It's this year's "The Constant," and it's the strongest episode of the season. Episodes like "Ab Aeterno" were marvelous, but "Happily Ever After" simply blows them out of the water in terms of scope. The flash-sideways timeline, which we'd been seeing throughout the year, was proven to be more than just a possibility. And this episode marked the triumphant return of the Sayid breakneck special, although the said necks were unfortunately not snapped with Sayid's feet.
The episode centered on Desmond Hume, who finally returned to the series after having been gone since "LA X, Part 1." Even more importantly, he returned to the Island, where he hadn't been since season four's "The Economist." And boy, when Eloise Hawking promised Des that the Island "wasn't done" with him yet, she was telling the truth. The Island definitely has big plans in store for Des, especially with the flash-sideways timeline.
Part of these big plans were orchestrated by Charles Widmore, who was surprisingly friendly to Desmond when he broke to him the news that he had returned to the Island. He only seemed a little agitated when Desmond started bashing him in the head with the metal IV stand. Seems to me like Widmore really wants something from ole Des. And that something is Des's consciousness.
In fact, he and his lackies force Desmond into a generator room at the Hydra station, with two sizeable electromagnets on each end, and Desmond in the middle. Desmond's self-preservation instincts kick in here, because he just watched the Subbies carry out the charred body of someone who had been unlucky enough to get caught in there while the machine was being tested. However, they tie him to a chair, and after Widmore explains to Desmond that he believes he will survive, they leave, lock the door, and flip the switch. Desmond gets zapped all the way to 2004 (and an alternate one at that!)
Desmond spends the first part of his flashback in LAX (no space), where he has just landed off 815. I guess this confirms that he really was on the plane, and wasn't just an apparition, as many speculated due to his sudden disappearance from the seat next to Jack. That's one mystery solved.
One mystery that wasn't solved by the episode, however, is why Desmond always seems so creepy when he's talking to women. His encounter with Claire was awkward at best, and when he offered her a ride, I was surprised that she didn't pull out her pepper spray on the spot. She's a pregnant girl, Des! She's not going to take a ride with any strangers! Except--Kate. Oh.
The second example of awkward Desmond occurred later in the episode, when he met Penny at the stadium (running the tour-de-stade, like he did in "Man of Science, Man of Faith"). "Are you Penny?" he asks, shakes her hand, and passes out. I'm surprised she wasn't gone when he woke up.
Of course, the best part of the episode was the returning cast members from seasons past. There was Minkowski, who was Des' slightly odd limo driver in the sideways timeline and the freighter's temporally displaced communications officer in the original. Of course, Charlie and Daniel returned in very important roles that were absolutely the best reappearances of any characters on the show. Ever.
Charlie Pace might have been a junkie when he got off the plane, but as soon as he got off, he became even more spiritual than season one Locke. See, his near-death experience left him very enlightened. He apparently saw himself from the original timeline with Claire, who he could tell he loved. He then proceeded to jerk the wheel from Desmond and swerve them into a nearby bay, nearly drowning them. Desmond escaped, but as he went back down to rescue Charlie...something happened.
We all knew it was coming, and it was still amazing. Charlie turned around, but his hand on the window, and Desmond flashed back to Charlie's death scene from "Through the Looking Glass." Though Charlie's hand is clean in the sideways timeline, he sees "Not Penny's Boat." Of course, he doesn't have much time to reply -- he's drowning.
After a download of memories triggered by the magnetism an MRI machine (he sees Penny several times), Desmond confronts Charlie, who is delighted that Desmond saw it (what he describes as true love) too, but he couldn't care less about the concert. That leaves Desmond to go deliver the news to Eloise Widmore (still married to Charles, unlike the other timeline) who actually turns out to be really kind to Des, despite everyone's apparent fear of her.
That is, until he hears the name "Penny," and asks to see the register. Eloise proceeds to tell him he's "not ready" to find what he is "looking for." Apparently, Sideways Eloise is a member of the Karma Police even without the Island. However, Eloise might not be willing to spill, but Daniel certainly is. He follows Desmond, and explains to him that he's had similar feelings of love toward a girl who worked a nearby museum. He's talking about Charlotte, obviously, who we last saw in the sideways timeline telling off Sawyer. Maybe she'll end up with Dan in the alternative timeline, because things didn't quite work out so well for either of them in the original timeline.
"This is where it gets weird," Daniel tells Desmond, and it does. In the sideways timeline, without the influence of the Island, Daniel became a classical pianist like he always wanted to be. However, after he woke up and discovered he could write some very complex quantum equations, he thought that maybe something wasn't quite right. He then says some pretty strangely accurate stuff, meaning that the bleeding memories between the two timelines is a little stronger than we might think. He seems to know about the atomic bomb.
Desmond, after going to meet Penny, passes out in the middle of the stadium, like I mentioned before. He wakes up on the Island, where he seems to have realized and accepted his duty. He's much more agreeable, something that Zoe mentions seems odd as they're walking back from the Hydra station.
And then BOOM! In swoops emotionless Sayid, who kills all of the Subbies but Zoe, who he tells to run. (Why run? Why didn't he just shoot her there?) He tells Desmond that they need to go, and Desmond seems to be pretty cool with it, brotha.
In the sideways timeline, Desmond is doing anything but going with the flow. After getting a date with Penny, he tells Minkowski to go and get a manifest of all the people on Flight 815, because he has to "show them something."
The episode was exceedingly fantastic, especially with all the returning cast members. However, unlike previous flash-sideways characters like Keamy and Mikhail, Charlie and Daniel actually made a huge difference in the overall story. Something's going to happen to make these two timeline's merge, I'm sure of it. I just can't wait to see that happen. A+
Totally agree with you!!! Best episode so far… let's see what happens next!!
Sam… Tonight's episode was EPIC!!!! It everyway, shape and form. Things are finally starting to come together with both timelines. Happily ever after meaning the life the losties "thought" they wanted. Desmond has his approval from Widmore, Jack's daddy issues put to rest, Hurley being lucky. The scene where they're in the water and Charlie puts his hand on the glass, and Des flashes to the other timeline I seriously shouted HOLY SHIT!!! Knowing that Des is going to get the list of the 815 manifest makes me think it's going to mimic the life and death of Jeremy Bentham. In the sense where Locke tries to convince the Oceanic 6 to go back to the Island, Desmond is going to have a hell of a time trying to convince those guys what's he's trying to convey just as Locke did. There are still questions, obviously… Like how does Eloise know about the parallel life? Why was Desmond so willing to go with Sayid? Where the hell is Walt and when will he return?? Ok, not really anything to do with tonight's episode but it's still heavy on my mind. The most interesting thing to me is to see in the alt timeline, Des trying to talk to Jack seeing how he'll be his old "man of science" self. I can't wait for the last hours of the best tv show created!!!!!!!!
[...] My good friend and Lostpedia sysop, and TVOvermind contributor, Sam McPherson summed up exactly what I was feeling at the end of this episode: “It’s this year’s ‘The Constant,’ and it’s the strongest episode of the season. Episodes like “Ab Aeterno” were marvelous, but “Happily Ever After” simply blows them out of the water in terms of scope.” (Read his full review here.) [...]
THIS is why the actors should be coming back for the sideways. Not just cameos. Loved it.
(Posted this over at Doc's, thought it was worth pasting here too): I was both afraid they would do this and satisfied that they would do this. I’ve seen so many stories (Terminator, Back to the Future II, X-Men comics) where the goal was to re-write the future, which sum’s up the previous season of LOST, and almost as many stories where the goal was to repair the past (Back to the Future, Quantum Leap, Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Yesterday’s Enterprise”) which now it seems sums up this current season. Most of the gang on the island don’t know they succeeded in re-writing history, and now sideways Charlie, Daniel and Desmond know and feel that their reality is somehow “wrong.” The idea of parallel worlds always comes down to three or four hardcore philosophical questions: Is there a RIGHT universe? If Quantum Mechanics says a universe is created whenever I make a choice, then do my decisions matter? What does that mean for my immortal soul? Heaven and Hell? And at the heart of LOST lately, what does that say about DESTINY? PURPOSE?If/when Jack faces sideways Jack, for example, will our original Jack be satisfied with the outcome of the hydrogen bomb being detonated? Or will he want another do-over? Or will he see what our Locke was trying to tell him all along? That the Island and Jacob wanted the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 there because doing so would bring them purpose, fellowship, love, redemption, renewed faith and hope.
Actually, I wonder if he will have as difficult a time as Locke did as Bentham. Perhaps the power behind his taking on a similar role will be in the contrast created. Locke had to convince them intellectually. All Desmond has to do is to get them to recognize what's going on inside them (or he has to make them experience something akin to what he, Charlie and Daniel experienced). As for Jack, he doesn't seem to be the same "man of science" he is in the island world. He seemed genuinely comforted by Locke's comment that he hadn't lost his father. I don't think Island Jack would have found that comforting, just possibly irritating. And did you notice how struck Jack was that Charlie and Desmond were in his hospital? I'll bet something's brewing inside Jack as well.
[...] TV Overmind [...]
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I don't think Sayid kills woman, He hasn't before that we know of.