Review: Lost Season 4, Episode 5: The Constant

This episode centered on Desmond, and it expanded on the convoluted time traveling experience he suffered after the Swan hatch exploded. The producers on Lost appear to have a concrete definition of how time travel works in relation to the show, but they could hardly choose a more confusing way to present it. This episode flips back and forth between the present time on the freighter (which is Christmas Eve 2004) and Desmond's time in the army in 1996. And, in case that's not too much for you to wrap your head around, Daniel Faraday throws out a line suggesting that the perception of time on the island is skewed.

The basic concept of the episode is that people who get too close to the island are caught up in some type of electromagnetic field that causes their consciousness to be hurled back to some prior point in time. This unexpected time travel will continue to happen on and off until it finally overloads a person's brain and kills him. One way to avoid this overload is to have something that is constant, which is always important to you and will always be there. Desmond uses Penelope Widmore and his love for her as the constant which will keep him safe when these time traveling adventures are thrust on him.

The episode opens with Frank piloting the helicopter away from the island. A harrowing ride is suggested when Sayid notices that Frank is navigating only by coordinates scrawled on a piece of paper (apparently 305 degrees rather than 325) and is headed directly into an intense storm. The worst part of that ride, however, is missed when the story follows Desmond on a sudden trip into the past. When Desmond returns to the present, the helicopter has come out of the storm and approaches the freighter.

Many new faces show up when the helicopter lands. Two deck hands named Keamy and Omar take Desmond to the sick bay to be looked at by doctor Ray. Keamy is a fountain of information. He says that he is from Vegas and Omar is from Florida. Then he suggests that even they do not know exactly where they are. He says their last port was in Fiji so at least they know they are somewhere in the Pacific.

In the sickbay, Desmond meets Minkowski, the ship's communications officer who appears to be suffering the same time traveling affliction, but Minkowski is having a much rougher time of it. Minkowski says that his condition was brought on when he and another crew member named Brandon got bored and tried to visit the island early. Minkowski also relates that they received regular incoming transmissions from Penelope Widmore but were under strict orders not to answer them. That is a moot point at the moment, however, because someone sabotaged the communication equipment a couple of days ago. It seems that there are more factions on the freighter than there are on the island.

Desmond reach Daniel on the phone and Daniel gives him instructions for how to set up a machine he was working on in 1996. Desmond then slips back into the past and carries these instructions to Daniel, enabling him to successfully send a lab rate name Eloise into the future to learn how to navigate a maze she has never seen before. Unfortunately, Eloise dies shortly thereafter. Daniel then relates the necessity of having something constant to keep oneself together while traveling through time.

Sayid, Desmond and Minkowski make a plan to visit the communication room to try and contact Penny. They are aided by a mysterious "friend on the ship" who manages to open the locked sick bay door unseen. The trip to the communication room goes off without a hitch and Sayid attempts to splice together a connection that will allow Desmond to call Penny. While this is going on, Minkowski dies, underscoring the seriousness of Desmond's situation. Sayid gets the connection working while Desmond forces himself back into the past to try to find Penny's phone number.

This sets up a scene where Desmond declares his continued love to Penny in 1996 and begs for her phone number so he can call her on Chistmas Eve eight years in the future. Despite the confusion inherent in this episode, Desmond and Penny pull off a very emotional scene that is followed up a few minutes later by an even more touching scene when Desmond uses the phone number to call her from the boat.

Nothing much happens on the island in this episode, except for Daniel talking to Desmond on the phone (which we learn can only communicate with each other and not the outside world). Charlotte is suspicious of the Losties and doesn't want Daniel to tell them what is going on. Jack is concerned about Sayid and Desmond.

There is Lost mythology galore in this this episode. The numbers make prominent appearances. Desmond travels 8 years into the past. Daniel's machine must be set to 2.342. Penny is living at 423 Cheyne Walk. (For those tempted to call, her number is given as 7946-0893 but this is apparently a nonfunctional number similar to the 555 prefix in the United States).

Also, while trying to track down Penny, Desmond seeks out Mr. Widmore at an auction where the only known relic of the Black Rock is up for sale. It is revealed that the Black Rock was headed for Siam (known today as Thailand) and the only trace of it ever found was the first mate's journal, discovered in pirate loot in Madagascar. The jounal is being sold by Tobard Hanso. Mr. Widmore wins it at a price of 380,000 pounds.

All in all, this was a very exciting, if confusing, episode. It's not clear how much Desmond and Daniel's time traveling will relate to the larger story of Lost, but it seems that it will be important in at least some respect. What is clear is that the love story between Desmond and Penny remains one of the most touching in the entire series. The two of them manage to steal the show whenever they are together.