Even by 2006, it was becoming
clear that the love story was inconsistent with Peak TV. The Sopranos
didn’t believe in it, it was tangential at best to The
Wire and 24, Deadwood ended
before it became clear if it would be critical and while Buffy the Vampire
Slayer was a magnificent accomplishment, it made clear pretty much from the
first season that love was a fate worse than death by vampire.
This pattern would only accelerate
as Peak TV continued. It did not exist
in Breaking Bad; it was a non-factor in Mad Men, Homeland argued
it was a doomed enterprise…you get the idea. Indeed the great pillar of network
TV Shonda Rhimes essentially argued that it’s unnecessary and that your
soulmate is just something you have until you get bored or death steps in.
Perhaps that is the reason why,
when I first saw the second season finale of Lost in 2006, I was
somewhat disappointed that the series decided to tell the story of
Desmond. Considering that for two
seasons Lost had been about so many grand themes – mystery, fate vs. free will, science, survival, betrayal, death – that to
fundamentally spend the finale devoted to what seemed to be a love story seemed
a disappointment. I don’t think I realized that in fact the writers were
setting up the grand theme of Lost, one that got, well, lost under all
of the mystery. The reason the series was such a success may have been
initially because of the mysteries and the questions we had, but the reason it
lasted was because we cared about these characters. Lost is fundamentally a show about the
human condition, and what is more human than love?
And in that sense the saga of
Desmond and Penny stands alone not just among the entire arc of Lost but
in much of Peak TV as whole. In the cynical world that 21st century
TV reflected, we were taught to believe that love stories were not the kind of
thing that survived as entertainment anymore. (I think that may be the reason
that such things as the romantic comedy, which had been the staple of movies
for more than twenty years, began to fall out of favor around this same period.)
Love was too pure an emotion to appeal to the viewer as much as more elemental
things: lust was the pervading emotion, whether it be for sex or for power or
money. The story of Desmond and Penny
fundamentally cuts through that narrative.
There are many fans of the series who have problems with so much of the
show; I don’t know a single person who has issue with the love story of Desmond
and Penny. I certainly didn’t; after my initial objections, I was fully onboard
with it by the time Season 3 hit its groove. The fact that many of the fates of
the survivors and the show itself are at the core around the love story of
Desmond and Penny only proves this point.
Desmond has found himself back on
the island and is thoroughly plastered when we meet him. He spends much of the first half of the
season premiere drunk and determined to stay that way. Much of Season 2 is about characters losing
faith and Desmond now seems to have become a pure nihilist. He is the first character we’ve met who
openly wants to leave the island, and now apparently thinks he is doomed never
to leave it. He sailed off two weeks ago
and somehow he ended up right back here. He thinks the island is all that’s
left. He has only a tangential interest
in the button he deserted, doesn’t seem that interested in either helping Sayid
or saying goodbye to the boat he traveled on and when he talks to Claire about
her baby’s father not be fit to the task, it’s very clear he’s talking about
himself. Desmond doesn’t have a purpose
any more which is almost certainly the reason when Locke comes to him telling
him everything he did for three years was a lie, he embraces it even though he
should very well know better.
People have wondered why, since
Desmond clearly remembers what happens when he sees the printout from the
Pearl, he goes along with John’s decision to not push the button. Based on what
we’ve seen in the flashbacks prior to this, I think there’s a very real chance
that Desmond thinks that his actions did destroy the world and that is his
punishment. That’s why he has come back to the island; he’s suffering for his
sins. With the clock running, he actually asks John whether he’s doing this
because he has a death wish. Maybe that’s why Desmond is doing this. He’s
hoping that when the numbers run out, he gets punished for his sins.
And by this point we know that is
not the real sin he thinks he needs to atone for. Desmond walks out of a Scottish military
garrison to meet with a man named Charles Widmore. We’ve seen signs of him in
subtle product references in the second season, but we had no reason to think
it meant anything. Now we learn that Widmore is a billionaire who clearly
disapproved of Desmond’s relationship with his daughter, has done everything in
his power to keep them apart, and wants to make sure it stays that way. Because
Desmond clearly believes in honor, he decides to prove himself to Widmore by
winning his race around the world.
We then flash back to the scene in
the stadium – and its there we meet Penny for the first time. We will learn more about the saga of Desmond
and Penny then almost any other characters on the show (though in the tradition
of Lost we learn it backwards) but in a sense, we learn everything we
have to in their only scene together in this episode. They have not seen each other in years and
there’s clearly hurt between them, but it’s just as clear that neither has
moved on. The writers always choose the names of their characters with care,
and they clearly made a point when they named Widmore’s daughter Penelope. Anyone who has even a basic understanding of
Greek mythology knows the significance of the name: Penelope was Odysseus’ wife
who remained faithful to her husband for years even after he was presumed dead
from the Trojan War. Even on an island a
world away from Desmond, she finds a way to reach out to him at the time of his
greatest despair and she assures him that she will always love him no matter
what. Desmond clings to that despite everything, and I think that before the
climax of the episode, he says “I love you, Penny” because he wants them to be
his last words.
Of course, they aren’t. In an
outlier for a season finale, not just for Lost but almost any TV series
in this century, no major characters die. (Is that a spoiler? It’s been nearly
twenty years.) It looked like a lot of characters might be doomed in the last
minutes, and a lot of characters are clearly in danger, but every regular we
see in this episode turns up in the next season (or later on).
It's the fundamental nature of Lost
that even while actions are going on that could destroy everybody on the
island, a healthy portion of the survivors are not only unaware of it at the
time, but they also don’t even learn about long after the fact. Indeed, even Desmond’s arrival is barely
noticed with any real interest by Jack, who barely seems to be bothered that
the man who left the hatch (and knew before, remember) is now back on the
island before going back on his mission to get the Others. If ever there was an example of how narrow
minded a leader Jack is, it’s now. Does
he see the boat as a potential for rescue? No, it’s a tool that he can use to
get his revenge on the Others. Sayid is little better, considering it’s his
idea to do so in the first place.
Every aspect of Jack’s plan is
foolish from the get-go. He chooses not to tell any of his friends about what
he is doing, and it is only when Kate and Sawyer realize that they are being
followed that Jack is forced to tell them. Jack can barely be bothered to
apologize to his friends, and his treatment of Hurley is reprehensible.
Jorge Garcia is truly fantastic in
the season finale. He is the only person on the mission who is not motivated by
revenge or desperation but because he wants to help Walt. When he learns the truth, he feels betrayed
twice. When he realizes just how horrible Michael is – that a man he considered
a friend killed two women in cold blood and can’t even be bothered to apologize
for it – he clearly just wants to go back. He is not any happier when Jack
basically forces him to keep going on the basis of a plan that is clearly
flawed before they even realize that Michael has betrayed them again. When the
trap is sprung by the Others, he does not bother to run away or fight, but
rather just covers his ears. The fact that he eventually learns the only reason
they wanted him in the first place was to send him is just one more blow. There’s something truly sad about the guy who
everybody likes, not being wanted or trusted by anyone.
It's also a measure of how bad a
leader Jack is at this stage that at no point does he think to tell Locke about
what’s happening or even ask him to come along when it’s clear he could help.
That said, it’s pretty obvious that John isn’t in any position to help anyone,
certainly not himself.
Terry O’Quinn is magnificent in
the season finale as a man who has lost all faith and is clearly bitter and
angry. He is enraged at Eko for having faith (and the fact that Eko uses his
own phrase back at him must sting more) and ends up tracking down Desmond
almost certainly because he wants to share in the misery and take Desmond down.
There’s something very vindictive about how he shows Des the Orientation film
and offers to make popcorn.
When Des and Locke are in the
computer room, Locke seems more lost than he’s ever been. He says that Charlie and Eko aren’t his
friends, and actually seems not to care if they’re hurt or injured. For much of
the season he was obsessed with the button; now his obsession is in the other
direction. When he tells Desmond why he lost his faith – and finally accepts
his part in the death of Boone – it triggers something in Desmond. By the time
he argues the Pearl Station is an experiment, it’s not a shock – that large
field of notebooks that have never been read is a big honking sign. What is a
shock comes when he learn that the Swan is real, and that there has been an
incident – and that incident crashed Oceanic 815. (It also gives us an official
date for the crash: September 22, 2004 – which is of course, the day Lost premiered.
We’ll basically have a calendar of events for the next two seasons.)
Locke is now so much of a zealot
that he no more listens to Desmond’s certainty that this is real than Eko’s
evidence of destiny and he finally decides to prove it – by destroying the
computer. There’s a trace of uncertainty
when he says that he’s saved them all.
The scene in the hatch after the
numbers run down is one of the great set-pieces in the entire series. We watch as every metal object in the hatch
begins to be drawn towards something, as Charlie and Eko frantically try to get
out, as Eko makes his way back to the computer. Locke has not moved, even as
the timer begins to contract to the magnetism. He meets Eko’s eyes and says
three simple words. “I was wrong.” It seemed like the understatement of the
century. In actuality, it’s the first thing Locke has said something that he is
completely and utterly certain of.
Then Desmond turns the key and
because Henry Ian Cusick was only a guest star, we naturally assume he’s dead.
(See Locke’s statement above.) At this point, however, we’re dealing with the
action on the pier where we finally get to see the Others in their (ragged)
glory and officially meet the leader – Henry Gale. If Emerson was brilliant in
his earlier performance, he’s incredible here as he talks coldly and
business-like to Michael, about keeping his word and how he knows Michael will
never tell what he’s done. There’s something almost military like about his
posture now, something with authority. (While the sky is turning people and
everyone is flinching, he doesn’t seem as surprised when it happens or when
it’s over. This is the first sign we’ve gotten he might be the key to
everything that’s happening.)
When Michael asks, utterly bereft:
“Who are you people?” who among us can forget Henry’s answer: “We’re the good
guys.” Now Henry has spent the entire season lying to everybody, but this is
the first time he actually seem to believe what he’s saying. We are no more inclined to believe him than
we did Tom (the man we thought was the leader) when he said the survivors were
interlopers or Goodwin when he called Nathan ‘not a good person’ or Ethan when
he said he wanted the best for Claire’s baby…well, you get it, these guys have
a credibility problem. And we know that when Henry tells Jack, Kate and Sawyer
are coming with them, it’s not to invite them to a fancy dinner. What we do know by now is that the Others
really seem to believe it. But we still don’t know why. Much of Season 3 will be spent explaining why
they believe it, and for some reason when we spent so much time with them, a
lot of fans turned on the series. (I’ll get to that.)
Season 2 ends like Season 1 did,
with the castaways scattered. This time,
however, the divides are far more severe. Michael and Walt are leaving the
island for home. (Gotta say that Henry might have thought it wouldn’t be for
long: his departing words are not farewell or goodbye, but bon voyage) Sayid,
Jin and Sun are on the other side of the island, not sure what’s happened to
their friends. Charlie made it out of the hatch intact (and is kissing Claire)
but Desmond, Locke and Eko might very well be dead. Hurley is heading back to the camp, while
Jack, Kate and Sawyer are going with the Others.
But that’s not the final scene.
For the first time, we leave the island and in fact seem to be somewhere in the
Arctic Circle. Two men are speaking a strange language (we later learn their
Portuguese). They look at a monitor that says, “ELECTROMAGNETIC ANOMALY
DETECTED” . They started leaving through books, mutter things about “Did we
miss it?” and one makes a call. Then on
the other end, we hear the line: “Miss Widmore. I think we found it.”
And there’s Penny. Who said in her
one scene with Desmond: “With enough money and determination, you can find
anyone.” She is clearly set on using both to find Desmond. If that isn’t love,
I don’t know what is.
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