Recap 6:11 (Happily Ever After)

After an extended hiatus (necessary to finish my final exams and get a graduate degree) The LOST Loophole is officially back and better than ever.  I'm bringing you backlogged up-dates on Episodes 11 (Happily Ever After), 12 (Everybody Loves Hugo), and 13 (The Last Recruit).  I also promise to bring you the latest and greatest in LOST news for the next five weeks.

So let's get right to it.  Episode 11 (Happily Ever After) was one of my absolute favorite LOST episodes ever.  Desmond episodes rarely disappoint, but I thought this one hit it out of the ballpark (or the giant stadium in the middle of LA that's always open in the middle of the night for random people to run the stairs).  I thought it set the tone for the rest of the season and really started to pick up the excitement.  It made me anxious to see how everything ends.

So what did we learn?  Let's review the questions that were answered this episode.  The list is short, since this episode centered around Desmond, but still worth looking at.

34. Why isn’t the island done with Desmond yet? – My favorite Scotsman, Desmond has a unique gift that makes him a central character in the story of the island. We know that Desmond spent time as a monk, in the Royal Scottish Regiment, and as a set designer for the Royal Shakespeare Company, but he’s one of the only main character’s whose childhood is still a mystery to loyal viewers. Are there clues to Desmond’s special powers hidden in his childhood? In Season 5, Episode 6 (316) Eloise Hawking tells Desmond that the island isn’t done with him yet. So what does the island have in store for Desmond and will it take him away from Penny again (I’m just not sure I can bare that pain again!).

Well, unfortunately Desmond has been taken away from Penny again, this time by her father Charles Widmore.  For someone who's been such a jerk to Desmond in the past, Desmond was surely ready to help him.  I'm not sure I would have been so trusting of Widmore.  Widmore seems to think that the electromagnetic activity of the island and Desmond's ability to withstand death from it have something to do with saving the world.  Lots of fans have long thought that Desmond is the key to the entire show, and it sure seems like things are heading that way.

35. Eloise Hawking – The character of Eloise Hawking really embodies what is so fabulous about LOST. A character with a brief appearance in Season 3, Episode 8 when she encounters Desmond and lectures him about destiny, Eloise then appears again in Season 5 and plays a central role in the island’s story. There are still many questions surrounding the woman who spent the 1950’s as the leader of the Others on the island. We know that she was on the island, where she was pregnant with Charles Widmore’s child. We know that she must have left the island at some point, but we have no idea why or when. We know her child is Daniel Faraday, but we don’t know why his last name is Faraday or why she hid Charles Widmore as his father. We know she pushed Daniel to the island, but did she know that a younger version of herself would kill him once he’s on the island? Why does she continue to meddle in the affairs of the island? Does she work for Widmore or for someone else connected to the island?

So in the flash-sideways Eloise is married to Charles Widmore and is mother to a living Daniel Faraday, but she still seems to know something about Desmond and his life on the island, or his life with Penny at least.  What's her deal?  And what's her connection to the island?

So not a lot of questions answered, but a lot of material for this edition of The Strange, The Kick-Ass, and The Hilarious.

Off Island
The Strange
1. In Widmore's LA office, there is a picture of scales, with black rocks on one side and white rocks on the other side.  The scale is totally in balance.  Is this some kind of message about the balance of good and evil in the flash-sideways world?  Also, why is Widmore in LA and not in England?
2. When Desmond and Charlie surfaced in the water by the pier, there were totally people standing close by, but no one came to help.  What the heck?
3. How does Eloise know, like, everything?

The Kick-Ass
1. The return of George Minkowski.  He's awesome!
2. The return of MacCutcheon Whisky.  Desmond was once told by Widmore that he wasn't worth a sip of this whiskey, but he is now.
3. The explanation of why Charlie was choking on a bag of heroin.  Makes perfect sense now.
4. It was great to see Desmond and Penny together.

The Hilarious
1. Charlie's shoes when he was wearing the hospital gown. He looked hilarious!
2. Daniel Faraday may have had a new last name (Widmore), but he was still rocking the tie.
3. Seriously, why is that stadium always open?

On Island
The Strange
1. Zoe (who, again, looks strangely like Tina Fey's sister) is a geophysicist.  So how the heck does she know what kind of medicine or the proper dosage to give Desmond to wake him up?
2. When Sayid comes out from the woods to take Desmond away, he lets Zoe live.  Why?
3. After agreeing to help Widmore, why does Desmond go so willingly with Sayid?  Desmond just seems game for anything this episode. 

The Kick-Ass
1. It's been awhile since we had a good "eye" opener.  I was glad to see this LOST standard back.
2. Widmore tells Desmond, "The island isn't done with you yet".  I bet Desmond is sick and tired of hearing that phrase.

The Hilarious
1. Desmond was asked twice in one episode if he had anything metal on him like coins or keys.  Very important question, but probably the only man alive that would be asked that so regularly.