Wow! I totally agree that the Penney/Desmond story is the best. What a great moment when Penney picked up that phone! Love it.
Why would that make it any more or less likely?
-Joe
Wow! That is one f’ed-up island!
I guess I had Desmond’s timeline wrong. For some reason I thought he was first in the army, then joined the monkhouse, then met Penny, then went on the round the world trip.
Nope, think it was more:
- Dump girl at altar
- Join Monkery
- Meet Penny
- Happy Times
- Flake out, ditch penny, join Army
- Get out of Army, do race around world
- Bigass Freaky Island Detour
-Joe
That episode was…fucking awesome. Best episode in a long time. I’m sure someone will come along to nitpick how the times don’t line up and none of it makes sense. Me, I don’t care. I don’t care if it makes any sense, I don’t care if the times don’t line up. Because that was some damn good entertainment.
(I will say the concept of a “constant” was a little contrived and schmaltzy, but the episode was so good I’m willing to shut my inner cynic up).
Because someone could have gone into the past and arranged for them to be there.
Because those things hadn’t happened yet. Time is fluid – it’s not constant?
I’ll just assume that people like Boone and Shannon were un-needed Plan B’s, then. 
-Joe
I usually don’t even like Desmond – I’m fed up with his MacAngst – but I was so touched by the telephone reunion with Penny!
Very odd. When I saw the doctor I thought “Hey it’s Ecklie.” (the slimy boss in CSI) Then I stayed on and watched Eli Stone (didn’t watch it before, thought I’d give it a try). Then I thought “Hey it’s Ecklie.” The same actor was a guest on that show. And in Eli Stone his character is hiding out in Hawaii. Coincidence? I think not.
Had to look it up, his name is Marc Vann
Why do you think that (not arguing - asking!)? The pilot character seems to me to be a trustworthy person who happens to be a tough guy. I think he’s only there because he’s an apt pilot and HE called THEM. Seems like when they gathered the team together they thought “ok who shall we get to be the pilot?” “let’s get that drunk guy who we are already investigating due to the fact that he already knows too much about the fake crash. Since We are Them, we already know he’s got a great “flying helicopters into jungles” track record.”
So he’s just there with very little sneaky scientific pretenses. I don’t know why he might trash the radio room - but I do see that he might have opened the door.
Or that they’ve already served their purposes. 
Wanna hear my WAG?
The island is a natural phenomena resulting from the unique electromagnetic energy sources that the Hatch controlled. It causes rifts in time and space that at their lowest levels can effect human consciousness but can also move physical objects, such as the drug plane and the Black Rock.
Dharma found out about the Island and went there to study the phenomena but when Ben took over, he found a way to exploit it for his own profit and power. He arranged for certain individuals, individuals he could manipulate, to be on the plane. His whole bit about how he needed a spinal surgeon and one fell out of the sky—it’s a miracle! Bullshit it’s a miracle…he arranged for Jack to be there. He also arranged for other seeming coincidences, such as Juliet’s husband’s untimely demise.
The time shift could also explain the Black Smoke Monster…it could be from the future, as could the statue with six toes.
Just a theory.
Three points:
-
Faraday’s notebook had to have changed between the time he spoke to Desmond on the phone and the final scene with “DESMOND IS MY CONSTANT”. There’s a danger of a time paradox here…
-
We know Desmond was in jail later than 1996 for some military crime; could this have been for being AWOL on this chase which ultimately led to asking Penny for her number? Desmond did mention he had two days of leave in the episode–which presumably gave him enough time to meet Faraday, Widmore, and Penny–but what if it didn’t? There’s a danger of a time paradox here as well…
-
Faraday mentions that exposure to EM or radiation could have “this effect” on a person. Nice touch to have him mention in 1996 that he wears a lead apron because is exposed “20 times a day” to radiation in his experiments–and then have Desmond point out that his head is still exposed.
Listen: Eloise the Rat has come unstuck in time.
Well, since he left Penny’s and went forward in time, his 1996 body could have been catatonic for some time. He might black out as a result.
I don’t think that needs to be a paradox. I think Daniel probably would have been on the island (and probably was in the original timeline) regardless of Desmond’s visit or non-visit. After all, it’s the kind of experiementing that Daniel was already working on, so he would have been ideal for working on a mission that’s researching the island.
Although I agree that Daniel was probably wrong when he said, “You can’t change the future”. I think that Daniel’s journal/notebook probably didn’t read “Desmond will be MY anchor” until Daniel set in motion the “Go visit me in 1996” events for Desmond. But I think Daniel goes to the island either way.
I think you have it right. Although if I recall this correctly, wasn’t the “flake out” part somewhat due to pressure from Daddy Warbucks… erm… Widmore? Who told Desmond that he wasn’t good enough for his daughter, or some such thing?
And in this episode, he claims that there was a day that if Desmond wanted to marry Penny, he’d have had Daddy’s blessing, or something to that effect. That didn’t seem to jive with what we’ve previously seen of Widmore – I thought that he always had scorn for Desmond from the start, even before Desmond broke it off with Penny.
How could he black out if, after he got her phone number in 1996, the time traveling stopped. That’s why he didn’t go catatonic on her front stoop.
Wow, what a fantastic episode. Probably the best one yet.