3x08 Flashes Before Your Eyes

[cooker3]

I absolutely adore this episode, even on 6th viewing I still feel that same excitement as when I first watched it.

I remember when I first watched it, stright after it I went on MSN, asked a friend as he watched lost yet. He goes no I haven't so don't spoiler it for me. My reply was honestly if I tried to spoiler it I'd fail as I don't have a clue wtf happened in that episode all I know it was utterly compelling and brilliant. I logged of and watched it again.

It just has a mix of confusion(but not in a bad way) revelation, great writing, great acting and the music is sensational. This was the first time I noted the Penny/Desmond music. Only on rewatch did I realise it was first used in Live together die alone but the scene where he wakes up in the jungle after getting smacked by the cricket bat, was so perfect. The sense of disappointment Desmond felt I too shared with him. I wanted to see more of the past. I so wanted him to make it up Penny and get back together..... but the wait was worth it

Anyway. I am rambling. This is lost at its best although I agree with above, we need to learn more about Eloise.

[New Otherton]

Originally Posted by BenLinusVanPelt

Yeah i think you are very right. do you think when he got whacked by the one dude in the bar or the fall from the ladder had to do with anything? why is their two pictures of des and penny? do you think des will be back?

I think it's as simple as Penny getting a second version of the photo from the guy who took it originally.

As for des being back, I assume you mean in season six? I can answer that for you conclusively, but you might consider it a spoiler.

[Jacob'sWiseOldMother]

Just watched this episode the other day and it is another one of Jack Bender's well directed episodes. I really love the way Damon wrote it all as a great "Billy Pilgrim" time travel reference. One thing I missed was the picture in Widmore's office had a Buddha next to the polar bear.

I also found a similarity between Desmond, wishing he could change things and do it right by going back one more time when he returns right back to the island, and Daniel Faraday wanting to go back and change things on the island to save Charlotte from dying.

[sisconfla]

Originally Posted by New Otherton

I think it's as simple as Penny getting a second version of the photo from the guy who took it originally.

As for des being back, I assume you mean in season six? I can answer that for you conclusively, but you might consider it a spoiler.

OK, cool!^_^ I just wanted to make sure I didn't do anything wrong :]

Nice! I'll start saving up some scratch for this

[Nathan182]

Originally Posted by BenLinusVanPelt

Yeah i think you are very right. do you think when he got whacked by the one dude in the bar or the fall from the ladder had to do with anything?

Well it fits in with what "New Otherton" was saying, by the way I've never seen anyone explain the whole Desmond thing as well as he did, I mean, I understood it all prior to reading his posts, but I don't think I could have worded it as well as he did, kudos. Desmond's mind shifts between times, but the body in the present has to be unconscious, or the shift would be impossible, he couldn't have his mind in 2 different time periods at once. The first shift was when the implosion of the hatch knocked him unconscious in the present, so he went back to a time in the past, him falling off the ladder had knocked him out in the past, when he came to, his 2004 mind was inside that body. Then he is blown to the head by the cricket bat, his mind goes unconscious again and he shifts back into the present where he regains consciousness in that time zone.

So he was always in his 2004 mind, it would be impossible for him to forget the things he experienced, so that when he shifted back in time, he had seen it all previously because that version of his mind had already experienced it. Although I am pretty sure it doesn't always require being knocked out in the past for him to go back, but when his mind is in the past his body in the present would go into a coma, we see that when he is shifting on the freighter.

I hope that makes sense...

[New Otherton]

Originally Posted by Nathan182

Well it fits in with what "New Otherton" was saying, by the way I've never seen anyone explain the whole Desmond thing as well as he did, I mean, I understood it all prior to reading his posts, but I don't think I could have worded it as well as he did, kudos. Desmond's mind shifts between times, but the body in the present has to be unconscious, or the shift would be impossible, he couldn't have his mind in 2 different time periods at once. The first shift was when the implosion of the hatch knocked him unconscious in the present, so he went back to a time in the past, him falling off the ladder had knocked him out in the past, when he came to, his 2004 mind was inside that body. Then he is blown to the head by the cricket bat, his mind goes unconscious again and he shifts back into the present where he regains consciousness in that time zone.

So he was always in his 2004 mind, it would be impossible for him to forget the things he experienced, so that when he shifted back in time, he had seen it all previously because that version of his mind had already experienced it. Although I am pretty sure it doesn't always require being knocked out in the past for him to go back, but when his mind is in the past his body in the present would go into a coma, we see that when he is shifting on the freighter.

I hope that makes sense...

Thanks for the kudos, mate.

You've got it nailed here as well. Incidentally, I think this is what also happened with desmonds encounter with Faraday at the hatch door in season five. His 2007 consciousness was "there" during the encounter, leaving the earlier mind completely unaware of the encounter. This helps explain that encounter within the given confines of "Whatever happened, happened".

[Richard Was Here]

Okay.

This one is BY FAR my favorite episode of season 3....and one of my favorites in the entire series. Desmond seems to have all the best centric episodes, doesn't he? Between this one, The Constant (which is probably my favorite episode in the entire show), and Live Together, Die Alone, it's a frakkin' trifecta of epic WIN!

I don't even know where to start, there are so many great things about this episode. I'm not normally much of a 'shipper' when it comes to TV shows...but it's hard to resist Desmond and Penny's story. So utterly touching.

We also get our first Eloise Hawking sighting, which is cool - especially the way it happens, in that shop. Although Eloise really shouldn't have made such a big deal over Des purchasing the ring. I mean, if the universe course-corrects, what does it matter if he makes to 'wrong' choice here? Still, I loved that scene...and it was worth that tiny nit, just to see this conversation.

The scene with Des and Whitmore? All kinds of awesome! I mean, you disliked him before from LTDA...but when he leads Desmond on and then pours that scotch only for himself...you get the full picture of what a bastard he could really be. That was the moment I came to truly HATE this guy.

And of course, the scene where Des & Penny take THE photo and Des breaks up with Penny....oh, it was heartbreaking! And so well acted.

And finally, that last scene with Charlie, where Des tells him he's been trying to save HIM, and not Claire. That was chilling. What a way to end an episode!

Not a bad moment on this episode, IMO.

[CameraOne]

This is a great episode. I remember the first time I watched it, I was very wary since I hated the fact that someone could see the future on this show which was based in reality at the time. I also was very tense about whether or not Charlie was really going to die. Watching it now, since I'm used to the idea of Charlie being killed off and the sci-fi aspects of the show, I was able to more enjoy the story. Great flashbacks in this one as always with Desmond... it's almost as good as "The Constant".

Originally in 1995, I imagine that Desmond would have walked right by Charlie. He time travelled by with a different mindset and memories, so he changed certain things.

Perhaps Eloise was doing background research on Desmond, since his name is in Daniel's journal. Maybe the scaffolding incident was in the newspaper. Maybe she got a job at the ring shop just to keep an eye on Desmond, though I can't see how she would know he would go there for a ring.

[Passenger49]

I think this episode is absolutely a foreshadow of what we're going to see in the first half of Season 6, and it actually spells some relief for those of us who don't want to see a reset, or even a completely separate alternative timeline.

I'm beginning to think that the incident causes the Losties to consciousness travel into an alternate universe, and, like in The Constant, they back-and-forth between that alternative universe and the present one. Just postulating.

[sdorian]

It dawns on me that Claire's fated to die too, not just Charlie. Claire could've been hit by lightning. Claire could've drowned. Des jumped in because Charlie would've, but who'd save Claire? but was Charlie fated to die earlier, when he was hung? or maybe Des is meant to save Charlie...???

poor Des. He should have just said screw Widmore and marry Penny. Do you think she'd care if her father approved? It reminds me of the Locke-Helen flashback where they need fatherly acceptance perhaps more than the love offered in front of them. And it hits on a nerve Des probably already has, of not being good enough. or a coward. Does Widmore say this because he means it or because he somehow knows, somehow means to push Des to the island?

I read a Kafka story once about a man and his father. The father kept insulting him, putting him down, telling him he's cowardly and not good enough. The son eventually can't take his father's disapproval, admits how lowly he is, and commits suicide. (it's Kafka) But then the father is heartbroken. There's a hint that the father (like some twisted "Boy Named Sue" thing) berated the son to get the son to be able to stand up for himself against the abuse. And that if the son had not believed he was lowly and stood up to his father, then he would have earned his father's respect. I thought of that when I saw the scene with Des and Widmore. If Des had not believed Widmore, if Des had said he was worthy...punched Widmore in the face...or some civilized diplomatic equivalent thereof, if that (not the military or the boat race) would earn him Widmore's respect?

Is Charlie's middle name Hieronymous? Like Hieronymous Bosch. gotta be a joke. and now, wouldn't Charlie remember Des from his past?

paradoxes: in Des's original past, he wasn't time traveling, so he wouldn't go to his buddy to discuss it in a bar. So his past has changed now, resulting in different outcomes. he wouldn't have made that scene with Charlie...

"I say we celebrate that fate has spared you the miserable existence under the employ of Widmore industries."

As Des's buddy hints, maybe the island is everyone's subconscious wish-fulfillment: Des saves the world, Locke becomes a hunter, Jack's in charge, Charlie takes care of Claire and Aaron etc.

So that's where I knew Eloise Hawking from! god she's creepy. what's with the "we're all dead" bit? and hell, Des leaving Penny was the biggest mistake in his life and now he's got the chance no one ever gets, to relive his past and change it. Des should stick with Penny and not care about being "good enough"...Inman can keep pushing the button. Does this also mean Eloise time travels? Also, has Des relived all of this? past the present the characters are in now and he's still reliving the past? at some point will he stop seeing the future? or it stopped for sure with the Constant?