RECAP: Lost - "Happily Ever After"

It's about damn time this show made something happen. This week's episode, focusing on Desmond, FINALLY started the plot moving again, and took some steps toward a resolution of this stupid alternate universe storyline they've been going with all season. Desmond's always been one of the more interesting characters on the show, but he'd been virtually absent the entire season, so it was nice to see what's going on with him. Read on for the full recap.

Desmond, recovering from being shot by Ben back in season 5, wakes up in a room with Zoe and Widmore. Widmore reveals that he's brought Desmond back to the Island, and Desmond beats him with a handy IV stand (the weapon of choice for clairvoyant Scotsmen). After his guards pull Desmond off of him, Widmore explains that the Island isn't done with Desmond yet, and puts him in some giant machine just moments after the machine misfired and killed one of Widmore's henchmen. Widmore claims that this is just a test, and that afterwards, he's going to ask Desmond to make a sacrifice. To Widmore's knowledge, Desmond is the only person in the world who has survived a catastrophic electromagnetic event, and he needs to know that Desmond can do it again, or "we all die." The machine goes off, and the screen goes white.

Suddenly we're with Desmond in the side-universe (goddammit, I hate this side-universe). He's Charles Widmore's right-hand man, they're friends, he's single, and he's rich. Widmore has brought Desmond to LA essentially to play babysitter; his son, Daniel, a classical musician, is having a concert, and Driveshaft is supposed to be playing. Widmore wants Desmond to make sure that Charlie Pace gets to the concert on time and sober. Upon announcing this, they drank a glass of 60-year-old scotch, and I salivated in jealousy.

Desmond picks up Charlie, who explains that when he was choking to death on the bag of heroin (a couple of episodes ago) he had a vision of a blonde woman and knew he was meant to be with her (Claire). As they drive along the waterfront toward Desmond's hotel, Charlie says he wants to show Desmond what he's seen, and grabs the wheel, turning them into the water. Desmond gets free, and when he swims around to Charlie's side of the car, Charlie puts his hand to the window. Desmond has a flash vision of Charlie doing the same thing, with "NOT PENNY'S BOAT" scrawled on his palm. He manages to get Charlie free, and they are taken to the hospital.

At the hospital, Desmond is given an MRI; while in the machine he sees flashes of Charlie, then Penny, then his son, and he panics. He gets out of the machine and goes looking for Charlie. As he talks to Jack (of course, because nothing can ever happen that isn't related to everything else), Charlie runs by in a hospital gown. When he finally corners Charlie, Desmond demands to know why Charlie tried to kill him, but Charlie explains that he was just trying to show Desmond something, and that he should start looking for Penny. He then takes off, leaving Desmond behind.

Widmore, furious about Desmond losing Charlie, sends him to break the news to Mrs. Widmore. Both Widmore and Desmond's cab driver George (who I feel like I've seen somewhere else on the show, but I can't for the life of me remember where) seem to think that she is going to go nuts, but she takes the news quite calmly. Oh, and she's Eloise Hawking. I think the fact that she had been married to Widmore was established last season. Desmond overhears Penny's name on a guest list, and Eloise freaks out on him, saying that he needs to stop looking for whatever he's looking for. Someone has affected the way he sees things, and that is "a violation." She doesn't say what it's a violation of, because she's a character in the Lost universe and therefore necessarily useless, but she says that Desmond shouldn't need to look for anything, because he has what he's always wanted: Widmore's approval. She says she can't help him because he's "not ready yet."

Desmond goes to leave, but is stopped by Widmore's son, Daniel (Faraday). He asks if Desmond believes in love at first sight, and tells him about a red-haired woman he saw in a museum and immediately fell in love with. Following this meeting, he woke up in the middle of the night and made a series of notes that turned out to be quantum physics equations that only someone who had studied physics their entire life would know (and since in this reality he's a classical musician, he doesn't understand it). He mentions that there might be a terrible event about to happen that only an explosion could stop, and when Desmond asks if he's wants to set off a nuclear bomb, Daniel says that he thinks he already did. He then reveals that the Penny Desmond was asking about is his half-sister.

Daniel sends Desmond to the stadium (where Desmond once met Jack), and he finds Penny running on the stairs there. In the creepiest way possible, he stalks her, then says hello. Penny is a moron, of course, and shakes his hand willingly. As soon as their hands touch, Desmond wakes up back on the Island in the "present" (2004 or whatever). Widmore tells him he was only unconscious for a few seconds, and begins to explain what is going on, but Desmond cuts him off and says that he understands. He asks Widmore "when do we start?"

Zoe takes Desmond for a pointless walk in the woods with two guards, and begins to ask what happened to him, when Sayid bursts out of nowhere and attacks. He kills the two guards and lets Zoe leave, then tells Desmond that they need to escape. Desmond smiles and says OK.

Desmond wakes up back in the stadium, with Penny crouching over him. Apparently when he shook her hand, he fainted. They make a date (again, because Penny is an idiot who has no problem with dating creepy guys who stalk her while she's exercising), and Desmond gets back in his limo. The episode ends with Desmond asking his limo driver (who has previously claimed the ability to get anything Desmond needs) if he can get the manifest from Oceanic 815, because he needs "to show them something."

It's hard to say whether my opinions of this episode are tainted. I thought it was a really strong episode, probably one of the best of the season so far, but that might just be because the last few episodes have been so goddamn terrible. At least something happened in this one. It seems like they're going to tie the two universes together, or that they're going to somehow have to go back in time (God I hope not) to stop themselves from setting off the bomb, because apparently this alternate universe is not supposed to exist.

It was really great to see Charlie, although again, I'm not sure if that's just because he hasn't been on the show in such a long time. Charlie is one of those characters that I could never make up my mind about. He started off good, then they dragged his drug addiction storyline on for so long that I got really sick of him, and then just when he started being a good character again they killed him off. He had a very Locke-ish vibe this episode, ranting on and on about how nothing mattered but the fact that he and Desmond had both "felt it." Hopefully we'll see some more of him as the season progresses, but I'm not sure what else they can do with his character the way it is now.

Next week's episode is apparently Hurley-centric, which should be great, since Hurley has (in my opinion) been the one consistently good character on this show. It's a pretty sad statement when the comic relief is the best part about your series.