Season 3, Episode 17: "Catch-22"

*Sorry it took me a week to get this posted - I had no internet access all week! My DSL had some weird problem which they had to come fix... (And, let me tell you, is about the worst thing in the world. I never realized how much my life revolves around using the internet. I felt like I was cut off from the world!) Anyway, finally I am back!
-----------------------------------------------------------

The title of this episode was "Catch-22" (more on that later)...

This was a Desmond-flashback episode. We learn quite a bit about his past. We also finally see more into Desmond's "visions" - although this is the first time we have seen his vision happen rather than him describing it. We actually SEE his vision of Charlie dying, not just him telling Charlie what happened. This time we see the vision first, then all the events that lead up to it, except in the real life version, Charlie doesn't die. Does that mean that he changed the course of what was "supposed" to happen because he let Charlie live? If Penny was really meant to find Desmond, did his sacrifice of saving Charlie mean that Penny did not come for him, because he changed what was supposed to happen?

Going back to his earlier flashbacks, we learn that Desmond was a monk, though very briefly. (This finally explains why he calls everyone "brother" on the island!) This short time in the monastery taught him about sacrifice, specifically the story about God testing the faith of Abraham. We have already seen several occurances with other survivors whose faith has been tested on the island (Locke, Eko) and yet again, we have another character who is put to that test. Desmond showed that he was a GOOD person. He saved Charlie's life, yet again, even when he knew (or thought he knew) that he would get the one thing that he has been wanting: to be reunited with Penny again. According to his "vision" - if he did everything the way it was supposed to happen, he believed that Penny would come to the island. Yet, once again, he makes a sacrifice (saving Charlie) and his vision does not pan out the way he thinks it should be. He was so sure that the parachutist would be Penny coming for him. Especially when he sees the picture of the two of them in the backpack that he found next to where this mysterious woman crashed. Was it "supposed" to be Penny, but because Desmond failed to follow his vision EXACTLY how he envisioned it, it became someone else? That was the catch-22. He sacrificed his own "fate" to save Charlie's life, yet again.

The other relevance to the title of this episode, "Catch-22," is the book that Desmond found from the parachuter. However, the book was in another language as it was titled "Ardil-22" which is Portuguese. The two men that Penny hired to locate Desmond appeared to be Portuguese. Did the book come from them? And how did the picture get in it? If you remember the flashback where they actually took the picture - they took it on the street from a polaroid vendor - meaning there was only ONE picture - and Desmond broke up with Penny immediately afterwards, taking the picture with him (on the island). So where did the second picture come from?

We also learn from Desmond's flashbacks that he has always been running away from something (sounds like Kate...maybe those two should get together next?!!) We find out that he was in a six year relationship, then broke it off, before joining the monastery. He didn't know what his life purpose was, what he was supposed to do, and he felt this strange "calling" which is when he joined the monastery. But the monk put it into perspective for him. He told him that he has been running so long that he doesn't even realize what he may be running towards. All of these events (his breaking off the engagement, being "fired" from the monastery" - all eventually led him to Penny). Desmond believes that Penny was his destiny - and he has been racked with guilt the whole time on the island because he chose to leave her - whereas now he feels that she was the one thing in his life that was real. It was the old woman in the jewelry store who convinced him that his fate was to come to the island, that he had a greater purpose. But I think that he feels that she was his destiny, that he was meant to be with her. But the other events that led him to the island are now blocking him from being with her. She once told him that "with determination and money, you can find anyone." So he truly believes that she will find him and they are meant to be together. However, Desmond's faith is being tested, and if these "visions" are real, will he continue to save Charlie, or will he let FATE be as it is.

Speaking of the woman from the jewelry store, a very important scene from Desmond's flashback is when he is talking to the monk in his office, and the camera very obviously points us to the picture on the monk's desk, of him and his "sister." This woman is in fact the same woman from Desmond's flashback at the jewelry store, the woman who explains to Desmond his fate of going to the island, and convincing him that he must leave Penny, and do the greater good because he is meant to "save the world." How is this woman connected to the monk? Is it possible that this woman, and the monk, are actually a part of the Others and that they purposefully led Desmond's life towards a path that would get him to the island? Similar to how Juliette was "recruited," they could have led Desmond to believe that he was meant to be on that island. It is definitely ironic that these two people that just happen to be in a picture together, BOTH have a huge part in steering Desmond's life towards eventually ending up on the island. Remember, the monk thanks Penny for her father's generous donation. Her father - the president of Widmore Labs - which as we have seen has some connection to Dharma and the island. Are the monk, Penny's father, and the Others all tied together somehow?

Another point that seems to make more sense now... We have heard Desmond use the line "see you in another life, brother" several times. This has more meaning now. We have seen in Desmonds flashbacks the notion that he is reliving his life over and over again. Also, we have seen several different phases of his life that led him to where he is now. Each "life" that Desmond has led, has brought him towards his so-called "fate" of being on the island. First his life with his ex-fiance, then his life in the monastery, then his life with Penny, and then to the island. Each one of these "lives" he has been given the opportunity to start over, to have new life. The island in some ways represents new life. New life for all those who have lived there, new life for those who have been "tested" of their faith, and new life for those who have been healed (Locke, Rose), and new life for those who have been saved from their past sins (Kate, Sayid, Sawyer, etc). So the fact that Desmond keeps saying "see you in another life" makes more sense now. He said this to Jack the first time they met (in the stadium), and indeed he saw him in another "life" there on the island.


On another and completely unrelated note, I have to make a public apology to all the producers and staff at Guiding Light who read this - I apologize for calling soap operas "cheesy" in my previous post from the show "Exposé" a few weeks ago. A little birdy told me, and I didn't even realize that I did that. So sorry! That is not what I meant!!! I meant that the soap opera depicted in the show was cheesy (you have to admit, it was!) - not that all soap operas are cheesy. But, regardless, I am sorry. I hope that whenever I come visit NYC and come to the set you will all forgive me :)