Comments on: Lost – “The Variable”

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:56:55 +0000

My hunch is that somehow Jack and Kate are going to use Faraday’s plan to save the island from destruction by the anomaly. The use of Daniel’s plan with the bomb will actually result in the button-pressing thing as a means of avoiding the island’s total destruction. And THAT is why I think Ms. Hawking was willing to sacrifice Daniel. If he never went back and told Jack and Kate the plan and was killed, then the island would have been destroyed (which since Widmore and Hawking are on the island, means he wouldn’t have been born anyway).

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:45:37 +0000

I think the importance of this episode is that it closes out the question of “what,” as in “what is happening with all the time-travel,” and simultaneously opens up the quesiton “why,” as in “why would Eloise Hawking doom her son to death for the island?”
Eloise’s demeanor throughout the episode suggests that she does not believe that “whatever happened, happened,” but that she, or the Island, needs to ensure that what happened actually does happen. the question then is why. Why is it so important to her that Daniel return to the past to be killed? There must be something important, either 1) his notebook is important to Eloise and the hostiles, or 2) Jack and Kate in 1977 are important to Eloise and the hostiles, or, 3) all of this was prelude to having John Locke die off the island and return on the island in 2007 to be resurrected….

By: Myles

Myles — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:37:46 +0000

1. You are quite right in this regard, but I think that it’s one of those situations wherein I wanted to see more communication so that Dan’s theory and his plan would have a greater impact – yes, this will happen in the weeks ahead, but if it’s that important it felt like it could have fit here.

2. Maybe it’s just me, but I kind of wanted Faraday to stand on his own: I had always hoped this character would be unique, that his journey wouldn’t just boil down to Widmore and Hawking being his parents, but that didn’t happen. And I’m not complaining about the use of time travel, it’s an incredibly important point, but the connection to Faraday’s life wasn’t made until episode’s end and, to be honest, I’ll need to revisit the episode again to see if that revelation is enough to elevate Faraday’s story further.

3. You’re quite right, but I guess my frustration comes from wanting the episode you describe more than this one, in a way.

4. I’m not suggesting that they were superfluous, but you’re quite right that I may be proven wrong by the rest of the season which follows.

5. There’s no doubt about this: I think that after last season’s finale was us having all of the answers and watching how the characters got to that point, it will be really intriguing to see a scenario where the castaways know what is supposed to happen and are doing everything they can to stop it from happening, especially one where we don’t really have any of the answers. That enough is reason enough for this episode to be a success, but I guess I would have preferred a different path to get there.

By: McNutt

McNutt — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:12:32 +0000

Yeah I kind of completely disagree with your spin on the episode, for a few reasons:

1. You seem to really dwell on the idea that the castaways “trusted” Faraday too much and went along too willingly with his plan. But the only two characters he actually EXPLAINED anything to were Jack and Kate – the two most in search of purpose for their return – and he only did so mere minutes before being shot and killed. In contrast, Miles clearly thought Faraday was being nuts and Sawyer wanted nothing to do with any of his ramblings.

2. Yes, the episode is revisiting key themes – parental issues, questions of time management, etc. – but complaining about that with Lost at this point is like ranting about Law and Order showing two sides to the criminal justice system. It’s the foundation of the show, and picking on it in an episode that so successfully starts to pay off the capital invested in the characters over the past several weeks seems a bit foolhardy.

3. Your review is also written under the presumption that the episode was completing the Daniel story and that said story was a bit underwhelming. A fair point…but given that we’ve yet to explore at least one more piece in the Daniel puzzle (I draw your attention to ComicCon ’08), I don’t think it’s fair to close the casket quite yet. In fact, I think there may well be revelations within those three missing years that are hugely relevant. Why such a change in his character from “you can’t change anything” to “let’s try something bold”?

4. The Desmond scenes are ONLY superfluous to the main plot of this episode if we neglect that Desmond is Faraday’s constant, and thanks to his accident has a more complicated role with time than any other character on the show. Including him this evening is clearly meant to get the ball rolling on his reintroduction into our series of events, which I believe may be critical to whatever may (or may not) happen in the finale.

5. On the one hand, the episode seemed to enforce the “whatever happened, happened” thesis that this season’s events have all dwelled on. Which does threaten to be a bit demoralizing. But stay tuned…somehow, I doubt that Lindelof/Cuse would lead us towards their nuclear finale and NOT throw the show in a different direction than we expect.