Consider this possiblity:

Desmond's "trip" to the past was not a dream but actually reality.

Think about what happened in this "new reality" that was different than in the original run of things, in particular his discussion with Donovan:

Desmond told Donovan all about what was going to happen... He explained about the soccer game being won and then the bartender getting clubbed. He also described how he would join the around-the-world race AND get lost at Sea; stuck pushing buttons in a computer to prevent a huge EMP.

So let's pretend you're Donovan: Your crazy friend Desmond tells you all this weird stuff about the future. You write it off as just wacko. However, after the soccer match, you have second thoughts but dismiss it.

Then your friend Desmond joins an around-the-world race but doesn't return. Suddenly you remember what he told you about getting lost on an island. Perhaps you'll go and tell Penny all about it; how Desmond still loves Penny and how he was going to "save the world" by turning the key.

Penny, upon hearing about this, hires a research station to try to find this island by looking for the signature EMP that Desmond described to Donovon.

Makes a lot of sense. Great first post!

nice work. That would explain a lot of what happened at the end of season 2.

Very plausible. Seems to me like the only logical way that Penny could have ever found out about the EMP.

Oooh, that's good, DaveS. That makes sense to me about how Penny knew to look for the EMP.

That is an interesting theory...Donovan tips off Pen that Des will set off an EMP after the ship race wreck...and didn't he even tell him he was in the hatch for 3 years?....so she has a timeframe...Wouldn't surprise me in the least if Donovan is standing there beside Penny when/if she actually finds Des on the island.

Yes! I knew that the physicist had a role to play, and that is a good one. I was wondering what he would think after seeing that soccer game...

Very nice theory, seems like the best way to explain things given all the info we have so far. I wouldn't be surprised to see Donovan again either.

Great first post DaveS. :cool:

Yes! As soon as he told his friend everything that happened, I knew that's why Penny was looking for him. He told Donovan, Donovan told Penny, and gave her a rough idea of what to look for, and when.

This would work, except for the fact that Desmond has no way of knowing that an EMP was set off by him turning the failsafe. Hurley mentioned the island vibrating to him, but only after Desmond woke up in the jungle.

yes I agree, great idea.. but wasn't this an alternative reality?If so then Desmond hasn't told anyone anything.

This is a great theory. I'm on board for this one.

Consider this possiblity:

Desmond's "trip" to the past was not a dream but actually reality.

Think about what happened in this "new reality" that was different than in the original run of things, in particular his discussion with Donovan:

Desmond told Donovan all about what was going to happen... He explained about the soccer game being won and then the bartender getting clubbed. He also described how he would join the around-the-world race AND get lost at Sea; stuck pushing buttons in a computer to prevent a huge EMP.

So let's pretend you're Donovan: Your crazy friend Desmond tells you all this weird stuff about the future. You write it off as just wacko. However, after the soccer match, you have second thoughts but dismiss it.

Then your friend Desmond joins an around-the-world race but doesn't return. Suddenly you remember what he told you about getting lost on an island. Perhaps you'll go and tell Penny all about it; how Desmond still loves Penny and how he was going to "save the world" by turning the key.

Penny, upon hearing about this, hires a research station to try to find this island by looking for the signature EMP that Desmond described to Donovon.

Great theory, Dave. I'd go one further and posit that Desmond in his flashback was not "remembering" the island but being stuck in a premonition -- a rather lengthy one -- where he was "remembering" events on the island that were actual future events and part of his premonition. His confusion would still fit. There's probably another detail that shoots this to sunshine, but maybe maybe.

How about that shout out to Heroes with the long-haired Indian scientist friend who is given big clues to the mystery? Damon co-authored this script, and perhaps put in an homage to his friend Tim Kring.

Movie Plug: If you haven't seen Frequency, go rent it this weekend. It has sort of a similar scenario, where Dennis Quaid proves to his friend that he knows the future by predicting the events in a ball game, and has a mentor by way of his grown son in the future telling him what's going on and what's going to happen (via ham radio through a time-hole caused by a magnetic disturbance). Oh, and it has Elizabeth Mitchell, and a serial killer named Jack Sheppard. Hee.

Wow this is good thinking! The only thing I thought during this scene was "how does Desmond have a physicist friend?" and then when Donovan said "time travel is impossible" I shouted at the TV "No physicist would EVER say that!!!!" but you have way more useful thoughts about this scene than me. good thinking! :)

BRILLIANT!!!!

I'm totally on board with your theory. This would explain how Penny knew to look for the island at all!

I hate to ask, but if this was true, wouldn't Charlie remember meeting Desmond?

Desmond made a pretty big deal out of already knowing Charlie. Surely Charlie would have remembered seeing Desmond.

This would work, except for the fact that Desmond has no way of knowing that an EMP was set off by him turning the failsafe. Hurley mentioned the island vibrating to him, but only after Desmond woke up in the jungle.


Desmond didn't tell Donovan about an EMP. It would be enough for Donovan to tell Penny that he was lost on an island with a hatch and a button to push to "keep the world from ending". Penny could have then begun to work from that and discovered other things on her own.

Your theory is great, DaveS!

If this ISN'T what the writers were thinking, they might want to reconsider!

Any chance Donovan was one of the guys in Alaska (or wherever)?

I really like this theory too, Dave, very good thinking. Something tells me we may see Donovan again, he seems like he might have a role to play in the future (just my probably wrong guess).

workingmom - I think I've seen this movie - did Jim Caviziel play DQ's son/friend? It definitely sounds familiar.

SpiderFace - I just assumed they must have met at uni. During the interview Widmore said Desmond didn't graduate but not that he didn't go to uni. Again, just my guess.

Desmond didn't tell Donovan about an EMP. It would be enough for Donovan to tell Penny that he was lost on an island with a hatch and a button to push to "keep the world from ending". Penny could have then begun to work from that and discovered other things on her own.

Your theory is great, DaveS!

If this ISN'T what the writers were thinking, they might want to reconsider!
perhaps penleope knew a little something something already...?

Excellent theory DaveS.
I checked IMDB and the actor playing Donovan was Shishir Kurup. He is not among the actors who were looking for the EMP in the arctic lab. But, that doesn't mean that he didn't have something to do with it....

Wow this is good thinking! The only thing I thought during this scene was "how does Desmond have a physicist friend?" and then when Donovan said "time travel is impossible" I shouted at the TV "No physicist would EVER say that!!!!" but you have way more useful thoughts about this scene than me. good thinking! :)


a) Maybe they grew up together or went to school together
b) I totally agree no physicist would ever say that!

I love this theory, Dave! And if Des was friends with Donovan, then Donovan was probably a friend of Penny, and he would've went to her with this info after Des went missing.

Fishbiscuit: From Lostpedia: "The listening station was introduced in the episode Live Together Die Alone. The station is operated by two Portuguese-speaking technicians, named Mathias and Henrik in the script."

Pisaster: Donovan probably saw the game the next night and was like Holy ^&*!

rthensely: I said the same to my husband, wouldn't you remember having a "crazy" person come up to you and start saying all that stuff and acting like that??

I can't make sense of it all, but it seems to make sense despite all the little "unexplainables."

I really like this theory too, Dave, very good thinking. Something tells me we may see Donovan again, he seems like he might have a role to play in the future (just my probably wrong guess).

workingmom - I think I've seen this movie - did Jim Caviziel play DQ's son/friend? It definitely sounds familiar.

Yes, Frequency starred Dennis Quaid as the father and Jim Cavieziel as the grown son in present day. They use the '69 World Series as a way to prove to Andre Braugher that Quaid knows what's going to happen. (Movie chock full of good actors.)
It explores, of course, how the future changes when the past is changed - the sort of thing the antiques lady was warning Desmond about, although whether it was his past or looking ahead or .... *brain explodes* :blowup:

I hate to ask, but if this was true, wouldn't Charlie remember meeting Desmond?

Desmond made a pretty big deal out of already knowing Charlie. Surely Charlie would have remembered seeing Desmond.


Charlie was in a drug induced haze perhaps and his memory function was faulty?

The fact is Penny KNEW to look for a pulse and she hired what looks like field researchers to go find it. How did she know to look? Good theory.

WOW... this is totally plausible. I was with you on that FishBisquit, I thougth for a sec Donovan was one of the guys listening as well, but it doesn't exclude the possibility that he gets that ball rolling.

so, did Desmond time travel? can "remote viewing" have anything to do with this?

Charlie was in a drug induced haze perhaps and his memory function was faulty?

The fact is Penny KNEW to look for a pulse and she hired what looks like field researchers to go find it. How did she know to look? Good theory.
I think you're joking, elf, but it occurred to me that this was a good three -1/2 or four years before the island, so I think Driveshaft hadn't found success yet, and Charlie hadn't gotten sucked into addiction by Ian yet.
BTW I loved his comment "this is why we don't do drugs, people." *runs off to find the Best Lines thread*

perhaps penleope knew a little something something already...?

I'm going with the Donovan told Penny idea but I have to say that given Penny's father's business is involved with HANSO/DHARMA perhaps Penny knows or learns a little something from her father.

When we first see Donovan he is saying sonmething along the lines of " you can do it 10 times and get a differet result each time" Since it is scripted dialog I found that statement ineresting

This may or may not fit into the scenario here... but at the end of Season 2, we learn that Desmond was in military prison for an as of yet undetermined crime. Penelope's dad was the one who met Desmond outside the prison in the car and told him to stay away from her... however, in the job interview during Desmond's "flashback" or "jump back" he states that he has no military experience. I'm confused.... are we to assume that the job interview with Pen's dad took place *before* Desmond joined the military? Now that I think about it... I guess that is probably the case since he did spend a few moments lingering over the recruitment posters posted outside that office...

But wouldn't he have mentioned something like "I am going to be in the military, and sentenced to prison for so-and-so crime" when he was explaining to Donovan about his future prediciting abilities? To me, that sounds like something pretty life-changing that would probably be mentioned, but it wasn't.... thoughts?

When we first see Donovan he is saying sonmething along the lines of " you can do it 10 times and get a differet result each time" Since it is scripted dialog I found that statement ineresting

I'm wondering if Donovan was discussing the chaos theory. This is the same theory that Jeff Goldblum talked about in Jurassic Park. Here is a wiki excerpt and link about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory
"In mathematics and physics, chaos theory describes the behavior of certain nonlinear dynamical systems that under certain conditions exhibit a phenomenon known as chaos. In ecology, chaos theory can explain how small random events may affect large ecosystems in an unpredictable way. Among the characteristics of chaotic systems, described below, is the sensitivity to initial conditions (popularly referred to as the butterfly effect). As a result of this sensitivity, the behavior of systems that exhibit chaos appears to be random, exhibiting an exponential error dispersion, even though the system is deterministic in the sense that it is well defined and contains no random parameters. Examples of such systems include the atmosphere, the solar system, plate tectonics, turbulent fluids, economics, population growth and the vast variety of dissipative structures."

I had a feeling after Desmond told his friend about the soccer game he had the wrong date or time for it. And it would make sense that Donovan remembers it eventually and tells Penny.