Lost, Ep. 4.05: The Constant
By potatobiker on Feb 28, 2008 in Tee-Vee
It amazes me that this show can be so awesome so often.
In this ep, Desmond is badly affected by…uh…something about traveling to and from the Island (:)). He starts jumping back and forth between his army days in 1996 and 2004. I actually barely know how to summarize this episode. Maybe the live thoughts are best this time…of course, that mostly consisted of me going “Holy crap!” “What?!” “No way!”
- Frank does his best to follow the coordinates, but the storm causes issues. Desmond jumps back and forth with his 1996 self!
- Daniel explains why they shouldn’t be worried about the helicopter: “Your perception of how long they’ve been gone is not necessarily how long they’ve been gone.”
- “There might be side effects.”
- Desmond jumps a couple more times before they lock him in sick bay with Minkowski, who is also jumping through time!
- Frank helps Sayid (gun for phone)
- Daniel asks if Desmond has been exposed to electromagnetism. Uh, yeah, you think?
- Doctor Ray gives Minky a shot to knock him out before testing Des’s eyes, which flips him back to 1996. He notices Penny keeps showing up, so he tries to call her, but she says no to helping him.
- “Get on a train to Oxford, the physics department. Find me.” Awesome.
- “You set your device to 2.342, oscillating at 11 Hz. I know about Eloise.” I love this stuff.
- Daniel says you can’t change the future. Hm.
- Daniel unsticks Eloise the rat from time (Slaughterhouse Five anyone??). She runs a maze an hour before she’s taught how to run it. *my brain explodes*
- Desmond tells Daniel about the Island. Daniel does much physicsing.
- Minkowski tells Desmond Penny’s been signaling him. They had strict instructions to NEVER answer it. (!!!!!)
- Mouse died. Theory: can’t deal without an anchor to reality…or something I’ll have to study later… A Constant. Desmond believes his constant is Penny.
- A “friend” leaves the sick bay door open (Ben’s spy? Frank?) so Minky, Sayid, Des go to the destroyed comm center to call Penny.
- Back in 1996: Charles Widmore! The Black Rock! A never-read Journal! Hanso! Holy crap!
- Widmore actually has enough faith Penny won’t go back to Des that he gives him her address.
- She’s at 423 Cheyne Walk! (A clue we got in Find815) Somebody’s mistress lived at that address…who was it? Maybe I’ll find it later. Anyhoo…lots of famous people have lived on that place.
- Minky: “I…can’t…get…back!” DIES!
- Des finds Penny. “Eight years from now I need to call you.” She gives him a number and promises to keep it. Back in 12-24-04 he calls her on the freighter phone and she answers!
I’m on a boat, been on an island, i’ve looked for you for 3 years, researching an island, i love you….so much love! *happy squeeing* Des found his constant before he went crazy and died. *swoony sigh* - Dan finds his notebook: “If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant.”
- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My brain is so broken I can’t think of anything to say. My jaw is hanging on the floor. Good times.
potatobiker | Feb 29, 2008 | Reply
Holy crap, I have so much stuff to add to what I wrote last night and yet ZERO time to think about this. This was one of the best episodes ever. EVER on television. Of any show.
Is what happened to Minkowski and friend, and to Desmond, “the sickness” that hasn’t been mentioned in a season?
Are Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse the greatest geniuses of our time?
Who wrecked the comm room? Ben’s guy? Why? Is Michael going to be on this freakin boat??
Ug, the Penny/Desmond love story is the greatest! It puts the stupid triangle/quadrangle to pathetic SHAME.
Really? More clues about the Black Rock? Widmore gets the first mate’s diary. Holy crap I can’t wait to find out what’s in there. And Widmore has GOT to have something to do with 815 being found in the sunda trench. Come on! Why, not sure. How, not sure. He’s just EEEVIL.
Also, the name Minkowski: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Minkowski
Lots of great crap in there…
I have to work now dangit!! But my brain is reeling with Christian Shepard theories, Michael theories, Danielle theories… argh! If only I had 31 more minutes!
I realized we actually never got an answer why Desmond was kicked out da army. Hm.
Chris | Mar 4, 2008 | Reply
Cindy had an interesting idea. During the bidding for the journal from the Black Rock, there was a bidder on the phone. What if that bidder was Ben, and now, because he lost the auction, he has to get the journal from Widmore, thus creating a Ben-Dharma-island-Widmore link….unless of course, it was just random rich guy.
potatobiker | Mar 4, 2008 | Reply
Cindy has a great idea there. I love it! It’s totally plausible considering we know Ben’s been off the island a lot, which we also now know is probably part of the cause of his cancer. Jacob no likey when you leave.
How did someone get the Black Rock journal off the island? Or was it pirated before it got there?
Does Penny use this book as part of her research about the island?
Is Jacob one of the people from the black rock, and is he pulling a desmond time-traveling consciousness thing? Meaning, he’s really still back in the past, but he can BE in the future like Desmond did? But maybe he’s at a point where his consciousness doesn’t always have a body to go to, hence he is just a “ghost.” Or maybe he uses other bodies on occasion (Christian Shepards?). And speaking of christian, how was he conscious to the point of telling Vincent to wake his SON? Was that a previous consciousness of his coming forward and regrasping his body?
Also was thinking just a simple little thought that Sayid, the romantic, was the perfect guy to have there when Desmond needed to call Penny. I like when they write characters and situations so well.
Also, Minkowski died saying “Can’t…get…back” Does that mean that his consciousness is still out there, it just can’t get back in this body now? Maybe it stays on the ferris wheel? Maybe it is lost out there in the past somewhere?
Who else has this wandering consciousness problem but is able to control it? I still maintain Ben probably can. But maybe he can’t. Maybe he really is just a man behind a curtain. If Desmond keeps his Constant, he might be able to survive it and even control it given the time and practice. But what good would it really do?
Daniel said “you can’t change the future.” Is he right?
Lori | Mar 5, 2008 | Reply
Yeah…. this season is not for a newcomer! It is all so confusing!
potatobiker | Mar 6, 2008 | Reply
Honestly! They keep advertising it like “it’s not too late to get Lost.” Uh…yes. Yes it is.
But since season 4 started, I have let THREE people borrow my Seasons 1,2,3 DVDs and they are ALL hooked (took like 2 weeks per person to watch all of them). So maybe it ISN’T too late, as long as you have the DVDs.