S5 E14 "The Variable"

I can't believe they made us wait the entire episode before telling us Desmond was alright! And then, I was too worried about the nurse who was watching little Charlie to really appreciate Desmond's heartfelt line about never leaving Penny! That was just not cool! But other than that I loved the rest of this episode. You will be interested to know that this was Lost's 100th episode! I've heard reports that they had a big party on the set and the whole group from Ace of Cakes were flown to Hawaii to make the cake! Congratulations Lost!

The Best Line: "Welcome to the meeting, Twitchy." -James

Poor Daniel Farraday. He was only with us for 2 seasons and tonight was the first Daniel-centric episode. He was our guide through the record skipping this season and spelled out most of the Lost Rules of Time Travel. It's very sad that we may never find out why he continued to wear a tie on a tropical island. So a moment of silence please...we'll miss you Dan!

Connect The Dots

When Daniel went down in the Orchid and bumped into Dr. Chang, that was the same scene we saw in the opening of the first episode of this season "Because You Left."

Daniel introduced his mother to his girlfriend. Teresa Spencer was the same woman who ends up bed-ridden, trapped in a mind permanently "unstuck" in time. Desmond came across her in "Jughead" during his search for Farraday's mother. It is interesting to learn that Teresa was also Daniel's research assistant.

Another scene which was replayed with added detail was when Daniel first saw the newscast about the Oceanic 815 crash. We first saw him crying at the TV in "Confirmed Dead."

We learned tonight that Daniel experienced memory problems. This explains several old details which have not made much sense until now. 1) After "Confirmed Dead" aired, the producers explained that the woman behind Daniel while he cried at the TV was not a wife or girlfirend but a caretaker. 2) In "Eggtown," Charlotte was helping him test his memory with playing cards. I guess they were testing to see if he was healing. 3.) In "The Constant," Daniel put on a protective vest before running his test on the rat. Then Desmond inquired why he didn't protect his head. 4) Daniel left his girlfriend Teresa and never returned or even checked up on her. Maybe it's because he can't remember her number!

We all knew Daniel would still try to warn little Charlotte. Before she died in "This Place Is Death," Charlotte told Daniel she remembered a man (him) telling her never to return to the island. A great detail they threw in was her line right as Daniel approached her, "I'm not allowed to have chocolate before dinner." She said the same line right before she died, because she was recalling that conversation with Daniel.

Details and Easter Eggs

Daniel appears to be living in the same house as an adult which he did as a child. This is not an important detail, but it seems a little odd. According to Lostpedia, that house is in Essex, Massachusetts. Would his mother give him the house then move to LA?

Charles Widmore moved a Wired magazine on Daniel's couch. The cover has headlines such as "The Impossible Gets Real," "The Super Power Issue," and "Time Travel." The inside joke about this is that JJ Abrams (Lost's creator and executive producer) recently wrote an article for Wired as a guest editor.

We finally have confirmation on who staged the fake Oceanic crash. Up until now we only had Ben's claims that it was Widmore and vice versa. During the recap show last week, the narrator declared it was Widmore who had done it but I feel much better now that it's actually been said on the show and therefore canon.

One of my theories died when Charles Widmore was revealed as Daniel's father. I wanted to believe he and Ellie were siblings.

My Questions
Since when does anyone sneak up on The Others?!?

How could Daniel's notebook have so many small details such as what time Dr. Chang would pull up in the van? If that's his notebook from 2004 shouldn't he have a fresh notebook where he should be constantly writing down these details? And what about the details which happen after his death, like what time The Swan workers hit the energy pocket? Who will write that down? If your answer is "His mother; she wrote it all down then gave the notebook back to him in the restaurant." my problem with that is the notebook in the restaurant didn't seem worn enough to be the filled in version. That seemed like a brand new notebook.

What is the deal with Radzinski? Can't a girl from the motor pool be getting stuff from the motor pool supply cabinet? Why does he jump out of the van, with guns ready and demand to know what's going on?! He's so suspicious of everyone. I'm actually looking forward to his upcoming suicide! (That's not a spoiler, we saw his blood on the ceiling of The Hatch in Season 2.)

Namaste!