The Variable

Greetings Losties. The Variable is Lost’s 100^th episode. Let me tell you, I think I need the special edition of Daniel Faraday’s Storyline: For Dummies after this episode. Let’s try to figure this stuff out as best we can eh? We’ll go sort of chronologically, in the order of his life rather than through time.

Back in the day, a young Dan practices his beloved piano, much to the chagrin of his science minded mother, Eloise Hawking. She tells him, with tears in her eyes, that there’s no time for such frivolities, and he must use his gifted mind to pursue the right path. Her tears made me wonder. Doc Jenson says, “I find myself going back to that first flashback scene and mulling the possibility that moments before Eloise entered the piano parlor in tears, something happened. And I wonder if that something could have been discovering, for the first time, the true identity of the man she shot in the jungle. How? Maybe a phone call from all-knowing Widmore. Maybe an extended flash of Dan’s bendy-shaped future. Or maybe (yes!) a Back to the Future 2 scenario: a letter from time traveling Faraday himself, written during his Ann Arbor but not delivered, per his instructions, until this flashback’s point in time, several years later.” It is years later, after graduating from Oxford, that Dan and his new love Teresa meet Ms. Hawking again. This time, it’s Teresa that she doesn’t approve of, though to calm her anxiety Dan informs her that he’s been given a grant my Charles Widmore. Seemingly pleased, Ms. Hawking gives her son his now oft seen leather bound journal. DarkUFO is also curious. He says, “Destiny isn’t something you can argue or bargain with – it’s the fixed and unchangeable path down which you’re meant to travel. Yet here’s a young Ms. Hawking, once again trying to convince someone that they’re destined to do something. She even tells us it’s her ‘job’ to guide people along the right paths. Doesn’t this contradict the very definition of a pre-determined future? If it’s already Daniel’s destiny to do the things he’s supposed to do, why can’t she let him play the piano for a while? Maybe even make him a sandwich?Since when does destiny need deputies? If the universe always corrects itself, why does Hawking have to play time marshal?”

In 2004, we revisit a moment from last season when Daniel is made aware of the wreckage of Oceanic Flight 815. We were unaware then of his emotional connection then, and we still are watching it again, yet Charles Widmore makes an appearance to verify that the wreckage is a fake, and the planting of it was his doing. Don’t you love how some mysteries on this show are so bluntly verified sometimes? While Daniel doesn’t really know why the story of the flight upsets him so, it’s obvious that his tests with time travel have resulted in some type of brain damage. Perhaps he has prior knowledge of what the discovery means for his future that have been repressed unconsciously for so long, yet his emotional reaction is still strong enough to overpower his memory. Widmore then invites Daniel on the Kahana mission, claiming that the island will heal his disorder. With the urging of Ms. Hawking, Daniel agrees to go.

Back on island in 1977, Daniel explains to Miles that he came back to the island after seeing the new recruit photo that included Jack, Hurley, and Kate. Apparently, Dan’s been in funky 1977 Ann Arbor, Michigan doing some further research. Upon questioning Jack, Dan figures out that it was his mother, Ms. Hawking who orchestrated their return to the island. Though she spoke grandly of destiny, Daniel informs them that his mother was wrong, and the O6 do not belong on the island at any time. Miles gives Dan a ride down to the Orchid to meet with Pierre Chang. Here we re-examine a scene from the opening of this season: the discovery of the frozen donkey wheel and the mysterious Daniel in the 1977 Orchid. Though it only takes a moment for Daniel to realize that he must inform Pierre Chang what’s going on. Lostpedia’s summary is “Daniel explains that it is necessary to begin evacuating the Island, as the magnetic energy unleashed by DHARMA construction work has caused injuries. When Chang responds skeptically and insists that the energy has been contained, they board the Orchid elevator to the surface and Daniel explains that in six hours, a catastrophic accident will occur at the Swan station. Chang demands to know why Daniel considers himself qualified to make such a prediction, and Daniel reveals that he has arrived “from the future.”  Thinking that Daniel is pulling his leg, Dan then uses his knowledge of Miles to help. Though Miles denies being Chang’s son, Chang does seem intrigued, despite taking off in a Dharma van.

In a meeting of the O6 and the Left Behinders, Sawyer claims that the only way for them all to escape their predicament would be to take the sub back to the mainland, run off to the beach, or hightail it into the woods to join the Hostiles. Sawyer beseeches Kate to join them in a run for the beach, invoking her old nickname of “Freckles.” Juliet’s reaction, however, is priceless. Visibly annoyed at the use of Kate’s cute nickname, she blurts out the code to the sonic fence (141717) so that Kate and Jack can take Daniel to his mother within the Hostiles. Sawyer, Juliet, Jin and Hurley plan to head out for the beach. Vozzek69 notes, “Heading back into the jungle and starting from square one doesn’t seem to bother anyone – there’s not a rookie or a red-shirt left among them. As Hurley says, leaving now would be kind of wishy-washy. They’re finally realizing that they’re all here for a reason, and that nothing’s going to get resolved until they figure out what that reason is. I think Locke would be proud.”

On the way to the motor pool, a young redhead catches Daniel’s eye. It is Charlotte, a few years older than when we saw her last as a stumbling toddler. He then tells her that soon her and her mother must leave with Dr. Chang. He explains that he tried to avoid telling her this but now believes that he can change things. Remember, Charlotte told Daniel years before that she’s sure it was him who told her as a child to “leave the island and never, ever come back.” Yet we don’t actually hear Daniel tell Charlotte this. I’m wondering if, because of his new thoughts on variables and his claim that he can change things, Daniel instead told Charlotte something different. In order to prevent her death, would Daniel attempt to do the opposite of what Charlotte claimed was her past? Or was it that change that ultimately set her future in motion?

After a gunfight in which Radzinsky tries to assert himself as Master of the Universe yet again, Jack, Kate and Daniel make it to the sonic fence. Here, as Jack treats Daniel’s wound, Daniel explains to him (something I’ve been trying to explain to other Lost watchers) that they are currently in their own present. Anyone can die. If they die here, it does not affect their own past as they experienced it or negate that they’d ever be born. After further prying, Daniel continues to try and explain to them what is probably only making sense in his own mind. Lostpedia’s account of his explanation is that Daniel, “reveals his knowledge of the impending disaster caused by a massive energy release at the Swan station. He explains that as a result of this, the installation they know as “The Hatch” will be built as a precautionary measure to contain this energy and prevent future incidents. Over the next 20 years, he explains, it will be necessary for DHARMA to keep this energy at bay by pressing a button – ultimately, Desmond’s failure to do so will cause the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. Daniel tells Jack and Kate that his studies of relativistic physics have revealed the relationship between the “constants” in this equation and “the variables.” The variables, he says, are people – specifically, their choices and free will may enable them to change their destiny. Daniel then reveals his intention to set things right by detonating a hydrogen bomb in an attempt to negate the catastrophic energy release, thereby preventing the events that led to Oceanic 815’s crash.”

Uh……woah.

First of all, am I the only one thinking that this isn’t going to work? I mean, no incident, means no hatch, which means no crash of 815, which means no Kahana mission, which means no O6, which means no Ajira 316, which means THEY CAN’T BE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. Isn’t that one of the crucial rules of Back to the Future/Terminator/Bill and Ted? “We have to remember to do this or else it won’t happen. But it DID happen…Hey it WAS me who stole my dad’s keys!!” Like Kate said, Daniel is talking about erasing everything that happened to them. My question is, if they do prevent everything in Daniel’s plan and flight 815 lands perfectly fine in LA in 2004, what happens to the Losties in their present now? They would be, in effect, changing their past. Would they then just disappear a la Marty McFly? Dark says, “Now, there are lots of people – me included – who’ve theorized that LOST ends as it begins: with flight 815. From S2 we’ve seen the story moving in one big circle, and as we approach the end of the show we all know that the finishing point of any circle is at its beginning. Hell, the show was even called ‘Circle’ before it was called LOST, from what I understand. But it got me thinking: maybe that’s why they’re all on the island in the first place. Maybe they’re LOST because through the very act of changing things, they’re erased their very own existence.” Ow. Brainz.

Making their way into the Hostile camp, Daniel demands to speak with Ellie. His plan doesn’t go well however, and Ellie shoots him in the back. Lying there on the ground, dying, Daniel says, “You…knew this was going to happen, but you sent me here anyway.” Whatever happened happened? “Trash can…remember a trash can…” Or can things be changed? DarkUFO thinks, “There are arguments for both sides. The very act of Daniel getting shot by his mom seems to indicate that he’s wrong in his assumptions. But just because he’s killed, does that mean his equations and conclusions were incorrect? Or was he just a victim of poor execution? I mean, come on… even Jack could see that his plan for diplomatic relations with the hostiles totally sucked. And when Jack’s making wincing faces at your plan… that’s never a good sign. Daniel’s death points firmly toward the fact that whatever happened was destined to happen, just as Hawking predicted. But did she really predict it? Or did she cause it to happen… through years and years of planning… through a lifetime of manipulation in order to get him there? Couldn’t I argue that Hawking is the actual variable in that equation? That she could’ve assumed any other value: one of a loving mother, a protector, a piano aficionado, instead of a cold-blooded deputy of the island willing to sacrifice her only son?” Knowing now that Ellie knew her whole life that Daniel was destined to go back to the island and that she would shoot him, Daniel regretfully informs Ellie that he is her son. Do we think that Faraday’s “death” is a major island course correction? Was he shot immediately after deciding to try and defy causality and the “rules” by stopping the Incident? Maybe there was no incident at all before Daniel and Other Losties try to prevent it (ala, John Conner didn’t exist until Kyle Reese went back in time to protect him and impregnate his mom thus creating him.) I for one don’t think Daniel is going to die just yet. It’s obvious that the older Ms. Hawking is aware of future events that she must have found out from a time traveling Daniel. So while Daniel may be destined to leave us, I do think a vomit of information about the future is about to spew out of Daniel, and help create the all knowing and mysterious Ms. Hawking that confused us for so many episodes.

In the present, Ms. Hawking visits Penny and baby Charlie to check on Desmond. Ms Hawking reveals to Penny that her son is Daniel Faraday, and that she’s sorry for Desmond’s injury and that somehow Desmond has gotten involved in something much larger. Her confusion intrigues me. She claims that for the first time in a long time, she doesn’t know what is coming next. This makes me think that perhaps Desmond involvement has changed something, and perhaps Daniels’ plan to change the past and future is possible. Though perhaps she doesn’t know what’s next because that is all she knows, as she only knows what Daniel knew and told her in 1977. A Lostpedia theorist agrees with me, “Eloise has no knowledge of events after the last group was sent to the island. She met Jack and Kate after shooting Daniel and so knew that everything up to their being sent back was destined to happen. Therefore she is as lost as anyone now because flight 316 was the future-most event in this chain of events – which she learned of after shooting her son.”

With regards to other information past along from Daniel, another Lostpedia theorist ties the situation into the Dharma booth recruitment video. They say, “The video Dr. Chang recorded was taped shortly after the Incident. Dr. Chang will find out more about the time period from which Daniel originates (including information about the current president and the internet) though of course not from Daniel himself. Dr. Chang will learn of the Purge, and seeing how Daniel was unable to change the past, Dr. Chang will figure that his future cannot be changed either.”

Give it a watch-

Chang’s struggle to complete the video may explain his reluctance at believe Daniel, (or perhaps Miles, getting info from Dan’s dead body) despite their evidence.” In Ms. Hawking’s brief meeting with Widmore outside the hospital we find out that Widmore is also Daniel’s father, making Penny his half sister. Was Daniel born on the island then? We know that Ben had Widmore ousted for having a family off-island, but if Daniel was born there this may be another mysterious on island birth before the women started dying of such.

Relating to the original Swan orientation video, Doc Jensen found an interesting parallel. He wants you to notice 4 points:

1. Dr. Candle’s left arm does not move during the entire film.
2. Dharma’s founders were a pair of University of Michigan scientists, Gerald and Karen DeGroot. An industrialist named Alvar Hanso funded their work.
3. Remember — nay, MEMORIZE — this line as if it were scripture: ”Not long after the experiments began, however, there was…an ‘incident’…and since that time, the following protocol has been observed…”
4. The copyright date on the film: 1980.

Check it out for a sec-

Doc then goes on to explain, “Greg Egan’s acclaimed 1995 sci-fi novel Distress is a book that teems with semi-plausible Lost connections (South Pacific island setting, mysterious diseases, invading mercenaries, and the opening line is very Miles: ”All right. He’s dead. Go ahead and talk to him.”), but what really blew my mind was stumbling across a character named Karin De Groot. She’s the assistant to a physicist who is on the verge of discovering the one true Theory of Everything, a real scientific term, known by its acronym, TOE. A number of radical religious groups, known as ”Ignorance Cults,” are seeking to stop De Groot’s boss from finishing the TOE, lest it trigger an ”Aleph Moment” that would transform the world by uniting all people under a single, accurate understanding of the nature of reality. Indeed, through the wonky science-magic of quantum mechanics, broadcasting this TOE would actually retroactively create the world. Might these ”What lies in the shadow of the statue?” people currently running around Lost be the show’s version of a mystery-preserving Ignorance Cult? And in the context of Lost, would these be good guys (because mystery is good) or bad guys (because the truth of the Island should be shared with the world)? And is there a connection between TOE and the Island’s Four-Toed Statue?” I encourage you to read the rest of this particular Doc article, since he goes into crazy references that blow the mind. After some other allusions he goes on to explain, “A Theory of Everything is a search for a scientific foundation for reality — a search for footing, if you will. Why four toes? Maybe it’s because the closest thing we currently have to a TOE in science — the Standard Model of Particle Physics — states that there are four fundamental forces in the universe. But physicists will tell you that the Standard Model is unsatisfactory, for any number of reasons, including the fact that many eggheads suspect that there’s a fifth force out there — the missing fifth toe, if you will.”

Another note from Doc: he points out that it was strange the way that Desmond was able to bounce back from a gunshot wound momentarily only to need to be rushed to the ER afterwards. He connects this back to other discontinuities: “For many weeks now, many of you have been asking me to comment about the season’s penchant for returning to previous scenes, particularly the fateful marina summit of the Oceanic 6, but shown from different perspectives and featuring slightly altered details. For example, in one episode, Sayid told Ben and Jack, ”I don’t want any part of this. And if I see you, or him again, it will be extremely unpleasant for all of us.” But in the Sayid-centric ”He’s Our You,” we saw the scene again, but this time Sayid spoke solely to Ben: ”And if I see you again, it’ll be extremely unpleasant for us both.” Another example: Young Ben’s roaming bullet hole. When Sayid shot him in ”He’s Our You,” the hole was on the one side of his chest. But in the next episode, ”Whatever Happened, Happened,” it was on the other. And so we must decide: is Lost getting sloppy with the continuity, or do these discrepancies mean something? There has been speculation that these blips are evidence of a changing time line. There has also been speculation that these blips are evidence of the observer effect at work in Lost, the quantum physics idea that individual perception shapes reality. And there has also been speculation that these blips — or more specifically, the repeated practice of calling back to shared moments — have something to do with ”frame dragging,” a phenomenon associated with black holes and other reality-distorting anomalies.”

In closing I inform you that the 2 part season finale is, indeed, titled “The Incident” and bring you a quote from Daniel’s namesake Michael Faraday, one that echoes the probable futility of his quest to change time, ‘‘But still try, for who knows what it is possible.”

~ by iamtheisland on May 2, 2009.