Lost: Season 3, Episode 8 "Flashes Before Your Eyes" Review

 "What you're not, is worthy of drinking my whiskey.  How could you ever be worthy of my daughter?"

-Charles Widmore

The 8th episode of season 3 picks up with Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), Locke (Terry O'Quinn), and Sayid (Naveen Andrews), telling Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) and Hurley (Jorge Garcia) about the death of Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).  Desmond starts behaving strangely and runs off to the beach where he saves a drowning Claire (Emilie de Ravin).  Charlie and Hurley are both suspicious of Desmond, so they get him drunk and try to get him to tell his secret.  Charlie calls Desmond a coward, so Desmond attacks Charlie.

It's revealed that after Desmond turned the failsafe key, he traveled back to his life in 1996, where he was living with Penny Widmore (Sonya Walger).  Desmond continues to live his left with a strange sense of déjà vu.  Desmond asks Penny's father, Charles (Alan Dale), for her hand in marriage, but is rejected.  He runs into Charlie on the street and Desmond's memories come rushing back.

He goes to see his friend Donovan (Shishir Kurup), a physicist, to talk about time travel.  Desmond tries to predict what is going to happen next at the pub, but he is wrong.  Desmond decides to continue his life and goes wedding ring shopping, but when he tries to buy the ring, the shop owner, Eloise (Fionnula Flanagan), refuses and says he isn't supposed to buy it.

She reveals that Desmond has to follow his destiny to the island to press the button and the universe will course-correct to get him there.  To prove her point, they witness a man being killed by collapsing scaffolding.  Eloise tells Desmond that if she had saved the man, he still would have been killed in another way soon enough.

Desmond rejects what she has to say and goes to see Penny, but after getting their picture taken, Desmond sees the photo is the one he will carry with him to the island.  Realizing he doesn't have a choice, he ends things with Penny.  He goes to the pub, where his earlier predictions come true, as he just had the wrong night.  As he leaves to try and get Penny back, he is accidentally hit in the head and wakes back up on the island in the present.

Hurley breaks up the fight between Desmond and Charlie and Desmond reveals he has been having flashes of Charlie's death.  He has saved Charlie twice, but eventually Charlie will die.

What Works:

This is the first bonkers weird episode of Lost.  Don't get me wrong; this show has always been weird, but "Flashes Before Your Eyes" takes it to a whole other level and I'm here for it.  This is the first time we're dealing with time travel.  It's an exciting development that is going to get weirder in the future, but I love how it's used here.

Henry Ian Cusick is fantastic in this episode.  We get a massive range of emotion for him as an actor and he is brilliant in all of it.  Rage, confusion, despair.  He's excellent and carries us through this episode of timey-wimey weirdness.

This episode also introduces us to Eloise Hawking and it's a very memorable introduction.  Fionnula Flanagan has an incredible screen presence and gives an excellent performance.  I remember back when this episode first aired and I loved her character immediately.  I was dying to know more about her.  Who is she?  And how does she know so much?  She's a fascinating character throughout the entire series and her first episode is stellar to say the least.

Finally, the cliffhanger is absolutely chilling.  When the show first aired, Charlie was my favorite character (don't know what was wrong with me) and the possibility of his death was horrifying.  It sets up my favorite arc on the entire show and the cliffhanger works brilliantly to set up this shadow over the rest of the season.

What Sucks:

The only thing I don't like about the episode is Desmond's final scene in the past.  While in the pub, his predictions come true and he somehow comes to the conclusion that he can change things and get Penny back.  This has never made sense to me.  What about this makes him think he can change things?  His predictions being right makes me think more that there isn't anything he can do.  I don't know.  It's just never sat right with me.

Platinum Polar Bear:

The Platinum Polar Bear goes to the most competent character in an episode.  For "Flashes Before Your Eyes", it goes to Desmond for saving Claire and also Charlie from drowning.  This is Desmond's 3rd time winning the award, which ties him for 7th place with Sun.

Verdict:

"Flashes Before Your Eyes" is a game-changing episode of Lost.  I love the time travel elements, Henry Ian Cusick and Fionnula Flanagan are both excellent, and the cliffhanger is amazing.  This episode has definitely got it going on. 

 9/10: Great