‘Lost’: No turning back now

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“For the first time in a long time, I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

That’s what Eloise Hawking told Penny in the waiting room. Of course, they are there because Desmond is being treated for a gunshot wound bad enough to endanger his life but only after he had the energy to beat the tar out of Ben. I’m sure a lot of characters on ‘Lost’ would have that last bit of adrenaline saved up to retaliate against Ben if he shot them. Everyone has to kind of expect it by this point.

Eloise confesses her uncertainty about the future, which is a big deal because she’s one of the characters who knows everything. She first appeared giving Desmond cryptic messages about the future. She’s the one who showed the Oceanic 6 how to get back to the island. She’s an old-school Other. Though we found out in ‘The Variable’ that Eloise had what could best be described as a MAJOR SPOILER. She knew way in advance who was gonna die in the 100th episode of ‘Lost.’

Last week, Faraday returned to the island after studying abroad. In Ann Arbor too. Must be tough to leave that wonderful Michigan weather for a Pacific island. But Faraday’s back with a purpose. He has to get there in time to appear in the first scene of the season. Back when Dr. Chang came down to the digging under the Orchid station and first proposed time travel. How absurd!

As soon as Faraday fulfilled his part of that bit of history, he did something that no other ‘Lost’ character seems capable of doing: talking about what’s happening. He spills his guts to Dr. Chang. Telling how he’s from the future, Miles is his kid and he needs to get everyone off the island ASAP. Faraday’s honesty is almost jarring, but don’t worry, it doesn’t last long. When Miles finally gets to ask what’s going to happen next, Faraday tells him, “You’ll see,” and clams up.

In “The Constant,” Faraday saved Desmond by helping him find the one thing that is stable throughout time. Now in the “The Variable,” Faraday tries to prove that history can be changed only to play out his own destiny. The flashbacks showed how Eloise constantly pushed her son to prepare him. No time for piano, gotta study. No time to hook up with your lab assistant, gotta experiment. No time to sit around with giant holes in your memory, gotta go to the Island. Eloise kept pointing Faraday at his future, which unfortunately is getting shot by her in the past.

We did get confirmation on a lot of speculation. Faraday is the child of Eloise and Widmore. The Incident is the result of digging to build the Swan station. Widmore paid to fake the crash of Oceanic 815. But overall “The Variable” is what my friend Desiree calls a vehicle episode. Basically it’s just getting all the characters into position for the season finale. Season 4 has “Something Nice Back Home.” Season 3 was “Greatest Hits.” Way back in Season 1, it was “Born to Run.” This season, it’s far more important. The characters aren’t getting into position for just the season finale but also the final season.

At the end of “The Variable,” Eloise walks out of the Long Beach Hospital. She has placed the Oceanic 6 on their flight back to the Island. That’s her last responsibility. The final act toward sending her son to his death at her own hand. She shows she can’t change the past even if he thought he could. It must have been tough to raise a child for the sole purpose of dying like that.

But just as Eloise put in motion the end of her child, the powers that be behind ‘Lost’ are putting in motion the end of their creation. Faraday said the Incident happens in about four hours. That’s just enough to fill out the rest of the season. By then, will all the 815 survivors be back in the present time, preparing to do battle against (or with) the people who know what lies in the shadow of the statue? Can Sawyer escape from Radzinsky, stick him in the Swan pushing buttons, and deal with Juliet getting all moody over him calling Kate Freckles? Will Jack ever get back to his Man of Science determination? And is there any significance to the issue of Wired with the headline “The Impossible Gets Real”? Only time will tell.

-- Andrew Hanson