[US/IRL] 3X08 - "Flashes Before Your Eyes" [** SPOILERS WITHIN **]

Basq

- WARNING: THIS THREAD WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT YET SEEN "FLASHES BEFORE YOUR EYES" -

Episode Title: "Flashes Before Your Eyes"
Airdate: February 14th 2007

Synopsis (from TV.Com):

Kate and Sawyer return to their island. They want to enlist help to go back and rescue Jack. Hurley gets Charlie to help him find out the truth about Desmond, who has been acting differently ever since the hatch exploded. We will see Desmond's life before joining the army. We will get a really good sense of what the Others are doing.

Next New Episode: 3X09 - "

Stranger In A Strange Land

" - February 21st 2007

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SPOILER WARNING:

From now on, this thread shall reveal details of the episode mentioned above. If you have not yet seen this episode, please do not move any further down the thread.

This episode shall air on:

• ABC (US) - February 14th 2007
• Sky One (UK/IRL) - February 18th 2007
• RTÉ2 (UK/IRL) - February 19th 2007

If you are sure you have seen the episode as mentioned above (on the channels on those original airdates), you can move down further in order to discuss the episode.

Otherwise, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED - there shall be major plot details of the episode revealed and discussed below with no spoiler tags used!

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abelard

6

Once again, synopsis was way off.

Solid enough episode again without being anything too special, so I'd give it a 7.

Flashback could probably have been trimmed down a little, but was one of the better ones I can remember. The bit with the old jewellery shop lady was probably the strongest part of the flashback I thought. I kind of hoped it would get as far as Desmond's encounter with Libby again, but it wasn't to be this time round.

Liked the last 2 minutes or so of the episode too, with Desmond and Charlie's conversation, and that creepy last line of Desmond's.

Didn't like the lack of anything from Kate/Sawyer or Jack/Others, and as usual, a lack of progression of on-island events, though I do feel that this episode was probably entirely necessary for the course of events the writers will take.

Big question is will Charlie die I suppose. His life or death could be one of the most important things that will ever happen on the show, to solve the dilemma the writers have set up as to whether the future can be changed.

Anyway like I said, decent episode on the whole.

lost_for_words

4

Hmmm description of this episode is a bit off. I'm in Canada so saw it hours ago and there was nothing about Kate and Sawyer or the Others overall but judging by the clip for next weeks episode it all happens then.

Overall this was a slow episode in my opinion and a lot of reshowing things we already know, there was only one significant thing new about the epsiode which was in the last few minutes where we discover that Charlie is going to die (supposedly) and Desmond can't stop it from happening despite his new prediction powers.
Am hoping next week will be a bit more fast paced!

stevejazzx

6

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Odd ep, at first I didn't really like it.....so time travel? Or just flashbacks or a bit of both? So this is a way to save the Island?
I think we'll be seeing a lot more of Desnmonds science friend in future flashbacks.

Waltons

8

I really enjoyed this episode, and wasn't too bothered about the lack of Jack/Kate/Sawyer. Really felt for Dessie in some notable scenes, especially the scene in Widmore's office.
Great ep!

kaimera

7

Same as before, not overly pushed about the lack of J/K/S. That was getting boring imo.

Des I do like tho. Enjoyed the flashback and the ep overall.

I'm probably not alone with thinking it was Claire Des was trying to save. The Charlie thing surprised me.

8 overall.

Anima

Back at the beach, Charlie and Hurley search through Sawyer's belongings and discover his hidden possessions.

Thats from last weeks synopsis. I guess that stuff with Kate and Sawyer will happen next week or later. Pretty stupid of them to include future episode details...

I thought this was a great episode anyway. Like Kaimera, I was sure it was Claire that was getting the axe but will it really matter anyway? Those characters haven't done anything in so long..

BopNiblets

I thought this was a fantastic episode, just what I wanted after so many friggin Jack, Kate and Sawyer episodes which were getting boring real fast.

Nice to see the rest of the cast again!

Hurley: "Duuuude..."

cooker3

That was 1 odd episode. Still like last week, it was good to get a new flashback, well a newish one at least. I am uncertain of what was happening, was it an concussion, did he imagine it or what?

The writers must have watched Final destination as last 2 episodes have taken on a lot of the features from that film, will be interesting to see how that plotline with Charlie develops.

tvnutz

6

Ugh....come on!

Firstly,I like Desmond as a character,and this whole seeing the future thing is interesting. But what the hell happened when he turned the key? Did he just imagine it all? A way he could have lived his life? Or did he go back in time? basically what the hell was his entire flashback really about? And thats another "what",with a few "whys" thrown in and there are just too many! We need some kind of answers to something,not a whole new set of questions that just confuses us further!

charlie going to die,eh? well i guess they had to given him some other type of storyline that didn't involve him being a junkie.

DeepBlue

5

cooker3 wrote:

The writers must have watched Final destination as last 2 episodes have taken on a lot of the features from that film...

They obviously watched Out of Sight as well because the scene where Desmond comes out of the job interview and throws his tie on the ground is lifted straight from that film.
It's irritating tbh - the writers have great leeway to be original so why are they copying these films?

S.M.B.

I don't mind if I don't see all the questions being answered regularly. I'm just as happy with seeing interesting questions being put forward.

I also think that this episode worked much better as a standalone episode than any prior episode in series 3.

Creamy Goodness

what was up with the promo for this episode showing exploding buildings and firefights in the jungle?

was a good episode i thought but i was expecting some action like what was in the promo. the promo's aren't normally wrong - more like tv.com's synopsis is - but it was a strange one.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

this episode did alot to get me interested in Lost again... nowhere near the level of excitement as season 1... but still.. I'm very excited about next week

mr_angry

9

I thought that was the best episode of the series so far by a mile, and maybe since the end of the first season. There are so many people on that bloody island that aren't asking "what is going on?", it was about time that we got somebody demanding a few answers. Add into that a fairly plausable back-story, characters that you can actually empathise with, and some small insights into the weirdness of the island (now apparently being expanded into the greater universe), and you get a great episode.

The scene in the jewellers reminded me a lot of Vanilla Sky when Tom Cruise meets Tech Support for the first time. There was a level of suspense about the whole thing that really got me on the edge of my seat. Then they followed it up with the revelation that the Universe is trying to kill Charlie... and for once, it actually seemed to all make sense, given the old woman's conversation with Desmond.

ninebeanrows

3

What has happened lost!

Terrible

4/10

An episode focused soley on a load of crap.. honestly the whole things just getting extremely tedious.

anotherlostie

5

What a strange episode. Flashbackorama.

Ultimately, it left me cold at the end, as, Charlie-and-not-Claire-to-die revelation aside, I don't think we learned much. I give it a 6.

All the nods to the island got a bit OTT after a while. Here's a few I remember
1.08 on the alarm clock
The microwave beeping like the Hatch timer
References to it not being the end of the world from Penny.
The 60yr old whiskey in Widmore's office
The yacht in his office and his sponsorship of the race
The picture with the polar bear
(By this stage, I was surprised the photographer didn't have a shot of an idyllic tropical beach complete with burning fuselage!!!)

I also thought Fionnuala Flanagan was excellent as the creepy jeweller. Nice to see an Irish face in Lost, even with a dodgy London accent.

But overall I don't think much was learned about Penny and her father. What is she up to now since the icy Brazillians told her about the EM radiation surge? What exactly does Widmore have to do with the island? How did Desmond get from the hatch to the jungle, and how did he lose his clothes.

Finally, the episode previews are really off. And in the podcast Damon and Carlton mentioned that Jack would be seen this week, so not sure what is going on. There was so much flashback I don't know how they could have fitted anything more in.

ixoy

Enjoyable but seriously, as tvnutz pointed out, lots more "whys" and "what" and very little in the way of any answers - do the writers even have them to give us?

I wanted to smash my screen in when Charlie asked Locke "what do you mean the island killed him" and Locke can't answer the f*cking question directly but has to do the usual obscure BS and go "you know what I mean". Christ on a stick can noone have a proper discussion about what the hell is going on?! :mad:

Thankfully I quite like Desmond and since this episode focused around him I generally enjoyed it. I honestly hope they're not trying to imply time travel as it's a bit outlandish. It wouldn't even seem to suggest that it was the explosion that disconnected him from time because the Jewellery Lady knew he was repeating events. Thus maybe more knew - Dharma? And if they can control seperate flows of time, why do they need to watch people on an island?!

Oh why am I bothering to try and rationalize all the stuff in this show. Desmond's fun. He's good. More of him onscreen would be a good thing for this show..

Star Lord

9

I totally disagree with most of you, and lookin at the ratings so far, I'm not alone!

I thought this was a fantastic episode! Possibly the best since mid season 2!

I liked that they don't give flat out answers to the things people wanna know, but rather give you suggestions, and keep ya guessing. I've liked Desmond as a character since his first appearance, and thought this was a total curveball episode, with the not-really-a-flashback flashback, where Desmond was basically able to make his life choices again, but that would have been disasterous. As the woman from the antique shop said, its what's supposed to happen. Kinda got me thinking too, the other losties that died, did they die because it was nessecary? Did their death prevent something worse in the future?

Fantastic stuff.

Haven't a Clue

7

Praise the Lord for minor miracles. CHARLIE'S GONNA DIE!

Anyway, a beculiar yet fascinating eppy. Thoroughly enjoyed the lack of Jack, Sawyer and Kate, but they didn't really spend much time on the other island. Only four or five scenes.

I'm not totally convinced by the explanation for Desmond's 'powers'. Tis a wee bit horse****ty.

But overall, and enjoyable eppy. Gave it an 8.

Snake Plisken

8

Great Episode best of Series 3, I'd give it a solid 9, as many said here I genuinely like Dessie, I always wondered about the fake looking foto of him and his woman and now I know lol. Rather then time travel I'm thinking alternative universe, interesting that I read this week that JJ Abrams wants to make Stephen Kings the Dark Tower, for those of you who haven't read this excellent series of books, it involves an alternative universe which has into our universe and different things overlap (for example Hey Jude is played in the Saloons in the alternative universe, but with different words) , and the main players can travel between universes and also different times.

So I won't be surprised if the final solution to lost plays into the alternative universe answer, which would make this a pivotal episode in Lost.

Time will tell

Snake

mikeruurds

9

Wow.

Can't wait for episode 9.

S.M.B.

It'll be interesting to see if Desmond's physicist friend starts the whole chain of events which leads to Penny tracking him down. I certainly see him playing a role further down the line.

Again, I liked all the questions this episode posed and don't really give a damn if they failed to answer some of the trivial questions that some people are demanding to be answered.

Basq

7

That was, by all accounts, a damn fine episode!

First of all - the flashback was fascinating from start to finish. Really made me think about Desmond's overall role on the island, and shows me he's not just a character they introduced in season 2 to fill up space and serve no purpose (which i reckon they ARE doing with Juliet this season). Desmond has always been a fascinating character to me and this episode shows me exactly what he had to deal with.

The direction was also spot on from the quick flashes between scenes to little nods in scenes to the time on the island.. just spot on!

We finally got some reasoning behind the lightning rod (although it seemed insignificant at the time) and how it linked into Claire's drowning with Desmond trying prevent Charlie's demise. Not my favourite character but he is quite pivotal to the show in that he's been in it since the very start, and has featured quite heavily in terms or storylines and flashbacks (unlike all of the previous cast to meet their maker - Shannon / Boone / Eko / Libby / Ana-Lucia etc.)

Best of season 3 so far.. we need more Desmond!

PS - good to see some "Oirish" representation too with Fionnuala Flanagan who played Ms Hawking (the jeweller)

jonnybadd

I enjoyed the episode, but did anyone else find it odd that for an English pub they were using napkins instead of beermats? Nothing to do with the episode really, just a thought

Töpher

Brilliant episode! Delighted they deviated away from Jake/Kate/Sawyer for a bit, and Desmond's an interesting character, and they did a good job of his extended flashback. Very entertaining.

What are the odds on the island/universe having to destroy Desmond to allow Charlies' death?

doonothing

dont say such things einsturzende! as much as i like charlie, desmond is by far the better character!
absolutely deadly episode, i was *this* close to givin up on lost, wow! what an ep! bestsince series 1 defo, as someone up there said..
who in gods name was the jeweller?
bit of a madame web-esque character i thought

Stuxnet

7

plenty of easter eggs again in this ep:

http://lost.cubit.net/forum/index.ph...sa=view;id=220

apollo bars, oceanic, hanso...

http://lost.cubit.net/forum/index.ph...sa=view;id=223

Namaste backwards and polar bears ! Kewwwwl !!

PullMyFinger!

8

How good was this episode?

Well Ive insomnnia so Ive decided to watch it again. I havent wanted to watch an episode of Lost again in the space of 24 hours since Season 2's finale. Just great storytelling and very Twilight Zone-y! More thoughts on this to come .....

Nick_oliveri

7

Gawd dammit eircon are being teh ghey angain and i cant see the links above.

Very entertaining episode overall. Let me down at the end when they didnt show the lead up to Penny looking for Des. I belive they could have done something brilliant with that. Suppose they'll save it for a future episode.

About them not discussing Eko's death, i found this very annoying also. I mean come on guys ffs, wheres the answers? As for easter eggs, overrated and too much emphasis is being thrown on them. Its not as if we have to figure out the secrets of Lost and the questions posed by doing loads of research into these easter eggs, feck that and feck them!

Gave it an 8.

Edit: PMF, thank god for TV on these long nights!

stevejazzx

6

basquille wrote:

.......not just a character they introduced in season 2 to fill up space and serve no purpose (which i reckon they ARE doing with Juliet this season). Desmond has always been a fascinating character to me and this episode shows me exactly what he had to deal with.
Libby / Ana-Lucia etc.)

I don't see how Juliet is being used 'to fill up space and serve no purpose'.
She looks absolutely central to the losties slavation at the moment. Her sister seems to be the key to some of the research Hanso are intersted in and ever since the music 'downtown' in season 3 episode 1 Juliet has been pining for the fjords:) /home which has created since all that great tension between her and Ben. I think at the moment Juliet is one the more intersting characters from the 'others' at the very the least one of the more important ones anyway.

The revelation that she was recrutied from Mittlos shows the first connection between the others and Hanso or ex hanso in the case of Mittlewerk if he's behind it.