HAPPILY EVER AFTER

HAPPILY EVER AFTER

And now we know why Desmond is so special and unique. He’s the only person in the world to have survived a catastrophic electromagnetic event (and who is still alive because we all know that John Locke was in that room with Des when he turned that fail safe key). Let’s not forget that Mr. Eko and Charlie Pace were present in the “hatch” when it self imploded and stole all of Desmond’s clothes. But alas, THEY are all DEAD and now Chuckie has to resort to plan B (wanna bet he’d planned to use John Locke before dear Ben pulled out an orange extension cord on him and hanged him like a Christmas ornament?).

So this is what I know.

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

There, now you know as much as I do.

Have a good day and we’ll chat next week.

Okay, I’m joking. I’ll give it up and share my thoughts with you, but be warned that I’m still struggling with an infected tooth and have been “affected” by antibiotics and painkillers.

Happily Ever After points out a few home truths to us, even if we don’t really want to know them. First of all, there is no such thing as happily ever after and when we believe we have reached that point something, or someone (Charlie and Daniel) is going to come along to point out that although we seem to have it all, the grass is greener in our other lives. I actually pictured myself living on an island paradise with my LOST friends and our every need or want was taken care of. We were pampered and spoiled and never had a care. Our children loved and respected us and did as we asked them, and …… Who am I kidding? It’s human nature to want to accomplish utter happiness and contentment with our lives, yet once we obtain what we believe we want (and are the envy of limo drivers and CEO’s alike) we realize that it was just too easy. Did I forget to mention on ALL KNOWING BUTINSKI NAMED ELOISE?

We’ll get to her in a moment. First let’s deal with what happened on Hydra in 2007.

Poor Desmond awakens to find that he’s back on the island (sort of since he was never on Hydra) and under the qualified care of Zoe, the geophysicist? What do they teach these people in those universities? He’s pretty ticked when Chuckie tells him that he’s kidnapped him and brought him back to the island and the IV pole gave Des a helping hand in expressing his anger. The island, she isn’t finished with him yet. But we all KNEW (okay hoped) that Desmond would be back. I’m not sure we realized it would be under these terms. And wouldn’t you be just a little peeved (read totally pissed off) if you’d just woken up to find that you’d taken from the sterile safety of a hospital and had been drugged for three days straight, then forced to wake up? Yep, me too.

Things get off to a rip roaring start as Chuckie decides to reschedule the “little test” earlier than expected. Of course, Jin is there, in his normal state of confusion (they really need to make him look a bit more assertive) to see what happens when “normal” people get between the giant electromagnetic donuts. Zap! Interestingly, did you notice that when the tech pulled the switch to reset the breaker for that huge honkin’ generator he pulled it down? And did you notice that when he was told to shut it off (after that dude become a Krispy Kritter) he also pulled the switch down? Just thought I’d point that out to you. And how insensitive of Chuckie and his goons to bring poor Des to the zap shack before the BBQ remains of that guy could be removed? Did you see Desmond’s feet plant themselves on either side of the door frame? That kind of reminded me of the time I needed to give my border collie a bath and I picked her up to put her into the tub…..She did the exact same thing with ALL FOUR OF HER PAWS. She won that round, by the way.

Back on track, Linda.

So, the goons strap Desmond to a chair and the one guy thinks to ask: “Do you have any metal on? Keys? Chains? Coins?” To which Chuckie replies: “Of course he doesn’t, you idiot” and rolls his eyes. I am wondering where our esteemed Mr. Widmore found these guys! Oh, and I also wondered if the zipper in Desmond’s pants was metal. They lock him in and hide behind a cinder block wall (that’s comforting to see that they’re taking all those safety precautions), turn on the generator and watch from a distance as our beloved Scotsman gets an unhealthy dose of what apparently is electromagnetic energy and passes out.

I was kind of worried (hoping) he’d wake up without any clothes again.

Of course Desmond survives and comes to, completely calm and accepting of what he needs to do, much to Charles’ confusion. He follows Zoe back to the hospital, but never makes it as Sayid steps up, kills the two goons and sends Zoe running. In a move that totally confuses me, Desmond seems to happily follow Sayid away from Chuckie’s protection.

And this provides the segue into what I am now calling the “what if” time as we soar through the clouds backwards and out of an Oceanic Arrivals board (if you can find a still of the board, you’ll notice that all of Hurley’s numbers are on that board in various places). It’s Desmond, again in reflection (these are important, but we’ll get to that in a few), and he’s gazing in an apparent trance at the board. That is until Hurley swings by to let him know that his luggage is on carousel number 4.

Desmond helps Claire pull her bag from the carousel (what a gentleman) then offers her a ride, which is declined. I’m going to go off on a bit of a tangent here, but I promise to get back on track quickly.

Am I the only one who noticed the stains on Claire’s shirt? Go back and take a look at the scenes in the airport. I’ll wait here. You’ll see. Big orange stains on her bulbous belly. The least they could have done was give her a clean shirt for this scene. That one looked like she’d been wearing it and slopped mango juice down her front!

Back on track again.

As soon as I saw Fisher Stevens I waited, almost breathlessly, for a reference to a Ferris wheel, but to no avail as his somewhat subdued character just drove Des to the office. But I was glad to see George throughout the episode.

Did Chuckie’s happy greeting to Des surprise you? What about that great satisfied grin? Or that “fatherly” hug? Me neither. The big surprise came when he gave Des a sip of that 60 year old MacCutcheon’s Scotch and told him he was worth it! Yeah, the fact that Des had obtained the one thing he’d always wanted from Chuckie in the “original” time was foreboding. Sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for, because all things, good or bad, come with a price and the fact that Desmond didn’t have Penny in his life (yet) was oddly disturbing to me. Being Charles Widmore’s right hand man comes at a cost and poor Desmond was about to get an assignment that would change his life (and hopefully the lives of all the Lostaways) forever.

Have you noticed that some of the people who are dead in the original time seem to have a better grasp of things in the “what if” time? Think back to LA X for a moment, when Jack saved Charlie’s life, and the ungrateful wretch told him that he was supposed to die. This is important, because Charlie gets it. He knows that he’s not where he’s supposed to be. This isn’t the way his life is supposed to be. And, like Desmond in The Constant, he wants to get back to that place where he felt happiest and was loved by Claire (I’m assuming that the rapturously beautiful blond he spoke of was Claire). This is it. The converging of “original” and “what if” starts to become really evident right here.

Daniel too, has an awareness and he recognizes the same “feeling” in Desmond when he sees his mother (who still knows far more than any other (but not those Others) character in ANY time) attempt to dissuade Desmond (again) from finding Penny. I wasn’t surprised to find that Eloise is still manipulating lives despite being married to a magnate (or money magnet) and raising her son (and not killing him) in this time. Some things just can’t be changed, it would seem. Daniel, as in the original time, does not what his mother would expect and shares his feelings and beliefs with Des.

Des has heard from two separate people now of an emerging awareness that things are not as they are supposed to be and begins to question his own life (and happiness) as well. The name Penny strikes a chord with him. Buried deep in his consciousness is the knowledge that his other life was happier with “her” than having the approval from “the man”. When he meets Penny it is the “catalyst” moment that convinces Desmond that their lives are all wrong and tasks George with getting him a list of all the passengers on Oceanic 815.

“I just need to show them something”

HERE IS WHAT I THINK

We didn’t see it, but Charles has already told Desmond what he needs to do and it involves Smocke and a violent explosion of electromagnetic energy. I’m worried that the sacrifice Widmore spoke of is Desmond’s life. Okay, I admit it. I’m worried for every single one of our LOSTies and expect we’ll be losing almost all of them by the end of the season.

DID YOU NOTICE?

I’m not sure if it’s a continuity error, but in LA X, Desmond wore a wedding ring ( DarkUFO has a screen shot of it), but Des isn’t married in this episode and has yet to meet Penny.

Someone asks Desmond in each time if he’s wearing any metal or has any metal fillings. Once in the zap shack and just before he has an MRI. Also, someone shined a light in Desmond’s eyes in each time as well.

When Desmond walks into Widmore’s office you can see a scale with black objects on one side and white objects on the other side to the left and it is balanced mounted on the left wall. Then, when Charles is talking on the phone, you can see what looks to be the same painting on the wall to the right of his desk.

Eloise’s brooches are of starbursts and look like the mark that was given to Juliet. Incidentally, Eloise is wearing two brooches (one smaller than the other) slightly parallel to the other, but if the longer portion of each pin were to continue you would see the points meeting.

Desmond’s reflection is seen twice in this episode. Once in the Oceanic arrival schedule board and also in the glass door of the police station. Daniel’s reflection is seen in the limo window as well, although it is more of a silhouette.

When Desmond first meets Penny in the “what if” time, she is running the tour de stade. In the original time, Desmond met Jack while running the tour de stade and it was revealed that Penny had sought him out there.

There are a prolific amount of repeated phrases from other seasons. “What happened, happened” and “The island isn’t finished with you yet” for example.

A friend pointed out to me that Eloise’s hair must be Chuckie’s constant.

QUESTIONS:

Where are Penny and Charlie?

Why is it that Desmond can survive a massive and violent electromagnetic event?

Why didn’t the people on the boat rush to help Desmond when he brought Charlie up out of the submerged car?

What exactly is Desmond violating by looking for Penny?

Why did Sayid let Zoe go but killed the other two?

Is Jack’s hospital the only one in LA? Everyone seems to end up at St. Sebastian.

Since Desmond made contact with his constant (Penny) in the “what if” time, is this what makes him special in 2007?

Does that last question make sense?

QUOTES

Zoe: You’re not in a hospital, Mr. Hume. We had to move you…

Desmond: “ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRG”

Desmond (to Charles): “That’s 60 year old Scotch, Charles”

Charles: “Nothings too good for you”

Charlie (explaining about what happened on the plane): “I’m talking about spectacular consciousness altering love. So you know what that looks like?”

Desmond (to Charlie): There’s always a choice, brothah

Des: Why are you running?

Charlie: “Cause no one here can help me”

Charlie: “This doesn’t matter. None of this matters. All that matters is that we felt it”

Desmond (on the phone to Charles): “He’s a junkie that drove my car into the ocean. I’m fine, by the way, thanks for asking.

Daniel: “It’s like already loved her….and that’s when things got weird.”

Daniel: “What if this. All of this…..What if this wasn’t supposed to be our life? What if we had someother life and for some reason we changed things……I don’t want to set off a nuclear bomb, Mr. Hume. I think I already did.”

Desmond: “She’s an idea…”

Daniel: “No, Mr. Hume, she’s my half sister”

Ad the most interesting of them all?

Desmond: “I just need to show them something”

Oddly enough, next week's episode is called "Everybody Loves Hugo" Should be a good one.