That was a lot to digest.

I like the Desmond storyline a lot. And I hope he and Penny have a happy ending.

That was such an excellent episode, even if there were a few times were I expected to see Christopher Lloyd and his flux capacitor appear. But I even got teary eyed at the end, which doesn't happen too often. Any show with both Jeremy Davies and Fisher Stevens (who I swear must be distant cousins) is already pretty good in my book, and this one was a nice change of pace in some ways. Can't wait for next week!

Where, not were.

Off to bed. Hope I don't have any temporal time jumps.

Yeah, my head hurts. That was excellent.

Wow, I wish Fisher Stevens didn't die so quickly. Still, it was nice to see Desmond and Penny able to talk to each other.
I'm not hopeful it will end well.

My Season Pass post is up:

http://weblogs.variety.com/season_pass/2008/02/lost-episode-5.html

Best episode of the season thus far, and no flash-forwards, even!

Everything about it was tense, even the auction, and (I don't think) there was any larger significance to that book Penny's dad was bidding on. Loved the use of jump cuts, dropped frames, and sped-up sequences (and an amazing performance by Davies as the yet-still-more frazzled Past Faraday) to put the audience in the same state of unease as Past Desmond. Also loved the subtle "Slaughterhouse Five" references in the dialogue (Desmond's military buddy was named Billy, Eloise the rat becoming "unstuck in time"). Marc Vann, who plays the creepy doctor, also played a memorably creepy doctor in the fifth season of "Angel."

Did not care for the conciousness time traveling part. The whole Desmond and Penny part was just amazing thing, I was prepared to hate this episode until the last 10 minutes. As I feared, it appears the answers are not that interesting, but I'm gong to follow Jon's lead and just enjoy the interesting and complex characterizations of this show and not let the over-arching plot bother me anymore.

I did not think this episode was very good. It just seemed a little too un-realistic to get emotionally involved in. Time travel?--too science fiction-esque for my tastes.

I was trying to think of a way to explain this episode more rationally and logically. The best I could come up with was that Desmond never really time travelled at all. Instead, he did become dis-oriented when he got to the boat, and Farraday was able to talk to Desmond in a way that would get his mind back to the present and make him remember all that had gone on. Sort of a play on The Notebook.

I was thinking Desmond would have known Penny's phone number regardless. I doubt he actually did go 8 years without speaking with her or knowing her phone number.

I was thinking Desmond would have known Penny's phone number regardless. I doubt he actually did go 8 years without speaking with her or knowing her phone number.

You're part missing the back story here, (and the other part, I think, is there's still a untold story thread about Penny & Dez that will connect the rest of the dots). Remember, from an earlier ep, Dez went and seeks her out at one point after the break-up, then goes sailing around the world ... and gets lost. The 8 years is not implausible, since we don't know at what point in the time line he disappeared.

7 You do realize that the book was from the Black Pearl, the boat that was ship wrecked in the middle of the island. I believe Penny's father, back in 1996, was searching for the island...brotha. Information contained in that log booked may have helped him find the island.