(Prev) Break Out the Desmond Impressions

LOST. Tonight. "Catch-22," a Desmond episode.
Your local ABC station.
I'll see you at 10/9c, brutha.


"Ms. Widmore. It's us. I think we found it." or [Hey, remember those Portuguese guys? Yeah, so do I.]
With those 8 words, LOST left us dangling perilously off a cliff at the end of season 2. If you're having trouble remembering this scene (you mean you didn't watch it 37 times!?! Oh. Yeah. Me neither.) then refresh your memory here. Of all the blindside attacks this show has launched on its viewers, this one may be the most puzzling. They introduce two random Portuguese guys, in the arctic, who are monitoring the island and waiting for some moment to do something that will lead them to call Penny Widmore. No explanation, just a tasty "what the hell?" roast placed in our heads and left to marinate.

Well good news, impatient ones. Tonight's LOST is about Desmond, who is possibly the most unpredictable character - or at least the one with the most unpredictable back-stories. The last Desmond-centric episode was maybe the best of the season (that or last week's), as it opened up Pandora's Box to challenge our notions of what was possible on the island. He traveled back through time, then discovered that while it was technically possible to alter his fate, to do so would have dire consequences. Thus, he put his head down and obeyed the time line, once again leaving him Penniless (get it? ha ha ha).

We talk a lot in this forum about character motivations; Jack's mission to save/fix/rescue people, Locke's journey of self-discovery, Juliet's out-for-number-one mentality. For Desmond I think it comes down to this: Penny. Penny Penny Penny. Not this Penny, but rather the one pictured here. Everything he does is done in the interest of reuniting with the one that got away, the one with whom happiness was out of his direct control. Mr. Widmore, the race, the crash, Ms. Hawking, the army (?) - all these things seem to stand in the way of Desmond and Penny's happiness. Now the couple faces their biggest challenge: Desmond's captivity and presumed death. But wait one second...


"With enough money and effort, you can find anyone." - Penny Widmore (paraphrased by Charlie Stephan. With Dwight Schrute). We now know that when Penny said that to Des, it wasn't an empty statement. She's got some kind of elaborate-yet-covert search (and rescue?) mission operating out of the arctic. My guess is this: Mr. Widmore (whose company has been involved heavily in this show. If you don't believe me, read the Bonus Tracks and Maggie's wonderful Widmore-post) has something to do with the island (I have a devious notion of what that involvement is, ask me if you're interested). He maybe even knew Desmond would end up there, far from his daughter. Penny knows all about it, but her efforts to find Desmond must go under his radar - think about it, if Mr. Widmore can maroon a potential black sheep on an island, he could certainly stop Penny from finding him. She knows what he's up to, and she's going ninja-style to find him - enter the Portuguese Arctic Dynamic Duo (or PADD, as I will call them. That is not the same as Pandas Against Drunk Driving).

So what's up tonight? Well, if there's one part of Desmond's life that has been teased but not explained, it's why he was in the army, and why he was imprisoned there. That's where his story first picked up, and tonight we may be treated to the story of how he got there. And maybe, just maybe, his cell-mates were a couple of Portuguese guys. Now that, my friends, would be a tasty nugget.


"No matter what I do, you're gonna die Charlie." or [Okay, does he really have ESP? He does? Shit. Sorry Chuck]
Desmond's damning prediction of the island's reigning rock star has been hanging over our heads for a few weeks now. As Desmond batles the inevitable demise of Charlie, he is constantly staying just a step ahead of fate. Last-second visions lead him on mad dashes across the jungle, hoping to reach the scene of Charlie's death before Charlie does, and to keep Charlie out of harm's way.


But how long can Desmond outrun fate? And when it does catch him, what chance does Charlie have to escape unscathed? My guesses: about four weeks and "a snowball's chance in hell". Sadly, I get the feeling that Desmond's prophecy will be fulfilled sometime this season - they don't just introduce things like "You're gonna die Charlie" and leave them in the air. Plus, if it's "the island" (or Smokey) that wants him dead, you can bet that it won't stop until he's got him. Charlie's already escaped the clutches of death a few times, but as Desmond (via Ms. Hawking) said, "The universe has a way of course-correcting itself," - it only takes one bad move to not escape, and then the search for Driveshaft's new bassist will begin.

So what does this mean for Desmond? Well, we already know him as a man who struggles with the idea of predestination versus free will. He is tampering with predestination by constantly saving Charlie, and I would imagine that if Charlie dies it will come as a major blow to Desmond. He is so attached to and embittered by the philosophical argument of free will because of everything with Penny, that any other misfortune that results from him being shackled to universal truths could shatter him. We shall see. But as you watch Desmond tonight, pay attention to the fervor he has for saving Charlie - I see it not as a rescue mission, but as an attempt to defy the natural order of things in order to compensate for fate's cruel handling of his love life. Phew.


"I'll See You in a Week" or [Watch that tricky Juliet!]
Since last week we've wondered whether Juliet's sinister alliance with Ben was a plot against the survivors or a ploy against her captors. We've got one week (in LOST time) to find out, and I think that, starting tonight, it would serve us all well to watch her closely. Yes, she's still out for herself, and if you know that then you know Juliet. But the big lingering question in my mind is, "What does, 'I'll see you in a week' mean,"? Is Ben coming to Survivor-ville? Is there another kidnapping in the works? Was he talking to viewers and reminding them that LOST will be on in one week, and to watch it? Okay, probably not the last one. But I would guess there's some prepping that Juliet will need to do to prepare for whatever it is that Chief Coke-Bottle-Bottom Glasses has in mind. Watch her, watch her carefully.

In Closing, a Haiku
From now on, each preview post will end with a haiku:

Des has to save Chuck
And speak in a cool accent.
Where is Locke's daddy?


Enjoy,
Charlie (not the doomed one).