The only true constant in the world of Lost is that the episodes have always been riveting and tonight was no different.

Here are the talking points:

  • Numbers

    • I’ve missed you, numbers. I’m glad you’re back.

    From Faraday’s 2.342 @ 11hZ to Penny’s address (423 Cheyne Walk, from Find815, natch) I loved all the original number-y goodness.

    New numbers to consider:

    Penny’s London phone number: 7946 0893
    The Black Rock’s sail date: March 3, 1845
    Desmond’s constant: December 24, 2004

    All good stuff. Hopefully smarter folks than I will start piecing together some of the physics involved and let us all in on the secret.

    Which brings me to …

  • Daniel Faraday’s genius

    • Besides still having the signature skinny tie and the whole Vincent Vega vibe (nice hair!) 1996 Daniel Faraday is one smart cat.

    He describes to Desmond that what he (Des) and Eloise are experiencing is less themselves time-travelling than their consciousness phasing. I think. ;-)

    I don’t know how that works out, but it may explain why Daniel cried when he heard about the wreckage of Flight 815 or why he felt compelled to work on the boat/island mission.

    I’m also curious about this whole idea of a paradox.

    Daniel mentions that it would be “so uninspired” when he doesn’t believe Desmond.

    The producers said they want to avoid the paradox issue when dealing with time-travel (see Entertainment Weekly article from last week’s post).

    I’m no scholar on all things concerning Science Fiction time travel, but I do (vaguely) understand the paradox and Lost’s paradigm of consciousness projecting across spacetime gets around some of the nastiness about “meeting” your former self or being your own grandpa.

    But it’s still thorny and my head still hurts.

    Suffice it to say that this may be one of only a handful of episodes that didn’t actually feature a flashback or flashforward, at least not in normal Lost terminology. What we “saw” was happening simultaneously for Desmond up until the point when he “solved for x” in his equation, substituting Penny as his constant.

    I apologize for the force algebraic metaphor. I think I’m close. Keep me honest.

    I’m also more than a little unclear about changing the future. If Faraday (1996) was correct in telling Desmond that you can’t change the future then the message “If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant” must have ALWAYS been in Faraday’s notebook.

    Perhaps his own strong exposure to radiation had him jumping/dreaming/time-travelling since the day he first successfully experimented on Eloise, but he forgot about any “meeting” with Desmond, chalking it up to a dream or something.

    Desmond’s exposure to the Swan Hatch Blast certainly started his premonitions, could Faraday’s experience be that much different?

    I may be reaching.

  • Ben’s Man on the boat

    • Is the radio saboteur and the person who freed Sayid, Desmond and Minkowski the same person?
    Why weren’t the Freighties allowed to accept incoming calls (like Penelope’s)?
    Why did Minkowski say “can’t get back” before dying? Was this due to his lack of constant? Other than Faraday having Desmond as a constant what other individuals - Other, Lostaway, Frieghtie - are having or could/will have this kind of experience?
    Why would merely coming closer to the island affect someone in this way? Did the explosion of the Swan hatch have a larger implication?
    What made Penelope begin her search for Desmond in 2001?
    Why was Hanso selling the log of the Black Rock? Why did Widmore buy it? What does it say?
    Why is retracing the exact route so important and what do we make of the storm/thunderheads?

This one was really, truly dense. It may take another few viewings of this episode to truly unpack all the details and implications.

Anyone catch a detail I missed? Was Keamy’s tattoo important/symbolic?

Please comment, I’m dying to chat. Maybe we should do some live Twittering or a podcast in the future. Let me know.

G’night!

Bonus late-night link: Last week’s Powell’s blog post. Worth the investment if you yearn for Eggtown knowledge.