Feb

29

Lost Episode “The Constant” Review and Comment

Posted by lostfan

February 29, 2008 |

This has almost become a cliche on this site, but my brain hurts. If you have seen Lost Episode 4.05, “The Constant” then read on. If not, then please don’t follow on in the link. It will be spoilerish.

In “The Constant”, we see lost at its best. Not only do we get great flashbacks, but they make sense and answer questions. We also get just enough tease to keep us interested. “The Constant” offered the perfect mix of plot and mystery; it really was Lost at its finest.

Here are my big take aways:

Time travel - Desmond is flashing between two time periods. There will be some that are confused about the flashbacks and flashforwards from the other episodes. Desmond’s events in this episode are clearly not the same. No other character has experienced blackouts or bloody noses. This was different.

So, what was going on? I think that Desmond’s consciousness was switching with himself. Remember Quantum Leap? I think the time travel theory here in Lost is turning out to be nearly identical. In Quantum Leap, Sam’s mind would switch with another person’s mind, and they would experience a time shift. In the case with Desmond, he has switched with him self. This is clearly not a stable event . The brain starts to lose it.

This same type of time travel was in the movie Frequency. Incidentally, in Frequency, there was a character named Jack Shepherd, and he was played by the lawyer in Episode 4.04, “Eggtown.” I doubt that was accidental.

The idea of a “constant” makes sense. In order to navigate any distance, you must have two fixed points. Those points become your constants and you can triangulate your current position as well as navigate to another point.

You can’t change the future - Wrong Daniel. Faraday makes the statement to Desmond that you can’t change the future, but he is wrong. Follow me here. Faraday, because of Desmond’s help, sends Eloise’s mind into the future. She then runs the maze and Faraday is amazed because he hadn’t taught her the route. Then, Desmond blacks out, Faraday goes nuts with the math equations, and Eloise dies. She is never actually taught the maze. The future has indeed changed.

The maze is still learned in one timeline, but another series of events is created because of Desmond’s interference. How many of these mini-paradoxes are there because of Desmond, Minkowski, and any other time travelers. Is that why things are unraveling so rapidly? When Desmond broke the fail-safe, did he cause a time-shift like I had suggested before? I think I am getting close to cracking this nut.

The Black Rock, Hanso, and Widmore - This was no accident. I want to know more about that diary. My guess is that it documents more of the Desmond type of time travel. Could the real Jacob be an original Black Rock traveler whose consciousness is trapped in time, bouncing around while other travelers mess up timelines? Can the real Jacob take advantage of recently deceased bodies and temporarily transfer into them hence Charlie, Christian, and ????

Daniel’s brain - Okay, so we know Faraday’s brain is a bit fried from the radiation; that was a great moment when Desmond asks about his head. But, is Daniel even more screwed up because of a future time trip that he is going to take. The end, where he remarks that Desmond is his constant certainly hints at a time trip. The aneurism that kills Minkowski could certainly leave someone brain damaged.

The inside (the boat) man - more on this later; I have a spoiler for this.

Is there anything I missed that really got you going, or is there anything I said you disagree with or just loved? Let me know in the comments. I would love to hear from you.


Comments

6 Comments so far

  1. Latex Resources » Lost Episode “The Constant” Review and Comment on February 29, 2008 10:00 am

    [...] Kat Candler: [...]

  2. baz on February 29, 2008 11:37 am

    What was the name of the officer who wrote the diary? It wasn’t Something Something Jacob, was it? And how is Hurley seeing the cabin shifting around the island tied in? Was Hurley experience a time shift or just witnessing one?
    I love this program for the work, energy, creativity, humor and madness the writers put in. Real class acts, not some bunch of lazy hacks you usually get spew cliches. These people really put their brains and hearts into this.

  3. Duke on February 29, 2008 12:39 pm

    Could this Daniel Faraday be a fictional decendent of Michael Faraday?

  4. internisus on March 2, 2008 6:29 am

    Desmond blacked out for 75 minutes in Faraday’s lab. You’re making an assumption when you claim that he never taught Eloise to run the maze since he originally stated that he would do so one hour from the time Desmond arrived.

    Duke: The show frequently names characters after philosophers and scientists. Dan is probably just another case of this.

  5. lostfan on March 2, 2008 9:51 am

    internisus:

    Yes, that was an assumption I made but it was based on the following:

    Before Desmond blacks out, Faraday’s blackboard is blank, when Desmond comes back, the board is FULL of stuff.

    The rat was pretty dead. Faraday wasn’t surprised, as if he had noticed it previously.

    Rats are pretty stupid. I can’t imagine it taking much less than an hour to train it - especially when it is suffering from a brain-bleed that is going to be fatal within an hour.

    I did assume, but I feel relatively safe in that assumption.

  6. Lost Episode “Meet Kevin Johnson” Review and Comment : Lost on March 21, 2008 8:43 am

    [...] me wrong, there were a few interested tidbits, but when “Meet Kevin Johnson” is compared to “The Constant” or “The Economist,” I think it falls [...]

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