LOST Episode 4.5 - In Depth Analysis

"The Constant"


Well after many delays I'm happy to say I'm up and posting again. Ok this episode was really well made. The way I see it we have four real items to discuss.



Time Division - We learned this week that the time outside the Island and the time on the Island are on the same timeline but that when coming to the Island and leaving the Island time gets all screwed up. The trip for Frank, Sayid and Desmond took about 20 minutes but according to what Sayid heard from Jack they had been gone for over a day.

The Calendar on the boat said it was the 24th of Dec 2004 and they arrived midday but if they had been gone for more than a day and left at dusk then the helicopter flew away on the 22nd of Dec 2004. So there is clearly a a very defined wall that is out of whack with regular time. It is depicted by what seemed to be a thunder storm which probably is responsible for the electrical problems the choppers have had.



The Boat and the Spy - The action on the boat was great because we found out alot of info. Ben does have someone on the boat on his side and that someone destroyed all of the communications equipment so that whoever sent that boat to the Island had no way of making sure what is going to happen to that mission.

Whoever it is though they are doing a good job of staying below the radar because while the Freighters seem to be slowly turning on each other they haven't been found yet. What I thought was interesting about meeting so many of the freighters is that Regina was not one of them. I expected her to be right on deck after that phone call from the Island about their friends. The men up top though didn't seem to know Frank was flying back either so we have a division in the crew for sure.
Minkowski was a surprise to me I was sure that after all of that build up with him on the phone he was going to be a big part of the rest of the season and maybe he still will be if the time skip keeps happening but it seems that before he died he went back into his past also because he commented that he knew how surprised Desmond was when he saw how much he had aged since 1996. It's unfortunate that he died before he could fill them in on the crews mission.



Mind Shifting - As I mentioned in my initial thoughts it seems that when these mind shifts that Desmond gets can go two ways either from the present to the past or the past to the present but not to the future yet.

The first time Desmond went back right after the hatch imploded his mind from 2004 remembered everything about the Island and he even told it to his friend Donovan. However this time his mind from 1996 came to 2004which shows that it goes both ways.

Ok now it's theory time for me. What if Penny somehow meets Daniel Farady or Desmonds firend Donovan? They both could tell her important info about the Island and "Time Travel" from what Desmond has told them. Which is probably what got her thinking about the possibility of it all being true when Desmond goes missing during the race around the world.


Either way we know that Penny seems to have put considerable time and resources into finding Desmond. We know that Penny has special info also since back in Season 2 when the Hatch imploded, her arctic science station was waiting for that electromagnetic signal to tell them where to look.

My guess is about that time Penny started sending her constant flashing light messages to that area of ocean hoping someone would answer. It was her luck that Charlie did and she finds out Desmond is alive after all those years.



Daniel and Eloise -

1996 Daniel seems to have been doing any expierements with time travel and some such and it appears he is successful with his rat Eloise. As we see she does mind shift to the future and learns to run a maze. Which convinces Desmond of the validity of things and that he's not going crazy.

Now Daniel in 1996 assumes that Desmond was sent to him to help him in the past and I believe that is the case. Somehow despite his memory problems, from what I can only assume are years of expierements with an unprotected head, he figured out that unless Desmond goes back in time and teaches 1996 Daniel about time travel that Daniel will end up stuck at some point on an Island without the info he needs to progress whatever purpose he has. Daniel Farady isn't someone I'd call dangerous but he clearly is looking out for number one as shown in his Journal, unless he helps Desmond, then Desmond dies and there is no constant for Daniel if things go wrong.



Widmore and Black Rock -
Charles Widmore has long been considered a possibility for whoever is pulling the strings. We know that Charles widmore, Penny's dad, hates Desmond and that Desmond enters Widmore's race around the world to prove himself.

We also know that he is connected to Hanso foundation, who is connected to Dharma, and now we know he has a big interest in the Hanso family and the Black Rock.
He spends a bundle of money to make sure he gets this Journal from Tovard Hanso who served aboard the Black Rock and I don't believe he wants it for it's historical value. He wants it because it holds info about where the ship disappeared. Which means to me Dharma found this journal on Island and brought it back. Widmore must know this and wants it to use it's contents to find the Island and use what Dharma failed to accomplish.

This also means that he sent the boat to the Island and it is "Not Penny's Boat". This could also be why Minkowski was told specifically not to answer that message from Penny. Her dad doesn't want her to know the Island exists especially since Desmond could be on Island. This also explains how Naomi got the picture of Des and Penny, Charles Widmore gave it to her.


Odds and Ends -

- Desmond was in the military and we know from past episodes that he ended up in military prison. It is very likely that he gets put there for going AWOL which he probably did to go see Penny. I don't think he had leave because if he did why does it seem he snuck out of camp.

- The phone call between Penny and Desmond was so very touching, I was pretty sure he was dead at the end like Minkowski but I'm glad to see he didn't and since he dodged that bullet I hope the writers leave it alone.
- Desmond eye was shown close up in this episode and it reminded me of Jacob's eye from the cabin. I'm not going to post Jacob's eye again here but take a look and tell me what you think.

Ok guys once again sorry for the delay but I hope you enjoy the blog. I'll see you all in a few days for the next one. Comment away!