Lost - Episode 5, The Constant

If you don’t have an anchor, someone to hold on to, care for and love, you are destined to travel through time LOST.

So, tonight’s episode was titled, The Constant. If one thing has been consistent about Lost, it has been the complexity of the plot. Every episode posed new questions, making you think something deep and tremendous was right around the corner. After seeing tonight’s episode though, I am beginning to think the overall message is much simpler.

As we learned in previous episodes, Desmond became lost in his life. He met the love of his life, Penelope Widmore, a woman whose father clearly has a strong reach financially and a strong contempt for Desmond’s love for Penny. After all, he spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars on the journal from a surviving member from the crew of the Black Rock. He seemed to know the significance of that book.

Here are some quick theories about the book. Are the side effects of not going off the island on the exact courses dictated by Ben to Michael and Stanley to the pilot to travel inadvertently through time and not back to the present day? That could explain how a polar bear lands in the Saharan desert fossilized with a Dharma tag around its bones. It could also explain how the journal of the first mate is found thousands of miles from the island in the Pacific in Madagascar in pristine condition for being hundreds of years old. Of course, the book was donated by Alvar Hanso. Did Alvar need to do some quick fundraising for some reason in the mid-90s? Would that not have been about the time of The Purge?

But we are veering off course.

So, Desmond left Penny. Charles Widmore intimidated Des enough for him to believe he was not good enough for Penny, to believe money and status mattered more than love and devotion. Des had to do something to demonstrate his abilities, to prove that he mattered. He got a boat, raised anchor, and set off for a sail around the world. But, when you are alone, with no anchor, how far can you really get?

A mysterious island in the Pacific Ocean, that’s how far. We’ve all become familiar with Desmond’s story on the island. But, after watching tonight’s episode, it is becoming clear how important Desmond is to the Losties. He has helped to open the door to the outside world twice, after working to keep it closed for his first few years on the island. The door he opened tonight was probably the most important of all.

After spending so long running, wandering aimlessly, traveling through time lost, Desmond found the anchor he needed to find stability in his world, love. So, will the determining factor of who remains lost on and after the island be, who can find love? Perhaps.

After all, we have seen the results, so far, of what a lack of love can do to the revealed members of the Oceanic Six. Jack has become a drugged out drunk who’s mental turmoil about what they did to get off the island drove him to nearly commit suicide. Kate, who now mysteriously has Claire’s baby Aaron, is a free woman, but locked in a solitary world. Hurley and Sayid are back in the world’s they knew before going to the island.

Well, time to drop anchor and leave the island until next week. I know the rest of the journey through the time we will have with the Losties will be interesting and fun-filled. Remember, though, once the hour is done, don’t forget about your anchor, lest you become Lost.