One Guy's Head Explodes: Happily Ever After

Quick Shots (to be supplemented later):

1. It APPEARS that flash sideways world is an elaborate ruse- that the nuke *DID* work but had the results of not changing the world, but of remaking the minds of the castaways & various and sundry island denizens. And wouldnt you know it, Ellie Widmore is behind/inside it. But how does she stay immune and omniscient to it?

2. Ellie gets another interesting Brooch- the same sign as was branded on Juliet.

3. The askance reference to the rabbit, "Angstrom" is a nice wink & nod to Harold "Rabbit" Angstrom, of the Updike book series, Run Rabbit Run, et al. Although it addresses many Lost themes- failure, redemption, etc, don't just read them because they're Lost relevant- read those books because they're pretty awesome on their own.

4. Penny Milton (i.e. Paradise Lost, fate & predestination- a very Lost shoutout) was listed immediately before Nikoli Tesla (another very Lost name- and a big hint as to Faraday) on the list for those to attend the Widmore party? There's more loaded names..

5. Nice symmetry- both Dogen and Widmore subjected Locke and Des, respectively, to dangerous tests to find out something crucial about them- will Widmore's backfire the same way that Dogen's seems to have backfired?
Dogen's test confirmed that Sayid was trending to "evil"- and that prophecy of evil was fulfilled. Think Jack wishes he had fed Sayid the poison pill? Alternatively, Widmore, whatever his motivation, has proven that Des can handle being microwaved on high for 3 minutes. How is this to be used?

Theories:
1. Des has to deposit energy back into the island- that is, the energy he absorbed when imploding the hatch. Perhaps the energy will be used to contain smokey- which adds to the theory that the island's unique properties serve as a cage for Smokey and that the implosion of the hatch, and the loss of the island's power, helped Smokey get control.

2. Des has to absorb more energy from the island. As in, lets break the donkey wheel so there's no more travel, and no more time jumping. This makes sense and obeys Occam's Razor as we've seen that using the wheel is the only reliable way to get off the island- using the "bearings" to get off the island is a bit dicey- a bit off and your brain phases in and out of time and eventually goes a mushy one.

6. Nice structural allusion to prior Desmond episodes- is he flashing through time, Billy-Pilgrim style, or is it just the manner of presentation? That he passed out when he came to on the island only to wake again seems to strongly allude to Des, again, being different. Or our writers are playing with structural ambiguity a la the Jin/Sun episode from Season 4 where we were lead to believe Jin was looking for a gift to bring Sun during the birth of their kid, only to learn it was a combo flash back/forward. Naughty, naughty writers.

7. This is the second episode in a row that we've heard someone powerful and mysterious tell someone else "what happens, happens" or some variant thereof.

8. A final (for now) thought on the sideways world. Eloise's comment that Des had the life he wanted because he had the respect of Widmore is telling on a number of levels- it implies that the sideways world is somehow crafted for them based on what they would have wanted for themselves. Hugo is lucky and rich. Sawyer is a cop, not a convict/grifter. But...Locke is still paralyzed. Kate is still on the run. Why do some people get better sideways lives than others? Who is the architect of this? Who decides why?

On a macro level, what the fuck is going on?
Simple- they're still them, they've just been remade off island- maybe as a consequence of the nuke. Is it permanent? Doubt it. If Widmore, Eloisie and Fisher Stevens (hear the tone and see his face when Des asked him to get the flight manifest? he's in on it too)Will it all come crashing down- you betcha. How does it play out? I'll guess...the off island sideways folks all come crashing down on the island once again.

More to come.
-Drew