Happily Ever After

When I heard the title of this episode, I just assumed that it was about the sideways marriage between John Locke and Helen. Instead, it seems that it was an attempt by someone, Eloise perhaps, to make Desmond happy so that something didn't happen. Or doesn't happen. Or something. But the best laid plans...

So, to begin:

Desmond in 2004

Desmond is a different man in the sideways universe. He's a successful businessman employed by Charles Widmore, a man who thinks so highly of Desmond that he's willing to share his MacCutcheon whisky with him. Des is so satisfied with his life that he's not interested in the restaurants or prostitutes that Minkowski offers him. Desmond's satisfaction with his life is driven home by Widmore: You really do have the life. No family, no commitments. Oh,to be free of attachments.

Desmond might have continued believing this had he not been asked to babysit Charlie Pace. Charlie challenges Desmond's assertions of happiness, and essentially lands them in a marina, perhaps the same one where Ben shot Des? While trying to rescue Charlie, Des has what could be a hallucination - Charlie's hand with the message, "Not Penny's boat." Perhaps Des would have passed unscathed had he not been sent through an MRI for another electromagnetic experience. He sees images of Penny and his life with her. He's smitten. But confused.

Unable to wrangle Charlie for his charity concert, Desmond is ordered by Widmore to notify the dragon lady wife. She takes the news surprisingly well, but interrupts when Desmond tries to take a look at the charity ball guest list. He then hears something that sounds vaguely familiar to us, but not to him:

You listen to me. I want you to stop. Someone has clearly affected the way you see things. This is a serious problem. It is in fact a violation. So, whatever you're doing, whatever it is you think you're looking for, you need to stop looking for it...I don't know why you're looking for anything.You have the perfect life. On top of it, you've managed to attain the thing you've wanted more than anything. My husband's life...You're not ready yet, Desmond.

So what does he do now? He gives up, ready to drink his sorrows away. But he's interrupted by Widmore's son, Daniel. Who is as strange in the sideways as he is on the Island. Daniel points the way for Desmond to find Penny, his half-sister. She likes to exercise just like Jack and Desmond do. But unlike Jack, when Penny shakes Desmond's hand, Desmond faints. After agreeing to meet Penny for coffee, he asks Minkowski to get the manifest from Oceanic 815. Why? "I just need to show them something." What indeed, Mr. Hume?

Charles Widmore in 2004

Widmore is a man who appreciates a hard worker. Perhaps he likes Desmond in this sideways because Des hadn't met Penny yet. But he clearly lives in fear of his wife, finally sending Desmond to deliver the bad news about Charlie's absence.

What confuses me about Widmore in 2004 is that he doesn't seem as hooked into the alternative world as his wife is.

Charlie Pace in 2004

So Charlie's in LA to perform at a charity event with Daniel. But Charlie's attachment to the sideways world is just as tenuous as it was in LA X. He walked through traffic without a concern for his own safety. He bugs his babysitter:

Have you ever been in love? I'm talking about spectacular, consciousness altering love...[describes choking on the bag of heroin] and then I see her...a woman, blond, rapturously beautiful. And I know her. We're together. It's like we've always been...I've seen something real. I've seen the truth.

For some reason, he decides that Desmond must experience a near-death experience too, so he takes control of Desmond's car and drives them into the marina. After he figures out that Desmond did experience something, he tells Des, This doesn't matter. None of this matters. All that matters is that we felt it...Start looking for Penny.

At some point, I had to wonder, where the hell was Liam? He had been trying to get information on Charlie in Recon.

Daniel Widmore in 2004

In the sideways reality, Daniel is a talented classical musician who has never studied physics. However, he looks as uncomfortable in this timeline as he did in the other one. For some reason, he recognizes the importance of Desmond, and stops him, asking if Des believes in love at first sight. He describes seeing Charlotte Lewis and falling in love with her. After meeting her, well, "things got weird." He wrote complicated quantum mechanics equations in his journal (not the same one) that only someone who's studied physics their entire life could write. It makes Daniel realize: What if this wasn't supposed to be our life? What if we had some other life, but for some reason, we changed things?

And it appears that Daniel, who was probably responsible for the change to begin with, now wants things back to normal. He thus tells Des that Penny isn't an idea, but his half-sister.

Eloise Widmore in 2004

Eloise apparently manages to put fear into just about everyone around her, including her husband and Minkowski. Widmore was so scared of her that he ordered Desmond to tell her about Charlie's disappearing act.

Her servants certainly seems to be in awe of her. Desmond is expecting the worse, so he misses her expression of dismay upon meeting him. But she covers, and seems remarkably sanguine when given Desmond's news, telling him, "What happened, happened." But then she hears Desmond asking about Penny. The gloves are off.

Suddenly, we're back in Flashes Before Your Eyes, where Eloise clearly knows more about what is going on than just about anyone except the producers. She's angry, and clearly determined that Desmond continue his "perfect" life. But we're less clear this time on why, other than her belief that Desmond is not ready. For what? What has she done?

George Minkowski in 2004

Minkowski and Desmond shared a common problem in Confirmed Dead - their consciousnesses wee traveling around. Minkowski died, apparently because he had no constant, as Des did. Now he's a chauffeur, one who can connect a person with just about anything, including women. And airplane manifests.

I have to admit to wondering why Minkowski didn't chauffeur Desmond and Charlie around.

Jack Shephard in 2004

Jack's appearance is only remarkable for his surprise upon learning that two other people from his Sydney flight were at the hospital. Too much of a coincidence, perhaps?

Penny Milton in 2004

Penny likes to exercise, and doesn't seem all that bothered when strangers address her by name. She even agrees to meet this handsome stranger at a local coffee shop. I guess she decided to not attend her stepmother's charity event.

Desmond in 2007

No surprise that Desmond is unhappy to find himself back on the Island. His hostility and aggression prior to the electromagnetic experiment were all in character for him. But afterward...he's calm. He interrupts Widmore's explanation, asking, "When do we start?" He's extremely...understanding.

When faced with Dead-Eyed Sayid, Desmond's eyes appear a little maniacal as well, or perhaps messianic. I'm not sure which. Des tells Sayid, "Lead the way."

Charles Widmore in 2007

Widmore is almost apologetic about bringing Desmond back to the Island, but after being attacked, he tells Des, "I can't take you back. The Island isn't done with you yet." We've heard that before. And who decided that the Island isn't done with him yet?

Widmore wants to put Desmond through the electromagnetic experiment, despite a man's recent death in it. "If everything I've been told about you is true, you'll be perfectly fine." Then, "Once it's over, I'm going to ask you to make a sacrifice. And I hope for all our sakes, you'll help me." He lists his own sacrifices, all to his family - his dead son, his daughter who hates him, and his grandson whom he's never seen. But those sacrifices will be for nothing if Desmond doesn't help him because otherwise Penny and everyone else will be gone forever.

Why did Widmore do the experiment on Desmond? Because Des survived one catastrophic electromagnetic event. The experiment was to see if he could survive another.

Widmore is happy that Desmond survived the experiment, but continues to be apologetic. Was he surprised at how compliant Des was?

Thoughts and Theories

This is one episode that is full of suggestions and questions, all clearly leading up to the final episode.

We entered the sideways universe in a completely different fashion than we have heretofore. There was no hint of the sideways until the experiment started, when we suddenly found ourselves among the clouds. We then saw Desmond, looking either at himself or the location of his luggage carousel at LAX. We then stayed in the sideways universe, without fail, until Penny and Desmond touched. Suddenly, the experiment is over, without music or any other sign that we had returned to the Island. I thought at first that the experiment ended the sideways timelines. When we returned to it, I thought perhaps Desmond failed somehow by following Sayid. But now I don't think so.

It seems that the sideways timeline is a creation of sorts, I'm not sure by whom (Jacob? Man-in-Black? Eloise?), to perhaps keep Desmond pacified. Someone decided that this life they created for him was the perfect one, under the impression that his whole goal was to earn Widmore's respect, not Penny's love. But Charlie Pace interfered, or perhaps the Oceanic flight, and the worlds are now colliding in Desmond's mind. He knows now that something is not right.

He's not alone. All the Oceanic survivors appear to be aware that something is off, but Charlie is the first to experience a conscious awareness of the other timeline. He believes it is a near-death experience that gave him that awareness, so he helps Desmond connect to it as well. The only other party who appears to be conscious of the other timeline is Daniel. However, he had no near-death experience and was never an Oceanic survivor. He's just...Daniel.

But Desmond is not connected to the other timeline just by his near-death experience. Indeed, if that had been all, he might have succeeded in rationalizing it away. But he is asked to undergo an MRI, a process that includes the use of electromagnetic energy (recall the questions about metal?). The MRI connected him to the other timeline more clearly, as he saw his first meeting with Penny, and even the birth of their son. He didn't just see it, but he felt it. And he knew it was real.

What made Desmond return to the Island? Was it touching his constant? Was it the clarification that this is what his life's goal should have been? We don't know.

I don't know who Eloise is working for, but she does not appear to be working with Widmore in either timeline. Is she working for Jacob or the Man-in-Black? What sacrifice does Widmore want Desmond to make? What did Desmond understand after traveling through the electromagnetic experiment? Is he supposed to do something in 2007, 2004, or both?

So much to think about. I am curious as to what you might have thought.