Review: Lost 5.14: The Variable

Will I get stuck in a time loop, Mummy? Will I?

Warning: From hereon in, this column is gonna be me ranting about a period of Lost that really pisses me off. Opinions expressed are those of the author and the issues covered are open to reader interpretation.

As previously, this week's episode was a focus on a member of the Science Team. In Season Four, Faraday was the show's catalyst in its transformation into sci-fi, and his character was oft given the technobabble that I so adore. A show that could have have crazy and downright strange things happening and still have them explained in mildly scientifc terms was exactly what I wanted, exactly what attracted me to Lost in the first place. This story, and the death of Daniel Faraday, signals a point in the series where this dream undergoes a very disappointing transformation.
     The flashbacks show the course of Daniel's life. From a young age he is encouraged by his mother, Eloise Hawking, to reject his musical talents and instead use his gifts for science. At one of his many graduations, Eloise tries to steer girlfriend Teresa out of Daniel's life. Later, following a memory-loss-inflicted Daniel just before Season Four, Charles Widmore approaches him and invites him to the Island. As he prepares to leave, his mother tearfully tells him that he will make her proud.
     In 1977, Daniel arrives and talks to Jack, telling him that he wasn't supposed to be here. He then talks to Professor Chang, asking him to evacuate the Island before the Incident hits in six hours time. Chang rejects him as insane, and later Daniel storms into a Lostie meeting asking for help in finding his mother. Sawyer rightfully refuses to help until Daniel reveals why he wants to compromise their security even further, but Jack is petty and so acts like a total douchebag, going against Sawyer's request and helping Daniel to break the security boundary of the facility. As Sawyer and Juliet's cover is well and truly blown, Daniel explains to Jack his theory about The Variable - that the Whatever Happened, Happened rule doesn't apply because people, and free will, are a variable that will change the outcome. He wants to change the outcome of history by detonating Jughead, "destroying" the energy pocket under the Swan station. He charges into the Other's camp, looking for his mother. She shoots him, and in his dying breath he reveals to her that he is her son, forming a time-loop.

Nothing I say makes any sense! Wagga wagga wagga!

      This forms the core idea at the heart of the Season Five finale. And it clearly reveals why the writers are not, in the end, writers of good science-fiction. (Thus this sole "Bad Sci-Fi" tag). This idea proves exactly why the Whatever Happened Happened rule works, because in the end, Daniel is wrong - in a way that is very, very clear from a single listening. His explanation verges on the philosophical, and doesn't take into account the simple logic that if he never comes to the Island then he can never go back in time to stop them from doing so. It's paradox 101, here. This is a man who has studied time-space physics "all of my life," talking to an experienced surgeon. They should have the ounce of sense between them required to realise that this plan is not going to work, and yet they continue on with it. For the writers to take such a fundamental sci-fi idea and completely fail to understand it is almost a betrayal of everything that I love about this series.
      And Jack continues to be a complete and total dick. This is our protagonist, and yet I feel much more sympathetic with Sawyer, Locke, Ben - hell, I even sympathise with The Man In Black, and he's the embodiment of pure evil! In this episode, his major dick move is to deliberately try and oust Saywer out of a sense of inferiority. Jack can't comprehend that Sawyer has worked himself into a position of respect and authority, and is too ego-centric to acknowledge that he might actually know what he's doing. Also, Sawyer approaches the group democratically, while Jack forces his will onto Kate and the others, and in doing so ruins all of the other group's plans for a peaceful life. Jack is always wrong, and always will be, and I refuse to sympathise with him as a protagonist.

I wish I'd had warning from the future.

     The Variable, like the rest of Lost, isn't badly made. But the plotting is lazy and stupid, and potentially one of the series' most interesting characters is killed off in a way that, while tragic, was seen merely seven episodes ago. When I first set out on this series, I wanted to know where the series started to lose everything I loved. 316 came close, but this is it, folks. It's all vitriol from here.

Thanks.

NEXT WEEK: Richard Alpert the Immortal Badass! It's Follow The Leader!