sl-LOST.com » Desmond

LOST/Dr Who Mashup Shirt Available on TeeFury Today Only

SL-LOST — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:07:20 +0000

Today TeeFury.com has this great LOST/Dr Who mashup shirt on sale for $10. Get one before it’s too late!

LOST’s Henry Ian Cusick Lands on Shonda Rhimes Drama Pilot

SL-LOST — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 16:00:29 +0000

Lost veteran Henry Ian Cusick is returning to ABC with a lead role on the network’s untitled Shonda Rhimes pilot about professional fixer Olivia Price (Kerry Washington) and her dysfunctional staff.

Cusick will play what is considered by some the male lead on the show, a handsome, intense and brilliant litigator who works for Olivia.

Henry Ian Cusick: “I miss LOST greatly”

SL-LOST — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:01:07 +0000

“I miss it greatly,” the actor admitted with a huge sigh. “And I was very nervous when it finished because I didn’t know what was going to happen.

“All of the cast members miss the show but that’s the way it is. That’s life.

“We all knew it was going to come to an end and we knew this for quite a while, so we all started to look forward to the next challenge in our lives.

“Lost was the longest job I’ve ever had and I’m certainly in a better position than I was five years ago before my Lost experience started.

“You never know what’s around the corner – and you never know if it’s going to be good or bad.”

Read the complete interview at Dailyrecord.co.uk.

“I was no longer Henry Ian Cusick, I was Desmond”

SL-LOST — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:11:55 +0000

The Examiner’s Matt Carter interviewed LOST’s Henry Ian Cusick and “Law & Order: SVU” showrunner Neal Baer to talk about Ian’s upcoming guest appearance on the NBC show:

Matt Carter: Henry, after being on such a successful show for so long, how important was it to get back on TV soon? What drove to this project in particular?

Henry Ian Cusick: I was looking to get back into TV right away — I was looking to get away from Desmond. I was no longer Henry Ian Cusick, I was Desmond. So I wanted to shed that skin. Then when I met Neal and he called me into his office I was very charmed by him. I talked quickly to the writers [about the characters] and I was sold, really. It was as simple as that. I like them, I like their idea, and it seemed like a really cool thing to get involved with — so I went for it.

So how would you two describe the character of Erik Weber?

Cusick: He’s a graphic designer that you meet very early on in the episode, and he’s very taken right away with Mariska Hargitay’s character and tries to help them out.

Neal Baer: I know ['Lost' executive producer] Carlton Cuse very well, so I joked that ‘Carlton, we’re going to take everyone from Lost and put them on. We’ve run out of people from Oz and The Wire — we gotta go to Lost.’ Naveen [Andrews] was on last year, and I love the show and I love Ian’s character so it’s like ‘great, I have this two-episode part.’

Watch two clips of Ian’s guest appearance on “Law & Order: SVU” after the jump.

First Brief Look at Henry Ian Cusick’s Guest Appearance on ‘Law & Order: SVU’

SL-LOST — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 15:35:46 +0000

Here’s the first sneak peek at Henry Ian Cusick’s two-episode appearance on the new season of NBC’s ‘Law & Order: SVU’.

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: LOST Finale Deleted Scene

SL-LOST — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:12:04 +0000

Thanks to Sarah for sending us this deleted scene from “The End” included on LOST: The Complete Sixth and Final Season on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Pre-order LOST: The Complete Sixth and Final Season on Blu-ray & DVD and save up to 40%!

Henry Ian Cusick Joins ‘Law & Order: SVU’

SL-LOST — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:41:47 +0000

Henry Ian Cusick will guest star in at least two episodes of NBC’s Law & Order: SVU next season. According to TVGuide.com, Cusick will play the role of Erik Weber, a graphic artist.

VIDEO: Mick Jagger Becomes Desmond on Jimmy Fallon’s LOST Spoof Series

SL-LOST — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:16:17 +0000

Mick Jagger, the lead singer for The Rolling Stones, made a cameo on Jimmy Fallon’s running LOST spoof, LATE:

All previous episodes of LATE can be found here.

Isla Cognita, Part II: Cultural History of the Island by Pearson Moore

SL-LOST — Mon, 03 May 2010 15:29:04 +0000

The Island is a cork.

Oceanic Flight 815 crashed because of Desmond, Desmond came to the Island because of Widmore, Widmore came to the Island because of Jacob, Jacob is an angel who works selflessly and tirelessly for the Island, and the Island is a prison keeping the rest of the world safe from the Smoke Monster.

All the mysteries have been solved.

Or have they?

If the Island’s only function is to contain evil, how could it have healed Locke’s paralysis? Why did it cure Rose of her cancer and give her and Bernard happiness for the rest of their lives? If Jacob is a source of good, why did he intentionally cause the deaths of over three hundred people?

We know much about the Island. But with only five more hours of the Island’s story left to tell, there is much we do not yet understand. Let’s take a look at what we really know.

The Island

The Island is not a cork.

This place establishes relationships with people, the most spectacular example being John Locke. Locke knew instinctively where to find wild boar, the Nigerian plane, and countless other people, places, and events. Far exceeding young Widmore’s expectations or understanding, he tracked the boy through the jungle to Richard’s camp in the early 1950s. He found the Swan Hatch, the Pearl, and the Flame. Locke could predict the weather and events past and future. We have seen numerous examples of individuals and groups with a sixth sense about the Island: Rose, Hurley, and Walter, and to lesser extents Ben, Richard, Boone, and Sayid. The Others, through the leadership of Jacob and his liaison, Richard, were somewhat tuned into the Island. Even certain members of the Dharma Initiative seem to have enjoyed some extra-dimensional understanding. Paul and his wife, Amy (later to become Amy Goodspeed), owned an ankh necklace, for example, which may have connected them with some of the earliest cultures on the Island or the Island itself.

The Island has rare powers. Sites of intense electromagnetism are scattered about underground. One of the most active locations became the site of “The Incident,” which was the sudden release of enormous quantities of electromagnetic radiation, eventually contained within a concrete tomb and controlled with a programmed release of energy every 108 minutes from the geodesic dome of the Swan Station. Desmond Hume has an unusual physical immunity to the effects of electromagnetism, but he suffers an intensified super-physical effect of intense magnetic energy: his mind is able to inhabit several locations in spacetime, almost simultaneously.

Intense electromagnetism is not the only unique attribute of the Island. Dozens or even hundreds of metres underground a large pocket of exotic matter bypasses the normal forward movement of time, allowing matter to move chronologically back and forth. During the three-year period from 2004 to 2007 at least two individuals, Ben Linus and John Locke, took advantage of this property of the exotic matter under the Orchid Station to transport themselves forward in time by ten months and three years respectively. We know the pocket of matter was used by ancient cultures, going back at least to the ancient Egyptians.

The time-control wheel (“frozen donkey wheel”) under the Orchid must be properly placed on its axis or severe spacetime disturbances can results. When Ben Linus moved the wheel on December 30, 2004, he accidentally knocked the structure off its axis, sending the Island or some of the crash survivors–or both the Island and survivors–on a random, oscillating course through time, first into the past, then into the future.

The Island itself moves through space and time, in ways different from any other place on earth. The Island is found on no navigation chart, is invisible from space, and cannot be approached in the usual manner by sea or air. A spacetime discontinuity envelopes the Island and the sphere of ocean and air in the immediate spacetime vicinity. Objects traveling anything other than a rigourously precise trajectory may require hours or even days to traverse the discontinuity, despite speeds of several hundred kilometres per hour, and may encounter severe electromagnetic storms along the way. To avoid the dangerous or even life-threatening squalls that form as a result of an air or surface approach to the Island, the preferred means of travel is submarine.

The Island can choose to heal wounds, inflict bodily harm, or even demand human sacrifice. Immediately on his arrival, Locke’s paralysis was cured, and he walked for the first time in four years. Rose had terminal cancer, but the Island removed every trace of the disease from her body. Overall good health was the typical and expected result of living in communion with the Island. Cancer was apparently unknown among the Others, until their leader, Benjamin Linus, was found to have a tumor growing on his spine. He and others interpreted this occurrence of cancer as a sign of the Island’s displeasure with Ben’s leadership. Locke’s friend, Boone, was singled out as “a sacrifice that the island demanded,” according to Locke. Charlie Pace and John Locke himself may also have been sacrifices the Island demanded.

Contacts in Antiquity

The earliest civilisation to inhabit the Island is unknown, but Egyptian hieroglyphs are distributed widely: throughout the Temple, around the time control wheel, on the secret door in Ben’s house in Dharmaville, and other places. Even the countdown timer in the Swan Station resorted to hieroglyphs in the “System Failure” condition in which the Execute button was not pushed before the expiration of the 108-minute interval between energy discharges.

The presence of ancient Egyptian symbols presumes an intentional communication of ideas among literate people. This places individuals able to read and write the symbols earlier than at least 395 A.D., when the last remaining readers of the language died. More likely, the hieroglyphs indicate the presence on the Island of Egyptians or those fluent in ancient Egyptian communication sometime before 31 A.D. or earlier, since this date marks the end of the Ptolemaic Dynasty and the beginning of Roman rule. Thus, the earliest known civilisation inhabited the Island not later than about two thousand years ago.

The enhanced version of Ab Aeterno told us Richard Alpert was the first of the Others, but it seems unlikely he was the first visitor to the Island after Jacob and the Man in Black. We know Latin was adopted by the Others as the “language of the enlightened” (Juliet Burke, Lost 5.03 “Jughead”); it seems likely the decision to institute Latin as the Island’s universal language occurred well before 1867, when Richard arrived on the Black Rock. The expansion of the Roman Empire began in earnest around 56 B.C. with the military exploits of Gaius Julius Caesar, reached its zenith around 117 A.D., and was well into decline by 251 A.D. This indicates the influence of Egyptian culture likely pre-dated or was contemporaneous with the first use of Latin on the Island, and also indicates at least contact with, but more likely co-habitation on the Island, of representatives of both the Egyptian and Roman cultures.

The Island has been home to native or fluent speakers of at least thirteen languages. Among these were Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Ancient Greek, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, and Yoruba (Mr. Eko’s native Nigerian language). One of the Island’s most noteworthy inhabitants, Jacob, was known to be fluent in at least five languages, but was likely fluent in several others as well, due to his “Candidacy” project. The lighthouse wheel lists 360 names, most of apparently European descent, all of them “Candidates” or former Candidates. It is likely that most or all of these individuals resided on the Island at one time or another.

The Rulers

We don’t know when Jacob and the Man in Black appeared on the Island. We don’t know with certainty what their relationship is to each other, though it seems likely from their few conversations and from the MIB’s disclosures to Kate and Richard that the two men are related by blood, and are possibly brothers.

Some indication of a timeline for the two immortals is provided by ancient Egyptian illustrations inside the Temple.

The hieroglyphs and the representation of the Jackal-god, Anubis, are obviously Egyptian. However, the representation of the Smoke Monster appears to have later influences. The horned head atop the coiled “smoke” appears to have more than passing similarity to popular modern representations of the Devil, or Satan. This may indicate quite simply that the Smoke Monster arrived on the Island at a time when influences other than the ancient Egyptian culture were current. Or it could be an indication that the Smoke Monster is a relatively “late” resident or perhaps immigrant to the Island, possibly toward the end of Egyptian control.

The Man in Black is a pessimist. He believes human beings are fundamentally flawed, that “They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt.” This is the sum total of human existence in the MIB’s mind; humanity amounts to nothing more than depravity and pure evil.

The Man in Black acts in a manner consistent with a reasonable observer’s understanding of evil. He mercilessly killed everyone in the Temple who chose not to follow him and obey his rules. He killed the Flight 815 pilot, Seth Norris, Mr. Eko, Nadine, Montand, Bram, all the officers aboard the Black Rock, and Jacob, the self-professed Protector of the Island. He essentially gave Claire permission to kill Kate once he was done with her. His only objective, as he himself has said repeatedly, is to leave the Island. He seems to care little about those who suffer or die in order that he might leave.

Jacob, Richard Alpert, and Charles Widmore, among others, have made it their task to prevent the MIB from leaving the Island. Isabella Alpert, through Hurley, warned her husband that he must do everything he can to keep the Smoke Monster on the Island, or “todos nos vamos al infierno.” It was Jacob’s contention that the Island was a cork in a bottle, keeping evil or the Devil from roaming free in the world. While it is likely he was making reference to the Smoke Monster, there are other possibilities.

Jacob

Jacob called himself “Protector of the Island”. Through his consigliere, Richard Alpert, he directed the activities of the Others over a period of at least one hundred and forty years. Usually projecting an image of compassion or sadness, Jacob professes a philosophy of freedom and personal autonomy. “You have a choice” seems to be the phrase most likely to cross his lips. He believes human beings are on a trajectory toward improvement and progress.

We have met many characters that project a wholesome image but adhere to nefarious ways. Benjamin Linus is an excellent example. When captured in Rousseau’s net and imprisoned in the Swan Station armory, he claimed for days or weeks to be Henry Gale, a balloonist who accidentally meandered over the Island. Ben lied, manipulated, embellished, and in any way he could devise, reordered situations to his advantage. Many other characters have behaved in similar manner.

Jacob “invited” over 360 Candidates to the Island; all but seven of them are dead. Most of them would have lived long, happy lives off the Island, but one way or another Jacob led them to the Island, tested each one, found them in some way deficient, and allowed them to die.

He brought Flight 815 to the Island. Of the 324 passengers and crew, only seventy survived the crash. Less than three dozen remained after the first three months. It is likely that Flight 815 carried not more than a handful of Candidates; if so, nearly seven hundred deaths can be directly attributed to Jacob. It seems likely that far more than this have died over the centuries to feed his desire to test Candidates in a most unforgiving laboratory.

Jacob appeared to James Ford at his parents’ funeral. The eight-year-old boy was composing a letter spelling out his vow of revenge against Tom Sawyer, the man who had cheated his mother, committed adultery with her, and led his father to kill her and take his own life.

James’ Uncle Doug read what he had written. The wise uncle had it right when he said the boy had to get on with his life. Vowing revenge would keep him from growing into a man. If only this had been the single piece of advice he’d received from an adult. Unfortunately, another man had come along only minutes before, just as James’ pen ran out of ink.

Jacob reinforced the connection between his parents’ deaths and James’ perceived need for vengeance. By giving James the pen to complete the letter, Jacob was feeding the boy’s warped sense of purpose, bending James to Jacob’s selfish ends, coercing him into an entire lifetime of pain and hatred, simply so that he might one day find himself in Australia, murder the wrong man, and board a one-way flight back to Los Angeles that would instead crash on an uncharted tropical island.

Jacob’s behaviour toward Dogen was even more coercive and despicable. “I can heal your son,” Jacob told Dogen, as the unfortunate man’s dying son lay unconscious in a hospital bed.

Did Jacob choose him because he had unique abilities, or because Dogen felt enormous guilt at having caused the accident that brought his son to the last minutes before death? Was Dogen essential to Jacob’s cause, or was he exceptionally malleable because of a father’s pain and anguish? “I can heal your son,” Jacob said, but the conditions were cruel: Dogen could never see his son again. Jacob would take him to a place inaccessible to anyone and entirely unknown to the world. And Dogen would serve Jacob until the day he died. Years later, relaying the story to Jack, Dogen was pained by the pain he had caused his son, but he seemed in even greater anguish over the bargain that had forever prevented him from even knowing anything of his son’s life.

We cannot know with certainty that Jacob is evil. He may prove the perfect Angel of Light many believe him to be. His coercion of James, Dogen, and hundreds of others may have been the unfortunate but necessary means of ensuring his replacement and preventing true evil from unleashing itself on the world.

The Candidates

On first glance the reason for these seven individuals’ placement on the list of Candidates seems obvious: They’re all exactly the same height. But if we look beyond the crude (and effective!) Photoshopping, we see other commonalities. All of the Seven have “daddy issues”. Sun’s father was distant and cruel, Sayid’s father was demanding and unemotional, Jack’s father treated him like dirt, Locke’s father was a con man, Kate’s father was a drunkard who abused his wife, and so on. Each of the Seven seeks redemption or spiritual completion that includes a major component directly related to her or his father.

Some will question the presence of Locke among the Candidates in this portrait. The basis for including Locke requires significantly more space than I wish to devote to this section. For those seeking to understand the rationale for considering Locke a Candidate, I recommend these articles:

http://www.sl-lost.com/2010/02/07/magnificence-the-cultural-mythology-of-lost-101-to-618/

http://www.sl-lost.com/2010/02/14/impartial-risk-cultural-musings-on-the-resurrection-of-john-locke/

http://www.sl-lost.com/2010/02/10/risk-a-cultural-thesis-for-lost-603-what-kate-does-by-pearson-moore/

Of the Seven, two individuals stand out. Jack has transformed himself from sceptical Man of Science to the fully integrated Man of Faith and firm disciple of John Locke. He is sufficiently in tune with the Island to realise that, like Richard Alpert, he can die, but not at his own hand. But every other belief he now professes is borrowed from the catalogue of John Locke’s articulated views. “We’re here for a reason” and “The Island is not done with us yet” and so on, were all expressed at one time or another by Jack’s former nemesis.

While Jack does not appear to have the strong connection to the Island possessed immediately by John Locke, he has overcome greater obstacles than anyone else, and his Island epiphany may be only hours or days away. It is possible–even likely, at this point–that Jack Shephard will assume the top leadership role in the post-Jacob world.

The other leading Candidate is John Locke. That he remains in contention is due to the successful efforts of one man: Daniel Faraday.

Faraday’s Boulder

The Incident, at least in its final permutation, consisted of the simultaneous detonation of an atomic bomb and the sudden release of almost unlimited electromagnetic energy. The result of the two simultaneous events was not a conversion of matter into energy or the irradiation of everyone in the vicinity, but a rerouting of matter and energy into the uni-directional stream of spacetime and the creation of two equal spacetime streams.

It was Daniel Faraday’s idea that the two events, occurring simultaneously, would have sufficient effect to negate the course of future events after the Incident. Since the future at that time (1977) was the Flight 815 survivors’ past, the detonation of the nuclear device would prevent all of the pain they had endured after the crash.

The plan was implemented by Jack and the plutonium core of the thermonuclear device was finally detonated by Juliet at precisely the moment that catastrophic amounts of electromagnetic energy escaped the confines of the subterranean space beneath the well shaft. The result was… unexpected. Rather than simply wiping out the future/past, two equal spacetime streams were created.

In the (very crude) illustration below, the flow of time is represented by the river. On the right bank of the river is a large boulder, representing the combined space-time-matter-energy warping potential of simultaneous nuclear and electromagnetic release.

The detonation of the bomb and the release of energy, coming together, opposing each other, and interfering in the normal flow of time, is depicted by throwing the boulder into the river.

The water backs up behind the boulder until it reaches the depth required to move around the rock. But now, rather than a single, calm, straight and forward movement, the stream has split into two turbulent, chaotic streams.

The streams are dramatically unstable and they will very quickly crash into each other on the upstream side of the boulder. Given enough time, the stream will again settle down into its normal uni-directional flow. But for a brief period in the history of the universe (or universes?), the streams will exist as distinct, equal, and yet different flows of spacetime. It is during this brief time window that some quite interesting phenomena can be observed and manipulated.

Indivisibility

The stream of time is torn into two equal streams. Each stream contains the same physical elements. In each stream a planet Earth is populated with seven billion human beings, physically identical but with unique histories. Each of the two realities contains a physical manifestation of James Ford, Claire Littleton, Sayid Jarrah, Hugo Reyes, and so on.

While their bodies have been duplicated in the two equal but different spacetimes, their spiritual selves remain intact, undivided, and equally present in both realities. There are two physical presences of James Ford, but there is only one true (spiritual aspect of) James Ford, equally present in both of the physical manifestations.

The point of Charlie’s intense discussions of The Truth was that he was attracted to the very same woman in both realities because the connection was spiritual, and therefore only one abiding connection was possible. Love at first sight was an indication to him of a reality that transcended any of the limitations of the world he inhabited. His connection with Claire was entirely spiritual, in both realities. He forcefully relayed this truth to Desmond, because he knew Desmond also had a Constant. So too in the case of Daniel Faraday. Regardless of the number of worlds his physical presences occupied, he has only one spirit, and therefore he can have only one spiritual love: Charlotte Lewis. Two bodies, two minds, but one spirit, and one love.

The indivisibility of the spirit explains the growing psychic instability between the two worlds. By now almost all the major players in this drama have experienced a “leaking” of knowledge or feelings or sense of presence or memories from one reality to the other. Desmond Hume is the only major player we know to have had complete and unambiguous visions of the other world from both of the spacetime realities. Sun probably has had glimpses into the other world from both spacetimes, but this depends on whether her loss of spoken English indicated a seeping of the sideways reality into her Island psyche. She certainly understood poor, crushed John Locke in the sideways reality as the Smoke Monster, when they were wheeled together into the hospital. Daniel Faraday, dead in the Island reality, nevertheless had glimpses into the Island from his sideways world.

The one crossover from the sideways reality to the Island that must occur is the one Desmond started in motion two episodes ago, at the end of “Everybody Loves Hugo”.

When Desmond rammed the wheelchair-bound Locke with his silver-coloured economy car, he was taking a terrible but necessary risk. Desmond knew that Locke belonged on the Island, that he had to be on the Island if there could be any chance of making things right again. Just as love allowed Daniel to see the Island from his sideways world, just as Desmond’s MRI in the hospital allowed him to recall Penny from his Island reality, so too the awful shock of physical pain and paralysis would shock John Locke into recalling his Island self, and create in him the realisation that he had to go back.

The End Game

Only a few moves remain in this two- or three-thousand-year-old game of backgammon. I have no idea in the world how Locke is going to make it back to the Island. I have not the slightest clue how Jack will win the Island over the considerable efforts and proven talents of both Charles Widmore and the Smoke Monster. Some will certainly die. I most fear for Jack and Kate in this regard, but many of the others look to be increasingly expendable or willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. The last few minutes of our beloved television programme look to be exhilarating but sad, too. This month will be altogether entirely too short, but the long seven days between each episode will be almost unbearably long. It is certainly a month we will never forget.

More Interviews with Henry Ian Cusick

SL-LOST — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:20:14 +0000

NYMag’s Vulture blog, TVOvermind.com and The ODI have new interviews with Henry Ian Cusick. He talks about Desmond’s return to the Island, the Flash-Sideways, Desmond’s mission, the series finale and more. There are some mild spoilers on these interviews, but nothing too revealing.

The LOST Initiative: “Happily Ever After”

SL-LOST — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:30:12 +0000

Iain, Paul and Tom are literally bursting to talk about our first Desmond episode this season, Happily Ever After.

[Via Sky1]

Uniquely, Miraculously: Cultural Bridges in LOST 6.11 by Pearson Moore

SL-LOST — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:54:44 +0000

Tonight we witnessed unopposable force.

I am not speaking of Desmond’s ability to endure a magnetic field of several million Gauss, or his ease of movement from one spacetime to another. I do not refer to the virtually infinite energy locked in the Island’s depths or in the Monster’s smokey cloud. The force I speak of has nothing to do with personal triumph over adversity, nor does it concern the victory of good over evil.

It is stronger than any physical force. It is more powerful than love. Can a mother forget the child at her breast, lose compassion for the infant she has borne? Yet even if love be abandoned, this remains: Humanity will overcome any obstacle. Tonight we witnessed the unopposable power of human civilisation.

For the Sake of the Island

The Island is no “cork” holding evil incarnate at bay. It is and it holds an intrinsic good, worthy of great sacrifice. Widmore has sacrificed much already: estranged from his wife and his daughter, not permitted to see his own grandson. But the Island asked even more of Charles Widmore, and more than most fathers could ever bear, when he gave his own flesh and blood, his son, for the sake of the Island. Is a “cork” worth all this?

We know Daniel Faraday was not the only “sacrifice the Island demanded.” Jacob’s experiments alone have cost the lives of over three hundred souls–and those are only the ones recorded in his lighthouse and on the (Man in Black’s?) cave walls. Likely there have been many, many more whose lives were deemed of lesser import than the secrets of the Island.

The Island heals. Locke and Rose were cured of their afflictions. Bruises and wounds and even broken bones mend themselves at accelerated rates unthinkable to medical science. Its agent (or abusive overlord), Jacob, has the power in his strong fingers to confer immortality. The Island is no “cork”. The wine in Jacob’s corked bottle is not evil. The Island is the repository of great physical power, not inherent evils. Physical power is not evil. Nuclear energy is the stuff of bombs to wipe out entire cities, but it is also the stuff of solar energy, of the warmth that brings joy to a summer day. In the same way, the great pockets of energy on the Island are morally neutral in their essence, but may be bent toward evil or salutary ends at the discretion of those channeling their power.

The Island is not a cork. It is not the prison in which evil is locked away for the benefit of an innocent and pristine world. The world, and the Island, contain limitless examples of good and bad, right and wrong, fair and unjust. But the Island is something more. Something beyond. It is, as the late John Locke said, “A place where miracles happen.”

The Smoke Monster must be tamed, neutralised, or destroyed. Jacob must be removed from power. Widmore–if his agenda is personal and not communal–will have to be removed or destroyed. When these objectives are fulfilled the story will not end, and the highest goal will not have been attained. Mere maintenance of the centuries-long status quo will not suffice. The full potential of the Island, the full realisation of its ability to benefit from and serve the needs of humanity is the final goal. This is Jack’s destiny, and the fate of all who choose to follow him.

Odysseus: Physis v. Pneuma

The Odyssey is the world’s greatest adventure story, and Odysseus the world’s greatest hero. Son of a god, Odysseus inherited deep masculinity and strength of purpose. He carried himself in the manner of all men aware of their abiding dignity; in Homer’s words, he was “in bearing, like a god.” The great king and hero of the Trojan War took a torturous ten years to return to Ithaca, facing every manner of physical test of his crew and himself. But we know Odysseus not for his great physical strength, rare masculine beauty, or dignified bearing. We know Odysseus as the resourceful fighter, the cunning leader, the man who, by guile and force of character finds a way out seemingly impossible situations. During the war, he thought up and fashioned the Trojan Horse. To defeat the Sirens, Odysseus had his men pour wax in their ears so they could not be lured by the seductive devils’ irresistible song. Captured by the giant Cyclops, facing certain death at the hands of the one-eyed cannibal, Odysseus plied the monster with wine, waited until he fell asleep, then burned out his single eye. After ten long years, he returned to his Penelope.

Desmond endured physical challenges of space and time in his quest to return to his Penelope–to his Penny. Shipwrecked, like Odysseus, spending long years on an island, like Odysseus, he never gave up hope of finding her. Most of all, like Odysseus, we know Desmond not for any physical ability, not even for the rare capacity to resist the terrible physical effects of unearthly magnetic force, but rather for his strength of character, for strength of spirit. Desmond deserves Penny not for any physical prowess or superhuman ability, but for entirely human reasons: for faith in their sharing, for hope of finding her, for love of her as soul mate, friend, wife. Most of all, for never giving up, for applying every resource he could muster to find her and keep her.

Desmond–the Island’s Odysseus–is made hero because of his humanity, because of the choices he has made, because of his relentless drive to share love with Penny. The awful force of the magnetic chamber–sufficient to kill ordinary mortals–is no challenge to our Odysseus. His easy triumph over the normal constraints of the physical world, and in fact his triumph over the very fabric of space and time, is not the message of the first part of the episode. The lesson driven home here is that Desmond’s unrelenting focus on Penny has allowed him to achieve in the spiritual realm feats that far outshine even the superhuman abilities he demonstrated with so little effort in the magnetic chamber.

Desmond’s humanity is more important, and more powerful, than the greatest of superhuman abilities. This is an important revelation, and quite possible the single most critical truth of the episode. Desmond is the physical embodiment of the great truth of LOST:

Humanity is more important, more enduring, and stronger than anything in the physical world.

Odysseus’ physical body expired thirty centuries ago. But his spirit lives on, and can never be vanquished. On the Island there is nomos (law) and physis (nature). The forces at play are stronger than anything known in the physical world. But the force above all forces is the only one that is truly irresistible and unstoppable: Pneuma. Desmond may perish in the attempt to serve the Island, but his spirit will live on. Eventually, inevitably, he or his successor will be found equal to the task, not because of Jacob’s “progress”, but because this is how we are made. This is who we are, as human beings, as those aware of innate, abiding dignity, carrying ourselves in calm possession of every faculty of mind and body, in bearing, like a god.

Strength

I like Zoe. I like the fact that hers was the first face Desmond saw when he woke up on the Island. Zoe is a woman of character, a woman of inner strength. She shares much with Desmond, I think. In bearing and purpose she seems to have much in common with another woman of inner resolve, Kate Austen. I have to hope she will apply her unusual strength for the good of the Island and not for her own personal gain or in service of selfish agendas. We will know soon enough. If, as I continue to believe, Charles Widmore is pursuing his own designs, Zoe will almost certainly find a way to thwart him. If, on the other hand, Widmore is truly acting on behalf of the Island, I fear for him having so capable a first lieutenant. Zoe’s strength may turn out to be a potent force against Jack’s team. For now, I want to believe she’s fighting for the Island. Could Gwen Taylor (Sheila Kelley’s character in “L.A. Law”) succumb to evil intent? Could Stormy (“Dancing at the Blue Iguana”) sacrifice inner strength for goals beneath her dignity? Zoe is a Greek word meaning “life”. For now at least, I am going to put my faith in the producers’ desire to make full use of this actress’ unusual skill in rehabilitating images and ideas, reworking them into pursuits worthy of our complete engagement. If LOST has as its goal a fresh examination of the question of humanity, I think it could find no better means of achieving this end than by creating in Zoe a good example for us all.

Something Real

“A woman, blonde. Rapturously beautiful. And I know her. We’re together, always will be…. I’ve seen something Real. I’ve seen the Truth.”

We know from Charlie’s description, and from his difficult hundred days in paradise, that he is describing Claire, his Constant. Later, when Daniel Widmore (Faraday) describes his blue-eyed, red-haired vision of Truth, we know her name is Charlotte. And of course Desmond and Penny are Something Real. As the title of the episode states, everyone will live happily ever after. I hear Mary O’Brien (the narrator of “Lost in 8 minutes 15 seconds”) in my head: “Ahh, the circle of life. Ahh, love conquers all.”

The Truth is not romantic love. We may find over the course of the next several episodes that Love is held up as the ideal to which all on the Island aspire, that Love is the unifying factor that brings final coherence to the hierarchy of values on the Island. I continue to believe that Trust and Risk are the focus of LOST, but Love could become more important. However, even if this does happen, I think interest will not focus on love itself, but on the particular attributes of human love that illustrate the thesis of the show. “Love conquers all” may work for a half-hour sitcom or a two-hour Sandra Bullock movie, but it’s not going to form the thesis of a question that requires six years and 118 chapters to pose. “True love” and “love at first sight” are not ends in themselves for Charlie. Rather, they are crude expressions of what he was really trying to say: “I’ve seen something Real. I’ve seen the Truth.”

Love is only the most recent attribute of our humanity that allowed a character to transcend the limitations of place and time. Last week, in “The Package”, a knock on the head in Island spacetime and a knock at the door in sideways spacetime caused Island Sun to lose the ability to speak in English. Physical pain and psychological fear were sufficient catalysts to sideways Sun’s piercing of the Island reality. Sideways James Ford’s strange attraction to fugitive Kate Austen is another example of spacetime instability. Jack Shephard has been plagued by inexplicable wounds: a nick under the collar, the scar from an appendectomy that he should have remembered but could not.

The connection between sideways reality and Island reality has been established in many ways, and only rarely through the pleasantries of romantic love. But it is the connection, not the particulars of that connection, that is important. Desmond’s intervention may be required, but eventually sideways Jack is going to realise that his wounds are shared with his Island self. No revelation of his eternal love for Kate will be required. He will suffer no nightmares over a hydrogen bomb dropped in hopes of one more crack at earning her love. Love may be a sufficient or even preferred means of connecting with the Island, but it is not an obligatory pre-requisite to this form of enlightenment.

Indivisibility

The connections between one spacetime and another are not physical, but spiritual. The importance of Jack’s wounds is not at his neck and on his abdomen, but in his heart. Charlie was willing to risk his own life to allow Desmond the gift of understanding this truth. There is a reality out there–and inside us–that carries greater truth and deeper significance to our lives than anything we can sense with eyes, ears, nose, or tongue. The world present to our senses is a pale and insignificant illusion compared to the bright and engaging reality of enduring human truth.

As I wrote last week in “Subliminal Aphasia”, the human soul is indivisible. While Desmond’s body and mind may enjoy existence simultaneously in two different spacetimes, he has only one soul among the many realities. Desmond is not Desmond without Penny; indeed, he literally cannot live without her. Penny is in Desmond’s soul, whether he’s on Island or off. Sensing her, knowing her presence, Desmond crosses from one reality to the other, becoming a bridge between worlds.

In the world of LOST, exact physical duplicates, even perfect duplications of human minds and bodies, may exist simultaneously in two or more spacetime realities. But human souls are indivisible. This is the nexus of the power of our humanity as LOST would have us understand it. Human beings can supersede the normal constraints of physics and chemistry, we can exceed the bounds of even supernatural capabilities, because we are unique, not subject to replication.

The Constant

Desmond’s trans-spacetime experiences of Penny have relevance to him because of the constancy of their relationship. Regardless of any of the particulars of the reality around them, they are destined to recognise in each other something essential to their being. In the sideways reality or on the Island, they find the completion of themselves in each other.

“The Constant” and “Happily Ever After” go far beyond the low denomination of “Love conquers all”. Taken together, the events in these episodes can be considered proof of the constancy and indivisibility of the human spirit across spacetime. Throughout the sixth season, we have seen by now a couple dozen examples of trans-spacetime recognition. This recognition is possible only because a single essence of self-the soul-transcends space and time. This human singularity allows self-recognition, even if multiple copies of the physical self are in play at different locations in spacetime.

Constancy of character is not a proof of immutability. On the Island, Locke was the Man of Faith. In the sideways reality, though, Locke believes any meeting with the spinal surgeon, Jack Shephard, would be a waste of time because “there’s no such thing as miracles.” The change in Locke’s attitude simply means that something other than faith in miracles is at the centre of his being.

Constancy of character does not guarantee or impede spiritual redemption or moral volition. The Island version of Ben Linus spent most of his life honing robust skills in deception, manipulation, and betrayal. The sideways Ben had inclinations toward this type of life, but any gains he realised in this manner were small, and the prospect of benefit to others (Leslie Arzt, Alex Rousseau, his father) more often than not weighed heavily in the array of factors that informed his eventual decisions. “Dr. Linus” showed us that Ben is not manipulative at heart, that a firm desire to do good is at the core of his being.

The Bridge

Almost all of the main sideways characters, at one time or another, have puzzled over events or images familiar and yet beyond understanding. Kate lingers over a photograph of Claire carrying a black-and-white stuffed animal. Claire spontaneously names her unborn baby Aaron. Jack has a mid-air conversation with a man he seems to recognise but cannot identify.

The two realities grow less stable, allow more cross-time connection, with each passing episode. But so far only one person has become fully conscious of situations, images, people, and events in both timelines. We have known for four years that Desmond is “uniquely, miraculously special” in that he is not subject to the normal rules of time travel. “Whatever happened, happened” does not apply to him. He is the most dangerous of wild cards, and no matter where he goes, he is monitored. In the sideways reality, Eloise and Charles have given him the perfect, carefree life. He has no monetary concerns, no lack of emotional support from his adoptive parents. The only rule he must obey, at risk of losing the benefits of his comfortable life, is the imperative to stay clear of Penny.

Eloise is something of a witch at heart. She has no patience for those without adequate breeding, even though she spent most of her life living in yurts and walking the jungle in bare feet. The butter knife must be placed just so on the plate, and anything less than perfection is cause for a dressing-down in front of everyone. But with the appearance of Desmond, her entire demeanor changes, her features soften, her face lights up in a broad smile. The news that Charlie escaped Desmond’s custody is of no consequence to Eloise. Desmond could have said, “I accidentally ran over your two prize-winning Collies. Their mangled bodies are at the edge of the driveway.” Eloise would have smiled. “Oh, Desmond, don’t you worry about that. We were planning on giving them away, anyway; you just saved us the trouble. Now,” she’d say with a sparkle in her eye, “tell me all about your trip to Australia.”

But when Eloise learned of Desmond’s forbidden interest in Penny, she became as stern as we have ever seen her. How could he even have found out about Penny? She was Penny Milton in this reality, not Penny Widmore. Yet somehow Desmond had become aware of this forbidden bit of knowledge; worse, he was apparently smitten, even though he had never met the woman. Eloise understood the problem immediately. Someone had transgressed the spacetime rules of engagement. “It is, in fact, a violation,” she said.

She should have known the violator. It was because of Charlie, or rather because of Desmond’s interference with Charlie’s fate, that events went awry back in 2004. Charlie was supposed to die, not in the Looking Glass Station, but well before that. Desmond saved him from death at least four times. He must have thought his intervention only for the good, but it was this unintended meddling and bending of the normal course of spacetime that brought about the current state of affairs, in which an evil entity is only days away from controlling all human life on the planet.

Do sideways Eloise and Charles know of Island Charles’ intentions for Desmond? Has their game plan changed now that the Smoke Monster is sole ruler of the Island?

It is not clear to me that Island Widmore understands Desmond’s full potential, that he can act as a conduit of consciousness between the two realities. By the end of the episode, though, Widmore’s level of understanding is almost a moot issue. “George,” Desmond said, ” can you get me the manifest from my fight from Sydney, Oceanic 815, just the names of the passengers?”

He understood from his talks with Charlie and Jack–or maybe from his reflection in the Oceanic arrivals and departures display–that the passengers of 815 were important to his mission. “I just need to show them something,” he told George. Sideways Desmond understood already–maybe from the time he spent consciously aware of the Island after passing out when he took Penny’s hand at the stadium–that his assigned task involved more than a meeting with Penny in a coffee shop. His mission encompasses the entire roster of passengers and crew on Flight 815.

Desmond is building a bridge. I get the feeling that this bridge will soon move beyond the mere transfer of consciousness from one spacetime to another. He is going to become the architect of a physical link between Island and sideways Los Angeles. An event or condition or person present in the sideways spacetime is necessary for the end game. Desmond will allow the transfer to occur.

Does Widmore understand the mission Desmond has assigned to himself? I have to wonder whether Widmore has relevance for Desmond anymore. I was at first confused when he was so nonchalant about seeing Sayid appear out of nowhere, snap a man’s neck, and tell Zoe to run. “Come with me, Desmond.” Desmond’s happy response seemed at first the sure sign that his mind had been “fried” as Zoe said. But his single-mindedness, on the Island and in Los Angeles, finally brought focus to the end of the episode. Whatever it is Desmond must do, it appears he can accomplish the task independent of the people around him.

Trust

Much of the episode focussed on romantic love as the sure sign of Truth. It was obvious, even as Charlie described Claire and Daniel described Charlotte, that the love itself was not the ultimate objective. At the pivotal scene in the stadium the camera was positioned so as to capture an almost mundane event. The handshake that Desmond and Penny shared was no first touch between future lovers. The image would have served most appropriately at a business meeting or a gathering of social acquaintances. This simple action became the focal point of the scene, yet the image had nothing at all to do with romantic love.

We’ve seen many people this season extend a hand toward another. Jack even posed the usually unspoken question last week as he extended his hand to Sun: “Do you trust me?” he asked. He held out his hand. Sun paused for a moment, but then she smiled, took his hand, and said, “Yes.”

Jack is building a coalition of trust. Desmond, even though he loves Penny, will always love Penny, is first of all offering and requesting not love, but trust. Whatever else Desmond may do, sideways or on the Island, I feel he is going to become an active collaborator with Jack in the building of this coalition of trust.

The civilisation that Jack, Desmond, Sun, Hurley, and Richard are building will be based on trust. It will become the foundation for Desmond’s love, Jack’s faith, Richard’s redemption, and Hurley’s ethics. It will provide the enlightened, humane Island leadership that Jacob in his splintered and warped vision of humanity could never have given. It seems to me more than ever likely–virtually inevitable–that at the pinnacle of this coalition of trust will stand the great progenitor of trust in its fullest human expression: John Locke.

Regardless of the final disposition of Locke, the civilisation being formed on the Island will stand every test, endure every challenge, rise above darkest adversity. Grounded in trust, faith, and love, the Island will become the place it was always intended to be: Paradise.

Henry Ian Cusick Talks Love, Fear and Moving Sideways

SL-LOST — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:19:00 +0000

Here’s another interview with HIC, via TV Watch:

It seems up to Desmond to open the eyes of the other Oceanic 815 passengers about the two worlds, the way Charlie [Dominic Monaghan] did for him.
Totally. I think anyone who doubted the Sideways, or thought they were just filler — now you fundamentally know that the Sideways world is so important to the outcome of the Island world. They say we’re driven by two emotions, love and fear, and Desmond is so driven now by love, which is the one we all want to be driven by. What’s interesting, as you’ll see later on this season, is that some people will do good things for love and some will do bad.

In the episode, Desmond starts off angry, and even violent, but by the end, he’s determined to stay and help his father-in-law, whom he previously couldn’t stand.
I actually had a little bit of a problem with that. I had to speak to [executive producers] Carlton [Cuse] and Damon [Lindelof] because I didn’t get it. They said, ‘Think enlightened.’ But I needed something else so they explained to me that Desmond, now having had a glimpse of the Sideways world, is crystal clear on what he has to do.

Why do you think he’s become such a fan favorite?
He’s a pretty average guy who’s been put in these incredible circumstances, and he just tries to do his best. I think audiences get that and relate to that.

You’re currently shooting the finale. What can you reveal about it?
I don’t think anyone has a complete script. Security is tight and [producers] are keeping the final chapter under wraps. The whole last act is missing! And you definitely need the missing pages because, even up to what I’ve read, it’s still not resolved.

Click here to read the complete interview.

Make Your Own Kind Of Music: “Happily Ever After” Recap & Analysis by Chris Kirkman

SL-LOST — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:15:46 +0000

Previously, on Lost:

Nobody can tell ya,
There’s only one song worth singing,
They may try and sell ya,
‘Cause it hangs them up to see someone like you …
But you’ve gotta make your own kind of music,

Sing your own special song,
Make your own kind of music,

Even if nobody else sings along …

This week, on Lost: We open on an eye, of course. Desmond’s eye. He’s groggy. Zoe’s there, and she explains that he’s coming out of sedation, and that they had to move him from the hospital. Desmond wants to know where he’s been moved, and he also wants to see Penny. A familiar voice informs Des that won’t be possible, and the plucky Scot looks up to see ol’ Chuck Widmore. The look on Desmond’s face and the sigh of disgust say that he’s not glad to see his bastardly father-in-law.

Desmond is understandably perturbed, and Widmore urges everyone to leave so he can take care of things. Chuck reminds Des that he was shot by Ben. Desmond just wants to see Penny, and Chuck tells him that his wife and son are perfectly safe. Chuck apologizes for taking Des away so quickly, but he had to do it this way because there’s no way Des would come with him if he hadn’t. Come where? asks Des.

“I brought you back to the Island. I can’t imagine how you must be feeling, but if you’ll give me a chance to explain …”

“Explain?? Explain it to this IV stand, you old British bastard!”

A couple of members of the Geek Squad rush in and stop Desmond from beating the Boddington’s out of Chuck. Desmond struggles, screaming his Scottish lungs out, demanding to be taken back. Chuck tells Desmond that he can’t take him back – the Island isn’t done with Desmond just yet.

Widmore wipes the blood from the huge gash in his balding head and saunters into the hall. Jin is there, wondering why Desmond is on the Island. Chuck tells Kwon that it would be easier to show him than tell him, because nobody who knows anything about the damn Island likes to talk about it. Widmore orders Zoe to get the test ready for Desmond, but Zoe reminds Chuck that the test wasn’t scheduled until the next day. Chuck knows when the bloody test was sheduled, just get his machines ready. Then he storms off in a particularly British way.

Zoe takes Jin on a little walk to one of the Hydra facilities, past one of the old Velociraptor enclosures.

Tell me seriously that this scene doesn’t remind you of the opening of Jurassic Park. Dharma could have had Velociraptors. It’s a time-travelling Island, you know. I’m just saying.

Zoe takes Jin into a control room with nobs and geegaws and all sorts of ex-military and steampunk technology. The rest of the Geek Squad are there, running around, flipping switches and acting important. Zoe informs Seamus – that’s the chubby one – that Widmore is moving up the schedule, and Seamus gets all agitated, saying that these are 20-year-old generators and there’s no telling what will work and he’s not even supposed to be here today, etc. Seamus decides to do a power test, and he turns some nobs and flips some switches, and then pulls back on the gearshift from a 1971 VW – and nothing happens. He orders one of the other geeks, Simmons, to go down and check the solenoids, and then informs a white bunny named Angstrom that he’s going in the box next.

Simmons runs down to the Velociraptor enclosure and goes inside. He uses a PKE meter or something to test the shininess of two ginormous copper coils, facing each other on opposite ends of the box. There’s a chair with straps in the middle between the two coils.

Nothing good will come of this.

Meanwhile, up in the control room, Zoe and Seamus watch Simmons on a monitor. Over in the corner, one of the geeks yells out that he’s found it – it being a bad breaker on the generator. He grips a large switch and says that he’s gonna bring it back online. In classic comic book secret origins manner, he flips the switch and we all see what’s coming.

It’s funny, he wasn’t even wearing a red shirt. Also, raise your hand if that lone chair in a room reminded anyone of Jacob’s cabin?

Zoe yells no, Seamus yells for the geek to shut it down, the box gets all bright and shiny, and they all run down to see what the hell happened. Just as they’re about to enter the box, there’s a large growl, the box shakes and then a giant, green fist pops through the side, splintering the wood into a billion pieces. Nah, I’m just kidding, Simmons is a crispy critter inside.

Widmore walks up and asks Zoe if everything’s ready. Two heavies escort Desmond up to the door and he sees Simmons on the floor, still oven fresh. Des looks a tad upset.

And all this happens before the swirling Lost!

Simmons’s burnt body is pulled out of the box, and Desmond is dragged in, tenderized a bit and then strapped into the chair. Widmore apologizes that he has to do things this way, but after it’s all over he is going to ask Des to make a sacrifice and he hopes it will all be worth. Um, sacrifice? That doesn’t sound too good. Des says that Widmore doesn’t know anything about sacrifice, but the Brit straightens him out real quick. His son, Daniel, died for the sake of the Island, his wife and daughter hate him, he’s never even seen his grandson and he just got a hangnail. All of that doesn’t matter, though, because if he and Desmond fail, all of it will be over and everyone will be gone. Forever. And ever.

Chuck and his peeps leave, shutting the door behind them, and Des wigs out, bashing the chair and freeing himself. It’s no good, though – that enclosure was designed to hold in Velociraptors, so there’s no way he’s getting out. Up in the control room, Widmore tells them to light it up, but Jin protests. Chuck explains to Jin that Desmond is the only person he knows that has survived a catastrophic electromagnetic event and he needs to know if he can do it again, or they all die. So dramatic, Chuck. Turn it on, he orders.

They do. Seamus hesitates at the VW gearshifts, so Widmore pops it into second gear for him. The coils start doing their thing, the gauss meters go up to 11, and Desmond is lit up like a Christmas tree.

Desmond Hume – future superhero.

Everything goes white. And then, clouds.

Desmond is standing in front of an Oceanic display, in the baggage claim area of LAX. He seems a bit dazed. Hurley walks by and mentions that the Sydney bags are on carousel four. Desmond smiles and thanks him.

At the carousel, Claire is having trouble with her bag. Des is right there to help, as always. He asks her if she’s expecting a boy or a girl, but Claire hesitates. He apologizes for prying, but she says that she simply doesn’t know yet. Des grabs his bag and they walk along, chit chatting. Des offers Claire a ride, but she declines and they say their goodbyes. “A boy,” says Des, pointing at her tummy. “I’ll bet it’s a boy.”

Just past baggage claim, a man stands, whistling, holding a sign that reads HUME. It’s George Minkowski, the ex-communications officer of the freighter Kahana that came unstuck in time back in “The Constant.” In this reality, he’s a chauffeur. He takes Desmond’s bag and then starts gabbing. He tells Des that he can get him whatever he wants, and then eludes to escorts, if Des gets lonely. You might be an okay communications officer, but you’re a lousy chauffeur, George. Des explains that he’s not here for companionship, he’s here to work. George gets the picture.

Des arrives at an office, and greets the receptionist. She says to go right in. Des walks into a finely appointed office suite, with art adorning the walls. Within the office, behind his massive desk, sits Charles Widmore. Desmond smiles, Chuck gets up and the two hug it out, just like old friends.

Widmore’s lovely sailboat is still in its place here in LA X, but the painting of the polar bear has been replaced by one of scales, balancing black and white objects. A little heavy-handed, but a nice touch.

Long story short, Chuck and Des absolutely adore each other in this reality, and Chuck needs Des to go down and bail out the bass guitarist for Drive Shaft who is supposed to play with his son at a charity function that his wife is putting together. As we all know, that’d be Charlie. Des says no worries, sir, and Chuck expounds with platitudes. Widmore goes over to his liquor cabinet and pours them both a shot of MacCutcheon’s scotch – the same scotch, you all may recall, that he said was worth more than Desmond’s miserable life, back in “Flashes Before Your Eyes.” Charles remarks that nothing is too good for Desmond, and they cheer. “Slainté,” says Des.

Des drives over to the courthouse, and an attorney walks Charlie out to meet them. Desmond tries to introduce himself, but Charlie just takes his stuff and, without saying a word, walks across the street, never bothering to pay attention to traffic. Several cars swerve and slam on brakes, but Charlie pays no attention. He walks into a bar called Jax. Desmond follows.

Charlie orders a drink and Desmond sits down next to him, telling the bartender he’ll have the same. They proceed to have a very colorful and enlightening conversation, wherein Charlie recounts how he has seen the truth – a spectacular, consciousness-altering love. On the plane from Sydney when Charlie got the heroin stuck in his throat, he was about to die, but as he was about to be swallowed up by the abyss, Charlie had a vision of a beautiful blond woman. He felt all-encompassing love, as if they had always been and always will be together.

There are bits and pieces of props from the show scattered all over this bar, and the sign behind Desmond says something about “exceptional island colors.” I love the set designers.

Desmond tells Charlie he should write a song about it, and then tells him he has a choice – stay here and drink, or come with him and get his rock thing on and have Charles Widmore owe him one. Charlie mentions that it doesn’t seem like he has much of a choice, to which Desmond replies, “There’s always a choice, brotha.”

Out in Desmond’s car, “You All Everybody” is playing on the radio. They drive by a very familiar marina, and Charlie mentions that he feels sorry for Desmond and his life. “Why, because it’s not real?” asks Desmond. Charlie says that he could show Desmond what he’s talking about, or Des could get out of the car. Desmond is confused by this choice, so Charlie simply grabs the steering wheel and they do a Thelma and Louise straight into the marina water.

The car sinks down, down, down. Desmond escapes his seat belt and tries to free Charlie, but has to come up for air. He dives back down and tugs at the passenger-side door. Charlie’s eyes open and he turns to Desmond with a very creepy and telling look, pressing his hand to the window. Desmond looks toward Charlie’s hand and has a vision.

This would be about the time I peed my pants.

Charlie drops his hand, turning back around, unconscious. Desmond frees him, pulls him to the surface and over to the embankment of the marina, sirens blaring in the distance.

A doctor checks Desmond out, mentioning that he’s had quite the bump on the noggin. “Any hallucinations?” she asks. Desmond doesn’t know how to answer that question since he’s just caught a glimpse into an alternate reality. The doc sends Desmond down for an MRI. Hrm, magnetic resonance – this ought to go well.

The MRI tech straps Desmond into the gurney and hands him the Button. “The button?” asks Desmond with an air of strange familiarity. Yeah, the tech says – the panic button in case claustrophobia kicks in. The tech places the head guard over Desmond, the gurney slides into place and the machine hums into life. Des immediately sees a vision of Charlie as he’s drowning in the Looking Glass station, back on the Island, then a procession of his other life with Penny, his true love. He hears Penny call out his name, and then the visions end. That’s when Desmond pushes that panic button and hightails it out of there to find Charlie.

Out in the hall, one of the attending nurses is being obstinate and not telling Desmond where he can find Charlie. Des notices ol’ Jackie boy and recognizes him from the plane. He asks for Jack’s help in finding another guy that was on the plane and is now in the hospital. Jack repeats what Des just said, reiterating that the guy was just on their plane and is now in the hospital. I guess Jack thought that was a rather odd tidbit.

Jack didn’t really have much time to explore the ramifications there, as Charlie chose that time to jackrabbit past him and Desmond, an orderly hot on his heels. Desmond gives chase down a flight of stairs and backs Charlie into a corner. Des wants to know why Charlie was trying to kill him, to which Charlie replies that he was just trying to show Des something. Des wants to see Charlie’s hands, and then demands to know who “Penny” is. Charlie’s eyes get real big and he knows that Desmond has, indeed, seen what Charlie wanted him to see – the truth.

Charlie turns to leave, but Desmond stops him. Charlie shrugs Desmond’s hand away, telling him that there’s no way he’s playing a rock concert after what just happened. He urges Desmond to stop worrying about him, and that Desmond should start looking for Penny.

So that’s what Desmond does.

But first, he has to tell Chuck Widmore that his son won’t be playing with Drive Shaft that afternoon. Widmore’s true colors come to the fore and he gets all pissy, telling Desmond that since he’s failed, he has to go over to the benefit and tell his wife that she can’t have her way.

George drives Desmond over to the charity event, wishing Desmond good luck in dealing with Mrs. Widmore, since Des has never met her. Inside one of the tents on the lawn at the charity function, a woman scolds one of the servers about the proper way to place a butter knife. It’s none other than Eloise Hawking, our resident Time Lord. She walks away, pissed that her cutlery is not receiving proper attention.

Desmond brushes his hand through his long locks and braces himself for the showdown. He gets Eloise’s attention, and the queen of quantum turns as he introduces himself. Eloise shows it all on her face – a moment of shocked recognition. She then smiles and says that Charles has mentioned him quite a bit. She insists that he call her Eloise, and it’s all very pleasant and, well, British.

Ellie asks Des why he’s come down to the benefit, and Desmond cuts right to the chase. He tells her that Drive Shaft won’t be performing with her son, and he takes full responsibility. She waves him off, saying it’s no big deal. When dealing with rock stars, she states – one must deal with a certain degree of unpredictability. Anyone else feel like that was a very leading bit of dialogue? At any rate, she dismisses the whole thing, saying “what happened, happened.” That saying must be burnt into her entire bloodline.

Hello, AlternaEllie. Nice brooch you have there. We’ll get to that in a bit.

They exchange pleasantries, and Desmond excuses himself. He passes by two of the benefit organizers, as they read through the guest list. Des hears “Milton, Penny,” and he gives pause. He asks the servers if he could look over the guest list, and takes the sheet. Eloise takes it back, telling Desmond that the list is confidential, and reprimands the Scot. Desmond is suitably flustered, and Eloise asks him to come with her.

She marches Desmond over to one of the tents and dismisses the help. Desmond tries to explain why he was looking at the list, and Eloise tells him to shut it. She’s heard his say, and she wants him to stop. “Stop what?” asks Des. Eloise says that it’s clear someone has altered his way of seeing things, and it’s wrong. In fact, it’s a violation. Of what, I have no idea – Time Lord code, I reckon. Anyway, she urges him to stop looking for whatever it is he’s looking for.

Desmond wants to know if Eloise knows what he’s looking for. No, she says, and she doesn’t know why he’s looking for anything. He has the perfect life, and he finally has the one thing he’s always wanted – Chuck’s approval. “How do you know what I want?” asks Desmond.

“Because I bloody do!” shouts Eloise.

Desmond demands to see that list, or at least know why she won’t show it to him. In desperation, she says that he’s not ready yet. Desmond turns in desperation. “Ready for what?!”

Desmond returns to the car, looking distraught. George remarks that it looks like it didn’t go too well. Des gets in and pours himself a scotch, telling George to just drive. The departure is interrupted, however, by a musician, knocking on the window. It’s Daniel Faraday – now Widmore in LA X. He tells Desmond that they need to talk. The ominous violins play and it’s time for a commercial break.

Dan takes Des over to a bench along a stone wall, and asks Desmond if he believes in love at first sight. Des is confused. Dan recounts how he first saw her, a beautiful, red-haired beauty, eating a chocolate bar – of course – and how he just knew, immediately, that he loved her. The same night that he saw the woman, he woke up and drew a little something special in his journal.

Desmond doesn’t know what he’s looking at, so Dan explains that he took it to one of his friends at CalTech who informed Dan that it’s quantum mechanics, something that someone who had been studying it their entire lives might come up with. Desmond probes further, wanting to know what it means. Dan tells Desmond to imagine that something terrible is about to happen, something catastrophic, and the only way to stop it is to release a huge amount of energy – like setting off a nuclear bomb. This concerns Desmond quite a bit, and he asks Dan if he plans to set off a nuclear weapon. Dan counters by saying that what if all this, this reality, is not their real life, not the life that was meant for them, and that they somehow changed things. He doesn’t want to set off a nuclear bomb – he’s afraid he already has.

Desmond’s noodle is getting good and cooked, as is ours, and he doesn’t understand what any of it has to do with him. Dan wants to know why Des asked his mum about a girl named Penny. Desmond hesitates. Dan says that Des knows now – he felt something. Desmond doesn’t know what he felt, but Dan insists that it was love. Desmond refuses to accept that it’s love since he doesn’t know anything about Penny, and he doesn’t even know if she exists. She’s an idea, says Desmond.

“No, Mr. Hume … she’s my half-sister,” says Dan. “And I can tell you exactly when and where you can find her.”

It’s night. Desmond walks into a stadium – the same one where he and Jack first met back before Des became the man in the Hatch on Island Prime. This time around, however, it’s not Jack doing the tour de stade – it’s Penny. Penny comes down the steps and stops, exhausted, in one of the stadium seats. Desmond asks if she’s Penny, and she is disarmed, but affirms. He introduces himself, she smiles, and they shake hands.

Then Desmond wakes up on the floor of the box, back on Island Prime.

Widmore and the gang open up the door and examine Desmond. Des asks how long he’s been out, and Chuck tells him only a few seconds. He helps Desmond to his feet, apologizing for having to do things this way, but Desmond’s “talent” is vital to his mission. He offers to explain, but Desmond says there’s no need. He understands. Chuck is surprised, but Desmond says that Chuck brought him to the Island for something important, and asks when they start.

The group walks back to the control room and Zoe wants to know what the hell happened to Desmond – 20 minutes prior, he was beating Widmore to death with an IV stand and now he’s Mr. Cooperative. “A lot can happen in 20 minutes,” says Des. It sure can. A lot can happen in 20 seconds, too, as Sayid pops out from the underbrush and dispatches two of the geeks. He points a gun at Zoe and tells her to run. She wastes no time.

Sayid tells Desmond that he doesn’t have time to explain, but that the people he’s with are extremely dangerous and that Des needs to come with him. Boy, that’s really the pot calling the kettle black. Desmond looks at the Iraqi with a detached resignation and says of course, lead the way. They walk off.

Desmond wakes up on the floor of the stadium. Penny asks if he’s okay, because he just fainted. He says he’s fine. She wants to know if they’ve met before. Oh, you could say that, darlin’. Des asks Penny if she’d like to go for a coffee, and she agrees to meet him there in an hour. They both grin like two high schoolers who just agreed to go to prom together. Penny walks away, looking back over her shoulder and giggling. Des is very happy. He breathes a deep sigh of contentment.

Des returns to the car, still smiling. George asks him if he found what he was looking for. Des says he most definitely did. He gives George the address of the coffee shop where he’ll meet Penny. George tells him no problem and says that if there’s anything else Des needs, to just ask. Des thinks for a minute and leans forward. There’s one thing the Scot would like – the manifest for Flight 815, just the names of the passengers. Sure thing, says George, but he wants to know why Des would need it.

“I just want to show them something.”

Cue the THONK!

I don’t know about you, but I just swallowed my gum. We’ve had some good episodes this season, but for the first time in a long time, I had several of what I like to call “Lost moments” during this episode – periods when a big smile would come across my face and I’d find myself pumping my fist in the air a few times, or saying “wooohoooo!” In other words, acting like a crazy person. Speaking of crazy, what the H-E-double hockey sticks is going on around here? I can’t promise you that I can come up with any answers, but I’m just gonna ramble on about stuff I think I know – or, perhaps, just stuff that my alternate reality self really knows since he went into philosophy or physics or, more than likely, screenwriting.

YOU’RE JUST NOT THINKING NINTH DIMENSIONALLY
We’re gonna get to the part where we talk about love and fate and free will and Eloise’s fancy new brooch, but first I want to take a peek under the hood at the mechanics of Desmond’s little quantum leaps. A definitive guide to how Desmond’s consciousness leaps throughout the timeline has been established during his mind’s time abroad in “Flashes Before Your Eyes” and “The Constant.” I rewatched both of them after this week’s episode, and I’m sad to say that there’s not a whole lot new I can add when benefited with hindsight. What it did do, however, is remind me of how I described time as a string, and how that can still explain some things in the context of Island Prime and LA X.

I first covered all this way back in season four during my analysis of “The Constant.” However, I revised my theories and introduced the tangled string in my analysis of the season five opener, “Because You Left,” and “The Lie.” Feel free to go back and look that over, but I’m going to repeat some of it here so that I can be lazy and stand upon the shoulders of a guy who was a year younger and a few brain cells richer.

Excerpt from A Quantum Leap Forward:
In our temporal analysis from last year, I talked a bit about the simplistic view of space-time existing as an extra dimension beyond our conventional three dimensions. Now, however, it’s important that we start to look further into viewing time through string theory. Imagine, if you will, that time is like a string. An individual’s personal timeline can be represented as a straight piece of string, with birth at the beginning and death at the end.

We started out talking about all this in much the same way.

The points along the string represent the individual moments of a person’s lifetime. If you could somehow put the two ends of the string together, life would be a loop.

Now, if you could somehow coil the string – ball it up like a big bit of yarn for the cats – then various moments of your life would intersect or touch another moment. Theoretically, you could jaunt from moment to moment along the string, allowing you to move back and forth along the string within your own lifetime. If you want to know more about all this from a far more entertaining aspect, go catch some repeats of Quantum Leap.

Of course, the string could be messier, with more intersects, looser with less intersects, or more organized, with exact intersects. I like to think of the coiled string as just a bit messy, much like life.

At any rate, Desmond’s experiences from last season imply that it was simply his consciousness that was shifting across the string. He was able to view and interact with moments along his timeline, but his “present” physical self was not transported to that particular moment. Again, this is much like how Sam Beckett jaunted his conscious mind about in Quantum Leap.

End excerpt.

I go on in that analysis to talk about how the survivors’ “strings” have all become connected to one another in the past or through alternate timelines, or rewritten timelines, and a lot of that is still good stuff that relates to what’s happening between LA X and Island Prime. I urge anyone interested to check it out. It gets your brain juices flowing.

For this week’s analysis, I just want to go a bit simpler and focus on Desmond’s ability to “leap” and how he is able to do so to an alternate timeline. In “Flashes Before Your Eyes” and “The Constant,” Desmond leaps back in time to 1996 – a very pivotal year for him, apparently. This is the year that he was going to propose to Penny, but broke things off and joined the army. Through his actions, he was able to alter the past a bit, and, as a consequence, the present. Daniel talks a bit about his ability to do this in “The Variable.” We’re not going to get into all that right now, I just want to establish that his quantum shift in consciousness had been, up to this point, only into the past – from the year 2004.

Now, bear with me, but I have two theories as to how it’s now possible that Desmond can “leap” sideways to another reality – in essence, into another dimension. For that, I have to break out another little sketch.

In this example, Desmond’s life prior to the detonation of Jughead in 1977 would have been fairly linear (for the sake of this example – in reality, it would be jumbled together as in my third figure above, but I only have so many hours in a day). After the detonation of Jughead, a new quantum state was created wherein the Island was sent to the bottom of the sea, and most of our characters never set foot there. I’ve been calling this reality, or alternate timeline, LA X.

After Desmond’s two realities diverged, the quantum consciousness string continued to remain attached all the way back to Desmond’s past, as well as continuing to loop and become intertwined. In essence, while the strings were looping in around themselves, they were also looping and getting tangled together. Therefore, when Desmond’s mind goes on walkabout, he’s able to access LA X through intersects in the two timelines.

The other theory is a bit more esoteric.

When Jughead was detonated in 1977, the survivors created a paradox. Since the Island was now on the bottom of the sea and none of the Oceanic group would ever set foot there, there was no way for them to travel back in time and for Juliet to detonate Jughead. In mutable non-branching timeline theory, this would mean that the versions of the survivors who had committed the action would cease to exist, replaced instead by the versions now inhabiting LA X. Because the paradox exists because the Island exists, the Island has become separated from the main timeline altogether. It now exists – and, possibly, may have always existed – outside the conventional domain of the space-time continuum. It could exist in a sort of phase bubble, tucked away neatly outside the normal stream of things. It would account for the time dilation that Daniel noticed and for the peculiarities in finding the Island once you’re off it. This opens up a whole can of worms worth of discussion, but we’ll have to save that for now. The focus of this theory this time around is its effect on Desmond’s leaping.

If the Island has become more than just an Island in space, and is now truly an Island in time, then the past that Desmond was leaping into in “Flashes Before Your Eyes” and “The Constant” no longer exists. When Chuck submitted Desmond to the EM pulse in the box, Desmond’s consciousness could not leap back into his known past – the only constant that still existed was the year 2004, the year he lept from previously. The events in this year are now, of course, the events that have occurred to the occupants of Oceanic 815 that never crashed. In essence, there is a gap between the “time” that is surrounding the Island, and the last known entry point into or out of any timeline, the 2004 of LA X.

Of course, none of this explains how Charlie can, essentially, do what Desmond does for a brief moment just before death. I’ll wager that it has to do with his consciousness slipping away into another phase state. This may account for Hurley’s ability to see the “dead,” because they’re not really dead, their consciousness has just slipped into another state of being, or even another alternate timeline or dimension from the one enveloping Island Prime. I could go on about this for at least a couple of days, but it’s time to move on and talk about everyone’s favorite Time Lord (my apologies to Tom Baker).

SHE’S HAVING THE TIME OF HER LIFE
First off, let’s talk about those magic brooches, shall we?

On the left, we have the brooch Eloise was wearing in “Flashes Before Your Eyes.” This is representative of the Ouroboros – the mythical symbol of the snake eating its own tail. It signifies that everything is cyclical. I’ve brought up this brooch and its significance several times. Now in this week’s episode, her brooch – on the right – seems to reflect two cataclysms. Does that represent cataclysms occurring across two parallel worlds? Or does it reflect the cataclysmic event that was supposed to happen back in 1977, and the larger release of energy that Daniel brought about when Juliet smashed Jughead, down in the Hatch shaft? It could signify a cataclysm that has yet to occur. Or it could simply be a symbol of the two realities we are witnessing. I do find it fascinating that one starburst is larger than the other. Whomever designed this brooch did a nice job.

Speaking of Eloise, in “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” when Desmond tries to buy the ring for Penny, she tells him that he doesn’t do it – and that if he continues on his path and does not end up on the Island, in the Hatch to turn the failsafe key, then everyone is dead. This is pretty much the same mantra that Widmore, Jacob, Ilana and many others have been spouting about MIB getting off the Island.

Eloise makes sure that every single person that was on Oceanic 815 makes it back to the Island, but why? Is it because she is looking after the Island, as either a servant of Jacob or as a free agent? Or were her intentions more self-serving and a bit devious? Let’s think about this for a minute – Eloise created a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy with her son Daniel. She shoots her own son who has time-traveled to the past, and she has to live with the knowledge of this for all her life. She chooses not to tell Daniel, however, and urges him to pursue physics, knowing full well the fate that would be in store for him. Now, with all that said, she may have also concluded that Daniel may have found a way to gum up the works, which he does with Jughead. By Daniel’s actions of telling the survivors to detonate Jughead, he created an alternate reality where he lives, and Eloise gets to keep her son and be married to her Island partner, Charles Widmore. Could this be why she is so ticked at Desmond, because she’s afraid he’ll screw the whole thing up?

We have to also remember that Eloise is the one that re-focused Desmond after his first quantum leap, informing him that he was not supposed to buy the ring, and if he continued on his present course of actions, he would jeopardize the whole world. Maybe she said that so MIB could continue to be contained – but maybe she said it because she knew it could protect the path that her son would need to take in order to shake the heavens and break some temporal laws. Perhaps it’s not Desmond who has been perpetrating violations – it’s Mrs. Hawking, herself.

Also bear in mind that in “This Place is Death,” Christian Shephard appears to Locke down in the Great Wheel room, shortly before he resets it and keeps the Island from jumping around. Christian tells Locke that he should get in touch with Eloise when he gets to LA. It’s from this contact with Eloise that she is able to set in motion the plan to get everyone back to the Island. We’ve speculated many times now about the real identity of Christian Shephard – has he been the true mouthpiece for Jacob? Can Jacob shapeshift like Ol’ Smokey? Or has Christian Shephard been MIB, pulling strings all along? If the truth is the latter, that would make Eloise’s actions in getting everyone back to the Island a bit nefarious – if she really knew the truth about it all.

Of course, Eloise could simply be the resident time cop, making sure that everyone is staying within the boundaries, lest all humanity cease to exist and octopi or flying squirrels or even Velociraptors would become the dominant species.

THE RANDOM BITS
We can now draw the probable conclusion that LA X is the timeline that branched off from the detonation of Jughead. The release of energy created a dual state for the survivors. In one reality, the Island was taken out of the equation altogether and they all lead very different lives. No one really dies in this reality, per se, but they also haven’t been free to experience all they can experience. This is what Charlie mentions when he speaks to Desmond of love. Yes, Charlie on Island Prime sacrificed his life, but he also knew the love of Claire. Desmond sees the truth in this when he has a vision of Penny.

The only person who can break the veil between the two realities, other than Desmond, is Charlie. Is this because he’s dead in the Island Prime timeline? Charlie saw a vision of his other self right as he was about to die – indicating that his consciousness was slipping away and over to another reality. Is the same thing true for those who died on Island Prime? I’m thinking particularly about Juliet’s mention of “going dutch for some coffee” shortly before she died in Sawyer’s arms.

The number of references to past events in this episode, and their alternate outcomes, are mind-boggling, and fun. A list of important ones of note:

Desmond is helpless to save Charlie from drowning at the Looking Glass station, but manages to save him from drowning in the marina.

In the MRI, the tech tells Desmond that he shouldn’t push the Button, but on Island Prime, Desmond’s job was to repeatedly push the Button.

Daniel Faraday always wanted to be a musician, but Eloise pushed him to study physics. In LA X, his mum is content with her life and leaves him be, so he’s free to become the musician and leave the physics behind, until his quantum mechanics vision.

Eloise speaks of a “violation” when Desmond comes searching for Penny in LA X. Eloise mentioned the same thing when Desmond’s consciousness leapt back in time in “Flashes Before Your Eyes.”

Daniel plays the piano in The Variable – does he just know how to play the piano, or was he having some sort of vision about an alternate reality for himself, like his musician counterpart in LA X? Has the alternate reality always existed, and it was Dan’s experiments and leaping that allowed him to see the possibility of changing things?

Watching “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” some questions come to mind – Was Desmond placed in the Hatch for a reason? Was he called to the Island by Jacob because Jacob can observe things as a casual observer outside of the quantum entanglement? Desmond was brought there for a reason – maybe by Jacob, maybe by someone or something else – but he is the Variable, the one monkeywrench in the works. Also, whomever or whatever brought him there knew that he would end up in the Hatch and possibly/definitely turn the failsafe that would result in him and his consciousness bouncing between realities. Eloise Hawking was very definitive in this in “Flashes Before Your Eyes.” We talked a bit about this back in that whole part about Eloise and her magic brooches.

In “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” Desmond meets with his friend Donovan, who is a physicist. As Desmond explains what is happening to him, Donovan remarks: “There’s no such thing as time travel, Des. True love is just as unlikely.” I just thought that was a neat corollary.

What would you do if you knew you had a second chance at everything? What if you knew that you would die a lonely hermit at the bitter age of 63 because you chose to go to prom with her instead of her? What if you had decided to tell off that abusive boss 15 years ago and were no longer shackled to a dead-end job, and knew you could instead move onto greatness, free to move mountains? What would you do with that knowledge? If you knew that, no matter what you did in this life, you could have it all in another? Would that frighten you, or make you invincible? Just something to think about as you sit and ponder the possibilities that somewhere, somehow, somewhen, there might just be another you, sitting at their holocube, reading about this week’s episode of Found and thinking about you. I can guarantee you they have a goatee.

That’s about it for this week. I wish I had more time to get into the significance behind what Desmond learns and speculate a bit about what’s to come and what he plans to do with the Oceanic group over in LA X, but that would take me further down the rabbit hole than I have time for right now. I would be more than willing to hear some speculation and engage in some quantum philosophizing down in the comments, however. Break out your mortar boards and monocles, and let’s hear what you’ve all got. I’ll try to expand more on this particular topic next week, especially as we see more of Widmore’s plan and how Desmond will ultimately interact with MIB. Until next time, keep thinking those thoughts and if you have an epiphany, tell me something good.

Namaste.

[Hobotrashcan.com]

New TV Guide Interview with Henry Ian Cusick

SL-LOST — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:58:32 +0000

Here’s a new interview with Henry Ian Cusick, via TV Guide’s Natalie Abrams:

NOTE: this interview contains minor spoilers.

TVGuide.com: How does it feel knowing that Desmond is the key to everything?
Cusick: Desmond certainly is a part, but is he the key? There’s not one character that is the key. There are many characters that will have to step up and do things before this is resolved. Desmond has a part to play, a significant part, but there are many others that will step up.

TVGuide.com: “Happily Ever After” was very similar to “The Constant.”
Cusick: It was an interesting episode. Compared to the other Desmond-centric episodes, it wasn’t so high-stakes and angsty, with Desmond running through the jungle and shouting for Penny. This was a bit slower, I thought. The Desmond in the sideways was very different from the Desmond on the island.

TVGuide.com: Would you say that Desmond is everyone’s constant?
Cusick: No, I don’t think that’s right. In the flash-sideways, the characters are all slightly different from the characters on the island. They’re all slightly hypnotized or haven’t seen the truth. Like Desmond, he’s slightly dead in this life. He’s just a hollow corporate guy until Charlie [Dominic Monaghan] comes along. Desmond also recognizes that everyone in that sideways world — there are clues when you look in the mirror — when they look at their reflections, they go, “Hang on, what is reality?” They’re aware something is not quite right, but they can’t put a finger on it. Desmond now knows he’s alive again and knows his purpose.

TVGuide.com: And now he wants to find everyone on Oceanic 815 to show them that truth.
Cusick: Yeah, at the end [of the episode], Desmond says “Where’s the manifest? I need to show them something and it’s going to be beautiful.” When they get to see this other world, that’s when their hearts will open and know what they have to do; they’ll know the truth.

TVGuide.com: Based on what Desmond, Faraday (Jeremy Davies) and Charlie saw, their flashes seem to be based in love. Would you say that’s a strong theme of the series?
Cusick: Yes, you’re absolutely right in a sense that the driving force of Lost is love. Desmond is totally driven by love. What’s interesting is how they see this other world. Charlie and Desmond both had near-death experiences and they recognized their loves. It’s sort of spiritual, the thing they have to get to at the end of this, what Desmond has to do.

TVGuide.com: Since it appears that one has to almost die to see the alternate universe, does that mean everyone in the sideways universe has to die to fuse the two timelines?
Cusick: We don’t know which is the real universe at the moment. We don’t know which universe the show will end up in. Desmond is going to show them a glimpse of the other world and we’ll see how and if they collide, and what will happen when they do.

TVGuide.com: Desmond changed his fate in the sideways universe by meeting Penny. Does the fact that he suddenly then woke up mean their fates are determined by their upcoming choices?
Cusick: Desmond says to Charlie that there’s always a choice. He’s only out for a very short time when he’s given that electromagnetic charge, but when he comes back to the island, he is enlightened and knows exactly what his mission is. He embraces that and now knows what he has to do, so he follows Sayid [Naveen Andrews] because that is a way for him to further his mission. He’s not struggling with anyone; he knows what has to be done. It’s a very odd moment with Sayid, but this is the way for him to fulfill his mission.

TVGuide.com: Is Desmond claimed like Sayid and Claire (Emilie de Ravin) are?
Cusick: No, absolutely not. He’s not claimed at all. It’s the polar opposite. Sayid and Claire have been claimed by the Man in Black. Desmond, on the other hand, has had an epiphany. He’s enlightened. He has no fear of the Man in Black.

TVGuide.com: Eloise (Fionnula Flanagan) seems like she knows what’s going on in the sideways universe and even tells Desmond that he’s not ready. How is it that she’s conscious of this?
Cusick: She is a law unto herself. She’s working on a different timeline. She always seems to know more than everyone else. She’s like the oracle. If I was a fan watching it, how she seems to know wouldn’t bother me just now, but hopefully these things will be addressed. She’s opposed to the idea of Desmond trying to bring everyone together. She’s trying to cover everyone’s eyes.

TVGuide.com: What’s the mission that Charles Widmore (Alan Dale) wants Des to complete?
Cusick: Widmore and Desmond are on the same mission. Basically, Widmore says if Desmond doesn’t survive the electromagnetic blast, we’re all going to die, so Desmond is there to help make sure that people don’t die, along with a lot of others. There will be more explosions.

[TVGuide.com]

LOST 6.11 “Happily Ever After” Recap/Live Reaction Video

ajruck — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:42:28 +0000

This is the video recap LOST season 6 episode 11, “Happily Ever After,” which aired April 6, 2010 on ABC.
I summarize the night’s events and share my personal reactions to the show as it aired.

This episode focused mainly on Desmond Hume’s life off of the island in the flash sideways.
Complete summary and personal reactions in the vid!

Thanks for watching! You can catch up on all my recaps HERE.

Check out all my videos at RuckitUp.com and follow me @ Twitter.com/AdamRucker

See you next week!

LOST Episode 6.11 “Happily Ever After” [Open Thread]

SL-LOST — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 02:00:01 +0000

Synopsis: Desmond wakes up to discover he’s back on the island.
Written by: Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse.
Directed by: Jack Bender.

What did you think of tonight’s Desmond-centric episode? Tell us in comments below!

Please, do NOT post any info about upcoming episodes in comments. This includes the preview shown at the end of this episode, episode titles, etc. If you post a spoiler, you’ll be permanently banned. If you see a spoiler, please flag it. Thanks!

Michael Emerson Teases Tonight’s Episode and Answers Fans’ Questions

SL-LOST — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:04:07 +0000

Like many other episodes this season, it’s … it’s just a good reveal. The door creaks open a little bit further. Something in the mechanics of the narrative is going to make itself … we’re going to think about things differently — certainly about Desmond.

Read full interview @ NYMag.com (contains minor spoilers).

LOST 6.10 “The Package” Live Reaction/Recap Video

ajruck — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:37:02 +0000

This is the video recap of LOST season 6 episode 10, “The Package,” which aired March 30, 2010 on ABC.
My friend Allison joined me to summarize the night’s events and share our personal reactions to the show as it aired.

This episode centered around Sun & Jin both on the island and in the flash sideways off the island. Also, on the island, Widmore delivers “the package,” which he says will prevent Locke from escaping the island. The package, it turns out, is none other than Mr. Desmond Hume. Brother!

There were many exciting happenings in the episode, along with my own personal mystery.
Check out the video for more!

Share your thoughts and theories in the comments and at Twitter.com/AdamRucker

Henry Ian Cusick Talks about LOST’s Final Season

SL-LOST — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:57:09 +0000

Via TV Guide Magazine:

Production has begun in Hawaii, are you privy to what’s happening in the season premiere?
I’ve read scripts for up to Episode 3. It sort of picks up, as always, where it left off, but then it jumps all over the place. We get very excited to pick up the scripts and read them and they’re still as confusing and baffling as ever. [Laughs] We’re still going, “What the hell is going on now?”

Is it a different atmosphere on set now that it’s the last season?
Most of the [cast] are making plans to move back to the mainland. I think there are only a couple people contemplating staying in Hawaii. I’m thinking about staying in Hawaii. My children are in school and to pull them out now would be tricky. We really love life here. One of the best things about Lost is I got to live in Hawaii.

With Sonya Walger, who plays Penny, on FlashForward, does that mean there will be even less of Desmond and Penny this season?
I really don’t know what’s going to happen with Penny. And, to be honest, I don’t know what’s going to happen with Desmond either. Are we going to see less of him than last season? I hope not, because we didn’t see much of him and there are a lot of things I’d like to know about him. I think Desmond’s character has become more of a peripheral character. I think now we are zooming to the end and there are a lot of questions that need to be answered…

Do you have a favorite Desmond and Penny scene?
I guess their first meeting—that was kind of fun when she and Desmond are packing up the crates in the monastery. I like that scene.

What Lost mystery do you want solved?
What is the Island and why the Island—that’s the essence of the show. And then there are a thousand little strings we probably won’t get answers to, but I guess that’s life and you can make up your own stuff, so the conversations will go on and on and on.

What’s next, after Lost is done filming?
Nothing at all, so I better start looking.

sl-LOST.com » Desmond

LOST/Dr Who Mashup Shirt Available on TeeFury Today Only

Related posts:

LOST’s Henry Ian Cusick Lands on Shonda Rhimes Drama Pilot

Related posts:

Henry Ian Cusick: “I miss LOST greatly”

Related posts:

“I was no longer Henry Ian Cusick, I was Desmond”

Related posts:

First Brief Look at Henry Ian Cusick’s Guest Appearance on ‘Law & Order: SVU’

Related posts:

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: LOST Finale Deleted Scene

Related posts:

Henry Ian Cusick Joins ‘Law & Order: SVU’

Related posts:

VIDEO: Mick Jagger Becomes Desmond on Jimmy Fallon’s LOST Spoof Series

Related posts:

Isla Cognita, Part II: Cultural History of the Island by Pearson Moore

Related posts:

More Interviews with Henry Ian Cusick

Related posts:

The LOST Initiative: “Happily Ever After”

Related posts:

Uniquely, Miraculously: Cultural Bridges in LOST 6.11 by Pearson Moore

Related posts:

Henry Ian Cusick Talks Love, Fear and Moving Sideways

Related posts:

Make Your Own Kind Of Music: “Happily Ever After” Recap & Analysis by Chris Kirkman

Related posts:

New TV Guide Interview with Henry Ian Cusick

Related posts:

LOST 6.11 “Happily Ever After” Recap/Live Reaction Video

Related posts:

LOST Episode 6.11 “Happily Ever After” [Open Thread]

Related posts:

Michael Emerson Teases Tonight’s Episode and Answers Fans’ Questions

Related posts:

LOST 6.10 “The Package” Live Reaction/Recap Video

Related posts:

Henry Ian Cusick Talks about LOST’s Final Season

Related posts: