Flashes Before Your Eyes

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“Flashes Before Your Eyes”
Lost episode
Desmond saves Claire.
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 8
Written by	Damon Lindelof Drew Goddard
Directed by	Jack Bender
Guest stars	Sonya Walger Alan Dale Shishir Kurup Fionnula Flanagan Jeremy Colvin David Cordell Katie Doyle Michael Titterton Stephen Quinn
Production no.	308
Original airdate	February 14, 2007
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Not in Portland" "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Lost (season 3) List of Lost episodes

"Flashes Before Your Eyes" is the eighth episode of the third season of the American drama television series Lost, and the show's fifty-fifth episode overall. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof and Drew Goddard, and directed by Jack Bender. It first aired in the United States on February 14, 2007 on the American Broadcasting Company. The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics.

In this episode, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) and Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan) conclude that Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick) can see into the future after he saves Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin) from drowning. It is revealed that after the hatch exploded, Desmond traveled back to London and relived his past before coming back to the island. Desmond also reveals to Charlie that he is destined to die.

Plot

While in the middle of a conversation with several other castaways, Desmond, without warning, sprints toward and dives into the ocean. No one on the beach understands what Desmond is doing, until he returns with a nearly drowned Claire. Charlie and Hurley conclude that Desmond must be able to see into the future, and they hatch a plan to get Desmond to get drunk and confess. After several drinks, Charlie asks Desmond about his future-seeing abilities. Instead of answering, Desmond gets up to leave, but after Charlie calls him a "coward", a drunken Desmond tackles Charlie and shouts that Charlie does not know what Desmond has been through.

Desmond flashbacks: the hatch is shown imploding again, and then Desmond (who was inside) suddenly wakes up in a London apartment with his girlfriend Penelope Widmore (Sonya Walger). Desmond is clearly puzzled, but is relieved to finally be with Penny again. Desmond later goes to Penny's billionaire father, Charles Widmore (Alan Dale) and asks for his permission to marry his daughter. Widmore rejects Desmond, who is crushed and humiliated. While shopping for a ring for Penny, Desmond runs into the shopkeeper, Ms. Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan). Ms. Hawking takes Desmond on a walk and explains that although she knew a man would die, she did not help because the universe has a way of "course correcting", and he would die anyway. Desmond and Penny go out to lunch, where he breaks up with her after realizing that he does not have enough money to support her. He goes to a pub, gets caught in the middle of a bar fight, and is knocked out. Desmond wakes up back on the Island, completely naked, as seen in "Further Instructions".

All of a sudden he is back in present time and is pulled off Charlie by Hurley. They help Desmond to his tent. Charlie tries to get an answer for him one last time, and Desmond tells Charlie that although Desmond has prevented his death twice, Charlie is destined to die.

Production

"Flashes Before Your Eyes" was the fifteenth episode of the series directed by Jack Bender. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof and Drew Goddard, the pair had never before collaborated on an episode.

This episode is the first to deal with the concept of time travel, the next being "The Constant" in the fourth season. Unlike other flashback sequences to this point, this is positioned as actual time travel for Desmond. However in this episode ground rules are established to prevent paradoxes in the story line as a result of time travel. Had these rules not been established, the writers feared that viewers would lose interest because the stakes of the characters would be lessened.^[1] In an interview, Henry Ian Cusick, who plays Desmond, said shooting the episode was both "fun" and "tiring".^[2] Cusick said that when shooting the episode "you're finishing late and starting early", but he enjoyed working with director Jack Bender because "he pushes you to, to try and go a little bit further than you think you can".^[2] The London scenes were shot in Honolulu. This led to several continuity errors, such as the word "Honour" being incorrectly spelled in the American English "Honor".^[3]

Reception

"Flashes Before Your Eyes" received mostly positive reviews. IGN's Chris Carabott wrote that "if last week's 'Not in Portland' didn't get you back on the Lost hype train then for goodness' sake the equally outstanding 'Flashes Before Your Eyes' hopefully grabbed your attention." Carabott went on to praise the on-screen chemistry of Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond) and Sonya Walger (Penelope), stating that "their on screen chemistry makes the love between the two characters real and makes their inevitable breakup that much harder to handle." He also complimented the scene between Desmond and Charles, saying that "it's hard not to feel Desmond's heart crushed when Widmore denies him Penelope's hand in marriage."^[4] Josh Spiegel, a writer for CinemaBlend.com, had similar praise. He said that for him "it was a nice change of pace to not see Jack, Kate or Sawyer on the show and focus more on some of the lesser-known castaways." Spiegel went on to say that the episode was "fantastic".^[5] Mania.com's Stephen Lackey wrote that "Flashes Before Your Eyes" was an "episode has everything die hard LOST fans expect, riveting plot twists, foreshadowing, and as many questions as answers"^[6]

Critics did note that the episode did not provide many answers.^[4][7] Mac Slocum of FilmFodder.com wrote that he was "beginning to think the Lost producers have a different definition for the word 'answer'."^[7]

Henry Ian Cusick and Dominic Monaghan submitted this episode for consideration on their own behalves in the category of "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" respectively at the 2007 Emmy Awards.^[8]

References