“We’re going to need to watch that again.” — John Locke, Orientation (S2, Episode 3)

I’ll just go ahead and tell you: I’ll probably have to make this post in two parts this week. As usual with a Desmond episode, Happily Ever After was just absolutely packed with mythology advancement and trippy consciousness-travel. So there’s a lot to unpack / digest and there’s no way I’ll get to it all tonight. So check back in later for more analysis.

We’ll begin with the obvious: this was the episode we’ve all been waiting for when we realized that the Flash-Sideways was going to be a constant storytelling device in Season 6. Desmond Hume — glorious “the rules don’t apply to you”, “the Island’s not done with you yet” Desmond — bridges the gap between the Sideways world and the Island reality we’ve been following for the past several years. I’m still not sure what it all means, but at least we have a connection point between these two worlds — and a fairly satisfying one at that.

The storytelling bookend format of this episode is one that isn’t foreign to LOST. The on-Island narrative is rather brief — Desmond wakes up, beats up Widmore, flashes to the Sideways world and comes back. But the meat of the episode took place in the Sideways world, a place where Desmond has the approval of his otherworldly father-in-law but he’s missing his constant, Penelope. Without her love, Desmond meanders through an existence devoid of true meaning — running errands for Charles Widmore as an attachment-free company man. The episode provided some symmetry with the past by keeping Desmond engaged in the Charlie / Claire love story. But these two were far from the only cameos in Happily Ever After: George Minkowski, Eloise Hawking, Daniel Farraday / Widmore, even those blasted bunnies showed up, albeit in the true world.

Charlie’s explanation of his vision of Claire is exactly what Desmond experiences in this episode. It’s the realization that he’s missing his constant that becomes the impetus for Desmond’s narrative. But it’s the Farraday / Desmond convo that really unpacks it all for us. Sideways Farraday, upon seeing Charlotte, wakes up in the night and jots down a quantum mechanics equation. Realizing this came from some untapped place within him, Farraday posits, “What if this wasn’t supposed to be my life? What if, for some reason, I changed things?” Deep down, Sideways Farraday understands that he’s rebooted history with his nuclear bomb-theory from a season ago. Des wonders what this has to do with him; until Farraday name drops Penny as his half-sister. Boom. Worlds collide and fates are written. Call is destiny, call it fate, call it narrative necessity…but all of this is coming to a head quickly.

A few key questions:

In his toast, Widmore speaks of Desmond’s “indispensability.” Is Sideways Widmore aware of who Desmond really is? How much does Eloise know? She has to be in on everything, since I’m pretty sure the rules don’t apply to her either. She seems to know when Desmond is “supposed” to meet Penny, setting off a chain of events that intersects the “present” Island world.

What is the sacrifice Island Widmore is going to ask of Desmond? I hope it’s not that he will need to sacrifice his life, although that’s certainly what most comes to mind at this point.

What is Sayid going to do with Desmond? And doesn’t it seem like Desmond has some sort of understanding that this is what he’s meant to do?

How will Desmond “show” the other 815ers their fates? Happily Ever After goes out of its way to remind us of one of the running mantras of LOST’s end game: “You always have a choice.” Don’t be surprised if this has some bearing on the final few episodes. Perhaps the castaways will have some choice in the “happily ever after” ending they each receive. Maybe some will opt for the off-Island reality of “bliss” (complete with period knowing mirror reflection gazes of longing for something more), while other choose their Island-persona and the hope that redemption can still be found on the Island.

(Before I forget it, I want to mention one quick thing about last week’s episode: Sunny and I watched The Package together before we watched Happily Ever After — Sunny never saw last week’s Jun & Sin-centric episode. During the rewatch, I was struck by something Locke said to Claire. Claire asked Locke if her name was on the wall in the cave; Locke said no, but that he still needed Claire. Then Claire asked in Kate’s name was on the wall; Locke replied, “No. Not anymore.” I didn’t mention that last week, but this has to be fairly significant. Is Locke telling the truth? Or is he simply feeding Claire more lines of what she wants to hear? Discuss.)

My mind is still reeling. More to come later. But suffice it to say, this was a great episode.