Welcome to the watching live thread!!! Please try to keep the posts topicy and have something more to say besides "Look at what Kate did!!!!" or "OMG!!!".

Enjoy!!!

:o This episode is... amazing !

OMG! This is freaking awesome and very very weird at the same time. Could this really be 2 episodes in a row that are good??!

Noticed the polar bear on the wall in the office. DYING to see how this one ends.

WOW.. what a head trip.
i was waiting for that old lady's face to turn all demonic during that scene with Des and the engagement ring. The island is at it again? Desmond might pull a Neo and follow his heart for love.

ok back to the insanity!

What an awesome episode!

The twist with Charlie at the end blew my mind.

If anyone would like to give us a synopsis...I would love and appreciate it! Can't see the epi 'til later...thanks in advance!!!

This episode rocked my socks. Superb!:o

One of the best episodes scriptwise & actingwise. I really enjoyed it. Lost is always full of suprises !!! :41:

This was Lost at its prime, mind****ing best, full stop. I went in pretty spoiled, and I was still BLOWN AWAY. Now I understand all the hints TPTB dropped about this being a 'unique' flashback. Honestly, I don't want to say too much that's specific, because it deserves the full weight of being unexpected.

This wasn't your standard Lost episode, and breaks from the standard "formula" for how flashbacks work.

It starts with Desmond saving Claire's life, as he has a premonition that she's drowning.

Most of the episode is spent in Desmond's "flashback". He basically relives the few years of his life before he ends up on the island. It's very surreal. Lots of interesting scenes as he relives his life, meets a woman who knows his future, and comes to the conclusion that he must end up on the island. He dumps Penny, breaking her heart.

Back to him being choked by Charlie. Hurley breaks it up, and Charlie takes a drunk Desmond back to his tent. Desmond reveals that he didn't save Claire's life ... he saved Charlie's life. In his premonition, he saw Charlie trying to save Claire, and dying in the attempt. He then says that when he made his lightning rod, he was actually saving Charlie, whom he saw getting electrocuted. The universe has a way of "course-correcting" ... Charlie is destined to die, and Desmond can only save his life so many times before he eventually does die.

Zutroy...I bow to you!!! Thank you so much!

Did we see Des turning the Failsafe Key? And an associated "flash of images before his eyes"?

So, there was no Kate, Sawyer, or Jack?

Yes, quick flashes, and then suddenly he's lying on the floor of his flat in the "past", covered in red paint.

Zero Kate, Jack or Sawyer. It was all Desmond, Charlie, Hurley, Claire, and Penny.

OK, after more thought on that...I do believe that we have a tear in the fabric of "Time-Space-Reality"...

Or something. ;)
100%
Zutroy, we cross-posted...covered in red paint? Is that explained?

In the "past", Desmond asks his friend, a physics-type guy, about time travel. Using those specific words "time travel".
100%
A tragic mix of ladders, painting the ceiling, and drinking :cool: Just a way of making us think he was covered in blood.

I'm with Tabby thanks for all the info Zutroy! Really appreciate it :) You're a gem!

Zutroy...what more about Penny???? Is the elegant antique store woman Penny (as many have speculated)?

Glad to be of assistance! I'll be here anwering any questions until it's on again on ABC. Gotta see it twice tonight!

i dont want charlie 2 die! :'(

hes my fav!

this episode was wonderful! i love the desmond "flashbacks," i was like the flashbacks on the island. i really love that they should do that more often.

I hereby nominate the following for the post of the season (so far):
In the "past", Desmond asks his friend, a physics-type guy, about time travel. Using those specific words "time travel".
100%
A tragic mix of ladders, painting the ceiling, and drinking :cool: Just a way of making us think he was covered in blood.
Hehe.

Did I mention that I :8: LOST? ;)

No, the old lady in the antique store is not Penny. More on her in a bit.

Penny is as we know her from last seasons finale. In fact, the picture that Desmond carries around with him of them both, is taken during his "flash back".

The old lady in the store seems to be Desmond sub-concious. She is selling him an engagement ring, but tells him that he's not supposed to buy the ring, that he's supposed to dump Penny and break her heart. They talk some more outside on a bench, and a man in the background dies from a construction accident. She knew it was going to happen. Desmond asks why she didn't try to save the man. She replies that the universe is "course-correcting", and if that man didn't die today, he'd die the next day, or the next day. Nothing she could do would save his life. Basically foreshadowing what Desmond tells Charlie at the end of the episode.

Yeah. The old lady is kind of like 'the island' talking to him much like Yemi talked to Eko, except she didn't run away all the time. :)

Too bad they didn't reveal how Des woke up naked or what really happened, but oh well.

Oh. OK. Back to the drawing board...LOL. But basically, she is telling Des that the future cannot be changed, maybe? And maybe Des decides to test that...hmmmm...

THANKS again, Zutroy...and Carlo...

ETA Oh, I think I am onto something, now. Per the woman, the Universe is course-correcting, but she can't save that guy. So maybe, each person has to correct their own course. Des can't save anyone else, but he can change his own course (future). Maybe? ;)

Her comment was that Desmond is destined to only do one great thing in his life - push the button. She comes right out and says that he must follow the same course of actions that brought him to that point, or else everyone on the planet would die.

Well now you tell me (LOL).

I hope you're not pulling my leg...(and not saying that you are)...

Don't think I'm pulling your leg!

Anyways, you'll find out soon enough!

Just to ease confusion, what he does in his flashback's aren't the REAL past. Everything that happens is from his past, sure, but it's more like a simulation. He's reliving 2 days of his past, but he didn't actually travel back in time. Throughout his own personal interactive flashback, he learns things from an unkown source (in the form of the old lady). The whole mystery about his ability to see the future and fate isn't revealed in this episode face-value. It's more of a Desmond flashback and a teaser about how he can see fate at the same time. The main point is the fact that everything happens for a reason and the outcome can not be changed.

I'm convinced these are natural universal forces now. The cast tells us that there is a healthy amount of mythology in Lost's story and the old lady indeed says that the universe has a way of making things happen the way they are meant to be done so a certain outcome is reached.

"If I saved that man, he'd be run over by a taxi tomorrow. If i wanred hima bout the taxi tomorrow, the next day he'd slip in the shower and break his neck."

This is all good news for Locke! :D

Anyways, sorry for the spoilers, but it seems as if they are allowed in this thread. Plus, it's 10:00. All the americans are usy watching Lost!