This podcast focuses on season 3, episode 8 of LOST, Flashes Before Your Eyes. For this Desmond-centric podcast, we talk about Desmond's "flashback", what it means in terms of his ability to see the future, connections to the themes of time travel, and much more. As always, we have plenty of LOST links, and spoilers and info about the next episode.
Links related to the podcast:
General reactions from The Fuselage
List of LOST easter eggs from this episode
LOST links:
Official LOST video podcast
New "writers rotation" feature
LOSTPedia - Economics of LOST
Blog from LOST book author, J. Wood
LOST Soundboard
We'll be back next week... until then, Stay LOST.
Thanks as always guys
Posted by: lt | February 18, 2007 at 07:42 PM
Great got it at last, if possible could we have it 1hr earlier?, it's nearly 1 in the morning in the UK
Posted by: Justin (AKA Locke Junior) | February 18, 2007 at 07:45 PM
Yeah, it's 1am here, but i'm still gonna listen to it lol.
Posted by: Lance | February 18, 2007 at 07:53 PM
Listening to your podcast right now. Just wanted to make a correction about the Heroes reference. Desmond's friend is not the Dr. in the Heroes, but the doctors friend.
Posted by: bonnix | February 18, 2007 at 08:54 PM
Its monday morning 06.42am I dont mind getting up this early to get the new podcast so i have it to listen to at work.
Posted by: theandrew | February 19, 2007 at 01:50 AM
Does the timeline match up for Claire's ex-boyfriend's painting appearing in Widmore's office? We saw his apartment some months before the plane crash on the island... and we saw Widmore's office some years before the crash...? He couldn't of bought it from him then... Or maybe I'm just a fool when it comes to time... and space.. ;)
Posted by: RR | February 19, 2007 at 03:56 AM
Can anyone explain to me this apparent contradiction that "the oracle/crazy old lady" makes in this episode:
First, she freaks out on Desmond and tells him that "he's not supposed to buy the ring" and how if he buys it "they will all die."
Next, she tries to tell him that it doesn't matter what he does because fate is unchangable (i.e. She didn't warn the guy with the red shoes because he was eventually going to die regardless of anything anyone else does).
......So, why would it matter if Desmond bought the ring or not.....or if she went out of her way to explain that to him and try to pursuade him not to buy it, since it was destiny that he would not marry Penny anyway?
Sure, it makes for a good scene where she can explain the matrix-esk theory to him, but there is a clear gap in the logic that the writers used for that explanation.
Anyone have thoughts on that?
Posted by: Kobe Bryant | February 19, 2007 at 04:34 AM
Im hoping that the old woman was infact the island/black smoke and is trying to manipulate Desmond somehow. If that is the case the fact that she goes out of her way to try and convince him that there it is all destiny could mean that free will still does exist.
Posted by: Phil | February 19, 2007 at 05:31 AM
@Kobe Bryant
I think Mrs. Hawking meant that Desmond was complicating the process unneccessarily.
Though that hardly covers the hole in the logic because for one, does "course correction" imply that things change at all?
and for two, surely it matters if someone gets another day to live.
Creative Licence if you ask me/
Posted by: Vaibhav | February 19, 2007 at 06:05 AM
@ Kobe Bryant
Maybe she was first trying to test Desmond on how strong-willed he was by ordering him to do something, once she found out that he was not moving, she then told him his fate was unchangable. As Vaibhav 'complicating the process unneccessarily'.
When I was watching the episode I was wondering the same thing. And I really hope that Mrs Hawking is a part of the island trying to influence Desmond
Great podcasts again guys, first one under 50mins since the first casts ;-)
Jon
Posted by: Jon W | February 19, 2007 at 09:06 AM
@ Kobe Bryant
Maybe she was first trying to test Desmond on how strong-willed he was by ordering him to do something, once she found out that he was not moving, she then told him his fate was unchangable. As Vaibhav 'complicating the process unneccessarily'.
When I was watching the episode I was wondering the same thing. And I really hope that Mrs Hawking is a part of the island trying to influence Desmond
Great podcasts again guys, first one under 50mins since the first casts ;-)
Jon
Posted by: Jon W | February 19, 2007 at 09:07 AM
Great podcast once again. Lol at abc getting desperate for viewers.
Posted by: Lance | February 19, 2007 at 02:23 PM
Nice Lovecraft drop. It should be noted that all his protagonists, that tried to change their reality, went stark raving mad. Desmond seems to be headed there.
Does Locke still have faith in the island? He believed the island led him to save Ekos life yet he claims the island killed Eko. Will he continue to be duped, or does the black smoke really have 'beautiful' qualities.
Posted by: Joop | February 19, 2007 at 02:37 PM
I think Locke's faith in the Island will fade away just like his faith in the hatch did, Then the island will most probably do something to him or possibly Charlie(kill him) or hopefully Paulo(kill him) to open his eyes again. Or maybe 'Lift up your eyes and look north' will come back into it
Jon
Posted by: Jon W | February 19, 2007 at 04:17 PM
Sorry I've been away so all of this may have been said already ..... and sorry this is another one of my long rambling posts ....
There are obviously two options for Desmonds 'flashback'
1. Time Travel
The traditional time-travel paradox does my head in and opens up so many loop holes that the entire show could rapidly spiral out of control because of the usual problems -- I really hope LOST does not go down this road and TPTB comes out and says it was not time travel. But what if they take a different stance and say that time travel is possible but no matter what you do certain major events that you are destined to be part of will happen to you no matter what you do. Could Des have in fact somehow gone back in time to the same reality and re-lived his life only to find that he could not change anything significant and he was destined to be on the island pushing the button no matter what. Hence his not marrying Penny again, he knew even if he'd married Penny he would have ended up doing the yacht race anyway to prove to her father he was worthy. This is the essence of what the lady was telling him on the bench, some things are free-will others are destiny. You can fight your destiny with free will but destiny will get you in the end. I think of it like a number of lines running along towards a point but not touching, occasionally they all meet then diverge again. These meeting places are the major events that 'destiny' controls, the routes the lines take to those places are free will.
2. Dream/Island Talking
Why would the island talk to him to imply that time travel was happening ? Could it just be a way for the island to show Des his life would be no different as no matter what he did this is where he'd be now anyway and those bad descisions he made were not his to make anyway ? Those odd "easter eggs" like the painting in Widmores office, the numbers, the pinging of the microwave could be a shout out to the Usual Suspects. In this case the island is using things from the hatch to build the dream around.
Given either Lindeloff or Cuses comment in an earlier official podcast that time travel would never happen on LOST I suspect it's the island talking to Des.
Neither time travel nor the dream explains his future seeing on the island -- unless we believe that Des actually lived/dreamt/saw/was shown his entire life in the time he was unconscious after the implosion and we only saw part of it and Des can't remember the entire 'plot' but is getting to see flashes of the future. But then we get back into the whole time paradox thing. Des saved Charlie from the lightning and so reality changed so how could Des know about the drowning. Then Des later saw him drowning, now he's saved Charlie again and reality changed once more. I assume Des will keep seeing Charlie dying until he eventually does die. The only explanation I can think of is Des must be jumping from reality to reality without realising it as it's instantaneous, once he changes one reality it ceases to exist and a new one takes it's place and he sees the future from his current reality and still sees Charlie dying in some other way -- but like those lines leading to the same destination by jumping from one reality to another will not stop the event happening.
Does that make sense at all ?
Posted by: Mark B | February 19, 2007 at 04:18 PM
Random, but what happened to having message boards?
Posted by: Sobaika | February 19, 2007 at 05:36 PM
Am I correct in assuming the scene with Charlie in Desmond's flashback was Charlie pre-Drive Shaft? Or post? Kind of confused still.
Posted by: Cihan | February 19, 2007 at 05:43 PM
@ Mark B
surely if Des is jumping through different realities then he would be the only one aware of the alternative realities but this isn't the case as everyone else remembers when the lightning struck (i.e charlie's first death reality).
Posted by: nic | February 19, 2007 at 05:47 PM
Tails of the Gold Monkey!!!
I loved that show!!!
Posted by: I_Love_Sayid....and_Lostcasts | February 19, 2007 at 05:49 PM
@Cihan
Must have been pre-Driveshaft or Charlie would have said he was in the band when Desmond asked how he could hve known him.
Posted by: Mark B | February 19, 2007 at 05:49 PM
@ Cihan
Des broke it off with Penny, joined the military, was dishonorably discharged, did the trip around the world thing, and pushed the button for three years. I'm guessing this ep showed Desmond from around 8-ish years ago, so it looks like it was Charlie pre-Driveshaft. Plus he made the comment about drugs (meaning he hadn't taken any yet) and didn't mention the band at all.
@ The Podcasters
You guys got what the comments section was saying wrong - Desmond's friend WAS in Heroes, he was the doctor's friend.
Posted by: Sobaika | February 19, 2007 at 05:57 PM
Was it me, or was that one of the shortest casts ever? This was a massive episode, and i was really looking forward to a huge podcasts, really in depth... it felt like it only scratched the surface...
Roll on the midweek podcasts and a real forum, once its sorted.
Cheers.
Posted by: Neale in thhe UK | February 19, 2007 at 06:12 PM
A little random, but i wonder if Karl's last name will turn out to be Marx. It fits in with the whole philosophy/politcal thing, and the eyepatch man aparntly is named Mikhail Bakunin, who was a harsh critic and rival or Marx
Posted by: Hasan | February 19, 2007 at 06:12 PM
http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/blog/index.jsp?uuid=98807963-d16d-40af-92dc-4a49c80cc613
Some may have already seen this, but Kristin @ eOnline has an interview with the producers and they say some interesting stuff! Personallhy I'm looking forward to Sayid's episode, especially after what they say aboutot. It's about time to bring back his character!
Posted by: Sobaika | February 19, 2007 at 06:15 PM
Time Travel ??? Well look at this plane (after 1.03 seconds of the trailer) in this 1996 film...............
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116253/trailers
Posted by: Jur | February 19, 2007 at 07:09 PM