Flashes Before Your Eyes
Encyclopedia
"Flashes Before Your Eyes" is the 8th episode of the third season of the American drama
television series
Lost
, and the show's 57th episode overall. The episode was written by the series co-creator, show runner and executive producer Damon Lindelof
and supervising producer Drew Goddard
, and directed by Jack Bender
. It first aired in the United States on February 14, 2007 on the American Broadcasting Company
. The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics. Lindelof and Goddard were nominated for the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award
for Best Episodic Drama at the February 2008 ceremony
for writing the episode.
In this episode, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia
) and Charlie Pace
(Dominic Monaghan
) conclude that Desmond Hume
(Henry Ian Cusick
) can see into the future after he saves Claire Littleton
(Emilie de Ravin
) from drowning. It is revealed that after the hatch imploded, Desmond traveled back to London
and relived his past before coming back to the island. Desmond also reveals to Charlie that Charlie is destined to die.
Desmond flashbacks: the hatch is shown imploding again, and then Desmond (who was inside) suddenly wakes up in a London
apartment with his girlfriend Penelope Widmore (Sonya Walger
). Desmond is clearly puzzled, but is relieved to finally be with Penny again. Desmond later goes to Penny's billionaire father, Charles Widmore
(Alan Dale
) and asks for his permission to marry his daughter. Widmore rejects Desmond, who is crushed and humiliated. Walking out of the building, Desmond sees Charlie singing and playing his guitar for money on the sidewalk. Desmond asks him if he remembers him but Charlie does not. Frustrated, Desmond rants about his time on the island and predicts it will rain, which it suddenly does. At a pub, Desmond meets with his friend, a physicist, and after retelling the events on the island asks him if time travel is possible. Desmond tries to predict more events but they do not happen and his friend assures him time travel is impossible. While shopping for a ring for Penny, Desmond runs into the shopkeeper, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan). Hawking takes Desmond on a walk where they see a man crushed to death by falling scaffolding. She explains that although she knew the man would die, she did not help because the universe has a way of "course correcting", and he would die anyway. Desmond and Penny go on a walk together and take a picture, where he breaks up with her after realizing that he does not have enough money to support her. He returns to the pub, where one of his predictions before about the bartender being attacked finally comes true (proving that he really knew about the future, but that his timing was off), but he ends up being accidentally hit himself and is knocked out. Desmond wakes up back on the Island, completely naked, as seen in "Further Instructions
".
The flashback ends, and Desmond is pulled off Charlie by Hurley. They help Desmond to his tent. Charlie tries to get an answer from him one last time. Desmond reveals that both times he rescued Claire, he was really saving Charlie; Charlie would have been electrocuted, and Charlie would have drowned attempting to save Claire from the ocean. Desmond tells Charlie that although he has prevented his death twice, Charlie is destined to die.
. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof
and Drew Goddard
, the pair had never before collaborated on an episode.
This episode is the first to deal with the concept of time travel, the next being "The Constant
" in the fourth season. Unlike other flashback sequences to this point, this is positioned as actual time travel for Desmond. However in this episode ground rules are established to prevent paradoxes in the story line as a result of time travel. Had these rules not been established, the writers feared that viewers would lose interest because the stakes of the characters would be lessened. In an interview, Henry Ian Cusick
, who plays Desmond, said shooting the episode was both "fun" and "tiring". Cusick said that when shooting the episode "you're finishing late and starting early", but he enjoyed working with director
Jack Bender
because "he pushes you to, to try and go a little bit further than you think you can". The London
scenes were shot in Honolulu. This led to several continuity errors, such as a British Army recruitment poster featuring the word "Honour" being incorrectly spelled in the American English
"Honor" and a photograph of a British soldier using an American M4 carbine
and urging people to join the "military" (instead of the "army", as a British poster would say).
's Chris Carabott wrote that "if last week's 'Not in Portland
' didn't get you back on the Lost hype train then for goodness' sake the equally outstanding 'Flashes Before Your Eyes' hopefully grabbed your attention." Carabott went on to praise the on-screen chemistry of Henry Ian Cusick
(Desmond) and Sonya Walger
(Penelope), stating that "their on screen chemistry makes the love between the two characters real and makes their inevitable breakup that much harder to handle." He also complimented the scene between Desmond and Charles, saying that "it's hard not to feel Desmond's heart crushed when Widmore denies him Penelope's hand in marriage." Josh Spiegel, a writer for CinemaBlend.com, had similar praise. He said that for him "it was a nice change of pace to not see Jack
, Kate
or Sawyer on the show and focus more on some of the lesser-known castaways." Spiegel went on to say that the episode was "fantastic". Mania.com's Stephen Lackey wrote that "Flashes Before Your Eyes" was an "episode has everything die hard LOST fans expect, riveting plot twists, foreshadowing, and as many questions as answers"
Critics did note that the episode did not provide many answers. Mac Slocum of FilmFodder.com wrote that he was "beginning to think the Lost producers have a different definition for the word 'answer'." Television Without Pity graded this episode with a "C".
Henry Ian Cusick and Dominic Monaghan
submitted this episode for consideration on their own behalves in the category of "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
" respectively at the 2007 Emmy Awards
. Series co-creator, show runner and executive producer Damon Lindelof
and supervising producer Drew Goddard
were nominated for the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award
for Best Episodic Drama at the February 2008 ceremony
for writing the episode.
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
, and the show's 57th episode overall. The episode was written by the series co-creator, show runner and executive producer Damon Lindelof
Damon Lindelof
Damon Laurence Lindelof is an American television writer and executive, most recently noted as the co-creator and executive producer for the television series Lost. He has written for and produced Crossing Jordan, and wrote for Nash Bridges, Wasteland, and the MTV anthology series Undressed...
and supervising producer Drew Goddard
Drew Goddard
Drew Goddard is an American film and television screenwriter and producer best known for his collaborations with Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams .Goddard joined the crew of Lost as a freelance writer for the first season in 2004...
, and directed by Jack Bender
Jack Bender
Jack Bender is an American television and film director, actor, television producer and also a screenwriter. Bender was an executive producer and lead director on the ABC television series, Lost. He directed the series finale of Lost. Bender has also directed on other popular shows such as The...
. It first aired in the United States on February 14, 2007 on the American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics. Lindelof and Goddard were nominated for the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award
Writers Guild of America Award
The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
for Best Episodic Drama at the February 2008 ceremony
Writers Guild of America Awards 2007
The 60th Writers Guild of America Awards honored the best film, television, and videogame writers of 2007. Winners were announced on February 9, 2008.-Best Adapted Screenplay:...
for writing the episode.
In this episode, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia
Jorge Garcia
Jorge García is a U.S. actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show Becker and later for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in the television series Lost. Garcia also performs as a stand-up comedian.-Early life:García was born...
) and Charlie Pace
Charlie Pace
Charlie Hieronymus Pace is a fictional character on ABC's Lost, a television series chronicling the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island...
(Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan is an English actor. He has received international attention from playing Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and for his role as Charlie Pace on the television show Lost....
) conclude that Desmond Hume
Desmond Hume
Desmond David Hume is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick. Desmond's name is a tribute to David Hume, the famous empiricist author and philosopher. Desmond was not a passenger of Flight 815. He had been stranded on the island three years prior to...
(Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick is a Scottish-Peruvian actor of stage, television, and film. He is well-known for his role as Desmond Hume on the United States television series Lost, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination....
) can see into the future after he saves Claire Littleton
Claire Littleton
Claire Littleton is a fictional character played by Emilie de Ravin on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the South Pacific. Claire is introduced in the pilot episode as a pregnant crash survivor. She is a series regular until her...
(Emilie de Ravin
Emilie de Ravin
Emilie de Ravin born 27 December 1981)is an Australian actress. She is commonly associated with her roles as Tess Harding on Roswell and Claire Littleton on the ABC drama Lost....
) from drowning. It is revealed that after the hatch imploded, Desmond traveled back to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and relived his past before coming back to the island. Desmond also reveals to Charlie that Charlie is destined to die.
Plot
While in the middle of a conversation with several other castaways, Desmond, without warning, sprints toward and dives into the ocean. No one on the beach understands what Desmond is doing, until he returns with a nearly drowned Claire. Charlie and Hurley conclude that Desmond must be able to see into the future, and they hatch a plan to get Desmond to get drunk and confess. After several drinks, Charlie asks Desmond about his future-seeing abilities. Instead of answering, Desmond gets up to leave, but after Charlie calls him a "coward", a drunken Desmond tackles and chokes Charlie, shouting that Charlie does not know what Desmond has been through.Desmond flashbacks: the hatch is shown imploding again, and then Desmond (who was inside) suddenly wakes up in a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
apartment with his girlfriend Penelope Widmore (Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger is an English actress known for her roles in the ABC series Lost as Penelope "Penny" Widmore, and as Olivia Benford on ABC's FlashForward.-Education:...
). Desmond is clearly puzzled, but is relieved to finally be with Penny again. Desmond later goes to Penny's billionaire father, Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific. He is primarily portrayed as an older man by Alan Dale; Tom Connolly and David S...
(Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Alan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale developed a love of theatre and also became a rugby player. After retiring from the sport he took on a number of professions to support his family, before deciding to become a professional actor at the age of 27. With work limited in New...
) and asks for his permission to marry his daughter. Widmore rejects Desmond, who is crushed and humiliated. Walking out of the building, Desmond sees Charlie singing and playing his guitar for money on the sidewalk. Desmond asks him if he remembers him but Charlie does not. Frustrated, Desmond rants about his time on the island and predicts it will rain, which it suddenly does. At a pub, Desmond meets with his friend, a physicist, and after retelling the events on the island asks him if time travel is possible. Desmond tries to predict more events but they do not happen and his friend assures him time travel is impossible. While shopping for a ring for Penny, Desmond runs into the shopkeeper, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan). Hawking takes Desmond on a walk where they see a man crushed to death by falling scaffolding. She explains that although she knew the man would die, she did not help because the universe has a way of "course correcting", and he would die anyway. Desmond and Penny go on a walk together and take a picture, where he breaks up with her after realizing that he does not have enough money to support her. He returns to the pub, where one of his predictions before about the bartender being attacked finally comes true (proving that he really knew about the future, but that his timing was off), but he ends up being accidentally hit himself and is knocked out. Desmond wakes up back on the Island, completely naked, as seen in "Further Instructions
Further Instructions
"Further Instructions" is the third episode of the third season of Lost. It aired on October 18, 2006, making it the 52nd episode of the series. The episode was written by Carlton Cuse and Elizabeth Sarnoff and directed by Stephen Williams...
".
The flashback ends, and Desmond is pulled off Charlie by Hurley. They help Desmond to his tent. Charlie tries to get an answer from him one last time. Desmond reveals that both times he rescued Claire, he was really saving Charlie; Charlie would have been electrocuted, and Charlie would have drowned attempting to save Claire from the ocean. Desmond tells Charlie that although he has prevented his death twice, Charlie is destined to die.
Production
"Flashes Before Your Eyes" was the fifteenth episode of the series directed by Jack BenderJack Bender
Jack Bender is an American television and film director, actor, television producer and also a screenwriter. Bender was an executive producer and lead director on the ABC television series, Lost. He directed the series finale of Lost. Bender has also directed on other popular shows such as The...
. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof
Damon Lindelof
Damon Laurence Lindelof is an American television writer and executive, most recently noted as the co-creator and executive producer for the television series Lost. He has written for and produced Crossing Jordan, and wrote for Nash Bridges, Wasteland, and the MTV anthology series Undressed...
and Drew Goddard
Drew Goddard
Drew Goddard is an American film and television screenwriter and producer best known for his collaborations with Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams .Goddard joined the crew of Lost as a freelance writer for the first season in 2004...
, the pair had never before collaborated on an episode.
This episode is the first to deal with the concept of time travel, the next being "The Constant
The Constant
"The Constant" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the American Broadcasting Company's serial drama television series Lost, and the 77th episode overall. It was aired on February 28, 2008, on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada...
" in the fourth season. Unlike other flashback sequences to this point, this is positioned as actual time travel for Desmond. However in this episode ground rules are established to prevent paradoxes in the story line as a result of time travel. Had these rules not been established, the writers feared that viewers would lose interest because the stakes of the characters would be lessened. In an interview, Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick is a Scottish-Peruvian actor of stage, television, and film. He is well-known for his role as Desmond Hume on the United States television series Lost, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination....
, who plays Desmond, said shooting the episode was both "fun" and "tiring". Cusick said that when shooting the episode "you're finishing late and starting early", but he enjoyed working with director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
Jack Bender
Jack Bender
Jack Bender is an American television and film director, actor, television producer and also a screenwriter. Bender was an executive producer and lead director on the ABC television series, Lost. He directed the series finale of Lost. Bender has also directed on other popular shows such as The...
because "he pushes you to, to try and go a little bit further than you think you can". The London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
scenes were shot in Honolulu. This led to several continuity errors, such as a British Army recruitment poster featuring the word "Honour" being incorrectly spelled in the American English
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
"Honor" and a photograph of a British soldier using an American M4 carbine
M4 carbine
The M4 carbine is a family of firearms tracing its lineage back to earlier carbine versions of the M16, all based on the original AR-15 designed by Eugene Stoner and made by ArmaLite. It is a shorter and lighter variant of the M16A2 assault rifle, with 80% parts commonality.It is a gas-operated,...
and urging people to join the "military" (instead of the "army", as a British poster would say).
Reception
"Flashes Before Your Eyes" received mostly positive reviews. IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Chris Carabott wrote that "if last week's 'Not in Portland
Not in Portland
"Not in Portland" is the 7th episode of the third season of Lost and the 56th episode overall. It first aired on February 7, 2007 on ABC. The episode was written by Carlton Cuse and Jeff Pinkner and was directed by Stephen Williams...
' didn't get you back on the Lost hype train then for goodness' sake the equally outstanding 'Flashes Before Your Eyes' hopefully grabbed your attention." Carabott went on to praise the on-screen chemistry of Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick is a Scottish-Peruvian actor of stage, television, and film. He is well-known for his role as Desmond Hume on the United States television series Lost, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination....
(Desmond) and Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger is an English actress known for her roles in the ABC series Lost as Penelope "Penny" Widmore, and as Olivia Benford on ABC's FlashForward.-Education:...
(Penelope), stating that "their on screen chemistry makes the love between the two characters real and makes their inevitable breakup that much harder to handle." He also complimented the scene between Desmond and Charles, saying that "it's hard not to feel Desmond's heart crushed when Widmore denies him Penelope's hand in marriage." Josh Spiegel, a writer for CinemaBlend.com, had similar praise. He said that for him "it was a nice change of pace to not see Jack
Jack Shephard
Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and protagonist of the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Lost follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to survive and escape, slowly uncovering more of the much broader...
, Kate
Kate Austen
Katherine Anne "Kate" Austen is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly. She is the de facto female lead...
or Sawyer on the show and focus more on some of the lesser-known castaways." Spiegel went on to say that the episode was "fantastic". Mania.com's Stephen Lackey wrote that "Flashes Before Your Eyes" was an "episode has everything die hard LOST fans expect, riveting plot twists, foreshadowing, and as many questions as answers"
Critics did note that the episode did not provide many answers. Mac Slocum of FilmFodder.com wrote that he was "beginning to think the Lost producers have a different definition for the word 'answer'." Television Without Pity graded this episode with a "C".
Henry Ian Cusick and Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan is an English actor. He has received international attention from playing Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and for his role as Charlie Pace on the television show Lost....
submitted this episode for consideration on their own behalves in the category of "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Drama Series
This is a list of the winners of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.-1960s:*1960: no award*1961: Roddy McDowall – Not Without Honor*1962: no award*1963: no award...
" respectively at the 2007 Emmy Awards
59th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on September 16, 2007 and were televised live on Fox at 8:00 p.m. EDT for the first time in high definition...
. Series co-creator, show runner and executive producer Damon Lindelof
Damon Lindelof
Damon Laurence Lindelof is an American television writer and executive, most recently noted as the co-creator and executive producer for the television series Lost. He has written for and produced Crossing Jordan, and wrote for Nash Bridges, Wasteland, and the MTV anthology series Undressed...
and supervising producer Drew Goddard
Drew Goddard
Drew Goddard is an American film and television screenwriter and producer best known for his collaborations with Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams .Goddard joined the crew of Lost as a freelance writer for the first season in 2004...
were nominated for the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award
Writers Guild of America Award
The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
for Best Episodic Drama at the February 2008 ceremony
Writers Guild of America Awards 2007
The 60th Writers Guild of America Awards honored the best film, television, and videogame writers of 2007. Winners were announced on February 9, 2008.-Best Adapted Screenplay:...
for writing the episode.