This episode blew my mind away! Desmond has always been one of the most intriguing characters for me and it was cool to see more of him and get some firm proof of what is actually happening to him.
Let’s backtrack a little bit into the world of LOST and go over some plot points that are pertinent to understanding “The Constant”.
--We know that Dharma was studying the island due to it’s strange electromagnetic properties. We know that the Swan station was set up to study those properties but that an accident happened that had to be contained. We know that the button in the hatch helped release the build-up of electromagnetic force. We know that Desmond had to engage a failsafe device in the hatch when the force was not allowed to release. We know that Desmond survived the hatch implosion, but seemed to have precognitive abilities.
--We know that getting to the island is dangerous. We know that getting off the island is possible, but only by following a specific compass heading (305 degrees). Using this heading helps avoid any time dilation side effects (see next).
--We know that time on the island is moving at a completely different rate than that of the outside world, or that at least by moving through the spatial barrier between the island and the outside world, one would experience the effect of time dilation (time on the two sides of the divide would not be the same). (Proof: Daniel’s previous experiments; Sayid asks Frank “Why did we take off at dusk and land in mid-day?”)
Hold onto your hat… things get wild from here…
I believe that when Desmond was originally thrown out of the hatch that his consciousness was ripped from his body and that it began to float free (although it could use his body as a vessel to contain it). I believe that his consciousness could move through time to specific points and that this is what gave him precognition; why he could remember things happening from other times and places.
As the helicopter with Sayid and Desmond aboard left the island, Frank tried to keep it on course 305. However, the ‘copter was hit by lightening and the wind shear from the storm caused Frank to leave the proscribed course (the dial went to 310). The combination of the effects of the electromagnetic force of the storm (the lightening) and the ‘copter’s deviation from the course (leaving the path that will avoid time dilation) throws Desmond’s consciousness back to 1996. (In this episode, Daniel asks if Desmond has been exposed to high levels of radiation or magnetism… as if these types of things can be the cause of the movement though time and space.)
I think that it’s important to remember that what we see of Desmond’s experiences back in 1996 are not flashbacks; they are the result of his consciousness actually jumping back and forth between 1996 and 2004 and inhabiting his body in those two time periods. We are jumping back and forth with him, seeing what he is experiencing in both times.
There’s one big question that my hypothesis brings up… why does Desmond not remember the present (2004)? I think that it has to do with Desmond’s return back in time. So far all of Desmond’s visions have been of the future, so his “future self” could remember the island “past”. But when Desmond is thrown backwards, perhaps his conscious state also reverted back to the past and retained only memories of what had happened in that time and before. I think that this is a plausible explanation for his lack of “present” memory…
I like the idea that this bouncing back and forth has an awful side effect…. If the brain cannot handle the changes, it eventually begins to go mad, then it ultimately expires. What the brain needs is an anchor to points on the time-line, something to keep the conscious flow of thought moving from one time to another, not allowing it to wander aimlessly… and the anchor is the “constant”. This is a really cool storytelling device, and of course it’s cool for Desmond because he has a perfect constant… Penny.
Once Desmond has made this conscious connection between past and present Penny (in one of the most touching scenes in LOST history), he gains his anchor and can survive the chaos of the time shifting. The anchor actually snaps him back to the 2004 present where he finally remembers who he is and what’s happening around him (his declaration to the now recognizable Sayid that he is “perfect”).
And now, some other notes concerning this episode:
Do you remember that when we first met Rousseau back in the first season, she told Sayid that all of the other members of her party had contacted a sickness? Is it possible that they approached the island on the “wrong” vector and contracted “time sickness”? Perhaps Rousseau is one of a few people that is immune to it?
For (I believe) the first time, we actually have a reference to a specific post-crash date in the LOST time-line, it’s Christmas Eve, 2004. Don’t forget that in the real world there is a Tsunami coming in the south pacific. I wonder if this will be manifested in the LOST world.
Why does it always seem to be raining in Desmond’s military service scenes? It was raining when Desmond was released from military prison, and it was raining in all of these military scenes. By the way, I am wondering if Desmond was in prison because he went AWOL at some time (due to his time-jumping)?
The episode includes a cool scene at an auction where the journal of the Black Rock’s (this ship on the island) first mate is being auctioned. The auction is lot 2342 (the same as the setting on the “time machine” in Daniel’s office: 2.342). The journal was found in Madagascar in the possession of pirates. The ship was on a training mission to Siam (actually a slave run) when it sank in the South Pacific. It has been in the possession of Tovar Hanso, who I suspect is related to Alvar Hanso, one of the founders of the Dharma Initiative. The journal is purchased by Mr. Widmore (Penny’s father), thus cementing his place in the back story of LOST.
We get a bit more information from Penny during her final joyful reunion (albeit by phone) with Desmond. She says she has been searching for Desmond for the past 3 years. She says she knows about the island and that she won’t give up on trying to find Desmond.
Some notes on the story of the freighter and its folk:
-The ship’s last port was in Fiji.
-The ship anchors 80 knots off the coast of the island and waits for orders.
-The crew grows bored.
-Brandon and Minkowski take the ship’s tender out to see the island; Brandon begins to act strangely, they turn around and return to the ship but Brandon dies.
-Minkowski mentions to Desmond that they keep receiving a signal that they are under strict orders to ignore. They know that the messages are from Penny, so they must know that she is also looking for the island. Perhaps there is a race going on to find the island?
-After Minkowski’s return, someone sabotages the communications equipment. (Ben’s person on the boat? Was this also the person that opened the door to the infirmary and allowed Minkowski, Sayid and Demsond to reach the communications room?)
-Minkowski shows signs of the temporal illness, eventually dies because his mind cannot take the shifting through time.
I also liked this episode because it gave us more information about the cool character of Daniel. I loved it when he tells Desmond that his lab is where he does “the things that Oxford frowns upon”; perhaps because they are so unconventional?
Some notes on details that come up during Daniel’s scenes:
-Daniel says that the time displacements are sometimes hours and sometimes years… indicating that they are variable.
-Daniel indicates that Eloise’s (the rat) consciousness, not her body, have been sent forward in time then brought back. This is important in understanding what is happening to Desmond.
-Daniel tells Desmond “you can’t change the future” which reinforces Mrs. Hawking’s statement that the universe “course corrects” itself; that what is meant to be will be.
-Daniel notes that while Desmond was only gone to the future for 5 minutes in his frame of mind, that his mind was actually gone for 75 minutes, showing the fluidity of forward motion of time… that time is not moving at a constant rate.
When we saw Daniel in his flashback a few weeks ago, he was emotionally distraught and was being assisted by a caretaker. One of the possible explanations for this is that he’s been exposed to a lot of radiation (as Desmond points out when Daniel does nothing to protect his head from the time test radiation).
But I think that a more plausible explanation is that Daniel’s consciousness has also been knocked out of time and that he has been, to a much smaller degree than Desmond, able to move his thoughts through time and that this is taking a toll on him… eventually he will not survive unless he finds HIS constant. And of course it’s cool again when that constant turns out to be the one person he helped save from the time jumping… Desmond.
