Friday, June 4, 2010

Episode 011: 1995 to 1996

So, Episode 011 ended up more focused than the previous episode, with us focusing on four particular stories.  First, we have Sayid helping Nadia escape from where she was being held captive, we see Michael get hit by a car and continue the downward spiral known as his life, and speaking of downward spirals, Locke ruins his relationship with Helen to help his father (who stole his kidney, remember?), and then...things get interesting.

Now, when Desmond went through his life, he had no knowledge of the island until he landed on it.  And yet, when he became unstuck in time, he flashed back and forth between 1996 and 2004.  So while he's experiencing these events in 1996, he didn't experience them when he first lived through 1996, only when he became unstuck in time.  This kind of presented an interesting dilemma, because these events didn't originally happen in 1996, and yet, they did happen, because Penny knew to wait for Desmond's call in 2004 after he told her in 1996.  With the rest of the show, any sort of travel through time has always been part of the natural order of things.  The time travel back to the 1970s, that always happened, so there was nothing unexpected about it.  But Desmond going back to 1996, that was unique, because it didn't always happen, it was very unexpected.  But that was one of the things that made Desmond special.

Anyways, back to the point, Desmond's time flashes finish up this episode, even though they didn't originally happen, but they did still take place in 1996.  It's a little confusing, but then again, it's LOST, so what do you expect.
This episode runs 51:53 and is 418MB to download.  You can stream below (via Facebook), or go here to use torrents (better quality, recommended) to download the episodes to your computer.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

11 comments:

  1. Consider the possibility that this always did happen. I don't think we ever found out why Desmond found himself in military prison . . . but going AWOL and making a scene in various locations might cover it.

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  2. Hi - great work btw, this is essential viewing for all Lost beleivers....

    My question is, shouldn't we be seeing the final moments of The Constant as Desmond walks away as she closes the curtains? It cuts before this moment.

    Was this due to the Desmond time ripple issue you mentioned?

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  3. @Goat - Definitely something to think about. I don't know that I totally buy the theory, but it certainly has some credibility to it.

    @Bugs - Good catch. I went back and forth on what to do with this. I wanted to keep the clip in, only the problem was the phone on the freighter was ringing the entire time along with the music playing. I didn't have a good way of showing the clip without cutting out all the audio, and I felt the reason that clip worked to begin with was because of the piano underscoring the scene. So for better or worse, I ended up just cutting it, since it was about 6 seconds, and didn't really matter that much in the grand scheme of things.

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  4. Shouldn't Flashes Before Your Eyes have been before The Constant Flashes?

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  5. I talked a little bit about "Flashes Before Our Eyes" when I addressed the flash sideways in my FAQ. Here's what I said at the time:

    "There is some precedence for how to handle flash sideways, because we (unknown to us at the time) experienced one in Season 3 in "Flashes Before Your Eyes", after Desmond turned the key in the hatch. Desmond flashed to 1996, only it wasn't 1996 in our world, but it was a similar world. What happened in this place did not affect anything that happened in his actual life, his talking to Charlie, meeting Eloise, etc. Now, since this flash sideways did not occur in our world, just because in the flash sideways world it was 1996, does not mean that's where it falls in our master timeline. Instead, we would place this flash sideways at the moment Desmond starts to experience it. As we saw in our world, Desmond started experiencing his flash sideways the moment he turned the key, and when he finished the experience, he woke up in the jungle. And so in our timeline, that's where it will be placed."

    So, now that we know a little more about the flash sideways, what we saw with Desmond wasn't exactly the same, but I still think they're related. I almost consider what happened to Desmond to be a bit of a near death experience, a temporary journey into his version (at the time) of the flash sideways world that we saw in Season 6. Whatever it actually is, my reasoning above about placing it directly after he turns the key still stands, so that's when it will appear, and you will see Desmond and Penny take the picture together.

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  6. I guess I was thinking that if flashes from The Constant always happened, and he just forgot the memories of the future, then the same thing happened in Flashes Before You're Eyes. But, you're right. I had forgotten that Desmond didn't just experience the events in that episode, his whole life from that point to the present "flashed before his eyes".

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  7. All of it happened, he just remembered it a bit differently the "first" time they happened to him.

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  8. Since The End I've been working with the theory that the Flashes Before Your Eyes world was a FST type deal. It was a limbo just like in seasons six. It seems when you die you go to a limbo that occurs at a critical junction. With Desmond in "Flashes" the only really important person in his life was Penny, so his limbo starts just before he breaks up with her. If he had stayed with Penny I think he could have stayed in limbo, at least until they "moved on" together. However, by breaking up with her and doing what he originally did, he parted from limbo and was actually resurrected.

    Desmond's story has always had a lot of references to death, resurrection, martyrs and saviors. I think he died in the Swan explosion and was resurrected. That's why he was naked. I do agree that it wasn't the real world and didn't actually happen and therefore it makes sense to go in after he turns the key. I hope you'll have it all in one episode where he turns the key and then flash and he's in the "Flashes" timeline, for lack of a better word.

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  9. @No - Interesting thoughts, I definitely like your way of thinking on the episode.

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  10. No, "Flashes Before Your Eyes" wasn't part of the flash sideways. "According to the producers, Desmond really did travel back in time, and the events he relived occurred in 1996." (Official Lost Podcast/ February 20, 2007). You can read everything on lostpedia.wikia.com

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    Replies
    1. Hi Sonny, thank you for the link, however, as an avid listener of the Official Lost Podcast, what Damon and Carlton had to say on there can't be considered canon, as there have been instances of them claiming things that either turn out to not be true or don't fit with how the story always plays out.

      I also think it's fairly safe to say that in February of 2007 (Which was in the middle of Season 3) they hadn't yet fully fleshed out what the Flash Sideways world was going to become in Season 6, and since Desmond was specifically chosen to enter the Flash Sideways world because he could handle it, that certainly hints at a callback to Flashes Before Your Eyes and what actually happened then.

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