3.08 - Flashes Before Your Eyes

Title’s significance: They say that, before you die, your entire life flashes before your eyes. This time, it’s Desmond getting the flashes.

Recap: Flashbacks are strange this week in that Desmond actually relives events from 1996 while being unstuck in time after turning the failsafe key. Desmond asks for Penny’s hand from Widmore, who didn’t respect him. After meeting a street-performing Charlie, Desmond has a pint with a physicist named Donovan who tells him that time travel shouldn’t be possible, at which point Desmond learns that the past has changed. He meets Mrs. Hawking, a mysterious jeweler who knows everything about Desmond and introduces him to course correction – the idea that some things are predetermined and that people have a “path.” Knowing things are hopeless, he breaks things off with Penny but learns too late that he really can change things. In the present on the island, Desmond saves Claire from drowning – before anyone else knows she’s drowning. Hurley reveals to Charlie that Desmond can see the future, so they devise a plan to get Desmond drunk and find out what’s going on. After fighting with Charlie, Desmond reveals that he was trying to save Charlie, not Claire – but he worries that he won’t be able to.

Thoughts: I know I’ve said that Carlton is the stronger writer in my favorite duo on this show, but this episode proves that Damon can knock it out of the park without the other half of LOST’s dynamic duo. On rewatch, this episode feels every bit as relevant as it did back in the day, and I’m sure this’ll make my list of favorite episodes for Season Three.

Favorite moment: For me, it’s Charlie, Desmond, and Hurley all getting smashed before Hurley asks, “Are all your songs about drinking and fighting and women with one leg?” But I do appreciate the stuff with Mrs. Hawking, just because it’s so delightfully significant.

Characters introduced (in order):

• DONOVAN, a physicist consulted by Desmond
• MRS. HAWKING, a “temporal policeman” who knows all about Desmond’s future

What we learned:

• After turning the failsafe key, Desmond was blasted back into 1996.
• Desmond tried to get a job with Mr. Widmore.
• Desmond worked set design for the World Shakespeare Company.
• Widmore promises Desmond that he will never be a great man, but Penny disagrees.
• The universe plays by the rules of “course correction.”
• Mrs. Hawking says that pushing the button is “the only truly great thing” that Desmond will do.
• The picture with Penny was taken on a street corner in London.

Questions:

• Can Desmond really see the future?
• Where does one even get “shocking amounts of pornography” like Charlie finds in Sawyer’s stash?
• Does Widmore have an island connection as the paintings in his office suggest?
• How does Mrs. Hawking know everything?
• Is Mrs. Hawking real?
• Can Desmond change the future or not?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• If I were making a DVD of “The Ten Most Important Episodes Before Season Six,” this would definitely make the collection. (Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Maybe I’ll make that list.) The stuff about course correction and about changing the past is gold and will be pivotal while we predict whether or not the Jughead plan really worked – and if so, to what extent.