This week we find out how the long-suffering Desmond Hume may be the key to the rest of LOST’s final season.
Robert
As much as I like Desmond and wish everybody could just leave him and Penny to their life of happiness together, I’m glad he’s back for another stint. And so far this season, I’ve invested in the theory that the flash-sideways are the true destinies that await all of our characters, and even if some of them weren’t so uplifting, I’ve been comfortable with how they’ve all turned out because on one level or another they’ve stayed true to the characters. Not so in the case of Desmond.
I didn’t like alt-Desmond (hell, I didn’t even like alt-Charlie) because at this point in the series, I’ve counted on Desmond to be the stand-up guy who struggles through every adversity to be with the woman he loves; the man who knows where his heart belongs and fights every step of the way to get there. To suddenly see him as a Ryan Bingham-type clean-up man who has no need for attachments just felt false, nay, if felt wrong, and while I suppose it was necessary, bringing him back to the Desmond we know by the end of the episode in turn felt a little cheap. Still, by the end, I was steeped in the touching moments of past Des-centric episodes and caught up as he caught flashes of his previous/original life with Penny and Baby Charlie.
There were also two pretty big scenes in this episode that shaped what we should expect for the rest of the season. Charlie’s discussion with Desmond about “spectacular, consciousness altering love” and what he felt after seeing the blonde woman on Oceanic 815, and Daniel’s love at first sight of Charlotte and talk of familiarity and “another life”; they both mirrored each other and set up the idea that Desmond has the ability to change things if he chooses to. In those scenes, they’re referring to love and finding Penny, but as is the LOST modus operandi, it also applies to the rest of the show as a whole.
In fact, thinking back, talk of “choice” has been pretty rampant throughout all of the episodes lately, and it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what the finale came down to—who chooses to stay on course and who chooses to take their alternate life. Could that even be the deal that Jacob and Smokey put on the table? Did Locke make the deal with the Devil to have a better life with Helen? Maybe Ben’s choice to submit to retribution will be rewarded with a life where he can see Alex again? As Charlie put it, maybe the flash-sideways don’t matter, but only if you don’t want them to.
As far as the electromagnetic mumbo-jumbo, I can’t help but think that LOST is teetering between pulling off a truly ballsy move and falling flat on its face. Widmore’s electromagnetic experiment made me recall a conversation I had a couple of years ago with Scott about Watchmen and how Desmond might be a Dr. Manhattan-esque character that can transcend time and space as we know it. Having Desmond hopping between points in time (a la “The Constant”) is one thing, but having him transcend two entirely different timelines is almost too preposterous. And yet, if Desmond can change the fate of the island and all of our characters by choosing neither Jacob’s nor Smokey’s offer (because he can experience both lives anyway), that could be pretty spectacular, I think.
Scott
Hmm. Something’s not sitting right with me about last night’s rapturously-received “Happily Ever After”. Since I’ve loved every other episode this season besides the obligatory Kate borefest, I’m a little surprised I feel this way. I should warn you now that the rest of what you’re about to read will mostly be a rambling free association about the nature of mystery itself.
LOST is a show that means many things to many people. Most people watch only to have its weirdness unraveled, caring surprisingly little about characters they’ve spent six years with. Some watched (in the first season at least, I doubt they’re still around) for the adventure elements inherent with a desert island show. Some watched for the Kate/Jack/Sawyer love triangle, especially in the years it was paired up with Grey’s Anatomy. I’m most interested in A) the bizarre, far-reaching mythology that touches on strange experiments, hippie communes, slave traders, gun runners, fate vs. free will, and something about the eternal battle between God and Satan, and B) the handful of extremely original characters who I still love (Locke, Sawyer, Ben, Desmond, Richard, Hurley, Jin, Sun, Jacob, The Man In Black). These characters may take long leaps off the logical deep end in the finale, but I doubt it.
The mysteries being solved, though, that’s another story. I’ve long said that our hopes will be dashed by whatever happens in the final episode of LOST, because solving mysteries is inevitably disappointing. It’s a process in which an endless array of ideas and possibilities is slowly whittled down to a single idea that pleases few. Think The Matrix, or Battlestar Galactica, or Twin Peaks: all exciting, unique, enigmatic worlds that ended with a thud. David Lynch nailed this perfectly when discussing the end of Twin Peaks. He wanted Laura Palmer’s murder to go unsolved, a central mystery that a universe of interesting characters swirls around. The network intervened and forced the writers to solve the murder, killing a national phenomenon after just a season and a half. The idea of the unsolved mystery (a concept that LOST creator JJ Abrams has also discussed at length as “the mystery box“) continued to fascinate Lynch, inspiring the scattershot Twin Peaks postscript Fire Walk With Me and the more fleshed-out Lost Highway, a film that infuriates many but succeeds wildly at its ambition of exploring mysteries without ever fully solving them.
All my babbling leads me to this: “Happily Ever After” might be my first taste of disappointment with the finale of LOST. The typical reaction seems to be that this is an instant classic that unites what’s happening on the island with the flash sideways, merging the two timelines through Desmond’s demigod-like powers that he acquired by turning the key in the hatch. While this is blowing minds left and right, I’m just not that impressed. To me, it’s no different than the resolutions to any of the previous alternate timeline escapades like Season 4′s attempts to get back to the island or Season 5′s time-traveling Dharma stuff, except that this time, it’s THE END. It may be interesting to see Desmond informing each Oceanic 815 passenger that they have the free will to choose to live in one timeline or the other. But it also feels like a bit of a cheat since free will doesn’t come with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. I think many of us would take different paths in our lives if we could look at things from a distance, but to me the power and poetry of free will is choosing one path over another without knowing what lies ahead.
And I feel like I’ve seen this before. Deja vu? A feeling that something’s amiss with the world? Alternate universes and realities? And what cuts through it all, like a sword of truth through a veil of lies? The power of love. This is pretty conventional sci-fi storytelling, and though LOST’s Jacob/MiB mythology deals with archetypal religious stories we’ve heard a million times, it still feels like the fate of the universe is at stake (at least in my Bible Belt-raised mind). “Happily Ever After” just feels like reheated Philip K. Dick with a heaping spoonful of Hollywood sentimentality.
Then again, I think there’s a big chance that my pissiness about this episode is 100% related to my complete and total aversion to anything having to do with Eloise and Chuck Widmore at this point. I am a very Zen LOST-watcher. I don’t get angry because it moves slowly. I digest the plot as Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse want me to because I believe in what they’re doing. But there’s something about these two that drives me completely up the wall. We’ve got six episodes left. Six. Out of 121. And these old folks are still spouting cryptic bullshit that would’ve angered me in season 2. Tell us what you know and die already.
But there’s a really good chance that I’m wrong about all of this.
Dennis
As “The Constant” and “Flashes Before Your Eyes” have taught us in the past, Desmond episodes are always a good time. I find Desmond and Penny’s relationship to be the most compelling of the show’s and it got some nice moments here. Not exactly surprising, but Widmore and the Tina Fey lookalike (Tina Faux?) Zoe sent “special” time (and universe) jumping Desmond to the alternate timeline, thus finally tying the two worlds together.
From the opening credits, seeing Dominic Monaghan/Sonya Walger/Finnolua Flanagan/Jeremy Davies/Fisher Stevens as guest stars, I knew this was going to be at least a decent episode. Is it me or did Dominic Monaghan get cooler since Island Charlie died? (See also: Ian Somerhalder as laid back Sideways Boone in the season premiere). Despite my recent LOST crankiness I really liked this episode! Good job, LOST.
One pet peeve though: Does everyone on this show have to have a soulmate? I mean Desmond and Penny are great, but Richard and his dead ladylove a few episodes back, Locke and Helen, Charlie and whoever he saw in his hallucination (Claire perhaps?), whoever Daniel saw that made him get all sciencey (Charlotte perhaps?). Can no one move forward in life or have a grand epiphany without help from their respective ladies? Maybe only Tom Friendly, and we’ve yet to see his Sideways Self…
Armando
What an absolute joy it was to watch this episode unfold. When the full magnetics hit Desmond and the screen went to the panning of the clouds, I knew right then that we were in for a ride. I thought back to how I felt when watching the live series premiere of LOST back on September 22, 2004. While I was fully invested in what was happening on the screen and thinking to myself what direction they were going to take this show about stranded plane crashes survivors in, I never for once thought that six years later we would be here.
What an incredible ride. Finally, I feel like we are in the home stretch of the story. This episode was like a reward for sticking with the show. There were moments in it that connected to various past points in the storyline that now made those moments even better than they were the first time. This series should be fun to watch again, knowing what we now and what we may (or may not) know when it is over.
We finally got to see that absolutely, something is “not right” in the alt time line and now, we are seeing characters who are feeling and reacting to this. We also see that the Widmore’s seem to know what exactly is true and isn’t true and also seem to be the ones who have determined and/or control what the alt time line versions of the characters have become. How great was Faraday with his formulas that he wrote when he woke up? This scene could be seen as a nod and a wink to my favorite movie of all time, Back To The Future. (Doc hits his head on the toilet and when he comes to, he has a vision of the flux capacitor!)
You can see the feeling and sense of disconnect from this alt “reality” that the characters are having. I loved the surrealistic undercurrent in the tone and rhythm of this episode. It was right on point and well played. It tugged just enough.
The scenes where Charlie was waxing poetic on seeing love at first sight were to me, the most surreal. It’s something we can all relate to. Even if you don’t fully understand how these instances of enlightenment are connected to their “true” lives, it was still something we can connect with as people when we have those moments. We’ve all had those feelings. Deja vu? Have I been here before? How come I feel so comfortable here? I feel like I already know you.
This connection between those true emotions and the underlying overall story of what is happening to these characters is brilliant. It’s what makes it so easy to invest in the show. At this point, I am so emotionally attached to these characters and their story that I am now sure I will absolutely be leaking at the eyes when the last episode ends and goes black. But alas, we still have five more episodes left and I will savor every minute of it.
Next week’s episode looks like it will be more of this same ride to the finish line. The way Sayid showed up all kick-ass at the end of the episode was a jolt to my system after the Zen-like state it put me in. Perfectly timed. Well done.
Well, look at that. Give us a Desmond episode and all kinds of reactions come about! What did you think, LOST fans?