Things I Noticed - "Flashes before your Eyes" by Vozzek69

This might just be my favorite episode of LOST. It was chilling, it was mind blowing - it gave away so much and then took it away in the same episode. It even had a cool little twist at the end. Desmond rocks. Things I noticed:

SPECIAL GUEST STAR - JAKE GYLLENHAAL

Donnie Darko? Too obvious. Last night we might've seen a tip of the hat to a great movie, but I'm not sure it's that simple... so everyone can unbunch their panties and take a few deep breaths.

HEY - DON'T I KNOW YOU?
The beauty of LOST at this point is that it could reveal any and all of its secrets to us at any time - yet by now we'd refuse to believe them. Hiding behind flashbacks or dream sequences give the writers unlimited freedom to mess with our heads. They could truths whenever they want, then sit back and chuckle as people chalk them up to more coincidence and watch them slip by. In those aspects, I'll admit the show is hard to trust.

I'm pretty sure Desmond didn't time travel, or get himself stuck in a time loop. It would be disappointingly cliche. Still, I think even the most scientific "there was a 100mph bus driver" conspiracy theorist knows deep down that somethings up with the island and time itself.

A while back I had a theory involving multiple timelines, all lying alongside each other, existing simultaneously. Think about your own life. What if you took this job instead of that one? What if you'd met a different girl, or moved somewhere else, or turned left instead of right? In my original theory, somewhere out there in the spaghetti strands of time, there's a universe where *exactly* each one of those things happened.

So what if the island represented a type of nexus for these timelines, drawn there and bent around the strange magnetic fields Hanso came to study? This might explain why everyone knows each other and keeps popping in and out of each other's backstories. Think about it. If Jack lived an infinite amount of lives, he'd meet an infinite number of Sawyers. If things ran concurrently, no two paths would cross. But if the the island were a place where these timelines intertwined or wrapped or touched or whatever... you'd see shadows of other lives. You might hear whispers from other timelines. You'd see impossible coincidences become commonplace. In the immortal words of Keanu Reeves: "Whoa".

Although this is a complicated theory that most people hate (and I'm not completely sure of myself), it also would explain a lot. This also lets the producers off the hook with their previous assertion that "no one travels through time" because no one really IS travelling through time. 'See you in another life' - yes, *another* life. Not the next life, but a different one.

THE DEAL WITH DESMOND

I think most of us agree that Desmond should NOT have survived the hatch implosion, just as no one really should've survived the plane crash. Based on that fact alone, I'm thinking the island still has a reason for Desmond to be around that's yet to be revealed. I think it had a reason for keeping Eko around too, but he disobeyed the island and was punished. Eko's unplanned insolence might be the only chink we've seen so far in the island's armor, and I love him for that.

Back to Desmond. Despite what the old woman said, I have a hard time believing his only purpose was to push the button (or NOT push the button - thus allowing the plane crash - which is another way to look at it). Actually, I'm thinking this sad little statement, coupled with Widmore's complete unmanning of Desmond, was part of the island's design to make him angry.

Enter naked Desmond. Being reborn this way brings him closer to the island on a more primal, mother/son level. After what he just did with the key, it can keep a closer eye on him. But is Desmond using the powers the island has granted him to try and change things? Or is the island using Desmond as a tool to do its bidding, much the way it used Locke (and sacrificed Boone) to get the hatch open during season one?



Final thought: if Desmond truly has lived his life full circle, then he must know how everything ends. His prophecies will become more imporant toward the end of the show.

SHE'S LIKE THE ORACLE - ONLY CREEPIER

The old British woman did an awesome job this episode of creating several startlingly creepy 'holy crap' moments. But was she trying to guide Desmond along the same way the Oracle did in the Matrix? Not even close. I think this woman IS the island. She's there to obscure the path to free will... to replant the seeds of self-doubt that Widmore sowed (and watered with Miracle-Gro) so that Desmond will stop fighting and accept FATE. Desmond has a dangerous power (connection) now. It seems the island likes Desmond drunk and feeling sorry for himself.

MR. PERSONALITY

Penny's father - king of sarcasm. Supreme ruler of elaborate insults. Voted most likely to get punched in the liver during high school. That whole scene... wow.

WONDERWALL?!?!?

Charlie in the flasback (flashforward?) sure seems to be pre-Driveshaft, or he would've certainly mentioned it on his cardboard sign. Either that, or Desmond just doesn't know about Driveshaft and the island is relying on his own memories to create the entire flashback/dream sequence. OR (and get ready for this one...) Driveshaft doesn't exist in whatever universe Desmond's consciousness was temporarily jarred into. Hmmm...

THE PENNY/DESMOND PHOTO

Desmond looked so happy in it, and he pulled it out often last season. Yet now we know his happiness was transparent - nothing more than a smiling facade masking his inner turmoil. The vendor pulling down a fake plastic backdrop for this photo was a cool metaphor. Not to mention a kick in the groin to all of us who labored over figuring out where that pic was taken. :)

HURLEY IS THE FLY IN THE ISLAND'S OINTMENT

Hurley is very different this season. He's a lot more observant - a lot more serious. All of a sudden Hurley seems to 'get it', and is now questioning everything instead of cracking jokes.

If any character is untouchable, I think it's Hurley. Everything happens around him, but never *to* him. Because he shouldn't be there, I don't think the island has the same power of him it does over everyone else. From the flight attendant's "I don't think you were supposed to make this flight dear" to him being the only 815'er not boarding the plane during Locke's sweaty dream sequence... I think Hurley will eventually become the most important survivor in the grand scheme of things. Keep an eye on his character, because it's quickly evolving.

CHARLIE... or CLAIRE?

It's ironic that Charlie seems irrovocably fated to die, considering he spent much of the first season with the word FATE taped to his fingers. Still, consider that the island itself might be using Desmond to try and *stop* his death, rather than just prophicizing his doom. Maybe the island yet needs Charlie for something, and is sending these signals to Desmond so that he can intervene?

Could it be possible that Claire was really meant to die, but Charlie's close proximity to Claire kept involving him getting killed too? Maybe the island wanted Charlie saved? When the lightning struck, he was right next to her. And if Charlie potentially dies trying to save Claire from drowning, wouldn't she almost certainly have been carried off by the current anyway? Perhaps Desmond misinterpreted. I'm not 100% convinced of this, but it's something to consider.

ONLY FOOLS ARE ENSLAVED BY TIME AN SPACE (a.k.a. NO FATE BUT WHAT WE MAKE)
A reference to the fact that things can be changed, and nothing is completely predetermined. Sarah Connor showed us this way back in T2. Whether we take Desmond's flashback as him 'jumping' into a completely different timeline or whether we chalk it up to a naked jungle dream, the end result is the same: By stopping the bartender from getting hit in the head like that, we saw that things CAN be changed. Yet were they? Because once Desmond managed to somehow change that timeline, he was conveniently catapulted right out of it.

PERCEPTION
Back when the hatch was first discovered and the furnishings changed from scene to scene, I fronted the idea that things could change based upon each individual's perception of them. We saw something very similar this episode, with the way the paintings changed from side to side in Widmore's office. (Those who blame all this stuff on camera angles can stop reading here).

Perhaps the island is drawing upon each individual's memory to create things, and is limited to the minds of those on the island. Is this why the countdown noise sounds like Desmond's microwave? Is this why the monster sounds familiar to Rose? Is this why the same props keep recycling themselves over and over again throughout the entire show (Mr. Cluck, Apollo, KRONOS, Widmore, NAMASTE, etc...)?

I've always thought the island had a hand in way some of the flashbacks were perceived. Maybe it's only working with a finite set of information. Maybe it's not perfect. Maybe this is why things sometimes seem totally askew, slightly different, or completely changed. Different camera angles are one thing - photos showing up on opposite walls are another. Somethings fishy. Can't wait for next week.