Not a bad episode. But it was a bit of a Matrix, Hero's rip off. As for the answers next week, they'll probably answer 3 and have 300 more questions.

Great episode. I was starting to lose faith in the show, but this was a very good episode. I am intrigued about the promo playing during the credits that says it will answer 3 big questions. I'm reallly looking forward to next week!

Yeah, and not as fucking annoying. Oh, and as the big train pointed out - ample.

A good episode which was ruined by a damn radio promo earlier today that included Desmond saying his last line to Charlie!! I try to avoid previews but the radio caught me off guard. Bastards.

I'm just glad they answered one question this week. Desmond's precognition being the result of his life flashing before his eyes when he turned key.

I really enjoyed this ep as well.

Did anyone notice the name on Charlie's sign when Desmond ran into him? It said Charlie something, but I missed the last name. There were some other things written on it, but I don't know if they were important.

if someone could get a screen cap of Charlie's sign, perhaps they could also get one of the giutar -- looked like there were a number of stickers on it

I think this episode's flashback took place A LONG time ago in the Lost timeline.

Charlie busking on the street singing "Wonderwall" puts it well before Driveshaft was formed. And if Desmond has been in the hatch for three years, that also puts him arriving on the island sometime in late 2001 which is also close to the time when Juliet arrived at the island. And Desmond still has to join the military and do some time in the pokey. (Which would also put it well before Charlie got hooked on smack.)

The way I see it, there are three possibilities for what happened in Desmond's flashback:

1) He became unstuck in time like Billy Pilgrim. So he's moving around back and forth in the timestream.

2) Those events really happened exactly as shown in his past, and he's had the ability of premonition all along.

3) He gained the ability to see the future when he turned the key, and his whole flashback was just a dream of his past off the island with elements from the island bleeding in. (Some things really did happen; others are a fabrication like "The Usual Suspects.")

Something just occurred to me after watching it... since the ring lady knew who he was and what he was going to do AND if they're introducing a time travel element into the mix, that could mean she's someone we already know from the island. Like an older Claire or Kate.

That scene on the bench where the lady was eating chestnuts and talking to Desmond about fate was straight out of Reloaded.

"FUTURAMA"

One of; if not THE best episode of LOST ever. I'd love to see how this did in the ratings after a really great episode last week that didn't rate well (by LOST standards). I need to sleep on this one and wake up tomorrow to pick up all the pieces of my brain off the floor.

I'm surprised by all the 'best episode ever' posts. It was alright, but I really didn't think it was all that great. I fully expect the whole time travel/seeing the future thing to play a decent-sized role in a small story arc and then never be mentioned again. Just like everything else in Lost.

Agreed. It was still an improvement over the terribly dull episodes I've grown accustomed to this season. A few more like this, and the season might not be a total loss.

I hadn't thought about that, but she made comments about him not having any greater value other than pushing the button (a comment Penny's father also implied) - wouldn't that nix her being anyone the came to the island after he did?

I still think that she was sent to that time - which means that Dharma also knew that (when he turned the key) he crossed into our reality, but at an earlier time.

Maybe this isn't at all about parallel universes, but more like one giant feeling of Deja Vu (kinda like the movie). Desmond even said it when he woke up to find himself on the floor of his flat.

If Dharma knew that he "jumped", they would know that he would probably try to change things to keep himself off of the island and with Penny. So, they send the lady to a point that they know he will arrive at (buying the ring) in order to talk him into - or out of - doing things differently.

This episode has absolutely messed me up in terms of what I thought the situation was, and where things were heading. Now I'm left with the thoughts that maybe Dharma somehow learned to control "fate" and can direct it in whatever way they desire.

This show is insane!

One of my favorite episodes in the series. Up there with the Eko / John character episodes and the S2 Season Finale.

Charlie's sign was "Musical Stylings of Charlie Hieronymus Pace - Donations Accepted"

I thought Fionnula Flanagan's casting was pitch-perfect.

And I'm sure you guys noticed that in the pub the Mama Cass song was playing.

desmond david hume ... i believe david Hume was a Philosophy?

Yep - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume

Damn..."Hume was heavily influenced by...John Locke."

And, "When one event continually follows after another, most people think that a connection between the two events makes the second event follow from the first. Hume challenged this belief in the first book of his Treatise on Human Nature and later in his Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. He noted that although we do perceive the one event following the other, we do not perceive any necessary connection between the two. And according to his skeptical epistemology, we can trust only the knowledge that we acquire from our perceptions. Hume asserted that our idea of causation consists of little more than expectation for certain events to result after other events that precede them. We cannot actually say that one event caused another. All we know for sure is that one event is correlated to another."

And, "Free will versus determinism

Just about everyone has noticed the apparent conflict between free will and determinism – if your actions were determined to happen billions of years ago, then how can they be up to you? But Hume noted another conflict, one that turned the problem of free will into a full-fledged dilemma: free will is incompatible with indeterminism. Imagine that your actions are not determined by what events came before. Then your actions are, it seems, completely random. Moreover, and most importantly for Hume, they are not determined by your character – your desires, your preferences, your values, etc."

I think it was all in his head; a dream. It was a cool way for the creators to give us the flashback for Desmond and show us his current state of mind at the same time. He's hoping he can change history, but can't because of fate.

I remember the creators saying in a past interview that everything on the island has a real explanation and there is nothing magical or supernatural going on. It could be argued that science fiction isn't ruled out, but I doubt it. Then again, we have a "smoke monster" killing Eko, so who knows?

Nanotechnology ... easily explained through "real" science

Sure, it can be explained by nanotechnology, but as far as I know, science hasn't yet been able to use nanotechnology to create a "smoke monster" that can toss people around and kill them (now, let alone in 2004 when the show takes place), which puts it in science fiction for me.

but if Desmond jumped back in time and remembered things about the island, than perhaps the woman in the shop had done the same thing and remembered Desmond.

Perhaps everyone is "looping" in time.

But Charlie didn't "loop" when Desmond recognized him on the corner...

But I mean there seems to be a TON of explanation missing to explain what's going on to a point where people can understand it. Are they just going to ditch this timeline idea for a while and move to the next point? I really liked the episode and thought it was very engrossing while I watched it, but now that I think about it and read some of the possible explanations on the board, this specific storyline seems like it could spawn an entire other series. I'm nervous as to how the hell they're going to explain this and try to make some sense of it in the big picture, if they can.

I agree with you 100%. Put me in the underwhelmed group.

They've introduced a supposed time travel aspect to the show, just so the fans can go crazy with the potential "what if" scenarios. I doubt we will see much more of it than Desmond continuing to have vague visions of the future (probably mostly consisting of Charlie's demise). Hopefully I'm wrong.

On the plus side, it nice to get away from the Others plot which has consumed so much of the season.

And of course the most promising aspect of this episode is the promise of Charlie's eventual death. He has easily been my least favorite character since he shot Ethan early in the series and his popularity with me has plummeted everytime he's been involved in the story.

It is interesting to note that this episode consisted mostly of "flashback" if that was what it was. I'm kinda leaning towards it being a dream/hallucination of sorts. Whatever it was, this was a break from the typical storytelling formula for the show.

Maybe it's just me, but I think Penelope looks a lot like Juliet, the fertility doctor. In fact, until last night, I wasn't sure they weren't the same person, but with different names. I kept wondering, how the hell does Desmond's chick wind up with the Others using a different name? We saw Penelope for, what, 10 seconds during the 2nd season finale? Man, was I confused.


As an aside:
I think the whole series takes place in... The Twilight Zone. It's the only way to explain everything.