Tonight’s episode is going to be about Desmond. We know this from the bagpipes in the preview and can surmise it from the fact that Desmond arrived on the island as the “package” last episode.
I thought, first of all, that Desmond was going to be an important chess piece in a game that Charles Widmore was about to play with Jacob’s Nemesis. Remember, to leave the island the Man-in-Black needs all of Jacob’s candidates to go with him. Or, possibly, he needs them dead. Desmond is a candidate. But, there’s more to it than this, I think.
Remember, Desmond recognized Jack on the flash-sideways Oceanic flight. That means that Desmond has some kind of memory of knowing Jack previously. That means that perhaps Desmond is aware of the real timeline going on simultaneously. Why? Because Desmond has had flashes like this before and perhaps he’ll recognize this flash-sideways for what it is.
The previews for this week’s episode have talked about a “path” being found. Putting two and two together, in an episode about Desmond perhaps the path that’s found is a result of Desmond doing, or remembering, or realizing something. If he figures out what the flash-sideways is all about and if he somehow figures out how to right it all, then there’s our path. Poof.
The writers did say that sometime, about half-way through this season, the two timelines would merge about become one. Could we perhaps see that tonight? And does Desmond have something to do with it. I think quite possibly, yes.
Not only is Desmond important to Widmore as a bargaining piece, and something to prevent the Smoke Monster from leaving the island, but perhaps Widmore also knows what’s going on with the two timelines and needs Desmond to make things right. Then again, perhaps I’m completely off-base, but that’s half the fun of LOST: making these wild predictions.
The path, of course, could be something entirely different but at this point in the season, given what we know about the two timelines merging, I’d venture that this is what we’re up for.
