des leaves and penny becomes engaged but is still in love with des

Johnny smith is in a coma and when he wakes up he finds his girl is married and has another man’s kid.

des discovers he has this power to which he can see the future but he has had it all along.

Johnny’s powers blossom after he comes out of the coma but he has had them since he was a kid.

Andreas, good post. I especially like what you said about time being in a loop.

I wonder if it’s possible that Desmond has been on the island several times, but that this time is the first time that he failed to push the button. In other words, he did something different this time around, and that’s why he’s come “unstuck” in time and is jumping all over the place.

If this is true, another question is–did he screw up this time around, or did he finally get it right?

It reminds me a little bit of Donnie Darko. In that movie, Donnie does something that disrupts destiny, and the universe performs a “course correction” that results in a temporary time loop. Donnie goes through the loop, knowing all the while that the alternate world that he’s created is “going to end.” He sees how his one action screws everything up, then goes back in time to correct the mistake and let the universe go on as usual.

In Lost, we may have a similar loop. But did Desmond screw up here, or did he finally get it right? Maybe all the previous times he’s been on the island, he’s just pushed the button obediently. But the universe didn’t want that–it wanted him to stop pushing the button just once, so that a planeload of people who were “fated” to crash might end up the island.

Whoa rambling. Carry on.

cog wrote:

Andreas, good post. I especially like what you said about time being in a loop.

I wonder if it’s possible that Desmond has been on the island several times, but that this time is the first time that he failed to push the button. In other words, he did something different this time around, and that’s why he’s come “unstuck” in time and is jumping all over the place.

If this is true, another question is–did he screw up this time around, or did he finally get it right?

It reminds me a little bit of Donnie Darko. In that movie, Donnie does something that disrupts destiny, and the universe performs a “course correction” that results in a temporary time loop. Donnie goes through the loop, knowing all the while that the alternate world that he’s created is “going to end.” He sees how his one action screws everything up, then goes back in time to correct the mistake and let the universe go on as usual.

In Lost, we may have a similar loop. But did Desmond screw up here, or did he finally get it right? Maybe all the previous times he’s been on the island, he’s just pushed the button obediently. But the universe didn’t want that–it wanted him to stop pushing the button just once, so that a planeload of people who were “fated” to crash might end up the island.

Whoa rambling. Carry on.

first post: Thank You coz!!! this is not the first person/comment i’ve read that saw the Donnie Darko similarities…..When i first started watching this show (halfway thru first season) i kept thinking of that movie. Desmond is Donnie Darko? i see it.Patiently waiting for the 2 hour season finale and hoping i won’t be disappointed.

sorry!!!! I meant cog!!! I can’t type. carry on

Andreas, good post. I especially like what you said about time being in a loop.

I wonder if it’s possible that Desmond has been on the island several times, but that this time is the first time that he failed to push the button. In other words, he did something different this time around, and that’s why he’s come “unstuck” in time and is jumping all over the place.

If this is true, another question is–did he screw up this time around, or did he finally get it right?

It reminds me a little bit of Donnie Darko. In that movie, Donnie does something that disrupts destiny, and the universe performs a “course correction” that results in a temporary time loop. Donnie goes through the loop, knowing all the while that the alternate world that he’s created is “going to end.” He sees how his one action screws everything up, then goes back in time to correct the mistake and let the universe go on as usual.

In Lost, we may have a similar loop. But did Desmond screw up here, or did he finally get it right? Maybe all the previous times he’s been on the island, he’s just pushed the button obediently. But the universe didn’t want that–it wanted him to stop pushing the button just once, so that a planeload of people who were “fated” to crash might end up the island.

Whoa rambling. Carry on.

first post: Thank You coz!!! this is not the first person/comment i’ve read that saw the Donnie Darko similarities…..When i first started watching this show (halfway thru first season) i kept thinking of that movie. Desmond is Donnie Darko? i see it.Patiently waiting for the 2 hour season finale and hoping i won’t be disappointed.

Another point, there have now been two different scenes where Dez learns about the race. Last season in the limo and last episode in Whidmore’s office. In the scene in Whidmore’s office, Dez is smirking when Whidmore tells him about it…as if he already knows.

By the way, I’m glad you enjoyed the comparison to Dr.Manhattan. I agree that Desmond is in no way as powerful as Dr.Manhattan, but as I wrote, there are a lot of small similarities.

Somebody elsewhere suggested that this Live-Flash, etc – could be used to postulate that in fact ALL the flashbacks are essentially ‘live’ and that the characters, if they could only ‘remember’ their futures – would also be able to try to alter their past.

Quite a cool idea – but I am so far not satisfied that that is the intent – for 2 main reasons:

1. The actual format of this episode was different – and other than the very first episode or two – the flashback format has been very, very, very consistent – to my mind – that means they are not intended to be understood as being ’similar’ in nature.

2. None of the other characters have in any way exhibited any awareness of ‘past’ or deja-vu moments, unless you go down the path of thinking they’ve manifested ‘past’ bits from thier memories onto the Island (Kate’s Horse, Jack’s Dad, etc..) – with the possible exception of things like Walt seeing the polar bear before it attacked, etc – however – and despite my previous mention of the Rube Goldberg connection – I prefer to leave things that COULD be explained by coincidence (no matter how unlikely) off the list of ‘must-be-able-to-explain-this’ items when I’m considering an encompassing theory.

Now, enough ramble, and on to next Wednesday or whatever it is…

Oh, well – on to the issue at hand :)

No. Desmond isn’t quite a Dr. Manhattan. It’s conceivable that he’s a Dr. Manhattan in training, but I somehow doubt that. Dr. Manhattan was in no way confused by the time-space he was inhabiting because it was, to him, consistent. If anything, Desmond has been dazed and confused, clinging to memories, and hoping for clues. On the personal level alone, Desmond is one of the most human (read ‘frail’) of the main characters, and at this point does not seem capable of the detachment such absolute power conferred on somebody like a Dr. Manhattan.

My reactions to this episode, as I noted in Lostpedia, are twofold: I either decide Mrs. Hawkings was a hallucination, and then accept her as a HUGE red herring, and am left with no clear explanation as to how Desmond, even if he hallucinated all this, could still ‘actually’ predict Locke’s speech and the lightning striking Charlie and Claire’s roof – OR – I accept that the Live-Flash – as I guess I’m comfortable to call it was real – in which case, I have to postulate the existence of at LEAST 3 total Live-Flashes occurring with Desmond. This one we saw in this episode and 2 others yet to come, one in which Charlie is struck by lightning and one in which he drowns. Let me rephrase – one in which he WAS struck by lightning and one in which he DID drown. This explains his powers, however, it leaves wide, WIDE open the question of who exactly Mrs. Hawkings is and whether or not she’s in anyway related to the Mittelos people…

The only real ‘problem’ with the 2nd explanation is that I recall the writers specifically saying that there was NO time-travel going on. This, of course, throws an incredibly large wrench into the whole thing…leaving me once again confused.

As for the role of the Losties and / or Desmond in saving the world by somehow mysteriously altering some factors of the Valenzetti Equation – well – I do recall, not sure if it was Carleton or Damon – saying something to the effect that Lost in basically a huge Rube Goldberg device where all the machinery is human. If he’s being literal – then we have to consider the possibility that the ‘end’ of all these machinations – the end result, that is – could actually be something quite simple, or mundane – in true Rube Goldberg Machine fashion. Seen from that point of view – altering a variable in the Valenzetti Equation to save the entire human race isn’t quite Rube Goldbergian by virtue of it’s actual utility.

And now, I am most certainly rambling…

Oh, well. Later :)