Happily Ever After- Episode 6.11

Alas, we might actually be going somewhere with the flash-sideways. The Desmond episode did not disappoint. Let’s jump on into what happened in “Happily Ever After.”

This episode starts out with Desmond finding out that he was brought back to the Island. When Widmore tells him this, needless to say, Desmond is very upset, to the point of physically attacking Widmore. Soon after, Desmond is placed in a “room” to see if he can survive another “catastrophic electromagnetic event.” From what Widmore has been told, Desmond is the only person in the world that has survived this, and if he can again, then he will be asked to make a sacrifice.

When the infamous white light from electromagnetic events goes off we now see Desmond’s flash-sideways persona. He is seen getting off of flight 815 and being picked up by George Minkowski. This is interesting because Minkowski was the other person on the freighter whose consciousness was jumping between two timelines, as Desmond’s was when he arrived on the freighter.

In this timeline Desmond works for Charles Widmore, and Widmore looks on him with great favor. (Did anyone notice the artwork in Widmore’s office? A scale with white stones on one side and black stones on another.) Widmore gives Desmond a glass of MacCutcheon whisky because he is worth it. In the original timeline we see that in Widmore’s eyes, Desmond is not worthy to have such a “fine” drink. (I guess when you have a thing for the boss’s daughter it can make you easy to dislike.)

Desmond is charged with the task of looking after Charlie Pace, because he is going to play a charity concert with Widmore’s son, Daniel Widmore aka Daniel Faraday. In this timeline “Faraday” (how I will refer to him in this timeline) is a musician. In the original timeline we knew he was a piano aficionado but his mother persuaded him to go into science because it appeared that was his destiny, to help the Island. However, with the Island sunk in this timeline, I guess he can stick with music.

Charlie seems to be on to something between the two timelines. Charlie tells Desmond that when he nearly died on the plane by choking on his bag of drugs he saw Claire (although he doesn’t know her name in this timeline) and felt as if he had loved her. There was a true, real feeling in him when he saw Claire when he was about to die. In an effort to show Desmond something, Charlie jerks the wheel of the car away from Desmond and they crash into the water. Desmond swims out of the car and goes around to Charlie’s side of the car. He thinks he sees Charlie holding his hand up to the window which says “Not Penny’s boat.” Desmond snaps out of this vision and gets him out.

At the hospital Desmond goes into an MRI machine. Inside this machine Desmond starts seeing flashes of his life with Penny from the original timeline. He leaves the MRI machine and runs into Jack, who is a doctor in the hospital, and reminds him that they were on the same plane. Desmond meets up with Charlie again in the hospital and Charlie tells him that he will not play in the concert because none of this matters and that Desmond should start looking for this girl named Penny that he saw written on Charlie’s hand and also from the visions in the MRI machine.

Desmond then goes to tell Mrs. Widmore, Eloise Hawking, that Charlie will not be playing at their event. Despite how everyone told Desmond she would react, she did not seem to mind this news. As Desmond leaves the event site where he was meeting with Mrs. Widmore he hears the name Penny Milton being read off the guest list. When he asks to look at the list Mrs. Widmore jumps all up in his conversation and says that:

ELOISE: Someone has clearly affected the way you see things. This is a serious problem. It is, in fact, a violation. So, whatever you’re doing, whatever it is you think you’re looking for...You need to stop looking for it.

DESMOND: Do you, do you know what I'm looking for, Mrs. Widmore?

ELOISE: I don't know why you're looking for anything? You have the perfect life. On top of it, you’ve managed to attain the thing you wanted more than anything--my husband's approval.

DESMOND: How do you know what I want?

ELOISE: Because I bloody do.

DESMOND: I need to see that list...or you need to tell me why I can't.

ELOISE: You can't because you're not ready yet, Desmond.

DESMOND: Ready? Ready, for what?

Desmond then talks with Faraday who basically gives him the same Charlie speech. He felt as though he loved this redhead girl who works at the museum. We of course already know this to be Charlotte. Faraday says that after seeing her he felt as though he had already loved the redhead; he woke up that night and wrote down some crazy advanced quantum mechanics equations. Only someone who had studied that field a lifetime would understand them. He knew this because he showed it to a friend of his that is in the mathematics field.

Faraday then concludes that things must have been changed, that this life was not meant to be. Faraday said that things could have been changed by releasing a large amount of energy, like exploding a nuclear bomb. Faraday then speculates that he has already set off a nuclear bomb. Faraday tells Desmond that Penny is his half sister and he tells Desmond where to meet her.

Desmond finds Penny running in the same stadium that we saw Jack and Desmond running in from the original timeline. When they shake hands Desmond faints.

Desmond comes back into consciousness in his original timeline persona. Widmore says that he was only out for a few seconds. Widmore expresses to Desmond that his ability is paramount to the success of their mission. Desmond does not even let Widmore finish and says that he is ready to do what he must. Moments later, Desmond is being lead away by Zoe and two other of Widmore’s men. Sayid jumps out and neutralizes the two men and tells Zoe, at gunpoint, that she should run.

SAYID: Desmond, I don’t have time to explain, but these people are extremely dangerous. We need to go now.

DESMOND: Aye, of course. Lead the way.

The episode concludes by flash-sideways Desmond waking up in front of Penny where we last saw them talking. Penny agrees to a coffee date and Desmond returns to his limo still being driven by Minkowski. Minkowski asks if he can get Desmond anything to which Desmond asks for the Oceanic 815 flight manifest. When asked why he needs it, Desmond says, “I just need to show them something.

This episode shows that the flash-sideways are starting to go somewhere and actually serve a purpose. A few quick questions I think we should ponder:

· Was Desmond in control of his flash-sideways self, or was he merely “watching” himself do things? I think he was “watching” from his flash-sideways perspective.

· Is Mrs. Widmore/Eloise Hawking aware of the two timelines? It seems that she is. How much is she aware of them? Did she create one of them? Can she operate between the two of them? Is she a “master” of one of them? She has always known too much about time and fate. She talked about Desmond violating things pertaining to rules, presumably of time. Are we finally going to get back to all these rules we keep hearing about. Remember, Ben said that Widmore had “changed the rules” when Widmore killed Alex. Although Widmore’s relation to killing Alex can be questioned since Keamy was the one who pulled the trigger and Ben blames himself for her death.

· Why are Widmore and Eloise still together in the flash-sideways? How did he even have a step-child, Penny? Who is the other parent? Does it matter?

· Is love the key thing combining the two timelines?

I am not sure how I feel about love being the thing that connects the two timelines. It seems a little childish, or fairy-tale-ish. However, that would go right along with the name of the episode, “Happily Ever After.” I’m ok with it showing them other things from the timeline, however, if that is what brings them together I’m going to be a little upset. I do not think it will be though.

Why did Desmond just go with Sayid? Does he really trust Sayid more than them? Was he simply afraid to stand up to Sayid? This will be interesting to see in the next few episodes.

I do wonder if they will tell us why Desmond is so special, able to handle high levels of exposure to electromagnetism.

Also, in this timeline Penny’s last name is Milton. Is that meant to imply anything? John Milton is the author of Paradise Lost. This is what Wikipedia has to say about Paradise Lost:

It deals with diverse topics from marriage, politics, and monarchy, and grapples with many difficult theological issues, including fate, predestination, the Trinity, and the introduction of sin and death into the world, as well as angels, fallen angels, Satan, and the war in heaven. Milton's epic is generally considered one of the greatest literary works in the English language.

Sounds like it might be why she was given that last name. There are a lot of common themes from Lost discussed in it (I bolded two big points, but others apply in some degree at least.)

Another quick note about Penny, according to the Lostpedia, there is no actual coffee shop at corner of the two streets where Desmond set up his coffee date with Penny. In real life, there is an antique shop there called, “Thanks for the Memories.” Was this a coincidence or done on purpose? I don’t know, but it is very interesting.

I have few quick predictions. In the flash-sideways timeline I believe that Sawyer might be looped into going to the hospital where an injured and pregnant Sun will be seen by Juliet, a baby doctor. He will see visions of him with Juliet. Sawyer will either end up at the hospital because Sun and Jin go to the police station looking for help with Sun’s gunshot wound or, Sawyer could end up at the hospital because he just found Kate and he will need to take her to Claire, who is in the hospital, for some reason, such as asking Claire questions about Kate. Either way, Sawyer will need to end up at the hospital to see Juliet I feel like. I am not sure how Jack will end up running into Kate. Unless they switch it on us and say that Sawyer is going to be with Kate. Maybe now that he caught her running he started seeing some visions. I think something in this paragraph will be right.

As far as Desmond goes, I think Widmore will need him at the volcano (which has been mentioned once and we have been told it will be of “seismic” importance). There he will tap into an electromagnetic pocket and “resolve” the two timelines. However, doing this will put him at great danger; hence the sacrifice Widmore alluded to.

As far as the next episode goes, “Everybody Loves Hugo,” I think we will get an answer to another big mystery. This episode title is a play on the season two episode entitled “Everybody Hates Hugo.” The producers said we would eventually give an answer to why there was a DHARMA supply drop near the end of season two. In a podcast last month they said that they intend to tell who dropped it and why but that it may not be revealed on the show. I’m hoping it is revealed on tonight’s episode or at least hinted to since they said it probably won’t be shown on the show. Often, Hurley’s episodes deal with food. He was in charge of the Swan food that they found in the hatch. He also worked for the kitchen during his short stint in the DI. Other than that, I have no more predictions.

By the way, please feel free to leave comments below. I would love to hear what you have to say about the show, theories or reactions to anything I say.

In the words of Smoke-Locke “You are so close; it would be such a shame to turn back now.”

Until next week when we have seen a little bit more Lost, Namaste.

Steven

Here are the sneak peeks ABC has put out for this week’s episode. Watch at your own risk!