Summary: In flashbacks, Desmond runs away from a marriage with his girlfriend Ruth to join a monastery. He doesn't fit in however and is soon fired. Once he's fired, he meets Penny at the monastery and they leave together. On the island, Desmond has a vision of Charlie dying to one of Rousseau's traps and somebody arriving on the island, someone he hopes is Penny. Desmond gather Hurley, Jin and Charlie to go "camping" in hopes of seeing Penny. Shortly into their trip a helicopter crashes into the sea and somebody parachutes out into the jungle. The group head inwards to find her. Desmond almost lets Charlie die to ensure Penny does arrive but he changes his mind at the last moment. They find the person unconscious in the jungle. She isn't Penny, rather another woman who knows Desmond's name. Meanwhile, Kate tries to get back on track with Jack but he ignores her so she ends up going back to Sawyer and they have sex. However, Sawyer realizes why Kate went to him and lets her know about it.
The Good: This is a very fun episode to watch. The very first scene of the episode provides a hook as we get a glimpse into one of Desmond's visions, which sets the stage for the rest of the episode: somebody is coming to the island and Charlie has to die for it to happen exactly as Desmond saw. The plot is laid bare in these opening moments and the rest of the episode is just as thrilling and dramatic as you expect it to be. On top of being a fun watch, this also ends up being a hugely important episode. The arrival of somebody else to the island is a massive development, likely one that will shape how the rest of this season plays out. The presence of this mysterious woman is immediately intriguing and it's the kind of forward movement the plot needed. Desmond's story is very well done too. His key conflict comes from the idea of if he's going to sacrifice Charlie in order to ensure that Penny arrives on the island safely. This is a wonderful use of Desmond's abilities since knowing what is about to happen gives him an engaging moral dilemma. The moment where Charlie's death is impending is very dramatic and you do get worried for a moment that Desmond may actually let Charlie die to further his own goals. It's very interesting drama which does actually pose some more interesting questions about how this world works (see: The Unknown). The flashbacks have some good moments in them too. I like that Desmond's cowardice is shown to extend further than Penny since she isn't the first woman he has left out of fear. I thought that Desmond's speech about how he knew he was supposed to go to the monastery was extremely well done, and it sounds like just the kind of ridiculous crap that Desmond may be telling himself to deal with the fact that he's a coward. The meeting with Penny at the end was another terrific moment since these two have excellent chemistry together. Lastly, I thought that Desmond's past in the monastery was a neat explanation for why he calls everyone "brother". The Kate/Sawyer/Jack subplot was pretty well done for what it was. This love triangle storyline certainly isn't top tier television, but I am impressed at how well the show is handling the characters involved. Kate's desire to be with Jack is easy enough to understand, and we can see why she would go to Sawyer to get comfort once Jack has become too distant. Kate has always been selfish, so she is certainly not above using men for her own needs. I really appreciated that Sawyer discovered what she did and was completely fine with it. This story could have easily become unnecessarily melodramatic, but the writers showed restraint. The Bad: When you look into the logic behind this episode, things quickly fall apart. The only reason that Desmond, Hurley, Charlie and Jin go on their journey is because Desmond had his vision. Otherwise it would never have happened. This is a common problem with all time-jumping stories. There's always the risk of writing a time paradox, which allows the entire episode to fall apart when the details are scrutinized. If the writers want to delve further into the complexities of Desmond's powers they need to be more careful than this. I was also bothered by some of the editing in this episode. I thought it was really excessive how often the writers spliced parts of Desmond's visions into the episode. That was very unnecessary and I think it took away from my immersion in the episode when there are random flashes being thrown in where they don't belong. I thought the flashbacks could have been stronger. Sure there are some good scenes and the story is well written, but there isn't enough to make the story really stand out or change how we view Desmond as a character. I was bothered by Sawyer outright asking Kate to have sex randomly. They only ever did it once, and that was when Kate thought Sawyer was going to die. Furthermore, there was an intense break-up scene shortly after that, so why would Sawyer ever think that he would just be able to have sex with her whenever he wanted? It's such a strange request, especially seeing how long they had been apart prior to the previous episode. The Unknown: Who is the woman at the end of the episode? How did she know Desmond? Was she sent by Penny to find him? Is the universe recognizing that Desmond is saving Charlie's life? I wonder if the universe somehow targeted Desmond specifically with this vision to tempt him into letting Charlie die. It would be very interesting if the universe operated like that. Furthermore, it could also explain the time paradox problem if the universe was somehow breaking its own rules in response to Desmond breaking the rules by seeing the future. Best Moment: Desmond meeting Penny for the first time was a really sweet moment. Intercutting that with Desmond saving the woman from the parachute ended up being a genius choice since it combined the feelings of love and happiness with feelings of hope, turning the whole sequence into something really sweet and powerful. Character of the Episode: Desmond. Conclusion: This episode was a lot of fun to watch and Desmond got some more strong development as he remains one of the show's better characters. However, there are some flaws underneath the surface, blocking the episode from scoring too high. Score: 68
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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