Lost: All You Need Is Love

“Through the Looking Glass” (the shocking introduction of flash forwards, Charlie’s beautiful death, “WE HAVE TO GO BACK!”) is my all-time favorite episode of “Lost.”

“The Constant” (the series’ most romantic and emotional episode) is in my top 5.

“Flashes Before Your Eyes” (“I’m sorry because…no matter what I try to do…you’re gonna die, Charlie”) is in my top 10.

“Happily Ever After” - the latest episode of “Lost” - was basically a mash-up of those three episodes.

So, yeah – I kinda liked it. But besides giving me a severe “Lost” geek-gasm, “Happily” was notable for finally forging a clear connection between the Island world and the Sideways.

I’m not one of those people who have been down on the Sideways world. As someone who’s seen every episode more than once, I found it fascinating to see the variations between each character’s choices in the original Island timeline and in the Sideways reality. More importantly, I have COMPLETE faith in this show’s writers. I realized they needed about 10 weeks to establish where everyone is in their Sideways iteration (once we get the Hurley episode next week, we’ll be done with the major characters), and that things would really kick into gear right after that.

That’s why it was a pretty pleasant surprise to get such a game-changing episode (seemingly) a week early.

Desmond has always been told that the Island wasn’t done with him, and we’ve always been told that the character is “special” and that the “rules don’t apply” to him, but I just want to know what Henry Ian Cusick did to/for the writers that they decided to consistently make him the centerpiece of some of the greatest episodes in the show’s remarkable run.

Other than a cameo at the beginning of the season premiere aboard Oceanic 815, and a brief appearance at the end of last week’s episode, we haven’t seen Desmond at all this season.

It turns out that Charles Widmore picked him up from the hospital after Ben had shot him on the pier, drugged him, and brought him to the Island against his will. Desmond wasn’t amused and proceeded to beat Widmore down with his IV feeder.

Widmore remained intensely calm and downright hospitable during his Island interactions with Desmond, which was surprising given how much he hated Des and how little he thought of him. I can’t decide whether it’s because Widmore needs Desmond to achieve his mission or because Widmore knows precisely what Desmond is going to have to do. (And it’s not pretty.)

There was plenty of talk of sacrifice. Widmore informed Desmond that he’d have to be willing to sacrifice, which made Desmond scoff because a Richie Rich like Charles wouldn’t know anything about sacrifice. Widmore shot back that he’d sacrificed his son’s life and any relationship with his daughter and grandson. I actually found this oddly comforting. When there was talk of Desmond making a sacrifice, I immediately assumed he’d have to give up Penny and baby Charlie. However, Widmore has already given up Penny and Charlie. To make Desmond do the same would be downright redundant, and I don’t think the writers would go there.

The reason Desmond was so important was because he was the only person Widmore knew that had survived a catastrophic electromagnetic event. (Turns out Simmons, the Widmore lackey who got fried in Widmore’s electromagnetic chamber, isn’t quite as special.) Charles strapped Desmond into a rickety chair that was reminiscent of the one in “Jacob’s” cabin, and appeared to zap him into nothingness.

The next thing we saw were fluffy, serene clouds, and Desmond checking out his reflection in LAX in the Sideways world.

After a helpful run-in with Hurley, and a brief (flirtatious?) scene with Claire, we learned a bit about Sideways Desmond. First off, he’s the kind of guy who gets picked up at the airport by slightly lecherous drivers. (In this case, it was Freighter radio operator and fellow time/consciousness traveler George Minkowski.) It turns out he’s Charles Widmore’s right-hand guy, worthy of drinking Chuck’s expensive MacCutcheon scotch and of receiving a hug.

Charles gave Desmond the very important task of picking up a very petulant rock star from jail and escorting him to his son’s bizarre classical/rock music for Widmore’s wife’s concert/charity event. Of course, the musician was Driveshaft bassist Charlie Pace, who we last spotted almost chocking to death on Oceanic 815 and continued his death wish ways by walking into traffic.

The two had a drink, and Charlie explained that he hadn’t been trying to kill himself. He’d spotted Kate’s U.S. Marshal escort, panicked and tried to swallow the drugs. Instead, the plane hit turbulence and Charlie almost died. In that near death state, Charlie had what he believed to be a vision of love involving an all-encompassing and rapturous blonde woman who disappeared when he was brought back to life.

Unfortunately, Sideways Desmond, the complete opposite of Island Desmond, had no use for love. Or did he? When Sideways Des was describing his jet-setting life, he didn’t seem too convinced that he had it all that good. I wonder if the character was always meant to have felt that unease or if it was a result of his more romantic Island consciousness being zapped into his brain via Widmore’s machine.

Either way, Desmond was driving Charlie to his gig, but Charlie decided he had something to show Desmond and made their car plunge off a harbor. As soon as I saw the car go into the drink, I had a dreadful flashback to “Through the Looking Glass.” (Oh no, it’s happening again – Charlie’s going to drown.) My mind went to how Mikhail got shot in the eye last week, the idea being that the character was always meant to wear an eye patch, no matter what reality he was in. I feared Charlie was meant to drown in whatever world he existed.

That’s why it was so exhilarating to see Desmond take a deep breath, and go back to rescue Charlie. Inexplicably, (almost as if he were possessed) the formerly unconscious Charlie woke up and re-enacted his “Not Penny’s Boat” pose, giving Desmond a jolt. That jolt got a lot stronger later at the hospital when Desmond was in the MRI machine, and he got flashes of his Island life. (Electromagnetism really does funny things to this guy.)

Another run-in with Charlie (after a brief stop with Jack) revealed that Charlie had been having similar inexplicably visions. The only thing left to do was for Desmond to find Penny.

But first, he had to break the news that Charlie wouldn’t be coming to Mr. Widmore’s allegedly terrifying wife. Eloise Hawking (now with poofy white hair) seemed to take it well, and was happy to get Desmond on his way. On his way out, he heard a “Penny Wilton’s” name on a guest list and decided to inquire. This is when Eloise got rapidly testy and shooed him away by telling him he’s not ready to hear the information that he wanted and that what he was doing was a “violation.” He had everything he wanted, but he STILL wanted more, she scolded. I was giddily reminded of the scene in “Flashes Before Your Eyes” where Eloise berates him for buying an engagement ring for Penny, because it deviated from his pre-ordained button-pushing destiny on the Island. Most provocatively, this all but guarantees the fact that Eloise Hawking has some working knowledge of the Sideways world and may even be behind its creation. (Maybe Charles is in on it too.)

Desmond was about to give up his Penny-finding mission until he was intercepted by a peculiar young man named Daniel Widmore. I love that, even in the Sideways reality, Faraday won’t take off that damn tie!

Anyway, Daniel informed Desmond that he’d had visions himself, of a beautiful redhead with striking blue eyes (I’m assuming he wasn’t visualizing her getting nailed by Sawyer) and that he’d written a complicated physics equation, which was weird because he’s a musician, not a scientist. Daniel also shared his suspicion that the reality they lived in was counterfeit and that he’d probably had a hand in creating that fake reality by detonating a bomb. (Damn I’ve missed the acting stylings of Jeremy Davies.)

Most helpfully of all, Daniel was able to tell Desmond where to find his half-sister Penny. It turns out she runs stadiums in the same place Jack and Desmond did their exercise in the Island world.

The wide shot of Desmond approaching Penny in the stadium was gorgeous and their introduction was sweet. Under normal circumstances, it’d be creepy to have a guy you don’t know come up and start talking to you in an empty stadium, but it’s almost as if Penny and Des intuitively knew they were lovers in another lifetime.

When they shook hands, Desmond had a “Constant”-esque consciousness trip and woke up on the Island with a clear head and a willingness to help Widmore. I mean, the guy didn’t even mind when Sayid killed a couple of guys, told Zoe to get lost, and kidnapped him. The Desmond at the end of this episode seemed to know exactly what he had to do on the Island.

So did the Desmond in Sideways world. He scored a coffee date with Penny (will they go dutch?) and asked Minkowski for a copy of the Oceanic 815 flight manifest, presumably to do for them what Charlie and Daniel did for him. I’m guessing his first stop will be Jack, since he knows the good doctor was on the flight, and he knows where to find him.

It appears as if the Sideways world, despite what the producers said about both worlds being equally viable, IS an alternate world to the Island reality. What remains to be seen is if each character’s ultimate mission will be to escape the not-so-bad alternate world or if this “Matrix” of sorts IS their ultimate destination. Then again, maybe it’s both. Maybe the ultimate goal is to take all their Island experiences and redemption and apply them to their not-perfect but mostly-better Sideways realities.

I also think it's remarkable that, despite all the scientific mumbo jumbo and religious Big Ideas, the link between the two worlds is simply love. (Desmond and Penny, Daniel and Charlotte, etc.)

So what’d you think of this episode? How long can you hold your breath? (Not as long as Demsond, I’ll tell you that.) What other direct examples can you think of the Island world bleeding into the Sideways world? (I’m thinking of Claire yelling out the name Aaron during her false labor, despite not knowing the sex of the baby.) Finally, where do you rank “Happily Ever After” on the list of best episodes of “Lost”?