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spicedogsMy review of Episode 3.08 "Flashes before Your Eyes (a Desmondcentric episode). My summary with pictures will follow in a few days.
Episode 3.08 "Flashes before Your Eyes (a Desmondcentric episode) was one of the most thought-provoking episodes of LOST so far. What an episode!
Right after I finished watching this episode, my initial reaction was to sing
Is that all there is,
is that all there is?
If that's all there is my friends,
then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze and have a ball
If that's all there is.
I remember Peggy Lee singing this song. It’s about disappointments. But it is about experiences that, if you think hard enough about them, should be appreciated and not discarded.
In this song, Ms. Lee sings about having a number of incredible experiences, such as seeing a really huge building on fire, going to the circus, and being in love. And at the end of each experience, she feels a great disappointment and sings, "Is that all there is? Is that all there is?''
After I thought long and hard about what I just saw, an epiphany came to me: This episode is more than meets the eye. My head will hurt a lot while I will try to decipher it.
LOST deviates from its standard format: island story, flashback for the backstory, island story, flashback, etc. This episode had the island story for the first 15 minutes, a long and continuous flashbacklike story, and the last 5 minutes ended with the island story.
Now, why did I say a flashbacklike story? Because that’s when my head starts hurting. I'm not sure whether I watched a flashback, a return to the past, a remembrance of the past.
LOST has always been the kind of mystery that you spend at least a week trying to decipher the meaning of the Easter eggs. How the story fits in within the arc. How the series will end.
This time the flashback does not appear to be a backstory. It is a past happening that Desmond seems to experience. (Do I smell time travel?)
The entire story is full of Easter eggs. In the office of Penny Widmore's father, we get to see a lot of the "art" that was originally found in the hatch on the island.
Desmond wants to marry Penny and asks Mr. Widmore for permission. Not only does he not get permission, he is downright put down.
Desmond experiences a number of déjà vu moments. He feels that he either is reliving the past or he is seeing the future during his past. (Does this make sense? Now you know why I have a headache.)
Desmond decides to buy an engagement ring for Penny. He meets a woman in a jewelry store who discourages him from buying the ring. She, too, puts Desmond's character down and informs him that he will not be able to change his destiny. According to her, nature has a way of course correcting if you try.
All the things that the saleslady says to him sounds like they are coming from Desmond's subconscious. He even questions her about it. (What are the creators trying to do here? Are they hinting that Desmond is remembering his past and that his subconscious is directing him about what he should have done? Or is Desmond comforting himself that due to fate, there was nothing that he could have done to alter his destiny?)
Is LOST hinting that fate rules our lives? Yet, the show is full of coincidences. People meet up in past lives. Desmond meets up with Charlie in this episode. (Charlie ironically is singing Wonderall by Noel Gallagher of Oasis:
You're gonna be the one who saves me?
And after an
You're my wonderwall
These words are very suggestive, since Desmond confesses to Charlie that he has been trying to save him from his fate, but won't be able to do so as nature has a way of course correcting. Eventually, Desmond says, "Charlie, you will die." (Fate is unavoidable.)
Penny Widmore hints that Desmond is spared the fate of working for Widmore Industries. (What?? Fate is avoidable? Where's my Tylenol?) Yet, when he meets up with the white-haired-lady in the jewelry store, she tells him his future and how if he were to not follow his destiny, everyone around him would be dead. Once again, the theme of inescapable fate is there. (OH, my aching head!)
Desmond is in the pub, and he realizes that he isn't crazy. He did experience all his déjà vus. He feels that he can change his destiny. Suddenly, just as in the past, someone comes in the pub, tries to hit the bartender, and hits Desmond in the head. Desmond wakes up and finds himself right at the time the implosion is over, Desmond returns to the island finds the photograph he took with Penny while still in
The theme of good and evil is prevalent throughout the episode. Penny tells him he is a good man. Desmond tells Charlie that he is a good man. (Isn't that what the others call themselves? What's up with that?)
This episode is definitely one those that we must watch over and over again. Every time I do (and at this point, I am on my forth viewing), I find something new. And my head still aches.
If you didn't see it yet, watch out for nods to Wizard of Oz (the wicked witch and her red shoe) and Lord of the Rings (ring floating on the water, viewed from the bottom of the river) were the ones I just noticed. I am currently pondering about a picture in Mr. Widmore's office. It seems to me that picture is really a reflection that we would see through a mirror (Alice through the Looking Glass?).
Oh, LOST how I love you. Every Wednesday, you force me to think. But do you need to make my head hurt?
Next week, we are promised that two of our questions will be answered: Jack's tattoos and what the others did with the people they kidnapped, especially the children. I'll be there in front of my TV at 10 pm.
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Date: 2007-02-17 11:47 pm (UTC)As for whether this is a flashback or his subconcious, I couldn't tell you. But I can say that there are so many "coincidences" in it that I'm actually feeling a quickening of pace with this storyline.
Great article Edith! Very though provoking!
Katie
www.katiescrazyride.com