Wednesday, April 7, 2010

S6E11 VIOLATION

Partial transcript of key scene between Desmond and Hawking:

"Stop talking, Hume. I've heard what you've had to say, now you listen to me. I want you to stop."

"Stop? Stop what?"

"Someone has clearly affected the way you see things. This is a serious problem. This is, in fact, a violation. So, whatever you're doing, whatever it is you think you're looking for, you need to stop looking for it."

"Do you know what I'm looking for, Mrs. Widmore?"

"I don't know why you're looking for anything. You have the perfect life. On top of it, you've managed to attain the thing you wanted more than anything, my husband's approval."

"How do you know what I want?"

"Because, I bloody do!"

"I need to see that list or you need to tell me why I can't."

"Because you're not ready yet, Desmond." She walks away.

KEY POINTS:

The "someone" who told Desmond to change the way he thinks about himself was Charlie.

Charlie telling Desmond was "a violation."

Desmond already has "a perfect life."

Desmond can't change his life because he is "not ready yet."

DISCUSSION:

In the Doctor Who mythology, every person's choices in life creates a multiverse that follows that path, and over time there are infinite, separate universes based on the variable choices of all humanity. Some turn UK into current reality, others turn into steam punk dictatorships.

We can get the sense of "concurrent" universes in this exchange. There are no paradoxes in the time space continuum if each universe remains separate. Hawking knows that. She is aware that the paradox rules have been violated if someone changes their current path by interacting with its concurrent alternative reality.

When we first met Hawking, the clock keeper lectured Desmond about "course correction." That if a person was supposed to die today, and some one (like Desmond) intervenes to stop the accident from happening, the saved person's demise is merely delayed an hour, a day, a week. Hawking must be a time paradox officer in charge of making sure that the concurrent universes do not come into contact with each other. The double star brooch she was wearing could symbolize this twin Earth concept.

It could also mean that she was speaking that Desmond had a "perfect life" and he was not ready for the "change" which would be his "life after death." In the sideways world, he has yet to fulfill his fate or destiny so he cannot be influenced by an alternative world where Penny was his centerpiece. Charlie is Dead Charlie in the island world. He has been popping up to guide other 815ers in their decisions (especially Hurley). Did "Dead Charlie" slip through (consciousness during near death experiences or physically through a portal to sideways world) with memories of the alternative reality which makes him crazy enough to attempt to change his other life? And the lives of the other castaways?

There is much double speak in trying to keep the premise in the dark. Widmore's warning that all you love will cease to exist if MIB succeeds in his plan, does not make total sense if you are also in multiple alternative universes. Charlie does not need to change anything in the sideways world if he wants to live happily ever after with Claire. Claire is alive, pregnant, and alone in LA (and about to be rebuffed by the adoptive mother). The term "happily ever after" was never put into any context in the actual episode. It is usually associated with the end of "fairy tales" or at weddings ("until death do you part.") So two explanations of the title: this is a fantasy world or this is the after life when your one true love is lost.