Lost Episode 5 Season 4 "The Constant" Review

Episode 5 in season 4 of Lost started out with Desomond, Sayid, and Frank in the helicopter headed towards the ship. Sayid is questioning whether or not Frank knows where he is going as Frank heads directly into a storm. Then there is a flash-forward of Desmond, who had been examining a picture of Penny, he is now in a military barracks and the opening scene he says was a dream that felt very real. This causes viewers to wonder why in the future Desmond doesn't remember this actually happening, is that part of the mystery of the island, or is there a different explanation for his memory loss?
Back on the island Daniel and Charlotte try to keep Kate and Jack calm after they have learned that the helicopter has not yet arrived at the ship after almost a day even though the trip should have taken only 20 minutes. Daniel begins to say that the time they have experienced on the island might not be the same as the amount of time that has passed on the chopper.
On the helicopter, Desmond begins shouting that he doesn't know Sayid or Frank and tries to take the controls from Frank. They then see the ship and land, Desmond continues to yell that he doesn't know them while Sayid attempts to calm him down. Frank is scolded for bringing them to the ship by a man we don't know yet. When they go to take Desmond to the sick bay to have him checked by a doctor he shouts "I'm not supposed to be here" and as he finishes saying that he is in the military camp again, and very confused, because he is standing, not doing crunches, he earns another punishment for everyone for the second time that day.
While loading a truck with another soldier, Desmond tries to explain what happened to him. He tells him that that morning he had left and been on a boat and that on that boat there was a picture of Penny. He goes to make a call and is suddenly back on the boat.
On the boat we learn the names of the two new characters who are working on the ship, Kimi and Omar. They escort Desmond to the sick bay and leave him there while they go to get the doctor. After they close the door, a man in the room asks Desmond "it's happening to you too isn't it?"
On the deck of the ship Sayid asks Frank about what is happening to Desmond, Frank says they aren't sharing the information with him either. Sayid then questions Frank about how they took off a dusk and landed about twenty minutes later in the middle of the day. Instead of answering Sayid's question, Frank tells him he is just trying to help him. Sayid then makes a trade, he gives his gun to Frank in exchange for the phone so he can call Jack. Sayid tells Jack about Desmond's condition and Daniel explains that people can become disoriented when traveling to and from the island. He asks if Desmond has recently been exposed to radiation, which he may have been when he destructed the station.
On the ship, Desmond is observing the other patient, who after lying still and being non-responsive informs Desmond that he was just on a Ferris wheel. Then the doctor, Ray, comes in and the man tells him that he isn't crazy and that everyone will contract this condition. Ray gives the man a shot of something that knocks him out, and Desmond becomes worried that the same will happen to him. Doctor Ray tells Desmond that he isn't going to inject him and that he just wants to help him. He begins to ask Desmond what the last thing he remembers is, but Desmond returns to the military base during the question.
On the base, Desmond calls Penny, she picks up and sounds upset. He tells her he is confused and needs to see her, but she reminds him that he broke up with her and joined the army and she doesn't care about him. He asks if he can visit her and she tells him she doesn't want to see him.
Once again Desmond returns to the ship ( this seems to be happening almost every minute ) and the doctor asks him if he has just experienced something. Before Desmond can answer, Frank and Sayid enter the room and inform Ray that Daniel is calling from the island to talk to him. Ray says he doesn't care and Sayid grabs him and throws him into a wall and instructs Frank to give the phone to Desmond. Desmond begins to talk to Daniel, he reveals that he believes it is 1997 and Daniel tells him that when he returns to his other location he has to travel to Oxford to meet up with Daniel. (I think that because of the difference in the speed of time on the island, some people return to the time it would have been if they had not been on the island during travel to or from it. So Desmond is living in two places at the same time.)
Daniel is forced to give directions to Desmond quickly before the other people on the ship are able to get in the door. Desmond writes the instructions on his hand to tell Daniel to set the device to 2.342 and oscillating at 11 hertz. (Some kind of time travel device?) Daniel also tells him that if Daniel doesn't believe him he should tell him he knows about Eloise.
As soon as Desmond returns to the military base, after Kimi and Omar get through the door, he goes to Oxford and finds Daniel. Daniel believes it is a prank at first, but he quickly believes it is true when Desmond tells him he knows about Eloise. Daniel takes Desmond to a room full of equipment where he introduces him to Eloise, a lab rat. Then he puts the rat into the same condition as Desmond, he proves the rat traveled into the future by allowing it to run through a maze that she hasn't learned how to do yet, but will in the future. Desmond asks how that helps him, Daniel becomes confused saying that he though Desmond was supposed to help him. Then Desmond tells Daniel that all he knows about him is that he ends up on an island, Daniel begins to ask questions, but (once again) Desmond returns to the ship.
Kimi took the phone from Desmond and left him and Sayid in the room with the man in the bed. The man heard his name was Desmond and introduced himself as George, the communications officer for the ship. He tells them that Penny often called the ship, though he was instructed never to answer it.
Desmond returns to the room at Oxford with Daniel who explains that he believes the jumps between present and future are becoming harder for his mind to make. Desmond notices that the rat is dead and asks if that will happen to him, Daniel tells him that he most likely will die unless he finds a constant that he can care for in both the present and the future. Desmond determines that his constant is Penny and tries to call her immediately.
After returning to the ship, Desmond tells Sayid that he needs his help to contact Penny. They learn from George that the communications equipment was broken a few days earlier and that he will attempt to fix it if they take him with.
Desmond, back in the present (or past, who knows?) enters a room where an auction for a sailor's journal from a shipwreck is being bid on, starting bid 150 pounds. Mr. Whitmore (Penny's father) is the winning bidder and agrees to talk to Desmond. He asks for contact information to talk to Penny, and Mr. Whitmore gives him her address.
On the boat George tells Desmond that his symptoms began after him and another crew member took a trip towards the island to end their boredom, and that the other explorer is dead now. After they reach the radio room, George dies, presumably from his inability to find a constant. When Sayid asks what happened to him Desmond replies that it is the same thing as will happen to him.
In 1997, Desmond goes to visit Penny, when she answers the door she tells him that she disconnected her phone and she moved because of their breakup. Desmond tries to explain that he needs her number so he can call her in eight years, and she reluctantly gives it to him. He returns to the future and makes the call. After many suspenseful rings, Penny answers, she sounds very happy to hear it's him. She asks where he is and he tells her that he is on a boat and had been on an island. She tells him how she has been searching for him for years and that she knows about the island. They tell each other of their love for the other and Penny promises to find Desmond, just before the connection stops working.
To end the episode we see Daniel's notebook which has a message that if something goes wrong, Desomond will be his constant.
Once again this episode gives us very few answers to viewer questions, but adds many more new questions that we can only assume will not be answered until the final episode, or possibly not at all.