Lost Reviews and News

On with the show!

A couple weeks ago, J.J. Abrams claimed that the season two "Lost" finale would be one of the best finales ever. At the time, I thought he was engaging in typical executive producer hyperbole. But now ...

Now I think he might be right. The season 2 finale may very well go down as one of the greatest cliffhangers/conclusions ever.

This wasn't an episode. It was an onslaught. We were bombarded with so many major developments, so many questions answered, and so many new questions posed, that it's virtually impossible to chronicle every integral moment.

But dammit, I'm going to try ... and I need your help! If I miss anything -- be it vital or not-so-vital -- please post your observations below. My hope is that a collaborative effort can unearth all the important pieces.

So let's get to it!

At the end of last week's episode, two major plotlines were developing:

1. Sayid figured out that Michael had been "compromised" by the Others. As such, Sayid and Jack joined forces to develop a counterattack plan.

2. During funeral services for Ana-Lucia and Libby, the castaways spotted a sailboat floating just offshore.

Upon spotting the sailboat, Jack, Sayid and Sawyer all charge to the shoreline and -- being devout Alpha Males -- remove their shirts and plunge headlong into the warm tropical ocean (Note: Sayid and Sawyer disrobe, but Jack doesn't; maybe he felt a little bloated and unappealing that day).

In record time (seriously, are they Olympic swimmers?), the trio reaches the sailboat. The quietly move along the deck with pistols drawn (this isn't a continuity error: all three had guns at the end of last week's episode). As they move closer to the cabin, the sound of opera music drifts from below.

BLAM BLAM BLAM!

Gunshots splinter the cabin door as bullets fly from within. Apparently, the ship's captain doesn't appreciate landlubbers interrupting his arias.

Jack, Sawyer and Sayid all dive for cover as a hail of bullets continues to rip through the door.

CLICK CLICK CLICK!

"Oh [muffled mumble], frickin' [accented mumbled expletive]."

Jack, realizing the captain is out of bullets, slams his foot through the remaining deck door and sends splinters crashing down below. Sayid and Sawyer take positions behind Jack, and all three train their pistols into the cabin.

The opera music blares.

Jack's eyes grow wide.

The camera spins.

And there, sitting on the floor of the cabin, is Desmond!

Desmond chuckles and takes a swig from a liquor bottle (a Dharma liquor bottle).

"You!" he says, looking up at Jack with a grin.

And now, before we get too deep into this recap, it's time to provide a little context on this Desmond development. First off, Desmond's first word -- "You!" -- is a fitting bookend for the season finale. His reaction mirrors the reaction Jack first had when he stumbled upon Desmond back in the season two premiere ("Man of Science, Man of Faith"). Of course, Jack's "you" was filled with a lot more dread and consternation and confusion ... and with good reason.

I'm sure everyone remembers Desmond (if you don't, I feel bad for you; the finale probably didn't make a whole of sense to folks who haven't followed the show throughout season two). Nonetheless, I feel compelled to recap a few important Desmond facts:

1. Jack and Desmond ran into each other years before during a midnight run (we were first introduced to Desmond during a flashback sequence in "Man of Science, Man of Faith"). This previous meeting is the reason why Jack was so confused and amazed when he ran into Desmond in the season two premiere.

2. Desmond arrived on the island more than three years ago. He was participating in a race-around-the-world contest, but his race came to an abrupt end when he shipwrecked on Spooky Isle.

3. Most of Desmond's island time was spent cooped up in the hatch with a guy named Kelvin (we learn much more about Kelvin in this episode). Alas, when Jack, Locke and Kate find Desmond, he tells them that Kelvin is dead. Kelvin supposedly "saved" Desmond after the shipwreck and brought him into the safe and wacky confines of the hatch. Over time, Desmond learned the intricacies of pushing a button every 108 minutes. He and Kelvin pressed that friggin' button for three long years.

4. When we last saw Desmond -- prior to him blasting holes in his sailboat cabin -- he was scampering through the island woods, happy to offload his tedious button-pushing duties on a new group of suckers.

Moving on ...

When Jack, Sayid and Sawyer find Desmond, he's drunk out of his mind. Fortunately, he's a happy drunk, so after that brief flush of gunplay he puts up no additional resistance. The Alpha Males manage to anchor the sailboat just offshore and then transfer Desmond back to the beach, where he happily soaks up Dharma grog and looks on with amusement at the gawking castaways.

As the episode progresses, various castaways pick Desmond's mind for clues about Dharma and the hatch and just where the hell he's been all this time. Under normal circumstances, these encounters would be the highlight for the episode; but this isn't a normal episode ...

And so, in an effort to expedite this review (and keep my momentum before the sheer weight of this task buries me at a young age), I present a few key revelations from the castaways' Sessions with Desmond:

• Desmond tells Jack that when he scampered off into the woods in "Orientation," he made a beeline for his sailboat and set off on a westerly course. That course should have led Desmond straight to Fiji within a week, but it didn't work. Desmond ended up right where he began. "This is all there is left," Desmond tells Jack. "There's ocean and this place here. We're stuck in a bloody snowglobe!"

• The next morning, Sayid asks/tells Desmond he needs to use the sailboat to travel to the north side of the island. "Off to see the hostiles, are you?" Desmond asks with a wink. Sayid is confused; the term "hostiles" is new to him (and to us), and, more importantly, it suggests that the Others have been battling with "south shore" residents for quite some time. Alas, Sayid doesn't have time to ask Desmond for a firm definition on "hostiles" because he's busy planning an Other sneak attack. Fortunately for Sayid, Desmond gladly gives him the boat since he has no use for it -- at this point Desmond is far more interested in drinking every last drop of his Dharma Mad Dog supply.

• Later in the episode, Desmond sees Claire holding the immunization gun Charlie gave her last week. Desmond scoffs at the device. He tells Claire he injected himself with Dharma drugs every nine days for three years straight, and after all that time, he's concluded the medicine didn't do a damn thing (we'll find out how he came to this conclusion in the next segment).

Remember how Locke mysteriously cut off his splint at the end of last episode and then walked away from the funeral? At the time, we had no idea where he was going.

Now we do.

Early in this episode, Locke strolls (well, limps) into the hatch. Eko is sitting at the computer -- just like his dead priest brother told him to do -- not really doing much besides staring at the countdown clock and waiting to punch in the code. Locke shuffles into the computer room and positions himself to the side of the system. He's got a message for Eko: they're not going to push the button anymore.

It's a very convincing message. Locke is clear and direct. If he was at a Toastmasters gathering, they'd applaud him for his persuasiveness.

Unfortunately, Eko never went to Toastmasters. He thinks Locke's suggestion sucks ... a lot.

Locke and Eko start to argue.

"Don't push it!" Locke commands.

"Do not tell me what I can't do!" Eko counters (note: This is the exact line Locke used way back in "Walkabout.")

The countdown alarm begins to beep. Eko turns his attention toward the keyboard and starts to type in the code.

Locke's eyes shift wildly as he searches for a way to stop Eko. He sees Eko's Jesus Stick sitting nearby.

Locke lunges and grabs the mighty stick. He raises hit above his head and SLAMS it toward the computer!

But Eko snatches the stick in mid-air! The Power of Eko compels you! The Power of Eko compels you!

Eko rises (still holding the stick) and pounds the stick against Locke's cheek. Locke spins to the floor. Eko calmly returns to the keyboard and finishes typing in the code. As the countdown resets, he steps from behind the computer desk and lifts Locke by the scruff of his neck, then marches him toward the hatch exit. Like a bouncer at a club, he shoves Locke through the door.

And now we return to Desmond ...

Sometime later, Charlie tells Locke that Desmond has returned and Locke immediately rushes back to the beach so he can trade hatch war stories with the former Dharma Drone.

Night has fallen and Desmond has found a comfy spot near a fire. Locke approaches as Desmond takes nips from a Dharma Mint Julip. Desmond looks up and Locke smiles.

"So what did one snowman say to the other snowman?" Locke asks, echoing the very first thing Desmond ever said to him ("Adrift").

"Smells like carrots!" Desmond exclaims.

Locke takes a seat and he and Desmond share Desmond's bottle. Unfortunately, this is the high point of their joviality.

Locke asks Desmond what he would think if Locke told him that his three years of button-pushing was all for nothing? That the whole thing -- every last bit of it -- was a psychological experiment engineered and monitored by Dharma?

Desmond's happy drunk smile turns into a sour drunk frown.

"I'd ask you how the hell you would know something like that," Desmond says curtly.

And with that, Locke recaps his recent trip into the Pearl hatch. He lays the whole thing out for Desmond: the notebooks, the pneumatic tubes, the TV monitoring stations ... everything.

But Desmond still doesn't believe him.

Locke counters with his piece de resistance: the Pearl "Orientation" video. He pulls the video tape from his bag and chucks it at Desmond. Through a drunk haze, Desmond looks at the tape case.

"If you're so sure its not real," Desmond growls, "then just stop pushing the button."

Locke has his response all lined up: "You're going to sober up," Locke says, his Obi-Wan Jedi mind tricks burning at full capacity. "We're going to get a good night's sleep. And tomorrow, we're gonna find out what happens when the button doesn't get pushed."

And that's exactly what they do.

The next day, Eko diligently sits at the hatch computer, carving exciting new Bible verses into his Jesus Stick. Suddenly, the lights go out and the low-intensity hatch emergency lights kick in. Eko grabs a flashlight and moves into the hatch hallway to investigate. He carefully walks through the dark corridor toward a fusebox. The lid on the box is knocked out of place. Eko shines the light on the floor and spots a broken fuse.

"FIVE! FOUR! THREE!"

Eko looks up, startled by a female voice blaring from the hatch loudspeakers.

"TWO! ONE!"

A huge whirring noise rumbles through the hatch. Eko's eyes explode from his head and he runs frantically back toward the hatch computer room. The whirring grows louder! A blast door slams into the floor. Eko rounds a corner and makes a mad dash for the second entrance. The second door is sliding down!

Eko dives, extending his Jesus Stick in hopes of stopping the door from snapping into place!

The stick pushes under the door ... but then it disappears inside and the door rumbles against the floor! Eko is trapped outside the computer room.

And inside ... Locke holds Eko's Jesus Stick.

Locke looks across the room, his attention diverted by the sound of sparking wires. The camera shifts and we see Desmond, standing before a hardware rack, smirking as he sparks two wires together.

Desmond intentionally caused a lockdown!

CUE BACKSTORY SWOOSH!

Before I get into this episode's stunning backstory segment, I want to issue a formal apology to the "Lost" writers and producers. I was wrong. I was horribly wrong. I once criticized you for inserting too many laborious backstory segments. I thought you made a horrible mistake by incorporating backstories into every episode. I thought it was useless filler.

I am an idiot.

Season two has taken the backstories to a new level. They've emerged as vital connectors between characters and plotlines. They are, without a doubt, fantastic storytelling devices.

Now that we've got my groveling out of the way, let's recap one of the best backstory segments ever.

This week, it's all about Desmond. In these segments, we see/learn:

• Desmond's full name is Desmond David Hume. Back in the day, he used to be a Lance Corporal in the Royal Scot's Regiment of her Majesty's Armed Forces. Along the way, something went horribly wrong (we don't know what) and Desmond ended up in military prison, serving a sentence. In this episode's first flashback sequence, Desmond is released from prison and given a dishonorable discharge. At this point in time, he's also been dishonorably discharged from his mullet (his hair is short).

• We learn that Desmond has read every single Charles Dickens novel ... except one. The missing title is "Our Mutual Friend," which, given this show's history of connecting characters in such Dickensian ways, is quite apt. At first glance it would seem that Desmond's infatuation with "Our Mutual Friend" is nothing more than character hoo-ha, but this book proves to be very important later in the episode.

  As for the book's relevance to the backstory, Desmond explains to a prison guard that he's never read the book. "I'm savin' it so it'll be the last thing I ever read, before I die," he says.

  The guard cocks an eyebrow. "Nice idea," the guard replies, "as long as you know when you're gonna die."

• Upon his release, Desmond is met outside the prison by a well-to-do middle-aged man riding in the back of a sleek black sedan. Desmond isn't happy to see the man, but it's raining and he's just been released from prison, so this guy's offer of a ride piques his interest.

  Desmond slides into the car and it's clear that he and this middle-aged guy have a not-so-pleasant history. The man is sitting next to two boxes. He tells Desmond that one box contains his past and one contains his future (who talks like this?). Desmond cracks open the larger of the two boxes. His eyes drop as he looks over stack upon stack of unopened letters. He plucks a stack from the box; each letter is addressed to Penny Widmore.

  Let me repeat that name. Penny Widmore. As in the Widmore logo that was on Sun's pregnancy test and the Widmore logo that was seen on the "real" Henry Gale's balloon and the Widmore logo that was briefly seen in one of Charlie's flashbacks ("Fire + Water").

  The love of Desmond's life is Penny Widmore ... and the man sitting next to him is Penny's father.

  Unfortunately, Mr. Widmore has done everything he can to destroy the relationship between Penny and Desmond. Desmond's letters never reached his beloved. Penny came to believe Desmond had "forsaken" her, and her father joyfully reveals that she's now engaged to someone else (someone who has never worn a mullet).

  Mr. Widmore has an offer for Desmond. He cracks open the second box to reveal a huge pile of cash. The deal he presents to Desmond is very simple: Desmond can take the money and start his life over, but he's never to see or talk to Penny again. Desmond asks Widmore why he thinks Desmond would accept such a loaded deal.

  "Because you're a coward," Widmore says.

• The backstory swooshes forward. When we catch up with Desmond, he's just arrived in the United States and he's hankerin' for a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, all he's got are pounds. Just as his caffeine efforts appear to be thwarted, a woman steps in and offers to pay for Desmond's coffee.

  The woman has reddish-blonde hair that's styled in a long bob. Her voice is familiar.

  Desmond looks up and sees ... LIBBY!

  But this is no mere "hey, that's Libby" moment. Desmond and Libby sit down in the coffeehouse and Desmond proceeds to tell Libby all about Penny and his "Big Plan" to win her back. You see, Desmond rejected Widmore's offer in favor of a different plan: he's going to compete in a race around the world, and the race just happens to be sponsored by Charles Widmore (Penny's father). Desmond believes he can reclaim his love and his honor by winning the race and claiming the prize. (I'm not entirely sure how a win would suddenly rekindle his relationship with Penny, but hey, whatever floats your boat, Des.)

  Desmond's story touches Libby. Actually, it touches her a little too much. Tears well in her eyes and Desmond asks her what's wrong. She tells Desmond that her husband, a man named David, owned a boat and had dreams of sailing to the Mediterranean, but he died before he could make that dream a reality. As the tears drip from her sockets, Libby tells Desmond she wants him to have the boat. Desmond feigns surprise -- "Oh noooo, I could never take a free boat that will help me reunite with the woman I love. Nooooo. Couldn't do that." -- but Libby is adamant. She tells him that David named the boat after her -- "Elizabeth" -- and he would want Desmond to use the boat to pursue his dream (or some such nonsense).

  Desmond puts on his best earnest expression and looks deep into Libby's eyes. "I thank you Elizabeth," he says as beads of sincerity ooze from his pores. "I shall win this race for love."

  Sidenote: This is a phenomenal episode and I loved it from beginning to end, but that line -- "I shall win this race for love" -- might be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.

  Anyway ...

• With his boat secured and the path to his dream wide open, Desmond embarks on a rigorous training regimen that involves proper nutrition and lots of lifting and running. One night, he travels to an L.A. stadium to run stairs (this should sound familiar). The stadium is empty save for one other runner -- some doctor in a bandana who's all worked up about a complicated spinal surgery he has to perform on a woman he may or may not be falling in love with (read all about it in "Man of Science, Man of Faith").

  Desmond prepares to set off on his workout, but before he can start his wind sprints another car slides in next to his. A pretty blonde woman emerges and Desmond's mouth drops.

  It's Penny Widmore.

  She's found Desmond, which means she's been looking for him, which also means that despite her father's best efforts -- and her impending marriage to some unseen/unnamed guy (who will probably turn out to be Dr. Christian Shephard or Sawyer's third cousin or something like that) -- she's still desperately in love with Desmond and wants to reignite their relationship.

  Desmond is amazed. He asks Penny how she found him. She says that money and desire can find anyone. Penny, you see, is the kind of person who would spend every last cent of her fortune to find the man she loves; and she would go to the ends of the earth -- remember all this, because it comes into play at the end of the episode.

  Desmond, for some strange reason, turns into moron. He tells Penny that he needs to win this ridiculous race so he can reclaim his "honor."

  Right. Whatever.

  So Desmond and Penny share a moment and Desmond wipes a tear from Penny's cheek. With that, he turns and starts his workout. Penny leaves.

• So Desmond enters the race, but along the way things go awry. Really, really awry. He runs into a storm (or a "squall," which I think is the fancy name for "storm" in the sailing world) and during the melee he gets knocked unconscious and shipwrecks on the island.

  Desmond's early memories of the island are hazy. We know this because the camera goes all screwy and we see bits and pieces of images: a man in a yellow biohazard suit finds him on the beach; the man (whose face isn't visible) loads him onto a makeshift stretcher and drags him through the jungle; the man puts Desmond in the hatch bunk bed ...

  But then things get clear. Days later, Desmond emerges from his shipwreck coma and peers up from his hatch bed. He sees the same man clad in the same yellow biohazard outfit. The man is taking the outfit off -- he's a big guy, with gray hair and ...

  HOLY CRAP ON TOAST! It's the CIA agent from Sayid's backstory!

  Kelvin -- Desmond's hatch partner -- is the CIA agent who manipulated Sayid into torturing his superior officer in "One of Them"!

  It's an unbelievable connection, but it's only the tip of the Kelvin iceburg.

• Kelvin (full name: Kelvin Inman) takes Desmond in and as time passes, Desmond becomes indoctrinated in the Dharma way. Soon, Desmond is wearing Dharma jumpsuits and injecting himself with Dharma immunizations and pressing Dharma buttons every 108 minutes. For the first couple years this is all well and good, but somewhere around year two, Desmond gets a little anxious. And this is when it gets interesting.

  At various times during their time together, Kelvin and Desmond "create" a lockdown by splicing wires in the computer room. They go through the same process each time: they slide a heavy metal cart under the blast door, then splice the wires and block the door from slamming into place.

  And it's during these times that Kelvin breaks out his Dharma craft set -- comprised of Dharma detergent and Dharma brushes -- and proceeds to paint a map of the island on the blast door! (This is the same map that Locke sees during "Lockdown").

  Interestingly, Kelvin tells Desmond that it was his original partner, a guy named Radzinski, who discovered the lockdown trick and came up with the secret map. Kelvin often talks glowingly about this Radzinski character, but he never reveals how Radzinski met his untimely end.

  One day, Desmond pressures Kelvin for Radzinski answers. Kelvin looks up and points to the ceiling of the hatch. "You see that brown spot?" he asks. "That's Radzinski." Turns out, Radzinski snapped one day while Kelvin was sleeping and he ended his Dharma torture by blowing his head off with a shotgun.

  Desmond isn't swayed by Kelvin's Radzinski sob story. Instead of accepting it as a horrible tragedy, Desmond uses it as an example. He tells Kelvin that he's going to pull his own Radzinski if he doesn't get a chance to go outside (at this point, it's been more than two years since Dezzie left the comfy confines of the hatch ... two years).

  Desmond, looking to sway Kelvin, reminds him he used to be in the Royal army. In Desmond's estimation, there's little chance he'll be surprised or captured or killed.

  Kelvin hears none of it. He mocks Desmond's army experience, noting that Desmond got kicked out because he couldn't follow orders. Desmond -- who's now super amped up with hair flailing about and spittle flying around the room -- asks Kelvin why he left his Army.

  Kelvin pauses. "Because men followed my orders," he grumbles.

  Kelvin's tone turns sarcastic: "But then, thank God, I joined the Dharma Initiative! 'Namaste, thank you and good luck!' Ha! Ha! Ha!"

  Seeing that Kelvin is off his chump, Desmond chooses a less aggressive route. "Please Kelvin, let me go out. Just once," he pleads.

  "Sorry Des," Kelvin shoots back. "You stay here. Push the button ... that's an order."

• Sometime later -- perhaps a year later, but who knows? -- Desmond wakes up to the sound of the hatch alarm blaring. He looks around for Kelvin, but the big man is nowhere to be seen. Desmond punches in the code, and as the alarm stops and silence settles back in, Desmond hears mumbling and singing from under the hatch. He looks over and spots a discarded Dharma beer bottle (they've got a microbrew?) and he sees an open floorboard.

  Desmond crawls under the hatch (Sayid explored this same area back in "Everybody Hates Hugo") and finds a very drunk Kelvin sitting and leaning next to a bright keyhole that lies next to the base of the hatch's electromagnetic area. Kelvin holds a key in his hand -- a key that, presumably, fits into the keyhole (how's that for expert deduction?).

  Desmond crawls closer and sees that a sign above the keyhole reads: "Caution: System Termination."

  "What is this?" Desmond asks.

  "This," Kelvin slurs, "is the only other way out, partner."

  "What are you talking about?" Desmond asks.

  "Failsafe!" Kelvin shouts. "Just turn this key and this all goes away."

  Desmond is confused.

  "What's behind that wall, Kelvin?" Desmond asks. "What was the incident?" (Desmond is referring to the mysterious "incident" mentioned in the original "Orientation" film.)

  "Electromagnetism," Kelvin says conspiratorially. "Geologically unique. The incident -- there was a leak. So now the charge builds up, and every time we push the button, it discharges it before it gets too big."

  The pieces start to snap into place for Desmond. If they can turn a key and finish off the electromagnet, why wouldn't they jump at the chance to end their tedious button pushing?

  Kelvin answers with a question: "Here's the real question, Desmond: Do you have the courage to take your finger out of the dam and blow the whole thing up instead?"

  Desmond checks himself ... Nope. No courage. Not today, at least.

• And now we come to the final act in the Kelvin and Desmond story.

  One day, Kelvin heads out on a typical biohazard expedition, but this time, Desmond follows him. Kelvin plods into the jungle with his big yellow suit and his air tank and his gas mask. Desmond walks out in his Dharma jumpsuit and a ratty old scarf wrapped around his nose and mouth (yeah, Des, a pashmina is gonna protect you from a killer virus).

  But moments after exciting the hatch, Kelvin pauses in the middle of the jungle and removes his bio suit and his gas mask. Desmond's eyes grow wide. Two goddamn years cooped up in that hatch ... and it was all a lie?

  Kelvin -- who hasn't noticed Desmond -- travels to the shore and walks over windblown rocks. Desmond trails close behind. He darts behind a rock as Kelvin walks further down the beach and out of site. As Desmond peers, he suddenly sees a familiar site bobbing in a nearby inlet: his sailboat!

  For years, Desmond assumed that the boat was wrecked in the storm, but here it is -- his salvation is floating in front of him.

  A footstep falls behind Desmond and he spins. It's Kelvin! He's holding a rifle, but he doesn't point it at Desmond, nor does he seems surprised that Desmond followed him.

  Kelvin tells Desmond he's been rebuilding the boat for an escape. Desmond stammers, reminding Kelvin about the button and saving the world and all that other Dharma nonsense.

  "Screw the button," Kelvin says.

  With that, he invites Desmond to join him on the S.S. Dharma. Desmond ignores the offer; his blood is boiling with rage. The years of confinement and buttons and jumpsuits are too much to take, especially since none of it had to happen. He lunges at Kelvin.

  "What else did you lie about?" Desmond screams.

  Kelvin and Desmond roll down a low rock ledge. Desmond staggers to his feet. Kelvin stands, but shows no menace toward Desmond. Kelvin knows he's bigger and stronger and better trained than Desmond, so he doesn't believe this wild-eyed Scot is a true threat.

  Desmond runs toward Kelvin and Kelvin braces and catches Desmond. But Desmond drives him back and Kelvin falls awkwardly against a sharp rock ridge.

  SNAP! CRACK!

  Kelvin goes limp. Desmond's rage turns to confusion. He looks up and sees blood pooling behind Kelvin's head.

  The big man is dead.

  Desmond grabs a chain hanging around Kelvin's neck and snaps the hatch electromagnet key off. He turns and sprints back to the hatch ... the clock is ticking and Desmond knows he's perilously close to missing the countdown.

  When Desmond arrives, the hatch is in meltdown mode. The countdown has crossed the zero barrier. The hieroglyphics are showing on the clock. The massive whirring noise is reaching a fever pitch. Suddenly, metal objects zip toward the hatch's far wall -- the Electromagnetic Death Star is fully operational!

  Desmond frantically pounds the computer keyboard with the code. He presses the Execute button over and over, but the screen keeps spewing "System Failure ... System Failure ..."

  Desmond continues to punch in the code. Suddenly, the whirring stops and the objects stop flying. The countdown clock reshuffles to 108. Desmond exhales as the hatch returns to normal.

  Sometime later (Days? Weeks?), Desmond sits at the hatch kitchen table and drowns his sorrow in Dharma booze. In front of him sits his unread copy of "Our Mutual Friend." The book is bound with rubber bands. It's in good shape, especially since it's been to prison and in a shipwreck and on the hatch bookshelf for three years. But the book's presence in front of Desmond is not cause for celebration: after all, he plans on making "Our Mutual Friend" the last thing he ever reads.

  Desmond unstraps the rubber bands and cracks open the paperback novel. He's surprised to see an envelope fall out. Over the years, he never bothered to open the book ...

  Desmond opens the envelope and finds a handwritten note from Penny inside. She placed the letter in the book before Desmond went to prison.

  If only he had opened the book in prison! If only he had opened the book after prison!

  The letter is a tearjerker. In it, Penny expresses her undying love for Desmond, which isn't really the sort of thing a guy wants to read when he's got zero chance of returning to his one true companion

  The closing lines send Desmond over the edge. Penny writes:

  "Please don't give up, Des. All we really need to survive is one person who truly loves us. And you have her. I will wait for you always. I love you. Pen."

  Desmond loses it. He weeps. He flails. He tosses books and records around the hatch. He yells and shakes and pulls his hair.

  And when he's done, he hears someone pounding on the hatch door ...

  The sound snaps Desmond to attention. He follows the pounding out into the hatch hallway and down a cement corridor. As he gets closer, he begins to hear a man's muffled voice shouting and crying.

  Wait a minute ... that sounds familiar ...

  It's Locke!

  Desmond is hearing Locke as he breaks down outside the hatch. We're revisiting one of Locke's lowest moments in season 1: Boone has just died and Locke's once-undeniable destiny is now suddenly in doubt. Locke is desperate for a sign -- something, anything to convince him to persevere. Locke wails: "I've done everything you asked me to, so why did you do this to me!?"

  And at that exact moment, Desmond flips the switch on a floodlight. A bright beam springs through the hallway and bounces up through the hatch.

  Above, Locke sees the light and interprets as a sign. Below, Desmond hears the pounding stop and he knows he's no longer alone (at least I think that's what happens).

  In one single motion, two men are suddenly resurrected.

  Remember this. It's going to be very important.

Following the lockdown, Eko escapes from the hatch via the original entry shaft (the one Locke, Jack and Kate used to enter the hatch at the beginning of season two; and the same doorway Locke pounded upon in Desmond's backstory).

Eko, sprung from the hatch, arrives on the beach and asks Charlie to help him prevent Locke from stopping the countdown. Charlie does his pissy Charlie thing ("Too bad for you, mate" ... "Should have thought of that before, mate!" "How 'bout that Claire, mate! Think she fancies me?"), but Eko counters the Charlie Piss-a-Thon with pure, god-like charisma. "I am absolutely certain," Eko says quietly, "that if he is successful, in 90 minutes everyone on this island will die."

It is a stunning argument and Charlie is immediately swayed.

Off to the dynamite!

Yes. Dynamite.

This is why I love this show. Way back at the end of season 1, Jack, Locke, Kate and Hurley traveled to the Black Rock and procured a batch of 100-year-old dynamite (this led to the now-classic "piece of Artz" scene). The quartet later used the dynamite to blow the lid off the hatch, but eagle-eyed viewers will recall that they didn't use all of the dynamite. Hurley hid some of the TNT in a super-secret spot (he later threatened to use these same explosives to blow the hatch to smithereens in "Everybody Hates Hugo," but it was an idle threat).

A lesser TV show would have dropped the dynamite thread months ago, but not "Lost." They set the stage last season, then, like the masters they are, they brought the dynamite back in a completely logical way. It's a beautiful example of exceptional continuity.

Back to the story ...

Somewhere along the line, Hurley told Charlie the location of the dynamite and so Charlie leads Eko right to the explosive cargo. Eko scoops it up -- paying no heed to Charlie's cautionary tale of the departed Dr. Artz -- and he then zips back into the hatch.

Once inside, Charlie realizes that Eko plans to blow the hatch blast door open. Charlie sees a number of problems with this:

• Eko is trying to destroy a blast door. Blast doors are built for such things.

• Eko is going to ignite century-old dynamite in a small, enclosed space with no clear escape route.

Despite Charlie's warnings and protestations, Eko blindly proceeds with his plan. Charlie gets in Eko's face, but Eko pushes him back and -- in one swift move -- rips Charlie's belt from his pants and flings it toward the far wall of the hatch. The metal belt buckle snaps against the wall and the belt remains pinned. Gravity has been thwarted. Charlie is stunned; up until now he didn't understand that the hatch actually did something.

Eko finishes prepping the explosives. He lights the fuse and ducks behind a nearby wall (a very close, not-at-all-safe nearby wall). Charlie realizes he's caught in no-man's land. A short fuse has just been lit and he's standing in an open hallway with no shelter and no safety. He turns and runs back toward the hatch entrance (the same one Eko recently used as an escape route).

The fuse burns quickly. Eko braces himself. Charlie nears the end of the hallway.

BOOOOOOOM!

The dynamite explodes! The walls shake and a huge fireball carves through the hallway, nipping at Charlie's heels. He runs and dives behind a wall in the hatch shaft as the fireball arcs through the doorway.

It's all very dramatic -- especially that fireball, the effects bill must have been huge -- but the bombast didn't accomplish much. Inside the hatch, Locke and Desmond are both safe and sound.

With Charlie and Eko still trapped outside the hatch, Desmond opts to engage in a pointed conversation with Locke. Desmond asks Locke if he's the type of person who needs to look down the barrel of a gun to determine what he really believes.

Locke tells Desmond that he did look down the barrel (actually, he looked at the monster), but the blind faith that experience gave him was misguided, and it led to the death of Boone.

On the night Boone died, Locke says, he sat up on the hatch and slammed his hand against the window, screaming and pleading for answers.

"And then a light went on," Locke says. "I thought it was a sign. But it wasn't a sign ... probably just you going to the bathroom."

Desmond's mouth drops.

The pounding. The muffled screams. The light. Desmond realizes that was Locke. Moreover, that moment with Locke was a moment that stopped Desmond's descent into madness.

Their meeting wasn't coincidence. In Desmond's mind, it was fate.

Suddenly, the prospect of letting the hatch alarm count down past zero is too much for Desmond to bear. Desmond looks at the countdown clock; 19 minutes ...

Desmond asks Locke rapid questions about the Pearl hatch: what was there, what did he see? Locke tells him about the notebooks and the pneumatic tubes and the direct connection to Dharma headquarters.

Desmond puts his face in his hands.

"What if you've got it backwards?" he asks. "What if the experiment wasn't on the two men in here, but the two men in there?"

Locke pooh-poohs the suggestion, but Desmond won't be denied. He asks Locke for more information and Locke gives him the print-outs he took from the Pearl hatch.

Desmond studies the results ... he's looking for one particular day and one particular event.

"When did you come here?" Desmond asks Locke.

Locke estimates 60-65 days ago, but Desmond wants a firm date.

"September 22," Locke says. (That's September 22, 2004.)

Desmond scans the printout. His eyes bulge as he finds the date.

September 22 was the day Kelvin died. It was the day the hatch went into meltdown mode. It was the day the Electromagnet Death Star blew Alderaan to bits!

Desmond looks up at Locke.

"I think I crashed your plane!"

What. WHAT?!

Locke doesn't believe it. He tells Desmond that none of this is real. The hatch is a joke. The button is an experiment. Desmond argues, but Locke decides to illustrate his point. He grabs the computer and slams it to the ground. A waft of smoke filters up from the debris.

"You killed us," Desmond says gravely. "You killed us all."

"No, I just saved us all," Locke counters.

The countdown alarm blares in the background.

Uh. Oh.

Desmond reverses the lockdown. The blast doors go up. He darts into the hatch living room, pushes the ping-pong table aside and rifles through the bookshelf, looking for his copy of "Our Mutual Friend." He spots the novel, rips the rubber bands free and cracks open the back cover. Kelvin's electromagnet hatch key spills into his hand.

Desmond runs back into the hatch computer room. Locke is dumbfounded by the crazy Scot. Desmond pushes a piece of computer equipment aside and springs the floor door.

As he works, Desmond explains his frantic actions. "Three days before you came down here, before we met, I heard a banging on the hatch door. Shouting," Desmond says. "But it was you, John, wasn't it? You say there isn't any purpose. There's no such thing as fate. But you saved my life, brother, so that I could save yours!"

Desmond jumps through the floor door. Locke stages a last-ditch effort. "None of this is real!" he screams.

Desmond can't be swayed. He looks at the countdown -- 5 seconds, 4 seconds -- he looks up at Locke. "I've got to go," Desmond says. "And you've got to get as far away from here as possible!"

3 seconds, 2, 1 ... the countdown clock shuffles!

"I'm gonna blow the dam, John!" Desmond cries. "I'm sorry for whatever happened that made you stop believing. But it's all real. And now I've got to go and make it all go away ... I'll see you in another life, brother!"

Desmond darts toward the Magic Keyhole.

"System Failure ... System Failure ...," blares from the hatch loudspeakers. The Death Star clunks and creaks. The walls shake.

Outside, in the hatch hallway, a dazed and temporarily-deaf Charlie tends to Eko. The big man slowly gains consciousness, but he's in a bad way: blood and debris are splattered all about. Charlie manages to prop him up and together they move toward the hatch shaft.

The Death Star grows stronger ... metal plates and forks and knives spring from the kitchen and dart toward the electromagnetic wall. Charlie and Eko's path is blocked by the utensil onslaught. The duo ducks for cover.

Below, Desmond dodges sparks and smoke in the crawlspace.

In the computer room, Locke watches helplessly as the metal structures around him crumble under the Death Star's power.

Eko rises to his feet and, with a great push, launches Charlie safely past the utensil zone. Eko turns and heads back toward the computer room. Charlie runs in the opposite direction, toward the hatch shaft.

Eko sees Locke standing amidst the crumbling room.

The countdown clock implodes under the electromagnetic power.

Locke looks at Eko. His face is covered in fear and dismay.

"I ... I was wrong," Locke says.

The Death Star speeds up!

In the crawlspace, Desmond reaches the keyhole. Shaking and blasts are all around.

He crosses himself. Desmond slides the key into the hole!

Penny's words go through his mind. "All we really need to survive is one person who truly loves us ... And you have her ... I will wait for you ... always ... I love you"

Desmond looks down. "I love you, Penny," he says.

Desmond turns the key!

The screen turns nuclear white ...

The scene shifts around the island. A loud, powerful pulse grows in intensity. Castaways look skyward and cover their ears. The sky goes white and they shield their faces. The pulse grows stronger. The sky shifts into purple and the white intensifies!

It's gonna blow! The island is gonna blow!

But then ...

... the pulse quickly fades. The light dims. The sky turns blue.

Down on the beach camp, Claire holds Aaron in her arms. Bernard stands next to her. Both of them are confused and bewildered.

Bernard looks up. A metal object spins wildly in the sky above. The object grows larger ... and larger ... Bernard grabs Claire and rushes her away ... the object gets bigger and moves faster ....

WHAM!

Sand sprays all around and the metal object digs into the beach!

Bernard and Claire stand safely nearby. They gawk at what lies before them. It's the metal hatch door -- the word "QUARANTINE" stenciled on the side! The blast propelled the door deep into the sky and slammed it into the beach!

But! But! Locke? And Desmond? And Charlie and Eko?

And what the hell was that freaky noise and the blinding light?

Click here to read part 2 of this review