Lost Recap: 05 x 14: The Variable

Recap of Season 5, Episode 14 titled The Variable.

This is the 100th episode of Lost and it is a Faraday-centric. It is quite aptly titled to reflect his relationship with Desmond – who had an episode titled The Constant (one of my top 2 favorites).

Now, what does the variable mean?

Desmond is being taken to the hospital after being shot by Ben. Penny is desperate and waiting when…

Mrs Hawking shows up and says that it is all her son’s fault. Penny is all like OMG you are Ben’s mother? Mrs H is all like, jaysus christ no, course not. I am Faraday’s mother.

We cut back to thirty years earlier in the island. Faraday has just returned in the sub and Miles is all like, dude what are you doing here?

Faraday says it’s because he saw the photo above: when did they come back , he asks? A few days ago….and then he asks to see Jack (cause clearly , he does not know that Jack is no longer leader)

(Jackface) They wake Jack up

and Faraday is all like, how did you get here? how did you get in 1977? Jack says it was all because of  Faraday’s mother.

“Did she tell you it was your destiny?” Faraday says. Sounds stupid right? But it was exactly what she said and Jack says so.

Faraday then drops the bomb: “You don’t belong here at all. She was wrong.”

Oops.

Flashback. Faraday is playing the piano. His mother…

who seems to be REALLY distressed walks in and tells him he needs to concentrate on what he is good at. (Clue: NOT piano playing) Harsh. She says it is his….destiny. The poor kid is not very happy.

Back to the island, Jack is all like, wait a minute dude, what did you mean with she was “wrong?”

Faraday is all like, I will explain later and takes off to the Orchid

Jack decides to tell the Pretty Boss that Faraday is back.Sawyer says he is busy but Juliet tells him to tell Jack…

That they have a gagged Phil in their closet.

Back at the Orchid,  Faraday  reads his journal…

and decides to follow Dr Chang into the station…and I am thinking this is way cool cause we are back…

to that first WTF opening scene of the season! We see again how they are drilling and they find something and there is the talk about time travel

He then talks to Dr Chang, and well, asks him to evacuate the island. Just like that. Man, he may be a genius but he totally lacks people skills. Anyways, he tells Chang that there will be an accident at the Swan in 6 hours time and the “accident is going to be catastrophic.” How can you know that, asks Chang. “Because. … I am from the future” muwahahaha.

these one-liners. They kill me.

He chases after Chang

who thinks he is taking the mickey.

Faraday tells him that Miles is his son (Miles denies it). Yeah, cause that will help. Instead of EXPLAINING  he just says all the wrong  things and of course, Chang won’t believe him. I mean, who would?Then Miles asks wtf he is doing. Faraday says  “I’m just making sure that your father does what he’s supposed to do.” Destiny again?

Flashback. Faraday is graduating from Oxford and having a Bad Hair Day. Seriously, they need a new wigs’ department.

He has dinner with his mother. She tells him once again, that he has no time for pianos or women. The women in his life will only get hurt.  She says his work should always come first.

He tells her about a grant he got from someone called…Widmore. She blinks. Then tells him she does not want to fight, congratulates him and presents him

with The Journal. It has an inscription:

“Daniel,No matter what, remember, I will always love you.

Mother”

and I am all like, yeah, right.

Back to the Casa de Sawyer – he is telling Jack, Kate and Hurley that he is really pissed off with them for coming back. They RUINED everything for them. They had it goooood at Dharmaville. Sawyer seems to forget that the Dharma people die. Plus, what kind of lame continuity mistake is this people? Didn’t he keep checking every.single.day to see if they would come back? Didn’t he just tell Jin like a few DAYS ago that they would wait for them for as long as it took? so, what the frak is up with Sawyer?

He says they have two choices: to get in the sub and leave or stay.

“I’m not getting on that sub if there’s a chance that my wife is still on this island.”

they are all like…whoa

god damn.

Then someone is knocking knocking on Heaven’s (wherever Sawyer is , feels like heaven to me) door.

“Welcome to the meeting, Twitchy. Good to see you again. Pound cake’s in the kitchen. Help yourself to the punch.”

He goes straight into the point and asks if anyone can point him to the Others.

“Because one of them is my mother, and she is the only person on this island who can get us back to where we belong.”

Flashback. We are back to that scene from a long time ago, where we see Faraday having a strange reaction to the TV reporting the discovery of Oceanic 815

He is in tears.

Then Widmore comes by. Faraday is all weepy because he doesn’t know who he is and he explains that he has a…condition that affects his memory.

He is all cryptic about his research and how he tested on himself before testing on Theresa. Then he looks at the TV and starts to cry all over again.

Widmore, this Very Cunning Vilain tells him , that they are not dead, that he put this plane there AND

“Daniel, the real Oceanic Flight 815 crashed on an island — a special island with unique scientific properties. I want to send you to the island. It will further your research, show you things you’d never dream of, but more importantly it will heal you, Daniel — your mind, your memory.”

Why is he doing this? Faraday asks – because you are gifted. (I have yet to see this gift. OK, he is smart and all but ….)

Back to Casa of the Pretty and they are all like: your mother is an other? He is all like yes, she is Ellie remember? we met the Rambina back in 1954?

Then Sawyer is all like, “I though you said we were supposed to lay low, ‘whatever happened, happened’?” Yes, quite. GOOD POINT Sawyer.  He doesn’t want to tell Faraday where the Others are until he explains his plan and

Jack(ass) is all like, tell him Sawyer. Because we don’t belong here.

“Well, I belonged here just fine till you came back, Doc.” ouchie.

Then Jack is all like, Kate, you tell me. Sawyer is all like , don’t do it Kate.

Then Jack says something like “you told me not to ask about Aaron  or why you came back here, but I know that reason isn’t — it isn’t here. It’s not now.” hummm, is Jack making a good point here? I feel dizzy.

Then Sawyer is all like “Come with us, Freckles.” (he wants to go the beach and resume living there) and I am all like ooooooooooooooooo no he didn’t! Not in front of Juliet.

Kate is all like, ooooooooooooo, he called me freckles in front of his woman. nanananannaanaaaaaaaa

His woman is all like, nu-uh biatch. Step away and she tells Jack where the Others are. SCORE for Juliet.

Sawyer tells them “When you realize you’ve made a huge mistake, we’ll be back at the beach, right where we started.” He holds Juliet hand who says that their lives there is over anyways. Jack, Faraday and Kate take off. Miles and Hurley stay. At this point, I do NOT understand why there must me any conflict here. Sure, Faraday is crazy and all but why is Sawyer so bent on NOT doing anything and not going back to their real time?

a Pretty cap for you.

The trio is going to meet the Others. Faraday says he needs a moment and …

He sees Little Charlotte and he tells her that when Dr Chang tells them to take the sub, she needs to go. I am like, she is a child!! How can she make any decision???? then he is all like, “I tried to avoid telling you this. I didn’t think I could change things. But maybe I can.”

Kate, Jack and Faraday are getting guns and then a Dharma van  with Radzinsky and he asks what are they doing…he then see the gun in Faraday’s hand and it’s chaos

He’s got a gun!

Faraday is all like, wait, we can explain. There is shooting.

Jack is all like crap!

Faraday gets shot!

Jack is all like Dirty Harry and cover for them

and they run to the jeep. Radzinsky sounds the alarm. They are doomed.

Flashback: Faraday is struggling to play the piano. Eloise is there to tell him that he should accept Widmore’s offer. He is like, I can’t do calculations and stuff anymore. It is all so .very.sad. She tells him the island may cure him and he could carry on with his work. He then asks, “Will it make you proud of me?”    . OH MY WORD. He is too sweet for words. I love Jeremy Davies..he is such a brilliant actor.

Eloise says “Yes, Daniel. It will.” The woman is usually so very cold…but I can see there is some feeling here somewhere.

The peeps get to the point of no return in Other’s territory. Faraday explains to Jack that this is their present and everything they do now matters. They can even die.

Can you hear that folks?It  is the sound of a clock ticking.  I ampretty sure oneof them is going to die now….and I am 99% certain it is not going to be the characters I like the least. (That would be Jack and Kate, in case you have not been following this blog)

Back to the Casa Pretty , Sawyer and Juliet are packing up to leave. He tells her he is sorry to be leaving. She is rather cold. ….maybe because you had a moment with Freckles back there, Sawyer? hummm?

Then he is like, hey do you still got my back?

She is like yeah , but do you still got mine? Right then they hear the alarm

as do Hurley and Jin…

Then the psycho comes in to report to the head of security: “We’ve been infiltrated!”.

Then he hears Phil in the closet

and it’s all over for Sawyer and Juliet. They are caught.

Team Faraday stop to have a drink.

Then Jack (seriously, I  can never find a cap that is NOT a jackface, I swear I don’t do it on purpose…) asks why Faraday’s mother was wrong. Here is hoping this is the part we learn about The Variable.

Faraday tells him that in about 4 hours (ok, this means, the remaining of the season – GASP TWO EPISODES TO GO – will go down in a matter of hours…) something is gonna happen at the Swan drill.  Energy will be released and it will be catastrophic.

“So in order to contain it, they’re gonna have to cement the entire area in, like Chernobyl. And this containment — the place they built over it, I believe you called it the hatch? The Swan Hatch? Because of this one accident, these people are gonna spend the next 20 years keeping that energy at bay by pressing a button — a button that your friend Desmond will one day fail to push, and that will cause your plane, Oceanic 815, to crash on this island. And because your plane crashed, a freighter will be sent to this island — a freighter I was on and Charlotte was on and so forth. This entire chain of events… it’s gonna start happening this afternoon. But… we can change that. I studied Relativistic Physics my entire life. One thing emerged over and over: can’t change the past. Can’t do it. Whatever happened, happened. All right?”

Jack is trying REALLY hard to follow…

“But then I finally realized I had been spending so much time focused on the constants.  I forgot about the variables. Do you know what the variables in these equations are, Jack? Us. We’re the variables. People. We think. We reason. We make choices. We have free will. We can change our destiny. I think I can negate that energy under the Swan. I think I can destroy it. If I can, then that hatch will never be built, and your plane — your plane will land, just like it’s supposed to, in Los Angeles.” How is he going to make it all go away?

He is going to detonate the hydrogen bomb -AKA Jughead.

Kate is like, is he for reals?

I am like, is he shitting me? REALLY? I am not an expert ( except if you consider that I watched Back to the Future 458 times)….but wouldn’t that create a time paradox?   Plus, “we the people” are the variants? simple as that? really? LAMEO

To prove my point: Jack seems to think this is a good idea.  I think Faraday is crazy and no one should listen to him.

Back to the hospital…she says to Penny “Your husband has become a casualty in a conflict that’s bigger than him, that’s bigger than any of us.”

Penny is like? What? casualty? wait, is Des going to be ok? I ask the same thing, I am freaking out right now. Eloise says she doesn’t know.

But Des is fine.

Penny is all like, I thought I lost you.

He is all like: “I promised you, Penny. I promised you I’d never leave you again.” awwwwww

BUT they have been repeating the same mantra over and over again. I am convinced now that he will.

Eloise leaves the hospital and outside she runs into Widmore. He asks if Des is alright. she tells him to go see for himself. He says that his relationship with his daughter is one thing he had to sacrifice.

“Don’t you talk to me about sacrifice, Charles. I had to send my son back to the island, knowing full well that…”

He is like, he is my son too! I am like I KNEW IT – A-HA.

wait , what did she mean by knowing full well that….knowing full well that WHAT? Faraday is going to die isn’t he? He is, I know it. I look at the watch and there is like only a few minutes till the episode is over.

Back to the island. Kate says Faraday’s plan is crazy. Jack says he is getting used to crazy.   Then Faraday asks them to stay behind…

And walks into the camp holding a gun. The cleverness, it amuses me.

He asks for Eloise.

Richard is all like, she is not here right now. calm down.

“The hydrogen bomb I told your people to bury. Where is it?” Richard then recognises Faraday form when back when. Faraday gives Richard 3 seconds….1…2…..a shot! a shot!

Eloise SHOT FARADAY.

Faraday is all like….OMG, you KNEW. I was like, SHE KNEW.

“You knew. You always knew. You knew this was gonna happen, and you sent me here, anyway.”

Who are you?

I am…your son.

Richard is all like HAWTF?!

Eloise is all like HORRIFIED.

Daniel Faraday, one of my favorite characters, is all like…DEAD.

LOST.

So sad. I cried. Faraday was a good addition to the show and I am sad to see him go. I am also HORRIFIED and angry with Eloise Hawking. This is cold. I just wonder, is she a vilain or is there really a greater good? I really want to know. This also proves that whatever happened, happened and this  “we, the people are the variable” is UTTER RUBBISH. Plus, I really don’t get why must the losties divide into camps again.

Good episode though. And only two more to go.