Watching Lost

As it is, Lost episodes are guaranteed to boggle the mind, so we’re keeping recaps here at Watching Lost plain, simple and hopefully easier to follow.

For the fifth episode of Season 4, there are no flash forwards or flash backs. It doesn’t even tell us if Desmond is indeed one of the Oceanic 6. Instead, we see how Desmond’s mind-traveling, as quickly as one’s eyes would blink.

Desmond, Sayid and Frank are in the helicopter. They approach the coordinates Faraday has given Frank but it would seem they were heading towards the eye of the storm. The chopper hits some turbulence and Desmond frantically holds on to his seat and shuts his eyes.

When he opens this, he finds himself inside a military barracks. It was as if he has just woken up from a very vivid dream — one that had him in a helicopter flying under a very bad weather. Desmond seems disoriented. His drill sergeant berates him. And when it looked like he wasn’t paying attention, everyone in his unit is punished.

Later, Desmond tells one of the other soldiers about this dream of his and how the only thing he clearly recognizes is the photo of Penny. He then tries to give her a call, but at the other end of the phone, Penny didn’t want to talk to him any longer. He then jumps through time and goes back to the present — at the chopper. Yet this time, he doesn’t recognize who he is with (Sayid and Frank) or where he is (about to land on the freighter). Desmond is brought to the freighter’s sick bay, where he meets Minkowski, who seems to know what is happening to him. A doctor attends to them and Minkowski says something about the effects of the island to them. The doctor gives Minkowski sedatives while he examines Desmond.

Sayid goes inside the room and hands Desmond the satellite phone, where on the other end of it was Faraday, who remains with Jack and the rest of the Losties in the island. Faraday asks Desmond what he currently remembers and he responds by saying he knows that this is 1996 (when it’s 2004). Faraday then senses something is wrong and tells Desmond that the next time he goes back to the past, he should look for him at Oxford. He also gives Desmond some coordinates he should tell past-Faraday.

Minowski hears Desmond’s name and he suddenly remembers that as the ship’s communication officer before, he has received incoming calls that were never answered. These were calls from Penny, Desmond’s girlfriend.

So, then Desmond goes back to the past and arrives to Oxford, where he meets Faraday from 1996 (who is already as eccentric as he is now). And together they figure out what is happening. According to Daniel, Desmond’s jump through time is only happening to his mind or memory, as this seems to be the effect of an electromagnetic pulse (Desmond was exposed from the hatch in the island). One possible result of this could lead to death…unless Desmond finds a constant or an anchor, something that is strongly present in his life during both times. This constant may be just the one to save him. Desmond knows his constant is Penny. So he desperately tries to contact her whether in 1996 or 2004.

Except that Penny from the past has moved and lost touch with Desmond since they’ve broken up. He then seeks help from Penny’s father, Charles Widmore, who Desmond finds in 1996 at a Black Rock journal bidding. Mr. Widmore gives him Penny’s address but not after he throws a few insults at him.

Meanwhile in the current time (2004), Sayid, Desmond and Minkowski have skipped out of the room the freighter people were holding them, to go to the communications room where all the radios are. Minkowski tells them someone has sabotaged these days ago, so it would have to be fixed before they can try and contact Penny. Sayid does his thing and tinkers with the wires and gadgetry while Desmond tries to remember the number to call. They see a calendar and saw that it was already December 24, 2004.

Back to 1996, Desmond arrives at Penny’s new address and she is surprised to see him there. Desmond doesn’t know where to begin telling Penny what is happening, and instead he just asked for her phone number and tells her that she should trust him when he says he would call on the eve of December 24, 2004 (which is like eight years from then).

What happens next is perhaps one of the most romantic moments on television. As Sayid is able to work his magic on the radios and wires, Desmond does fulfill his promise to Penny from 8 years ago:

The episode closes with Daniel Faraday in the island, flipping through his notes from 1996 and there he finds a page where he has written the following: If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant.

There clearly are lots of questions to this episode once again (does it ever run out?) But I really just wanna forget that. I still am in that “quite confused, quite bewildered, quite in awe” stage. All l I wanna do is watch the video over and over…it’s the most beautifully, brilliantly orchestrated moment on TV.

This episode is best experienced when watching in full. It’s really something a Lost viewer should never, ever miss watching.

Lost, Lost Season 4 Episode 5, Lost Season 4 Episode 5 Recap, Lost Season 4 Episode 5 The Constant