Episode 611 - Desmond Lives "Happily Ever After" in Two Realities

Wow. Seriously folks, wow. Desmond episodes continue to be the heart and soul of Lost, and the Desmond/ Penny relationship continues to demonstrate how shallow both the "Jater" and "Skater" camps' preferred pairings were. In "Happily Ever After," the long-missing Scot really returned in an episode that finally connected the island world with the Sideways stories, allowed two dearly departed characters to shine in their Sideways returns, and deepened the mystery of just what Eloise Hawking is all about. So, as Desmond would say, let's bloody well get on with it, bruthah!

At least four characters bridge the Island/ Sideways gap! Funky Ikea/ Dharma technology unleashed!! The Widmore family finally shares last names!!! All this, plus an alternate version of the Des/Pen meet cute, in Lost's most triumphant Season 6 hour to date, "Happily Ever After."

Indeed, as ew.com's Jeff Jensen wrote this week, "If you’ve been a Sideways hater, and you remain one after last night’s episode, you may as well call it a wrap on your Lost interest and skip ahead to the rest of your post-Lost life. For the rest of us, I’m guessing 'Happily Ever After' moves into the arena where Best Ever Episodes are debated...‘Happily Ever After’ was an episode that will force us to reconsider everything we’ve seen in the Sideways world to date while also directing our attention to the end game of the show, which appears to be some kind of psychic exodus out of Island captivity into the quasi-Canaan of Sidewaysabad. Which souls will make the transmigration? Can some decline the opportunity? Indeed, the most intriguing possibility to come out of ‘Happily Ever After’—just a smidge more intriguing that the possibility that Charles Widmore could actually be a good guy—is that the castaways might actually have a choice in their fate, and even a choice between happily ever afters. See Juliet? Free will does exist on The Island, after all!...It was a revelatory episode about the theme of revelation. It was an episode that played like an allegory for spiritual conversion, yet contained a subversive critique of religious experience. (Not that those points need to be mutually exclusive.) ".

But before I delve too deeply into "Happily Ever After," a correction to last week's post. Thanks to Jeremy Turk and Windy McCracken (hey, Windy, Turk said you backed him on this), I went back to Hulu.com to rewatch the beginning of "The Package." Sure enough, after the tranq dart attack on Camp Flocke, Zoe did not, as I reported last week, say, "that's Jacob." Rather, she said, "let's take him." Which makes a lot more sense, since we learned later in the episode that the reason they took Jin, and only Jin, was because he made the EM pocket map they planned to follow in their scheme. Anyway, back to Desmond's trip across time and space...

Island

Desmond comes to, with Zoe tending to him. He’s been unconscious for 3 days. He asks if she’s a nurse, and then he asks for Penny as he sits up. But it’s Penelope’s dad, Charles Widmore, who greets him. Widmore reminds Desmond he was shot by Ben. He assures Des that Pen and Charlie are safe. If he’d had a chance to explain, Des never would have come with him. Clarity suddenly starts to overtake Desmond, and when he asks where Charles brought him, the answer – “I brought you back to the island” – prompts Desmond to start savagely beating his father-in-law with the iv pole. Charles stops his men from hurting Des as they restrain him. He seems legitimately sorry when he tells Desmond, who demands a return trip to L.A., “I can’t take you back. The island isn’t done with you yet,” the same thing Eloise Hawking tried to warn Desmond about last season before he stormed out of the Lamppost station.

Aside #1 - I may be getting ahead of myself here, but this obvious invocation of Ms. Hawking does trigger some thoughts. I get the sense, or at least did by the end of this episode, that the Island and Sideways Eloises are deeply connected to each other, or at least know enough about each other to potentially share in an agenda. Yet I also get the sense – one I can’t back up just yet – that Eloise and Charles may be working at cross purposes. Does anyone else agree? But if they are, then why would they both believe that the island is not yet done with Desmond? Could it be, as Charles points out later in this episode, that the whole point of their joint 6+ year manipulation of Mr. Hume comes down to Desmond needing to face the moment where he will choose to make a sacrifice – or not – and that, while Charles will advocate in favor of the sacrifice, Eloise will try to talk him out of it?

While I’m off on a rant here, and getting so far ahead of myself, I’m reminded of Desmond’s monastery flashback – the one that ended with his island world meet-cute with Penny. During one of his spiritual debates with the head monk, the two questioned the story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. Their discussion was whether this most troubling story in the Old Testament taught a “good” lesson, or a “bad” one. Their debate centered on just how awful it was for a loving God to demand that Abraham kill his beloved son and heir, Isaac, in sacrifice, to show his devotion. And Brother ___’s simple explanation for what made the lesson a good one was that Abraham didn’t have to actually kill Isaac in the end, even if he was willing to do so, sort of a cosmic, “no harm/ no foul” argument. I’ll return to this discussion later, after the episode lays some more groundwork...

Jin stands outside the infirmary, and asks Charles why Desmond is there. Widmore insists it’s “easier to show you than tell you.” Charles orders his people to get a test ready that wasn’t scheduled until tomorrow, much to his scientists’ chagrin.

Aside #2: Jeff Jensen (who I must apologize to on Facebook after stealing so much of his intellectual property this season) made some great observations about this short hallway scene: “It's clear that Widmore came to The Island with a timetable for how and when stuff should be going down. But for the second time in as many episodes, Team Widmore conspicuously went off-script. Last week, it was Zoe abducting Jin a couple days early, incurring Widmore's anger. Last night, it was Widmore caving to impatience and getting guff from Zoe.

'It will be easier to show you than to tell you.' Another thematic flag was planted: persuasion via demonstration and manifestation; via showing, not telling; via something that could pass muster with an empiricist like the one Desmond David Hume was named after. Still, can't the eyes be deceived? Can't the senses be tricked? Can't the mind be duped? The writer of The Society of the Spectacle would say yes. So would any number of cynics about religious experience. Also see: magicians.”

Zoe leads Jin out past a weird electrical thigamajig being set up. In a generator room, a rabbit named Angstrom is in a cage, about to be a test subject (did one of the writers get bitten by a white rabbit as a child? Because they sure do screw with rabbits on this show!). Zoe’s round-faced assistant (do we have a name for him yet?) insists they are not ready for Desmond. They try to conduct an EM field test, but nothing happens. A Red Shirt named Simmonds gets dispatched to check the solanoids. As Simmons takes readings in the chamber (which looked like an Ikea-built makeshift room with two iron donuts pointing in from either side), an overly exuberant bearded geek in the generator room throws a switch. Lots of funky EM energy starts to wash over Simmonds before they turn it off. Running outside, Zoe and company find Simmonds fried, and Charles leads two men “escorting” Desmond to the chamber. Looking, unaffected, at the smoking body, Charles turns to Zoe, and asks, “are we ready?”

Charles uncovers Simmonds’s body briefly as it’s carted past Desmond, then covers it back up (which, to me, seemed a little too sadistic to put Desmond through...) Desmond struggles in vain as Widmore’s men take him inside. “I know how this looks, Desmond, but if everything I’ve been told about you is true, you’ll be perfectly fine,” Charles half-assedly reassures his captive son-in-law. “I had to resort to force, Desmond, but once it’s all over, I’m going to ask you make a sacrifice, and I hope for all our sakes that you’ll help me.” Desmond points out that, from his perspective, Charles knows nothing about sacrifice. Mr. W. begs to differ: “My son died here, for the sake of this island. Your wife, my own daughter, hates me, and I don’t even know my grandson. But if you don’t help me, it will all be for nothing. Penny, your son, and everyone else, will be gone, forever.” (I wondered for a moment if Desmond was meant to have any idea that Daniel was Charles’s son, but the justification seemed to be more for Charles’s own benefit than to assuage Desmond). The door is shut, and Desmond struggles out of the chair (which Doc Jensen felt reminded him of Jacob’s cabin chair – if indeed non-descript wooden furniture carries any meaning), but not the chamber.

Aside #3: Jensen’s take on this interaction informs my own. As Jensen wrote, “Widmore sure painted himself out to be the Professor Snape of Lost — the secret savior disguised as a bad guy. Did you buy it? Also: I wasn't sure if Widmore's words and deeds indicated that he was aware of the Sideways world and testing for it, or if he's oblivious to the Sideways world and was merely testing Desmond's electro-magnetic fortitude. I'm thinking the latter. What did you think?” Well, Doc, here is what I think. I’m pretty sure Widmore knows something about Sideways world, though he may not possess the same level of detail in that knowledge as his ex(?) Eloise does. I believe Widmore believes – rightly or wrongly – that the Sideways and Island worlds are mutually exclusive, and only Desmond will ultimately decide which one survives.

But here, again, the issue of “sacrifice” is brought up. If my guess about what the choice Widmore will force Desmond to make is accurate – i.e. give up island world in favor of Sideways world – what Charles is really asking for is for Desmond to sacrifice his son, Charlie – a choice Lost clearly set up quite some time ago with the Abraham/Isaac story of Season 3. This choice is evidenced by the (spoiler alert!) ending of this episode, which demonstrates that Desmond and Penny are “meant to be together” regardless of which world they inhabit. But the biggest difference between the two (aside from Widmore’s overt approval and praise of Desmond in Sideways world) is the presence of Charlie in the Island world...

In the generator room, Jin tries, meakly, to stop the test, but Widmore says Desmond is the only person he’s aware of who has survived a cataclysmic electromagnetic event, and he needs to know Desmond can do it “again, or we all die.”

Desmond is bombarded by strange pulses, similar to but stronger than the ones that bombarded Simmonds (Jensen felt this stuck in a chamber with lots of energy motif was meant, in part, to recall Desmond’s time in the Swan station), then flashes…

Sideways World – Desmond2 Hume

…to the baggage claim in LA, where Desmond2 regards his reflection in the monitor. Hurley2 walks by and directs him to carousel 4. Desmond2 helps Claire2 take her bag. He asks if it’s a boy or girl, and she doesn’t know. “You’re bloody braver than I,” Desmond2 smiles. “I’m not a big fan of surprises.” Desmond2 sees Claire2 looking lost, and offers her a ride, but she insists she’s fine. As they part, he tells her he bets it’s a boy (perhaps explaining her subsequent blurting out that the baby’s name is “Aaron” during her emergency ultrasound.”)

Aside #4: Once again, Jensen’s take, and then my own: “That Desmond, ever the seer. We were left with the impression of a man who had a soft spot for family, most likely because he himself had a family with Penelope and son Charlie. After all, there had been that wedding band of Desmond's hand in the season premiere when he seated next to Jack on the plane, reading Haroun and the Sea of Stories....”

I was also taken by how Desmond2, like his island counterpart, seemed to have an almost chemistry with Claire2 that never materialized beyond being protective of her. On the island, Desmond actually protected Claire to keep Charlie alive (arousing some misplaced jealousy). Here, Desmond2 seemed protective as Claire2-as-mother more than interested in Claire2-as-love interest. But in both cases, there was a bond.

As he exits, Desmond2 sees a sign with his name…held by George2 Minkowski. Desmond2 tells him to take him straight to the office rather than stopping first at the hotel. George2, noting that Desmond2 is a bachelor, offers concierge services, including escorts (er, “companionship”), but Desmond2 is just there to work.

Aside #5: Take it away Doc J.: “That's right: Sideways Desmond wasn't married. Where did the wedding band go? Again: a theory to come. For now, let's note how Desmond shut down his devilish driver's pimping. ''I'm not looking for any companionship,'' Desmond said. ''I'm here to work.'' And so Sideways Desmond revealed himself to be the opposite of Island Desmond, a vagabond whose identity was defined by relationships, not employment — by who he loved, not what he did.”

So what are we to make of the now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t wedding ring on Desmond2’s finger? There are a few obvious theories. First, the costumers/ script supervisors just screwed up. I don’t buy it. Desmond2’s brief appearance in “LA X” was deliberately crafted to create certain observations and theories, and if they could ensure we saw the book he was reading so clearly, they clearly paid attention to his hand. Second? Perhaps business-first Hume2 wears the wedding ring while traveling just to fight off suitors so he can focus on doing boss-man’s work. But this I don’t buy, either, in light of his later statement to Charlie2 that he’s fallen in love “thousands of times.” Make no mistake – he may not monkey around on the company dime, but this Desmond2 is a player, and the unnecessary wedding ring would just cramp his style. Which leaves us, I think, with one possibility. Desmond and Desmond2, as we’ll see later in this episode, have much less separation between them than most of the other doppelgangers, right down to the physical manifestation. So it’s not just Desmond’s mind that traverses time and space...which is kind of cool. The hole in this theory is the 2004/2007 discrepancy. But if we can accept parallel universes communicating with each other, I can swallow this bit of disbelief, too.

Desmond2 emerges from an elevator, and walks past a welcoming receptionist to see the boss, Charles2 Widmore (which, come on, was not the least bit surprising). Charles2 welcomes him to L.A., and they embrace, the polar opposite of their previous London office meeting in Island World.

Aside #6: Kudos to Jensen for catching a background image I otherwise missed in this episode: “We should talk about the painting, shouldn't we? On the wall of Widmore's office there was a canvas featuring a balanced scale, one side holding a white rock and the other side holding a black rock. Assuming the painting means something (historically speaking, this has not always been the case), we could interpret it to mean that in the Sideways world, the opposing powers represented by Jacob and the Man In Black are balanced. I might argue that what the scale represents is the tension between the Dionysian and the Apollonian — the timeless conflict between chaos and order, passion and reason. Our aforementioned friend Nietzsche was a big fan of the Apollonian/Dionysian conflict; it formed the crux of The Birth of Tragedy, in which he suggested that effective, inspiring tragedy is one in which the hero of reason struggles to make sense of unreasonable fate — and loses. But in the process of the struggle, he affirms eternal values and stands as an inspiration to others. I would argue 'Happily Ever After' dramatized this idea by showing how Charlie's seemingly meaningless tragic sacrifice three seasons ago provided an inspiring, redeeming moment for Desmond in the Sideways world.”

Nice thematic discussion there, Jeff. In my mind, the painting had another, more literal meaning. One question from the moment we saw the Sideways world was when and how it diverged from the Island world. We gleaned earlier on that DHARMA personnel (the Goodspeeds, Linuses, Changs and Lewises) seemed to have left the island by virtue of personal choice in Sideways world. But then what would have happened to the Others who didn’t come from DHARMA? That we meet Charles2 and Eloise2 in Sideways world, at all, suggests that they, too, found an opportunity (and motive) to leave the island before it sank. But this paining suggests to me that Charles2 had a great deal of knowledge about what the island was all about – perhaps even more than his island counterpart, who seemed to have little or no idea what or who Flocke was beyond being “that smoke monster thingy” when they met last week. So ponder that, people...

Desmond2 admires Charles2’s model sailboat while Widmore2 takes an angry call. Hanging up, Charles2 assigns Desmond2 a task that’s beneath him – picking up Charlie2 Pace from the airport police station to make sure Driveshaft would be able to play at his wife’s silly charity event in a classic music/ modern rock mish-mash with his silly, musician son. “You really do have the life,” Charles admires, without a trace of irony, “no family, no commitments, oh to be free of attachments…” he celebrates Desmond2’s indispensability with freely offered MacCutcheon. “Nothing’s too good for you.”

Aside #7: this symbolic drink highlights the biggest difference between the island world and sideways world relationships between these two men. Cue Doc Jensen: “Whereas Island Widmore in seasons past made Island Desmond feel like a waste of life, unworthy of both his daughter and his MacCutcheon scotch, Sideways Widmore made Sideways Desmond feel like the son he wanted as opposed to the artsy-fartsy musician one that he had. Sideways Widmore had everything Island Widmore had to sacrifice and now yearns for — i.e., an intact if dysfunctional family. Yet this Widmore yearned to have Desmond's Up In The Air life — relationally liberated, unburdened by familial responsibilities, 'free of attachments.’'' This discrepancy is one that Mrs. Widmore2 will glom onto and point out to Desmond2 later...

Desmond2 pulls up to the airport courthouse, where Charlie2 is being discharged. Desmond2 introduces himself, but Charlie2 simply walks off, into traffic, not even pausing for the speeding traffic. Charlie2 crosses to a bar (“Jax”), where Desmond2 finds him drinking. (A clever sign in the background promotes “exceptional island cocktails”). “So what’s your job, to babysit me?” Charlie2 asks without making eye contact. As Desmond2 deigns to have one drink with him (a funhouse mirror version of their sharing a bottle of MacCutcheon on the beach in “Flashes Before Your Eyes,”) Charlie2 asks if Desmond2 happy. Desmond2 says he’s happy, but Charlie2 asks if he’s ever been in “spectactular, consciousness-altering love.” The drunken rocker claims he saw true love on the plane from Sydney. Desmond2, who points out that he was on the flight, too, asks Charlie2 to “enlighten” him about what such love looks like.

Charlie2 tells him about seeing Kate2’s marshall, and trying to swallow his stash at the exact moment that turbulence hit. "I'm slipping into the abyss and then I see her. A woman. Blonde. Rapturously beautiful. And I know her. We're together. It's like we've always been and always will be. This feeling, this love." And just as he’s about to be engulfed by it, he opened his eyes, and “this sodding idiot is standing there asking if I’m ok.” But Charlie2 saw it, just for a moment. Desmond2 half-mocks that he should write a song about it, then insists that’s not the truth. He offers him a choice – stay and watch his career die, or go with him to have Widmore (one of the most powerful men in this town) owe him a favor.

Aside #8: In my mind, there is no debate that Charlie2 here spoke of Claire. Not Claire2, but Claire. Yes, I am positive that, at the moment near death, Charlie2 crossed over to Island world, to the love he would find for Claire after the crash. This was a love so pure he would willing sacrifice his life to see her escape the island with Aaron. What’s amazing is the timing, and how the cross-over seemed to cover Charlie’s entire (albeit troubled, if here, idealized) relationship with Claire. Here’s what I mean. Linearly, Charlie and Claire would have barely met by this time in island world – just a few hours after Sideways Flight 815 landed and Island 815 crashed. But if there’s also a connection between 2007 Island world and 2004 Sideways world, then Charlie2 has flashed to a point in time where he was already dead, in effect, preserving the purity of his love for Claire for all time.

Of course, just because I think there’s no debate about who Charlie2’s wonder-blonde is, Jeff Jensen begs to differ: “Many of you are placing bets on who Charlie's dream girl could be. I'm guessing most people will be saying Claire. My pick is more cynical. If Sideways Charlie was truly tapping the memories of his dead Island counterpart, then I say the rapturous blonde beauty he beheld was his season 2 Island temptress: the heroin-stuffed Virgin Mary statues. The painted hair? The color of sunshine. The robes? Sky blue. It just makes sense. Go back and watch Charlie give that speech: he looks stoned out of his mind. Honestly, I'm more inclined to think that Charlie's bathroom epiphany was a hallucination. Further, I'm inclined to think that Lost was again giving subversive voice to a more skeptical, cynical view of religious feeling. I've always felt those drug-stuffed idols were a coded nod to Karl Marx's famous line that 'religion is the opiate of the masses.' And in my opinion, Charlie's experience of engulfing love sounds more like Freud's theory of 'Oceanic.' Sorry, Charlie: Your testimony sounds pretty fishy to me. His defense, of course, was the defense of any religious person who has nothing but personal experience to support his faith: 'I've seen something real. I've seen the truth.'” Alas, Doc, I hold out hope that, deep down, Lost remains an optimistic show about, among other things, love. So I’m sticking with Claire. But thanks for the alternate viewpoint...

As they drive, they hear “You all Everybody” on the radio. After Desmond2’s pointed insult that the song is fine “for what it is,” Charlie2 says he feels sorry for him. Desmond2, perhaps channeling his own subconscious awareness that something’s amiss in Sideways world, scoffs, “why, because none of this is real?” Charlie2 offers him a choice. “I can either show you what I’m talking about, or you can get out of the car.” Tiring of Charlie2’s childish romanticism, Desmond2 begins to ask, “why in God’s name would I get out of the…” but then Charlie2 grabs the wheel, and they drive off into the harbor (because Desmond2 never learned what the brake pedal was for). Desmond2 swims out of the car, then dives to try to save Charlie2 from drowning. Charlie2 holds up his hand in the car door…and Desmond2 flashes to Charlie’s hand saying, “not Penny’s Boat.” After a moment, Desmond2 regains his composure, then swims Charlie2 out of the water.

Aside #9: Since I bagged on Doc Jensen’s take on the Claire/heroin statue cynicism, it’s only fair that I give him credit for this more optimist take on Desmond2’s first conscious flash to his other life: “Last night, a different Desmond plunged into the oceanic depths and read a different Charlie's palm. He saw nothing at first — and then he saw everything. In a flash, Sideways Desmond Hume forged a link with his Island world doppelganger and downloaded his memory of 'NOT PENNY'S BOAT.' Yet what was a dispiriting moment for Island Desmond was full of spirit for Sideways Desmond. For him, 'NOT PENNY'S BOAT' was a call to hope; a call to faith; a call to something more hopeful than the lonely island of himself. In the gloomy shadows of a watery underworld, the Scotsman with the famous philosopher's name found enlightenment.” Whether this flip-flopped perspective was intentional or not, what became clear here was that Desmond2 had begun to “remember” a life he had not yet lived, much less been set up to know.

Desmond2 gets checked out at the hospital. When the doctor asks if he had any hallucinations, he says he’s not sure. Since his CAT scan was inconclusive, the doctor won’t let him look for Charlie2 before he has an MRI. As Demond2 gets positioned on the MRI table – you have no metal, right (a direct link to Widmore’s goons’ questions before flipping the switch in the quantum energy box) – he is asked why he listed no emergency contact. So he says, “just put my employer, Charles Widmore.” He is given ear plugs, and a panic button.

Aside #10: Ok, here is where I spotted the connection between Desmond2 and his island version having been trapped in a box with electromagnetic energy, with nothing but a button to keep him company.

He is rolled into the MRI machine. As the process begins, he again sees Charlie’s sacrifice, then Penny, herself. Suddenly, he remembers his whole life with Penny…but then she’s gone, and he starts to push the panic button.” He now really needs to find Charlie2.

Jack2 walks by as Desmond2 (thankfully, dressed in his clothes, which someone must have quickly run through a dryer, and not in his hospital gown) continues his search for Charlie2. Desmond2 stops Jack2, and remembers him from the plane (which, perhaps, will give him an ally in his quest to find the wacky rocker). As they talk, Charlie2 runs by, trying to escape. Desmond2 chases him, down a stairwell, to the 2d floor. Charlie2 gets slowed by an orderly. Cornered, Charlie2 says he didn’t try to kill him, but to show him something. Desmond2 demands to see his hands, then, seeing no warning written on those palms, asks who Penny is. “Oh,” Charlie2 smiles, “you felt it, didn’t you?” Frustrated, Desmond2 tells him he needs to dress so they can get to the concert. ''I can't go play a rock concert after this! This doesn't matter! None of this matters! All that matters is that we felt it. … If I were you, I'd stop worrying about me and start looking for Penny.''

Realizing he can’t convince Charlie2 to go with him, Desmond2 calls Widmore2, and lies that Charlie2 flat out escaped. Charles2, predictably, is displeased. When Desmond2 tries to convince him not to worry, it’s just a concert, Charles2 responds, “If you can’t find Pace, why don’t you tell Mrs. Widmore it’s only a bloody concert.”

George2 takes Desmond2 to the conservatory. Mrs. W. is, of course, Eloise2. She is ripping the wait staff a new one for not knowing how to set the places. Desmond2 introduces himself. She says it’s a travesty they haven’t met before. She asks what crisis forced Charles2 to send him there. Desmond2 apologizes for Drive Shaft not performing. She says not to worry about it – a certain unpredictability goes with rock stars. She’s not upset – “what happened, happened,” she urges, channeling DHARMA era Sawyer’s resignation, as well as Island world Daniel’s pessimistic theory.

Aside #10: Again, Jensen spotted something I missed. “Ms. Hawking's brooch tells us something. In seasons past, she wore a version of an oroboros, with a snake chasing its tail and completing a circuit with its body, but its head remained free, escaping its own loop. I think the old pendant was a metaphor for the creation of the Sideways world. The new pendant? Two parallel lines, each bisected by a star, but at different points. The meaning? I'm still thinking.”

Well, with the benefit of time (I don’t have publish the next day to avoid the ire of my fans deadlines), I have some thoughts. Island Eloise was all about preserving the timeline, about course correction fixing whatever one attempted to change in history. Hence, the closed loop of the oroboros, literally feeding back on itself. But Sideways Eloise, who I believe knows that the other world exists, believes her island self’s plan to send Daniel back in time, while risking a repeat of her accidental infanticide, has actually succeeded in creating this other universe. Hence the parallel lines, and the stars, one shining brighter than the other. Given Daniel’s belief (which seems pretty clear) that the nuclear bomb blast created the split, I think the stars represent the flash of the bomb. The “second” line flashes brighter, because it represents the birth of the “preferable” universe, in which her son lived. But more on that, later...

He wishes her well, and turns to leave. Desmond2 hears the program list being read, and hear’s the name Penny Milton (which, I suppose, tells us the surname of Charles’s off-island, non-Eloise trollop who birthed Desmond2’s lady love). Eloise2 dismisses her staff and drags Desmond2 off. “Stop talking Hume,” she scolds, as only Eloise can. “I’ve heard what you’ve had to say. Someone has clearly affected the way you see things. This is a serious problem. It is, in fact, a violation. You have the perfect life, and you’ve managed to obtain the one thing you’ve wanted most of all – my husband’s approval.” Desmond2 questions how she knows what he wants, and she responds, “I just bloody do!” He asks again why he can’t see the performance list, and she insists it’s because he is not yet ready, then storms off.

Aside #11 – This was the moment when it became clear to me that Eloise2 very much knows about the two worlds, and about the “rules” that we’ve heard so much about. Indeed, someone has violated those rules. But who? Charlie2 did nothing but hold his hand up – and yet, wasn’t there the sense that his doing so was not so much a voluntary act, as the act of some unseen puppet-master, designed to trigger Desmond2’s awareness? Also, as Jensen notes, much like Island Charles having to twice advance his timetable, there’s a sign here that Eloise2 had a timetable, that Desmond2 is jumping. He was, it seems, meant to learn about the island/sideways divide. But not yet. As Faraday said last year, human free will is a nasty little variable in the equation...

I also got the sense that Sideways world functions much like the House of M storyline in Marvel comics, in which Quicksilver, scared that the Avengers and X-men planned to kill his crazed sister, the Scarlet Witch, to keep her from threatening reality, convinces her to change reality so that each of the heroes would be distracted by getting his or her heart’s desire. What ultimately undid House of M was the fact that Wolverine’s greatest wish was to gain full access to his memories, which allowed him to remember the way the world was supposed to be. Here, I wonder if Desmond2 plays the Wolverine role, knowing that there is another world out there where things are more correct than they are here. Or perhaps, as we’ll soon see, it’s Daniel who plays that role. But then who plays the Scarlet Witch role? I have to assume that it’s the Man In Black, who provided the other universe as cover for his escape from the island. In this other world, Kate is innocent (though still suspected), Hurley has both his money and his belief in his own luck, Sawyer (er, James) is on the side of angels while still avenging his parents, Jack has reconciled with his own son, if not his father, and Desmond doesn’t have to constantly strive to be accepted by Charles Widmore. Pretty sneaky, MIB...

Of course, one of my favorite Lostophiles to discuss the show with, Scott Pepper, surmised this week that Eloise, in fact, is the villain of the show, and I think there may be something to that. Not that she's a villain in the sense that she wants to rule (or destroy) the world, or steal something of value. Rather, Eloise may be willing to see reality get all messed up in order to "save" her son from his course-corrected fate of having to die, back in time, at her own hand. So, the theory goes, she helped him come up with the blow up jughead plan to change his own past, which resulted in the sideways world. As such, she does not want the sideways world to end, which, presumably, Desmond's gun-jumping here might bring about.

As Desmond2 makes his way out, George2 asks if it was “that bad?” Desmond starts drinking in the limo, and says to just drive, when there’s a knock on the window – Daniel Widmore, who says, “we need to talk.”

Dan2 is in the familiar tie as he asks Desmond2, a-la-Charlie2, if he believes in love at first sight. He says the first time he saw “her” was walking through this very museum. Although he doesn’t know it, he describes Charlotte2 (who, hopefully, will meet him to make up for the 3:00-am discarding by James2), and when he saw her, it was like he already loved her. If the story ended here, it would simply be another message to Desmond2 that he needs to go find his true love. But Dan2 continues. “That’s when things got weird.” That same night, he woke up and wrote equations that look like a page of his island self’s journal; only this Dan is but a musician. His CalTech friend told him only someone who had studied phsyics his whole life could write what he wrote.

“Imagine the only way to stop something terrible from happening was to release a lot of energy, like setting off a nuclear bomb,” Dan2 proposes, and it doesn’t seem the least bit hypothetical. “What if this wasn’t supposed to be our life, and we had some other life?” Desmond2 questions why he would want to set off a nuclear bomb (and probably questions to himself if it was a good thing that he never met the boss’s family before.) “I don’t want to set off a nuclear bomb, Mr. Hume,” Dan2 responds (phew!) “I think I already did.” (Nope. He’s nuts).

Desmond2 doesn’t know what this has to do with him. Daniel2 asks why he asked about Penny – “it happened to you, too, didn’t it? You felt it?” Forced to acknowledge that something happened to him (in a way he wouldn’t really concede to Charlie2), he says, “I don’t know what I felt.” But Dan2 does. “Yes, you felt love.” Desmond2 protests. He doesn’t even know if she exists. “She’s an idea,” he protests. “No, Mr. Hume,” Dan2 assures him “she’s my half sister, and I can tell you exactly where and when you’re going to find her.”

Aside #12 – If Desmond’s uniqueness is his having survived the quantity of EM energy he did when he caused the Swan hatch to implode, then clearly Daniel is right there with him, as a result of the same experiments that made his island self lose much of his long-term memory. I wonder if this bridge between the Daniels – Faraday and Widmore – in some way always existed, in a sense, creating Daniel’s high-fallutin’ theories that enabled him to conduct the experiment that subsequently created this link, and so on, in an oroboros of endless looping. Don’t hurt your head contemplating that, when instead you can hurt your head contemplating this Doc Jensen nugget: I was reminded of what Young Daniel Faraday told his mother in the episode entitled 'The Variable' when she informed him that she wanted him to stop studying piano and start focusing his genius on physics. He could do both, he insisted. 'I can make time,' he said. Eloise sighed. 'If only you could,' she said. And it sounds like he did — if you believe Dan's Lost theory.”

Desmond2 goes to the same stadium, where, in island world, he first met Jack, told him he’d “see you in another life, bruthah,” and then was found by Penny, who tried to talk him out of the fateful boat race that resulted in his marooning on Lost island. Here, it’s Desmond2 who finds where Penny2 running. Desmond asks if she’s Penny, and she says yes. (note to all you ladies out there – this is when you kick the creepy stalker in the jimmies and run). He introduces himself. She shakes his hand, and ...

Return to the Island

...Desmond awakens in the chamber. Zoe probes him. He’s ok. Charles says, “indeed he is.” Desmond says he’s fine. He asks how long he was unconscious – no more than a few seconds. Charles apologizes, and says Desmond’s talent is vital. But Desmond says he understands. “You told me you brought me here to the island to do something very important,” Desmond says with a renewed sense of purpose. “When do we start?”

Aside #13: Jensen reads a lot into this scene: “The Desmond who awoke in Widmore's shrieking shack was markedly different than the one who collapsed amid a storm of electromagnetic energy. He seemed happier, lighter, and certainly more tender toward Widmore. Indicative of the thaw in their relationship: Desmond reached out to Widmore and asked for his assistance in helping him to his feet. Desmond practically radiated affection — the prodigal son, returning home to the father that he thought he hated but didn't. Again, Widmore's reaction was inscrutable. I couldn't tell if he was expecting this shift in Desmond, but he certainly welcomed it.”

As Zoe escorts Desmond (and a couple of goons) along a pathway, she asks what happened to him in the past 20 minutes. Obtusely, Desmond responds, “a lot can happen in 20 minutes.” She thinks the box fried his brain. Suddenly, Sayid jumps out of nowhere, kills their escort, and tells Zoe to run (since she’s a geophysicist, and not a mercenary, she does just that). He tells Desmond they need to go, now, because these people are dangerous. Interestingly, rather than demanding answers or refusing to switch missions, Desmond simply responds, “Why, of course. Lead the way.”

Aside #14: A quick reminder of Desmond’s unique abilities makes this scene, and the one before it, a lot clearer to me. Desmond clearly did return to the island world with a sense of purpose. But he also, presumably, still had the whole “I can see the future” thing going on. I think Desmond knew the ultimate fulfillment of his more informed island destiny begins with Team Flocke. This, I believe, is why he was so eager to have Widmore’s people get him started on his mission – not because he was eager to help them, but rather, because he knew this path would lead him to Sayid, who would in turn lead him to Flocke. That’s the Desmond side of this scene. As for the Sayid side, I’ll let an unusually snarky Doc Jensen take over: “Then, the hilarious irony of killer Sayid saying, 'Desmond, I don't have time to explain but these people are extremely dangerous.' After I got done laughing, I thought: Wait — are they dangerous? To date, we have not seen Team Widmore kill one person. Yes, there was that guy that got microwaved in the EM shed, but really: Nobody's weeping for Simmons. And yes, there was a pile of dead bodies that Sawyer found on Hydra — but I'm pretty convinced that was Smokey's doing. So I'm thinking Sayid killed some eggheads for nothing. Par for the course for the easily manipulated redemption-starved assassin.”

As Desmond walks off on his path of destiny with Sayid...

Sideways World - Epilogue

...we flash back to other world, where Desmond2 had fainted when Penny2 shook his hand. “I must have had quite an effect on you,” she jokes, in the same surprisingly flirty tone her other self took when she met the defrocked ex-monk in island world. She asks if they’d met before. “I think we’d remember if we had,” Desmond2 plays with her. He asks if she’d like to go for a coffee. After a pause to consider that the random fainting stranger who stalked her to a stadium just asked her out, she says she’ll meet him at a coffee shop at the corner of Sweetzer and Melrose in an hour. As she walks off, he’s clearly bowled over. George2 turns around and asks if he found what he was looking for. Desmond2 says yes, and directs him to the coffee shop. He then reminds the driver that he offered, “if there’s anything else you can do for me, you just name it.” Desmond2 asks for the names of the passengers on flight 815. With a renewed (downloaded?) sense of purpose, he smiles that he just needs to show them something.

Aside #15 – the only reason I’m not more bothered by Penny2’s poorly thought out decision to meet this guy for coffee is that they are truly meant to be together. While human free will may be the variable in the course correction model of space/time, it seems that love conquers all is the big theory that tops even that. Perhaps Penny2, also, got an inexplicable subconscious flash of what was “supposed” to happen in her life, and knew in some way she couldn’t quite explain that Desmond simply felt...right.

So now Desmond and Desmond2 seem to be operating on the same page, with a similar purpose. Both seem to be the prophet who will tell their respective worlds’ 815ers (and Others) about the existence of the other world....which brings us back to the notion of sacrifice. In the island world, Desmond and the Kwon’s have children, children they love dearly. But in the sideways world, Jack has a son who doesn’t exist in island world. So if the worlds are truly mutually exclusive, won’t this set up an obvious problem between Jack on the one hand, and Desmond, Jin and Sun on the other?

There’s still so much more to ruminate on with this episode, so let’s just let it percolate. Until next week, when Hurley takes center stage in “Everybody Loves Hugo,” Namaste!