"Desmond Hume will be MY constant"

Oh, reliable Desmond, how I can always count on your to mess with my brain even further than before. I hope you all tuned in. So good.

The uniqueness of "The Constant" was its flashes. They weren't necessarily forward or backward. They just were. There's a shifting of time, of place, an almost paralleling of universes. From now on, I think we can accept that Lost is prime-time sci-fi at its best.

For the time-travel theorists, you're almost right. Thus far. Or mostly right. The way Westley is "mostly dead" in the Princess Bride. Which means there's still room for you to be wrong. Time travel has been confirmed, at least in the realm of consciousness.

This is what we've learned:

As the helicopter makes its way through a storm, Desmond starts having strange dreams/visions. Very real. And when he comes to, he doesn't know where he is or who the people around him are. Oh, and he thinks it's 1996. And he's not the first to experience this. No one on the boat seems surprised by this "side effect."

We learn that Dan's thing is time travel. He's going to be pretty crucial in explaining a lot this season.

"You can't change the future." Is this the writers trying to throw us off, or is it actually true?

An anchor is needed for successful time travel, something that is familiar in both times. Desmond is about to self-destruct for the first three-quarters of the episode because he has no constant. Dan tells him (in the past, which he seems to be rewriting a little as he doesn't remember it) that he needs a constant, something he cares about in the future (or present - 2004) that he cares about in the past (1996). Enter Penelope.

Does everyone else have an anchor? Who is Sayid's? If they left at dusk and arrived in the middle of the same day, clearly everyone's tripping a little.

We end with a closeup on Dan's journal: "If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant." Does this mean he's actually in 2004? Or in 1996, with his consciousness on vacation?

And miscellaneous nuggets of Lost goodness:

Sickbay's open door confirms that they have a friend on the ship. Who? Probably not a polar bear. Or Boone. That's all I got thus far.

Penelope's father hints that Penelope needs to tell Desmond something. "I'll let her tell you herself." But when they meet, she discloses nothing of significance. More mystery in the most compelling love storyline.

Desmond is the first survivor to connect with someone from his pre-crash life (who isn't on the island as well). What could this mean for our friends?

No, Penelope's phone number doesn't work. I tried. Because I'm cool.

Any thoughts? Brilliant theories? Quirky observations? I think I need to mull a little....

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[ READER COMMENTS ]

1

Liz said:

A quick thought on the "friend" that leaves the door open on SickBay. Perhaps it could be Michael or Walt? For that matter...what if Michael ends up being one of the Oceanic Six???

Posted at 07:16 PM, on February 29 2008

2

nickatron said:

The reason desmond felt the effects and no one else did is because he was exposed to high levels of electro-magnetism during the time when the hatch blew up.

Penelope's dad was telling desmond to go talk to penelope because he knew she was over him. the thing he wanted desmond to hear was that is was completely over between the two. obviously she changed her mind.

and yes the island is now revolving around some weird time travel dilemma.

Oh and most likely the friend is that helicopter pilot frank.

what i thought was weird was Penelope's dad purchases that journal at the auction. the journal is from the only surviving crew member of some old ship... is this the same old ship they got the dynamite from?

I think penelope's dad knows about the island through his purchase of the journal and that's probably why penelope knows about the island.

Posted at 08:56 PM, on March 2 2008

3

Ian said:

ok I think a few things kinda got missed here.. For some reason desmonds exposure to the magnetism in the hatch explosion made him somehow a prime candidate for the time traveling thing. As far as the everyone else experiencing it there must be some sort of delay to get to and from the island, UNLESS you stay on the course (remember the storm knocked the copter around a bit from 30 to 33) but the most consuing freakin thing I saw as how on earth was penny calling the boat and knew all about the island??? Where did she get the number??

Posted at 11:16 PM, on March 2 2008

4

MJ said:

Re: "Penelope's father hints that Penelope needs to tell Desmond something. "I'll let her tell you herself." But when they meet, she discloses nothing of significance. More mystery in the most compelling love storyline."

I don't think there is any mystery here. My take on it was that Penelope's father meant that Penelope herself would tell Desmond that she hates him (in response to Desmond asking why Penelope's father hates him).

Posted at 06:35 AM, on March 3 2008

5

Justin said:

I think the friend on the boat is Michael. I was reading around the internet and saw his Actor was coming back, either to be on there as a character or a flashback

Posted at 01:23 PM, on March 9 2008

"Desmond Hume will be MY constant"

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