LOST: Episode 5.14

The Variable

"Daniel,

No matter what, remember I will always love you.

Mother"

Warning: Big Spoiler Ahead!

This show can bring the scary and the shocking better than most, but it's never better than when it brings both of those things in an emotionally loaded story. Last night's episode was a perfect example of that.

I'm going to do something a little different this week. I'm going to post my discussion points first and then add the recap to this post when I get it done. That way, people don't have to wait for me to get my act together before they can discuss the episode here.

• I think that Daniel is by far the most tragic figure on LOST so far.  Can he really be dead?  Why did his mother send him back? What was so important that she was willing to send him to his death?  And at her own hand, no less!  His scene with little Charlotte broke my heart a little bit.
  
• What did you think of Daniel's change of heart about "whatever happened, happened"?  Do you think he's right, that he forgot about people having free will and being the variable in the equation and that you can indeed change the past?  Or do you think it was just wishful thinking on his part?  I'm leaning toward him being wrong.
• I nearly choked on my Diet Coke when I saw them rushing a wounded Desmond into surgery!  I guess Ben did shoot him and he wasn't saved by a big can of baked beans, like I thought. With Henry Ian Cusick's current offscreen troubles, I was seriously worried they were going to kill him off.  I do think, however, that the connection between him and Daniel has not fully paid off yet story-wise, so I'm pretty sure Des will be around for awhile (and it's why I can't believe Daniel is really dead).  Besides, Mrs. Hawking told Desmond that the Island wasn't finished with him yet.
• The episode "Flashes Before Your Eyes" needs to be re-watched, stat.  I only wish I had them on DVD.  It's the one where we first meet Mrs. Hawking and she makes sure Desmond ends up on the Island.  Do you think she somehow knew that Desmond was Daniel's constant?
• So we had a few things confirmed: 1) Ellie from 1954 in "Jughead" was Dan's mother; 2) Widmore planted the fake plane wreckage; and 3) Widmore is Daniel's father, making Penny his half-sister.  Maybe the fact that Desmond loves Penny intensified the connection between Daniel and him?  Did I miss any other revelations?
• Best lines of the night (that I can recall):

Little Daniel: "I can make time."

Sawyer: "What happened to you?"

Radzinsky: "I WAS SHOT BY A PHYSICIST!"

• Speaking of Radzinsky, dude needs to take a serious CHILL PILL.  These DI people are the most paranoid, stressed out and violent group of hippies I have ever seen.
• I wish Miles told the truth about Chang being his father.  Maybe he still will.
• Why would any of them want to prevent the plane from crashing?  So they could go back to the original crappy lives? The only reason I can think of is to save the people who actually died in the crash, but that doesn't seem to be the way they're going with things.
• Sawyer totally shot himself in the foot when he called Kate "Freckles" in front of Juliet.

Knowing how the episode ends completely changes how you view preceding hour.  I'm definitely going to have to watch it again, especially for clues in Mrs Hawking's behavior.

What did you think?