Lost s04e05 Discussion - There Will Be Nosebleeds

I’m sure you’ll agree that this weeks episode of Lost was awesome. And not just in the sense of introducing every nerds favourite sci-fi element: Time Travel, but as standalone good drama. The whole Penny and Desmond thing is pretty much the only relationship I care about in the show, and his flashbacks/sideways always hang off that old ‘unrequited love’ thing that most people can relate to in some respect.

Didn’t Penny and Desmond meet up at the stadium while Jack was running around it, in 2001 or so? How come she didn’t ever mention his phonecall then? Either that’s something the writers are ignoring, or it questions which type of ‘time travel’ they’re subscribing to...

THE TWO TYPES OF TIME TRAVEL, ACCORING TO FILMS

1. You CAN change the past. Marty McFly CAN go back in time, change his father from a loser to a winner, head back to 1985 and find he’s a published author. He can also steal an almanac from 2014, head back to the 1950s, lose it to Biff, and return to a 1985 that’s all fucked from Casino’s and booze.

2. You CANNOT change ‘FATE’. John Connor has to send back his friend Kyle Rees to 1984, in order for him to have the sex with a pre-scary Sarah Connor and become his father. Likewise, Skynet sends back Terminators in time, parts of which are found by scientists, which lead to the development of Skynet! This theory is that if time travel EVER existed, it always has, and therefore it cannot be changed, as it already has been.

If the 2nd rule is the one that works, I’m hoping Future Rich Toby will come back any day now, with a cheque for a million pounds, so I can invest it, in order to become Future Rich Toby by 2030. Of course time travel is very silly, as it’s not really possible, but I think Lost did a good job of making it seem tangible in that it’s a ‘consciousness’ travelling about, and not ‘stuff’, which must be harder. But basically, you have to stick to one of those rules of Time Travel, and not fuck about with both. I would say that Desmond’s activity sits in the latter, but there are a few parts which make me think that they’re getting confused. Did Daniel’s book always have that note about Desmond, or was it added when he time travelled? Does this time travelling change the fact that Desmond met Penny at the stadium? All very confusing. I like to think that Daniel did just forget seeing Desmond, due to not wearing a helmet during those experiments, and that the series sits within type 2.

Ah! Remember when Desmond see’s the lady in the shop who refuses to sell him the ring when he ‘time travelled’ before? She says he’s not supposed to do it. That he doesn’t propose to Penny. Sounds very much like ‘fate’ to me.

Enough of that though.

Good to finally see the boat. Also, It was nice to hear Minkowski mention something about an ‘old friend’... I’m sure that was a big fat hint about Michael’s return.

Oh, and Daniel taught at Oxford, which is where Charlotte got her degree. I already got the feeling they’d shared more than just a helicopter journey together. Hello new island relationship! It’s all kept in for the girls, whilst us real men get a big fat lump of TIME TRAVEL.



Questions.
The whole ‘Time Differences’ thing. Bugs me. How can a projectile being sent arrive 31 minutes late, and this 40 minute helicopter journey take over a day, and yet both boat, island and Penny in England all be at Christmas Eve 2004? Unless only the area round the island is running at a different speed. But Daniel said ‘on this island’, not around it.

A ha!!! Remember how I said a couple of weeks ago that it being Christmas is going to be a key point. Penny could be experiencing a different, later Christmas. 2005 or 6. The calendar on the freighter could just be an old one. Or a trick to ease them back into reality safely. Charlotte seems aware that telling people about time differences may be too much to handle, so maybe various props on the boat are designed to keep survivors comfortable during the journey back to 2025 or whatever.

Actually, there is a discrepancy. On island, it should be Boxing Day, according to Lostpedia: http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Timeline:December_2004, and so it would imply that there is a slight time distortion, but it only amounts to 2 days. I believe this to be down to bad continuity in the show, and it’s supposed to be the same day. Christmas Eve is a better day for dramatic phone calls. Boxing day is rubbs, Penny would just be lying about bloated from all that DHARMA turkey.

I have gone on far too long now.

NAMASTE!