Lost Series 4 Episode 5 - The Constant

We learn a great deal about the island and its inhabitants, in this the 5th episode of series 4 of Lost – The Constant.

After they apparently went ‘missing’ in last week’s episode, Sayid, Desmond and Frank are alive and well and heading for the freighter – so what’s going on? That question gets put on the back burner, as Desmond suddenly finds himself back in 1996 when he was in the Army.

However, he returns quickly but has no knowledge of what happened to him after 1996, so he doesn’t recognise Sayid. With Desmond, obviously distressed and teetering on the edge of sanity, they land at the boat and Desmond is taken to the sick bay. There we learn that another man has a similar condition – the radio operator, Minkowski. He explains to Desmond that Penny had been trying to contact the boat, which means nothing to Desmond, as he thinks she’s still in 1996.

Said borrows a phone to ring Jack back at the beach but its Dan who helps them out. He believes he knows what Desmond’s suffering from and asks to speak to him. After finding out that he keeps travelling between 1996 and the present day, he tells Desmond to find him, as he was a lecturer at Oxford during this time. He gives Desmond some settings for a device and a code word.

Later Desmond would meet the younger Dan and after not initially believing him, Dan is convinced when Desmond gives him the numbers and the code word. The code word, it seems is a rat. Dan then demonstrates how his device he can send the rat forwards in time. However, the rat dies and Dan explains that it’s mind couldn’t cope, as it didn’t have a ‘constant’ – something that anyone could relate to in both times that they’re in. Desmond’s constant turns out to be his girlfriend, Penny but first he must find her in 1996. Meanwhile, Minkowski dies, as his brain goes the same way as the rat.

Desmond goes to see Penny’s father, the mysterious Charles Widmore, who is busy bidding on what seems to be a piece of the Island’s memorabilia. It turns out that he has bought a journal from the captain of a ship called ‘The Black Rock’ which had crashed on the Island. Widmore gives Desmond the address but warns him that she doesn’t want to see him, after he had ran off to the Army to prove to Widmore that he was ‘worthy’ of his daughter (in series 3).

However, Desmond manages to persuade a fed-up Penny and tells her that he will phone her only once, on Christmas Eve in 2004 (it’s that date on the boat). A reluctant Penny gives him the number and when he finds himself back on the boat, he manages to ring her and once she picks it up, the rift is sealed. Desmond is okay and Penny realises that he was telling the truth. Penny tells Desmond that she has been searching for him for the last three years and tells him that she will find him. It’s a rather touching moment to be honest!

Overall it was a great episode that as proved, for some reason, the Island has a number of different time zones around it. This was why Dan had previously told Frank to stick to the compass bearing he gave him, before they left the Island. It will also be interesting to see what happens next, as we see in Dan’s journal that he has earmarked Desmond to be his ‘constant’. But whatever happens, Lost has certainly upped the weirdness stakes and I’m still unsure what’s going on - But I love it!

9/10

Next Time: Will Hurley find something to eat? I bet the poor bugger is starving – he’s had nothing to eat for a day!