Lost with LOST: Constant-ly Messing With Desmond's Happy Ending in the Matrix

I watch basketball and baseball very differently. For the most part I don't turn on basketball until the second half. There's no reason to, in my mind. It's like American Idol, Dancing With the Stars or the ilk (a host of shows I do not care to watch): you really just care about the ending and everything else before it is just filler. Baseball is different. It's a finely woven story from first pitch to the final out. Some find that difference boring but I'm not one of those. It's the only major sport that's not timed. I love the intricacies of the game, the games within the games, and how each pitch changes that at bat and the at bats after it. "Whatever happened, happened"...but until the last out is recorded, the game isn't over. LOST is baseball (you were probably wondering where I was going with this analogy. Well, I'm here). You have casual watchers who turn it on for enjoyment but you also have people who analyze every pitch, every at-bat. You have the real hardcore "nerds" who take it to the next level and search every literary reference and spoken word in LOST or every "PitchFX" in baseball. I sit someplace in the middle. But if LOST is truly baseball, then Desmond Hume is the set-up man: a misused character that literally sets up some of the most important parts of what we're watching. Desmond may disappear when we want him most and not be used enough, but he's always giving us great production. We, like Daniel Faraday, need Desmond Hume--he's our constant. And last night's episode was our set-up for the rest of the season.

As good as a shot of MacCutcheon 60 with John Updike

I ended last night's episode "Happy Ending", with a big "what the heck just happened?" I still will honestly say I don't know. But what the heck, I'm going to give it a try, brutha! John Updike*, in the same New Yorker article that he famously described Fenway Park as a "lyric little bandbox of a ballpark" also wrote of Fenway that it was "a compromise between Man’s Euclidean determinations and Nature’s beguiling irregularities." Hell, we could use the same description to paint a picture of The Island.

*Side Note: I wrote the Updike piece because I happened to stumble upon it this morning and then saw this (!) in The Atlanic: "On the island, we see a white rabbit named Angstrom who apparently is being subjected to Widmore's electromagnetic tests. Harold C. "Rabbit" Angstrom is the main character in five John Updike novels and represents the struggles of mid-century middle class Americans, with many problems surrounding his family life." (!!!!)

The Island is where we open this episode. In the eye* of one Desmond Hume. The man who is declared to be "special" by everyone Widmore: Charles, Eloise, Daniel, and even Penny. Except when Desmond is blasted into his Sideways World, he has no Penny. He's a rich man without a Penny--which would make him Penniless. He has everything but nothing. He has the approval of Charles Widmore--a man who he constantly sought the approval for in the Island World.

*Side Note: Now, let's remember, when we talk about the eye, we can remember another Bostonian, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and his essay titled "Circles". Read through that when you get a chance for some big LOST-y statements made. The only reason I have this literary reference? 10th grade English and my need to memorize Emerson, Thoreau and all those American authors. But this one was one of my favorites. And I think the most relevant to LOST. Oh yeah, and Penny's last name is Milton. Which I think refer's to John Milton...who wrote "Paradise Lost". I do remember that too.

Desmond's relationship with Widmore is so different that while in the Island World Desmond was told by Charles that he would never be worthy of MacCutcheon 60--but in Sideways World, Widmore doesn't think twice about offering Desmond a shot. Desmond's life is filled with acceptance, money, power and, as far as he knows, joy.

But Desmond is missing one thing in his life--love. And it takes one Charlie Pace*--after a near-death experience--to help him see that again (or for the first time). How does Charlie show Desmond this? By driving his car right into the water. They're both going to drown it seems like in the Looking Glass. Desmond goes up for a quick breath and then goes right back down into the rabbit hole (we saw the white rabbit again this episode).

*Side Note: Quick side note question: who was the blond that Charlie saw? Penny? Claire? Juliet? Someone else? Does it matter? What does everything think? And, stupid question, but if Desmond had a personal driver, then why was he driving to pick up Charlie? Does this make any sense to you?

But instead of Charlie drowning on the other side of the glass, Desmond gets a quick view of "Not Penny's Boat" once again (freaking out everyone in the room watching with me), a flash of all those memories reboots into the system and Desmond, this this time, rescues Charlie. Memory reboots like that sound like, well...

LOST is The Matrix: No one can be told what it is

In the movie, The Matrix (thanks to Wikipedia for some help in remembering all these details), déjà vu is a "glitch" that occurs when the "machines" alter an aspect of the Matrix, a digital reality in which all the inhabitants believe that they are living in the real world. Neo (Keanu Reeves' character) experiences this when he sees two of the same black cats. But we've seen instances where characters thought they were seeing this during the Sideways World mostly with semi-recognizing each other but also Jack with his cut and his appendix and Claire and Kate when Claire said she wanted to name her son Aaron. We also saw it on The Island--right after the hatch blew up and Desmond was able to predict the future (more on this later). Desmond seems to be the set-up man, the linchpin, the key to everything. As James Poniewozik of TIME wrote today (picture above from that article):

You could make a good argument that Desmond Hume is the protagonist of Lost. That, despite the fact that we didn't meet him until season 2 and he disappears for vast stretches of the action, Lost is about him more than about anybody else.

He's "special," as Daniel Faraday once told him. Many of the big revelations about how the universe of Lost works—what was down the Hatch, the funky nature of time on the Island, the notion of the Constant, the themes of predestination vs. change—have been told through him. He, with Penny, arguably has the most compelling emotional story in the series. You look at the episode description for a Lost and think, "All right! It's a Desmond!". If not the literal protagonist, he is at least the linchpin. Maybe the key, as in answer key.

In other words, you can often count on Desmond to introduce a paradigm shift, to substantially change the way we view Lost. And in "Happily Ever After," he gave us perspective on how to see the flash-sideways, and more clues than ever about what they are—and, more important, what they aren't.

The Sideways World is not reality like The Matrix* wasn't reality. The Smith is a Man in Black (well a man in a black suit) who can morph into the body of other people within the Matrix. Sound familiar? In The Matrix: Reloaded, Neo was given a choice: saving the human race or letting it be destroyed. He chose a different variable: the girl. Remember: there's always a choice, brutha! Red pill, blue pill. Save the world and save the girl? What will Desmond choose? Well when Neo chose the girl, a choice that he previously didn't know he could make, he fell unconscious. Remind you of anyone?!

*Side Note: "Everything that has a beginning has an end, Neo," said Smith and The Oracle. "Everything only ends once. Everything before that is just progress," said Jacob. Discuss. The creator of the Matrix is an anthropomorphic program called the Architect. Anthropomorphism on Wikipedia, brings up a picture of Alice and Wonderland and the white rabbit! Discuss!!!

Well let's go back to  The Matrix: Revolutions. Neo's choice leaves him trapped between The Matrix and the machine world. Neo (like Desmond) needs to make a sacrifice and does so to save both the Machines and humans. Neo is unplugged from the Matrix and his body is carried away by the Machines. The Matrix "reboots" (the cat is seen again) The Architect and the Oracle meet, and agree to unplug all humans who want to be freed (is that what Desmond's mission now is?!??!?), and that peace will last "as long as it can." Seraph asks the Oracle if she knew all along that this would happen, and she replies that she didn't know, but she did believe. Let's believe in Desmond, brutha!

The Sideways World is Constant-inople

And I don't mean Istanbul, I mean that the Sideways World is where everyone's constant showed up this episode. Desmond met Penny. Charlie saw his blond girl. Daniel saw Desmond and Charlotte (and we can debate who is really his constant). What's Alan Watching?'s Alan Sepinwall (picture to the right from the article) says that this world is what someone, somewhere thought would be the Happy Ending that everyone was looking for--whether it worked out exactly or not: "Locke has the love of Helen, Ben has a relationship with a living Alex, Jack overcomes his daddy issues, etc., etc., etc."

But here's where we get back into the Matrix, as Alan continues:

In fact, everyone is supposed to be so happy in these alternate lives that they'll never notice how much the universe has changed, or the cost that was paid to attain these lives, or what evil - Smokey, presumably - is busy running amok while Jack's busy having a catch with his son and Sawyer and Miles are acting out unproduced "Nash Bridges" scripts.

And while some people are capable of recognizing the artificiality of this other universe (if that's what it is; for all I know, this could be The Matrix, and Jack and the others are all hanging in suspended animation inside a global cloud of black smoke), the only one capable of sharing knowledge between his two lives is Desmond.

Desmond is "special." Desmond knew the universe wanted Charlie dead well before the universe finally won that battle. Desmond can travel back and forth through his own lifetime, "Quantum Leap"-style. Desmond can survive the time travel sickness because he has Penny as his constant, and can alter the timeline when no one else can.

So what's Desmond's plan? How will he alter the timelines? Let's get to that, shall we?

Desmond has a plan. I have an idea

Let's go way back in LOST history. At the end of Season 2, Desmond turned a key and, boom, The Hatch blew up. Who was in The Hatch? Mr. Eko. Charlie. Desmond. Locke. Let's take them one by one, but we'll save Locke for later since we all know his story quite well.

Mr. Eko was a true believer and someone that Smokey believed he could bend to his will. Smokey could turn into his brother and break through his rock hard exterior and make him elicit emotions. Mr. Eko was a trained killer--had been doing it his whole life. The Man in Black thought he had found his loophole--until he found out that Mr. Eko was unrepentant and lacked the malleability that Man in Black was looking for--Mr. Eko couldn't be manipulated any longer and he was killed by Smokey.

Desmond and Charlie became intertwined when that hatch blew up. Charlie was Desmond's only chance to see Penny again and Desmond was Charlie's only chance to beat death. Why? Because Desmond could flahs into the future and see how Charlie would get killed*. Desmond intervened with FATE (the letters that Charlie wrote on his hand the first night on The Island) and stopped Charlie's death. His will to keep him alive was the variable in the flashes that Desmond saw. In the end, though, he decided to let Charlie. The instant that happened was the hand on the wall. NOT PENNY'S BOAT!

*Side Note: We know that The Island moves at a different time rate than the rest of the world. Could Desmond just be seeing The Island in Real Time (copyright 24 and FOX)? Could that have been part of his powers? Just a thought...

When Desmond flashed in "Flashes Before Your Eyes" he went back to the split in his love affair with Penny. He had the chance to go back and do everything again, to ask her to marry him and to make things right. But Eloise Hawking stopped him. It wasn't his destiny. Desmond wasn't doing what he was supposed to be doing. In the Island World, the Flash World, and the Sideways World, Eloise knows more than everyone else. Why? I think like Desmond she survived a blow up of the hatch and a release of that electromagnetic energy as well. In the Island World, this happened when "The Incident" occurred (though I could be very, very wrong here).

But remember what Daniel Faraday said to Jack at the end of Season 5? They (the humans) were the variables. They had the chance to change the equation. The setting off of the nuke changed a timeline. But in the Island World, the nuke is still buried under the ground. It hasn't gone off yet. That happened in another time loop. In 1977. This is 2007 and they have a chance to change this timeloop. By dropping that same nuclear bomb into the correct spot this time: The Orchid. I think Desmond's sacrifice on The Island will be to drop that nuke into the well with the wheel John Locke turned in Season 5 and blow up The Island. Blow it into the water. He needs to set off a bomb like Daniel Faraday told him to this episode.

But I don't think that's all Desmond will have to do. Simultaneously, I think he's going to have to go one-by-one to the people in the Sideways World and unplug them from the Matrix--wake them the fuck up. Show them the manifest, make them believe that they're stuck in a fake world. That they need to get out. That there's something wrong and still left to do. And I think that when we heard "they're coming" from Jacob maybe this is what he meant. Maybe they're coming back from Constantinople and everything that is "good" to finally deal with their own realities. That is, unless FLocke, Sayid and the rest of the bad guys stop them first.

Conclusion:

How long have I been out for? I just woke up and suddenly there was a recap written. I must have passed out. How odd. So I blame nothing I wrote on myself--it must have been another person who wrote it. Unless it's all right and you can come and thank me later. I think with Richard and Desmond both starring in episodes recently, we've seen our two most unique characters in two of the best episode of the show's rich history. I think we got our 10 Commandments and now it's time to go find the Holy Land.

This was an episode that shook to the core what we think about LOST. Is Charles Widmore now [gulp] a good guy? I still think he has selfish reasons to do what he'd doing, but I think he may actually be a good guy after all. Is Desmond the key to everything and not Jack? I think, in the end, they both will be, though I'm beginning to think that this may be Desmond's show from now on. Is this is for Desmond and Penny? Lord, I hope not; they're my favorite LOST couple by far. Why did Desmond follow Sayid? I think that he's in the Sideways World and can't feel feelings so he'll go with whatever suggestion he's given. And what's with Daniel Faraday/Widmore*? Could he be the one with the "crazy mother"...or maybe is he something else entirely.

*Side Note: I really, really expected that when Daniel opened up his notebook that it would go to the part where he wrote "Desmond is my constant". I wonder if he'll remember that one. Or if that's why he chased him down in the first place. And while I have you in this side note, how about all the connections this episode? George Minkowski was Desmond's driver after being his nose bleed partner a few seasons back. Penny was running stadiums this episode when Desmond approached via a car instead of vice versa. Daniel is now a pianist--which he always wanted to be. So many interesting connections between the two worlds. And in neither world, sadly, does it seem like Desmond will be happy unless he has Penny

So how will it end? How about Desmond making a choice to sacrifice himself (like Neo in The Matrix) for the good of The Island and the world by dropping that bomb into the Orchid and getting rid of the evil Man in Black for good? How about first he allows Man In Black to turn into Smokey and enter his body...only to reject him and blow him out the other side? How about all the characters flying off the island with help from Lapides and back to their worlds (though some are sure not to survive this)? And how about this all causing John Locke (I told you we'd get to him) to rise from the dead to defeat FLocke and to take his throne as leader of The Island?

Or I could be totally wrong.

Let me know what you think in the comments below. I'm sure I'll have a ton more thoughts, but this is all my brain can handle for now.