Episode 11 - Happily Ever After
11 April 2010
Review
Present: Desmond wakes up and is furious to discover he is back on the island. Widmore straps him into a room and sets off a large electromagnetic charge. When Desmond wakes up, unharmed, he says he is ready to help Widmore in anyway he can. Sayid then kills the men guarding him and insists Desmond come with him.
Flashback: Desmond is a successful businessman in the employ of Charles Widmore who is deeply proud of him. Widmore asks him to babysit Charlie who has been hired to play music with Widmore's son at a charity event. Charlie claims he had a near death experience on Flight 815 where he felt the love of a woman he has never met. He crashes Desmond's car into the sea in an attempt to recapture that feeling. While rescuing him Desmond has a similar experience and once in an MRI machine at the hospital it happens again. Charlie escapes and Desmond has to go explain to Mrs Widmore why there will be no concert. Eloise Widmore is surprised to see Desmond and discourages him from looking into the name Penny. Her son Daniel Widmore then comes to explain to Desmond his theory that this isn't their life. Desmond meets Daniel's half-sister Penny and is convinced. He asks his driver George Minkowski to get him the names of his fellow passengers on Flight 815. He has something to show them.
The Good: Though I'm still hazy on the details, this episode does give us a new direction for the story in both timelines. He now knows about the flash sideways and is on a mission to do "something" about it.
Desmond being the man to cross boundaries of time and space is a role he had played for a long time and so he convinces in that part. He doesn't feel like a deus ex machina explanation to pull both times together, he feels like the right man for the job. They certainly give a scientificish explanation, by stating that his survival of the hatch implosion proves his unique resistance to electromagnetic forces. Once he is exposed to an MRI machine in the flash sideways he is again affected and begins to remember who he was. His grinning sense of self confidence at the end of the episode gives the viewer a sense of hope that he can be a hero and start pulling everyone together.
His flash sideways story (if I can call it that) was certainly fun to watch. It was more instantly compelling than any of the recent episodes because there was a sense that his actions would have immediate consequences. Once he got involved with the Widmore family tree I imagine most fans were doing mental arithmetic trying to work out who he was about to encounter. Seeing Widmore give him that glass of McCutcheon's, seeing George Minkowski not bleeding from the nose, seeing Penny running around that stadium and of course just having Daniel Farraday back were all pleasing touches. Desmond and Penny still have "it" as a couple. They just seem so genuinely into one another that they manage to carry the star crossed lovers' storyline where otherwise it might fail.
Putting him back together with Charlie was of course interesting to see though there was no time to take a breath and take in the emotion of that reunion (for viewers). Charlie's near death experience and attempt to recreate it were intriguing. Charlie's intransigence immediately questioned the idea that this universe was a happy ending for everyone. That was of course given a double underline once Eloise flashed recognition upon seeing Desmond.
On the island I liked Desmond smashing Widmore over the head; that seemed an entirely appropriate response to his kidnapping. His smiling acceptance of Sayid's assistance was also pretty intriguing. It seems to guarantee he will begin interacting with the other survivors and MIB which should be fascinating to see. We now know why Charlie told Jack that he should have let him die on the plane (601). It was also a nice moment to see Charles being so deeply ungrateful. Desmond had just been in a near fatal car crash and yet Charles began bitching about not getting what he wanted. That seemed consistent with all the "bad guys" being "bad" in the flash sideways. Some people just continue to make lousy choices.
The Bad: Overall I left this episode feeling slightly frustrated. It may be my own limitations coming through but I felt like I should be rooting for Desmond but wasn't sure how I could. Was he about to convince everyone in the flash sideways that they were in the wrong place? If so what was he going to say to the people on the island? Shouldn't he have asked Charles and Eloise (in separate worlds) more questions? I just wasn't sure if I was meant to have seen an answer in his behaviour that I didn't. For more on these questions see "The Unknown." But purely in terms of this episode I wasn't left feeling emotionally satisfied. I know the answers will come but in the moment I was left unsure if Desmond knew what he was doing and that was confusing.
The big logic leap came from Daniel Widmore though. He saw a woman (Charlotte) and felt strongly as if he was already in love with her. He woke up in the night and wrote down a bit of quantum mechanics and found out that it meant something along the lines of nuclear explosion will contain a catastrophic release of energy. From those that evidence he concludes that in another universe he set off a nuclear bomb which created this life. That's one hell of a logic jump. One that didn't even add much to the plot. Did that explanation really convince Desmond that his memories of Penny were more real? It was a very weak moment from writers who usually do a lot better.
Speaking of which the opening scenes had a similar problem. Charles Widmore decides on a whim that he must put forward his dangerous experiment which could kill Desmond, the man he is banking on saving the world. First off let's just address that. If you really thought Desmond was your only chance of stopping evil incarnate (or whatever) from destroying the world why would you take any chances with his life? You wouldn't, it was storytelling expediency that made Widmore look like a moron. Then his incompetent team fried one of their colleagues. Fried him alive and carried his corpse out. I wasn't pleased with the amateurish mistake but it's sadly plausible. What is less plausible is that no one then refused to put Desmond in the box. Or wept for their fallen co-worker or generally did anything to acknowledge the horrible death which had just happened. You would think the guy who pulled the switch would have been beside himself. But no, they all shrugged it off and shoved Desmond inside for another go around. The writers really were lax on the details here. I appreciate that they were trying to show the dangers Desmond was in (as the bloody noses once did so effectively) but it made the characters look ridiculous.
The Unknown: So much. How does Eloise know what is going on again? She implies that in someway this world was "ordered" for its inhabitants. She claims Desmond has everything he wanted including Charles' approval. She thinks that somehow changing this "order" would be "a violation." A violation sounds like the breaking of a treaty or agreement. Is this Eloise the same Eloise from "our" timeline? Did she somehow strike a bargain to create this world?
If so when? And is this universe running concurrently with "our" timeline? Or is Desmond able to jump back and forth to exactly the right moments by coincidence? What is it Desmond needs to show the Oceanic Flight 815 passengers? It's not clear what Desmond thinks his goal or purpose is. By meeting Penny does he think he needs to show everyone what they might be missing in this universe? Or does he believe that the other timeline must be better if he and Charlie and Daniel all had great loves in that world?
The idea that love is the only thing which can affect these people enough to remember their original lives doesn't bother me too much. Such a strong emotion is about as plausible as anything else. But I suppose it weakens the special relationship that Desmond and Penny have to liken it so directly to Charlie and Claire's squabbles and Daniel's unrequited desires. It's certainly worth pointing out that Daniel and Charlie both died in "our" timeline. Does that have a bearing on your ability to discern the life you were supposed to have lived?
What sacrifice is Desmond going to be asked to make by Widmore? Is he envisaging another electromagnetic event which Desmond will need to initiate? Desmond fell unconscious in order to experience this other life for a while. At the end of the episode he returns to that world, presumably he isn't asleep in Sayid's arms. Is he able to be conscious in both?
Best Moment: Tough to choose, my head was spinning throughout trying to keep up with it all. Probably just Desmond and Penny grinning at one another. A chemistry that won't die.
The Bottom Line: Once more this season seems to have succeeded in putting too much doubt and mystery in its own path. Desmond's intervention may be the key turning point of the season but in the moment it left more questions and concerns. The episode was enjoyable by and large but two glaring plot holes didn't help its momentum.
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