Lost: Season 5, Episode 14 "The Variable" Review

 "I'm gonna detonate a hydrogen bomb."

-Daniel Faraday

"The Variable" starts off with Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) being brought to the hospital after being shot.  Penny (Sonya Walger) is comforted by Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan) until she is allowed to see Desmond in recovery.  As Eloise leaves the hospital, she is met by Charles Widmore (Alan Dale), who reveals to us that he is Daniel Faraday's (Jeremy Davies) father.

In flashbacks, we see that Daniel was gifted in mathematics and music from an early age, but Eloise forced him to stop playing music and focus on physics.  After the incident at Oxford, Daniel's memory sufferers greatly until Widmore invites him to join the freighter expedition to the Island, which may heal him so he can get back to his work.  Daniel is hesitant, but Eloise eventually convinces him.

On the Island, Daniel goes to see Jack (Matthew Fox) and tells him that Eloise was wrong to send him back to the Island.  Daniel goes off to see Dr. Chang (Francois Chau) to warn him about the impending Incident at the Swan station.  He tells Dr. Chang to evacuated the Island and that he is from the future and that Miles (Ken Leung) is actually his grown-up son, which Miles denies.

Sawyer (Josh Holloway) calls their entire group together for an emergency meeting and they decide to abandon the Barracks and return to their old beach.  Daniel wants to go visit the Others and reveals Eloise is one of them.  He wants to go talk to her to get them all back to where they belong.  Jack and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) agree to go with Daniel, while the rest gather their things and head for the beach.

Daniel, Jack, and Kate get guns, but are confronted by Radzinsky (Eric Lange).  A shootout commences, but Daniel, Jack, and Kate are able to escape.  Radzinsky goes to Sawyer's house to get his help, but hears a noise from the closet and finds Phil (Patrick Fischler) tied up inside.  Radzinsky and his men capture Sawyer and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) in response.

Daniel explains his plan to Jack and Kate.  He wants to use the Jughead bomb to counteract the electromagnetic energy at the Swan station to stop the Incident from ever occurring.  If that happens, the button in the Swan will never be built, Desmond will never fail to press the button, Oceanic 815 won't crash, and the Kahana will never come to the Island, which will spare many lives.  Jack is on board, but Kate is hesitant.  Daniel goes into the Others' camp and holds Richard (Nestor Carbonell) at gunpoint and demands to speak to Eloise.  He is shot in the back by her (Alice Evans) and Daniel realizes that for his entire life, his mother was manipulating him to make sure he ended up on the Island before dying of his injury.

What Works:

Jeremy Davies is fantastic in this episode giving us his best performance of the series.  I love seeing him fully and confidently take charge and try to execute his grand, desperate plan.  Davies gets to showcase his acting ability here and the final scene is the peak of his performance.  The relaization and despair that washes over the character is extremely impactful and gives us one of the best deaths of the series.

Fionnula Flanagan is also incredible, especially when you rewatch the episode.  Knowing Eloise's plan makes this whole episode so much darker.  You can see the manipulation in action, yet we also see the pain when she is talking to Widmore.  This is almost as much an Eloise episode as it is a Daniel episode and Flanagan truly gets to shine.

I love the frantic energy of the episode.  This is the episode that kicks off the final act of the season and it's excited.  Daniel's return kicks the pacing into high gear with the shootout with Radzinsky, which leads to Sawyer and Juliet being captured.  It's so much more excited than the previous episode.

Finally, I love how insane Daniel's plan is.  His explanation of it is great and lays out clearly what his goal is, but he ends his explanation with detonating a bomb.  The look on Kate's face always manages to crack me up.  It's even better knowing that the plan fails because of how confident Daniel is.  It's insane and tragic and really shows you how desperate Daniel was to change the past.

What Sucks:

My only complaint with this episode has more to do with season 5 as a whole rather that just "The Variable."  Daniel was a major player in the first 5 episodes of the season.  After Charlotte's (Rebecca Mader) death, he was pretty much a non-factor before disappearing from the Island entirely.  Now he's back with this chaotic energy that I love, only to die almost instantly.  It's a huge bummer that we didn't get more of Faraday on this show and I feel like he was killed off prematurely.  

Platinum Polar Bear:

The Platinum Polar Bear goes to the most competent character of the episode.  For "The Variable," this award goes to Eloise Hawking for manipulating Daniel for his entire life.  It sucks, but it was effective.  This is Eloise's first time winning this award, which ties her for 20th place with Boone, Libby, Bernard, Alex, Richard, and Tom.

Verdict:

I see "The Variable" as part 1 of a 4 part finale.  It kicks off some insanity with great pacing, a plan that is dialed up to 11, and awesome performances from Fionnula Flanagan and Jeremy Davies.  It has absolutely got it going on.

 9/10: Great