Flashes Before Your Eyes (308)

[Platschu]

Ok, he is not able to make time travel, but the visions have similar meaning to the viewers.

[g8torgurl]

He was hit on the head and woke up in the woods. I don't think we're meant to believe he continued reliving his entire life up to that point again.

Well, when he talked to Charlie, it seemed as if he had done it all before. He obviously knew what was going to happen, how else would he be able to say "You're gonna die, Charlie." with so much confidence?

Also remember we have no way to distinguish between whether he lived part of his life over again, or if it was all in his head (perhaps Demonds version of one of Locke's vision quests).

That, though, does make sense... Except, for Locke, he wasn't able to change things... He was given a hint that Eko needed help. Maybe he saw Charlie dead, yet that doesn't explain how he knew how and when to save Claire...

They better answer all our questions soon... so many keep popping up!

[Darren]

Very good episode -- I'm predisposed to liking it b/c Desmond has been one of my favorite characters since the amazing Season Two finale.

The time travel issue is a bit confusing. I suspect that the writers tossed it out there as a red herring, and that the simpler answer is the right one: he got imploded in the hatch, had a vision that changed him (not to mention the apparent physical/metaphysical changes from the key-turning that gave him precognition), and woke up.

As for Charlie: Technically I think Desmond doesn't know he is going to die. He hasn't seen a future in which Charlie dies that Desmond hasn't yet managed to avert. But his (internal?) experience with the old woman and Penny convinced him that the universe has a fatalistic way of course-correcting and making sure that things that are "supposed to" happen, happen. He's convinced Charlie is supposed to die because he's seen it and acted to avert it twice now.

And he's not sure how long he can stay one step ahead of fate. Can Desmond change the universe itself?

[ItsDan]

That, though, does make sense... Except, for Locke, he wasn't able to change things... He was given a hint that Eko needed help. Maybe he saw Charlie dead, yet that doesn't explain how he knew how and when to save Claire...

Well Locke DID get Eko back from the bear, but he was later killed by 'Smokey'. Much in the same way when Charlie avoided the lightning, he was later meant to drown, and now future events are foreshadowed. Perhaps if Locke hadn't done the vision quest, Eko would have died in the bear cave?

Also recall Locke has seen the past in his visions as well. He saw the plane crash. Now sure that wasn't of the same duration, didn't necessarily 'feel real' to him, and wasn't HIS history but that of an event which occured on the island, but the mechanism could still be the same.

When "Boone" spoke to Locke in his vision quest, it was quite similar to the way the old woman spoke to Desmond.

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

I've got to say Last night's Lost was different, especially the "flashback" with Desmond. I think it was a little bit too long, consecutively, I mean. I don't want Charlie to die, either.

[Scoobing]

I found the ep to be a little confusing in explaining what actually happened. However what I do like is that the writers have left the explanation entirely up to the viewer. We can either:

A: Believe this was all about time travel and that Charlie is destined to die

OR

B: Believe this is all in his head and he only THINKS that Charlie is destined to die

Felt like a bit of a cop out at first and very unbelievable but I actually enjoyed the ep, and liked what the writers had done...

[SaberBlade]

It's got to be B.

Desmond's mind was playing tricks on him, because there is no reason to believe that Death is out to get Charlie, that's way too much Final Destination.

If anything, Desmonds subconsious knew that he was still on the island, it even tried to give him clues like the microwave, so I believe he was trying to tell himself that he's still on the island. Desmond, not knowing what had happened when he "woke up" in the apartment created some time travel fantasy and how he could set things right (which is very Quantum Leap'ish) but his subconsious knew that no matter what happened, he'd still wake up on the Island and everything would be restored.

In the end, Desmond has some weird idea that nothing can be changed, so he thinks Charlie will die. If anything, I don't think the Lost creators would just come out and tell us that someone would die.

[SoulReaver]

We can either:

A: Believe this was all about time travel and that Charlie is destined to die

OR

B: Believe this is all in his head and he only THINKS that Charlie is destined to die

OR :

C: Believe this is all in his head and he only THINKS that Charlie is destined to die BUT...in the end charlie still dies, and so desmond is convinced that it's (A) even though it's just (B) + chance

duh

Spoiler:

btw charlie dies of a heroin overdose (good riddance)

Spoiler:

jk - made this one up -)

[Darren]

Or:

C) It was all in his head, but something really did happen to Desmond that gave him precognition. He knows fate is hunting Charlie.

Based on Lost's M.O., I think the fact that the writers came right out and put "Charlie, you're going to die" into the dialogue makes it very unlikely that Charlie is going to die. The deaths in the past have for the most part all been shockers the viewer couldn't see coming.

Or ... maybe that's what they want us to think, and Charlie is going to die because they knew we'd figure that out! Oooooooooh ...

[Skydiver]

it's probably Claire that's gonna die. Or the baby. Cause, well it's not like they have another post partem woman on the island to be a wet nurse. If claire dies, so does Aaron.

as to fate, well haven't everyone on the island - at least on the plane - ducked thier fate???? shouldn't they all be dead?

tv shows aside, a free fall from 30,000 feet tends to be rather fatal.

YOu could argue that they were all fated to die on that plane, and something kept that from happening, so the island is trying to 'fix' that on a near constant basis.

[jonno]

Intriguing. I am suitably confused. I think i'll watch it again before i try and work out what happened.

Overall, good to be back on the beach. Let's stay there for a bit now, please?


Oh, and, was it just me that found it weird when Hurley/Charlie was wondering whether they'd found Eko? It was so long ago, yet just a few Island hours.

[Nyarlathotep]

Fantastic episode - one of the best imo.

Really sucked me in and the change in the 'flashback' format was really refreshing - created the real wtf atmosphere that was present in the first season!

Need to watch it again - just hope the rest of the season maintains this quality

[Haze]

This ep. was an absolute head spinner. Loved it from start to finish. They fact that he went back in time was awesome. It opens up a whole new angle to the island. Some posters believe that its all a figament of Desmond's imagination, but if you think about it, it could be possible.

He detonates the magnetic anomoly, he takes the brunt of the resulting magnetic discharge, resets & activates unused part of brain that causes pre-cog abilities (Yes, I'm also a Heroes fan), hatch implosion knocks him out, also causes his conscience to go back to the most important moment in his life (because of activated pre-cognis), realises he's gone back in time, tries to change prior events, realises he can but not ultimately, gets knocked out again, reverts to present self while past self forgets the island memories as only present self has those memories therefor he can't change his fate (pushing the button), past self continues to live out as present self did.

There's a decent explanation, I think. You can start picking holes!

[sgeureka]

It's only now that I see why some people are so extremely excited about this episode. It never crossed my mind that time travel was/could be involved here (so that's what TPTB meant with time not being the same for everyone). I'm rewatching the ep now, and time travel (from Desmond's perspective) explains all of his not-on-island scenes, especially his confusion. I thought that Island!Des was telling the story of him after turning the key, having flashbacks to what happened after he fell off the ladder (with a resulting concussion) and having "flashforwards". Now that the key was turned, he is having flashforwards again.

In the end, Desmond has some weird idea that nothing can be changed, so he thinks Charlie will die. If anything, I don't think the Lost creators would just come out and tell us that someone would die.

Based on Lost's M.O., I think the fact that the writers came right out and put "Charlie, you're going to die" into the dialogue makes it very unlikely that Charlie is going to die. The deaths in the past have for the most part all been shockers the viewer couldn't see coming.

Or ... maybe that's what they want us to think, and Charlie is going to die because they knew we'd figure that out! Oooooooooh ...

I think, just like in most other Lost story arcs, by making it look like Charlie will die soon, Charlie will in fact not die in the next few episodes. But after everyone has forgotten about Desmond's precognition (maybe in S4), Charlie is going to meet his maker.

it's probably Claire that's gonna die. Or the baby. Cause, well it's not like they have another post partem woman on the island to be a wet nurse. If claire dies, so does Aaron.

I don't think Charlie and Claire are doing much for the mythology of the show, so one (or even both) of them might die sooner rather than later. But I doubt TPTB are gonna kill Aaron. They either make Charlie a foster Dad, or when (just speculating here) the Others have been established as honorable humans with fertility problems, one of the Other families is going to adopt him.

[ItsDan]

Sgeureka, the only problem there is that it couldn't have been Desmond telling stories, because he refused to tell Charlie. That's why at the very END Charlie insisted he tell him what happened.

Also the woman he talked to, and maybe this was just my interpretation, seemed to be talking about things such as pushing the button in past tense, since the man she was talking to had already done those tasks. She also made references to how the things he was doing weren't how they had occured the first time through. If this was just a story about his past, there wouldn't have been a "first time through".