PAGING DOCTOR NOAH DRAKE TO TREAT A CASE OF HEARTBREAK
After kicking Ben’s ass, Desmond is rushed to the hospital to have his gunshot wound patched up. While Penny waits for word on her husbands condition, Eloise comes strolling in as only Eloise can. She comments on Charlie Hume’s hair and says she knows Desmond. She adds that she thinks it was her sons fault that Desmond was shot. Penny thinks she is Ben’s mother but she says she is Daniel Faraday’s mother. We all knew that by now right?
ALL I GOT IS A PHOTOGRAPH AND I REALISE YOUR NOT COMING BACK ANYMORE
Dan tells Miles he came back to the island because of the picture with Hurley, Kate, and Jack in it. Apparently this is something he didn’t see happening. Is it now possible he thinks that somehow the future can be changed. Dan goes to see Jack to find out how they got back to the island and in 1977. Jack tells Dan that his mother told them how to get back to the island. Dan tells Jack that his mother was wrong. So here is Dan’s plan, all in a nutshell: 1) Get to the island a few hours before a catastrophic incident that he has full advanced knowledge of. 2) Convince Chang he's a time traveler and have him evacuate a hundred or so people from the island with the sub. 3) Get the 815Er's to help him meet up with Mommy. 4) Find and detonate an atomic warhead. Sounds like a plan! I guess the important thing is Dan’s attitude of Whatever Happened, Happened has changed and things can be different with a little help.
SING US A SONG YOU’RE THE PIANO MAN
Dan is told by his mother that he cannot play the piano anymore because he doesn’t have time to do science and math as well. For the first time, we get a character that has “Mommy Issues”. Dan says he can make time. Eloise says she wishes he could do just that. Looking ahead to the end of the episode, take into consideration this is a woman who at this point in her life already knows she will end up killing her adult son years later when he time travels his way back to the island in a time when she herself was still on the island. She cannot fight her fate anymore than Ben, Widmore, or even Locke could.
WE ALL NEED TO DO SOMETHING TRY TO KEEP THE TRUTH FROM SHOWING UP
Dan makes for the Orchid station with Miles. Jack goes to see Sawyer and tells him about Dan being back on the island. Sawyer gives Jack a “yeah OK, thanks” and starts to close the door on Jack. Juliette tells Sawyer to tell Jack about what is going on. Sawyer gives Jack the lowdown on the video tape and then introduces Jack to Phil, who is tied up in the closet. Two episodes ago Juliette knew that her and Sawyers’ time was coming to an end with the DI. It took Sawyer a little longer to come to grips with it. The look on his face tells us when he arrives at this realization. Even if it was just a temporary happiness, it was some of the best happiness he has ever known in his life.
NO ONE EVER SAID IT WOULD BE SO HARD I’M GOING BACK TO THE START
Dan goes down into the Orchid with notebook in hand and we are watching the beginning of the season all over again. Dan tells Chang that he has to evacuate the island. The energy that killed the one man under ground at the Orchid site will also spill out at the site of the Swan station. The result will be of catastrophic proportions. Dan doesn’t hold back, he even goes as far to tell Chang that he is from the future. Dan shows him his notebook and tells him that he has equations that he couldn’t have unless he is from the future. Miles tries to stop the conversation. Dan tells Chang that his son and Miles are the same. How many Chinese men named Miles do you know? More than I know who have red hair and are named Rusty! Chang asks Miles if all of that is true and Miles tells him it is not. Thanks a lot Miles, either he is still going with Dan's idea of "WH,H" or he is trying to change the future a little bit for himself. Think about it if Chang doesn't get his wife and child off of the island them perhaps Miles could have a relationship with his father. Dan tells Miles he is trying to get Chang to do what he is supposed to do. Which is what, exactly?
RUNNING IN CIRCLES COMING IN TAILS HEADS ON A SCIENCE APART
Dan and Theresa are together at Dan’s graduation from Oxford University. Eloise takes him out to lunch to celebrate but she tells him that she only made reservations for two. Eloise corrects Dan when he calls Theresa his girlfriend and tells him she is his research assistant. She can be nothing more because Dan will never have time for women to be in his life and they will only get hurt. Dan tells her he is getting a research grant from someone named Charles Widmore. Eloise gives Dan his famous notebook with a nice inscription inside the front cover before she leaves.
SHOTGUN WILLIE GOT ALL OF HIS FAMILY THERE
Sawyer has the whole group in his house discussing what they have to do next. They have two choices, either leave the island on the sub or run back into the jungle. Jin says he won’t leave the island if there is still a chance that Sun is also there. Hurley agrees. Dan arrives and Sawyer asks Miles if he is still crazy. Miles says that Dan is worse than he was before. Dan tells them that he needs to find the hostiles so he can find his mother who is one of them.
LEFT ME STANDING ALL ALONE ALONE AND CRYING
We revisit another scene originally from Daniel's first flashback. He is seeing the wreckage of flight 815 being discovered on the news and he is crying. Widmore pays a visit and it seems that Dan may already have some sort of time jump sickness that Desmond had. Widmore questions Dan some more about why he is so upset at seeing the plane crash. Dan says it is sad that all of the people on the plane are dead. Widmore tells Dan the plane is a fake and that he put it there. He adds that some of the people from the plane crash are on an island and are still there and alive. Finally we have verbal proof from Widmore himself that is was indeed him that put the fake plane crash wreckage in the ocean. Widmore tells Dan that he can tell all of this to Dan because he knows Dan will forget all of it. Widmore tells Dan he wants him to go to the island and adds that it will heal Dan’s mind. Does Widmore know Desmond is Dan’s constant and that he needs to see him to get over the sickness? Daniel tells Widmore he sounds like his mother. Widmore tells Dan that it is because his mother and he are old friends.
THEY SAY THAT BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO
Sawyer asks Dan about his mother being an Other and Dan says that Sawyer met her when they time jumped to 1954. Hurley has one of the best lines when he asks about “Fonzie time”. Sawyer says he won’t help Dan but Jack says that they should because they don’t belong there. Sawyer reminds Jack that he belonged there just fine until they got back to the island. Jack asks Kate if she know where the hostiles are. Jack tries to convince her by saying that whatever she came back to the island for it isn’t where they are now. Seems to be true to me. In fact, I think Kate, Jack, and Hurley are only there to convince the rest of the group that they have to leave the DI in order to get to where they belong as well. The time of the DI is coming to an end for Sawyer and Juliette and the rest of the time jumpers. They had to let go of their island life just as the rest had to let go of their off island lives. When Sawyer says to Kate; “Come with us Freckles.”, it throws up a red flag to Juliette. She quickly gives Kate the code to the sonic fence and tells her to take Dan with her. “It’s over for us here anyway.”, she comments. What exactly is over for them? Playing house with Sawyer or their time with the DI or perhaps both. Dan asks Miles to take him and Miles throws in with Sawyer and gives Dan the keys to the van. Sawyer tells them that if they change their mind he will meet them at the beach.
QUESTIONS OF SCIENCE AND PROGRESS DON‘T SPEAK AS LOUD AS MY HEART
Kate and Jack go to the motor pool to get some weapons. Why exactly are there so many weapons in the motor pool? Dan goes and speaks to a young Charlotte who is on the swing set. That swing set deserves it's own flashback episode! He has the meeting with Charlotte that he said he was going to avoid but now he thinks he can things. The last words Charlotte ever said to Daniel about not being allowed to have chocolate before dinner, were also the first words she ever said to him. Afterwards, Dan makes his way to the motor pool and Radzinski shows up with his group of men. We get a nice shoot out scene as the three of them make their escape.
I WAS JUST GUESSING AT NUMBERS AND FIGURES PULLING THE PUZZLES APART
Dan is trying to play piano but doesn’t appear to be so good at it anymore. Eloise walks in and tells him he should accept Widmore’s offer. Dan says he can’t do the math anymore. He agrees to go only after Eloise tells him that she will be proud of him for going. The chance that the island could heal him isn’t enough to make him go. He was still looking for his mother’s approval.
WHO’S GOT MY BACK NOW WHEN ALL WE HAVE IS DECEPTION?
At the sonic fence Dan tells Jack any of them could die, at any time. I wonder if this is some foreshadowing for a future Jack death? It couldn’t have been for Dan’s death, that would be too easy. Meanwhile back in Dharma Ville, Sawyer asks Juliette if she still has his back and she asks him if he still has hers. She also tells him she will tell him “I told you so.”, when they get back to the beach. Outside, the alarm sounds and Hurley and Jin see Radzinsky and his men going into Sawyers’ house. I have no idea what Jin said here so if anyone knows can you let me in on it? Sawyer tries to calm Radzinsky down but Phil gives them away and Sawyer and Juliette are now the DI’s prisoners.
TELL ME YOUR SECRETS AND NURSE ME YOUR QUESTIONS
Dan tells Jack what he knows about the island and what his plan is. The Swan hatch and the cement being there like Chernobyl is something Jack already knows about, Dan is now starting to make sense to Jack. He goes on to tell them about the button, Desmond, and the plane crash. All of these are in the chain of events that are about to begin. Dan tells Jack and Kate about people being variables and that is how the past can be changed. He says that he must prevent the Swan hatch from ever being built. He tells them that in order to do that he has to detonate a hydrogen bomb. Kate has a great “Oh really?/Oh shit!” look on her face. I’m still not exactly sure how Eloise is supposed to help them get to where they are supposed to be but I guess it is in their own time period where Ben and Locke are. I’m also going on belief in the fact that Dan knows what he is talking about.
IT’S TWO HEARTS LIVING IN TWO SEPARATE WORLDS
Eloise tells Penny that Desmond is another casualty in a conflict that is bigger than any of them. Eloise also tells Penny that for the first time in her life she has no idea what is about to happen. This could point to the fact that something has already changed in the past and this is why she has no idea what is going to happen next. The nurse shows up and tells Penny that Desmond is recovering and is going to be fine. Des tells Penny that he made her a promise that he would never leave her and he meant it. This could possibly be the last time we will see Penny and Desmond. It seems as though their story could now be done. Outside the hospital, Eloise meets with Widmore and she tells him that Desmond is fine. She tells him that he should go in and see his daughter. Widmore says that his relationship with his daughter is something he had to sacrifice. Eloise tells Widmore that she had to send her son back to the island knowing … a nice place to interrupt the conversation as Widmore adds that Dan is his son as well. Bitch Slap! Oddly enough, both of them sent Daniel back to the island by telling him that the island would cure him which it did but they also both knew going to the island would be his death.
I HAD TO FIND YOU, TELL YOU I NEED YA AND TELL YOU I SET YOU APART
Jack tells Kate he is getting used to insane as they arrive at the hostiles camp. Kate tells Jack that what Dan is talking about doing will erase everything that has happened to them. I’ve always thought, as well as a lot of other people, that LOST will end the same way it began. For awhile now I have felt that the show is taking us around one big circle and where do circles lead you? Right back to the beginning. Just a little FYI, did you know that other than LOST the show was almost called “Nowhere” as well as “Circle”? I’m not really sure what all that points to but Dan goes into the hostiles camp with his gun drawn. He shoots at one of the Others and demands to see Eloise. Richard tells him she is not there. Dan asks Richard where the bomb is and tells him he has three seconds to tell him where Eloise is. Richard tells Dan to lower the gun that nobody has to get hurt. Dan begins to count down from three and a shot rings out (in the Memphis sky). Did anyone else think Richard got shot? Richard seemed to flinch as if he was, but alas, it was poor Twitchy who falls. Then Dan sees his mother. He tells her that she knew this was going to happen and she sent him anyway. She asks Dan who he is and he tells her that he is her son. Throughout the episode Daniel thought of himself as a “Variable”, however the fact that Eloise killed him, and she apparently knew she was going to kill him, then he isn’t the Variable at all but is a “Constant”. Dan was always killed by his mother on the island in 1977. But, just because he's killed, does that mean his equations and conclusions were incorrect? Or was he just a victim of poor execution? Even Jack could see that his plan for diplomatic relations with the hostiles totally sucked, and when Jack's making wincing faces at your plan, well, that's just not a good sign.
WHATEVER HAPPENED, HAPPENED VERSUS THE VARIABLE
For weeks we have been told that “WH,H” but in this episode it is shown that Eloise and Widmore are working awful hard to get Daniel on the freighter with the rest of the group. If it was always supposed to happen, why do they have to push so hard? Why does fate need people to play it’s sheriffs and deputies? I’ll let Vozzek69 explain it:
To say that "WH,H", you're saying that the past is irreversible. But who's past are you talking about? How do you qualify the perspective of that particular past? Like Daniel tells Jack, "this is our present". To them, everything they're experiencing in Dharma is not something they've already experienced in the past. Which is why Daniel doesn't have a scar on his neck when Jack meets him. Taking this into account, every day that dawns is a new future for Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sawyer, Miles, etc. This new day is filled with potential possibilities for them because, unlike their past, it's not yet set in stone. They can change things, even if they don't yet realize it, which seems to be why people like Hawking try so hard to convince them that they can't. WHH works when you consider that the past "is the past". But although these people time traveled back to 1977, it's a 1977 where they weren't supposed to be (Daniel's exact words to Jack). This isn't the "true" past as it once happened. This is a new past, which becomes their present, which is filled with all new potential future possibilities. This allows for change WITHOUT changing the past. They're not altering the past, they're changing their future. You have to look at it from their perspective, not from the perspective of someone on the outside, like us, sitting here in 2009.
FINAL THOUGHTS
'He has always pressed it, and he always will. We always let him and we always will let him. The moment is structured that way.’ is a quote from Slaughterhouse Five. Slaughterhouse-Five is a science fiction novel by Kurt Vonnegut. The novel tells the story of a wayward soldier, Billy Pilgrim, and his experiences with time travel. Daniel crying at the television is reminiscent of Billy Pilgrim's memory loss and random tears in the book. Daniel uses Miles in an attempt to convince Dr. Chang he is from the future, which is similar to Billy Pilgrim using someone to convince his daughter he had been to the future. When Daniel mentions how he had previously never considered the variable, humans, he mentions their "free will," which set them apart from scientific equations. This is a popular theme in the Slaughterhouse Five book, as the Tralfamadorians (aliens that kidnap Billy) claim that free-will is unique to the human race.
Three hours of episodes left this season.
13 comments:
Quick comment. . .I can't believe they killed off Faraday. I loved his character. Very sad to see him go.
I still believe there is more to the scene of Daniel crying in front of the TV. I am not satisfied with the answer we are given. They made it out to seem much more canon then it turned out to be. . . I still believe that could actually be a scene from the 3yrs he spent off the island. We still don't know what time period Daniel arrived at after leaving the island. Or how he left for that matter. The writers have confirmed that his Full Time status is no longer needed. Which leads me to believe we may get a flashback next season answering some of these questions.
If the video from Comic Con turns out to be Canon to the show, then we have yet to see that happen. That is of course, if Daniel is the actual person operating the camera, which it sounds very much like his voice.
This show is killing me. I have a headache just trying to wrap my head around all of this.
Either way, I still don't believe his story is completely finished. Not yet. . .
Here is a great comment from someone on DarkUFO:
"I think you are reading to much into Ellie no longer knowing what happens next. It is not because of some crazy change due to Desmond's actions. It is because this is where Daniel's journal ends. He dies with his ever-present journal in his possession in 1977. His mother reads the journal to verify his claims of being her son. And knows everything that happens for the next thirty years. The last relevant info in the journey to her timeline is that some of the Oceanic 6 appear at Dharma Initiative. Once Jack, Kate, and Hurley are on the way back to the Island, for the first time in a long time she doesn't know what is next. Remember the hospital scene, must occur the same day they board the plane even though it has been weeks for us."
To add to this. . . Also she would know everything up to that point because in next weeks episode Kate and Jack will probably expain to young Eloise that she put them on 316 in the future, and everything they know up to that point.
Just thought I would post that.
Fink,
You keep your nasty, patchy posts to yourself!
My, a "General Hospi-tale" quote in the first subheading. How musical you is!
"Eloise comes strolling in as only Eloise can". Ha! I've liked the actress who plays Eloise Hawking (Fionewellawella whatever her name is) ever since she played the Irish maid in the Borden home in THE LEGEND OF LIZZIE BORDEN with Elizabeth Montgomery. I still don't understand why Eloise thinks it was Daniel's fault that Desmond got shot, tho. And on top of it all, him being Penny's half brother and all.
Ah, your next subheading is a Ringo Starr song . . . Fink Master Flash should be really pleased!
Awwwwww, Rusty! Fink! Cheeks mentioned Rusty. We know a Rusty. Of course he doesn't have red hair -- in fact, it was dreadlocks. And then he had to cut them off for a new job. And then he lost all his power.
This is called a digression with glaring worries about the mental stability of the person writing this.
It is puzzling to me why Eloise insists that Daniel take Widmore up on his offer to send him to the island -- knowing all along that she's gonna shoot him when he gets there. Since she DOES shoot him (and apparently he dies), then whatever he went to the island to accomplish he didn't do. So, why would it be so important to her to send her son to the island knowing he would fail in his plan and she'd shoot him?
"Whatever Kate came back to the island for it isn't where they are." Definitely, if her statement about going back to find Claire has any truth to it. I think ANOTHER reason is the one you said - to try to convince them that they don't belong there. But I really think the main reason is Kate's stated attempt to find Claire -- if Evangeline's performance in the scene with Claire's mother is any indication.
Can I just say at this moment that the scene between Juliette and Sawyer when they finally have to leave the Dharma Initiative ("You still got my back?") was I think my favourite in the episode. Superb performance by Lizzy. I also loved how, after Sawyer slipped and called Kate "Freckles", Juliette gave them the code to the sonic fence. Priceless! Your comment that Juliette knew their time in the DI was coming to an end before it sunk in for Sawyer is right on. This is of course because Juliette is a realist who adapts really well when the shit hits the sonic fence -- while Sawyer is a romantic (that's why he's so moody and puts up that "Sawyer front"). Your question about "Exactly WHAT is over for them" I think shows a very real fear in Juliette's mind that the relationship with Sawyer couldn't last. That's what I've always thought too. However, the scene I mentioned about ("You still got my back") I think showed a surprising strength in the relationship on Sawyer's part that could surprise both Juliette and we the audience in the future.
Oh and can I just say how much hotter the dark blue Dharma jumpsuit is on Kate then those drab beigey/khaki jumpsuits on the rest. When Kate went off with Jack and Daniel in her blue jumpsuit she was the cat's knees AND the bee's pajamas!
I myself wouldn't mind seeing a flashback episode devoted to the swingset. Of course, my FAVOURITE swingset moment was when Sayid was handcuffed to it and the handcuffs fell off his wrists. In the blooper reel, of course.
Oh, the exact translation for what Jin said in Korean in that scene is: "If you take cranberries and stew them like apple sauce they taste more like prunes than rhubarb does." You're welcome.
I really REALLY liked Kate's reaction when Jack told her that they could prevent everything they've gone thru from happening. Kate had the same reaction I had -- well, I don't know if we SHOULD change everything since we survived all of it already and WHO KNOWS what could happen if we change everything. Better the Devil you know...as Neil Finn sang.
I think the explanation for Eloise not knowing what's going to happen anymore (that Fink quoted above) is probably the correct answer. That's all Daniel's journal has to offer and from here on out we're flying blind. Your comment about this possibly being the last time we see Desmond and Penny (while something I never thought of before) could very well be true but I don't think so. Even if they don't have anymore function in the storyline, I think TPTB will at least show them one more time before the series ends. The simple fact that Penny is Widmore's daughter probably guarantees at least a glimpse of them again. Also there's the whole question of whether it will be revealed to her that Daniel is her half brother. This ESPECIALLY goes if Jack etc. actually DO manage to make the whole series "not happen" - which means that Desmond will never go to the island to push the button and where does that leave he and Penelope -- will they ever have gotten together, gotten married and had a son named Charlie???
No, I didn't think that Richard had been shot. Actually, when he told Daniel to "put the gun down so no one would get hurt" I think Richard had foreknowledge of what was going to happen (he's a time travelling scamp, intee) and was trying one last warning to save prevent Daniel's death. Worth a thought. I adored your comment about "When Jack makes wincing faces at YOUR plans..." Actually, I think TPTB, after writing Jack first as a leader and then as a total fuckup - are now bringing HIS character full circle in that he will slowly become more competent and successful. I also am looking forward to the previously mentioned "regrouping and rise of the 815ers" once again and this might be beginning to happen. . .if we can only get them all back together and fighting for the same purpose again.
Vozzek's comments seem to be skirting the idea of the theory about travelling back into time and changing things causing an infinite number of new "alternate universes" with each new action. This would, of course, make it possible to "change the past" -- although it would merely create a splinter reality alongside the "old" reality of the past: parallel universes -- one in which all we've seen happen in the past happened and another in which it all didn't.
Three hours left of the season?!? Fersnizzles!
But if you want to know how I really feel; get the cameras rolling, get the action going.
How do you like it how do you like it?
I dont believe Desmond and Penny's story is over yet. Not by a long shot. I hold to my belief that Desmond flashed to a time we have yet to see where Claire and Aaron do in fact get on a helicopter(not sure how since Aaron is off-island but it is plausible). I dont believe Desmond to be the type of person to lie to Charlie for his own self gain. Desmond clearly can change the future. He saved Charlies life several times until he realized Charlie must turn off the jammer. If Desmond would have let Charlie die when he was supposed to(drowning to save claire or smashing his head in on the rocks try to retrieve a bird) then the jammer could not have been turned off. Charlie was the only one who could do it given his musical abilities and knowledge of the chords for 'Good Vibrations'. So Desmond was able to change the course of events allowing the freighter to make it to the island, them leaving on a helicopter, and Penny finding Desmond. That could not have happened without Desmonds intervention in Charlies death.
Desmond will surely be back. The writers wouldn't say he is "unique" and hint that he can change the future/past and then just drop his story. Not cool! I dont't believe he will be back in Dharma time though. That is done with.
I think there is more of an end game that we dont know about yet. No matter what they do, there will always be the swan hatch, and the FDW, and the Incident. Season 6 may be preventing the bigger picture that we havent been filled in on. I dont believe the show will end as it began. We are watching Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sawyer, Sayid, and Jins present timeline. Sure they will once again be on 815 and crash on the island. That falls under WHH. That was their past. But we don't know what happens to present day 06'ers. That will hopefully be the story of season 6 and preventing this end game.
Sidenote, I think it may be possible that they contain the energy from the swan with the concrete i.e Chernobyl(sp). Like they always have. We may just see what the failsafe was in the upcoming season finale. Dan wanted to blow up the hydrogen bomb to negate the energy from the swan. Well by pushing the button every 108 minutes they have 'negated' that energy. But when Locke doesnt push that button the energy is released and now has to be negated another way. This is where the hydrogen bomb would come into play. What if the failsafe IS the hydrogen bomb??
There seems to be a growing debate on Whatever Happened, Happened, and the side which believes that things can be changed. I fall into the WHH category. I think this season has just been a way for the writers to give us the backstory on the Dharma Initiative and the Hostiles. If the writers were to write it as if things can be changed that would introduce time paradoxes which I believe they would not want to touch. So they will probably stay on the WHH storyline and finish Season 6 in present day 2007. I strongly disagree with Vozzek's post on DarkUFO. Whatever Happened, Happened.
Hmmm nice thoughts on the failsafe being the bomb. As far as what Desmond saw (Claire and Aaron getting on the helicopter) I think he saw Aaron and Kate and just assumed it was Claire.
After some thought, I think you are right about Desmond seeing Claire and Aaron getting on the helicopter. My logic was flawed, if I was to support WHH. Under that, Desmond would always save charlie and then let him decide to turn the jammer off. Desmond will always cause the events to bring the freighter to the island. Otherwise, Faraday would never have made it to the island to go back in time. . .and so on.
I didn't realize I would need a physics degree to watch the show. I mean shit, it is nearly impossible to predict where this show is gonna go.
BTW, good job as always on the blog!
I hope you welcome my debates and banter, if not just tell me to shove off:-D
no i like the debates and banter it would be boring if we didnt have some different opinions or have debates over what is to happen and what has already happened. and yes your right about the degree to watch this show.
I also think right before Daniel dies he reverts back to his WHH frame of mind. His admission to this was saying to Ellie that 'you always knew and you sent me anyway'.
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