"Flashes Before Your Eyes" (Season 3, Episode 8)

After watching last night's show, then re-watching it just now, I feel like Desmond after the hatch implosion - it blew my socks off! Incredible. This show never ceases to amaze me. The episode "Flashes Before Your Eyes" made my head spin. Last week's brainwashing sequence with Carl included audio when played in reverse said "Only fools are enslaved by time and space." How appropriate. This was the first time "Lost" did not follow the typical format of alternating between the island and a character's past in a series of flashbacks. I am of the opinion that what we saw was not a flashback (no "whooshing" sound) but what went through Desmond's mind after the hatch implosion, mixing actual events from his life with aspects of the island. He even explained at the end of the episode that his life flashed before his eyes.

Best Line: "This is why we don't do drugs." Charlie to the passersby regarding Desmond's erratic behavior.

Did You Notice?

• The book Hurley took from Sawyer's stash was "Laughter in the Dark" by Vladimir Nabokov. The story deals with the affection of a middle-aged man for a very young woman, a theme Nabokov would address again in his novel, "Lolita".
• Prior to the implosion, the magnetic force pulled paint cans off the shelf. Is this why Desmond "came to" in the middle of painting his flat?
• Speaking of which, the partially painted over label on the paint can read "Futu". Future?
• There was one of those reocurring eyeball close-ups (Desmond's this time) we've seen featured throughout the series.
• Penny's comments "It's not the end of the world" and "Des, where are you?" both take on a deeper meaning in the big picture.
• Daddy Widmore's office included a painting of a polar bear and the word "Namaste" written backwards across the top. This means "good luck" and was used to close the orientation film and video.
• Charlie's donation sign revealed his middle name: Hieronymus. Rearrange the letters and you get "heroin yums". Also, Hieronymus Bosch was a famous Dutch painter known for his depiction of Hell. And Hieronymus of Cardia was a Greek historian during the time of Alexander the Great.
• Charlie was singing Oasis's song Wonderwall, which has the lyrics "You're gonna be the one who saves me." Appropriate since Desmond did it twice.
• During the soccer game on the pub television, the advertisers around the stadium's walls included these familiar names: Apollo Candy Bars, Oceanic Air, Hanso Foundation, Butties Diapers (Charlie's band Driveshaft's attempt at a commercial); Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack (Hurley's former employer), and a company called Kronos (the Greek titan Chronos was the personifacation of time).
• There were a number of chiming and ticking clocks in the jewelry store with the mysterious white-haired woman who knew quite a lot about Desmond. Again, the reminder of time.
• I liked the ripple effect the ring made when Desmond threw it into the river. Symbolic of the impact one action can have on everything around it.
• Another Wizard of Oz reference: The man crushed by the scaffolding reminded me of the Wicked Witch of the East after Dorothy's house fell on her, right down to the footware. Granted, he had on red sneakers and not ruby slippers, but close enough.
  

Did You Notice All the Red Stuff?
Much like "The Sixth Sense", last night's episode used the color red as a recurring theme. Included were Claire's top when she was drowning, Desmond's shirt in the photo, the whiskey bottle's label, the hatch's countdown clock, the paint, the microwave's clock, the redhead with Desmond's physicist friend, the crushed man's sneakers, and the exercise bike mangled after the hatch's implosion.

The Numbers - 4 8 15 16 23 42 (and sometimes 108 and definitely 2 and 6)

• There were the obvious ones that Desmond noticed: the clock reading 1:08 and the delivery going to 815.
  
• Desmond and Penny had been together for 2 years.
  
• There were 2 minutes left in the soccer game on the pub's TV.

Previews - Next week's "Stranger in a Strange Land" is promoted as answering three of the island's biggest mysteries. We also see the return of Cindy, the Oceanic Air flight attendant who disappeared as the Tailies were returning Sawyer in Season 2. Also, actress Diana Scarwid (who played Joan Crawford's daughter in "Mommie Dearest") questions Jack about his tattoo in this episode that features a Jack flashback.