"Constant"ly Great

Now that it’s over, I think we can all look back with a little more clarity and perspective. In doing so I still end up with the same favorite Lost episode of all time, season 4’s “The Constant”.

This Desmond centric episode takes us on an intense journey as Desmond’s consciousness goes back and forth between his past and present. This episode is Lost in a nutshell. It’s trippy, scientific, full of love and forgiveness, but also full of hope. If there was ever any one episode that got right to the essence of the show this was it.

When the copter that Frank, Sayid and Desmond are on gets struck off course Desmond begins experiencing flashes. These flashes have him re-experiencing key moments of his life. With the fear that he’ll get lost in the timestream and die in the present, Desmond meets with a pre-Island Daniel Faraday who tells him about the importance of a constant. Desmond basically then uses his love for Penny as a constant (emotional tether) to keep him grounded and able to find his way back to his proper place in time.

This story proved to be such a hit, that it’s impact is undeniable. Major comic characters Captain America and Batman have recently seemingly perished, but were both simply trapped in time trying to get back to their proper place in present time. A coincidence, I think not. It’s more like the re-use of the best Lost episode ever.

*This was the first episode that contained neither flashback nor flashforward. Its completely told in first person as Desmond travels his way back in time. We see the full arc of the story as it’s actually happening.