"Flashes Before Your Eyes" -Episode 3.08-

Greetings!

I hope this message finds you well. My head is still spinning from this episode as it was such a pivotal point in the show. Of course it was very LOSTesque and yet completely different from anything we have seen
before. I think it represents Desmond very well, and how he differs from everyone else on the Island.

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Season 3 — Episode 308
"Flashes Before Your Eyes"

Oh where to begin.....Well, in the spirit of a new episode format, I'll try something different too. Let me just tell you what I think happened in this episode and what I believe is happening overall...

While I was at first confused by this episode, I've come to the conclusion that it was pretty straightforward — "Flashes Before Your Eyes" was
Desmond's interactive flashback. Right after he turned the failsafe key (or right before, I haven't decided), Desmond's life flashes before his eyes (hence the episode name) and he relives two extremely important (and painful) days from his life prior to crashing on the Island. This might seem obvious, but at first I was looking for something that wasn't
there. I wanted it to be some crazy time traveling episode where LOST presented something completely unexpected...but eventually I realized that by giving us a straightforward episode, that's exactly what they
were doing.

This flashback was the earliest in Desmond's life that we've seen. This is how I understand his life so far: He has been with Penny for two years and goes to ask Mr. Widmore's permission for her hand in marriage. After being denied, he breaks it off with Pen and eventually joins the military (the Royal Scots?), after which (an unspecified amount of time) he goes to jail for "following men's orders." He is released and he meets Mr. Widmore again and is told that he can never contact her or see her again. He then begins to train for the race (to prove he is a great man), enters, and crashes on the Island. He spends three years there, mostly with Kelvin, and then meets our LOSTies. After the computer is destroyed (the first time) Desmond goes to find the sailboat and disappears for two weeks. He shows up again just in time to turn the failsafe key (after the computer is destroyed for the second time...this time for good!) and has his crazy-real flashback. He wakes up in anguish as he realizes he is back on the Island...but he is changed...significantly...as he can now see "flashes" of the future.

What led me to the conclusion (at least for now) that it was simply a flashback (and not some sort of timp loop or time travel) were the old ring-selling woman (which I believe to be Desmond's subconscious, as he mentions) and the Dharma/Hatch elements incorporated into it — Pen saying "the end of the world," the microwave beeping, "delivery for 815," the Mama Cass song, the art in Widmore's office, etc. Desmond simply relived/dreamed/hallucinated the most important days of his life right after spending three years in that hatch. So it's kind of like when you fall asleep watching a movie and have a dream with lots of
elements of that movie.

Some people are claiming this episode confirms the time loop/time travel theory, and "Flashes Before Your Eyes" certainly can support this. I've read theories that say every character is in a time loop and that's why eerie things happen like, for example, Locke predicting when the rain would start and stop in season 1, Walt showing up all over the place, etc. Some also believe that the flashbacks we see are not entirely truth, but instead are memories based on fact and influenced by what is currently happening on the Island. So when other characters show up in pre-Island flashbacks, they were "placed" there by the person and are not what exactly happened. And that's what memories usually consist of — part fact, part what we wanted, or didn't want, to happen.

The other major theory this episode brought to life is alternate realities, which is based on the time loop theory. If these characters are living the experience over and over, Desmond might have created an alternate
reality by purchasing the ring and/or warning the bartender and getting hit in the head. But as we learned. the universe has a way of course-correcting — so does that mean the bartender would have eventually
"paid his debt," and Desmond's interference would not have mattered as much? Des did throw the ring away...

I am not turning down these theories yet because, while they may be a
little "out there" right now, it seems that LOST is heading deeper into the science fiction realm. And I like it. I'm ready for it to get really weird and abstract and continue to "kill off" casual viewers. But I am not convinced of the time shifting quite yet. I think the evidence still allows us to live in the somewhat believeable world and see Desmond's experience as a flashback.

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As far as what is happening on the show as a whole...I believe we are just now entering the real mythology of the Island. Our LOSTies are just one small piece of the puzzle. While we got to know them very well, they are
many other entities on this Island. Season 3 will focus on the Others, season 4 on another central entity/mystery, with (hopefully) season 5 as the finale. The LOSTies will continue to be integral to the mysteries of their new home but there is a much bigger picture.

The Hanso Foundation is still involved. There is an interactive game, The LOST Experience (which consists of puzzles, video clips, bogus websites, etc.), that provides an alternate storyline. It occurs in the present (2006-2007) and tells the story of how Alvar Hanso was recently in jail (possibly because of what he was doing on the Island, or possibly because of his colleagues). The game will not change anything that happens in the show, since it takes place after our LOSTies' experience is over, but may provide insights on what exactly The Hanso Foundation is all about. This is assuming, of course, that there is an end to their experience...

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Well that's all for now, folks. Hope you enjoyed the episode! I can't wait to see what the writers have up their sleeves!

Namaste.

SFO