Last night’s episode is either going to go down as one of the most important shows in the history of “Lost,” or as one of the most boring. Despite my mixed feelings of the transpiring events, I’m going to have to lean towards the former, as it delivered yet another change in structure for the series. Last week gave viewers their very first flashback via the lives of the Others, while this week took it one step further and created a sort of flashback-within-a-flashback scenario for everyone’s favorite Scotsman, Desmond. And in case you still haven’t figured out just what Desmond’s newly gained “powers” are, Hurley is quick to clears things up: “That guy sees the future, dude.”
Charlie’s interest in Desmond has all but amplified ever since he predicted the lightning strike on the island, but after saving Claire yet again from drowning in the ocean, he schemes a plan to find out how exactly he’s able to do this. So, with the help of Hurley, Charlie decides to get Desmond drunk (that always works, right?) before interrogating him. His plan doesn’t work very well, however, and Desmond attacks Charlie for calling him a coward. This results in a flashback of the hatch explosion at the end of season two. We’re quick to discover that upon turning the key, Desmond is seemingly transported back to the past during the height of his relationship with Penelope.
The Desmond that appears in this “flashback” is certainly aware of the fact that he’s supposed to be on the island (and so the possibility of time travel is certainly plausible), but after meeting with a woman whom he believes to be his subconscious (Fionnula Flanagan in one of the best cameos of the series), Desmond realizes that it’s really just all in his head. Of course, if that’s the case, then did he really meet Charlie in the past? Whatever the answer, his relationship with Charlie has certainly become a fatal bond of sorts. You see, Desmond was never really rescuing Claire from death. He was saving Charlie. Charlie was the one that would have been struck by lighting, and Charlie was the one that would have drowned when he dived into the water to save Claire.
This dynamic presents some very interesting theories, the most obvious being that Desmond’s sole purpose of being on the island is to save Charlie from death. It all makes sense, really, since the song that Charlie was playing on the street in Desmond’s flashback sequence was Oasis’ “Wonderwall.” And with lyrics like, “Maybe, you’re gonna be the one that saves me,” you can’t help but believe that it’s destiny. Then again, as Desmond was quick to learn in his trippy flashback/time travel, there’s no such thing as free will, and so it seems, no matter how many times he saves Charlie’s life, the poor kid’s doomed kick it. Hmm. Methinks I’ve seen this movie before. Wasn’t it called “Final Destination”?
