Wednesday, April 7, 2010

LOST: Happily Ever After

LOVE! And that's not just how I feel about the episode! It's what the whole show is about, which for those of us who read Watch With Kristin (hi, Katie) is probably not a surprise. The episode's title probably has more to do with Desmond and Penny than any other character as their love story has been decidely less tragic than any other (save Rose and Bernard, at least on the island) but I hope we get a few more "Happily Ever Afters" before the show is through. I'm not counting on it, but a girl can dream, right?

I was going to avoid the full recap again this week, but honestly I loved the love so I want to relive it in my blog. Apologies! And since it is a relatively linear episode, for LOST anyway, I'll just go straight through.

Poor Desmond is still recovering from the gunshot wounds he received in the real world when Ben went to go kill Penny as revenge for Widmore's mercenaries killing Alex. (Memories.....) Widmore moved Des from the hospital and put him in a 3 day sleep for the submarine ride. When Widmore tells Des he is on the island again, well, Des is none too happy and shows it by beating Widmore over the head with his IV. Widmore takes it in stride and off we go to perform some sort of test that Des is needed for. Who else is worried? And if you weren't already, I'm sure all the craziness outside the Hydra station like that big cage probably brought the worry. And if THAT didn't do it, well then when the "red shirt" went into the cage with the impossibly large coils and then the idiot in the warehouse flicked the switch to turn it on and "red shirt," well, he died, I'm pretty sure that had everyone worried for poor Des. But, the episode is titled "Happily Ever After," and my idea of a Happy Ending does not include poor Des getting burned to bits by a huge Electromagnetic Pulse, so holding out hope! Jin, who just seems to be hanging around here without purpose because if he wasn't we would question where the heck he went off to, tells Widmore he is certainly not OK with sacrificing Des. But Widmore does not think he will be sacrificed since Des is the only one to have survived an electromagnetic pulse of that size (the hatch incident). In Des goes, Widmore flicks the switch because the other guy is a wuss and won't do it, and then.....

Des at LAX! Hurley points him in the direction of the baggage carousel for Oceanic Flight 815. There he helps poor pregnant Claire get her baggage and offers her a ride. She refuses, but we all know she may have been better off! Before they part Des tells her he thinks it's a boy.  Good guess! Des finds his driver... George Mikowski aka the guy who was jumping thru time and died in the episode The Constant aka Academy Award Winner Fisher Stevens!! George is a full service driver, offering Des everything from a drink to a hooker. Nice. But instead, Des decides to just go to the office.... Widmore's office... where they appear to be BFFs. Side note, because it is always important - the decorations in Widmore's office in this reality include a model sailboat (which Des takes interest in) and paintings of a scale. As in good vs evil. Black vs White. You get me. While in LA Widmore has a special assignment for Des - to take care of that silly Driveshaft band member who went and got himself arrested, Charlie Pace. You see Widmore's son wants to play with Driveshaft at some big soiree. And who wouldn't - Come On Everybody is a catchy tune! So, once again Des is charged with taking care of Charlie and making sure he doesn't die. Not an easy task here either, since Charlie walks directly into traffic upon exiting the police station and heading to a bar.
At the bar Charlie and Des have a discussion on happiness and love. Charlie says Des knows nothing about it, and neither did Charlie until he had an experience on the plane. He recounts the lovely "swallowing heroine" story but we find out why Charlie was so mad at Jack for saving him - when he was out he had a vision of a "rapturously beautiful blonde" that he was in love with, as if forever. Swoon. Des thinks he is nutballs, and off they go. But Charlie, the clever bugger that he is, is not going to let it go and to show Des what he is talking about, grabs hold of the wheel and drives the car into the water. While under, Des gets out, and goes to the side of the car to help get Charlie out. This is where my hair stood on end. Charlie put his hand on the window and Des started flashing to Not Pennys Boat being written on his hand the first time we saw Charlie drown. Chills! I think that is one of the most powerful moments ever on the show, and the use and surprise of it right in that moment was fantastic. By the way, when they went into the water, the very first thought I had was "Oh, maybe this is how he meets Penny, because she is a doctor." About 2 seconds later I realized I was thinking of Dr. Olivia Benford, Sonya Walger's character on FlashForward. Sigh....
At the hospital, Des is very anxious to find Charlie and figure out what the hell he just saw meant, but first his doctor orders an MRI. I thought this might send him back to the island since it is a mini-version of the coil lined cage he is in there. But even better - it made him flash on his entire "other reality" life with Penny. He fell in love with her all over again on the MRI table. (Awwww....) He freaked and went in search of Charlie again, but this time without taking no for an answer. Loved when he saw Jack and asked him for help and Jack was all shocked that someone else from 815 was in the hospital! Catch up, Sideways Jack! Des finds Charlie, which isn't difficult because he is on the run in the hospital, and when he catches up to him has asks Charlie who Penny is. Of course, Charlie has no idea, but says he should probably go find her. Meanwhile, Widmore is none too happy that Des lost Charlie and tells Des it is his responsibility to go tell Mrs. Widmore that their son will not get what he wanted. George tells Des to prepare because Mrs. Widmore is scary. Of course, she is, she is Finnoula Flanagan! Woot! Eloise Hawking Widmore seems caught off guard when she meets Des, though he doesn't notice, because she maintains her cool. She take the no Driveshaft news in relative stride, but when Des seems interested when he overhears the name Penny on the guest list she loses it. She tells him to stop looking for what he is searching for because he already got what he wanted - Widmore's approval. And he is not ready yet for the rest. Obviously Eloise is aware this is not the only reality in play. But the guy with the bad hair at the piano is very interested in the conversation, and comes to help Des when he goes to leave.
Daniel Faraday Widmore, as always, here to help talk us through it! Daniel had an experience like Charlie and Des - he saw Charlotte (eating chocolate!!) at the museum and had a similar flash of "love at first sight." The next morning he drew some fun formulas he didn't understand, because in this reality he isn't a scientist. But he found one. He realizes that this life may not be their first one, and that they were in another reality and decided they needed to start over for some reason. However, love does not care what reality you are in - it conquers all, even the bending of space and time. Let me take a minute to adore this concept. A lot of people have, over the past nearly 6 season, criticized Team Darlton for spending too much time on the relationships. Jack/Kate/Sawyer/Juliet, etc. "Who cares? Get to the mythology!" But THAT IS the mythology. Or at least a big part. All of this black vs white, Jacob vs MIB, good vs evil, it doesn't stop love. And more likely, love plays a part in it. So each person has their constant. No matter what reality we are in, it is safe to assume Desmond will find Penny, Sawyer will find Juliet, Charlie will find Claire. And maybe that finally explains that long and unexplained look between Jack and Kate as she was taking Claire's taxi. They were finding their constant - they just didn't know it. What can't be assumed is that love will lead to "Happily Ever After" because we know it surely hasn't on the island.  Ok... love fest over. Daniel tells Des where to find Penny. OK... love fest back on. And so are the water works.
I LOVE that he meets her in the stadium. I swooned aloud, probably to the dismay of my husband. I can't think of a better place. I literally tear up now thinking about it. Because i am lame. They meet, and have an instant visible connection, they shake hands and then....
Back to the island! Dammit! Widmore tells him he was only unconscious for a few seconds. But Des seems very aware of all that we just saw, and is ready to help Widmore with his plan. He goes through the jungle with Zoe and two nameless (and therefore about to be killed) henchmen. Sayid kills the two nameless guys (told ya). He lets Zoe go, and and Des agrees to go with Sayid willingly. Almost too willingly. Did Widmore prepare him for this?
And then suddenly we are back to the other reality in the stadium. Penny tells Des he fainted when they shook hands (awkward!) but still agrees to meet him for coffee in an hour. Because he is her one true love, dammit! In the car, Des asks George for the flight manifest of Oceanic 815 because he "needs to show them something." It appears Des is off to bring love to all the Losties. Or at least Charlie and Claire. I say again, swoon.

A few quotes:
(Not so many this week with no Miles or Frank to bring the funny. And only 4 seconds of Hurley)

Widmore (to Desmond): The island isn't done with you yet.


Charlie: Are you happy?
Desmond: Quite.
Charlie: No you're not.


Charlie: You felt it, didn't ya?
Desmond: I didn't feel anything.
Charlie: Then why are you accosting a man in a dressing gown?


Daniel: I woke up and wrote this. (Equation)
Desmond: So what is it?
Daniel: (a pause) I'm a musician, I have no idea.


Daniel: What if this all this wasn't supposed to be our life? What if we had some other life, and for some reason we changed things?


Sooooo..... what did you all think? Did you love it as much as me? If not, why so bitter? HAHA. Just kidding. But seriously, what did you think? I know there is confusion, because when there is time travel, electromagnetic pulses and quantum physics, there is bound to be a bit of "huh?" after the episode. But it was fantastic! Top 4 or 5 for me. Can I combine it with The Constant to make just one big "I love Desmond and Penny" extreme episode?

Scared for next week... Hurley usually means the sad is coming. But with some funny quotes, I'm sure.

Comment me, Losties!

2 comments:

Annette said...

Did you notice the chair in the electromagnetic room? It looked a lot like Jacob's chair in the cabin. Coincidence? Clue? Standard Props Dept. Chair? Hmmm...

I LOVED LOVED LOVED this episode, and knew I would. Because Desmond's episodes are always the best and have the most relevant stuff to the overall explanation of the show.

Unknown said...

LOVED LOVED LOVED the episode. I agree,we should just combine it with "The Constant" for the Des-Penny love fest! I was worried a little at the end, cause Des did seem to go with Sayid tooo willingly. However, Des did see him when Sayid was floating in the water spying, so its possible that Widmore knows this (cause Des told him) and is telling Des he needs to go....
Someone on Ausiello stated that if Sawyer and Kate were meant to be, they would have experienced some kind of flash about each other, so I hope that Sawyer and Juliet get together in Sideways land too!
and the whole show is about LOVE!!! Sooooooo goooood!!!!!