Lost 5.14: "The Variable"

Thursday, 30 April 2009

By John Keegan Visit Critical Myth for an archive of John's TV Review archives, with more than 1100 entries.   Daniel Faraday has always been a compelling character on "Lost", because it always felt like he knew more than he was letting on, thanks to his journal and his knowledge of arcane time-travel physics. It's about time that there was an episode dedicated to his origins and journey. It's unfortunate that this episode also represents the end of that journey. On the other hand, it does make a certain amount of dramatic sense. How often does it seem like the one person with all the answers is right there to provide the exposition when the time comes? This makes it a lot more interesting, because now Daniel is gone, leaving only his notes and thoughts, scattered as they are. So his knowledge will be filtered through the familiar eyes and minds of those with other agendas. The net effect is likely to be the exact opposite of what Daniel intended. If Daniel's story represents anything, it's that he was probably wrong. Desmond's attempts to save Charlie in the third season were, in essence, exactly the kind of "variable" that Daniel tries to become. As Daniel's mother made very clear at the time, the course of time corrects for anything a "variable" might do. Daniel spends most of the episode trying to change things, but in all likelihood, he doesn't. Whatever happened, happened. He prompts Pierre Chang to send certain individuals off the island to protect them from the impending "incident". (With only three hours left to the season, that moment is swiftly approaching.) By mentioning that he wants to destroy the electromagnetic anomaly under the location of the Swan Station, using Jughead in the process, it's extremely likely that he brings about the conditions that lead to everything that he tries to prevent. In fact, as many others have guessed, bringing Jughead closer to the Swan Station is likely to explain why there was an inability of women on the island to survive pregnancy among the Others. That inability was clearly not a problem prior to "the incident". It might even explain Ben's eventual cancer, and the island's inability to heal it. If a bomb leaking radiation is close to the electromagnetic anomaly when it bursts with unforeseen intensity, "the incident" could have spread just enough radiation to leave the island inhabitable yet still have unforeseen consequences later. (This leaves aside the contradictions with "Via Domus" that would result, if this were all accurate. There's clearly no time for the Dharma Initiative to build a generator the size of what was seen in the game. The game was supposed to be canon, however, so it may be that the apparent discrepancies will make sense in time.) In the larger sense, this episode demonstrates the tragedy of Daniel's life, tying into the futility of trying to change the course of history. Daniel's mother spent every day of his life preparing him for this moment. It's a tragedy for Eloise Hawking as well, and it may even explain why she was so sure, speaking with Desmond, that time will always course-correct. Daniel's story, and his apparently futile efforts to change history, demonstrate the strict rules of time travel in the "Lost" universe. Whatever happened, happened. That's why the series is like a puzzle; the pieces all eventually fit together because events are effectively set in stone. It's a universe where predestination trumps free will every time. Yet, at the very same time, events tend to depend on the choices made by individuals. That's not contradictory. The characters see time through the perspective of their collective experience. History, for them, is a matter of memory. Anything that happens in their personal future is impossible to know, and therefore they make choices based on what they know and experience. It is unknown because, for human beings, time is a variable dimension. On the other hand, for human beings, the familiar three dimensions (length, width, depth) are fixed. The coordinate system is what it is; distances are what they are. A foot is always a foot, a meter is always a meter. One can take a map and go, with confidence, from point A to point B, because the physical locations will always be fixed. History is just the convenient word for a period of "time" that is, in essence, fixed from human perspective. The events between time A and time B have already happened, and the cause and effect can be clearly understood. To the individuals living during that period, of course, it didn't feel set in stone. The future, for them, was unknown and variable. Logically speaking, events in human lives right now, in this very moment, are just "history" from a future perspective. At some point, others will look back and say, without question, "Whatever happened, happened". There will be no changing it. The introduction of time travel, at least in the "Lost" universe, doesn't change that fundamental truth. All that changes is how the individuals living through the "history" are perceiving and experiencing it. It still boils down to a deterministic cause and effect. None of which, unfortunately, explains how the Oceanic Tribe is supposed to return to the "present" of 2007, where the impending war is still brewing. Could the "incident" take everyone who is outside of their proper time and shift them back (or ahead) to where they belong? Given some of the more insane things that happen on the island, it wouldn't be particularly hard to swallow. In the meantime, things look to get pretty violent as the Oceanic Tribe struggles to stay alive. The shootout was surprising, and it's hard to imagine how things will go well for Sawyer and Juliet. With only two episodes left (episodes 16 and 17 comprise the season finale), things are certainly escalating.

 

< Prev		Next >