Official Discussion: 4x05 The Constant

[Hollywood Heidi]

4x05 The Constant

Original Air Date: February 28, 2008
Centric: Desmond centric
Directed by: Jack Bender
Written by: Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof
Summary: On the way to the freighter, the survivors on the helicopter hit some turbulence. This causes "side effects" for one of the passengers on board. (tv.com)
Trailer:

 

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Discuss the episode! Below are some discussion points to get you started.  Feel free to simply copy and paste and insert your thoughts or write out your thoughts however you like.  Constructive comments make for better and more interesting conversations so feel free to elaborate and explain your thoughts, conclusions, and opinions.  Repeat Viewers, answer these as if watching for the first time or what your original answers would have been when you first watched:

What did you think of the episode?

What expectations or theories did you have that either ended up right or wrong?

Who was your favorite character in this episode and why?  Least favorite?

What scenes or situations did you like best?  Least?

What were some of your favorite quotes?

How do you rate this episode compared to the rest?


Repeat viewers
Be mindful of the first-time viewers and give fair warning of spoiler comments by putting spoiler tags (directions below) or at the very least keep them at the bottom of your post with a big texted SPOILER before it.

[spoiler]spoiler text[/spoiler]
What do you think of the episode now that you've seen the whole series?

Did you find anything new you didn't catch the previous time(s) watching?

[Hollywood Heidi]

A million stars! Okay, fine. 5 stars.

This is probably my favorite episode in the series. It never fails to leave me in a crying, blubbering mess. Desmond and Penny have got to be one of the best love stories ever!

The episode was amazingly written and the flashes back and forth handled so well. Time travel can be tricky and they way they intertwined the two timelines was brilliant. I also like how it's explained and how Daniel calls it "unstuck in time." That term actually comes from the book that Locke had given to Ben to read back in the hatch when we were still calling him Henry Gale. What the character goes through in the book is similar to the way Desmond was bouncing back and forth. Unstuck in time, unaware of which is "now."

We finally got to see Minkowski… for the short time he lived. We always heard his voice over the phone. So apparently, the bearings you take to and from the island are extremely important. Minkowski and that other dude wanted to just see the island and took off on a boat. Now they're both dead. It looked like the storm pushed the helicopter maybe one degree off and it sent Desmond's consciousness bouncing back and forth between 1996 and 2004, making him lose his memory of the current time. He was exposed to a ginormous dose of electromagnetism when the hatch imploded.

I understand better about Daniel's mental problem. Remember how he and Charlotte were working with memory cards but he was having troubles? Desmond pointedly asked Daniel in the past what he puts on his head to protect from radiation. I'm guessing that if Daniel went the slightest off course to or from the island, he'd also be consciously time hopping.

It was so neat to get that glimpse in the past of Charles Widmore at the auction! There was that painting of the Black Rock, which is on the island, and Charles was fiercely bidding for the journal that belonged to Tovard Hanso. There's Hanso mention again. I don't know if you remember, but it was the Hanso Foundation that was running the Dharma Initiative. Clearly, Charles is obsessed with the Hanso's, the Dharma Initiative, the island or all.

So we do have a new question. Who is on the freighter that seems to be an ally? Someone unlocked the door and left it open for them. Is it someone one of them knows? The man Ben said he's got there? Both?

Time is definitely wonky on the island. For Jack and the others, it's been a crazy long time since the helicopter left. For the helicopter people, not that long. However, Sayid does ask how it could be that they left at dusk and landed in the day.


Favorite quote/moment

The Des/Penny phone call toward the end. Puts me in tears of happiness and joy every single time!

[DarkSideCookie]

BEST EPISODE SO FAR!!!! 5 x 5 x 5 x 5 x infinite stars!!!! XD

Yes, crying, a lot of crying! So many emotions! Not only do I love Desmond or the show in general, this episode totally hit my interest as for its time traveling issue!!! Every little detail and every single scene was so great connected! And the ending, just perfect!

My bf was laying next to me when I watched this one and I remember a moment when he started to talk to me and I was like "Shhhhh!!! Not NOW!" XD I think that was somewhere towards the end.

Okay, I don't write anything else, as I feel like that sometimes keeps me from going on with the watch. ^^' It has been a little while since I watched the episode anyway. Okay well, now onto next one!!!