REVIEW: Lost Season 6 Episode 11 "Happily Ever After"

I don’t know why I enjoy episodes of Lost that focus on Desmond. It might be Desmond and Penny’s relationship or just the great performances by Henry Ian Cusack. Whatever the reason, this was a solid Lost.

**Warning Spoilers Will Happen Below**

If you want a synopsis of the episode head over to LostPedia.

Overall Experience and My Theories...
We start this episode minutes after last week’s. Which is exactly where I wanted it to start. We also got a classic, “Lost eye shot” focused on Desmond. It brought back great memories.

Widmore has big plans for Desmond. It’s not completely apparent what his full intentions are, but they seem, at this time, sincere and righteous. What we have seen of Widmore in the past says otherwise. He has always been conniving and selfish. All of a sudden it seems as if he is selfless. If there is anything this episode did it painted Charles Widmore in a different light. Him and Desmond seemed to be getting along. I think the future will reveal the importance of their relationship.

We also get an appearance by a jerky and seemingly suicidal Charlie. Crazier than ever he walks across traffic, almost gets run over about three times, drives Desmond’s car into the drink, and runs rampant through a hospital. It seem those mind altering drugs have put his brain on a different plain. More on that in a minute.

Desmond “The Constant” Hume is still jumping from universe to universe. This time it was all a part of the plan or at least a part of Widmore’s plan. We find out that Desmond was on the plane and wasn’t some sort of apparition. Some people speculated that Desmond wasn’t really on the plane when we saw him in the opening episode of the season. I did think it was a little weird that he appeared and then we never saw him again that episode. He’s real guys.

Desmond and Widmore, in the flash sideways, are good co-workers. They even exchange a hug and appear to genuinely respect each other. Desmond is Widmore’s go to man. Widmore even trust him to look after a bloody rock god. Charlie becomes a huge pain to take care of and eventually drives Desmond off a dock and into the water. This is when it all gets interesting. Just like in the episode, “Through the Looking Glass” Desmond starts to see Charlie drown. Charlie even puts his hand up to the glass. Desmond flashes and sees written on Charlie’s hand, “Not Penny’s boat.” Desmond doesn’t understand it but he feels it. After the crash Desmond and Charlie are taken to the hospital. Desmond is placed into a MRI machine. The strong electromagnetic forces flash pictures of Penny in his mind, but at this point, he doesn’t even know who Penny is. He’s never met her. But these events urge him towards searching her out.

What is Desmond’s role in the end of this saga? My opinion is still that he is the constant between the two universes. Essentially Desmond is the rubber-band that’s going to pull the universes back in sync. It appears that Charlie has also been experiencing flashes. It could be the mind-altering drugs or something else completely.

Towards the end of the episode we meet up with Daniel Faraday now named Daniel Widmore. We also find out that Daniel has been having flashes. At first I thought it might have been because of Daniel Faraday’s intelligence quotient. As I thought a little more, I figured it had to be something different.

So what is it? One word, love. In all the instances of someone flashing love was the link. I think love is the one thing that can’t be held by demential barriers. Charlie started flashing when he saw Claire, Daniel started flashing when he saw Charlotte, Desmond passed out when he shook Penny’s hand, and even Kate’s mini-flash, in the second episode of the season, happened when she glanced at Jack.

I was so happy to see Penny and Desmond together. I also think their relationship is going to be Desmond’s driving force. It has always been his beautiful desire.

Eloise Hawking, known as Widmore in this episode, is still her creepy self. It’s interesting to see her trying to avoid a meeting between Desmond and Penny. I think she is orchestrating something very sinister. I even believe she may be responsible for the alternate universe. I think it’s also completely possible that the Eloise we see in the flash sideways is the same one we see in the regular time line. I believe she is behind, in some way, what ever is going on. I’m not sure what her place is, but it’s at least questionable.

All in all this was a really good episode. Is it “The Constant” caliber? I don’t think so, but it’s still a solid episode. I think it may be the best episode this season. This episode not only tugged on my heart strings but gave us good hard clues into the mystery of Lost.

Crap Index:
We see a fried body and a beat up Desmond. There was a little blood here and there but for the most part it was a clean episode in regards to violence. Cursing was a little more than previous episodes but was not on the same level as a Sawyer episode. Watch out for a few “D” words and “H” words. If the word “Bloody” bothers you it’s said plenty of times.

I think the best thing in this episode is the way love is shown as something that can break through anything. It knows no bounds. Not even separate dimensions can stop it. I think it’s a great illustration of the love of God. Romans 8:38 says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Love is a divine invention given to us by the creator. Not even Science Fiction can deny its power.

My Question for you is: What do you think Eliose Hawking’s role is? Is she sinister and at least partially responsible or is she just weird? Give me your theories in the comments.

O.E. 8.9

C.I. 7.5

GameTrust Recommendation: 8.2

Submitted for your approval- Ivey Rhodes