Journeyman on NBC last year rose to the occasion once, in its splendid episode before the finale. Journeyman was a time travel series.
Lost was never really about time travel. But its Desmond story - a man who sees the future - certainly could have been a time travel story. I wrote in my reviews here last year that time travel might well explain what was going on with Desmond, and those he touched.
Tonight, in Episode 5, Lost took that path - or, actually, made good that path which it had already been on its way to building, from the time Desmond unaccountably ran into Jack on the steps of the stadium well before the flight of Oceanic 815, to the little experiment with time pieces we saw Faraday doing on the island a few weeks ago. Actually, Lost did better than make good - it made great, genius, golden television tonight. Great for the episode, great for the series.
Here, for what it's worth, is my take on what we learned in tonight's show. I'm sure there will be other explanations.
Let's think of the Desmond we saw before tonight's episode as Desmond 1 - with one exception which I'll get to, shortly. Desmond 1 breaks up with Penny. He travels around the world, sees Jack on the steps of the stadium (this is the exception to Desmond 1, as I'll explain below), winds up in the hatch on the island. He loves Penny now, and wants to get back to her. The hatch blows, exposing Desmond to intense radiation. He's still Desmond 1, but he begins to have visions of the future.
In one of the flashbacks last year, in Episode 3.8, Desmond has a conversation with Ms. Hawking (played by the always-memorable Fionnula Flanagan, also seen on Brotherhood). She apparently has knowledge of Desmond and his future which he and we did not yet have at the time of that episode. This was likely the second reference to Desmond 2 (and I'll get to the first in a few paragraphs).
Desmond 1 continues on the island, plays the crucial role in getting Charlie to the Looking Glass, etc. The last we see of Desmond 1 is when he is on board the helicopter with Sayid before it goes off course.
We learn tonight that electromagnetic fields do strange things to people's perception of time. The hatch explosion radiation gave Desmond visions of the future. The strange properties of space/time around the island - in part natural, in part the result of some technology - boost Desmond's temporal powers, to the point that his consciousness is able to instantly, uncontrollably travel through time.
This turns him into Desmond 2. This Desmond first emerges and travels from the helicopter off the island to Desmond 1 back in an army camp. But once the temporal connection is made between future Desmond 2 and past Desmond 1, the original Desmond - Desmond 1 - in that training camp becomes Desmond 2.
Desmond 2 in the past, informed by Desmond 2 in his future (our present - what we're seeing on our television screen) goes to see Faraday in Oxford, and Penny in London. The instant he sees them, and gives them any information from the future, they, too, are turned into Faraday 2 and Penny 2.
The heart-warming part of this story is that Penny 2 comes to serve as Desmond 2's "constant," and Desmond 2 comes to serve as Faraday's. This saves their lives. (As we learn from the unfortunate Minkowski, having your mind moving around in time can otherwise be fatal.)
And here's something else: I've long been citing Desmond's running into Jack on the steps, in the first episode of Season 2, as one of the inexplicable coincidences which may hold the keys to what is really going on in Lost. What are the odds of Desmond having run into Jack, before Desmond wound up in the hatch on an island on which Jack crashed?
All but nil.
But now we have a rational explanation. It was not coincidence. Desmond spoke to Jack the way he did on those steps, and went to meet him there in first place, because Desmond 2 needed to talk to Jack - Desmond 2, who of course already knew everything about Jack and the island, because Desmond 2 had lived through it. Just as Desmond 2 was in touch with his earlier self in the army camp, in Oxford, in London, tonight, so Desmond 2 was in touch with his earlier self before that meeting with Jack at the stadium.
And why did Desmond need to meet and speak to Jack?
Because Desmond 2 knew how crucial Jack would be in helping Desmond get off the island, and back in touch with Penny...
See also...
Further Questions about Lost 4.4: Jack and Aaron, Kate and Sawyer
1. Lost's Back Full Paradoxical Blast 4.1 ... 4.2: Five Flashbacks and Three Rational Explanations ... 4.3: Thirty Minutes and Big Ben ... 4.4 Kate and ... ... 4.6 The True Nature of Ben ... 4.7 Flash Both Ways ... 4.8 Michael and Alex ... 4.9 Daughters, Rules, and Some Truth about Ben ... 4.10: Almost a Dream Come True ... 4.11 Unlocking Locke
and
2. More Thoughts On Lost 4.1: Those Who Went with Hurley and Those Who Stayed with Jack and Two More Points about Lost 4.1
special 10-minute podcast of this Lost review and analysis
The Plot to Save Socrates
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book
more about The Plot to Save Socrates and its time travel ...
Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!
26 comments:
the visions desmond sees after the hatch explodes are the result of him already being there, desmond is stuck in a continuing loop, he changes things slightly but he always ends up back on the island.
desmond 1 and desmond 2 is a flawed idea. the desmond that visits jack on the steps of the stadium has already been through the island a countless number of times. We haven't seen the pre-island desmond and probably never will. Even when he goes to buy the ring for penny we realize that he has already been to the island
Forget about desmond 1 and desmond 2.
"The equisite loops of time travel" is correct.
I've been reading through your post a few times and still don't quite grok the Desmond 1/Desmond 2 explanations. Are you saying that after he calls Penny in the present (Why on Earth did she take so long to pick up the phone?), he finds himself once more in the past and just stays there re-living all those years again until he comes full-circle? The odd thing is that he lost all memory of the subsequent years, so back in the past, he really knows very little about the events leading up to his future. He only knows the helicopter and the boat. He never even saw the island or Jack. So how would he know to find Jack or even what Jack looked like? I don't remember everything about the first meeting between Jack and Desmond on the island. Jack was astonished to see Desmond, but did Desmond indicate that he remembered Jack?
This was truly a great episode. I thought I had no problem understanding it, but after reading your post, I realize that there's a lot I didn't pick up on.
:) I barely understand it myself, tvindy - but that's part of the fun of time travel.
But, if my analysis is more or less correct, Desmond didn't "forget" anything.
Desmond 1 (the Desmond we see in every scene of Lost - with the exception of his meeting with Jack on the steps - until the helicopter flies into the storm) never experienced any of the scenes with Faraday at Oxford and Penny in London we saw tonight.
Those scenes all took place with Desmond 2 - or the consciousness of Desmond in 1996 bouncing back and forth with Desmond in 2008.
And I'm also hypothesizing that once Desmond 2 emerges, he supplants Desmond 1, so there was never a Desmond in this new "2" universe (and we, the audience, as outside observers, know of it).
How's that for a clarification ... :)
PS - I actually asked my daughter about Jack and Desmond's meeting in the hatch, because I couldn't quite remember. And she said Desmond does at some point indicate that he remembers Jack (and I have a vague recollection of Desmond saying that to Locke)...
I'm theorizing that the Desmond in the steps was Desmond 2, and therefore already knew Jack from the island.
oops - I left out a "1" in my comment - it should have read "never a Desmond 1 in this new "2" universe"...
I think that I understand what you're trying to explain, but I don't know that I believe it, or think that it's true. (I guess that's the wonderful things about perceptions and opinions.)
So, as not to confuse my theory with yours, I'm going to use Desmond A and Desmond B. Desmond A, being the character that we have spent time on the island and in the hatch with. Desmond B is the character we meet tonight.
Up until tonight, everything we've seen has either been the present, or flashback of Desmond A. The furthest into his past we've seen was his time in the monastery, making wine and then meets Penny at the end. When Desmond has been shown to time-travel before - mostly in the episode with FIonnula - it is Desmond A and he is fully aware of the island. Even if he thinks he's crazy at first.
This episode introduced Desmond B, where the personality of the Desmond from 1996, is being drawn into, or exchanged with the Desmond of 2004 (or the present in the show). So, he has no idea of the island, the hatch or even the boat race at this moment.
Unfortunately, this crossing of the personalities may have cancelled out the Desmond A personality...We couldn't really tell by the end of the episode whether either Desmond that we saw, was the one that had gone through the hatch. I would think that everything has now been returned to normal; with Desmond A back on the ship and Desmond B about to face some consequences that we've already seen the result of. Just because it might be bothersome to have a character asking questions that we already know - in a show full of other questions that need answering.
And those consequences being; that I'm willing to bet that Desmond left the military not with permission. Going (I don't know if this term is used in the military of other nations) AWOL can lead to jail time... Which, one of Desmond's flashbacks begins with him getting let out of prison. And so the circle continues.
This was one of my favorite episodes, and as with Locke's story, Desmond has turned into one of my favorite mysteries/puzzling characters on the show.
Presumably if this show has been as well-planned from the outset as it seems to be, then we should be able to go back and look at what Desmond has done (and had happen to him) up until now and make sense of it, since he is not a fool "enslaved by time and space". :-)
Presumably he tells Penny the frequency of the freighter, and to reach the Looking Glass station, and to have researchers look for a burst of electromagnetic radiation. His time-slippage gets him in trouble and a dishonorable discharge from the military. He goes to America to meet Libby and be given a boat.
As always, I've reflected more on this episode on my blog. Thanks for the post!
Paul,
OMG this was the greatest episode and I knew you would come up with a great theory because it's right up your alley. The one thing that you didn't pick up on was that the crew was told that these were oceanic flight survivors and Desmond really is not. I don't know if it means anything yet. They do have the manifest. Anyhow I think I will now have to rate Lost in the top 2 all time great shows.
John - Excellent rendition of my theory - even clearer than mine :)
I'm not sure I believe it, either. But your presentation made it even more convincing for me.
And, yeah, you make a good additional point about Desmond 1 and A being back with us at the end of this superb episode. Except he's an enhanced version, because he presumably has memories of both 1 and 2 (so, maybe this a Desmond 3).
James: Excellent post on your blog about the importance of constants.
Dawn and everyone: this is clearly the second best episode ever on Lost, and very close to best, which I still think would be the Season 3 finale.
And all the episodes in Season 4 have been marvelous - making this my favorite season so far (including even Season 1).
See, my favorite episodes, for the most part have all been John Locke-centric. Something about his having a connection to the island has always fascinated me, and makes me think about how humanity should act toward the earth. (But, that's getting into too much woodoo.) I do agree with whoever said - and I think that it may have been someone on James' blog - that said Locke has become a jerk - or as I thought of it, a Pig. (Animal Farm)
Desmond has quickly become my second favorite character. Love is truly his strongest motivation. Even when he runs away from it.
Anyway, what I started, and wanted to say, was that I think that this episode is much stronger than the Season 3 finale. I understand the writer's motivation to keep him alive - and sort of can appreciate the idea of Jack's - but Jack should have killed Ben after he told Tom to kill Sayid, Jin and Bernard. And that might be saying something about me, but I don't think that to be an unreasonable action to take. The best part of that episode - all obviously in my opinion - is the last couple of minutes, when we know for sure, that this is a flash-forward in time.
Well, differing opinions and all. I think that we can all agree about the quality in this episode.
Quick note in response to anon 2's comment: "We haven't seen the pre-island desmond and probably never will."
Sure we have - Desmond in the monastery in 3.17 is certainly pre-island.
But part of my analysis of last night's episode is that prior Desmonds - or all situations of Desmond 1 prior to last night - are now open to being mentally infused by Desmond 2 (or the fusion of Desmond 1 and 2 we have at the end of last night's episode). So, yes, Desmond in the monastery, Desmond buying Penny the ring, all of those situations may well now be looked at, in retrospect, as post-island Desmond influencing the thinking of his earlier self, or even taking it over...
In response to anon1: "but he [Desmond] always ends up back on the island"...
I don't see that. What evidence is there that Desmond or anyone (except maybe Richard) always ends up back on the island?
John: Interesting what you say about Jack - that it didn't ring true to you that he didn't kill Ben.
I thought just the opposite - Jack's not a killer. He was a little out of character being so violent, even though exquisitely well motivated.
But it made more sense to me that circumstances would somehow get in the way of Jack killing Ben.
As for the overall Season 3 finale: well, the flashforward is indeed the thing that make me think it's the best. And the device has also served this 4th season splendidly.
But that takes nothing away from the brilliance of last night's episode.
Wow! And to think growing up my favorite show was "Here Comes the Brides" Evolution...ain't it grand!
This episode as stated and re-stated was so good.
Two points
1. I had heard a main character ("someone we see often in the show)was going to die, I was convinced it was Desmond. I was obviously so wrong!
2. Time travel:
There are always "time travel choices and rules" to be made it seems whenever it is used... Wormhole (ala Journeyman)vs Machine (ala Back to the Future)
Observer vs Interfacer, and my favorite choice that has to be made... Can the traveler change the past, which then changes everything in the future (again ala Back to the Future and Journeyman) or are they unable to change anything (ala The Time Travelers Wife, [which also had the interesting"clothes vs no clothes issue!]) It seems Desmond is not able to change everything...as the "back home" episode last year showed us, Yet can change things a little (Changed How Charlie was going to die...)
So do you think when Desmond was having his "Charlie will be hit by lightening, drowning, arrow... etc" premonitions it was really a Desmond 3 from the future getting in his conscious, not a premonition? Maybe future Desmond stashed an Oxygen tank for Charlie and we'll see him again!
Hmmm Time travel, if you sit back and let it barely hover on your conscience it seems to make more sense than once you start explaining it!
"Time travel, if you sit back and let it barely hover on your consciousness it seems to make more sense than once you start explaining it!"
That's a great way of putting it, White Bear Girl.
The way I handle the difficulty that most time travellers have of actually changing much - the way I handle it in my novels and stories - is I posit a universe that is resistant to time travel changes, because it "wants" to preserve its current version ... (just as an organism is resistant to viruses and bacteria that could change its existence)...
I think you raise an interesting possibility that Desmond's visions in past episodes were bits of vision from Desmond 3, 4, etc that got back to Desmond 1.
But the process was different, then, because those visions didn't seem to quite have the intensity that we saw in 4.5 - and they didn't transform Desmond as much.
So, I was originally thinking, when I wrote this post, that Desmond 1 remained intact even through those visions. But your interpretation may still be right...
Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey
I thought that the episode also provided a reason for the cross-over flashbacks in past seasons (like Jack's Dad with Sawyer, Charlie playing "Wonderwall" in the streets where Des bumps into him, etc). Were these side-notes in all past flashbacks not really side-notes but examples of 'constants?' That's what I was beginning to think... However, the whole radiation exposure requirement throws a bit of a monkey-wrench into this half-baked theory... but I was just throwing it out there to see what you thought,
fadds (Brian) - yeah, that's exactly what I was getting at ...
Jack and Desmond on the steps is the first inexplicable coincidence explained (I think) by Desmond's time traveling...
There's no reason the others can't be explained that way, too - certainly any others involving Desmond...
Of course, for the inexplicable coincidences in the flashbacks in which Desmond was not a player, one of the people in the flashback (or cross-over) has to temporal experiences caused by radiation or whatever just like Desmond...
Which they would - since getting off the island (and, for all we know, coming to it), does that to you!
See my Lost: Keys To What's Really Going On...
So...
A few remaining questions
1. Does Ben know about(and manipulate)any of the time travel stuff, or is it a seperate story line.
2. Thinking about the "magnetic blast" that brought Oceanic 815 down: Desmond (I think it was him) said, it happened when they didn't punch in the code fast enough and there was a magnetic "blip" that caused the crash. So perhaps a future Desmond 3, came back to make Desmond 1 do that so he could be rescued? (or I guess that was Locke wasn't it?)
3. By being on the plane with the original magnetic blip, and certainly after the implosion, they would all have some exposure, allowing for time travel right?
4. Also this new show disproves my old theory (Which was: that 2 year old Aaron couldn't be Claire's Aaron because no one would believe that Kate had a baby in 3 months...)
5. And lastly, maybe Kate's horse, Lockes Dad, Jack's dad in a sui, and even the Polar Bear are time "traveled" some how
"And lastly, maybe Kate's horse, Lockes Dad, Jack's dad in a sui, and even the Polar Bear are time "traveled" some how"
Perhaps, but then there's Mr. Eko's brother who turned out to be the smoke monster and specifically said he wasn't Eko's brother. (What exactly is the smoke monster, anyway?)
White Bear Girl: I think all of those oddities and possibilities you list can indeed be explained by the kind of time travel we saw in 4.5
And there's no reason that Ben would not know about and manipulate those effects.
And there's no reason that every living thing that goes to and from the island wouldn't be affected to some extent the same way as Desmond (we already have seen that Eloise the mouse time traveled).
I would also add Walt and his powers as a boy in Australia (future Walt on the island was in touch with young Walt in Australia), and Libby and her intersection with Hurley (the consciousness of both of them time traveled).
Time travel's one powerful, attractive device....
But, I also think Tvindy makes a good point - there may still be oddities that are not result of time travel - such as the smoke monster. And what was it that Locke walking again at the very beginning of the series?
For quite some time now, Lost has been low interest for me. Too much mystery, not enough payoff. This episode didn't do much to help that situation, (Lost can't seem to answer a question without posing 2-3 more) but I really enjoyed it, nonetheless. I haven't enjoyed a Lost episode as much since Season 1. Why? Because it presented and solved a problem all in the same episode. Lost doesn't do that enough.
Yeah, but I think Lost is doing more of that now...
And, if I'm right in my theory about Desmond 1 and Desmond 2 finally explaining Jack and Desmond on the steps in Season 2 Ep 1, then that has certainly answered a hugely important question.
Welcome to Infinite Regress, btw! :)
So if I may jump ahead with some possibilities?
1) Juliette is Ben's constant; by evidence of his 'YOUR MINE' statement as we are led to believe its a sexual attraction when in fact he needs her to survive
2) Ben has the most control over this time jumping thing and/or what is helping to cause it
3) Ben has positive intentions, although we are led to believe otherwise. Why would Sayed be working for Ben in the future when his character is probably the most clear headed of the bunch
thoughts? Am I way off base here?
@Urbandigs,
1. Interesting, and I certainly like the idea that Ben is motivated by more than a silly crush. Still, has he known her long enough for her to be an anchor? If he goes back in time more than a few years, he won't have her. And hasn't he been with the Others longer than her? Of course, I'm thinking in the present. Perhaps all the others soon die, and he's still with Juliet 20 years from now. Maybe he's traveling back in time from way in the future. Hmmm, I like this idea.
2. Maybe, but I can't recall ever seeing any evidence for this or even that he knows about it.
3. We've seen so many temporary (albeit strained) alliances between enemies with common goals that this may turn out to be just another case of people being forced by circumstances to work together.
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