Desmond Hume is back on the island against his will, but his reappearance looks set to benefit everyone, especially us viewers. Last night’s Lost episode might be the most significant one of the season yet because it finally got around to doing something I had been expecting for awhile; it connected the island reality with the sideways universe. And, as suspected, it did it using Desmond.

The episode opened up with Charles Widmore trying to explain to Desmond why he’s been brought back and that he’s important to everyone’s survival. Widmore even tries telling him that ‘the island isn’t done with you yet’, to which he gets a furious beating with an IV for his troubles.

Really, who can blame Desmond? He’s been notoriously shunned by Widmore for the duration of his relationship with Penny, and he only ever ended up on the island and in that hatch because of his desire to win the old man’s respect, and subsequently, the hand of his daughter. When he eventually circumvented Widmore (while he was busy dealing with Ben on the island) and ran off with Penny and had a son, the man still found a way to take it all away from him.

And yet, this time, Widmore seems to desperately require his help. Still, he isn’t above putting Desmond into a room with more electro-magnetic energy and simulating an experience similar to the one (on a smaller scale I presume) that blew up the hatch in season 2. He tells Desmond that he will need to make a ‘sacrifice’ after this little test. No exact explanation for what that sacrifice is, but I’m expecting there’s a definite finality to it.

Most interesting in last night’s episode was the direct focus on Desmond without sidelining to other character’s stories. In fact, the bulk of the episode, more so than others so far, was concentrated within the sideways universe. The show creators make us believe that Desmond flashes into the sideways world after the experiment, due to the direct cutaway that takes place after Widmore throws the switch.

However, this is the first time Desmond doesn’t seem to have any memory of the island at all when he jumps, and his identity in the new universe is curiously informed by his experiences in the ‘real world’. He’s the exact antithesis of everything he was before; successful, pragmatic, and in full command of the respect and admiration of Charles Widmore. He is also lonely and has never met the love of his life, Penny.

In a really fun turn of events, Widmore’s wife, Eloise, is hosting a party for their son, Daniel (Jeremy Davies) and wants to combine classical music with contemporary rock, so they have commissioned Drive Shaft to play. And of course, there’s a certain drug addled bass player who isn’t cooperating and needs babysitting, so Charles sends Desmond.

For the first time since the incident in the Looking Glass, Charlie Pace and Desmond are back together. Things start getting weird for Desmundo when Charlie points out that he isn’t actually happy, and that what he’s missing is true love. Charlie apparently discovered this ‘love’ when he nearly died in the bathroom on the Oceanic flight. Before Jack resuscitated him, he saw, presumably, Claire and remembered their happiness on the island together.

Like taking the red pill and waking up briefly in the Matrix, Charlie is now aware of the artifice of everything around him. He offers to show Desmond what he’s talking about, and then abruptly grabs hold of the wheel of the car and runs it off a pier and into the water. When Desmond saves Charlie, he himself gets one of those flashes–back to the Looking Glass– with Charlie putting his hand up to the door with the message “Not Penny’s boat” written on it.

Just like that, Desmond fixates on the name, Penny, and when he talks to Charlie, it becomes apparent that somehow they are sharing memories of some other, distant life. Later, he gets a full fledged trip down memory lane that runs him through the high points of his time with Penny; their meeting, the birth of his son, their tearful reunion after the island.

The excellent culmination of the episode sees two things happen. First, Desmond returns to the party without Charlie in tow and meets both Eloise and Daniel, who help to further clue him in on the fact something isn’t right here. It should not be lost on the audience that Eloise was Desmond’s first guide through time travel and cosmic course correction. Thing we still don’t know is if she was really Eloise then, or some other power disguised as the older woman.

This Eloise draws attention to the fact that Desmond has what he always wanted, the respect of Charles Widmore, and that he isn’t ready to see everything yet, to know all of what lies behind the fog in his mind. He wants the guest list to find Penny’s name, but she won’t give it to him.

Enter Daniel, once Faraday now Widmore, no longer shot to death by his mother on an island years before his birth. He too has had one of these ‘love’ moments where he saw Charlotte and instantly connected with meeting her previously. It seems that extreme emotional connections are prompting these flashes. It may also be of note that prior to Desmond, the only two people who really had these flashes also died on the island in the other reality.

Daniel has a portion of quantum mechanics scribbled down in his diary, but he doesn’t understand, as he’s a musician in this world and not a scientist. Everything is feeling very Philip K. Dick at this juncture, and Daniel suspects that detonating a bomb at some point may have constructed this reality they are now trapped in. Desmond learns that Penny is Dan’s half-sister, and he goes to meet her at the same place he met Jack in the other reality; at an empty stadium.

They have an odd but cute meeting, and then Desmond is seemingly returned to the floor of the cabin where the experiment took place, back on the island. He’s suddenly in full agreement with what Widmore wants him to do, even though he doesn’t have full details, and he goes along eagerly. Sayid comes out of the jungle, takes out Desmond’s entourage and tells him to follow along. Des goes along willingly.

This scene is strange in its ambiguity. We know Sayid has been influenced by the darkness in Locke, and yet we also know Desmond’s memory of him is as a friend who helped him on the boat. Something seems a little off with this returned Desmond though. What are we seeing here, exactly? My assumption is that Desmond has been to sideways world, come back and believes Sayid is going to help him, but if he were so gung-ho to help Widmore, why would he so readily leave?

Or is the Desmond that arrived after the experiment similar to the Locke that came back to the island?

I’m not sure of all the intricacies here, but the show has definitely set up a tantalizing concept for the end game. I’ve been waiting to see what part Desmond would play in all this, and what the exact nature of the sideways world is. The final scene has Desmond requesting the flight list for Oceanic 815 and informing Fisher Stevens that he’s going to show them all something. So it’s going to be Desmond that wakes everyone up, but what happens after that?

Strange to, that this man who was once training to be a monk, is becoming an evangelistic missionary of sorts for the island, reawakening his compatriots to the truth. What will it all mean for the end game? And what his Desmond’s significance on the island?

With six episodes left, I imagine there is still time to deliver a riveting conclusion to events, and certainly last night’s episode moved us closer to that goal.

Next week we have an episode centered on Hurley, who’s my number 1 pick for Jacob’s replacement. Let’s see how that it goes.

If you haven’t seen the BBC’s “Life on Mars” you need to track it down. This show is a fresh twist on the time travel/cop drama. As is the way of American TV, we’ve gone ahead and Americanized it. ABC and David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal, The Practice, Boston Legal) are going to bring you a new look at an old favorite.

ABC has released the first trailer of what should be a fun ride of a show.

Life On Mars_ABC Trailer

“Life on Mars” stars Jason O’Mara as Sam Tylor, Colm Meaney as Gene Hunt, and Rachelle Lefevre as Annie Cartwright.