LOST Episode 5×14 “The Variable” - Screencaps, Easter Eggs, Audio, & Analysis
April 29, 2009 by Jeremy
As expected, fantastic episode. A lot to ponder. Eric brought up a great point that it’s actually kind of devastating watching it through a second time when you think of the 30 years of heartbreak that Eloise and (probably to a lesser extent) Widmore had to go through knowing they were marching their son toward his death. Leave us your thoughts at 920-626-6086 for inclusion in the podcast. On to our thoughts:
- It looks like we can begin to piece things together regarding Hawking and Widmore’s “supervision” of Desmond (and Faraday for that matter). Assuming they were given a “download” of information from either Farday’s notebook or some of the Losties (perhaps in exchange for getting the Losties back to 2007), it makes sense that they would steer him through life to make sure that he eventually ended up on the island. This presumes that they know much of what is going to happen and they want it to happen and that they believe in free will. Otherwise, perhaps they’d just fall into the ‘whatever happened, happened’ camp. Widmore also spoke of having to “sacrifice” his relathionship with Penny, which tells me he had to do that to keep the intended path moving forward. Also, I always thought Hawking believed in free will after she freaked out on Desmond in 3×08 Flashes Before Your Eyes when he wants the ring. It’s either that or she’s been told that Desmond is uniquely and miraculously special, which brings me to…
- How does Farady know that the rules don’t apply to Desmond? Was it their conversation over the radio in 4×05 The Constant and the fallout from the Failsafe Key? Plus, does he now believe that everyone has a similar ability to exercise free will like he seemed to be stating upon his return to the island?
- Learning of how Widmore (through Hawking) had all of this future information in the past and how it seems he used it to shape how he acted in the future makes me really wonder if he’s really a bad guy or if he’s really just kind of stuck with having to carry out the master plan to get us to some future result.
- So, Widmore is Faraday’s father after all, which in turn makes Daniel and Penny half siblings. We speculated about that after 5×03 Jughead and ran a poll about it. 56% of almost 2500 respondents thought Widmore was NOT Faraday’s father. This has been one of the few times when the popular opinion has been wrong.
- I loved Faraday outing Miles as Chang’s kid. Hopefully it will spur them on to future conversations.
- Hawking told Desmond in 5×06 316 that the island wasn’t done with him yet. If she’s truly at the point where she now doesn’t know what’s going to happen in the future (as she told Penny), then how did she know this?
- Faraday getting killed sucked, especially when you realized it was by his own mother.
- We should probably assume Farady is older than 30 in 2007 just based on his looks, but wouldn’t it be interesting if Widmore and Hawking chose to have Daniel only after having seen him in 1977.
- So if Faraday kicked the bucket, then who was the mysterious voice we heard behind the camera in the Comic-Con video where Chang is making his plea for the re-constitution of the DHARMA Initiative (thanks Aaron for the heads up)? It wouldn’t seem that they would’ve had time to film it together. Perhaps Miles gave him the information, but it doesn’t seem to be Miles’ voice (he calls him Pierre as well, which Miles wouldn’t do).
Easter Eggs (use the arrow keys to scroll from image to image):
Get Lost COW (audio):
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HQ Screencaps Galore (use the arrow keys to scroll from image to image):
If Faraday is dead then when did he convince Pierre Chnag to create that video to be transmitted to the outside world….i.e. the year on the mainland is 2007 and a man named Geirge W Bush is the president of the united states
A great point I had meant to comment on. I’m going to add a comment to the post…
Chang didn’t create that video. It was part of a online game and not part of the actual show continuity. Unless something is part of the actual show it’s not real continuity. The only exception to this rule is the original “Lost Experience” back story which Damon and Carlton themselves officially declared a part of Lost continuity. As of now, that video made by Chang is only part of the online game and is not a part of the show (just like the video revealed at last year’s comic con, a video of Chang at the Orchid with some multiplying bunnies was not a part of the actual show continuity).
Is it possible that Hawking sent Jack back to save Daniel’s life after she shoots him? I t hought about the voice of Daniel in the Chang video also. I’m hoping Daniel is not gonna die.
It has not been established that Daniel is dead, only that he has been shot.
The producers said officially that the actor who plays Daniel has ended his “full-time” participation. I bet he comes back in some flashbacks or time travel bits.
I agree. I didn’t think he died at the end of the show. Kind of like Jr. Ben when he got shot - at the end of that episode, you weren’t sure if he’d live or die, then he got healed.
Ok, so earlier this season when Dan flashed back and told Hatch Desmond to go find his mother, we see Desmond wake up in the future with what appeared to be a brand new memory, even though it had happened years before. So if this is the way it works, then why don’t we see Eloise in the future suddenly “remember” shooting Daniel? Why/how do Eloise and Widmore apparently already know it happened?
It’s because she always knew. She even mentions it to Widmore…about the “sacrifice” she had to make…..which was sending Dan to the island knowing full well that her past self is going to shoot him.
I think we did see that moment - in the past. Remember when little boy Dan was playing the piano and
young Mom Hawking entered shaken and holding back tears? That’s my guess anyway.. Although I have no
idea why she seemed to be pushing to make it happen again…
Maybe she really DOES believe in making destiny happen.
Did anyone notice: Wired Mag headline: The end of cancer as we know it, page 108! (the numbers)
According to Team Dalton, the comicon video is part of the alternate reality game and not “really” canon with the show. So yes that is Daniel’s voice in the video but no, it is not part of the show.
I think Daniel is dead, it would be illogical for Dan to have survived, and yet Widmore and Hawking still making such a big deal about it in the present. It’d be a bit of a cop out for him not to be dead, especially after the ironic speech he gave Jack and Kate about being able to ‘change destiny’ too. It’s sort of similar to the end of ‘The Man Behind The Curtain’ though, when Ben shot Locke into the Dharma Pit (with the Island saving Locke), but I don’t think the producer’s will go that way this time.
Overall, I think it is a shame that we’ve lost Daniel. Not only has he been a wonderful story driver and enigma/mystery answerer, but been a character that has really hooked and settled well with the Lost faithful. His was a tragic story overall really, but there were so many great moments. We will miss you Daniel Faraday.
One funny little thing i noticed last night with the WIRED issue popping up. Im a subscriber to WIRED and guess who the guest editor is for this month’s issue? J.J. Abrams. It is filled with puzzles and games. Maybe this was part of the deal with WIRED. You throw our mag on LOST we’ll let you make an entire issue!
I don’t believe that Charles and Eloise are actually Faraday’s legitimate parents.
Reasons for this:
1) Faraday has brown eyes, both Eloise and Widmore have blue eyes.
2) Eloise got extremely mad when Charles said that Faraday was his son too.
So who is Faraday’s father? I think it’s JACOB. Jacob Faraday.
blue/brown eyed thing, good one! And why does Daniel NOT have a british accent? There is definitely something more to explain there!
I was wondering about the British accent thing myself. Daniel probably did grow up in America so that Eloise could be near the Lampost Station, but he had a British mother and then went to Oxford. You would think he could pick up a British accent easily with those factors.
Oh come on, you can’t be serious about the eyes. The eyes are different colors because of course they are all ACTORS and are not really related. It’s a tv show…. heck, the actor who played Sayid’s father isn’t even the same ethnicity as Naveen Andrews. Widmore and Ellie are Daniel’s parents. Live with it.
Blue eyes are a recessive gene … My husband has brown eyes. His mom has blue eyes and his dad has green eyes. Both of his sisters have blue eyes … but not him! So there you go
I like that Sawyer became, possibly, the first character since the series began to say “We’re not going anywhere until we know what’s going on” and actually meant it.
In previous episodes a character would say “tell me now” and the other character would go “there’s no time” and the first character would go “okay” and several minutes later the second character would end up dead after an interminable flashback.
I would really hope that Faraday isn’t dead. I don’t see how that is inconceivable since mini ben just recently got shot in the chest and had to be brought to the others. Well, look at that … Daniel is already WITH the others AND a willing Jack.
And just because he is finished with his “full time” role doesn’t mean he can’t be a part time actor with the show.
I still think that there is more to tell here. I also think that Eloise is hoping that Desmond can do something to help this entire situation perhaps. Now, she doesn’t know what is going to happen next … so maybe things can be saved?
Hawking told Desmond in 5×06 316 that the island wasn’t done with him yet. If she’s truly at the point where she now doesn’t know what’s going to happen in the future (as she told Penny), then how did she know this?
Regarding this bullet, maybe Eloise didn’t know that Ben was going to try and kill Penny and that’s how Desmond got shot. Not knowing whether Desmond was going to live or die at that moment may have made Eloise second guess Desmond’s future with the island. When the nurse came in and told them Desmond would be alright, a wave of relief seemed to pass on Eloise’s face. So, maybe she felt things were back on track again.
Again this week there has some funny stuff in the continuation of old scenes shot some time ago.
Especially the great magical haircut change in the Daniel/Widmore scene.
Seeing that wreck must really have scared him, heheh.
Sometimes they really are a sloppy with character continuity.
The hospital scene after the car accident in “The life and Death…” where Locke meets Jack again, Dr Jacks beard is pretty small compared to the fully grown beard when he reads Lockes obituary.
Locke on the other hand has the same scars from the accident, when he’s killled by Ben.
The timeframe here is what? 2-4 weeks? That’s some pretty potent pills there Jack.
the guy that tells daniel to put a hardhat on… wasnt he one of the Others that gets killed on the beach back in the Season 3 finale?????????
I can’t wait to here your guys podcast! I mean, a week from now, when you finally decide to make one, on the very same day as the next episode. Keep up the GREAT work on your lost picture blog……I mean, podcast. I’ll be sure to buy a t-shirt too!
Wow, someone seriously needs mommy to change his diaper. Chill out dude… you come off like a raving dumbass. If you don’t like this site, there’s a very simple solution… don’t visit it. In fact, it takes literally no effort. And PS — In that context, the word is spelled “hear”.
One question that needs to be addressed is why Eloise left the island. If Daniel is dead, the fact that Hawking shot her son could be the reason she was sent off the island. It has been established that this is against the rules. But it would seem that she would want to avoid being exiled if she knew of it in the future. Also, going by the nose bleed/ time travel theory, Faraday would have been born off of the island. Seeing as how the Others weren’t very successful at having children on the island, perhaps she had to leave in order to have a successful birth.
Not to beat a dead horse here, but why are we so certain that was Daniel on the Comic Con Vid? I keep hearing Miles’s voice when I listen to it. I just don’t hear Daniel at all. Did I miss ‘cast stating otherwise?
I just watched the episode where Desmond triggers the ‘failsafe” when Locke stops pushing the button in the hatch. Could the “failsafe” be the nuclear bomb? Has this been mentioned before? Maybe the Hostiles took Faraday’s advice and attached the nuclear bomb to the Hatch in case of a catastrophic failure. The Failsafe that Desmond uses has vaguely ominous nuclear graphics on it.
Once again … yes, Daniel was the man behind the camera in the comic-con video… but that video was part of an online game and is NOT part of official LOST continuity.