Lost: See You In Another Life Brotha

I don’t know how I feel about Lost this week. A lot seemed to happen, but at the same time there wasn’t too much explained.  It’s odd to judge the episodes of Lost this season as there is so much to be answered, but such limited time. My inner fanboy cries for my questions to be resolved, but is that enough to merit the episodes to be bad? Truthfully, no it doesn’t. Thankfully, this week’s episode is Desmond-centric and like all previous Desmond episodes, it involves some great quality moments.

The episode starts with Desmond being woken by Zoe. Desmond tries to come to terms with where he is when Widmore walks into the room telling Desmond he was brought to the island. Desmond, who swore never to go back, finds a surge of energy to beat the crap out of Widmore before being restrained by Widmore’s lackey.

Widmore has a test done on Desmond to see if he can survive another “large catastrophic electric explosion.” Apparently the fate of the island and everyone depends on it.  Desmond is thrown into a box and a switch is thrown in a room causing Desmond to be zapped into a flash-sideways.

The flash-sideways really digs into what Desmond always wished for and failed to achieve in his regular life. In the flash-sideways we see a single, hardworking Desmond. His love is for his work and his employer, none other than Charles Widmore himself. Widmore wants Desmond to pick up a member of Driveshaft from prison so he can take him later to an event his son, a musician, is holding.

Desmond arrives at the police station and finds out he is picking up Charlie, who wanders off to a bar. At the bar Charlie confesses to Desmond that he didn’t mean to kill himself, but the bag of heroine he was swallowing got caught in his throat as the plane hit turbulence. In the moments he was blacked out Charlie said he saw a girl. Charlie realizes that is the girl he loves and the world he is currently living in is fake.

Desmond doesn’t believe Charlie’s rave ranting about this world being fake causing Charlie to pull the steering wheel of the car they are driving into the ocean. Desmond gets out and tries to pull Charlie free, but flashes to the “Not Penny’s Boat” scene from the Season 3 finale. Desmond eventually rescues Charlie and both are sent to the hospital.

During an MRI scan Desmond’s memories flash to his regular life and causes him to remember all his memories of Penny. Remembering the love of his life, Desmond jumps out of the MRI machine and seeks out Charlie, who’s conducting a jailbreak of his own. Desmond corners Charlie only to be told that he should start looking for Penny. Charlie leaves running in a hospital gown causing Desmond to visit Widmore’s wife to tell her he lost the member of the band.

Surprise, surprise! Widmore’s wife turns out to be none other than Eloise Hawking. She has been in Desmond’s life at the oddest of moments. Eloise tells Desmond not to worry about losing track of Charlie. Her son won’t be too heartbroken over it. As Desmond is ready to leave, he hears the name Penny spoken by a waiter. When he attempts to find out more, Eloise tells him to stop asking questions that he is not ready for.

Desmond leaves without answers, but before he can drive away, Daniel Faraday, or Daniel Widmore as it would be in this timeline, stops him to give him answers.  Faraday explains to Desmond that the two timelines between the real-island world and the flash-sideways are starting to bleed together.  A connection of love is what makes it possible for the flash-sideways versions of the Losties to see the truth. Faraday tells Desmond he can find Penny at the stadium. When Desmond arrives at the stadium, we get our first glimpse of Penny running the stairs like Desmond was first seen doing in Season two. Desmond introduces himself and reaches his hand out, but when she touches him Desmond is sent back to his island self.

Realizing that there are two identities Desmond approaches Widmore telling him he will help him with whatever he needs. Widmore tells Desmond that he will be needed for a sacrifice. What on earth is this sacrifice? No idea? If they kill Desmond I’d be pissed.

As Desmond is being escorted out into the jungle by Widmore’s workers, Sayid attacks all stealth like and “rescues” Desmond. What makes me angry about this scene is how easily Desmond decides to follow Sayid. I guess he doesn’t know that Sayid is evil, but the way it was portrayed seemed as if Desmond was slowly becoming like Sayid, crazy eyed and all. As Desmond walks away with Sayid the final scene flashes back to the alternate reality where Desmond asks his driver to obtain the manifest for the Oceanic 815 flight. Desmond plans to wake everyone up and make them aware of their true lives on the island.

The episode had some really great moments like Desmond sharing the 60-year-old scotch with Widmore, his relationship to Charlie, parallels with Penny, and the return of Faraday. It’s these small moments that make me love Lost. It has always been a show about the characters and I’m glad the writers remember that. With only a handful of episodes left, I’m starting to wonder what the deal is with the alternate timeline and love being the key. Here’s hoping that the writers won’t drop the ball with the ending of this show.

For another opinion on this episode, read Dnomsed by Liz Cooper.

Season 6, Episode 11: Happily Ever After (Originally Aired April 6, 2010)

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Tuesdays, 9/8c on ABC

Photographs courtesy of ABC and Mario Perez.