Lost: Flashes Before Your Eyes

Desmond was shirtless and naked at different points in last night’s episode of Lost. Looks like someone at ABC finally read my emails. It makes perfect sense. Desmond traveled through time, and time travelers are traditionally naked. In the Terminator movies, everyone who came from the future was naked.

Lost looks like it’s breaking out of it’s comfortable formula. Last night’s episode was mostly flashback, but it was all in one, uninterrupted chunk. Until last week, I would usually zone out during the flashbacks because they felt forced and out of place. It was as if the writers had a basic episode template and they just filled in the blanks.

Good television isn’t comfortable and predictable. Who knew?

“Flashes Before Your Eyes” got me thinking about Quantum Leap and the idea of an imaging chamber. On Quantum Leap, Al was able to interact with Sam Beckett as a hologram in their time machine’s imaging chamber. I’m thinking that the island has some of the same properties. It would explain why Jack kept seeing his dead father walking around.

I’m on the verge of an idea on time traveling via the mind. Desmond had a blackout period from the time he turned the key to the time he woke up; there’s no evidence that he physically traveled. So, while his body was on the island, his mind made that quantum leap to the past, and the shopkeeper was his version of Al. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her again. Also, Desmond is not the only person who’s done this. I think Sawyer has done a bit of time traveling, too. Go back to an episode in season two called “What Kate Did.” You’ll see what I’m talking about.

So, why is Desmond having flashes of the future? I had a complex theory involving the possible effect of the magnetic pulse on his neurons and how his brain creates memories. But, that’s actual science which has no place in the Dharma Initiative, because they were largely about speculative science. Every time Desmond has a “flash” of something that’s going to happen, he’s actually experiencing a mini-quantum leap.

The concept of the universe self-correcting is a more sophisticated version of the “you can’t cheat death” idea from Final Destination. If we go back to season one, we see that Charlie has cheated death several times. He survived the plane crash. Ethan hung him from a tree and he was saved. The lightening missed him. Now, he was prevented from drowning.

“Charlie, you’re gonna die,” was a surprising turn, but I’m not sure it’s believable. If it really were Claire whom Mr. Universe was after, that would be more believable. Emilie de Ravin is starting to build a film career, and her character doesn’t seem to have anything left to do; it would make sense to kill her off.

That wouldn’t make me happy, either. If Claire got knocked off, I’d say it was a wimpy choice and that it would have been more daring to kill off another, more relevant character. There’s just no pleasing me.

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