LOST, Episode 5.14: "The Variable"

"The Variable" was a revelatory and stellar episode, appropriately rich and rewarding for the 100th of the series. This particular episode will always be special to me because we saw part of it being filmed in Hawaii earlier this year; more on that at the end of the post!

I experienced an "a ha!" moment, which provided much needed clarity with regard to the entire time travel facet of the show; Faraday's explanation that they could not change the past but they could change their destiny.

And I could not recall the last time we were treated to a scene with most of the main cast; I loved seeing Faraday, Hurley, Jack, Jin, Juliet, Kate, Miles and Sawyer in one room together. It fondly reminded me of the Season 1 days of old, when many of them were sharing misadventures on the beach or in the jungle together.

But let's get started with the episode analysis...

BEN

I've been thinking about that photo of Ben in 1970's attire, the one that Miles brought with him on the freighter mission. It certainly seems as if it were taken off island. We know that Ben was on the island in Dharmaville at a young age in the 70's, and that he traveled off island frequently in later years (thus, his secret spy office with passports, international currency and multiple wardrobe options), so seeing him in 70's garb at an older age is a tad confusing.

We have long been aware of the island's healing properties, which is why Ben's spinal tumor still stands out as one of the only ailments that seems to have developed on the island without guarantee of recovery. Did the island revive him after being shot at close range as a young boy, only to give him a tumor as a test of his loyalty?

CHARLES WIDMORE

We have now seen three of the four members of the Freighter Four recruited by Widmore or his team. Widmore's man Matthew Abaddon assigned Naomi, who recruited Miles, and Widmore himself approached Faraday. So who will seek out Lapidus for the mission to the island?

Goosebump-inducing moment: when Widmore emerged from the shadows to ask Eloise about Desmond's condition! Even though we all know that his true agenda and concern is the island and not Desmond's well being, it was still a surprise to see him at the hospital.

When Widmore said that his relationship with his daughter "was one of the things I had to sacrifice," I got a sinking feeling that Ben may somehow get to Penny to avenge his own daughter's death eventually and after all.

CHARLIE HUME

I know it still seems crazy and/or impossible, and that some of the details have changed, but I'm sticking with my Charlie Hume is Charlie Pace theory (especially after seeing Penny leave little Charlie in the care of a nurse while going to see Desmond in recovery).

I have a feeling that their son will be gone when she returns, and it isn't a coincidence that Hawking and Widmore are right outside that hospital when it happens...

DANIEL FARADAY

Let's start with the logistics. Young Faraday must also be on the island in 1977. He was obviously already born, given that only 19 years later he was a professor at Oxford. And truce or not, I doubt that the Dharma folks were allowing the Hostiles to use the sub to send their pregnant women off island to safely deliver their babies. So if Daniel was conceived and born on the island, perhaps that is why he has a "special gift." The confusing part is that Widmore was exiled from the island 12 years later (in 1989) for fathering a child with an 'outsider.' I am assuming that child is Penny. I am now curious to find out exactly when and how Ellie manages to leave the island, and if it relates to what we witnessed tonight. We are assuming that Chang sends his wife and son Miles off island before 'the incident,' so I can't wait to see if Widmore is able to arrange the same for his family.

Mommy Hawking and Daddy Widmore are both British, yet young Faraday was obviously raised in the States because he has no accent.

After Faraday & co. became stuck in 1974, he alone was able to hop on the sub and head back to the real world while Sawyer & co. remained on the island. If he was 'doing some research' at Dharma headquarters in Ann Arbor, they must have known who he was and arranged for his travel to Michigan.

I've recommended that you watch the Dr. Chang Barracks video many times, because of its increasing relevance to what is unfolding this season. And after Faraday's "I'm from the future" statement to Chang tonight, it is almost certain that he is responsible for the creation and message of this video. It is worth revisiting for that reason.

By getting shot and potentially killed, it seems that Faraday became the variable himself.

If Faraday does die, the ramifications of his failure to negate the energy beneath the Swan are truly mind blowing; that everything from 9/22/04 on is still going to happen for our friends from Oceanic flight 815.

Even though it seemed like Faraday was dying at the end of the episode, it is possible that the island will heal him (much like young Ben).

Daniel and Penny are half-siblings, just like Jack and Claire. Both Charles Widmore and Christian Shephard have been very busy men. If we're lucky, Faraday and Penny will both live to see Season 6 and find out that they're related.

One of the best exchanges in this episode:

Daniel: "I can MAKE time."
Eloise: "If only you could."

It is worth noting that Faraday is not sporting his infamous skinny tie beneath the Dharma jumpsuit. I kind of miss it. But the man clearly lacks a hairbrush, regardless of the era.

Was anyone else disappointed to see that Faraday's future caretaker Caroline was not someone we'd already met? We have been so spoiled by character connections that I've come to expect such a thing now.

DESTINY/FATE v. FREE WILL

Hawking's first encounter with Desmond back in 1996 takes on a new significance after tonight's revelations:

"The universe, unfortunately, has a way of course correcting. That man was supposed to die. That was his path just as it's your path to go to the island. You don't do it because you choose to. You do it because you're supposed to. You may not like your path, Desmond, but pushing that button is the only truly great thing you will ever do." (episode 3.08, "Flashes Before Your Eyes)

As do Ben's words to Locke, which can be applied to almost all of the characters on the island with serious daddy issues:

"You will never be free until you release the hold your father has over you. When people join us here on the island, they need to make a gesture of free will, of commitment." (episode 3.19, "The Brig")

And let's not forget how being called 'special' relates to certain characters and their destiny vs. free will:

Emily Locke to her son, John: "I want to tell you that you're special, very special. You're part of a design. You realize that, don't you?" (episode 1.19, "Deus Ex Machina")

Eloise Hawking, to her son Faraday: "Destiny means that if one has a special gift, it must be nurtured. Your gift, Daniel, is your mind. And it's my job to keep you on your path." (episode 5.14, "The Variable")

Faraday, to Desmond: "You're the only person who can help us because, Desmond...the rules do not apply to you. You're special. You're uniquely and miraculously special." (episode 5.01, "Because You Left")

ELOISE HAWKING

To me, the emotional manipulation of her son Daniel to convince him to go to the island is on par with Ben's irresponsible decision to use his daughter Alex as a pawn in his game.

I was surprised to hear Eloise tell Penny that "for the first time in a long time, I don't know what's going to happen next" because I believed Faraday when he told her in 1977 that she knew he was going to get shot and sent him to the island anyway.


HURLEY

At first I assumed that the guitar case Hurley brought back to the island was simply symbolic of Charlie; that not only was it in honor of the sacrifice that his buddy had made in order for his friends to get rescued, but that it served as a sort of proxy in Charlie's place for the return flight via Ajira.

But Hurley has the case as they prepare to leave Dharmaville, which makes me think that something far more interesting than a guitar is stored inside. {reminder: this is a spoiler-free site so please do not post a comment if you've heard or read anything relating to this or other thoughts & theories!}

THE INCIDENT

Dr. Chang and Eloise Hawking used the same expression, 'God help us all.' Chang was referring to stopping the drilling beneath the Orchid so as to avoid releasing the energy within ("Because You Left"), and Hawking was referring to Ben's inquiry about not getting all of the Oceanic Six to return to the island ("The Lie"). To me, both of these are going to relate to the pending Incident.

Given that we've seen Chang in various other Orientation films...he must survive the Incident. But it is a safe assumption that he'll lose his left arm during or because of it.

JACK AND KATE

Just like old times, Jack puts Kate in an uncomfortable situation, making her choose her alliance between him and Sawyer. I loved it. They're back! And you know you were happy to see them traipsing through the jungle together again.

JUGHEAD

Where is Jughead currently housed? Back in 1954, Faraday told his young solider mother Ellie that they needed to seal the leak on the hydrogen bomb with lead and then bury it beneath concrete. That we know of, at that time on the island, the Dharma stations had not been built.

Something tells me that in addition to Eloise, the ageless Alpert knows the location of Jughead and will take Faraday to it if he lives. Perhaps we'll even see Alpert take Faraday to The Temple to heal and survive, as he did with Little Linus...

JULIET

I will openly admit that my heart broke a little when Juliet heard and reacted to Sawyer referring to Kate as Freckles, followed by her loaded statement that "it's over, here, for us anyway."

RADZINSKY

When he confronted Jack, Kate and Faraday at the motorpool, he said he had just left Dr. Chang, who was allegedly at home with his wife and baby right there in Dharmaville. Then why did Radzinsky arrive via van? Liar pants.

And seriously, who put Captain Hothead in charge? He seems to be the strongarm leader of the Dharma Others before Ben purged them and took over. Where is Circle-of-Trust Horace during this particular crisis?

RICHARD ALPERT

Will someone please remind me why it is that Guyliner is ageless but is unable to remember people he'd met from various eras on the island...

SAWYER

Amid the chaos, Sawyer provides the evening's comic relief. "Twitchy" just might be my favorite of any of the nicknames he has assigned over the years.

I also laughed when he told Jack that he'd "love to trade theories" about why and how Faraday returned to the island, because that is what the fans have been speculating about for quite some time.

THE SWAN

Jack had to remember his visit beneath the Swan with Sayid in Season 1 when Faraday spoke of cementing in the area like Chernobyl; that is exactly what Sayid referenced when they first saw it.

It definitely struck me when Faraday said that people are going "to spend the next TWENTY years keeping that energy at bay by pressing a button," because that would only be until 1994. That is the year that a) Walt was born and b) Desmond met Penny. Both of them are 'special' and have obvious ties to the Swan at a future point in their lives.

THERESA SPENCER

Faraday had subjected both himself and his rat to time travel experiments. He lived but the rat (so lovingly named in honor of mommy Eloise) died.

I find it fascinating that Theresa wound up in a catatonic state after being stuck in time, a kind of temporal displacement...and wonder why Faraday managed to live, albeit with severe memory loss. And does her condition have anything to do with her Constant (or lack thereof)?

Of course now I suspect Eloise had something to do with Theresa's fate, given her disdain for Daniel's life outside of his island destiny.

DID YOU NOTICE...

The metronome on Faraday's piano foreshadows the giant pendulum swinging in the Dharma Lamp Post station in Los Angeles where mommy dearest was calculating the Oceanic 6 return to the island.

When Widmore visits Faraday in 2004, the title on the Wired magazine is "The Impossible Gets Real." It is not a coincidence that they featured this particular magazine in this historic 100th episode of Lost, because this his month's issue of Wired is "The Mystery Issue," edited by none other than J.J. Abrams.

Young Charlotte said the same thing to Faraday on the swing that she did before dying, "I'm not allowed to have chocolate before dinner." ("This Place is Death")

LIVE FILMING V. ACTUAL EPISODE

Many of you know that we were fortunate to witness live filming of this episode of Lost back in February on Oahu (in Dharmaville/New Otherton). It was quite surreal and fantastic to actually watch that scene at the Motorpool unfold on the show tonight. At the time, I had no idea why Jack, Kate and Faraday were donning Dharma jumpsuits, because it was before we knew that they had returned to the island...let alone back in the 70's.

When I saw actor Eric Lange there in a black jumpsuit, I inquired who he was playing and a very kind source revealed that he was the infamous Radzinsky (who up until that point in Lost lore was a mere blood stain on the ceiling of the Swan). That discovery, coupled with the fact that Faraday had blood on him but no tie, just about made my head explode. As a spoiler-free fan, I was very conflicted; while I absolutely loved watching them film our favorite show live, I knew I could not talk about it until it aired.

So I am thrilled to now be able to share the details of that day. We arrived shortly after the explosion (when Jack shot at the gas tank), and saw a few takes of the Dharma jeep crashing into another and taking off with Jack and Kate. We heard and saw the gun shots (from blank cartridges of course), and were very amused by the well cast Jack, Kate and Radzinsky stunt doubles. For what it's worth, Lange's double resembles him but is a about a foot taller.

We were not too close to the actual film crew or actors, but I can tell you that Jeremy Davies was the only one to wave at those observing the filming that day. Bonus points for Faraday! I am relieved that we did not find out that he was going to be shot and possibly killed in the very same episode!

My only regret is that we missed Elizabeth Mitchell, because clearly she was there filming that week for the scene in her house. Obviously I would have loved to see Juliet on set. :)

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Phew and wow. That was exhausting but worth every second.

If I could, I would give the entire cast, production crew and creative team of Lost a huge high five and hug tonight for providing us with 100 episodes of amazingly high quality television. I know I'm not alone when I say that Lost is easily one of the most compelling and memorable shows in the history of television. That the audience is so involved and we have spent the last five years of our lives analyzing it at length is proof positive of such.

I've never been happier to have a day off than today, because it is now after 3am. And I'm feeling rather Penny-ish, as in a few hours I am going to pick up my constant at the airport after being apart for the longest time in twelve years together. It seems only fitting that she's flying back right now...from Sydney. Yes, everything relates to Lost, and I wear that geek badge with pride.

So good morning, and have a great weekend! Feel free to leave comments with your insights and reactions.
-Jo