There are no Concrete Answers in Lost, only Constants. Episode Reaction for 4×05 “The Constant”

The fifth episode of the fourth season of Lost aired yesterday night. It was called The Constant and it was a Desmond-centric episode. What do we have to discuss? Definite time travel! A romance that not only rivals Kate’s love triangle, but completely triumphs over it! Eloise the rat! Amazing flashback hair!

Last night on Lost no new member of the Oceanic Six was revealed. You might think that would be disappointing. But I think that fans are anything but disappointed. They’re too busy picking remnants of their brains off the wall.

Okay, is that a gross visual? Probably. But minds were blown and there is no way to deny that. Last night was one of the best episodes that has ever aired. And it’s not because it told us what was going on, because it was way too confusing for anyone to say with any certainty (who isn’t affiliated with the show) that they know what is going on. It’s because we see all of this potential (that excites us and gives us faith in the show going somewhere good) that the writer’s are going to play with - it’s because we have no idea what is going on, but we care.

If you are confused - don’t feel badly. I think all viewers are confused in some way. Another level of the ‘onion’ that is the mystery of the show was peeled back. It confirmed some theories, but that confirmation only branches out to several more theories.

Lost in no way caters to inattentive viewers or talks down to the audience. The show is written in a respectful way. This has always made the show fun. They don’t point everything out, but there are things you can find. Remember how exciting it was when you realized that Walt was reading a comic book with a polar bear? It’s fun to be a part of investigating things rather than just watching with your hands in your pockets. Not that anyone sits on a couch with hands in their pockets…but, you know what I mean?

I am going to recap the main parts of the episode, now. And I’m trying to make it as uncomplicated as possible, but be warned that there are no concretes…only constants. (OMG punning is fun.)

I have been growing a bit more fond of Juliet despite my vow to never like her. Which I never really vowed…eh. Anyway. In the episode, Juliet pointed out that Charlotte was not worried about Sayid and everyone arriving on the ship. Luckily, Daniel is a softie, and the very last person you want to have a secret. He spilled that there was something they hadn’t told anyone - which was that perception was an issue. That’s the word he used, perception. And he said there might be side effects if Frank hadn’t taken the exact course he was supposed to take.

We then saw that something on the helicopter was happening to Desmond. He didn’t know where he was, he didn’t recognize Sayid. But he knew who he, himself, was. It was him, but not him. Crazy!

When the helicopter landed on the boat the crew seemed annoyed that any of the survivors of Oceanic 815 were there. Desmond was brought down to a sick bay. There was someone down there, strapped to a bed. That’s never a good sign, that usually means that you’re going to end up strapped to a bed next to that person in the near future.

What was revealed was that Desmond was not having amnesia, which would be the most obvious conclusion. And we can’t have that! When Desmond drifted out of the reality we knew, he was in the army. Desmond was in the year 1996. And the reality of the Losties for the island is 2004 (the year the show started). I think this is important phrasing because it’s quite possible that time is moving in such wacky ways that in the flash forwards we see, it’s 2007. Which would mean that part of the secret the Oceanic Six is keeping is the wacky island time. The positive point is that maybe their skin will look better since they haven’t aged naturally. Or something. (I refuse to mention the Fountain of Youth. Pst, Fountain of Youth???)

Desmond was allowed to talk to Daniel (in 2004) and Daniel was very concerned but also excited. He told him to find ‘him’ in 1996, at Oxford. …Whoa. DOUBLES? WHAT?

( I’m posting the above music video for Lost because I think the lyrics of this Dishwalla song are perfect.) 

Daniel told Desmond to tell him certain numbers and said that if he (Daniel) still didn’t believe Desmond, to tell him that he ‘knew about Eloise.’ That’s a common device used whenever you want to convince someone you’re you. Do you ever try to plan your ‘question’ in advance? Something that only you know? Mine involves lobsters. Just kidding. Like I would tell you my secret code?! (Anyway, pretty much everyone who knows me knows that I want to free lobsters.)

Okay. Eloise is a white rat. And what happens is that she runs a maze that she hadn’t been taught yet, but would in an hour. Daniel had let her travel forward an hour to learn it. Things were looking up for Eloise until she died. Sad for her. What this tells us is that time traveling can kill. Not the best advertisement.

Back in 2004, Desmond talks to the guy who was strapped to a bed. He knew Desmond, only by name. He was the communications officer and said that he often got calls from a Penelope (Penny) who was asking for Desmond. And he was instructed to never answer the calls.

What unravels here is that Desmond is instructed to find something that he’ll have a connection with in 1996 and in 2004. Desmond thinks of a who - and that who is Penny. She is his constant. Suddenly, Penny is all shades of important!

Desmond in ‘96 finds Penny but she’s angry with him. He pleads with her to give him her phone number and to never change it. He tells her that he won’t call her for eight years. Just what a girl wants to hear!

She tells him a number, visibly upset. But was it the right number? It all depends on if she believed him, if she still cared at all - which would be difficult since he’d just told her he wouldn’t marry her. Bruised ego!

The door to the ’sick bay’ was opened. It was remarked that that they must have a friend on the boat. It’s possible that it’s Michael. Could Michael be the ‘man on Ben’s boat’? Why is he hiding, then? Is he truly working for Ben, or is he playing Ben? I want to believe that once he got Walt safe, he felt guilty and somehow faked it so he had a new identity and found a way to be on this crew so he could help save the others. I mean - not the other’s but his friends. The friends he betrayed. Are they still mad, you think? Michael’s redemption is here!

The most poignant scene occurred where Desmond called Penny, in ‘04 and it rang and rang and she finally answered. Tears, love, mention of Charlie - all was painfully sad and good. When she mentioned Charlie she said that’s how she knew Desmond was still alive. It’s possible she meant when she talked to Charlie in The Looking Glass.

But, considering time travel is all sorts of possible - is it at all possible that Penny talked with Charlie at an other point in time?!? I like that idea. I like the idea of crushing a character and thinking they’re gone but bringing them back around in another way. Joss Whedon did that with…well, I won’t spoil you.

So, people have to have a ‘constant’ to not go crazy. Since Kate has Aaron we have to believe that Claire somehow doesn’t have a constant. Her mother is dead, she doesn’t know her father. People think that Jack and Claire are brother and sister. Claire could use her dad, Jack’s dad, as her constant - except 1) she never knew him 2) he’s dead.

Bearded flash forward Jack mentioned his Dad was alive. People thought he was just drunk and rambling. What if they fixed it so Jack’s Dad was alive again? But that still didn’t help Claire? So she’s dead, or maybe she couldn’t leave the island if she wanted to stay alive. Either way, suckage!

Unless she time traveled back on the island to the 90’s to be with Charlie. Hehe.

Jack wouldn’t look at Aaron, so Claire must be a sore spot for Jack. But why? Claire never did anything to Jack to warrant that. (Yet?)

Also, maybe Claire was sabotaged. The psychic told her things in season one, then took them back very quickly. He told her to go on that plane. But he’d also first told her to never let anyone else raise Aaron, before telling her to give him away. Was someone blackmailing him? Did someone arrange it so Claire would have to be away from Aaron? How deep does this conspiracy GO? Is Disney in on it?! DON’T TRUST ANYONE.

There are a lot of theories that people are bringing up, based on actual data. I don’t think the answer will be in any of those, though. Simply because I don’t think that this show or the networks would allow any of these ideas to be endorsed as being right (even fictionally). I think it will be something that J.J. Abrams has made up on his own.

Was this island used by the Hanso Foundation because they knew that time moved more slowly there? Are they really just trying to save extinct animals? (Hehe.) And with that, is that why women cannot get pregnant and then come to term on the island? Because of the time differences?

Beardy!Jack told Kate (yelled, actually) that they had to go back. And he’d been trying. We always assumed he meant he wanted to go back to the island. But what if he meant back in time to fix something? He said he was flying, hoping to crash - is he trying to get back to the island because the island lets you time travel?

A bigger picture is forming here, which has been building since season one - are the people in the background of our lives really as inconsequential as they seem? 

We’ve spent three years trying to figure out the future of this show. Now that we know the future, we want to know the past. This is awesome. 

Until later,

Jessica Rae

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