says to Daniel in the sideways world?) Would Claire really choose to stay go to the island reality? She’s all kinds of crazy there. Kate is a toss up. It’s an interesting conflict.

    The episode also leaves me asking more good questions: And these two questions that are very ying and yang.

    Will the image Desmond had of Claire going into a helicopter be realized, finally?

    and/or

    Was the image Charlie told Desmond regarding the beautiful woman he saw turn out to Claire but it’s an image of her spirit: Charlie will die (again) and they both reunite in heaven. (Corny, I know.)

  26. Rus from Texas (Lonestare) says:

    Here’s a photo of the MRI Feedback Panel:

    http://tinyurl.com/ylkjpp8

  27. Rus from Texas (Lonestare) says:

    Here’s a larger and more clearer version. The camera focused at the last few frames before changing subjects.

    http://tinyurl.com/ydycst3

  28. Isaac says:

    I dunno whats driving Desmond, I would be pissed if i were separated from my wife AGAIN and she would be pissed too, in fact she would divorce me cuz i promised i wouldn’t leave her again, so im not sure why Desmond is all cocky at the end of the episode, what does he think he can do? go back to the alternate universe and stay there and start over with penny? If I were desmond, i would want to stay in the alternate universe instead of staying in the current timeline.

  29. Harold says:

    Does anyone have experience with MRI machines? There must be many varieties. I bet the display is typical, not in any way affected by the mythology. They’ve already explained the numbers and moved on.

    Eloise is irking me. Who died to make her omniscient? When she was a young woman on the island in the 50s and later, in the 70s, she was just as mean as the next Other nor clued-in. While she knew of catacombs beneath the surface, she didn’t have this omniscience she so irritatingly brandishes about when she’s older. She didn’t know she was about to shoot dead her as yet unborn son. She only knew that later, after she became obnoxious. Maybe that’s the sickness, obnoxiousness. Curable with Paxil, lots of it.

  30. KK says:

    @Rich in Cleveland: I’m so glad you bring up the cabin… I had a similar reaction, not so much about the motions of Desmond in the chair, but just the chair itself — empty, shot from a low angle inside a wooden structure… made me think of Jacob’s cabin.

    @Mimi: Eloise was very young when she shot Daniel on the island (had she even had him yet? I can’t remember). She obviously didn’t know then what she knows now. She wasn’t too much older when she’s forcing him to play piano in the off-island world (although I have wondered if she already know something then, since she’s strongly stearing him in the direction of pianist, which would ultimately NOT LEAD HIM TO THE ISLAND THUS NOT BEING SHOT BY HER). The wise, seemingly all-knowing Eloise that everyone is referring to is “old, white-haired, been-around-the-block-a-few-times” Eloise. She has obviously learned a lot since her brash, quick-tempered, gun-toting days on the island, and has learned even more since her overbearing-mother days off-island….

  31. Rus from Texas (Lonestare) says:

    Every Constant has a Variable, but every Variable NEEDS a Constant. We all need an anchor.

  32. greenberry says:

    WOW ~ WOW ~ WOW was my reaction to LOST this week ~~ soo much to digest! Desmond episodes are absolutely the game-changers!! I love this site and reading all the analyses! It’s super how the show highlights so many classic themes, such as good vs. evil and faith vs. logic… and now DEEP LOVE vs. casual existence as the only true meaning of life ~~ First a constant was required to keep consciousness collected (harnessed and focussed), and now it appears that LOVE is the key. There are so many perspectives from which to view this show too, such as scientifically-based or spiritually-based.

    I felt really alone during Season 3 when this show started to get increasingly complex. Like Carol, my husband doesn’t watch and my grown daughters and friends were too busy to think further about each episode. Even though I had never been part of a blog, I managed to stumble on a site called Sledgeweb and this one. The Transmission has been my weekly companion (when LOST airs) ever since. Thanx to all for being my LOST family.

  33. Carol from Boston says:

    I have 3 friends that are totally confused and want me to email them to sum up what is going on in the show. The problem is that I don’t know any easy way to do this. I don’t even know where to start. They are all frustrated and angry and refuse to listen to any podcasts. I guess this is how the non-transmission people must feel.

    Any ideas of what I should cover and how to explain it to them? I don’t want to recap a whole season.

    All this because I put in my facebook status that I loved the episode and how everything was falling into place on Lost. Now they want to know how it is falling into place, lol.

    So in other words greenberry I know exactly how you feel!

  34. KK says:

    You All Everybody!! Let’s all get/stay on Ryan and Jen to podcast Season 1! How cool would that be? “LOST, Season 1; A Post-Series Retrospective by Ryan and Jen”

    What do you say, Ryan? Jen? 🙂 Let’s get Lost!

  35. Joel from Australia says:

    * YOU ALL EVERYBODY
    IS NOT a reference to this podcast – look it up on Lostpedia

    * GOOD VIBRATIONS
    @ Ryan&Jen
    How long has the looking glass been around? How could Daniel have chosen it as the code? I guess its possible he did it while at Ann Arbor – but would have been known as a musician

    * OCEANIC FLIGHT PASSENGERS
    So our main cast were on the same flight in both realities.
    We know Jacob led them to the island in the main reality, but why are they together in the FS-world?

    * MY SUGGESTED THEORY:
    This coincidence is not because of FATE, but because of SCIENCE.
    Earlier one or a few ppl here have mentioned a sort of overlapping (rather than contrasting) of faith & science.
    Perhaps, if these two realities have a direct link (rather than being just 2 of infinite parellel universes of each possibility),
    then certain events must match.

    The cool thing about this theory. It places SCIENCE OVER the MiB/Jacob story. As ‘i think’ occurred in ALIAS, it explains the supernatural through science.

    So therefore, MiB may be trying to bring the show’s main reality to an end, while Jacob seeks for it to co-exist. The rules of the island: certain people being unable to die because they are needed by the island…. are thus not determined just because they were ‘chosen’ as candidates, but because they have an intrinsic connection with events in another reality.

    Without being able to state a particular theory of parallel universes and/or time, I am suggesting that the FS universe has pre-determined the events of the show’s main universe.
    I can’t suggest they occur eternally (every moment occurring all the time),
    or as they are shown in the show (2002? FS events occuring at the same time as the current island events)
    … but it would be nice to think that certain supernatural notions of fate are actually made so through some sort of science.

    I suspect that if my theory of this sort of science/fate is the case,
    it will contain plotholes that us or the creators may never be able to explain.

    ugh.

  36. Joel from Australia says:

    *pre-determined and/or restricted the events of the shows main reality (ie. people not dying)

  37. Carol from Boston says:

    @Joel I assumed when the bomb went off it put them all back on the plane before it crashed. They all seem to be there for the same reasons, Boone went after Shannon, Locke for the Walkabout, Jack – his dad, Sawyer – anthony cooper, etc.

    I like the science story better and am more comfortable with it, which is probably why I really loved the episode, no Jacob or MIB. Just old school Lost.

    I am a bit confused maybe because it is after midnight for me. MIB is pro-flash sideways and Jacob is the new reality? The electromagnetism caused it all?

  38. Isaac says:

    We have seen 3 forms of Locke this season

    Dead Locke

    MIB in the form of Locke

    Locke in the flash sideways

    Who the hell is Locke?

  39. Joel from Australia says:

    # 3rd straight post – apologies!

    TAKING MY SCIENCE>SUPERNATURAL THEORY FURTHER
    1. The consciousnesses (minds) that are MiB and Jacob,
    think that they hold the fate of existence in their hands.

    2. To us viewers, they are the top of the order, they have determined the events of the island to take place.

    (3. -a sidepoint, not necessary to my theory)
    3. They ‘might’ ideologically represent two particular positions, but those positions
    are not good and evil,
    they are (a relative) free-will and determinism.
    Jacob believes that it is inherent of ‘free’ human nature to act bad, MiB wants humanity to sort it out for themselves.

    (Here is where it gets interesting)
    4. Widmore’s fight is against BOTH MiB and Jacob.
    Widmore wishes to stop their battle before it draws to a close.
    Jacob & MiB are risking the existence of their reality, or all realities,
    unaware that the picture is bigger then them both.
    Present-day Widmore is acutely aware of the corresponding FS-universe,
    and understands that Jacob & MiB’s showdown may threaten all of space & time.
    Jacob & MiB are just two people caught up in a perculiar space-time event, and whatever they know and have been told,
    they remain unaware of the FS-world.

    Because of Jacob & MiB’s actions leading up to now, it has become apparent to present-day Eloise and Widmore that they must stop this battle, this rift.

    5. In previous seasons, we have come to understand science as being responsible for many fateful occurrences and supernatural events.
    People not dying = ruled by the rules of time. Because themselves, or their actions, had a direct effect upon the events of past (54,70s dharma etc), it was impossible for them to die. Up until the S5 finale, the show has insisted that the past cannot be changed.
    Plane crash = Swan station

    6. Enter Jacob and MiB, and we seem to learn that the rules of Time were not all that determined our losties fates. The losties were chosen, by these seemingly mythic/supernatural entities.

    7. Yet we also know, that in the FS-world, the very same losties were on the very same flight. and yet they weren’t in a reality ruled by Jacob’s touch.

    LAST POINT
    8. And it is with Point 7 that I argue the final nuance of my theory.
    Until S6, science had often explained that which we had previously ascribed to the supernatural. Chiefly, the rules of time had determined certain things to be so. We are now told to accept that Jacob has a hand in fate, and yet we are also seeing fate-ful coincidence within the FS-world.

    I like the idea that the show can’t have it both ways. We can’t have one world with a supernatural force, and another independent world where simple unexplainable fate has brought them to the same flight.

    SUMMING UP:
    The powers of MiB and Jacob, unbeknownst to them, are a directly result of certain rules of space & time. The FS-world has determined and shaped much of their own world.
    But now, because of their feud, they risk more then just their own world. They threaten to break space & time all together.

    yikes. congrats if you read all of that 😀
    happy theorizing!

  40. Mark B says:

    Sorry I’m late to the party. I haven’t read all the comments and I’m sure someone has said all this before me.

    I usually decry people who say “best episode ever” but I feel that this was clearly the best episode this season and could have been the best episode of the show. I always like the science side of LOST and thus Des episodes are usually my favourites.

    The weakness if there was one was the ‘red shirt’ in the EM machine getting toasted when the guy said “I’ll turn it on now shall I ?” and then later Widmore stopping to look at the dead guy in front of Des. We knew he was dead and we knew how dangerous it was — no need to show us.

    Is Des flashing between sideways and island time ? I think so. Maybe not in the same way as before but still flashing.

    I now think that all the surviving candidates will be bought together by Des in the sideways (probably at the hospital which seems very central) and this will lead somehow to the end of that “reality” or some choice needing to be made between the realities.

    It appears that Dan knows he does not belong in the sideways and I assume others will begin to feel the same. It’s fake and they shouldn’t be there. But how will Dan feel if he finds out (though I have no idea how … through Eloise ??) he’s dead in the “real” time….. and so is his love Charlotte. BTW I thought the twist was going to be that Dan fell in love with Juliet at first sight but clearly it was Charlotte.

    I really liked the machine and how it worked with what, to me at least, looked like some “cloud” of light particles (vs. black smoke) enveloping Des. Great special effect.

    The picture in Widmores office of the scales balanced between black and white was a nice touch. I couldn’t count the number of ‘stones’ on each side but I bet it’s six, one for each candidate.

    Oh and why did Sayid not shoot Zoe ? No idea. Doesn’t shoot women with glasses ? Doesn’t kill women ? Well he killed the German lady Elsa (name?) so perhaps he doesn’t kill women unless he has to ?

    Oh and more Charlie please ! Loved Charlie running around the hospital in his gown and eponimous checked shoes.

    And finally, I think LOST may have spoiled TV for me for the future. I can’t see anything being close to this well done or this thought provoking.

  41. KC Bob says:

    I noticed a similarity between Eloise’s reaction to Desmond failing at bringing Charlie back and Jacob not getting mad at Jack for breaking the light house windows. In both cases, the missions they were sent on were just excuses for a revelation of another kind.

    Here is my crackpot theory for your consideration…is it possible that Eloise is Desmond’s mother and his father is Jacob? That maybe Jacob has given her special abilities as a result of their tryst and possibly that tryst is what caused Widmore to become involved with a woman from outside the island?

    Also, is it possible that MiB managed to escape the island, and that the amiable John Locke in the flashsidways is actually MiB. That might explain why he didn’t want Jack to examine him, and why he is on good terms with that ol’ con Anthony Cooper.

    Again…just theories -nothing I’m prepared to bet money on…just fun to theorize about.

  42. greenberry says:

    Penny was particularly adorable in this episode ~ NOT a Charlie fan though… lots of pairings in LOST (besides the romances) ~~ Desmond and Charlie, Desmond and Daniel, Hurley and Charlie, Eko and Charlie, Kate and Claire, Locke and Claire, Locke and Boone, Locke and Walt, Ben and Sayid, Ben and Locke, Jin and Michael, Kate and Sun, Jin and Bernard, Sun and Juliet, Sawyer and Miles ~~ Jake seems to stand alone (like his tattoo suggests)

  43. greenberry says:

    Has anyone speculated on, or figured out why Widmore needs Jin in connection with Desmond?

  44. Joel from Australia says:

    ^ I believe they need Jin for finding certain pockets of energy on the island or somesuch?

  45. greenberry says:

    meant Jack

  46. Ok… I go back to my previous theory.
    “It always end the same -you are wrong”
    In an experiment to prove a point you need a blank and a test.
    We have a world where mib and Jacob were on the Island and interacing with our world and an other world were the Island had disapear.
    I said Desmond being special he would be the one that could say to mib “no it does not end the same” I have the proof, and I think everything Heloise and Widmore are trying to do is helping Jacob to show mib that depending on what happens the end is not the same… That is why Heloise is not happy because Desmond came to realize that too early.
    If the other world is fake and just a “test”, it will eventually disapear but the point is that mib will realize that he should not give up on humanity and let it do its own thing… free will power!

  47. JonY says:

    @Rachel – I don’t think Desmondhad two pasts, only one. He met Penny as he was leaving the monestary, and they broke up (sort of) while he was in the Army – if you remember he was jailed while in the Army and she thought he never contacted her. Charles intercepted all of Desmond’s letters and gave them back to Desmond when he got out of jail – along with attempting to bribe him.

    So up until S6 at least, Desmond = 1 past.

  48. apples and pears UK says:

    love lost holy freaking crap moments, this episode had it in spades. so thinking about the final scene of the season and best holy freaking crap moment lost could give us. it would have to be if its actually not the end…could a whole tv industry pull that one off………..Ryan are the main actors houses up for sale yet in Hawaii??

  49. sadini says:

    What a great episode! Definitely one of my favorites.
    Wasn’t it adorable when Jack seemed baffled by the fact that Charlie and Desmond were on the same plane, and now all three of them were at the same hospital? And Mrs.Hawkings/Widmore is a frightening character.

  50. tvscifi says:

    I believe it is MIB that wants to give the Losties free will. If they destroy themselves, so be it, but at least they had a choice. Jacob is manipulating time to avoid a catastrophe, but in doing so takes away free will.

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