THE CONSTANT
BEST LOST EPISODE OF ALL TIME.
Ok, maybe it is tied with episode 1.18 "Numbers".
Anyway, recap time! Your comments last week were pretty awesome, yo.
I tried to be a bit more linear in this recap, instead of jumping around and going on tangents. We'll see how that goes.
The episode starts off with Sayid, Frank, and Desmond (oh, and Naomi!) in the helicopter on their way to the freighter.
Here is their flight path:
Disregarding the janky drawing, it is an interesting flight pattern. Did they not learn the Pythagorean theorem? What I find weird is that they wrote 40 miles north and then 7 kilometers east. Do they, halfway through the flight, realize that the metric system is far superior than standard and change their ways? I am befuddled. Furthermore, 305 degrees points Southeast, not North (unless you are going backwards, in which case it is Northwest).
So, most likely they are taking such a strange flight path so as to stay on the same bearing as when they arrived to the island. Do you think they possibly calculated at which bearing the plane would have crashed, so that they could arrive to the island at that bearing and then leave with any 815ers without any side effects? Far-fetched, I know. Desmond wasn't on the flight and therefore came in at a different bearing, plus he has been exposed to radiation and electromagnetism.
Considering the actual usefulness of this map is a bit ludicrous, and units of measurements are different, and then the degrees do not match up with direction, plus the word "MILES" is written out when there is a character on the show named Miles (my Asian Ghostbuster boyfriend), plus they focused on this map like two or three times AND talked about it on the helicopter, do you think this map means more than we think? Like some sort of code or something?
So Desmond wakes up in a Scottish military barrack, thinking he has just had a vivid dream. CRAZY.
He quickly goes back to present time, and has no idea what is going on. However, he still remembers Penny, and has a picture of her in his pocket that calms him down. We see the freighter, named "Kahana", which in the Hawaiian language means "drawing of a line, cutting, or turning point". We are introduced to two freighters, Keamy and Omar (btw, Omar looks a lot like Joey from Degrassi! Haha). They are unhappy that there are 815ers on their ship. Desmond gets escorted down to the sick bay.
Back to 1996, Desmond tells someone in his regiment about his dream and he asks Desmond if there was anyone he knew in the dream. Desmond remembers the picture of Penny, and tries to call her, but before he can he goes back to the future.
So Desmond is down in the sick bay and he hears a voice saying "You have it, too." He turns around, and it's FISHER STEVENS! aka Minkowski. Awesome.
Back on the beach, Jack and Juliet are questioning Dan and Charlotte about why they are not concerned that they haven't heard from the helicopter. Daniel explains that the perception of time on the island is different than off the island. Daniel says that as long as they stay on the 305 bearings, they should be fine, but if not, there would be "side effects".
Back to the freighter, Sayid sees security cameras on the dock of the ship. Sayid asks why they left at dusk but arrived midday, and Frank claims he doesn't know. Sayid and Frank trade a gun for a phone (do they ever trade back? Is Sayid now unarmed for good?). So they get in touch with the island, and Daniel asks if Desmond has been exposed to intense radiation or electromagnetism. He says that going to/from the island, some people might get a little confused, but it is not amnesia.
So, on that note, if what causes this crazy time travel stuff is radiation/electromagnetism + leaving the island, this could give some clues about the Oceanic 6. The entire island was engulfed in that light when Desmond turned the failsafe key, so they were all exposed to electromagnetism. However, Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sawyer were on the Others island at the time, and Sayid, Sun and Jin were on the boat checking out the 4-toed statue and trying to find the Others island. Sawyer actually wants to stay on the island. So if we are under the assumption that the Oceanic 6 are Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, and Jin (which I am), possibly they are the 6 because they are the only people who can leave the island. Aaron wouldn't be affected considering he is just a baby and has no concept of time to begin with (or possibly he has Kate as a constant). Also, I'm not counting him in the 6 considering he wouldn't have been on the flight manifest.
Down in the sick bay, the creepiest moment ever:
Minkowski says that he was just on a ferris wheel (hello, time loop reference). Minkowski says that this will happen to everyone once they go back to the island. Ray (the doctor) injects Minkowski with a sedative, and then flashes a light into Desmond's eyes (why?!). Desmond then goes back to the past.
So Desmond tries to call Penny, and she says that he shouldn't be calling her because he broke up with her to join the army. She tells him she moved, and hangs up on him. Back to the future!
So Desmond gets on the phone with Daniel, and Daniel asks him what year it is "supposed to be," and tells him to meet him at Oxford.
Desmond goes to Oxford to find Daniel.
Here is the opening shot where we can see the courtyard, right before Desmond sees Daniel:
BTW, how did Desmond know what Daniel looked like right away? Crazy.
Anyway, notice Jacob's dog hanging out?
Here is Jacob's painting.
Know who else likes to hang out at the Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford? Ms. Hawking and Brother Campbell!
You may remember Ms. Hawking from Lost episode 3.08. If you recall, she was the creepy lady that sold Desmond his engagement ring for Penny. She told Desmond that she already knew who he was and that he would break Penny's heart. She then said that Desmond would enter the sailing race to prove Penny's father wrong and would end up on the island, where he would push the button until he was forced to turn the failsafe key. She said that if he did not do those things, then "every single one of us is dead".
Brother Campbell appeared in Lost episode 3.17. He was the leader of the Eddington Monastery, where Desmond briefly worked. Campbell found Desmond drunk on the monastery's wine and fired him. This framed photograph of he and Ms. Hawking was on his desk in the monastery.
But we have seen this courtyard once before, all the way back in season one!
Here are Charlie and Liam hanging out in Lost episode 1.07.
We also know that Charlotte graduated from Oxford (from when Ben was spewing off all those facts about her to prove he knew someone on their ship), so possibly she and Dan know each other from before as well (plus she and Dan seem closer to each other than the other freighters).
So Dan takes Desmond into his laboratory and shows him Eloise, his mouse. He zaps the mouse with a pink laser thing and it starts time traveling.
This seems similar to the pink laser in VALIS, seen in last week's episode (Locke hands the book to Ben at the beginning of the episode). Again, I have not actually read this book and am only going by the Wiki, so correct me if I'm mixing everything up. But in VALIS, Horselover Fat gets exposed to a pink laser and then receives knowledge perceived to be from God which reveals details from the future.
So Eloise goes under the laser thing and starts convulsing, and Daniel says that she is "unstuck in time", a reference to Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse Five. (Kurt Vonnegut love! <3)
I will not even explain that reference, because if you have not read Slaughterhouse Five, I do not know if we can be friends anymore. So it goes...
This mouse maze is reminiscent of the Mouse Trap game played by Locke in his flashback episode of season 1, and then again in Kate's flashback episode of season 3, there is a Mouse Trap game in the Others' barracks.
So, we know that when these characters are time traveling, their bodies are not moving through time, just their consciousness. Therefore, their time travel would be limited to their life span. Daniel makes Eloise go through the maze, which she can, even though the maze was just built. Daniel then says that he teaches her the maze an hour from now. However, we know that Eloise dies before that can ever happen. So how does she learn the maze? It doesn't make sense.
Back in the sick bay, Keamy and Omar bring Frank outside the room and lock the door. Minkowski recognizes Desmond's name, because he used to work in the radio room and Penny was trying to call the freighter. So how does she know the freighter is there, and the number to the radio room? Anyway, so the freighters are under strict orders not to answer any calls from Penny.
So then Desmond wakes up in Daniel's lab again, and poor Eloise is dead. We learn that Desmond was in 2004 for only 5 minutes while he was away from 1996 for a good 75 minutes. Daniel explains that it is going to get harder to travel between the two time periods. Daniel says that Desmond needs a constant, something that he can recognize in both time periods and cares deeply about. So Desmond calls Penny, but she has changed her number.
So then he's back in 2004, and he wants to call Penny. Minkowski says that someone sabotaged their communication equipment (theories on who??). Minkowski says he can show them the way to the radio room, and the door is magically open (thanks, Michael!).
Question: How is Minkowski so aware of what is going on with the freighter, when he is also "unstuck in time"? He doesn't have a constant, he should be completely confused whenever he is on the freighter, yet he is aware of what is going on the entire time. But he still dies! That doesn't make sense.
So then he is back in 1996, at an auction of the Black Rock first mate's journal (auction #2342!). The contents of the journal are not known, and the journal was previously owned by Tovard Hanso (aka Hanso Foundation aka Dharma Initiative). So this is confusing. We know that the Black Rock is on the island, so the only way the journal could have made its way off is for someone to intentionally remove it from the island. So, what would be the point for the Dharma Initiative people to take the journal back to mainland and put it up for auction? Don't they want to keep other people OFF the island? This confuses me. Anyway, Caleb Nichol/Charles Widmore buys the journal, so that explains how he finds out about the island (though, the fact that he is bidding on it in the first place indicates that he knows a bit about it to begin with...)
Widmore sees Desmond after the auction, and they speak in the bathroom. Desmond tells Widmore that he needs to get in touch with Penny, and Widmore says that Desmond is a coward, but he gives him Penny's address anyway. But he weirdly leaves the water running the bathroom (thoughts?). Do you think the running water was, perhaps, a trigger for Desmond (water --> island)?
Also, the items up for auction right after the Black Rock journal were some of Charles Dickens' belongings. Remember, Desmond has read every work by Charles Dickens except for Our Mutual Friend, which he carries around with him as he wants it to be the last book he will ever read.
Anyway, so back on the boat, Sayid, Desmond and Minkowski make it to the radio room and Minkowski and Desmond start bleeding from the nose. Awesome. So Minkowski explains that he and Brandon, another crew member, got bored and took the ship's tender to the island, but Brandon started acting erratic so they turned around, and then Brandon died. So, does this mean that Minkowski and Brandon have both been exposed to high levels of radiation and electromagnetism as well? And if so, how? Anyway, so Desmond realizes that it is 2004, and Christmas Eve. Then Minkowski goes nuts and dies. Poor Fisher Stevens.
Desmond wakes up in the bathroom again, with the sink overflowed. He goes to see Penny, and begs for her number. She resists, but he says he will not call her again for 8 years (on Christmas Eve), and she finally gives in and gives her number to him.
So then he is back on the freighter, and Sayid has repaired the phone. He calls Penny, and she says he knows about the island and has been looking for him for three years (so, since 2001). One thing to note is that Penny is wearing a ring on her ring finger! So they tell each other that they love each other and then the battery dies, but Desmond is "stuck" in time again so everything is ok.
Another thing, we know that Penny and Desmond have had contact between the time that he sees her in 1996 and 2004, because in season 2 finale, Desmond is at the stadium training for his race around the world (where he meets Jack, as well!), and Penny shows up. Penny asks if he has read Our Mutual Friend, and he says he has not. Penny asks him why he hasn't written her any letters and he doesn't respond (if you remember, Charles Widmore had intercepted all of his letters to Penny). She says she hasn't set a date for her wedding yet, and asks him to stay. She asks him what he is running from, and he replies that he is running the race to regain his honor, and that is what he is running to.
So, when this interaction occurs, is Penny aware of the conversation in which Desmond says he will not contact her for 8 years? Time travel is confusing!
So, back to this episode, we end off with Daniel reading his journal and seeing:
So, at this point, do Desmond and Daniel remember each other? Or, should they remember each other? Daniel says that there is no way he could forget Desmond, but we also know that Daniel has memory issues, so who knows.
Again, this entry was way too long. I need to learn to edit myself. Next time.
**ADDENDUM**
Here is something that just came to me, that is going to make me sound like a crazy person, but I don't care. Ok, we know that this effect can happen coming from OR going to the island (according to Daniel, plus Minkowski has it happen while he is on his way to the island), if you have been exposed to radiation or electromagnetism. So, Rose has cancer, correct? So she had to have been exposed to radiation. Why didn't she experience this time travel business when the plane crashed? Or possibly she did! She would have Bernard as a constant, and perhaps that is why she was so sure that he was still alive, even though he was not seen at all through season one.
Just a thought.
Ok, maybe it is tied with episode 1.18 "Numbers".
Anyway, recap time! Your comments last week were pretty awesome, yo.
I tried to be a bit more linear in this recap, instead of jumping around and going on tangents. We'll see how that goes.
The episode starts off with Sayid, Frank, and Desmond (oh, and Naomi!) in the helicopter on their way to the freighter.
Here is their flight path:
Disregarding the janky drawing, it is an interesting flight pattern. Did they not learn the Pythagorean theorem? What I find weird is that they wrote 40 miles north and then 7 kilometers east. Do they, halfway through the flight, realize that the metric system is far superior than standard and change their ways? I am befuddled. Furthermore, 305 degrees points Southeast, not North (unless you are going backwards, in which case it is Northwest).
So, most likely they are taking such a strange flight path so as to stay on the same bearing as when they arrived to the island. Do you think they possibly calculated at which bearing the plane would have crashed, so that they could arrive to the island at that bearing and then leave with any 815ers without any side effects? Far-fetched, I know. Desmond wasn't on the flight and therefore came in at a different bearing, plus he has been exposed to radiation and electromagnetism.
Considering the actual usefulness of this map is a bit ludicrous, and units of measurements are different, and then the degrees do not match up with direction, plus the word "MILES" is written out when there is a character on the show named Miles (my Asian Ghostbuster boyfriend), plus they focused on this map like two or three times AND talked about it on the helicopter, do you think this map means more than we think? Like some sort of code or something?
So Desmond wakes up in a Scottish military barrack, thinking he has just had a vivid dream. CRAZY.
He quickly goes back to present time, and has no idea what is going on. However, he still remembers Penny, and has a picture of her in his pocket that calms him down. We see the freighter, named "Kahana", which in the Hawaiian language means "drawing of a line, cutting, or turning point". We are introduced to two freighters, Keamy and Omar (btw, Omar looks a lot like Joey from Degrassi! Haha). They are unhappy that there are 815ers on their ship. Desmond gets escorted down to the sick bay.
Back to 1996, Desmond tells someone in his regiment about his dream and he asks Desmond if there was anyone he knew in the dream. Desmond remembers the picture of Penny, and tries to call her, but before he can he goes back to the future.
So Desmond is down in the sick bay and he hears a voice saying "You have it, too." He turns around, and it's FISHER STEVENS! aka Minkowski. Awesome.
Back on the beach, Jack and Juliet are questioning Dan and Charlotte about why they are not concerned that they haven't heard from the helicopter. Daniel explains that the perception of time on the island is different than off the island. Daniel says that as long as they stay on the 305 bearings, they should be fine, but if not, there would be "side effects".
Back to the freighter, Sayid sees security cameras on the dock of the ship. Sayid asks why they left at dusk but arrived midday, and Frank claims he doesn't know. Sayid and Frank trade a gun for a phone (do they ever trade back? Is Sayid now unarmed for good?). So they get in touch with the island, and Daniel asks if Desmond has been exposed to intense radiation or electromagnetism. He says that going to/from the island, some people might get a little confused, but it is not amnesia.
So, on that note, if what causes this crazy time travel stuff is radiation/electromagnetism + leaving the island, this could give some clues about the Oceanic 6. The entire island was engulfed in that light when Desmond turned the failsafe key, so they were all exposed to electromagnetism. However, Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sawyer were on the Others island at the time, and Sayid, Sun and Jin were on the boat checking out the 4-toed statue and trying to find the Others island. Sawyer actually wants to stay on the island. So if we are under the assumption that the Oceanic 6 are Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, and Jin (which I am), possibly they are the 6 because they are the only people who can leave the island. Aaron wouldn't be affected considering he is just a baby and has no concept of time to begin with (or possibly he has Kate as a constant). Also, I'm not counting him in the 6 considering he wouldn't have been on the flight manifest.
Down in the sick bay, the creepiest moment ever:
Minkowski says that he was just on a ferris wheel (hello, time loop reference). Minkowski says that this will happen to everyone once they go back to the island. Ray (the doctor) injects Minkowski with a sedative, and then flashes a light into Desmond's eyes (why?!). Desmond then goes back to the past.
So Desmond tries to call Penny, and she says that he shouldn't be calling her because he broke up with her to join the army. She tells him she moved, and hangs up on him. Back to the future!
So Desmond gets on the phone with Daniel, and Daniel asks him what year it is "supposed to be," and tells him to meet him at Oxford.
Desmond goes to Oxford to find Daniel.
Here is the opening shot where we can see the courtyard, right before Desmond sees Daniel:
BTW, how did Desmond know what Daniel looked like right away? Crazy.
Anyway, notice Jacob's dog hanging out?
Here is Jacob's painting.
Know who else likes to hang out at the Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford? Ms. Hawking and Brother Campbell!
You may remember Ms. Hawking from Lost episode 3.08. If you recall, she was the creepy lady that sold Desmond his engagement ring for Penny. She told Desmond that she already knew who he was and that he would break Penny's heart. She then said that Desmond would enter the sailing race to prove Penny's father wrong and would end up on the island, where he would push the button until he was forced to turn the failsafe key. She said that if he did not do those things, then "every single one of us is dead".
Brother Campbell appeared in Lost episode 3.17. He was the leader of the Eddington Monastery, where Desmond briefly worked. Campbell found Desmond drunk on the monastery's wine and fired him. This framed photograph of he and Ms. Hawking was on his desk in the monastery.
But we have seen this courtyard once before, all the way back in season one!
Here are Charlie and Liam hanging out in Lost episode 1.07.
We also know that Charlotte graduated from Oxford (from when Ben was spewing off all those facts about her to prove he knew someone on their ship), so possibly she and Dan know each other from before as well (plus she and Dan seem closer to each other than the other freighters).
So Dan takes Desmond into his laboratory and shows him Eloise, his mouse. He zaps the mouse with a pink laser thing and it starts time traveling.
This seems similar to the pink laser in VALIS, seen in last week's episode (Locke hands the book to Ben at the beginning of the episode). Again, I have not actually read this book and am only going by the Wiki, so correct me if I'm mixing everything up. But in VALIS, Horselover Fat gets exposed to a pink laser and then receives knowledge perceived to be from God which reveals details from the future.
So Eloise goes under the laser thing and starts convulsing, and Daniel says that she is "unstuck in time", a reference to Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse Five. (Kurt Vonnegut love! <3)
I will not even explain that reference, because if you have not read Slaughterhouse Five, I do not know if we can be friends anymore. So it goes...
This mouse maze is reminiscent of the Mouse Trap game played by Locke in his flashback episode of season 1, and then again in Kate's flashback episode of season 3, there is a Mouse Trap game in the Others' barracks.
So, we know that when these characters are time traveling, their bodies are not moving through time, just their consciousness. Therefore, their time travel would be limited to their life span. Daniel makes Eloise go through the maze, which she can, even though the maze was just built. Daniel then says that he teaches her the maze an hour from now. However, we know that Eloise dies before that can ever happen. So how does she learn the maze? It doesn't make sense.
Back in the sick bay, Keamy and Omar bring Frank outside the room and lock the door. Minkowski recognizes Desmond's name, because he used to work in the radio room and Penny was trying to call the freighter. So how does she know the freighter is there, and the number to the radio room? Anyway, so the freighters are under strict orders not to answer any calls from Penny.
So then Desmond wakes up in Daniel's lab again, and poor Eloise is dead. We learn that Desmond was in 2004 for only 5 minutes while he was away from 1996 for a good 75 minutes. Daniel explains that it is going to get harder to travel between the two time periods. Daniel says that Desmond needs a constant, something that he can recognize in both time periods and cares deeply about. So Desmond calls Penny, but she has changed her number.
So then he's back in 2004, and he wants to call Penny. Minkowski says that someone sabotaged their communication equipment (theories on who??). Minkowski says he can show them the way to the radio room, and the door is magically open (thanks, Michael!).
Question: How is Minkowski so aware of what is going on with the freighter, when he is also "unstuck in time"? He doesn't have a constant, he should be completely confused whenever he is on the freighter, yet he is aware of what is going on the entire time. But he still dies! That doesn't make sense.
So then he is back in 1996, at an auction of the Black Rock first mate's journal (auction #2342!). The contents of the journal are not known, and the journal was previously owned by Tovard Hanso (aka Hanso Foundation aka Dharma Initiative). So this is confusing. We know that the Black Rock is on the island, so the only way the journal could have made its way off is for someone to intentionally remove it from the island. So, what would be the point for the Dharma Initiative people to take the journal back to mainland and put it up for auction? Don't they want to keep other people OFF the island? This confuses me. Anyway, Caleb Nichol/Charles Widmore buys the journal, so that explains how he finds out about the island (though, the fact that he is bidding on it in the first place indicates that he knows a bit about it to begin with...)
Widmore sees Desmond after the auction, and they speak in the bathroom. Desmond tells Widmore that he needs to get in touch with Penny, and Widmore says that Desmond is a coward, but he gives him Penny's address anyway. But he weirdly leaves the water running the bathroom (thoughts?). Do you think the running water was, perhaps, a trigger for Desmond (water --> island)?
Also, the items up for auction right after the Black Rock journal were some of Charles Dickens' belongings. Remember, Desmond has read every work by Charles Dickens except for Our Mutual Friend, which he carries around with him as he wants it to be the last book he will ever read.
Anyway, so back on the boat, Sayid, Desmond and Minkowski make it to the radio room and Minkowski and Desmond start bleeding from the nose. Awesome. So Minkowski explains that he and Brandon, another crew member, got bored and took the ship's tender to the island, but Brandon started acting erratic so they turned around, and then Brandon died. So, does this mean that Minkowski and Brandon have both been exposed to high levels of radiation and electromagnetism as well? And if so, how? Anyway, so Desmond realizes that it is 2004, and Christmas Eve. Then Minkowski goes nuts and dies. Poor Fisher Stevens.
Desmond wakes up in the bathroom again, with the sink overflowed. He goes to see Penny, and begs for her number. She resists, but he says he will not call her again for 8 years (on Christmas Eve), and she finally gives in and gives her number to him.
So then he is back on the freighter, and Sayid has repaired the phone. He calls Penny, and she says he knows about the island and has been looking for him for three years (so, since 2001). One thing to note is that Penny is wearing a ring on her ring finger! So they tell each other that they love each other and then the battery dies, but Desmond is "stuck" in time again so everything is ok.
Another thing, we know that Penny and Desmond have had contact between the time that he sees her in 1996 and 2004, because in season 2 finale, Desmond is at the stadium training for his race around the world (where he meets Jack, as well!), and Penny shows up. Penny asks if he has read Our Mutual Friend, and he says he has not. Penny asks him why he hasn't written her any letters and he doesn't respond (if you remember, Charles Widmore had intercepted all of his letters to Penny). She says she hasn't set a date for her wedding yet, and asks him to stay. She asks him what he is running from, and he replies that he is running the race to regain his honor, and that is what he is running to.
So, when this interaction occurs, is Penny aware of the conversation in which Desmond says he will not contact her for 8 years? Time travel is confusing!
So, back to this episode, we end off with Daniel reading his journal and seeing:
So, at this point, do Desmond and Daniel remember each other? Or, should they remember each other? Daniel says that there is no way he could forget Desmond, but we also know that Daniel has memory issues, so who knows.
Again, this entry was way too long. I need to learn to edit myself. Next time.
**ADDENDUM**
Here is something that just came to me, that is going to make me sound like a crazy person, but I don't care. Ok, we know that this effect can happen coming from OR going to the island (according to Daniel, plus Minkowski has it happen while he is on his way to the island), if you have been exposed to radiation or electromagnetism. So, Rose has cancer, correct? So she had to have been exposed to radiation. Why didn't she experience this time travel business when the plane crashed? Or possibly she did! She would have Bernard as a constant, and perhaps that is why she was so sure that he was still alive, even though he was not seen at all through season one.
Just a thought.