Episode 17 - Catch-22
2 January 2009
Review
Present: Desmond has a flash of Charlie dying and someone coming to the island with his photo of Penny. He recruits Hurley, Jin and Charlie to come camping with him. Once out there a helicopter crashes into the ocean and a beacon flashes above the jungle. Desmond prevents Charlie from dying but is scared he has changed the future. When they find the woman who bailed out, it isn’t Penny but she recognises Desmond. Meanwhile Kate is upset to see Jack spending time with Juliet and so she seeks comfort from Sawyer.
Flashback: Desmond leaves his fiancée a week before the wedding and joins a monastery. After being initiated he goes to apologise to her and she calls him a coward. He is sacked from the monastery but meets Penny as he leaves.
The Good: Someone landing on the island from a helicopter is quite a big plot development. It’s intriguingly overshadowed by Desmond’s story throughout, so it is difficult to tell quite how big a deal the mystery woman is going to be. Either way it is an enticing cliff-hanger to end the episode with.
Desmond and Kate get some interesting character depth here. We learn that Penny isn’t the first girl who Desmond has run away from. It’s a good revelation to show that Desmond’s alleged cowardice goes deeper than just the last couple of years. Similarly Kate treats Sawyer pretty poorly, refusing to be honest with him about her feelings and using him when she is confused and upset. Through Kate’s flashbacks we have seen a selfish streak in all Kate’s behaviour. She killed her father (209) more for her benefit than her mother’s and she too ran out on her husband (306) because things had become too real for her. Here again she is selfish and sleeps with Sawyer because she fears she is losing Jack. It’s consistent writing and gives you confidence that the writers understand these characters and their motivations.
Desmond is in the process of redeeming himself and his desperation to be with Penny makes him easy to like. His flashback adds some interesting layers to his story, including the origin of his use of “brother” and more consistency in his retreat into drinking when things get tough. It’s also interesting that Desmond has a religious background. Like Eko and Locke he is being forced to rely on faith that he is doing the right thing and like them religion is playing an understandable role in his understanding of life on the island.
The direction of the episode is strong towards the end when we get a blended flashback similar to how flashbacks were used in certain season one episodes. We jump back and forth from Desmond cutting down the parachutist to his first flirtation with Penny. It’s an effective and emotive way to make us understand his state of mind and build anticipation for the final reveal.
The Bad: Desmond’s story though is a pre-destination paradox and the writers need to be careful how much they explore this concept. In other words Desmond wouldn’t have gone on the camping trip unless he had the flash. So far the flashes have been of events involving other people which would have happened whether or not Desmond had a flash about them. Where as here the “destination” can only be reached because the flash came before or “pre” the event. Hence a pre-destination paradox where Desmond would never have gone on the trek unless the flash “told him what to do.”
This leaves the writers open to accusations that they used the flashes as a plot device to engineer something without thinking it through thoroughly. If Hurley had suggested a camping trip for some other reason the story could have played out more naturally. However the writers are in a position to argue that the island or some other force is interfering with Desmond’s flashes to guide him.
The main problem with Desmond’s flashes is that he sees Charlie dying and then sees him helping to catch the new arrival in her parachute. If Charlie died in his flash, then he wouldn’t have been alive to catch the parachutist in the next flash. That seems like a strange contradiction and the answer is more likely a production error than some clever science fiction explanation for Desmond’s flashes. Writers be warned.
Sawyer asking Kate for an afternoon shag seems a bit strange. Their “break-up” was pretty emotional (309) and she only returned to camp in the previous episode. It seems odd that he would in any way believe she might have sex with him. It’s not like it happened at any other time than when they were under extreme stress (306).
The Unknown: Obviously who is the helicopter woman, where has she come from and how does she know Desmond? Is she part of a rescue party sent by Penny (see the very end of 224). Much more bizarrely in Brother Campbell’s office there is a picture of him with Miss Hawking – the name given to the woman who explained the nature of time to Desmond when his life flashed before his eyes (308). It seemed as if she was a personification of God, the island or something and so this connection raises all sorts of strange possibilities.
Best Moment: The final scenes where Desmond’s flashbacks are interspersed with the present. We get a very strong sense of Desmond’s desperation and hope that he has found Penny.
The Bottom Line: A largely pleasing and enjoyable episode, furthering the overall story as well as fleshing Desmond out further. But the writers should be careful straying too far down a time paradox route, lest it becomes unnecessarily complicated.
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