Daniel Faraday and Charlotte Lewis - Season Five

I've now moved on to the dearly departed. Other than John Locke, Daniel and Charlotte are the only other main characters who died this past season. Unlike John, we don't know Daniel or Charlotte very well, and we're not very sure if we'll see either character this upcoming season. Unlike our other couples, this one never became a "real couple", seemingly never getting further than the crush stage.

I'll start with Charlotte. We learned a few things about Charlotte this season, namely that she lived on the Island as part of the Dharma Initiative from (at least) the ages of 3 to 6, when she left with her mother because of the predicted Incident. We don't know if she was born on the Island, but I think it unlikely since the Initiative tried to have babies born off Island. We also don't know at what age Charlotte arrived on the Island.

Before she left in 1977, Charlotte was approached by "a crazy man" who told her she had to leave the Island and never return, otherwise, she would die. As we know, Charlotte grew up, became an anthropologist, found the skeleton of a polar bear in the Tunisian desert, and did everything she could to return to the Island. Perhaps Daniel's warning made it more enticing for her?

Unfortunately, as someone who spent at least three years and probably more on the Island, Charlotte was the most affect by the time flashes, and John was unable to fix the donkey wheel in time to spare her life. Before she died she told Locke all he needed to know to find the Orchid. She also warned Daniel about his warning. When she died, her body stopped moving along with time. We hardly got to know Charlotte before her untimely death. I don't think those gaps will be filled in this coming season.

Daniel's story was much more complex. No surprise that he has parental issues. He was apparently conceived on the Island, the child of Eloise Hawking and Charles Widmore, both leaders of the Others at one time or another. Presumably born off-Island, Daniel was raised by his mother to believe that he had a special destiny, one that required his unwavering devotion from childhood to achieve. He wasn't allowed to follow his passion of piano, instead, focusing his energies on science. A genius, he was the youngest doctor to graduate from Oxford.

To his mother's consternation, Daniel was dating another student. What she didn't know was that Theresa Spencer would become Daniel's lab rat, as he sent her brain through time so much that it eventually never stopped. Theresa eventually became a bedridden invalid, cared for by her sister. Widmore paid the bills.

Daniel left Oxford, and in response to Daniel's experiments on Theresa and himself, Oxford deleted all records of his time there. As far as we know, Daniel, also suffering from the effects of his experiments, became an invalid as well. Perhaps his caretaker was also paid by Widmore? We don't know. But Widmore knew how to find Daniel, and gave him an offer: a trip to a miraculous Island that could cure him. Later, his mother encouraged him, saying that she would be proud of him if he were to go. More on that later.

The Island did indeed seem to cure Daniel. His memory improved, as did his social skills. He took charge when the freighter exploded, guiding the Zodiac raft back to the Island. He tried to find solutions to their problem, and approved of Locke's plan to find the donkey wheel. When confronted with a nuclear weapon on the Island during a time trip, he explained how to contain it. Sadly, he also diagnosed Charlotte with what I can only call time-travel sickness.

In Season Four, it was obvious that Daniel and Charlotte were fond of each other, and we continued to see their platonic love for each other in Season Five. Daniel was clearly protective of Charlotte during the time flashes, and when asked by Richard why Daniel could be trusted, he said truthfully, "I'm in love with the woman sitting next to me." He couldn't do anything to hurt her.

It was at this time that we met a young British hostile, Ellie. Ellie was given the task of escorting Daniel to Jughead. He looked at her at one point, saying, "You look familiar."

I presume that Daniel recognized Ellie as his mother, but given his memory problems and his less than familial relationship with his mother, he might not have. How odd to have met his mother long before he was conceived! In the meantime, many bloggers speculated that Daniel had an affair with Ellie (before we found out she was his mother) and Charlotte was the result. The love Daniel had for Charlotte was more paternal than erotic. However, I never believed it. Daniel was clear - he was "in love" with Charlotte, and he said it with an unusual intensity that convinced me his feelings were love and not just paternal. It turns out I was right.

Daniel was devastated by Charlotte's death. He was found crouched over where her body had been, and had to be coaxed by Juliet to go with them. He walked like a zombie, clearly unaware of what was going on around him. The only thing he noticed was a three-year-old Charlotte walking by him with her mother.

We don't know what happened to Daniel during the three years Sawyer, Miles, Jin, and Juliet lived with the Dharma Initiative. At some point, he took a sub off the Island, and studied at Ann Arbor. He only returned upon finding out that Jack, Kate, and Hurley had returned.

For some reason, Daniel's studies after the last time flash led him to question the principle of the immutability of the past - the "whatever happened, happened" belief. Destiny did not exist, because humans are variables - they can change the outcomes of things. Humans have free will. Jack Kate, and Hurley (and Sayid too) were not supposed to be in 1977. And the Incident was hours away. A small nuclear bomb should be able to negate the energy of the Incident, and no one would have to push a button, so that Desmond would not once fail to press it on time, resulting in the crash of Oceanic 815.

But the episode The Variable contradicted Daniel's new beliefs twice. Daniel has promised himself that he would not approach the young Charlotte about not returning to the Island. But upon his return to the Island from Ann Arbor, he could not prevent himself from telling her what her future would hold. He started her on the path that would result in the one thing he was trying to prevent. Why couldn't he stop himself? Because it had already happened and there was nothing he could do to stop it?

Yet, this holds no emotional cards in comparison to the final scene of the episode. Daniel knew he would have to seek his young mother out to get access to Jughead, a vital part of his plan to negate the Incident. As leader of the Hostiles, Eloise was well guarded, so Daniel felt the need to come armed. He approached Richard Alpert, who wisely knew Daniel would not harm him. But Eloise didn't see that. All she saw was her helper, her guide to the Island, held at gunpoint. She then shot Daniel.

And Daniel looked up at her face, recognized her, and realized what she had done. The older Eloise, the one who had told him she would be proud of him for returning to the Island, knew exactly what she was doing. She knew even then that she would shoot him. In a sense, Eloise committed homicide, not necessarily in 1977, when she thought she was protecting one of her own, but in 2004, when she encouraged him to take Widmore's job offer. Eloise has known since 1977 what destiny is - a confluence of events that must happen, even if it is the last thing she wants to do. She was even pregnant, presumably with Daniel, when she killed him. As heartless as she appears to be, it is obvious she is devastated by this.

Daniel never knew Widmore was his father. He was probably better off for it.

The Actress

Charlotte Lewis was supposed to be an American, and rumors abounded that Kirsten Bell of Veronica Mars was a shoe-in for the role. I think it was probably better for Bell's career that she didn't take the role, as the role would have been a little too close to the character of Veronica Mars. When Rebecca Mader auditioned, the producers were so impressed with her that they made the character British.

I don't know how Mader took Charlotte's death, and thus her own firing, but she certainly didn't like being blamed for a mistake made in the character's age. In Season Four's Confirmed Dead, Ben announced that Charlotte was born in 1979. However, she was about 3 or 4 in 1974, so this information was obviously wrong. In a podcast following LaFleur, the producers were asked about this discrepancy. They alleged that Mader had a "diva" moment and insisted that Charlotte be no older than herself. Fighting words. When Mader found out, she announced on her Facebook page that this was not true and was "NOT COOL". The producers later apologized and acknowledged that the error was totally their own.

Likelihood of Return

I can't predict. I don't know if the hard feelings Mader has been resolved by the producers' apology. I also don't know what role the character would play. Sadly, Charlotte was never given the opportunity to be more than an obsession of Daniel's.

The Actor

Indy-fave Jeremy Davies has turned Daniel Faraday into a cult character. I could find no interesting gossip or news of his recent work.

Likelihood of Return

He's got to. There's no choice. He has to explain to us all what is going on.