Lost - Flashes Before Your Eyes

**** / ****

With Desmond’s wicked clairvoyance and Charlie’s obsessive jealousy, it is a wonder if this will become some toxic brew certain to cause more harm than good. Saving Claire from being struck by lightning with a makeshift rod and then running from inside the jungle to rescue her from drowning after she’s caught in an undertow while swimming has just further driven Charlie towards the edge of the cliff. Turning the key and the results of this are explored more in this Desmond-themed episode of Lost, Flashes Before Your Eyes.

On my mind just Monday morning was when the third season would get Penelope more involved. Desmond doesn’t have any romantic interest in Claire. His love is for Penny. The signal going out after Desmond turned that key at the end of the second season hadn’t yet been revisited in the third season. Penny was sort of abandoned until the time was right to further elaborate on Desmond’s character. I was looking forward to this episode. I personally am invested in his story so anytime Lost dedicates interest and time to him, it is alright by me.

First off, Penny’s father is a sonofabitch. He’s accumulated great wealth and his name carries financial weight. But he’s a snob, a prick with a lot of money. He considers Desmond unworthy of his whisky and daughter. That the whiskey Charlie offers to Desmond is the same as Penny’s Father Widmore takes a swallow because it is worth more than this young man who wants to marry Penny is quite the bit of irony. His laugh is quite appropriate. Many of us would let out that very laugh. On that island, that whiskey being available just kind of fits, doesn’t it?

This episode is quite a headtrip. Desmond turns the key and finds himself in the past. He has a talk with his physicist friend, Donovan (Shisher Kurup) about time travel. Desmond wants to right the wrongs of the past, like marrying Penny and making a life with her. “Course correcting”, the speech about the universe doing what it does, fate deciding what paths folks choose and how some die while others live is like something right out of Final Destination. Fionnula Flanagan, as the shop owner where Desmond goes for the wedding ring and serves as, I guess, the “voice of the universe” really takes him and us for a spin. Desmond told the key turn is his destiny and the one great thing he ever does. Henry Ian Cusick’s suffering when Mr. Widmore tells him he’s not good enough is heartbreaking, his exhilaration at learning that his return to the past was real, the heartache when he must end the romance with Penny, and the hopelessness when he reveals to Charlie that he has tried to keep him from certain death; this is some incredible acting on his part. What an acting showcase Cusick was afforded in this episode. The entire roller coaster Desmond endures from start to finish. The episode’s revelation that Charlie is doomed and that all hope for him is lost, as Desmond’s trip back and conversation with Flanagan signifies that the universe decides sure knocked me for a loop. But with what recently happened to Eko (Locke, much like Desmond for Charlie, couldn’t keep Eko from what the universe had already decided), Charlie’s decided fate is a question of when, the how could be any number of ways…Desmond has halted a few the universe put in play. What makes this whole arc intriguing to me is that I asked myself why Desmond would be given the gift of clairvoyance and allowed to rescue Charlie multiple times if his fate is sealed? Why would the universe (the island) gift to Charlie a lifeline through Desmond only to eventually kill him? Curious, this whole story arc.

Nonetheless, that revelation at the end is knockout! It sets in motion the foreshadowing that Charlie won’t be with us very much longer. Desmond’s trip back in time, how he doesn’t necessarily alter anything, and his return to the island…it is indeed quite a journey!

I was grateful for Desmond getting almost an entire episode dedicated to him and that there was some time away from the principles. Not that the third season hasn’t been chock full of startling and exciting developments involving the likes of Jack, Kate, and Sawyer, but I was yearning to follow someone different. Getting some good back story with Desmond, fashioned as a time travel back due to extraordinary circumstances on the island, was a welcome change, I must admit. And Hurley and Charley raiding Sawyer’s tent for supplies was an amusing touch. Hurley looking at Charlie after the rescue of Claire from drowning and telling him that Desmond can see into the future was another fun sequence. This whole episode just does Cusick and the character of Desmond such a service. The acting is a triumph and the character gets excellent exposition. What more could you ask for???

Not to fail to mention Sonya  Walger as Penelope; she's a really great actress. Her sincerity and understanding in how she feels, regardless of what her father thinks, makes Penny a character of significant worth. She's sure of what she wants, that she loves Desmond and is willing to forgo all for him. It is Desmond, selected by the universe for a key turn, that must leave her behind.

Definitely my personal favorite episode of the series so far. I'm such a sucker for the time travel plot device.