Unstuck in Time

Last week’s Lost was a slight let down compared to the previous week’s mind-blowing Sayid centered episode. However, last night’s awesome Desmond episode more than made up for it. Desmond’s last episode was one of the best of last season, if for no other reason than the introduction of time travel possibilities on/from the island. Last night’s episode went even further.

While flying on the helicopter, Desmond suddenly flashed to eight years ago, when he was in the army. Unlike most “flashbacks,” however, Desmond seemed to actually travel from 2004 in the helicopter to 1996. When he returned, he had no memory of anything that happened in the last eight years, or the island. This led to a lot of confusion, twists, and time travel philosophy – all of which resulted in a great episode. There was little focus on the actual island, but it didn’t really matter.

Faraday
Something is clearly up with this guy. We already know he is a little “off” and have seen hints of his memory problems. Now, we learned that this is probably the result of time travel himself. After the current Faraday instructed Desmond to find him in the past, we learned that his past self has a perfectly working memory and seems quite smart. He even wondered why his future self wouldn’t remember Desmond. I am guessing that Desmond’s visit led him to start experimenting with time himself, resulting in the memory gaps.

The Black Rock
In 1996, we saw that Charles Windmore was buying a journal from the first mate of the Black Rock. Since this is the boat sitting on the middle of the island, we know it probably contains secrets about all the weirdness of the island. More interestingly, the previous owner was the Hanso family. This explains why Hanso founded Dharma to experiment on the island. It also suggests that Windmore had started looking for the island as well, and is probably responsible for the team on the boat. I don’t know if this explains who Ben is working for exactly, but it certainly answers a lot of questions.

Happy Ending
The last three episodes of Lost have ended with some type of “twist” at the end, along with reveals about the future. This episode had a simple happy ending. After past Desmond begged past Penny to give him her phone number, future Desmond was able to call her. Since we know Penny has been looking for Desmond for the last three years, and we know that Desmond has considered her his “constant” even before he was told that term. So, the fact that they connected at the end was really a beautiful moment.

The Time Thing
Two weeks ago, we were given hints that time moves differently off the island than on. Yesterday, it was revealed that off the island is December 24, 2004, the same time as on the island. However, it took a day and a half for the helicopter to get to the boat, even though the flight didn’t take that long. Also, Faraday pointed out that the Losties perception of time might not match reality. My new theory is that TIME is the same on and off the island, but some type of force field around the island causes it to take awhile to get there.