The Week Off is Almost Over, and Another Theory

Anybody actually watch the clip show on Wednesday? According to Variety, 6.6 million people did, which isn't good, but which is better than the "two" I assumed it would.

I say "two" because we had it on as background noise in my apartment. I got the idea -- they were organizing the Oceanic Six flash-forwards in chronological order -- but it still seemed pretty lazy; they didn't even spring for new interview footage with Cuse & Lindelof like the often do.

Doc Jensen was good enough to provide a Lost column today despite the week off, but it's mostly unilluminating.

He does mention that describing last week's "Some Like it Hoth" as "the story of a man who's comfortable talking to dead people but has a hard time talking to the living", as his friend described it, is a better analysis of the episode than his recap.

Meanwhile, I think I might know what "The Variable", the title of next week's episode, refers to. It's probably going to be another Desmond/Faraday episode, right? And it's probably going to serve as a bookend to last season's "The Constant", right?

Well "Constants" refer to people. Desmond is Faraday's Constant, and Penny is Desmond's. So might "Variables" also refer to people?

If they do, I'm calling it: "The Variable" = Mrs. Hawking.

Expounding further: when you're unstuck in time and about to die from time travel disease, you need one person you really care about to appear in both time frames, which sort of snaps your mind back into the right place. That person represents your mind's "constant" between the two time periods.

The opposite might be someone who exists outside the normal time structure, someone who you can't rely on to appear in either time frame. Hawking might fit that bill, especially with regards to her random appearance to Desmond in Season 3's "Flashes Before Your Eyes".

It would also create a strong storytelling link between Faraday and his mom...if Faraday represents the idea of the Constant, it would be interesting for Hawking to represent the opposite...something, perhaps, closer to chaos.

TAGS: Daniel Faraday, Desmond, Mrs Hawking, Penny, The Constant, The Variable, Time Travel
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