LOST The Constant

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hi, and welcome to this episode of Assassin's Sips. Today we are gonna talk about season four, episode five of Lost the Constant. I'm one of your hosts. I'm Lisa. And I'm Agnes. And what are you drinking today, Agnes?

SPEAKER_02 0:28

You got me in mid swallow.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

That's what she said.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Ha ha! That's what I usually say. Um Peach, sweets peach wine. I find, and the irony is not lost on me, pun intended, and all those other things. So I'm about to speak peaches, swallowing. Yeah. Hi, guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

It fits right in.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

It does.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

That's what she said. I have some Chardonnay from a bottle that you and I actually did not finish while you were here because this is actually the first episode that we are recording after your trip. Because we banked a few episodes to give us time to like be terrible human beings and not record.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

And we actually recover from debauchery.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

And there was some. And the lesson to be learned is that my people are now your people. Alex in his sleep. Yes, he does. Imaginary ones, apparently. Um if I tell you everything that's gonna happen at a party, apparently nothing happens. And what else? Oh, and we have some new material for our cards against humanity deck because there were the birth of some new, it was the birth of some new phrases in our side jokes. Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

So that was a really great time. Thank you for the non-B Day, B Day celebration, you're really vacation or whatever you want to call that day.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

I wasn't allowed to mention. Yes, yeah, you're welcome. And thank you for like basically doing it for me, practically, showing me how to make a cake.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

That was fun. Lisa, I'm telling you, you think I'm crazy, but it's gonna become addictive.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

I'm I'm up for the challenge.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

You'll be like, I gotta buy this.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

So fucking cute though. Like honestly, it was adorable. I her face, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

That was the best part, and then Alex, that was also pretty easy, too. But regarding the cake and the whole purpose, yeah, her face was priceless.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Yes, and so next year when I throw a dick party, apparently.

SPEAKER_03 2:55

I heard it correctly.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Okay, I said a dip party, like chips and dip, and Agnes wanted to know how I was gonna throw a dick party that was children friendly.

SPEAKER_03 3:06

And I mean, these still they were the they were my first concern though. There's something to be said about that.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

All right, at least you were concerned. I was like, Because you were probably like, why is she not concerned about the children?

SPEAKER_03 3:18

I was a little concerned about you at the moment. Like, um okay, and to be fair, she didn't say chips and dip or dip and chips. She just said dip party.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

So like we were talking about onion dip. I didn't think I had to, you know, like frame it out for you.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

I mean, how many times do we talk about one thing and then boom on another tangent? Something totally irrelevant.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

It is okay, you're right. Also, um, can we give a shout out to our new friend Jasmine from the coffee house? Hi, Jasmine! Oh my gosh, she was so sweet. It was like the highlight of that of one of the highlights of the trip was meeting her.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Um, what was the coffee house name?

SPEAKER_00 4:04

It was 787 Cafe.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

787 Cafe. I forget the cafe. I remember 787, but I forget cafe.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Yeah, so yes, just just a beautiful human being. So this one's for you, girl. I have a question for you.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

For me or for the listeners?

SPEAKER_00 4:21

For you, Agnes. For me.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Okay, I love the question. I love a good question.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Will you be my constant? Only if you'd be my constant. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Oh, the world's not ready for us.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

Um, I I think you and I have been each other's constant since uh like 1987.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

I don't know what you're talking about. I wasn't born yet. Okay, this is okay, this was one of the weirdest motherfucking episodes to date, and yet it was the one that made the most sense to me.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

This is highly, highly regarded as a fan favorite episode and one of the best episodes of the whole series. It made sense.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

I'm like, everything's falling into place with me. Oh, do I have to say I told you so?

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Um, if you like, but what are you telling me I told you so about?

SPEAKER_02 5:14

Okay, sad with the I told you so. But the whole space-time continuum thing, like his conscience is going back and forth. I time traveling. I told you so. I told you so, I told you so. If anyone watches Will and Grace, if you know, you know.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

So, yes, but yeah, but it's a bit the most out there episode, but at the same time, it made so much sense. Maybe because it was still based on science, and as opposed to just like random, I don't know, and just throwing out everything and seeing what sticks, right? Pretty much. I was like, okay, and it's so unlike previous episodes. I think this is the one there might be one more that I can't think of. I think this is the episode that is the most unlike the normal MO.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Yeah. This one for sure stands out in other reasons. And we'll like, you know, we'll get to them at the end. But I'm I'm glad that you enjoyed it. It's there's always something, even though like Desmond is not an A15 survivor, there's always something special about a Desmond episode.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

I I think something I forget he's not a he's not one of the survivors, but he's just he fits he fits more into the app into the group than some of the people that are the survivors. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, I love Rose and Harold and Bernard. Bernard. Um, I love them, but they seem they feel like extras. Yeah. Desmond is not an extra. Desmond is part of it. I have a question. Okay. Oh, wait, nope. I'm going to look up something before I ask the question. Okay, I'm not crazy. Well, I am, but not for this reason. Doing the opening credits, I saw a particular actor's name in the I'm like, what? And like, is he coming back in a flashback? Is he like, is he coming back on the show? Because I don't remember seeing his name on previous credits. Okay. Opening credits.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Do you want to elaborate or am I not supposed to know?

SPEAKER_02 7:31

Um, Harold Perineau, I can't pronounce your name, sorry. Uh-huh. He's he was on the opening credits for this episode, but he wasn't in the episode. Get gay? Oh. Do you know what character he plays? That's the that's what you waltz father.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Michael.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Thank you. Okay. Get gay? Oh, you're gonna keep your mouth shut. Thank you. Okay, you evil bitch. But okay, I love you. Um something else about this episode I had to spitball about, and I had it, and then I jumped off the train and lost it. I'm just saying bye to it as it goes down the train, the track. Um so I said this episode made sense. Is this also maybe the first? Obviously, the first episode with no technical flash forward. It's also no flashback either. I don't know if another, I don't know if anyone else didn't have a flashback. Actually, the other one didn't have a flashback, it was flash forwards, we thought it was a flashbacks. But anyway, um, so this has no flash forwards and no flashbacks either. Right, technically speaking.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Technically speaking, no, because they weren't flashbacks.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

He they were literally him, his bra his conscious is going back and forth, right? And then here's another question. This one I don't understand. If Damon, Damien, what the fuck? Desmond, Desmond, if Desmond from 1986, he really confused then. Yeah, if 96 is going back and forth between present and past, where is the current Desmond? The 94 Desmond, who knows what's going on?

SPEAKER_00 9:22

The 2004 Desmond, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:24

Oh, four. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

He's he's still in 2004 because so remember how they show they show Minkowski, and then you see Desmond even waking up on a chair, and like Minkowski when he's flashing, he's just it's just like a blank look. So the body is still there.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

No, but about his consciousness, but I feel like he goes into like a like a coma, right? So what like so consciously he doesn't exist in 2004 when he goes back to 1996, 96 is going back and forth because he's confused when he's like when he goes back to present, he's still 96 desmond, because he doesn't know them as uh he doesn't know them from being on the island, he knows them since he's been on this fucking ship. Oh, I see what you're saying. So the conscious desmond of 2004 that's been on the island with them has disappeared.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Well remember that when they're talking to Daniel, and he says if he was exposed to radiation or electromagnetism, right, that it can have memory loss.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

So he's so the conscious 2004, Desmond, doesn't remember shit. Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

And 96, 94, whatever. Okay, okay, I got it. Yes, there's there's points that we're gonna hit on that talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Okay, I got it. I think I got it now. Okay, okay, cool. Alrighty, yeah, but you're you're on it. Told you this one made sense. It would be so fucking weird. I got it.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

I'm gonna read linearly, we're gonna jump back and forth, but in the order of the episode. Copy that. So when the episode opens, it's Desmond, Said, and Frank on the helicopter traveling to the freighter. Desmond's looking at the picture of Penny, and Frank is looking at his little cheat sheet that Daniel gave him of what bearing to stay on. Like, I love Frank, but Frank stay on 305. That's your only instruction. 305. I don't know why you needed a cheat sheet.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

That's the but if you saw it, kind of was kind of weird and left and the parallelogram. But listen, if if the situation was that dire, I would want a cheat sheet too, just in case.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

I yeah, you know, okay. So he says that he has to stay on 305 no matter what, but they have to fly into an electrical storm, and it throws the bearing, it throws the helicopter off the bearing to 310, and then that's when Desmond starts experiencing the flashes and the memory loss. So in the first one, he's waking up, it's 1996, and he's in the Royal Scouts. I'm sorry, Royal Scouts Regiment. He wakes in the Royal Scottish Regiment, military barrack at Camp Miller.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

Let's go for it.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

Okay. As morning drills begin. The sergeant major starts to shout at him because he did not respond promptly to the wake up call. He demands an explanation and Desmond explains he was having a very vivid dream about being in a helicopter. And there was a storm, and I don't remember the rest, sir. The sergeant major comments that at least it was a military dream, but he still mocks him. And as punishment for Desmond's lack of concentration, the sergeant major orders the entire platoon to get ready for the morning routine in double time, four minutes instead of eight. Back in 2004, he wakes up after his flash and is very disoriented. He struggles with his seatbelt and he's panicking, appearing as if he wants to jump out of the helicopter. Said tries to calm him down, asking him if everything is okay. Desmond, puzzled and afraid, asks Said what his name is, not recognizing him. Back on the beach, Jack and Juliet are worrying about the helicopter as they haven't heard from Desmond or Saeed for a day. They question Charlotte and Daniel as to why there is no news of their friends. Charlotte is indifferent though. As Juliet points out, the freighter is only forty miles away, which is about twenty minutes of flying. Juliette's main concern is that neither Charlotte nor Daniel seem at all concerned. Against Charlotte's wishes, Daniel admits that the perception of time on the island might be different than the time experienced off the island. He says that as long as Frank used the bearings that were given to him, the people on the helicopter should be fine. If not, there could be some side effects, which, as we will learn, is what Desmond is experiencing. Desmond then pulls out of his pocket the picture of him and Penny, which appears to relax him. The thunderstorm clears and the helicopter lands on the freighter. Kimi and Omar come running toward Frank, asking who Desmond and Said are and why he brought them with them. Frank explains that they are survivors of Flight eight hundred fifteen. Kimi, in charge, says that he shouldn't have brought them on board. Desmond is distressed and starts yelling that he doesn't know Said and Frank. Saeed agrees to let Kimi and Omar take Desmond to the doctor, but Desmond has another flash before they can. nineteen ninety six Royal Scots Regiment. Desmond is in the ring standing while all the others in his platoon do crunches. The sergeant major ridicules him again and makes the entire platoon run as a punishment for Desmond's erratic behavior. Afterwards, Desmond speaks to Billy, one of his friends in the platoon and tells him about the dreams he's been experiencing. His friend is in disbelief and asks if there was anyone he knew in the dream. Desmond remembers that in the helicopter he was holding a photo of Penny. He hurries to a nearby phone booth to call her. However, just as he's about to go in, someone bumps into him, sarcastically thanking him for the extra work the sergeant major made them do on the account of Desmond's disobedience. As Desmond reaches down to pick up the dropped coins, his consciousness returns to the freighter. The scene cuts were so good though.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

They were fucking amazing. Like it was seamless. Like, yeah, this is a really good episode. Yeah. On all around.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

He's bending down to pick up the coin, and the next thing you see is him scratching at the wood of the ship. It's like yeah. Kimi and Omar introduce themselves and bring Desmond down to the sick bay only to lock him in. Desmond panics and starts pounding on the door and screams to be let out. He hears a voice behind him saying, You have it too. Turning, he sees a man laying in a bed strapped to it. The man asks him if it is happening to Desmond as well. And we learn that that's Minkowski, the guy who they originally were communicating with on the phone. Meanwhile, on the upper deck, Saeed surveys the freighter. He notices the closed circuit camera on the rail beside him. Looking up to a higher deck, he sees Kimi and Frank arguing. As Frank comes down the stairs to meet with Said, Said asks him why they left at dusk but arrived in midday. Frank doesn't know. Said asks for the phone, which Frank will only give him if Saeed gives him the gun. Saeed gives Frank the gun and calls Jack. He tells Jack that Desmond doesn't seem to remember anything, and Jack puts the phone on speaker. Daniel asks if Desmond has been subjected to an intense dose of radiation or electromagnetic energy. He then says that by coming out of the island, some people might get a little confused, but it is not amnesia. In the medical room, after Minkowski falls asleep, a doctor, Ray, enters. Minkowski wakes up and tells Ray that this will happen to everyone else once they go back to the island. The doctor injects Minkowski with the sedative. The doctor then examines Desmond's eyes with a light so he can quote unquote help him. In the middle of a phrase, Desmond has another flash. Back to the Royal Scots Regiment. After picking up the coins on the ground, Desmond enters the phone booth to call Penny. Troubled by his call, Penny tells him that he shouldn't be calling her as he broke off with her and then joined the army. She adds that she has moved and hangs up after telling him not to call her anymore. When Desmond tries to respond, the flash ends. Back to the freighter. Said and Frank come down to the medical bay to bring Desmond the satellite phone, saying Faraday wants to talk to Desmond, but Ray disagrees. When Said and Frank try to subdue the doctor, he pushes the alarm. Saeed quickly gives the phone to Desmond, because Daniel, who is on the other end, urgently needs to speak with him. Daniel asks Desmond what year he thinks it is, and Desmond answers nineteen ninety six, which is eight years earlier. Daniel then asks him where he is supposed to be. When Desmond tells Daniel that he is supposed to be on the base, Daniel tells him to catch a train to Oxford to meet with his past self and gives Desmond some mechanical settings to relay, along with an extra phrase that Daniel assures him will convince him that the story is legitimate. He tells him to say that he knows about Eloise. And you're like, oh my god, who's Eloise?

SPEAKER_02 20:01

You know what? No, my what I was thinking of, okay, I hope if it was me and someone goes, I know about Eloise, I'm like, so what do you know about her? What about like I feel like he just gave it a name? What about Eloise? Like any but go that that's what kind of irked me a little bit. I'm like, okay, this is like an incomplete thing, but okay, I'll let it go.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

When Omar and Kimi forced their way into the medical bay to stop the call, Desmond has another flash. Now we're at Oxford. Desmond visits Daniel at Oxford. The 1996 Faraday chastises the student and rants to himself. Desmond approaches and tells Daniel that he has been to the future where Daniel told him to find him in the past. Daniel is suspicious, feeling that his colleagues are playing a prank on him. Honest, like, reaction, I think. I mean. Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

So so I mean, he's not so crazy, honestly. I mean, he's all geniuses, a little woo-hoo, but um, it's a fair assessment. This is bullshit.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

Um, Desmond recites the settings that Daniel gave him. 2.342 and 11 Hertz. Faraday's interest is piqued, but not sufficiently. Desmond then uses the final piece of information Daniel has given him on the phone. I know about Eloise. Desmond goes to Daniel to a secret room where Daniel does what quote unquote Oxford frowns upon. Daniel then asks Desmond if his future self remembers this particular meeting between the two men, to which Desmond responds negatively. Desmond adds that maybe you just forgot, which makes Daniel laugh. Daniel adds that one cannot change the future as he puts on an anti radiation vest. Desmond asks why he doesn't get one, but Daniel says it's not necessary except for prolonged exposure. As he does this kind of thing twenty times a day. So then Desmond wants to know why you don't put something on your head. Again, Daniel laughs at the comment. Daniel pulls out Eloise the rat from a cage and puts it in the maze. After calibrating the machine according to Desmond's instructions, Daniel turns to turns it on to Unstick Eloise in time. The machine emits a bright purple ray on the rat and then stops. Quickly, Daniel takes off his antiradiation vest and looks at the rat without doing anything yet as she's not back yet. When she is, Daniel removes the little door at the beginning of the maze to let the rat walk in and find the exit. Without any hesitation, the rat quickly finds the exit of the complex maze. Daniel is extremely happy, but Desmond doesn't understand why this is incredible. Daniel answers that he built the maze the morning before and he is not going to teach the rat how to run it until an hour later. He has sent her consciousness, her mind, in the future. Desmond then confronts Daniel as to why he sent him there if not to help him. He then adds that Daniel in the future is on an island to which Daniel replies, Why would I go to an island? Back on the Freeder, back in the bay, Kimi takes the phone from Desmond. He and Omar take Frank outside the room because the captain wants to talk to him. Said adds that he too wants to talk to the captain, to whom Kimi to whom Kimi answers sarcastically, I'll be sure to let him know. In the meantime, have a seat. Desmond tries to get back using the doctor's flashlight but doesn't succeed. After Saeed calls Desmond by name, Minkowski suddenly reacts. He tells him that he is George Minkowski, the communication officer. Before they strapped him down to a bed, all calls to and from the boat went through him and the radio room. Every so often a light flashed on his console to indicate an incoming call. They were under strict orders never to answer these calls, which were from Desmond's girlfriend, Penelope Whitmore. Back at Oxford in 1996, Desmond wakes up in Daniel's Oxford room. Desmond replies to Daniel that he was in the future for about five minutes, and Daniel seems somewhat astonished that Desmond was gone for nearly 75 minutes and tells him that the more time he goes back and forth, the harder it gets, as in his case, the progression is exponential. Desmond then notices that the rat is dead from a brain aneurysm. Desmond confronts Daniel about it, but Daniel says that he doesn't know if Desmond is going to die also. Eloise's brain short circuited. She couldn't tell the difference between the past, the present, or the future, as she didn't have anything to attach herself to. She did not have a constant. Daniel tells him about the need for Desmond to have a constant, something that is present in both times and that he sincerely cares about and can recognize. Desmond grabs the phone and calls his constant Penny, but the number has been disconnected. It's funny how like Desmond in the flashbacks has short hair and then and then Daniel has the long hair. But then on the island it's switched.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

Was that intentional or just like is that just a quirk?

SPEAKER_00 25:45

I don't know. Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

It's one of those things that their vibes like, yeah, let's take that. Yeah, that's ours too. We did that intentionally.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

Back in 2004 in the freighter, Desmond conscious Desmond's consciousness returns. He knows he has to contact Penny, and he tells Said, but Minkowski interrupts him to say that two days earlier someone sabotaged all the equipment. All communication with the mainland have been lost. Minkowski could have fixed it, but he's unstable. Said asks where the radio room is and frees Minkowski to show them the way. Said asks how they're going to get out of the room, but Minkowski notices that the door is open and they seem to have a friend on this boat. As Minkowski says Oh As Minkowski says, Desmond notices that George has started to bleed from his nose as they prepare to leave. In 1996 at an auction, Charles Whidmore is bidder number 755 at Southfields, Southfields, Southfields, auction for lot number 2342. The journal of the Black Rock's first mate. The contents have not been published and are unknown to anyone outside the family of the seller, Tovard Hanso. Any of this stuff ringing familiar for you?

SPEAKER_02 27:13

No. It should, shouldn't it?

SPEAKER_00 27:16

It should.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

No, I'll tell you. Normally she makes me be watched off. She's such a beanie.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

The auctioneer announces that Charles has won the auction for 380,000 pounds. Meanwhile, Desmond arrives and tries to get past the guard to talk to Whidmore. After the auction ends, Woodmore walks out and agrees to talk to Desmond. In the men's bathroom, Desmond says that he needs to get in touch with Penny immediately. He doesn't know how to reach her as her number has been disconnected. After Whidmore talks about Desmond's cowardice and his second thoughts, he ultimately gives him her address written on a card so she can tell him herself that she hates him. As Woodmore leaves the bathroom, he leaves the faucet on. Just as Desmond is about to turn off the faucet, the flash ends. Back in 2004, on the boat, Saeed Minkowski and Desmond are going to the sabotage radio room. Minkowski says that it is happening faster and getting harder. Desmond asks George how it happened to him. Minkowski tells him that they were bored out of their minds, waiting for their orders, anchored here, so he and Brandon, another crew member, decided to take the ship's tender to see the island. But Brandon started acting erratic, so they turned around. Soon after, Brandon died and Minkowski grew unstable. Said looks at the destroyed equipment and asks Minkowski who is responsible for the damage. George doesn't seem to know and adds that he feels sorry for the person when the captain finds out.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

It's the father. I don't know. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

He suddenly phases out again. Said uses his military expertise to repair the phone. Desmond notices a calendar that says the year is 2004. Said sees it also and notes that it's almost Christmas. As Desmond realizes the date, he starts to bleed from his nose, and suddenly Minkowski has a fit and bleeds again. Minkowski's final trip costs him his life, as he died when he returned to 2004, with his last words being I can't get back. Back in nineteen ninety six, we're at Penny's flat. Desmond wakes in the bathroom, the sink overflowing with water. After refreshing his face, he goes to see Penny. She opens the door to a distraught Desmond and says she wants to have a clean break, but he insists to her but he insists her to listen to him, pleading for her phone number. After entering the flat, he tells her that he needs her phone number so he can call her in eight years, which would be december twenty fourth, two thousand four. Ultimately, even though she doesn't understand why he just can't call her tomorrow after promising to leave if she gives him the number, she gives Desmond her number and she pushes him out the door while he pleads that she not changed the number. Back in 2004 on the freighter, Desmond comes back and tells Said the London phone number. Said repairs the phone, dials it, and passes it to Desmond. Desmond engages in a joyful and tearful call with Penny, where she tells him that she has been looking for him for three years, also confirming to Desmond her conversation with Charlie from the looking glass. Penelope is wearing a ring on the ring finger of her right hand. She knows about the island, has researched it, and is desperately trying to find him. They each say they loved the other as the phone battery dies out.

SPEAKER_05 32:17

You believe me? You still care about me?

SPEAKER_04 32:24

I've been looking for you for the past three years. I know about you. You were still crazy.

SPEAKER_05 32:50

I love you, Billy. I always love you. I'm so sorry. I love you.

SPEAKER_04 33:06

I don't know why. I promise. I'll come back to you. I promise. I love you.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

They each say they love the other as the phone battery dies out. Desmond then thanks Said by name, now with his memory back. He is, he says, perfect.

SPEAKER_02 33:26

So okay, the one who thinks Said is O'Ford Desmond.

SPEAKER_00 33:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

Who is aware of everything going back and forth now? Okay. I just thought that it was 96 Desmond, who just got used to Said. You know what I mean? After going back and forth and him helping him.

SPEAKER_00 33:44

I just on the beach, Daniel flips through his journal looking for an entry until he comes to a page that reads, If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant. And with that, the episode ends.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

Thoughts. Oh well, you got most of my thoughts at the beginning of the episode. Okay. Um they said, like, why do you want why do they like why do the people that both want these random, these three random people? Like right. Like completely random.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

Because they they're looking for Desmond and they're looking for Ben.

SPEAKER_02 34:29

Yeah, but why they want those three random people to on eye, like, why they why were they the search team?

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Okay. Oh, I see Faraday.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Charlotte, Faraday, and Miles. Right. Like, why are these three random people like what the hell? I think something to do with Faraday's time travel machine caused the damn flight to they hit the electrical storm and boosh, then that another thing. Or somehow his like his little time machine is had to do with the crash to begin with. And let's see, Charlotte, I don't know about Charlotte yet. I don't know about the other two, period. But the fact that he wrote that dude is his constant. Then remember when they first introduced him, he was crying about the crash. And then she's like, Why are you crying? He's like, I don't know. Obviously, he knows what's going on, but for whatever reason, with his brain being fried, he can't remember what exactly what it is. So he's been in so he has something to do with the whole crash. Not, I don't think he intentionally did it, but something with his machine. Um, yeah, that's the only thing that was I don't say new, but yes, I'm then come up now. That's what I was thinking of when the um episode ended. So the whole his flashbacks, I said that loosely. Desmond's flashbacks that he knew things were going to happen make sense now.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 36:02

Because he did it already, or he's going to do it. He remembered doing it already. He remembered doing it in the future back in the past.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

All right, let's do trivia, bloopers, all that stuff. Etc. etc. etc. Yes. Damon, Lindelof, and Carlton Hughes call this arguably their favorite episode of Lost. It's also many viewers' favorite, which we said. This is the first episode that doesn't use flashbacks or flash forwards. We experience Desmond Desmond's flashes as he does, chronologically through both time periods. You even caught that.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

I'm so proud of myself because I don't catch that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

Penny's address is 423 Shane Walk in London. I feel like that should be something. Well, 4 and 23 are numbers, but Shane Walk is a famous street in London known for its famous inhabitants. Residents have included Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, George Elliott, Dante Rossetti, and Henry James, who wrote The Turn of the Screw.

SPEAKER_02 37:16

Okay. So Penny's character is shitting $100 bills. Got it.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

I mean, her dad's at an auction to buy a fucking ledger from a ship.

SPEAKER_02 37:28

I mean, I mean, if they need to make it any more clear, as if you didn't know before, they had to put it like they had to just had to make it extremely clear for us poor people. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

They got Boku bucks. According to the calendar on the wall, as well as Desmond, the real-time events of this episode take place on day 94, which is Christmas Eve, and it's two days after Saeed, Desmond, and Frank leave the island.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

Two days, but not two days.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

Southfields, the organization holding the auction, is an anagram for shifted soul. This might have been done to reflect the way that Desmond's mind or soul was shifted through time. Meh. Yeah. The information about Faraday's device is an example of the bootstrap paradox. It is given to Desmond by Faraday himself, who is only aware of it because Desmond told him in the past. Thus, the information was never actually discovered. Another example of this would be Richard's compass, which I'm not sure if I just gave you a spoiler. But if I did, you take it and you like it. Um are you Googling?

SPEAKER_02 38:53

I am now.

SPEAKER_00 38:54

I wasn't don't Google.

SPEAKER_02 38:56

Okay. I wasn't until you mentioned spoiler. I'm like, wait, what? Who? What? Spoiler? Okay, I won't go. I swear, I promise I won't, I won't, I won't Google.

SPEAKER_00 39:06

Because I don't, I don't think we got to it yet, but it's okay.

SPEAKER_02 39:13

I won't Google.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

Don't Google.

SPEAKER_02 39:15

I won't. I promise. Because you know it's gonna happen. You come we're gonna come up to that applicable episode, and you'll be like, doesn't this sound familiar? I'm like, no. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. And I really won't know what she's talking about.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

Yeah, exactly. This episode features only two main characters from season one, Jack and Saeed. The fewest of any episode until an episode and I believe season five.

SPEAKER_02 39:44

Go figure, one of my favorite episodes.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

The dog scene at Oxford University when Desmond finds Faraday is the same dog used for the painting in Jacob's cabin. Her name is Lulu, who was the pet of episode director Jack Bender at the time. She now belongs to the costume designer Roland Sanchez. I don't know how one gives away their dog, but who does that?

SPEAKER_02 40:11

Not I. Who does that? Uh I might give away my grown kid for a puppy. Hey, I'm just joking, Krista. Um, but yeah, the who okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:24

Unless it really wasn't his dog per se. It was like the the set dog. I mean, let's who knows the or maybe they're in a relationship and she got custody with the dog.

SPEAKER_00 40:36

But I don't know. We'll see.

SPEAKER_03 40:37

That's how that makes me happy. We'll go with that.

SPEAKER_00 40:40

Not even we'll see. Who knows?

SPEAKER_03 40:42

We'll like we'll see. Like, let me find out just to go stalk somebody.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

Outside Penny's house in 1996, Desmond passes a parking fee collection machine. It's like a meter, right? The type features a solar panel at the top that powers it, but these were not introduced nationwide in the UK until 2002. Right.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

Even I was just like, that doesn't make sense. Solar? What? Who? Okay. Yeah. I mean, you can't have it all. Not all. Like you use a public street, you can't. It is what it is.

SPEAKER_00 41:17

During the auction, bidders can be seen using laptops that did not exist in 1996. Instead, they're using models that were at least produced from 19 from 2004 onwards. It was perfect like we. I know. Exactly. Faraday says that while Desmond was in a catatonic state in his room at Oxford, 75 minutes had passed. Desmond perceived the same amount of time as five minutes, which would make the ratio 75 to 5 or 15 to 1. At the auction, Wood's more bitter number is 755, which is the ratio of time. Coincidence? Whatever. Both the adjustment numbers for Daniel's experiment and the Black Rock auction lot share the same number, 2342. Also numbers 2342. So the Black Rock. Do you remember the Black Rock? That's the ship. That's the ship that's in the middle of the jungle where that the C4 is and all that. Oh so they're buying the ledger from the first mate of that ship. The ship that's literally in the middle of the jungle on the island.

SPEAKER_02 42:40

So I told you Whitmore probably is the captain, or the or the the guy that's in charge of this hot mess. Yeah. Ah.

SPEAKER_00 42:52

And when it says the family, the Hansel Foundation, the hand Tovard Hansel. Yeah. The Hansel Foundation, which is the people who made the Dharma videos. Right.

SPEAKER_02 43:05

Right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 43:06

So you have that connection too.

SPEAKER_02 43:08

But we also knew back in season one, season two, that Whitmore somehow attached this anyway, but then they kind of like bypass it for two seasons. And then see, I'm not I wasn't completely crazy this time. This time.

SPEAKER_00 43:30

So do they know each other? Is it a coincidence? Who knows? Uh okay.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

You know, listen, if you go to you can leave the country and bump into alumni for my school. Coincidence. I would think I'm gonna go with if it was the real world coincidence. This is lost, it's intentional.

SPEAKER_00 43:54

Oxford, while I've never attended, I assume it's a pretty big school.

SPEAKER_02 43:59

So yeah, I I'm I I'm thinking I can I'm thinking is one of those things, it's just a coincidence. And since so many people threw it at them, the writers might be like, Yeah, okay, that's ours too.

unknown 44:11

Right.

SPEAKER_00 44:11

And I think if you're like smart and English, that's where you go. I mean in Charlotte's case. So yeah. Okay, cultural references, Charles. Dickens, after the auctioning of the Black Rock Ledger, some of Charles Dickens' belongings are placed up for the bidding. Desmond himself has a deep relationship with the Dickens novel since the the telling our mutual friend is supposed to be the last novel he wants to read before he dies.

SPEAKER_02 44:44

You know what have been really apropos if they would have put something from HG Wells. That would have been like haha.

SPEAKER_00 44:52

I mean, I feel like it has to be here somewhere. Whether we've passed it or we haven't, I feel like it definitely has to be something.

SPEAKER_02 45:00

I yeah, I think I'm still looking forward for it in the future. Only because now you're getting that whole HG Wells wouldn't have made sense before now. Now you're like, okay, let's go for it.

SPEAKER_00 45:15

The name of the ship is called kahana. And in Hawaiian, kahana means the drawing of a line, cutting, or turning point.

SPEAKER_02 45:28

Okay, then they couldn't name that ship any better if they tried. Because that's what happens with a space of time continue. When you when you what's the word I'm looking for? When you jump time, there's a continuum and the line gets broken. I watched Back to the Future a couple of times. Let me stop. But that's actually supposedly with space, with time travel, theoretical time travel, there you're breaking, there's a break in the line.

SPEAKER_00 45:59

The Faraday constant. Faraday wrote in his journal, if anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant. In physics and chemistry, the Faraday constant is the amount of electric charge per mole of electrons. The Faraday constant was named after British scientist Michael Faraday and is widely used in calculations in electrochemistry. All good things. The series finale of Star Trek The Next Generation features Captain Picard in three different timelines. He becomes unstuck in time, like Desmond. Also, Desmond's trip to contact Daniel at Oxford is reminiscent of Picard's trip to visit Data at Cambridge. In the season four DVD commentary, Damon Lindelof confirmed that All Good Things was a big influence in writing the Constant episode, while Mark Goldman states that he took inspiration from the Star Trek episode's editing style in deciding how to piece together the time jumps. Slaughterhouse V Desmond confides his vivid dreams to his military friend Billy. Billy Pilgrim is the main character in Slaughterhouse 5, the second chapter of which begins with the narration. Listen, Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time. And Daniel says he will unstick Eloise in time. Vallice. We've seen that book before. That's what either Ben was reading, maybe Sawyer was I think it was Ben who was reading that. Okay. The pink beam of light, or I thought it was purple. But the beam of light that lets Eloise the rat travel through time is a reference to a similar beam of light believed by the main character to be a transmission from an alien satellite that is featured in this book, which is shown in the episode surrounding the constant. Frank is told by Daniel to follow a bearing of 305, which is a northwest direction. Echo's stick bore the inscription lift up your eyes and look north. John 305. Okay, that's cute.

SPEAKER_02 48:28

How did they keep all this stuff? I like this is a whole bunch of shit. I'm a good shit, but like I I can imagine the writer's room. Like I can imagine like walking into that rabbit hole of chaos. And how do you keep yeah? I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 48:48

That's okay.

SPEAKER_02 48:49

I'm um, yeah, I and I yeah, what they did was like listen, is this my favorite show? No. Does it have some great parts? Yes, but I I am highly impressed about all the things that they at least they admitted to being connections, and it's mind-blowing and how they made the connections and kept them on track. And I'm sure there were tons of shit that didn't actually make the team, or tons of shit that didn't that is there that we never caught it's just amazing, yeah, phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 49:24

It's a lot, it's a lot, which is which is why a lot of people really do get sucked down the rabbit hole with this show because it is just so saturated, and and yeah, they drop the ball here and there with certain things, but there's so much stuff that's just like really well thought out.

SPEAKER_02 49:45

This show was made from conspiracy theorists, like it was like it it's just I'm here for a good conspiracy theory. Maybe I'm just not into it so because I'm already in a rabbit hole, and I just like okay, I'm like looking at your rabbit hole through a window, you know what I mean? Like, so I'm just not that I'm I'm looking at your rabbit hole through a distance. Yeah, come join me in mine.

SPEAKER_00 50:10

Yeah, come, I'll come join you. I have a question for you. Okay. On the boat, they've talked about the captain and all that. Is your if you had to guess who the captain is, do you really think it's gonna be Charles Whidmore?

SPEAKER_02 50:27

No, I think he's I think he's financing the shit. Um, I don't know. I feel like it's someone we have we definitely can't. I mean, he's that type to be the captain and title, you know what I mean? Okay, and not actually captain the ship. Okay, he's that type to take on the title. I've never seen that. I don't know. Okay, no, but he's that type to take on a fucking title just because he can. So if he's like the captain by title, wouldn't be surprised. If he's just a financier, obviously, but um somebody who's actually capting, who's being the captain of that ship. I can't think of anyone at this moment. I have to go through my little mental thing, but I think it's someone we know, or at least someone that we've been spoken of to about. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 51:22

Um oh, so the the other thing is now we we have confirmation that Penny's been calling the boat, but they were told not to answer.

SPEAKER_02 51:36

That confirms to me that her father's involved.

SPEAKER_00 51:39

Okay, why?

SPEAKER_02 51:40

Because I feel like her father was like keeping something from her. I think he I think on some level he knew what was going on, had some kind of feeling what was going on, because something that happened with the whole the boat race with the regular, yeah, and I feel like I don't remember exactly something, but I feel like there's something there I should remember. Um okay, but yeah, I feel like um yeah, that's just kind of that just sealed the deal, like if they're probably involved some way, somehow.

SPEAKER_00 52:13

Okay. Next episode is called The Other Woman.

SPEAKER_02 52:16

Stop talking to me about like that. I mean, I didn't mean to be. He said he was divorced. Have I ever been the other woman?

SPEAKER_03 52:24

I plead the fifth.

unknown 52:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 52:30

Yeah. There's no sex involved, nothing of that. So, like, you know, doesn't count. Okay, so I guess I plead the fifth too.

SPEAKER_00 52:41

But I can't, I can't say all that other stuff about what wasn't involved because all that stuff was involved. I mean, hypothetically speaking, of course.

SPEAKER_03 52:50

Hypothetically, if we were talking about real life, but we're talking about Maple.

SPEAKER_00 52:54

Real life, right?

SPEAKER_03 52:55

Real life? Absolutely not, Lisa.

SPEAKER_00 52:58

All right, that's gonna do it for this episode. Wash up now. Wash my brain. As always, you can find all of our information on assassinsips.com as well as the show notes. You can find all the ways to support this podcast financially and or otherwise. We ask that you please consider supporting us in some capacity because we need we need help.

SPEAKER_03 53:28

We need lots of help. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:32

As always, we remind you not to drink and drive. Please drink responsibly. And until next time, I'm Lisa. And I'm Agnes, and we are out of here. Peace.