Initial Reaction to "Happily Ever After"

Oh, brotha. I said that LOST would be picking up in the next couple of weeks and I'm happy to say that it definitely has. Desmond centric episodes are arguably the best of the series. You cannot deny that. You also cannot deny that the intelligent and sophisticated storytelling are not the only thing that makes the character of Desmond so uniquely and profoundly intriguing. Desmond's world is not only mythological, but it's emotionally charged in a way that is more realistic and intense than any other character on this show. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Desmond is the heart of this show. He is everything that makes it unlike any other show than there has ever been. It is not only because he has great importance to the mythology, but it's because he makes you laugh and cry and cheer for him when he gets a win. It is because, when Henry Ian Cusick is on screen and portraying the character of Desmond David Hume, you never want it to end. Not for a second. For someone that wasn't even on this show since the very beginning, I'd have to say it's pretty damn important for a character to have the ability to impact a show in such a way. For every moment that he's gone, there is something missing. Needless to say, I am glad to have Desmond back. Now, let's discuss our favorite Scotsman and yet another of his episodes that did not disappoint in the least.

From Lostpedia

Here are some of my thoughts, questions, and theories on "Happily Ever After" (Some of which were written while viewing the episode.):

Questions:

• What does Charles Widmore need Desmond for?
• Who told him about Desmond's special abilities?
• Where are Penny and Charlie?
• How can Desmond survive being exposed to electromagnetism? 
• Are Charles Widmore and his scientists experimenting with the Casimir Effect?
• When did Desmond become an employee of Charles Widmore? 
• What does Charlie see when he and Desmond are underwater?
• Was Charlie the first to see the other timeline?
• What is the violation which Eloise refers to? A violation of the rules?
• What is Desmond not ready for yet?
• What does Eloise know about the split in the timelines? How does she know?
• When did Eloise and Charles Widmore leave the island? Why? 
• Why is Penelope's last name Milton and not Widmore? Who is her mother?
• What sacrifice will Desmond have to make?
• Does Widmore know what happened to Desmond when he flashed?
• Why did Desmond go with Sayid?
• Must a near death experience occur in order to realize the split in timelines?
• Has Desmond flashed to the other timeline before?
• Will he gather everyone in the flash sideways and bring them to the island?
• Will Desmond become the next Jacob?

From Lostpedia

Notes:

• Desmond's eye in the opening reminds me a lot of Flashes Before Your Eyes.
• Charles Widmore tells Desmond that Penny and little Charlie are safe. I'll believe it when I see it.
• You're really sorry, Widmore? Really?! Somehow, I don't believe that any of that is true.
• The look on Desmond's face when Widmore says "I've brought you back to the island." is priceless. He's like "Oh, hell no!"
• Kick his ass, Desmond!
• I love how Brits say "scheduled."
• Good job by Jin asking questions. Someone needs to ask some damn questions.
• Uh.. how'd they fit all that stuff on the damn submarine?
• "This generator probably hasn't run in 20 years."
• These people are really over-the-top-nerdy.
• They're using a geothermal generator? Is it the Mini Hadron Collider?
• One of the machines had a "Gauss" reading which was also on the drill at The Swan site.
• There is a rabbit named Angstrom. From Lostpedia: The white rabbit's name is Angstrom. Harold C. "Rabbit" Angstrom is the main character in five of John Updike's novels (Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit at Rest; Rabbit Remembered). The novels follow the human themes of life, death, and redemption. 
• That dude got FRIED. Hey, at least he got a line.
• Widmore seems to have no concern whatsoever for the dead dude.
• "I know how this looks, Desmond. But, if everything I've been told about you is true, you'll be perfectly fine." Charles Widmore
• No metal on him? Uhhh.. Dude, what about his boots? Zippers? The dude is wearing pants. You might want to check that.
• "I hate to resort to forcing this upon you, Desmond. But, 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." Widmore "Sacrifice? What the bloody hell do you know about sacrifice?" Desmond "My son died here, for the sake of this island. Your wife, my own daughter, hates me. And I've never even met my grandson. But, if you won't help me, Desmond, all of it will be for nothing. Penny, your son, and everyone else, will be gone. Forever." Widmore
• I love how Charles Widmore acts as though he is entitled to something. You made your daughter hate you, dude. You don't get to meet your grandson with the way you treated his mother and father. No one owes you anything, brotha.
• "This man is the only person I'm aware of in the world who has survived a catastrophic electromagnetic event. I need to know that he can do it again, or we all die." Widmore
• Desmond flashes to his reflection in a Oceanic Airlines arrival board at LAX. So, he was on the plane afterall.
• Hurley tells Desmond that their bags are on Carousel 4.
• I loved the Claire and Desmond interaction.
• "Well, you're braver than I. I'm not a big fan of surprises." Desmond
• You should've taken up Desmond's offer there, Claire. Then you wouldn't have to have run into crazy Kate in the taxi cab, on the run from the law.
• "I bet it's a boy." Desmond
• Wow. George Minkowski! That's awesome. He was one of the last people that I expected to see. I didn't expect them to go that far in bringing old characters back. I always thought that Fisher Stevens' time and George Minkowski's character's role was far too short lived.
• Desmond isn't married, but he was wearing a wedding ring in LA X. What's up with that?
• Come on. Who didn't know that Desmond's boss was going to be Charles Widmore?
• It looks like Dessie and Charlie Widmore are just the best of friends.
• Widmore says that Desmond was in Australia closing a deal for him.
• "You are aware that my son is a musician?" Widmore
• "Have you heard of a band called Drive Shaft?" Widmore
• Who didn't know his son was Daniel Faraday?
• "She will, simply put, destroy me." Widmore
• Eloise wears the pants in the family. 
• "You really do have the life, son. No family. No commitments. Ah, to be free of attachments." Widmore "I'm a blessed man, sir." Desmond
• Desmond finally gets to have some MacCutcheon's.
• "Nothing's too good for you." Widmore
• Charles Widmore has two paintings much like the style of the one in his office in Flashes Before Your Eyes. These two are almost identical, and of a scale and the black and white rocks. One is light; one is dark.
• Widmore also has a model ship in his office. Much like the one that Desmond shipwrecked on the island.
• "I've got a great job, lots of money, get to travel the world. Why wouldn't I be happy?" Desmond "Have you ever been in love?" Charlie "Thousands of times." Desmond "That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about spectacular, consciousness altering love. Do you know what that looks like?" Charlie "I wasn't aware that love looked like anything." Desmond "I've seen it, mate. On the plane back from Sydney." Charlie "Is that so? Well, we were on the same flight, so maybe I saw it too." Desmond "Trust me. You didn't." Charlie "No? Enlighten me." Desmond "There was this woman. Two rows in front of me. In handcuffs, sitting with a cop. He looked at me, knew I was holding. If I didn't take action, I'd be caught. So, I got up, went to the lav, proceeding to eliminate the evidence by swallowing my stash. And at that exact moment, we hit turbulence. I choked. The entire bag of heroin was stuck in my throat. It's over. Everything starts to go dark. I'm slipping into the abyss, and then I see her. A woman. Blonde. Rapturously beautiful. And I know her. We're together. It's like we've always been and always will be. This feeling, this love. And just as I'm about to be engulfed by it, I open my eyes and this sodding idiot is standing there, asking me if I'm okay. But, I saw it. Just for a moment, I saw what it looked like." Charlie
• That sodding idiot would be Jack.
• "Well, that's just poetry, brotha. You know, you should write a song about that." Desmond
• "I've seen something real. I've seen the truth." Charlie 
• "You have a choice." Desmond
• "Doesn't really seem like a choice." Charlie "There's always a choice, brotha." Desmond
• Desmond sounds like Jacob in that scene.
• YOU ALL EVERYBODY! Wow. I haven't heard that in a long time.
• "Do you like it?" Charlie "Sure, for what it is." Desmond
• Desmond doesn't seem to be much of a fan of music. This Desmond is kind of bland.
• Is that the Long Beach Marina? The same one that Kate met Jack, Ben and Sayid at before they went back to the island, where Sun showed up with Aaron, and where Ben shot Desmond.
• Step on the bloody brakes, brotha! Seriously, no one ever does this in TV or movies. Okay, I know this is fiction, so I'm just going to have to accept it and move on.
• WTF Charlie?! Whoa. NOT PENNY'S BOAT. That was pretty damn cool. Also, pretty damn creepy. Totally freaked me out, but loved it at the same time.
• Desmond tries and succeeds on saving Charlie's life AGAIN. Seriously, this is his life's work.
• I'm not sure, but it appears as if Charlie also is seeing something while they are underwater. He is calm, sitting there with his eyes closed, as if he is dreaming. I'm thinking that you can see the other side any time you are near death, so he might be seeing Claire again, or something else from the other side.
• Also, what the hell are those people on the dock just doing standing there watching Desmond save Charlie?
• The close up of Desmond's eyes and the doctor checking them in the hospital reminds me of almost the exact same thing that happened in The Constant.
• The doctor asks Desmond if he's had an hallucinations. He's not sure. She wants to do an MRI of what's going on inside his brain.
• Another dude asks Desmond if he's carrying any metal. Seriously? Dude, he's wearing a hospital gown!
• The same dude, Nurse/Lab Technician tells Desmond to "Try not to press the button." That's impossible! We all know that he's going to press it. You spend three years on an island pressing a button every 108 minutes and then stop and see if you can not go around pushing any button you can find.
• It only takes 30 minutes for an MRI? Seriously?
• Inside the MRI machine, Desmond sees Charlie's death, Penny when they first met at the Monastery, Penny after he was denied by Widmore to ask Penny to marry him, Penny giving birth to little Charlie, Charlie and him on their boat when they went back to Great Britain, and when Penny and he were reunited on the Searcher after the island disappeared.
• Desmond presses the button. The MRI machine sounds like the Smoke Monster.
• Desmond looks for Charlie in the hospital. He runs into Doctor Jack Shephard and asks him for help. He says they were on the same Oceanic flight from Sydney. Jack remembers him.
• "He was on our plane, and now he's here in the hospital?" Jack
• Jack seems to think this is a weird coincidence. Obviously he hasn't been watching the show.
• Charlie running through the hospital in his gown is hilarious. Glad we didn't have to see his ass, though.
• "You saw something, didn't you? In the water? What was it? What are you looking for, mate?" Charlie "Who's Penny?" Desmond
• "This doesn't matter. None of this matters. All that matters is that we felt it." Charlie
• "So, you've never met the boss' wife, huh?" Minkowski "No." Desmond "Good luck." Minkowski
• Don't mess with Eloise's butter knives.
• Eloise has never met Desmond, but she appears to recognize him.
• "It's a travesty we haven't met before now. It's about time." Eloise
• "What happened, happened." Eloise
• The building in the background has archways, much like the Monastery and Oxford.
• "Milton, Penny. Solo."
• All of a sudden, Mrs. Widmore turns from pleasant to very snappy when Desmond wants to see the list of guests coming to the charity event.
• "I want you to stop. Someone has clearly effected 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." Eloise "Do you know hat I'm looking for, Mrs. Widmore?" Desmond "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 wanted more than anything: my husband's approval." Eloise "How do you know what I want?" Desmond "Because I bloody do!" Eloise "I need to see that list, or you need to tell me why I can't." Desmond "You can't because you're not ready yet, Desmond!" Eloise
• How does Eloise Hawking know so much? In The Variable, she told Penny that "For the first time in a long time, I have no idea what happens next." So, how does the Eloise in the flash sideways know? Was she just lying to Penny? Does she know that Charles Widmore took Desmond back to the island? Is she the one that told him Desmond is special? Come on, Eloise. ANSWERS!
• Who didn't know that the guy playing the piano was Daniel?
• Can we please find out who Penny's mother is? It's probably not even important, but it always makes me wonder if it's someone we know, or somehow important, considering they've made it a point to never show her. I wonder if she's even alive because it seems as if Penny has no relationship with either of her parents.
• Also, another thing about characters they haven't shown. I may be wrong on this, but I think that Desmond might be the only character that we haven't seen as a child and know pretty much nothing about his family. All we know is that he took care of his three brothers after his father died. I've always been curious to know where exactly Desmond has come from.
• "That bad, huh?" Minkowski "Is there any alcohol in this car?" Desmond "Oh, yeah. Whatever you need." Minkowski
• Daniel Widmore talks to Desmond. You can see his reflection in the car window.
• I'm sorry, but I'm still calling him Daniel Faraday. Daniel Widmore just sounds weird. 
• Also, very hipsterish, Daniel. He's even wearing his tie again.
• "Do you believe in love at first sight, Mr. Hume?" Dan "Excuse me?" Desmond "First time I saw her, I was walking through this museum a few weeks ago. She works here. She was on her lunch break. She was eating a chocolate bar. She has these incredible blue, blue eyes, red hair, as as soon as I saw her, right in that moment, it was like I already loved her. And that's when things got weird." Dan
• Daniel shows Desmond his notebook with pages that look very similar to the ones in his notebook that he brought to the island.
• "That same night, after i saw that woman, I woke up and I wrote this." Daniel
• Real time--Imaginary time
• "What is it?" Desmond "I'm a musician. I have no idea. So, I took it to a friend of mine at Cal Tech. He's a Math whiz. He said this is Quantum Mechanics. He said these equations are so advanced that only someone that had been studying Physics their entire life could have come up with them." Dan "So, what do they mean?" Desmond "Okay. Imagine something terrible is about to happen. Something catastrophic. And the only way to stop it form happening is by releasing a huge amount of energy. Like setting off a nuclear bomb." Dan
• "What if this, all this, what if this wasn't supposed to be our life? What if we had some other life, and fro some reason we changed things? I don't want to set off a nuclear bomb, Mr. Hume. I think I already did." Dan
• "You felt love." Dan "That's impossible because I don't know anything about this woman. I don't know where she is. I don't even know if she exists. She is an idea." Desmond "No, Mr. Hume. She's my half sister." Dan
• How does Daniel Faraday know so much about what happened? Did he have a near-death experience? Are only those who effected the change able to recognize the split?
• Seeing that stadium again and Penny doing the Tour de Stad gave me goosebumps. Also, just simply seeing Penny again ain't so bad in itself.
• There was no flash sideways sound when Penny shakes Desmond's hand in the stadium to him waking up back on the island.
• Widmore says that Desmond was only unconscious for a few seconds.
• "Your talent is vital to our mission" Widmore
• "I understand. You told me you brought me to the island to do something very important. When do we start?" Desmond
• Sayid busts in with his Ninja moves, but why does he tell Zoe to run?
• It appears as if Desmond has already lost everything, so he isn't scared of anyone.
• "I shook your hand and then you fainted. I must have quite an affect on you." Penny
• "Have we met before?" Penny "I think we'd have remembered it if we had." Desmond
• "I just fained in front of you. I'd say we're even." Desmond
• Since when can Limo Drivers get manifests from International flights? Oh well, I'll just role with it again.
• "I just need to show them something." Desmond
• I loved hearing Desmond and Penny's theme again. It's my favorite on the show.
• If you die or almost die in the flash sideways or in the island time, you see a vision of your life on the other side. Both Desmond and Charlie did so. On the island, Juliet appeared to see the other side when she told Sawyer that "it worked" and that they'd have coffee. Perhaps, Sun will be the next to figure out what's going on between the two timelines.
• In The Beginning of the End, Charlie appeared to Hurley at Santa Rosa. He told him "I am dead, but I'm also here." It is possible that Charlie somehow traveled and appeared to Hurley from the other timeline.
• It may be possible that Desmond can use The Lamp Post to figure out where the island is in time before it sank to the bottom of the ocean.
• For the record, I really feel bad for Desmond. Out of everyone, he deserved to have a happy ending and to stay off the island so that he could be with his wife and child. The dude spent years stuck there, pressing a button, and now he just gets brought back against his will. He shouldn't have to do any favors for Charles Widmore. The dude has done nothing for him except cause him heartache and grief for years.
• If Desmond's story ends without Penny or Charlie, I don't think I'm going to be very happy at all.
• I'm really glad that I didn't look at the guest stars for this episode.
• It was really nice to see Sonya Walger back on the show. 
• Also, Henry Ian Cusick deserves an Emmy. Enough said.

It's a fact; Desmond David Hume transcends both space and time. His episodes are always game changers. They take the story that we've finally become acquainted with and they turn it upside down. They are heart and science and mythology and frustration and sadness and joy and heartbreak and love put together into one fantastic character story. They are following your heart and wearing it on your sleeve, while never being bound by the space time continuum. They are facing your worst fears and all of your dreams coming true at once. I've always said that Desmond and Penny's love is timeless and the most true relationship on this show. It's the only one that I find I can relate to, because love isn't perfect, nor is it easy. Desmond and Penny's relationship is empathetic because it's flawed like real relationships are. The character of Desmond is also so easy to relate to because he is flawed and because he faces true human struggle, and like some, when faced with adversity, he has tenacity to reach his goals. Do I have a man crush on Desmond? Maybe, but if Desmond has taught me one thing, it's that love is all you need...