Directed by: Lead director Jack Bender

Written by: Executive show-runners Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof

Flashback and central focus: Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick)

Original U.S. air date: 28th Feb, 2008

Review by Chris Daniel

Sayid has long been my favorite character. A man of action who takes no bullshit, and will stick reeds under your fingernails for some medicine. Desmond Hume, however, is the most interesting character. I look forward to his episodes the most because I know that when we get back to his story, as confusing as it may be, we are going to get some answers.

Like Flashes, The Constant does not follow the traditional flashforward/flashback structure. In this episode we get to the heart of one of the biggest mysteries of the island, why it is so hard to find? It seems that it is in a Bermuda Triangle type black hole, where time and space are different. Remember the link to the vile vortices? Well, maybe there is some truth to this. Instead of flashing forward or flashing back Desmond actually time travels! While this may seem hokey to the viewers who just want to know who Kate is going to hook up with (like my wife). For others it speaks directly to the mysterious nature of the show, just as Flashes did.

While flying to the freighter something happens to Desmond that forces him back in time to 1996, when he was in the military. It seems that along the course to the island there is a skip in time, as shown by Daniel Faraday’s experiment, that triggers this. These episodes continue to occur until he can get in contact with Daniel back on the island, who tells him to visit him in the past. In the past Daniel tells Desmond that if he doesn’t keep himself grounded he will not be able to tell the difference between the past and the present which may kill him. In order to achieve this Desmond needs a constant, something or someone that will be there in both times. Of course Desmond chooses Penny and has to convince her to answer the phone eight years in the future. On the freighter Desmond is finally able to contact Penny and we know that she is still looking for him.

There are some interesting notes to take from this episode.

• Apparently it is actually 2004 on the island. I thought that the time leap might be greater than was proved in Faraday’s experiment. It is actually Christmas Eve on the freighter, which could make it Christmas Day on the island.

• That being said are we to assume that it is 2007-2008 during the flashforwards? And therefore the Oceanic 6 have been off the island 3+ years?

• It is interesting that if these time travel episodes happen to him, that Daniel has chosen Desmond as his constant.

• Is what happened to George and the mouse, the sickness that Rousseau referred to her team having? Can you get coming on to the island as opposed to going off?

• What was up with Charles Widmore wanting the Hanso diary from the Black Rock. We know from Bad Twin that these sides were in cahoots at one point. Is this another part of the island cover up?

• Remember the Orchid Orientation video that was released at ComicCon, with the rabbits?

This is looking more like a hint to time travel. Does it foreshadow Desmond coming in contact with himself at some point? And what would the danger be in that, outside of what Doc Brown told us in Back to the Future.

Either way this is the kind of episode that could get weird season back on solid footing. I said it long ago, and I will say it again. Though the Jack and Kate type stories will give the dramatic climax when this is all said and done, Desmond will be the central figure in understanding the real mysteries of the island.