Seeing as how I wasn’t a particularly big fan of the last Desmond time travel episode (“Flashes Before Your Eyes”), I was wholly expecting not to enjoy tonight’s episode either. In fact, that’s exactly how it was panning out until the story took an unexpected turn that no one could have seen coming.
The story begins where episode three left off. Frank, Sayid and Desmond are on their way to the freighter, and while the storm they’re currently flying into doesn’t look that inviting, Frank is insistent on following the exact coordinates they used to get to the island. What they don’t realize, however, is that flying through said turbulence has some unexpected side effects, and before you can say “Saving Private Desmond,” the surly Scot has awakened in the middle of a military barracks, clean cut and unaware of his surroundings.
When he snaps back to the present, Desmond completely freaks out – recognizing neither Sayid nor Frank. As it happens, Desmond can now time travel (sort of), and when the helicopter lands on the freighter, he’s taken to sickbay to get checked out. It’s there that he meets George (Fisher Stevens), one of the freighter folk who seems to be experiencing the very same side effects. Unfortunately, between jumping back and forth in time, and arguing with the boat’s crewmembers Ray (Marc Vann), Keamy (Kevin Durand) and Omar (Anthony Azizi), Desmond can’t figure out what’s happening to him.
Lucky for him there’s a physicist (Daniel Faraday) on the island, and after speaking with him over the SAT phone, it’s revealed that not only does Desmond believe it’s 1996, but that his recent exposure to electromagnetism (via the hatch explosion) is the reason he’s reacting this way. Confident that he can help, Daniel orders Desmond to board a train (in the past) and visit him at Oxford where he used to teach. When he arrives, Desmond finally gets some answers from Daniel – but they’re not exactly to his liking.
You see, Desmond isn’t physically time traveling – it’s just his consciousness, and unless he can find a constant variable in both time periods, he’ll likely die of an aneurism. Once again, Desmond runs into a little luck in that he has the perfect constant: Penelope. Unfortunately, he has no way of getting a hold of her. That is, until George recognizes Penelope’s name (apparently, she’s been quite the nuisance with her incessant calling), and suggests they go to the com room to give it a shot. When they arrive, the equipment has been destroyed by a “friend on this boat” (Michael?), but Sayid sets out to fix it.
Meanwhile, Desmond slips back into a time travel coma where he visits Charles Widmore at a local auction house. (Curiously enough, he’s bidding on the sole diary of the Black Rock expedition, further tying him to the whole island conspiracy.) After getting Penny’s new address from her father, Desmond drops by to make quite the odd request. All he wants is her phone number, and he promises not to call her for eight years (or what is essentially present day on the island) as long as she keeps that same number. Penny agrees, and when Desmond returns to the present, he gives her a call using Sayid’s jimmied SAT phone. Penelope answers, and the two finally have their long-awaited talk.
As one of the more interesting romances on the show, it was nice to finally see Desmond make contact with Penny, but when exactly are we going to learn more about her (or her father’s) involvement with Dharma. Also, is it just me, or are the freighter folk some of the least friendly people you’ve ever met? I don’t understand why they don’t want the losties speaking with Daniel, but there has to be a good reason, right?
Oh yeah, and RIP George Minkowsky. I got excited seeing Fisher Stevens’ name in the credits, but I guess I should have seen that coming. After all, he was practically dying from the moment he was introduced. Oh well, perhaps Kevin Durand will get a little more character development next week. It would be a shame to waste two great actors when guys like Ken Leung, Jeff Fahey and Jeremy Davies have already proven how new characters (see: Pablo and Nikki) aren’t always a bad thing.
