Episode 8 - Flashes Before Your Eyes
3 January 2009
Review
Present: Desmond runs into the sea to save Claire from drowning. Charlie and Hurley get Desmond drunk in order to find out how he seems to know the future. Desmond admits that when he turned the fail safe key his life flashed before his eyes. And now he is still seeing those flashes and they are of Charlie dying.
Flashback: Desmond wakes up in his flat with Penny looking after him. He goes to see her father and asks for his permission to marry Penny. Mr Widmore says he isn’t worthy. Desmond meets Charlie on the street. He consults his friend about time travel. He tries to buy a ring for Penny but the shop lady tells him that he isn’t meant to marry Penny, he is meant to go to the island and push the button. She tells him that the universe will course correct and he will end up doing what he is supposed to. Desmond ends up not proposing to Penny and breaking up with her.
The Good: The producers of Lost deserve huge credit once again for mixing up the format of the show and not sticking with standard flashbacks. It immediately marks the episode out as special and while watching you realise something really interesting is developing.
The intrigue of whether Desmond is dreaming or if he really has time travelled powers this episode throughout. The scene where he confronts a busking Charlie and tries to remember where he knows him is pretty intense. Unlike many a time travel story, we the audience don’t actually know what to think. So instead of waiting around for Desmond to realise the obvious, we too are hoping he will find answers for us. As a plot device I think it works well to bond us to Desmond and invest more in his story.
It helps that he and Penny do such a convincing job of looking like a couple. Desmond is excellent in his relieved-to-see-her mould but she is just as good being supportive and loving. They seem very natural together and manage to communicate his inferiority complex about her wealth and background with ease. The details of their relationship are far from the focus of the story, so there is a great deal of skill involved in effectively establishing that fact as the main time travel story goes on.
The time travel concept is of course one of our culture’s most popular stories. The producers seem to portray Desmond’s story in a confusing enough way to avoid obvious holes appearing in the story. It’s still not clear if Desmond really travelled back in time or if he dreamt these events and felt like he experienced them. It’s intriguing either way (though see The Bad and The Unknown).
Hurley is a good fit to be the one who believes Desmond can see the future. Thanks to his exposure to the numbers and their “curse”, why wouldn’t he believe Desmond could see the future? Charlie’s decision to get Desmond drunk is also nicely practical. It’s good to see characters asking each other obvious questions for once. The result is that Charlie is now fated to die. That at least provides a focus and direction for his story and presumably those around him.
The Bad: The conversation Desmond has with the woman from the ring shop is definitely interesting. Without knowing more about her I don’t want to be too critical. But there is something ridiculous about her knowing so much about Desmond and how time works. My main issue with her at this stage is the similarity with the scenes in the Matrix Reloaded where Neo talks to an old woman on a bench. I don’t usually mention allusions but when they are so clear, it is worth pointing out the derivation.
Certainly if we don’t get an adequate explanation for what really happened to Desmond, then I will consider this episode a negative. If Desmond was dreaming then why did God, fate, the island or whatever step in to teach him a lesson about course correcting? But if he really time travelled, then how is that possible? How can he have returned to a previous time when clearly his body stayed on the island?
Charlie calling Desmond a coward seems out of context. It is clearly written to remind Desmond of Penny and Mr Widmore’s words but it doesn’t follow on from his behaviour that Charlie would say that.
One has to be forgiving, up to a point, of Lost’s production department. They have to turn locations in Hawaii into many other places on the planet and so the odd mistake in their London setting is understandable. However people hitting each other with cricket bats and roasted chestnuts are clichés too far. It’s disappointing to see considering the actors playing Desmond, Charlie, Penny and Mr Widmore have all lived in the UK long enough to know better.
The Unknown: Did Desmond really travel in time? And how? Should Charlie remember a crazy Desmond accosting him now? Who is the woman from the ring shop? Is she a manifestation of God, fate, the island or something else?
There are many little clues, adverts and allusions throughout this episode for dedicated fans to enjoy. The only one I feel it’s worth pointing out is the painting in Widmore’s office. It has the word Namaste written backwards and has polar bears on it. Is there a connection there?
Best Moment: Desmond meeting Charlie in London. It’s the first time that Desmond begins to realise what is going on and as an audience we begin to get answers too. Desmond’s intensity is good and we end up willing him on to find out the truth.
The Bottom Line: Lost is definitely back to its perspective changing ways. There is so much to like about this episode: that the hatch implosion is addressed again, that we see a different kind of flashback, that Desmond’s “powers” are explained and that we get an enjoyable and dramatic story. However there are so many questions about how this story is possible that it leaves you wondering whether the producers have an adequate explanation. Whether they do or not may go a long way toward how Lost is remembered as a show.
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