Lost #100: "The Variable"
The inexorable Incident inches incrementally closer.
Or does it?
To quote Elizabeth Berkley: “There’s never enough… time.” It’s a mission statement for the whole show now: the writers scramble to wrap everything up in a handful of remaining episodes, the Losties can’t make a plan before Dharma explodes into action around them, and the hectic scientist struggles to test his theories before it’s too late. Time waits for no one.
And what’s your stereotypical “Mad Scientist” except someone who bristles with frustration at the limitations on his work? (There’s no time! I must inject the serum/fire up the gamma radiation/etc.!) For a man dabbling in the temporal, any waste of time is a horrible thing. In true comic book fashion, Daniel Faraday has been forced to test his experiments on himself. The first shot his memory through time and made him the most absent-minded person in an absent-minded profession. The second ensured his earlier heartbreak. The third got him shot dead. For all his talk of variables being able to change the inevitable, the inevitable caught up with him first.
All of this begs the question: why did Eloise Hawking send her son off to die by her own hands? What experiment is she performing here?
I still think we haven’t seen the last of Faraday. We’ve been told that his time is the most precious commodity, so all that time off the island in the 70’s was not wasted… I’m sure he was setting some plans into motion.
Nothing in this episode made me think it’s going to be possible to change a person’s destiny or future. That look in his dying eyes may not have been a feeling of betrayal, but a horror that everything that happened was meant to happen. Mom was right. It was interesting that Daniel creeped out Charlotte while she played on a swingset. Swings are chained to rock back and forth and nothing else, the only way to alter that is to destroy it.
Comments
I wish that episode was twice as long. I haven’t taken it all in yet.
My thoughts and ideas reposted from elsewhere:
So which scenario seems more likely now:
Jack seems convinced that they should carry out what Daniel wanted. So Jack’s going to try to orchestrate the hydrogen bomb plan. He’ll nearly pull it off, but will be foiled at the last minute. But some consequence of Jack’s failed plot will actually be what really caused the Swan incident, and it will become obvious that the incident probably never would’ve happened without Jack’s interference. Then season 6 gets to be about how they still failed to change the past and are living in an inescapable loop.
or…
Jack actually succeeds and somehow manages to get the h-bomb to go off. The season ends with a massive explosion that was conveniently happening at virtually the exact same time that the group of Losties had convened with young Eloise who was trying to get them back to 2007. We have a cliffhanger, not knowing who traveled to 2007 and who was potentially on the island when the bomb went off. The season 6 gets to be about how the future is completely different because they finally changed the past.
On a personal level, I think the show ending in a loop would not be as unsatisfactory as 99% of the viewing population would. It’s the most satisfying scientific outcome for me, which is what I’d prefer. It would leave the characters (and viewers) with a sense of utter hopelessness, which would be the most accurate depiction of our insignificance in the universe and I’d find it to be a fascinating and thought-provoking way to end things. But it’s also why I think it is highly unlikely to actually happen on the show!
I thought the Eloise/Widmore scene outside the hospital was probably quite important. She obviously cared about her kid a lot, and you could tell how much it was killing her in the scene where he asked if going on the freighter would make her proud. I think this episode made it apparent that Widmore and Hawking are working for something much greater than personal gain. I think neither would’ve sacrificed their children if they were just in this island game for personal gain. They must have a much bigger purpose that we don’t yet understand. I’ve been very neutral thus far in taking a side in the Widmore/Ben debate, but that is the first time I’ve felt I had legitimate reason to put Widmore on the side of good. So that’s where I’m leaning now.
Here’s something I was confused about (probably due to a slight lack of paying attention to some earlier episode):
When did Faraday leave the island to be able to come back on the sub? He was in the same flashback/forward loop as Sawyer/Juliette/Miles but didn’t they leave him in the jungle with dead Charlotte? So when did he leave the island to be able to come back as one of the sub scientists?
And did Mile’s dad say “You arrived with Le Fleur.”? Why don’t I remember that?
Also, does anyone else hope that the loose cannon security dude who looks like Frank from 30 Rock eats it in a big, horrifying way?
Also, does anyone have any insight as to why Eloise was/is working with both Ben AND Widmore?
Kevin said:Here’s something I was confused about (probably due to a slight lack of paying attention to some earlier episode):
When did Faraday leave the island to be able to come back on the sub?
I’m pretty sure it was mentioned that he was simply allowed to leave to go to Ann Arbor (in 1977) to do some research. I guess he somehow proved his scientific abilities to the Dharma folks and they thought he could be useful at HQ. Wouldn’t Chang/Candle then not have looked at Faraday so incredulously when he approached him at the Orchid, though? You would think that Chang would have known about Faraday’s abilities and respected his ideas, or at least would have known him as more than just some guy who showed up with LeFleur.
Yeah, they didn’t leave him in the jungle with Charlotte. He came into DHARMAville with Sawyer’s group and was assimilated as part of his Lafleur-Black-Rock-Search-Team lie.
Forgot to mention I saw a few instances of the numbers popping up last night. 108 in particular, which was appropriate with the talk of the Swan being built. The Wired magazine on Daniel’s chair referenced an article on page 108 and the metronome count was 864 (108 * 8). There were likely others that I missed. I was surprised the sonic fence code wasn’t a numbers reference.
I don’t remember him going into Dharmaville with the rest of them, but like I said I could have missed that. But then why did they treat him getting off the sub and saying hello to Miles as this big “OMG!!!! IT’S FARRADAY!!!” reveal moment.
Do you recall the scene where he saw young Charlotte for the first time? That was when they were being assimilated into DHARMAville – if you remember that scene, then perhaps it’ll job your memory about Faraday being there.
I assume nobody expected him to come back to the island after he’d been gone three years doing research. I can imagine they’d be surprised to see him after 3 years when they’d probably only known him a few weeks before he left.
Yeah, now I do remember that. I keep forgetting about the 3 years passing things.
Man, if this 108 thing comes to be the key to all of this, I’m hoping the finale has everyone converting to Hare Krishna, and for a Rob Fish or Vic Dicara guest appearance.
crickets chirping
As long as Ray Cappo stays off Lost, I won’t complain.
Okay I didn’t read any of this. Last graduate school sessions for the year are this weekend. I’ve been busy. I thank you, Justin, for picking up the slack!
It seems like Eloise knows quite a bit about Faraday’s importance at his young age. She was fully aware of his crazy math abilities and then said, “If only you could” in response to “I can make time.”
“Love to trade theories about this but…” Hahahahaha.
I’m guessing that making fun of Dr. Cheng was done to make sure he sent Miles off the island?
Aww Juliet and Sawyer like each other.
The Dan and Widmore thing answers a lot. And I have this deep feeling that I should have a bunch to say about it.
Holy crap I don’t recall ever experiencing that much gunfire in an episode before.
Definitely getting a manipulative vibe from Eloise with her memory-handicapped son. All I keep thinking is that Faraday is stuck in some time loop.
Well now that was quite an open explanation by Daniel. But what? They are only going through this long mission just to make sure they don’t go through this long mission? Buuuh?!
This older crowd of Eloise and Widmore sure have some weird shit going on.
Oh damn! Dan’s dead! Do the other Losties like Kate and Jack try to set the H-bomb off for him? Or, with his death does the Hatch-construction-prevention mission die too?
My brain’s been itching with the idea that, while he might be wormfood now, Faraday still experienced some epiphany while he was still alive that resulted in the yammering, more anxious person that returned on the sub. He likely filled important mainland heads with certain information. His legacy might, somehow, be the mysterious third group that’s arrived upon the island in 2007.