LOST - The Constant: Let's Do The Time Warp Again

Maggie's text message to me at 8:03 last night:
"Oh man! Three minutes in and I am so glad I am not writing the review! Mua ha ha!"

Yeah, thanks. I'll do my best to break down The Constant. But first I need to refocus for a second. Because I know what you're thinking about LOST right now: Time travel? Advanced Placement Physics? I didn’t know I’d need a Ph freakin’ D to understand LOST. Forget this, I’m going to watch Eli Stone.

First of all, don’t go watch Eli Stone. It’s the worst. Second of all, settle down. This article will not be a physics lesson. Instead, I’m going to attempt to decipher the forest for the trees on this one just a little bit. In addition, a bit of explanation of last night’s plot development.

Instead of trying to hack into the darkest nether regions of my mind in which rudimentary physics knowledge exists, I’m going to trust that the LOST writers will give us enough Physics/Time Travel 101 lessons during the episodes to tell the overall story that they need to tell.

So let’s look at what we did learn about time travel last night – at least as it pertains to LOST.


The Voyage of the Conscious Mind
For me, one of the most telling phrases last night was when 1996-Daniel Faraday told 1996-Desmond to think of time travel not as a body warping into different periods of time, but rather as one person’s consciousness drifting in and out of moments of their past, present and future. Think of it as one continuous storyline, the story of one character’s life – in this case, Desmond. His exposure to electromagnetism (once after the hatch implosion, again during the helicopter flight and over time with the three years he spent in the hatch) does not cause his physical self to travel through time. His body doesn’t go back to 1996. But his conscious mind – consisting of his thoughts, his memories, his emotions, his motivations – travels back and forth to different instances on his storyline. After the hatch implosion, his conscious mind traveled back to about 1994, where he was on the cusp of breaking up with Penny. There he was warned (by Mrs. Hawking) about the dangers of not submitting to your fate when faced with the ability to transport your conscious mind. After conceding to that fate by leaving Penny, Desmond woke up on the Island with a mind that could leap forward and see visions of the future (“You’re gonna die, Charlie.”). On the helicopter ride in last night’s episode, Desmond’s threshold for electromagnetic activity was once again reached, prompting another journey of his conscious mind back - this time back to 1996.

In summary, what LOST is telling us right now (via the incredible character of Daniel Faraday, who I’m liking more and more each week) is that abnormal and prolonged exposure to radiation and electromagnetic activity can trigger the transportation of one’s conscious mind to a different point in one’s life. If you’ve got your head wrapped around that much, I think you’ll be okay, for now.

The Mad Physicist
“Well Daniel, maybe if you talk real slow, we’ll be able to follow.”
– Juliet

Yeah. And if a frog had wings he wouldn't bump his ass when he hopped.

But 1996-Daniel Faraday was surprisingly helpful last night. The bumbling mess he becomes on the Island is apparently a shadow of the man he once was. So how did the man who harnessed time travel turn into the man who couldn’t remember 3 cards? It’s as if his brain has, I don’t know, short-circuited. Wait, that’s it!

Faraday warned Desmond that time travel caused by radiation and electromagnetism could confuse the mind, impair memory and ultimately crash the human hard drive. He said the mind couldn't comprehend the abrupt changes involved in time travel. That kinds of seems like what's happening with Daniel Faraday. So did he travel through time?

Yes. I think he did. And he might still be. Here's why...

While that radiation vest Faraday donned in 1996 protected his torso, his head (as Desmond noted) was unprotected from the radioactive shrapnel let loose during the experiments. This would enable the prolonged exposure to radiation that Faraday himself claimed leads to time travel.
Fast forward 8 years. Faraday, on the Island, is thumbing through the ramblings of his notebook when he finds a reminder: “Desmond Hume is my constant.” This. Is. Huge. Huge, people. When Faraday met Desmond in 1996, Desmond told him he had come from the future, from 2004. It was at that point that Faraday found his missing link. He knows that he’s talking to Desmond in 1996, and he knows that in the future he is guiding Desmond through the wonders of time travel. From that, he can reason that if he can get himself to travel through time, Desmond can be his all-important constant. This is exactly what Faraday needs to test his own theories, to experience the phenomenon of the Island’s acceleration of time travel for himself. And he knows that he sure as hell better write down that name, “Desmond Hume.” Yeah. May need that someday.

So from this we can conclude that, like Desmond, Faraday is trying to tame his own mind amidst the turmoil of time travel – or, that he already has. He knows that you have to have a constant, he knows how to comprehend the things his mind is capable of thinking up. The Island is Faraday’s time travel playground, and Desmond is the safety net he needs to probe the Island and find out why it’s unlike any other physical place on earth.

Interestingly, we also learned a lot from Minkowski. The big, bad voice at the other end of the phone seemingly needs to make a reservation at the Santa Rose Nut House with Hurley, Libby and Leonard (the Numbers reciter). Apparently, a brief excursion toward the Island left his mind in shambles, and eventually he short-circuits, dying in Desmond's arms to reinforce the urgency with which Desmond must tame his own mind.

"Okay Charlie, I kind of understand where you’re coming from here. I see how the Island represents a breeding ground for time travel-inducing elements, and that the conscious minds of Desmond and (probably) Faraday are very susceptible to time travel due to their exposure to those elements. But you said this article wasn’t a physics post. So what’s the big picture?"

Good question. And as often is the case with LOST, the answer to that question lies in the title of the episode…


The Constant.
Among Faraday’s ramblings was the explanation of “the constant” and its paramount importance to mathematical formulae. The constant is any element common to the multiple time periods someone is experiencing, that is relevant and important enough for the person to connect to. For Desmond, this is Penny. She is important to him both in 1996 and 2004, and he knows that by harnessing his feelings for her, he can calm his mind.

Last night, Desmond was able to do just that. When he finally spoke with Penny – in a scene that literally had me hunched forward, perched over my recliner – you could actually see the calm wash over Desmond’s face. You could see him making peace with his abilities and realizing that – time traveler or no – the one thing that was common to the most important experiences of his life was Penny. The mere sound of her voice reassured him of that. And from there, Desmond returned to relative normalcy. This was brilliantly and beautifully illustrated by showing 1996-Desmond and 2004-Desmond simultaneously walking with confidence and smiling with reassurance. It was the first time Desmond had made peace with and appreciated his constant, and so it was the first time both versions of Desmond could function happily.

It was a really well-done shot, and a really important moment in the show, for two reasons. From a theoretical standpoint, we see how once one finds their constant, all difficulties in life are lessened and understandable.

And from a metaphorical standpoint, this moment was hugely significant. LOST’s writers have always said that this show is, at its core, about relationships. The relationships between different people, at different points in the world, connected through a series of other people, events and situations (thus feeding show creator J.J. Abrams’ obsessive adherence to the idea of “six degrees of separation”).

And that’s what last night’s episode was about. All of the intellectually stimulating and utterly confusing twists and turns were combated and softened by the love between Penny and Desmond, the exposition of two people finding their constant. That one phone call was essential not only as a device for plot development, but as a metaphor for the show in general. And I think it was meant to symbolize this: we don’t have to choose between our past, present and future selves. We are instead the sum of our experiences, the result of the lessons we’ve learned and the beneficiaries of a desire to better ourselves. We are creatures that seek redemption (Kate, Boone, Eko), we are people who strive for a higher purpose (Jack, Locke) and we are, at many times, average people who try to make sense of the world we are presented (Charlie, Hurley, Claire).

Once we find the thing that grounds us, the thing that restores calm to our lives, we are able to focus clearly on who we’ve been and who we have the potential to become. For Desmond, that realization was a matter of life and death, as he teetered perilously close to the brink of fatal insanity (side note: “Fatal Insanity” may or may not be the name of my death metal band, should I form one).

Physics lessons and love stories. (No, that will not be the album title for my emo band. Man, I'm forming lots of bands today). Admittedly, the intersection of the two is not the most natural narrative. But what you need to know about last night is that the Island makes time travel possible, but that – at least for the people we know – the relationships they form may be powerful enough to counter those supernatural forces. Moving forward, that concept could become hugely important, as different relationships will continue to be pitted against the Island, which is becoming a microcosm of society's ills, nature's unpredictability and people's inherent flaws.


Cannon Fodder
How’d you like that auction scene last night? Personally, as a proponent of a theory linking Charles Widmore, Alvar Hanso and the Island, I loved it. If nothing else, it served as temporary vindication for my theory of Widmore-influenced Island domination. And I was struck with the torrential downpour of theory fodder put forth by that scene. Hanso, Black Rock, Widmore. I spent most of the night repeating those three things, trying to find a connection (picture Ace Ventura's "Finkel and Einhorn, Finkel and Einhorn, Finkel and Einhorn")

A few interesting things about the auction. For one, it seemed that no price was too high for Charles Widmore to pay for the Black Rock diary that had only been read by a member of the Hanso family. He wanted that thing, and he held up the bid number until he had it locked up. Interesting. Why would he want to spend so much money to secure that diary? My guess: he wants to protect what’s written in it. Or, he's getting it back for his business partner: Alvar Hanso.

Secondly, if you were listening very carefully to the auction scene, you heard that the item up for bids after the diary was a collection of Charles Dickens artifacts. This may seem like a vague literary reference, until you remember that Dickens is significant for Desmond. It was Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend that Desmond promised would be the last book he read. As Desmond’s conscious mind tried to reason with Charles Widmore in 1996, a symbol of his own mortality was lurking in the background. That, boys and girls, is symbolism.

But what does the Widmore-Hanso-Black Rock connection really tell us? Well, nothing right now. But keep it in the back of your mind. Should we find out that parties like Widmore and Hanso really are working together, I will be responding with a big, fat "told ya so."

Lingering Head-Scratchers
Here are a few things to ponder. I do not have enough time or room in this article to get into everything we saw last night, so I'll include a couple of those things in this list. Go ahead and jot your thoughts in the comments section. Because lord knows, I still need help digesting the majority of this episode.

• Did Faraday really travel through time?
• On the ship, somebody sabotaged the communications room. Is that someone the same person who is working for Ben? And is it the same "friend" who opened the door to the sick bay? Methinks hell yeah on all counts (Michael, baby. It's Michael).
• How does the Arctic research station and Penny saying she'd been researching the Island tie into what we're seeing now?
• Anyone else think something was wrong with their DVR due to the abruptness of the flashbacks? No? Just me? Okay.

Hopefully a night of rest has cleared your head on this episode. I am reminded strongly of the Desmond-centric episode "Flashes Before Your Eyes," one of my favorites. It was difficult to comprehend at first, but eventually you could kind of see how it all fit in. I think that's what'll happen with this one, too.

Before we go, the Stephan and Stuckey ratings for "The Constant."
Stephan: 9.1
Stuckey: (I can't get a hold of her on the phone right now. She's sick. But I bet she loved it).


Namaste.
.charlie