LOST 014 | The Variable - Episode Recap

LOST 014 | The Variable - Episode Recap
After another two week wait LOST returned this week. The previously on LOST portion at the beginning was loaded with Daniel Faraday, Charles Widmore, and Eloise Hawking. Sounds like a good episode to me! Let the recap begin! **If you have not watched episode 5.14, The Variable, DO NOT READ THIS POST, It contains spoilers!







Off the Island
We start this week off the island and pick up right after Ben Linus shot Desmond. Penny and Charlie are in the waiting room at the hospital when Penny is approached by Eloise Hawking. After a little conversation, Eloise tells Penny that her son is Daniel Faraday. Remember that while Daniel was skipping through time he stopped at the hatch and told Desmond that he had to find his mother. Desmond then woke up in the middle of the night with a newly remembered memory of this encounter with Daniel. We then begin running through a series of flashbacks that document the childhood and life of Daniel Faraday. In the first scene we see young Daniel Faraday playing the piano when a distraught, middle aged Eloise Hawking comes around the corner and tells Daniel that he no longer has time to play the piano. She asks if he knows what "destiny" is and tells him that he has a special gift that must be nurtured. Daniel's gift is his mind, and she tells him that it is her "job" to keep him on his path and he can no longer play the piano. Daniel responds by saying something very interesting, "I can make time."

We then jump ahead to Daniel's graduation from his program at Oxford. He introduces his girlfriend Theresa to his mother, who at this point is all business. If you remember from episode 5.03, Jughead, Theresa Spencer was Daniel's girlfriend, lab assistant, and test subject. In Jughead, Desmond was on a search to find Eloise and was directed to an address where he met Theresa. At this time she was in a state of hospice, bed ridden and motionless. The nurse told Desmond that Daniel tested his experiment on her and she's been that way ever since. Back to The Variable. Daniel sits down to join his mother for lunch, Eloise did not include Theresa and continued insisting that Daniel should focus on his work. Frustrated with his mother Daniel spits out that he received a 1.5 million pound research grant from some industrialist named Charles Widmore. Eloise presented Daniel with a gift and walked away from the table wishing him luck. The gift turns out to be Daniel's journal that we have seen him performing equations in. On the inside cover Eloise had written, "Daniel, No matter what, remember, I will always love you. Mother"

Jumping forward to 2004 we see Daniel sitting in front of the TV crying as the news is reporting that searchers had found the wreckage of Oceanic flight 815. There was a knock at the door and Charles Widmore rolls in. Daniel does not remember him and admits that he now has a condition that affects his memory. As Charles sits down he moves a comic book, on the cover of the comic book is a statement regarding time travel. Daniel tells Charles that he tested his experiments on himself before Theresa. Widmore tells Daniel that the plane crash on TV was indeed staged by him and the people on the plane are still alive. They are on an island, a "special island, with unique scientific properties." He says that the island will further his research, show him things he'd never dreamed of, and it would heal his memory. Daniel says that Charles sounds like his mother, and Widmore responds by saying, "that's because you mother and I are old friends." Jump forward a few days and we see Daniel at the piano again, this time struggling to play. She has learned of the job offer the Widmore gave to Daniel and she told him that it was very important that he accept the offer from Mr. Widmore. To end our off the island festivities we again flash back to a confused Penny who is trying to piece the puzzle of Eloise and Daniel Faraday together. She admits that Desmond has become a casualty in something that is far bigger than he. She admits that "for the first time in a long time [she doesn't] know what's going to happen next." The nurse comes out and alerts Penny that Desmond will be just fine and is requesting her. Penny goes to see Des and Eloise exits the hospital only to be approached by none other than Charles Widmore. After the two of them sass back and forth a while Charles states that Daniel IS HIS SON! She slaps him and walks away.

On The Island
We start off where we left off in episode 5.13, Some Like It Hoth. Miles and Daniel discuss why Daniel returned. Daniel has returned to figure out how and why Jack, Kate, and Hurley got back to the island and back to 1977. Daniel storms off and wakes Jack up. Jack tells Dan that his mother was the one who talked them into returning to the island. We saw this in episode 5.06. 316. Daniel tells Jack and Hurley that his mother was wrong and they do not belong in 1977 at all. Daniel and Miles hop in a jeep and head out to the Orchid station to find Dr. Chang. Jack then slips off to alert Sawyer that Faraday is back. Sawyer and Juliet are still trying to figure out what to do with Phil, whom Sawyer knocked out in episode 5.13, Some Like it Hoth. Daniel sneaks down into the construction site and we are promptly taken directly back to the scene that opened this season with Daniel down in the depths of the Orchid. Daniel approaches Dr. Chang and tells him that everybody needs to evacuate the island because the electromagnetic activity at the Swan station. He ends this conversation by telling Chang that he and Doc Brown drove the Delorian to the island and that they are "from the future." Obviously Chang does not believe him and Dan alerts Dr. Chang that Miles is his son. A confused Chang turns to Miles and asks him to verify, Miles denies it and Changs dips on the kid from the future. Interesting sidenote, during this whole altercation you could hear some whisping in the background that sounded like it could have been the smoke monster? It also could have been the running engine from the Dharma van that was waiting for Chang. Miles looks at Daniel like he's nuts, and asks him why he almost gave them away? Daniel tells Miles that he's trying to get his "father to do what he is supposed to do."

At this time Sawyer has gathered the remaining Losties at his pad and he lays out the situation regarding Phil. He throws out two options. Option A.) steal the sub and head off the island. Option B.) head into the jungle and start from square one. Jin and Hurley don't see the sense in heading off the island after all they did to try and get back. Daniel and Miles return and head to Sawyer's place where Daniel begins to explain himself. Daniel is looking for the hostiles, in particular his mother, Ellie. Daniel reminds some of them that they met her back in 1954. This was the first time that Jack, Kate, and Hurley have heard anything about the time skipping that Sawyer and his gang experienced back in 2004. Sawyer calls Kate Freckles and Juliet mails it in telling Kate she should take Daniel because "it's over here for us." While they are heading to the car, Daniel peels off and approaches a childhood Charlotte who is swinging on the play set. While Charlotte was dying in episode 5.05, This Place is Death, and adult Charlotte tells Daniel that she remembers him coming to her and telling her to leave when she was a child. While Daniel, Kate, and Jack are grabbing some guns from the motor pool, Radzinksy and his boys roll up on them and a naive Daniel exposes that he has a weapon in his hand, GUNFIGHT! Radzinsky shoots Daniel and people start shooting all over the place. While in the midst of the gunfight, Jack, Kate, and Daniel escape in a jeep and roll off into the jungle towards the sonar fence and ultimately "the Others."

While Jack is inspecting Daniel's wounds Faraday admits that his theories have changed and anyone of them can die in 1977 and cease to exist actual present time. We flash away to Sawyer and Kate as they are packing and getting ready to head into the jungle. Radzinsky busts into Sawyer's home and tells him that the new recruits have infiltrated the camp. Phil starts banging in the closet and Radzinsky and his boys take Sawyer and Juliet hostage. Flash back to Faraday's crew tromping through the jungle. Daniel decides that it's time to level with Jack and expose his genius plan. Turns out that Daniel's plan is to find the Hydrogen bomb from episode 5.03, Jughead, and "change the past." He tells them that they themselves are "the variables" and that they can change their destiny. By blowing up the bomb Daniel thinks that he can't negate the electromagnetic energy below the hatch or the Swan station. If he succeeds in this, the hatch will never be built and Oceanic flight 815 will never crash on the island, essen-tially Daniel is attempting to alter the future (I have an interesting theory on this that I will post in the next few days). The gang finally finds the camp where "the Others" are staying and he goes gung-hoe into the middle of the camp demanding to speak to Eloise. Richard tells Daniel that Eloise is not here. Daniel tells Richard that he wants to know where the bomb is and gives him three seconds...one...two...BANG! A gun goes off. Daniel looks down and he has been shot in the chest. Camera cuts to the side and we see the middle aged Eloise Hawking was the shooter. While lying on the ground Daniels realizes that his mother shot him and says, "You always knew. You knew this was going to happen and you sent me here anyway. I'm your son." THUMP, LOST ending screen comes on and as we know, from yesterday's post, Daniel Faraday is dead.

Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just fill in the comment box at the end of each blog and let me know what you think! To read more posts and see my entire blog click the Touch 'Em All Productions header at the top of the page!