[US/IRL] 4X05 - "The Constant" [** SPOILERS WITHIN **]

Basq

- WARNING: THIS THREAD WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT YET SEEN "THE CONSTANT" -

Episode Title: "The Constant"
Airdate: February 28th 2008

Synopsis (from TV.Com):

Sayid and Desmond hit a bit of turbulence on the way to the freighter, which causes Desmond to experience some unexpected side effects.

Next New Episode: 4X06 -

"The Other Woman"

- March 6th 2008

---

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 28th 2008
RTÉ (IRL) - March 3rd 2008

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!

Sad Professor

9

Oh man that was f**king brilliant! I love this show! One of the best written and executed episodes the show has ever produced imo. The last 10 minutes are just beautiful, very emotional. Desmond fans will be pleased.

So much to think about but several things are answered. It's never actually stated but I think we just found out about the sickness that Rousseau was talking about back in season 1. And there's no slow island time (thank god).

11/10. Best episode so far this season.

storka

9

That was an amazing episode!! I'm still in awe of Lost's greatness!

I so love Des and Penny (I actually cried a little!!)

spockpower

9

great great great episode

i was really expecting des to die:eek::eek:

i am now delighted that he didnt


sayid was great as well, really sticking up for desmondo even though they were never that close on island.

loon

...why do shows have to ruin themselves by attempting time travel... when they have no logic.

eddiehead

9

That was a great ep, best of the season so far. My head hurts a little though, but it was worth it!:D

But that bit at the end, does daniel love desmond? LoL

eddiehead

9

loon wrote: »

...why do shows have to ruin themselves by attempting time travel... when they have no logic.

As opposed to the smokey black monster, tropical polar bears, ghostly moving cabins and inhabitants who dont age being the pure essence of logical:rolleyes:

doonothing

7

Great episode! Who needs a big, forced revelation when you've scenes like des and penny's phone call
This series is nearly matching the first in quality!

Nalz

9

topnutz wrote: »

As opposed to the smokey black monster, tropical polar bears, ghostly moving cabins and inhabitants who dont age being the pure essence of logical:rolleyes:

the healing island thing is true though. I went to Achill Island once, and was instantly healed of excessive poo-ing

ShaneU

9

Best episode of this series so far.

loon

topnutz wrote: »

As opposed to the smokey black monster, tropical polar bears, ghostly moving cabins and inhabitants who dont age being the pure essence of logical:rolleyes:

no, i mean that a show sets up internal workings and then contradicts them.

if writers just stuck to asking us how it works instead of trying to do it themselves, they'd end up with a better show.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

9

i'm still in shock after watching that ep

must have been a good one so.

c0rk3r

9

Best Lost episode ever made!

If you like Quantum mechanics, crazy military drill instructers and a tear jerking love story then this is for you. Loved the "constant" analogy in the human sense and the scientific also.

9

Finally. An episode of season 4 I enjoyed. Brilliant storyline, emotional ending, and also we now know its christmas eve.

Does this mean next weeks episode will be Christmas Day?

HoLLLLLaments

Most saddening episode yet. The poor rat

PullMyFinger!

8

After one meh episode (Sayid's) and one poor one (Kate's) this was sterling work and a great return to form.

A solid 9

Some thoughts:

The 2 Eps before this were not written by Darlton - maybe they should do the rest of the entire series themselves

I can see the guy who plays Desmond getting an Emmy nommie based on this episode alone

My head hurts from the plot of this episode but it was told and written so well we'll forgive them




More thoughts later

BKtje

9

I don't often give episodes 10's but that was superb. Had me gripped from beginning to end!

Sherifu

9

This is the best episode of Lost i've seen. This is what 10s are for.

Desmonds commander is the dude in rambo 4 playing the same character

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

9

he looks kinda like mr ackerman from red dwarf

BloodSugarSex

9

why cant they make every episode like this one?:D

AntiRip

9

Best ep of lost ever. A solid 10. Even the phone call to Penny was great, heart-felt. Lost def the best show on tv. Prison Break & Heroes don't touch this show

spockpower

9

is desmonds conscience still in 96 or is he back to his usual self??

ie. . does he now remeber sayid and all the losties or is every thing after 96 a blank??

Bungalow Bill

9

I enjoyed that episode immensely.

I felt like such a woman in the last scene though, "Come on Penny, please answer the bloody phone!:D"

PiZaRR-0

9

Brilliant episode. First time I've posted on these boards, but I felt I must after that. Feels like series one all over again. Easily the best show on telly. Penny's gonna save the day, and extinguish smokey. GO ON PENNY!

tvnutz

8

Head is wrecked after that episode. When you thought Lost was already confusing we now have time travelling consciousness. That aside this was a brilliant episode. After last weeks crapfest and the week before's averageness,they do an episode like this which is probably the best Lost episode since the Eko flashback days and one of the best episodes the show has made overall. But it still wrecks the head!

9/10

AdMMM

9

I haven't been that immersed in an episode of ANY show in a long, long time! The whole concept was mind-boggling to say the least but the way it was executed from start to finish was amazing!

AlmightyCushion

9

Well holy, sweet, meciful, time-travelling jesus that was fan-fúcking-tastic. I thought it was going to be good when I seen the ad on sky and found out we'd be seeing what happened to the helicopter but I didn't think it would be this good. I was gripped to my seat the whole way through. I was dying for a piss half way through, normally I'd just pause the episode and go but I couldn't stop watching. You know it's good tv when you risk pissing yourself because of it. Hopefully this continues.

KevIRL

Amazing. Brilliant brilliant episode

Jay Ru

4

Don't get what all the hype is about guys. Maybe I missed something but what answers did we get? Fair nuff we find out that time pass's at a different rate outside of the island and thats it. Well still know **** all bout what the people on the boat are really up to, and the whole time travel thing was a bit meh for me. And as for the emotion in the scene wit Des & Penny, IMO it was fairly corny, if u want to see some real emotion in a tv series check the wire series 5 ep 9.

thewools

Lost is BACK.... well back to the good awl days, first 10/10 in a long long long time... 1996 perchaps

Basq

8

Agreed on the love for this episode.. one of the best in a long long time!

'Lost' is fairly light on emotional heartful scenes but when it does them.. it does them right. The phone call to Penny was just wonderfully played out and quite touching.

Again, I'd like to applaud Damon and Carlton's writing as the episode was certainly a departure (from the flashbacks and flashforwards) from what we've used to but it didn't feel too out of place either.

Hmmmm... I wonder whose "the friend on the boat" who opened the door for them in the sick-bay? It's a bit obvious at this stage but that revelation will finish an episode in the coming weeks no doubt!

Faraday is definitely the best of the new cast.. a very welcome addition to the show. He's superb in it.

I think it's a clear 9 / 10. Tempted to give it the straight 10 but i'm saving that.

PS - I thought Fisher Stevens (who played Minkowski) would be in it longer..!

AlmightyCushion

9

Jay Ru wrote: »

Fair nuff we find out that time pass's at a different rate outside of the island and thats it.

Actually we found out there is no time difference. Time only gets messed up when passing through the disturbance. This explains why the missile takes ages to get through but communications are fine (although technically I think communications would get messed up as well).

Is anyone else thinking how cool it would have been that when the plane crashed to have one of survivors freaking out and asking where they were only to die from a brain aneurysm soon after. We would have thought it was something to do with the crash, that they were in shock, but it was actually this.

Sad Professor

9

Jay Ru wrote: »

Fair nuff we find out that time pass's at a different rate outside of the island and thats it.

Eh no we didn't. It's December 24th 2004 on the freighter, the same as the island.

EDIT: AlmightyCushion beat me to it.

basquille wrote:

PS - I thought Fisher Stevens (who played Minkowski) would be in it longer..!

Me too. But death didn't stop Ethan from showing up again.

CatInABox

9

I really like how they worked in the mention of the Black Rock, and in that one scene hinted at how Hanso found out about the Island, and how Penny finds out about it too, what with her father now owning the journal.

HorseRadish

Great ep. More of the same please!:)

PullMyFinger!

8

23 10's so far!

IamBeowulf

9

I do believe that the time-traveling consciousness isn't just affecting Desmond. It's affecting everyone on the island.

See how Faraday asked if he'd been subjected to radiation? Or an EMP? Well that would be when Desmond was in the base and accidentally missed the deadline to hit the code and prevent the pulse, which in turn struck the 815 and all aboard.

Because of his closer proximity, this allowed him not to travel forward in time (which we thought were premonitions, now clearly not) and remember the events (just like the lab rat).

Remember how the show would switch from the present to the past, the exact same way it normally would except without the swooshing noise. I think that the 815 passengers are doing the same thing----travelling between the island, the past before the trip, and the future after. Note how anytime there's a flashback.forward, the character seems to stop almost everytime, as if recollecting...or switching?

OK maybe a long shot but still it seems to be in line.

One last note...if they can transport consciousness without moving the body----remember the rat lay breathing while its soul had left---perhaps the same thing happened Jacob. Maybe he was an experiment of Faraday/whomever provided faraday with the idea in the first place.

God this show hurts my mind

eddiehead

9

CatInABox wrote: »

I really like how they worked in the mention of the Black Rock, and in that one scene hinted at how Hanso found out about the Island, and how Penny finds out about it too, what with her father now owning the journal.

I think that one might fly over a few peoples heads,

, they might think ''oh, what a coincidence, pennys dad had some interest in the black rock'', and simply dismiss it as just that, a coincidence. For me, that was a very important scene, and i think it shows that Mr widmore has something to do with the people lookin for the island

P.s. That poll has a very healthy glow about it at the moment lol

IamBeowulf

9

10 out of 10 by the way

Snake Plisken

9

Super Episode that was clearly a tribute to Richard Matheson's Bid Time Return aka Somewhere in time, which is a love story set in different times with the man going back in time using his mind!
This is one of those great standalone episodes and I'm really happy that Desmond wasn't killed off, which as you know can happen on Lost at the stroke of the writers pen.
Great performance from Henry Ian Cusick and nice to see CSI's Ecklie as the Doctor

Also watch this clip that really shows that Desmond was jumping from the moment he turned the key

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or4Z1lRZyQg

Sad Professor

9

IamBeowulf wrote: »

See how Faraday asked if he'd been subjected to radiation? Or an EMP? Well that would be when Desmond was in the base and accidentally missed the deadline to hit the code and prevent the pulse, which in turn struck the 815 and all aboard.

I think the radiation exposure happened the second time when he turned the failsafe key and the hatch imploded. That event was also the first time his consciousness became unstuck in time.

But I agree that there's something going on regarding consciousness and perhaps lost time on the island. The close-ups of eyes opening, characters waking up, etc. Think of the very first scene in the pilot of Jack lying in the jungle. We've seen this repeated with multiple characters (especially Desmond) so many times. I don't think they're all "unstuck" like Desmond in this episode, that's the extreme. But there has to be something bigger going on.

DeepBlue

7

Sad Professor wrote: »

But death didn't stop Ethan from showing up again.

Why? Did Ethan show up after he was killed by Charlie? I know he appeared in one of Juliet's flashbacks but wasn't that before they all crashed on the island?

Agamemnon

8

A great episode, finally confirming that time travel of a sort is behind some of the island weirdness.

When we first saw Daniel, he was crying as the supposed wreck of Flight 815 was found - that must have been his future self in his body then, flashing back to when he first got involved. There must be some pretty unpleasant things in store for him if he was crying at getting involved at all.

No doubt we'll see the Black Rock's first mate's journal again - should be interesting to see what's in it.

Sad Professor

9

DeepBlue wrote: »

Why? Did Ethan show up after he was killed by Charlie? I know he appeared in one of Juliet's flashbacks but wasn't that before they all crashed on the island?

That's what I mean. He's appeared in about 4 flashbacks since he died. So I'm sure Minkowski will pop up again as well.

newbie2

Someone needs to draw me a feckin' diagram !!

youcancallmeal

9

Easily the best episode of lost so far!

newbie2

Mr.S wrote: »

let me see if i got it right:

when the helicopter passes through the skys, people who have been exposed to Radiation, or Electromagnectic pulses, experience side affects, where their mind "time travels" but their body stays in the respective times. in Desmonds case, he went back to 1996.

And it keeps happening, faster and faster, until the Brain cant keep up, and they die.

And to get back to a normal state, the person has to find a Constant to separate the two times?

That seems to be the jist of this episode alright, but as for the whole "Des is a Time traveller" theory. I just can't follow it.

Agamemnon

8

Mr.S wrote: »

let me see if i got it right:

when the helicopter passes through the skys, people who have been exposed to Radiation, or Electromagnectic pulses, experience side affects, where their mind "time travels" but their body stays in the respective times. in Desmonds case, he went back to 1996.

And it keeps happening, faster and faster, until the Brain cant keep up, and they die.

And to get back to a normal state, the person has to find a Constant to separate the two times?

Yup, but you forgot that they get amnesia as well.

AlmightyCushion

9

Agamemnon wrote: »

Yup, but you forgot that they get amnesia as well.

They don't get amnesia. What happened was that Desmond's consciousness from 1996 was the one that was travelling through time.

suppafly

9

seriously awesome episode!! Loved it. its building up very well now.

9

How has it not been picked up but people's calculations were right. It's Christmas Eve in this episode.

Here's a question. We know now theres a time distortion between the Island and the Rest of the World. Had someone been keeping track of how long they've been on the Island for, would this be different to the ROTW.