The Constant (S4:E5)
If last night didn’t make you fall in love with LOST again (if you ever fell out of love), then I question why you even watch the show. I watched the episode with people much smarter than myself last night, and they had great insights which will be lumped into the list below. Oh, and a shout out to Omar, played by Anthony Azizi (better known to most that knew him as Kamal Rowshan). Some of you will recognize him as two different terrorists (in two different seasons) on ‘24’. He also died both times.
The best comment last night was when someone mentioned that they love Desmond episodes. I too am a fan of Desmond episodes, and last night’s episode might have been the best of the entire series (in my opinion). Anyway…the scene where Desmond spoke to Penelope, in effect finding his Constant, was theatre/TV/etc. at its best. 1996 Desmond nodding as if he knew things were back to “normal”, 2004 Desmond on the phone mentioning the island, it was all done amazingly. Kudos to the LOST cast, crew and directors. We finally have Some Answered Questions. We finally closed the loop on some open issues.
Shall we?
1. Raise your hand if you were a fan of Quantum Leap. Last night reminded some of us of that great TV show. While it didn’t exactly match up, it was as if Desmond was doing a Quantum Leap within himself, except that it was 1996 Desmond leaping back and forth, while 2004 Desmond was somewhere in limbo. Another tribute to the 80’s was Daniel’s little argument that you can’t change the future. This kinda reminded me of Dr. Emmitt Brown (Christopher Llyod) in Back to the Future. Dr. Brown made a huge fuss about acts changed in the past that impact the future, causing a break from the time continuum, causing an alternate reality. This begs the question (now that we know the future can change): Are the Flash-Forwards that we’ve seen no longer a reality?
2. In the Desmond episode where he flashes back to an alternate past, he speaks to Mrs. Hawking from the jewelry store. She says events are structured and that the universe will correct itself. This sort of hurts the above argument with alternate realities.
3. “If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume is my constant.” While this is easily explainable, I think it touches a little on Daniel’s character. He said it himself. A Constant is someone you care about. Has Desmond had enough impact on Daniel’s life for Daniel to care about him? On another note, does 2004 Daniel now remember the encounter in 1996? Regardless, this foreshadows possible time-leaps by Daniel and/or other people Losties (Foundies?). Daniel is exposed to radiation more often than the normal individual. Could this explain Daniel’s difficulties on the island? He had trouble with the memory game that Charlotte played with him. Has Daniel been having flash-times? When we first met him, he was in his chair cowering over news of the crash. Was that a vision of Daniel having a “Flash-Time”???? He went through that same storm in the helicopter. He’s been exposed to radiation. Or was it Daniel from 1996 that had met Desmond, and knew what the crash was all about…?
4. Charlotte and Daniel have a closer connection than we think. Plus, there’s the part where Charlotte got her PhD at Oxford, and now we find out that Daniel taught there.
5. Does this episode kind of explain why Desmond was in Military Prison? He left the military to visit Daniel, although he told Penny that he had a couple of days off starting the evening of the day he was in the phone booth talking to her. If I’m not mistaken, Desmond stays with Penny and they rekindle something, because not only did he end up in Military Prison while Penny was in love with him (her father tried to pay him off to leave upon his release, and leave his daughter alone). Also, it is mentioned that the picture with Desmond and Penny takes place close to where she lives at the following address.
6. According to some posters, Penelope’s address (423 Cheyne Walk in London) is the same street that Mick Jagger lives on. Supposedly, that’s where Widmore Corp is too.
7. George Minkowski mentioned that whenever Penelope would call, there would be flashing lights. This is similar to what Charlie witnessed when he talked to her. If it’s “NOT PENNY’S BOAT”, then why/how is she in contact?
8. Here’s some “coincidences” with numbers listed on Lostpedia: 1996 and 2004 Desmond are 8 years apart. Penny’s address 423 Cheyne Walk (4, 23 & 42). Daniel’s frequency is 2.342 (23 & 42). Black Rock Diary action number 2342 (23 & 42).
9. Another nice one from Lostpedia: George Minkowski died from the lack of a constant. “Minkowski’s Constant,” a.k.a. Minkowski's theorem, is the foundation of geometry of numbers.
10. Lostpedia is on fire. In the film “Donnie Darko”, water is used to construct a portal for time travel. Desmond’s flash-times are water-centric. He’s around sinks, rain and the ocean.
11. Apparently, off the island, it is December 24, but on the island it is December 26, according to day counters that people have had going for the series.
12. One of the more interesting theories that I’ve heard about Ben’s “Man on the Boat” is that it’s Sayid, working for Ben. Would it be freakish if Sayid were to run into himself. Others think it is Kelvin (the guy that was in the hatch with Desmond) or Michael.
13. The doctor on the boat gives Minkowski a shot. Is it the same shot that Desmond was taking in the hatch, and that we’ve seen numerous characters receive as well? Is it some sort of serum that doesn’t allow time displacement? Is what Desmond experienced, what Rousseau called “The Sickness”? Is this how Rousseau’s crew died? Why didn’t Rousseau die? Two amazing points made by Lostpedia posters on this topic: a) “The research Rousseau’s team was doing involved exposure to radiation, which Danielle avoided while she was pregnant. This explains how she was the only member of the team who was not affected as they approached the island.”; b) “This could be why pregnant women died on the island before giving birth. Their child starts to experience consciousness-travel (to the future when they are adults) before even being born and thus dying without finding their constant and killing the mother with him creating a paradox.”
14. Is Jack experiencing this in the future? Is that why he thought his dad was still alive? Is that why he feels he needs to go back to the island? Or…wait…could Christian Shepherd just be stuck in a time jump?
15. This brings me to a theory that I’ve been trying to prove since season one. That Christian is alive…and once again Vozzek69 of DarkUFO fame has summed it up perfectly: “Taking this into consideration, what if the plane crashed before September 22nd 2004? We’ve seen time differentials of 31 seconds and even a whole day now – who’s to say it couldn’t span a week or more? As we saw with Desmond, the consciousness is transferred but the body stays the same. So what if (and get ready to be totally creeped out here…) what if the plane crashed during a period in time when Christian Shephard was still alive? What if the only place his consciousness had to go was into his current body, tucked neatly away in the coffin that turned up empty on impact? Could this explain why Jack kept seeing him? Could this explain why Jacob looked like him for that brief instant, yet still looks like an embalmed corpse? Yikes.”
16. This episode basically opened a whole new door. Are the flashbacks really flashbacks, or is it the actual characters doing their own time-jumps??? I have to hand it to the writers of this series who have once-again managed to turn this whole story on it’s side.
17. And now, I leave you with an oft-used statement in this series, whether it’s said in different ways or languages, which now takes on a whole new meaning, “See you in another life.”
Note: There is still SO MUCH to this episode. If I can take time out of my busy life (yeah right dude…you write a frikkin’ blog), I’ll see if I can update some more.
The best comment last night was when someone mentioned that they love Desmond episodes. I too am a fan of Desmond episodes, and last night’s episode might have been the best of the entire series (in my opinion). Anyway…the scene where Desmond spoke to Penelope, in effect finding his Constant, was theatre/TV/etc. at its best. 1996 Desmond nodding as if he knew things were back to “normal”, 2004 Desmond on the phone mentioning the island, it was all done amazingly. Kudos to the LOST cast, crew and directors. We finally have Some Answered Questions. We finally closed the loop on some open issues.
Shall we?
1. Raise your hand if you were a fan of Quantum Leap. Last night reminded some of us of that great TV show. While it didn’t exactly match up, it was as if Desmond was doing a Quantum Leap within himself, except that it was 1996 Desmond leaping back and forth, while 2004 Desmond was somewhere in limbo. Another tribute to the 80’s was Daniel’s little argument that you can’t change the future. This kinda reminded me of Dr. Emmitt Brown (Christopher Llyod) in Back to the Future. Dr. Brown made a huge fuss about acts changed in the past that impact the future, causing a break from the time continuum, causing an alternate reality. This begs the question (now that we know the future can change): Are the Flash-Forwards that we’ve seen no longer a reality?
2. In the Desmond episode where he flashes back to an alternate past, he speaks to Mrs. Hawking from the jewelry store. She says events are structured and that the universe will correct itself. This sort of hurts the above argument with alternate realities.
3. “If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume is my constant.” While this is easily explainable, I think it touches a little on Daniel’s character. He said it himself. A Constant is someone you care about. Has Desmond had enough impact on Daniel’s life for Daniel to care about him? On another note, does 2004 Daniel now remember the encounter in 1996? Regardless, this foreshadows possible time-leaps by Daniel and/or other people Losties (Foundies?). Daniel is exposed to radiation more often than the normal individual. Could this explain Daniel’s difficulties on the island? He had trouble with the memory game that Charlotte played with him. Has Daniel been having flash-times? When we first met him, he was in his chair cowering over news of the crash. Was that a vision of Daniel having a “Flash-Time”???? He went through that same storm in the helicopter. He’s been exposed to radiation. Or was it Daniel from 1996 that had met Desmond, and knew what the crash was all about…?
4. Charlotte and Daniel have a closer connection than we think. Plus, there’s the part where Charlotte got her PhD at Oxford, and now we find out that Daniel taught there.
5. Does this episode kind of explain why Desmond was in Military Prison? He left the military to visit Daniel, although he told Penny that he had a couple of days off starting the evening of the day he was in the phone booth talking to her. If I’m not mistaken, Desmond stays with Penny and they rekindle something, because not only did he end up in Military Prison while Penny was in love with him (her father tried to pay him off to leave upon his release, and leave his daughter alone). Also, it is mentioned that the picture with Desmond and Penny takes place close to where she lives at the following address.
6. According to some posters, Penelope’s address (423 Cheyne Walk in London) is the same street that Mick Jagger lives on. Supposedly, that’s where Widmore Corp is too.
7. George Minkowski mentioned that whenever Penelope would call, there would be flashing lights. This is similar to what Charlie witnessed when he talked to her. If it’s “NOT PENNY’S BOAT”, then why/how is she in contact?
8. Here’s some “coincidences” with numbers listed on Lostpedia: 1996 and 2004 Desmond are 8 years apart. Penny’s address 423 Cheyne Walk (4, 23 & 42). Daniel’s frequency is 2.342 (23 & 42). Black Rock Diary action number 2342 (23 & 42).
9. Another nice one from Lostpedia: George Minkowski died from the lack of a constant. “Minkowski’s Constant,” a.k.a. Minkowski's theorem, is the foundation of geometry of numbers.
10. Lostpedia is on fire. In the film “Donnie Darko”, water is used to construct a portal for time travel. Desmond’s flash-times are water-centric. He’s around sinks, rain and the ocean.
11. Apparently, off the island, it is December 24, but on the island it is December 26, according to day counters that people have had going for the series.
12. One of the more interesting theories that I’ve heard about Ben’s “Man on the Boat” is that it’s Sayid, working for Ben. Would it be freakish if Sayid were to run into himself. Others think it is Kelvin (the guy that was in the hatch with Desmond) or Michael.
13. The doctor on the boat gives Minkowski a shot. Is it the same shot that Desmond was taking in the hatch, and that we’ve seen numerous characters receive as well? Is it some sort of serum that doesn’t allow time displacement? Is what Desmond experienced, what Rousseau called “The Sickness”? Is this how Rousseau’s crew died? Why didn’t Rousseau die? Two amazing points made by Lostpedia posters on this topic: a) “The research Rousseau’s team was doing involved exposure to radiation, which Danielle avoided while she was pregnant. This explains how she was the only member of the team who was not affected as they approached the island.”; b) “This could be why pregnant women died on the island before giving birth. Their child starts to experience consciousness-travel (to the future when they are adults) before even being born and thus dying without finding their constant and killing the mother with him creating a paradox.”
14. Is Jack experiencing this in the future? Is that why he thought his dad was still alive? Is that why he feels he needs to go back to the island? Or…wait…could Christian Shepherd just be stuck in a time jump?
15. This brings me to a theory that I’ve been trying to prove since season one. That Christian is alive…and once again Vozzek69 of DarkUFO fame has summed it up perfectly: “Taking this into consideration, what if the plane crashed before September 22nd 2004? We’ve seen time differentials of 31 seconds and even a whole day now – who’s to say it couldn’t span a week or more? As we saw with Desmond, the consciousness is transferred but the body stays the same. So what if (and get ready to be totally creeped out here…) what if the plane crashed during a period in time when Christian Shephard was still alive? What if the only place his consciousness had to go was into his current body, tucked neatly away in the coffin that turned up empty on impact? Could this explain why Jack kept seeing him? Could this explain why Jacob looked like him for that brief instant, yet still looks like an embalmed corpse? Yikes.”
16. This episode basically opened a whole new door. Are the flashbacks really flashbacks, or is it the actual characters doing their own time-jumps??? I have to hand it to the writers of this series who have once-again managed to turn this whole story on it’s side.
17. And now, I leave you with an oft-used statement in this series, whether it’s said in different ways or languages, which now takes on a whole new meaning, “See you in another life.”
Note: There is still SO MUCH to this episode. If I can take time out of my busy life (yeah right dude…you write a frikkin’ blog), I’ll see if I can update some more.
posted by Armin at 11:06 AM
2 Comments:
How bout this for another question ... are the flashbacks and flash-forwards actually JUST flashbacks/forwards? Or are the other losties time-jumping as well, like Des? Maybe there are no such things as flashbacks/fwds here at all ... but for some reason, the Losties aren't to the level Des is, and thus don't fully remember their jumps.
While I don't know what's going through the LOST writers'/producers' minds...they could easily use this as an explanation.
I am thinking along the same lines though. They could make it very complicated if they want to.
Post a Comment
<< Home