Episode 5.14 “The Variable”
Official synopsis: On the 100th episode milestone for the series, the time of reckoning has begun when Daniel Faraday comes clean regarding what he knows about the island.
Written by: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz.
Directed by: Paul A. Edwards.
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NOTE: Please, DO NOT talk about the preview for next week’s episode on this open thread. We will publish the promo tomorrow morning so you can discuss it, but no spoilers here!
Related posts:
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Episode 5.06 “316″ – Open Thread - Episode 5.09 – “Namaste” – Open Thread
- Episode 5.08 “LaFleur” – Open Thread
Tags: Episode Threads, Polls, Season 5, The Variable
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Rules for commenting.
- The Admins of SL-LOST will not tolerate any form of discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.
- Do not be rude: personal attacks and destructive criticism will get you banned.
- Use only English. Please use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
- Please keep your comments relevant to the blog entries.
If you don't follow these simple rules you will be permanently banned from SL-LOST.com.
April 29th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
i hope farrady is not dead but i think he will be healed in the next episode in the temple
April 29th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
wow, I wonder if that was the “big death” we’ve been waiting for or is someone else gonna die… cant wait for next week
April 29th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
WE JUST GOT HIM BACK! C’MONNNN!
He’s one of my favorite characters…damnit.
April 29th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
awesome episode. lots of answers. this is what every episode next season will be like
April 29th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Wow! Still reeling. I can tell this years finale is going to be huge. The wait for S6 is going to kill me.
April 29th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
faraday has to be healed in the next episode, he was just brought back, why would darlton bring him back then kill him, although eloise hawking did say she made the sacrfice of bringin him back to island then is cut off by widmore CANT WAIT FOR FINALE GONNA B REDICOULOUS
April 29th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Oh man… i hope you are right about him being healed…
I didn’t even think of that.
Only thing…
Old Widmore and and Old Eloise seemed sad about sending Daniel back.
Would they be sad if they knew he would be healed?
Perhaps…
I wish Eloise would have told him to wear a bulletproof vest… like Marty told Doc.
Notice the scene where Daniel says Chang will be here in 10 minutes?
That reminded me of BTTF 2 where Doc said wait just a minute and it will stop raining.
I wonder if they really can “change” the past…?
April 29th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
i think kate will die
jack looked at her too weird after the ANYONE CAN DIE comment
April 29th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
I liked this episode. Honestly I was expecting a little more. The first 1/2 hour was kind of slow.
I had a hintch that Dan was Charles’ son. I guess the reason why Eloise hates Widmore is because he had a child with another woman off the island.
Now, did Richard really didn’t recognize Daniel at the camp? That’s unusual… Also, one of the reason why Ellie shot Dan might be because he disappeared before her eyes last time they met…
Good episode after all. Looking forward to next episode. How Sawyer is going to get out of that hot spot will certainly be interesting!
April 29th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
It was definitely not good in the same way that the constant was good. Still loved it.
In a way you could say Widmore caused the death of Daniel by having a child with someone off the island [or whatever ben said].
This caused him and his fam to get banished, and set up the series of events that sent Daniel to his death.
April 29th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Wow next week looks amazing I can’t wait.
I agree this one started a bit slow but I really enjoyed where it ended up.
Some thoughts:
I liked how they paralled the Desmond-Penny story with Faraday as well… the constant vs. the variable
When Elouise shoots Dan she shoots him in the back. All she sees is a Dharma man threatening Alpert so I guess she just fired without thinking.
I wanna see what Jack and Kate do next. Will they tell Elouise/Alpert everything?
Charles knows where Penny is now. Will he let her stay with Desmond? I doubt it
Aaaand where is Charles? Sayid? Locke?
Favorite quote: “For the first time in a long time, I don’t know what will happen next…”
April 29th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
I hope they don’t actually kill him. I mean, everyone that dies, eventually comes back for a flashback, a vision, or they ACTUALLY come back alive. I’m just glad that Desmond got some attention and screen time…
April 29th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Awesome episode! The most confusing thing for me is the journal…so Eloise gives Faraday the journal in the 90′s, Faraday obtains info on time travel in his experiments at Oxford…Desmond goes to him in 1998 and Faraday saves him…Somewhere along the way he obtains info on the fact that desmond is going to be his constant?? He also obtains info on almost everything on the island which I am assuming he all gets from Widmore. Then…he goes to the island…experiments with the unique properties of the island…finds out that he is going to tell charlotte to leave the island…so faraday leaves the island to do his research which is where I am assuming he somehow gets info on everything that happens on the island but does not expect the oceanic six to return to the island. So, once he sees the picture, he goes back to make sure everything happens according to plan, like his mom, and dies. I am still confused on the journal cause we see it with him on the island when he dies…and see it with him when he enters the island in 2004. The only explanation is that the journal Eloise gave him had the notes from himself? It looked brand new…so idk about that…I think it’s two different journals..one for 2004 and one for 1977. But still…how did he know what was going to exactly happen when chang arrived at the orchid??
Juliet was wearing a red shirt..hmmmm…
The island did not completely heal him cause he still had memory problems with Charlotte in season 4.
Only 2 more weeks of season 5…so pumped.
April 29th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Boom,
Maybe he was only partially healed in 2004 because he had just arrived.
By the time he left on the sub in the 70′s to go to ann arbor, he was back to pretty much 100%.
He must have written “desmond is my constant” in his journal when Desmond visited him because he knew he might need a constant in the future if his future self was sending someone back to his past self.
April 29th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
THEY KILLED THE PUPPY?!!?!?!?!?!! WWWWWHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYY????????!!!!!!!!!!!
April 29th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
OMG I’m pissed at that guy…boom
You cant just insinuate that Juliet will die like that!? lol You want me to faint?
I will absolutely stop watching lost if they kill juliet. she already doesnt do anything, leave her alone!
April 29th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
what about the comicon video with chang and faraday? It seemed like everything was moving too fast for that to get filmed… here’s hoping that jack or kate as variables convince elloise to take faraday to the temple!
April 30th, 2009 at 12:05 am
Good point Greenblack… Obviously Faraday and Chang didn’t record that video yet. So I believe we might yet see Faraday, Richard might bring him to the Temple or the Island will save him somehow… Good catch!
April 30th, 2009 at 12:46 am
hes dead, trust. hes supposed too.
April 30th, 2009 at 1:15 am
Another great episode!
The two weeks was rough!
I am loving getting more and more pieces to this puzzle!
I think that with Widmore, Eloise, Ben fighting..
Jacob is going to put his foot down!
He has let people time and time again mess up the island..and I think he is going to fix it once and for all!
Team Jacob:
Christian
Locke
Richard
Its really hard to place people on teams..but we will see after next weeks episode who stands where.
If Jack ever wanted to know what his destiny was..now is the time..
Now that Jack has no “Locke” or no “Faraday” only his journal, I am hoping the island has given him the tools to do what he needs to do. His fellow 815ers is all he has..they need to come together and do the “right” thing!
Will he find his purpose..and NOT destroy the hatch..
or
Will he want to land safely in L.A..
Once again faced with the decision to leave the Island…I hope Jack doesn’t make the same mistake twice!
P.S
I am reminded of the great quote from Spider Man:
“With great power, comes great responsibility”
-Uncle Ben
The island is very special..is there anyone responsible enough to harness and understand the power of the island?
April 30th, 2009 at 3:37 am
Jonine just inspired a thought…
WHAT IF…
The “ghosts” are people that are supposed to be alive, but are not because of the series of events that brought 815 to the island?
They are helping and guiding 815 to put things right so that they really do never crash.
In other words.
The incident happens… hatch and button are built.. plane crashes… 815ers disrupt past present and future.
Richard and the others see this, but there is nothing they can do about it…
815 has violated and destroyed what made the island special
The one thing they can do, since they control time, is to go back in time, OFF the island, and manipulate WHO will be on flight 815.
That is why abbaddon is directing john locke to do the walkabout.
Perhaps there are circumstances like this for ALL the characters.
Perhaps, if the Others had not interfered in the lives of the people who eventually fly on or associated with 815, they [christian, yemi, alex, claire, etc] would be alive and well.
Since there was a timeline wherein they did exist, they still exist in someway [ghost] in this timeline.
Perhaps crazy…
April 30th, 2009 at 7:02 am
I doubt that Daniel will die. If you disagree, think of the video in which Daniel is telling Chang about Bush and the internet… he didn’t do that yet did he?
April 30th, 2009 at 7:36 am
I am upset with Kate and Jacks lack of involvement when faraday goes alone. Its not in their previous nature to let someone go alone. Especially since Kate has been around the others (of this time) before, she could have smoothed the meeting over..and Dan waving his gun around..sure sign of trouble. Duh!! Why?
April 30th, 2009 at 8:10 am
@ Jarrod
That is a good theory! It seemed like “destiny” put everyone on 815, and what if “free will” can stop them from being on the plane.
interesting!
April 30th, 2009 at 8:22 am
what video are you guys talking about with Daniel and mr chang?
April 30th, 2009 at 8:48 am
http://www.sl-lost.com/2009/03/23/mondays-lost-debate-where-is-faraday/
Check out the vid on that page, pretty sure that it’s Daniel Faraday operating the camera….
April 30th, 2009 at 10:35 am
I’ve just watched that video again and although Faraday is in it, I think it would be pretty easy of them to change their minds. After all it was only created for Comic-Con and wasn’t shown on TV so not everyone knows about it.
Is annoying if they do go against it but the statement from Carlton and Damon seems to confirm that he is very dead and not coming back.
The message from Eloise in the journal is very poignant and is a big hint to his death like half-way through the episode.
Also my girlfriend noticed that the beats he counts, 864, is 8 times 108. They just keep fitting those numbers in there!
April 30th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Does anybody else heared Daniel saying “destroy energy”?? I think that´s a huge mistake man. Anyone who studied Physics know that energy can´t be destroyed or created, but only transformed.. (sorry for the bad english)..
April 30th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
@Jarrod:
What your describing is the plot of Donnie Darko! Have you seen it? Great movie.
In any case, in Donnie Darko, a catastrophic event happens that causes a tangent universe (alternate timeline) that will ultimately lead to the end of time/destruction of the universe/etc. if certain key actions by various people aren’t taken. This is all detailed in “The Philosophy of Time Travel” and its only a six page book with huge text that everyone should read because the story it outlines is VERY similar to lost: http://giama.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/the-philosophy-of-time-travel.pdf
I’ll paraphrase here: A tangent universe occurs when a jet airplane engine falls out of the sky into Donnie Darkos room—he isnt there. Donnie Darko, referred to as the living reciever (possible Jacob substitute), must make sure certain things happen so that when the moment comes that a plane flys into a wormhole in the future and drops the jet engine on Donnie Darkos room in the past. If he does not make this happen then the universe will collapse. Donnie is guided by a spirit Frank. The spirit guide are people that will die in the tangent universe–called the manipulated dead. The spirit guide sets up a variety of “coincidences” that lead Donnie on the right path. The manipulated living are anybody that are close to Donnie, neighbors, friends, etc. who don’t know whats going on but are involved none-the-less. Once the primary universe is restored they wake up in their beds either without memory of what happened or they are haunted by their experience in their dreams.
Basically the biggest comparison to be drawn with Lost is that the time construct in both Donnie Darko and Lost is unstable and spirits or whoever are trying to guide “the variables” along a path that will restore the space-time continuum.
April 30th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
You’re totally right Callum… I had not thought of that, but I love Donnie Darko.
May 1st, 2009 at 9:28 am
@ Nathan
Watching Daniel being shot the first thought that occurred to me was the Comic Con video.
Now that the writers have confirmed that Dan is dead confuses me more as to why did they have to show that video with Dan’s voice? Was it just to leave us pondering?
Loved the episode anyway. I’m afraid waiting for Season 6 is gonna be harder than the previous wait.