The Variable
Encyclopedia
"The Variable" is the 14th television episode of the fifth season
of Lost
, and the 100th episode overall. It originally aired on the American Broadcasting Company
(ABC) in the United States on April 29, 2009. The hundredth episode milestone was celebrated by cast and crew on location in Hawaii
. In the episode, Daniel Faraday
(Jeremy Davies
) returns to the island in order to warn its inhabitants of a catastrophe involving the Dharma Initiative
research station, The Swan. Jack
(Matthew Fox
), Kate
(Evangeline Lilly
) and Daniel start a gun fight with Dharma, leading Dharma to go after Sawyer (Josh Holloway
) and Juliet
(Elizabeth Mitchell
). In flashbacks, Daniel's relationship with his parents, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan) and Charles Widmore
(Alan Dale
), is shown.
The episode was written by executive producers Edward Kitsis
and Adam Horowitz and directed by Paul Edwards
. It serves as a companion piece to the season four
episode "The Constant
", another episode that heavily features the character Daniel, and the third Lost episode to deal directly with the concept of time travel
. "The Variable" also features the death of Daniel, portrayed by American actor Jeremy Davies who, according to show runner
s Damon Lindelof
and Carlton Cuse
, took the news about the death well. Since airing, the episode has received generally positive reviews from television critics, mostly complimenting Davies's performance.
", Daniel has returned to the island, having spent three years in Ann Arbor, Michigan
, conducting research for the Dharma Initiative. He has returned because Jack, Kate and Hurley (Jorge Garcia
) have managed to travel back in time and join Dharma. After learning from Jack that they were sent to the island by Daniel's mother, Eloise (younger: Alice Evans
; older: Fionnula Flanagan), Daniel visits Dr. Pierre Chang (François Chau
) at the Orchid station and warns him of a catastrophic event that is to occur at the Swan station in six hours. Dr. Chang does not believe Daniel when he says that he is from the future, and Miles
(Ken Leung
) does not affirm Dan's story, even after Daniel informs Dr. Chang that Miles is his son from the future.
At the Barracks, Sawyer, Juliet, Jin
(Daniel Dae Kim), Hurley and Miles decide that they will flee to the survivors' original beach, abandoning Dharma. But Kate, Jack and Daniel decide to visit the island's native population, the "Others", and get help to prevent the impending disaster. They arouse suspicion from Dharma's head of research, Radzinsky (Eric Lange), while trying to steal weapons and a gun fight ensues. The survivors are able to escape; however, Radzinsky brings his team to Sawyer and Juliet's house, where they find Dharma member Phil (Patrick Fischler
) tied up. Meanwhile, Daniel explains to Jack and Kate that he intends to detonate the hydrogen bomb buried on the island in 1954 in order to prevent the construction of the Swan, which in turn will ensure that Oceanic Flight 815 never crashes on the island, which means it never becomes visible to Widmore's team, so he never sends the freighter which brings himself and Charlotte, therefore Charlotte doesn't die. Daniel enters the Others' camp with his gun drawn and demands that Richard Alpert
(Nestor Carbonell
) take him to see Eloise; Eloise shoots Daniel in the back as they argue, a move which provokes hostility from Richard. Before Daniel dies, he tells her that he is her son.
", Desmond
(Henry Ian Cusick
) is brought to a hospital, having been shot by Ben (Michael Emerson
). While waiting, his wife Penny (Sonya Walger
), is visited by Eloise, who apologizes for involving Desmond in everything that has happened. Penny later visits Desmond, who is expected to make a full recovery. Charles, who is also Penny's father, speaks with Eloise outside the hospital, but does not visit his daughter.
"The Variable" was written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and directed by Paul Edwards. Like most season five episodes, it features elements of time travel. It serves as a companion piece to the season four episode "The Constant", another episode that heavily features the character Daniel, and the third Lost episode to deal directly with the concept of time travel after "Flashes Before Your Eyes
" from the third season and
The Constant
" from the fourth season
. In "The Constant", Desmond and Sayid
(Naveen Andrews
) are on their way off the island when their helicopter hits turbulence, causing Desmond's 1996 consciousness to take over his 2004 body and switch uncontrollably between 1996 and 2004. Lost show runner Damon Lindelof said the fifth season of the show has "flung major characters across decades, leaving them — and the audience — feverishly attempting to keep events straight and the end game in sight." In "The Variable", the viewers would get a few more pieces of the puzzle, Lindelof said, and added: "We're not promising any big whiz-bang flash pyrotechnics, but it does serve as a companion piece to another memorable episode, last season's 'The Constant', in which Desmond endured vicious, turbulence-caused side effects from traveling in time." Lindelof also commented that the fifth season is about the rules of time travel as explained by Daniel, and said, "We've never done a flashback story for Daniel, so he's very mysterious. Some of those mysteries will be answered in this episode." Since Lindelof and his show runner partner Carlton Cuse wrote "The Constant", they thought the "sister episode" should be written by someone other than them, which led to Kitsis and Horowitz writing it. The two show runners were pleased with the outcome of the episode. Cuse thought it was one of the best episodes of the season.
The episode features the death of Jeremy Davies character Daniel Faraday. Daniel was introduced in the fourth season and was originally intended to be a minor character only. However, his quiet demeanor and seemingly good heart made him a favorite with the fans, so Lindelof and Cuse decided to expand Daniel's role, which has led to him being a key player in Losts eventual resolution. In response to Daniel's death, Cuse said, "It was an incredibly painful thing to kill this beloved character, but we feel that’s what this show has to do. His death is kind of the culminating event in the entire season. It really ends one chapter and commences the start of the final chapter of the entire series." Once the show runners explained that to Davies, he was saddened that his full-time status on Lost was coming to an end, but put the story "above his own personal self". Damon seconded Carlton's emotions, adding that Jeremy took the news well: "When Carlton and I called Jeremy to explain what was going to be happening with Daniel, we’ve never had a more awesome exit interview with somebody on the show. For us, Daniel really was the cornerstone of the fifth season – he really shined. I can’t imagine what Season 5 would have looked like without Jeremy Davies. When you think about all the crazy stuff that had to come out of that guy’s mouth, for him to be as interesting and emotional and poetic as he was is really extraordinary." The cast of the show said Davies would be missed, though he may not be done with Lost — Carlton commented that Jeremy's "full-time" status was over, but dead characters have been known to reappear on the show. Michael Emerson, who plays Ben, said Davies was "a great sensitive guy who got deep into his character, he really lived it."
"The Variable" was the hundredth episode of the show to be produced and aired on television. Josh Holloway, who plays the role of Sawyer, said, "Just statistically speaking, to hit a hundred episodes doesn't happen very often, especially on a show where everyone is saying 'Lost on an island? What are you gonna do after a season or two?', so the fact that we've lasted not only a season or two but flourishing still at this time... it's shocking... it's amazing to me." In an interview with The News & Observer
, Lindelof recalled meeting with the ABC executives in 2004 to pitch the idea of a plane crash and survivors stranded on an island full of mystery and danger. When Lindelof was asked by the executives where the Lost saga would stand in the future, he replied, "We're probably not going to get past episode thirteen. Let's all be honest about that up front." Lindelof added that if he had "traveled back in time to tell myself after that meeting that we were going to make it to a hundred and still have a season beyond that, I would have laughed in my face." The hundredth episode milestone was celebrated by the cast and crew on location in Oahu, Hawaii. Duff Goldman
and his crew from the Food Network
's American television show Ace of Cakes
made a special Lost cake for the party to commemorate the milestone. The cake featured replicas of a Dharma beer bottles, the computer from the Swan station, a suitcase and a miniature Oceanic Flight 815. The Ace of Cakes episode featuring the making of the cake aired on the Food Network in the United States on May 9, 2009.
"The Variable" was watched live or recorded and watched within five hours of broadcast by 8.8 million viewers in the United States, achieving a 3.9/10 in the coveted adults aged eighteen to forty-nine demographic. Lost was that Wednesday's number one scripted television show in the aforementioned demographic for its thirteenth straight original telecast. In Australia, the episode was watched by 296,000 people, ranking forty-sixth for the night.
Since airing, the episode has received generally positive reviews from television critics, mostly complimenting Davies's performance as Daniel. Chris Carabott of IGN
commented that if this is the last appearance of Davies on Lost, which he "somehow" doubts, then, "I'm glad he had the opportunity to leave on such a strong note. He delivers in some really great, emotional, moments this week – especially in the scenes in which he is suffering from memory deterioration. I've become a huge fan of Davies over the course of the last couple of years thanks to his performance on this show." Rachel Dovey of Paste
said the episode revealed "a whole different" side of Daniel: "We've oscillated before about the true nature of the physicist, whether it's good or evil [...] We decided he's mostly a decent guy, barring the whole experimenting-on-his-girlfriend-then-running-away-when-her-brain-turned-to-mush thing. In the past, he's just seemed lost and confused, and, since he has those big, earnest puppy eyes, we decided to forgive him. But 'The Variable' showed us the dynamic at the heart of Daniel's stuttering vulnerability. Like all broken superheroes and Freudian beings, the man has mommy issues. This week we dove inside the dynamic between Daniel and his mother growing up."
Adam Sweeney of Film School Rejects was positive about the episode, "For anyone who has been complaining that Lost had been too slow lately, here you go. Those who watched 'The Variable' saw more action than (basketball player) Wilt Chamberlain
. They, and by they I mean we, also got a clear explanation of how the islanders got onto the island. You wanted answers, you got them." Sweeney also believed Davies's acting was the "high point" of the episode. David Oliver of CHUD.com gave the episode a 8.6 rating out of 10, and commented that it was a "good" episode, though he was "bummed" to see Daniel go. Oliver also said that while the episode did "very little" to advance the season storyline significantly, there were "some significant" developments and revelations in it. TV Verdict's Stephen Lackey said the episode was "fast paced" and featured "one exciting twist after another".
The episode also received some criticism. Dan Compora of Airlock Alpha
said after a run of "several strong" episodes, Lost "has slipped into mediocrity. While none of the recent episodes have been bad, they haven't been anything special. For a hundredth episode, average simply isn't good enough. While the shooting of Daniel at the end was stunning, I expected something much more from the rest of the episode than learning the identity of Daniel's parents." A reviewer for TVoholic.com thought the episode was good, though not as good as "The Constant", and he thought "it came with lots of answers and references to past episodes from this season and the ones before it, making it all the more exciting." The reviewer would, however, have "loved any sort of explanation as to why [Daniel] changed his mind about changing the past or how he thought this could work. There must have been something that made Daniel think this was possible, but he was in such a rush that he never took care to explain." Jon Lachonis of TVOvermind said that as an internal character piece, "The Variable" was not "so much a great ending for Daniel. We brushed up against many key events and people – Theresa, Daniel’s ‘nurse’, and the Widmore and Eloise parental connection, etc. – but these forays into the geniuses’ past events were more to thread Daniel through the plot than to establish their connection to who Daniel truly was."
Lost (season 5)
The fifth season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing on the ABC network in the United States and on A in Canada in January 2009, and concluded with a two-hour season finale on May 13, 2009...
of Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
, and the 100th episode overall. It originally aired on the American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
(ABC) in the United States on April 29, 2009. The hundredth episode milestone was celebrated by cast and crew on location in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. In the episode, Daniel Faraday
Daniel Faraday
Dr. Daniel Faraday, often referred to as Dan or simply by his surname, Faraday, is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Jeremy Davies. Faraday is introduced in the season four premiere as a physicist, suffering from memory loss, and is part of the team aboard the ...
(Jeremy Davies
Jeremy Davies (actor)
Jeremy Davies is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying the interpreter Cpl. Timothy E. Upham in the film Saving Private Ryan and the physicist Daniel Faraday on the television series Lost. He most recently appeared in the FX series, Justified, as Dickie Bennett.-Early...
) returns to the island in order to warn its inhabitants of a catastrophe involving the Dharma Initiative
DHARMA Initiative
The Dharma Initiative, also written DHARMA , was a fictional research project featured in the television series Lost. It was introduced in the second season episode "Orientation". In 2008, the Dharma Initiative website was launched. Dharma's interests were directly connected with fringe science...
research station, The Swan. Jack
Jack Shephard
Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and protagonist of the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Lost follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to survive and escape, slowly uncovering more of the much broader...
(Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox (actor)
Matthew Chandler Fox is an American actor. He is mostly known for his role as Charlie Salinger on Party of Five, and for portraying Jack Shephard on the supernatural drama television series Lost.- Early life :...
), Kate
Kate Austen
Katherine Anne "Kate" Austen is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly. She is the de facto female lead...
(Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly is a Canadian actress, best known for her role as Kate Austen in the ABC drama, Lost.-Early life:...
) and Daniel start a gun fight with Dharma, leading Dharma to go after Sawyer (Josh Holloway
Josh Holloway
Joshua Lee "Josh" Holloway is an American actor and model from Free Home, Georgia. He is best known for his role as James "Sawyer" Ford on the American television show Lost.-Early life:...
) and Juliet
Juliet Burke
Dr. Juliet Burke is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Elizabeth Mitchell. Her character was introduced in the third season premiere.- Prior to arrival on the island :...
(Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell , is an American actress/modelwho is known for her roles as Dr. Juliet Burke on ABC's TV series Lost and as FBI agent Erica Evans on V. She has starred in such films as The Santa Clause 2, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, and Gia.-Early life:Mitchell was born Elizabeth...
). In flashbacks, Daniel's relationship with his parents, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan) and Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific. He is primarily portrayed as an older man by Alan Dale; Tom Connolly and David S...
(Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Alan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale developed a love of theatre and also became a rugby player. After retiring from the sport he took on a number of professions to support his family, before deciding to become a professional actor at the age of 27. With work limited in New...
), is shown.
The episode was written by executive producers Edward Kitsis
Edward Kitsis
Edward Lawrence Kitsis, also sometimes credited as Eddy Kitsis, is an American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on the popular American television series, Lost and Once Upon a Time.-Life and career:...
and Adam Horowitz and directed by Paul Edwards
Paul Edwards (cinematographer)
Paul A. Edwards is an American cinematographer, camera operator and television director. He has worked as a camera operator and cinematographer on various mainstream films and has also directed several episodes of many series, including Lost and Fringe.- Cinematographer :* The Master * Eye of the...
. It serves as a companion piece to the season four
Lost (season 4)
The fourth season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing on the American Broadcasting Company Network in the United States, and on CTV in Canada on January 31, 2008 and concluded on May 29, 2008...
episode "The Constant
The Constant
"The Constant" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the American Broadcasting Company's serial drama television series Lost, and the 77th episode overall. It was aired on February 28, 2008, on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada...
", another episode that heavily features the character Daniel, and the third Lost episode to deal directly with the concept of time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
. "The Variable" also features the death of Daniel, portrayed by American actor Jeremy Davies who, according to show runner
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
s Damon Lindelof
Damon Lindelof
Damon Laurence Lindelof is an American television writer and executive, most recently noted as the co-creator and executive producer for the television series Lost. He has written for and produced Crossing Jordan, and wrote for Nash Bridges, Wasteland, and the MTV anthology series Undressed...
and Carlton Cuse
Carlton Cuse
Carlton Cuse is an AmericanEmmy Award winning screenwriter and producer, most famous as executive producer andscreenwriter for the American television series Lost for...
, took the news about the death well. Since airing, the episode has received generally positive reviews from television critics, mostly complimenting Davies's performance.
Flashbacks
At a young age, Eloise asks Daniel if he knows what destiny is and then tells him that he has a special gift — his brilliant mind — and that his destiny relies on this. After Daniel graduates from Oxford University, Eloise gives him a new blank journal as a gift and again reminds him of his destiny. Meanwhile, Daniel has received an enormous research grant from Charles, who Daniel does not know is actually his father. Years later, following the crash of Flight 815, Daniel has suffered severe psychological effects from performing experiments on himself; he has lost his mental acuity, and now lives with a caretaker. While watching the news coverage of the discovery of the Flight 815 wreckage in the Sunda Trench, Daniel is visited by Charles, who tells him that he faked the found wreckage and that the real plane actually landed on the island. Charles invites Daniel to go to the island, which Charles claims will cure his psychological problems. Eloise later visits Daniel and further encourages him to go to the island.1977
Following the events of the previous episode, "Some Like It HothSome Like It Hoth
"Some Like It Hoth" is the 13th television episode of the fifth season of ABC's Lost. The 99th episode of the show overall, "Some Like It Hoth" aired on April 15, 2009 on ABC in the United States. The episode was written by co-producer Melinda Hsu Taylor and "Eggtown" writer Greggory Nations and...
", Daniel has returned to the island, having spent three years in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, conducting research for the Dharma Initiative. He has returned because Jack, Kate and Hurley (Jorge Garcia
Jorge Garcia
Jorge García is a U.S. actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show Becker and later for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in the television series Lost. Garcia also performs as a stand-up comedian.-Early life:García was born...
) have managed to travel back in time and join Dharma. After learning from Jack that they were sent to the island by Daniel's mother, Eloise (younger: Alice Evans
Alice Evans
Alice Jane Evans is an American-born English actress.-Early life:Evans, the daughter of educators and the granddaughter of a coal miner, was born in New Jersey, USA and grew up in Bristol, England. She graduated from University College London with a 2:1 in French and Italian.-Career:After...
; older: Fionnula Flanagan), Daniel visits Dr. Pierre Chang (François Chau
François Chau
François Chau is a Cambodian-American actor. He is known for his role as Dr. Pierre Chang in ABC's Lost, and as The Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze....
) at the Orchid station and warns him of a catastrophic event that is to occur at the Swan station in six hours. Dr. Chang does not believe Daniel when he says that he is from the future, and Miles
Miles Straume
Miles Straume is a fictional character played by Ken Leung on the ABC television series Lost. Miles is introduced early in the fourth season as a hotheaded and sarcastic medium as a crew member aboard the freighter called the Kahana that is offshore the island where most of Lost takes place...
(Ken Leung
Ken Leung
Kenneth "Ken" Leung is an American actor best known for his role as Miles Straume in the ABC television series Lost and roles in such films as Shanghai Kiss, Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Saw.-Early life:...
) does not affirm Dan's story, even after Daniel informs Dr. Chang that Miles is his son from the future.
At the Barracks, Sawyer, Juliet, Jin
Jin-Soo Kwon
Jin-Soo Kwon, better known as "Jin," is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Daniel Dae Kim.- Prior to the crash :...
(Daniel Dae Kim), Hurley and Miles decide that they will flee to the survivors' original beach, abandoning Dharma. But Kate, Jack and Daniel decide to visit the island's native population, the "Others", and get help to prevent the impending disaster. They arouse suspicion from Dharma's head of research, Radzinsky (Eric Lange), while trying to steal weapons and a gun fight ensues. The survivors are able to escape; however, Radzinsky brings his team to Sawyer and Juliet's house, where they find Dharma member Phil (Patrick Fischler
Patrick Fischler
Patrick Fischler is an American actor best known for his roles as Jimmy Barrett on the drama series Mad Men, Dharma Initiative worker Phil on the drama series Lost and Detective Kenny No-Gun on the police drama Southland...
) tied up. Meanwhile, Daniel explains to Jack and Kate that he intends to detonate the hydrogen bomb buried on the island in 1954 in order to prevent the construction of the Swan, which in turn will ensure that Oceanic Flight 815 never crashes on the island, which means it never becomes visible to Widmore's team, so he never sends the freighter which brings himself and Charlotte, therefore Charlotte doesn't die. Daniel enters the Others' camp with his gun drawn and demands that Richard Alpert
Richard Alpert (Lost)
Ricardo "Richard" Alpert is a fictional character played by Nestor Carbonell in the American ABC television series Lost. Alpert is introduced in a flashback of the character Juliet Burke , where he claims to be a doctor for a bioscience company called Mittelos Bioscience; he is later revealed to...
(Nestor Carbonell
Nestor Carbonell
Nestor Gastón Carbonell is an American actor, known for portraying Richard Alpert in ABC's drama Lost and Mayor Anthony Garcia in the film The Dark Knight...
) take him to see Eloise; Eloise shoots Daniel in the back as they argue, a move which provokes hostility from Richard. Before Daniel dies, he tells her that he is her son.
2007
Following the events of "Dead is DeadDead Is Dead
"Dead Is Dead" is the 12th television episode of the fifth season of ABC's Lost. The 98th episode of the show overall, "Dead Is Dead" aired on April 8, 2009 on ABC in the United States and aired on April 12, 2009 on Sky1 in the United Kingdom. The episode was written by editor Brian K...
", Desmond
Desmond Hume
Desmond David Hume is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick. Desmond's name is a tribute to David Hume, the famous empiricist author and philosopher. Desmond was not a passenger of Flight 815. He had been stranded on the island three years prior to...
(Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick is a Scottish-Peruvian actor of stage, television, and film. He is well-known for his role as Desmond Hume on the United States television series Lost, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination....
) is brought to a hospital, having been shot by Ben (Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...
). While waiting, his wife Penny (Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger is an English actress known for her roles in the ABC series Lost as Penelope "Penny" Widmore, and as Olivia Benford on ABC's FlashForward.-Education:...
), is visited by Eloise, who apologizes for involving Desmond in everything that has happened. Penny later visits Desmond, who is expected to make a full recovery. Charles, who is also Penny's father, speaks with Eloise outside the hospital, but does not visit his daughter.
Production
Flashes Before Your Eyes
"Flashes Before Your Eyes" is the 8th episode of the third season of the American drama television series Lost, and the show's 57th episode overall. The episode was written by the series co-creator, show runner and executive producer Damon Lindelof and supervising producer Drew Goddard, and...
" from the third season and
The Constant
The Constant
"The Constant" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the American Broadcasting Company's serial drama television series Lost, and the 77th episode overall. It was aired on February 28, 2008, on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada...
" from the fourth season
Lost (season 4)
The fourth season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing on the American Broadcasting Company Network in the United States, and on CTV in Canada on January 31, 2008 and concluded on May 29, 2008...
. In "The Constant", Desmond and Sayid
Sayid Jarrah
Sayid Hassan Jarrah is a character from the ABC show Lost portrayed by Naveen Andrews.-Season 1:Sayid fixes the transceiver recovered from the cockpit, and leads a group into the jungle in order to send out a distress signal. Instead, he picks up a looping message . He tries to locate the...
(Naveen Andrews
Naveen Andrews
Naveen William Sidney Andrews is a British American actor. He is best known for portraying Kip in the movie The English Patient and Sayid Jarrah on the American television series Lost.-Early life:...
) are on their way off the island when their helicopter hits turbulence, causing Desmond's 1996 consciousness to take over his 2004 body and switch uncontrollably between 1996 and 2004. Lost show runner Damon Lindelof said the fifth season of the show has "flung major characters across decades, leaving them — and the audience — feverishly attempting to keep events straight and the end game in sight." In "The Variable", the viewers would get a few more pieces of the puzzle, Lindelof said, and added: "We're not promising any big whiz-bang flash pyrotechnics, but it does serve as a companion piece to another memorable episode, last season's 'The Constant', in which Desmond endured vicious, turbulence-caused side effects from traveling in time." Lindelof also commented that the fifth season is about the rules of time travel as explained by Daniel, and said, "We've never done a flashback story for Daniel, so he's very mysterious. Some of those mysteries will be answered in this episode." Since Lindelof and his show runner partner Carlton Cuse wrote "The Constant", they thought the "sister episode" should be written by someone other than them, which led to Kitsis and Horowitz writing it. The two show runners were pleased with the outcome of the episode. Cuse thought it was one of the best episodes of the season.
The episode features the death of Jeremy Davies character Daniel Faraday. Daniel was introduced in the fourth season and was originally intended to be a minor character only. However, his quiet demeanor and seemingly good heart made him a favorite with the fans, so Lindelof and Cuse decided to expand Daniel's role, which has led to him being a key player in Losts eventual resolution. In response to Daniel's death, Cuse said, "It was an incredibly painful thing to kill this beloved character, but we feel that’s what this show has to do. His death is kind of the culminating event in the entire season. It really ends one chapter and commences the start of the final chapter of the entire series." Once the show runners explained that to Davies, he was saddened that his full-time status on Lost was coming to an end, but put the story "above his own personal self". Damon seconded Carlton's emotions, adding that Jeremy took the news well: "When Carlton and I called Jeremy to explain what was going to be happening with Daniel, we’ve never had a more awesome exit interview with somebody on the show. For us, Daniel really was the cornerstone of the fifth season – he really shined. I can’t imagine what Season 5 would have looked like without Jeremy Davies. When you think about all the crazy stuff that had to come out of that guy’s mouth, for him to be as interesting and emotional and poetic as he was is really extraordinary." The cast of the show said Davies would be missed, though he may not be done with Lost — Carlton commented that Jeremy's "full-time" status was over, but dead characters have been known to reappear on the show. Michael Emerson, who plays Ben, said Davies was "a great sensitive guy who got deep into his character, he really lived it."
"The Variable" was the hundredth episode of the show to be produced and aired on television. Josh Holloway, who plays the role of Sawyer, said, "Just statistically speaking, to hit a hundred episodes doesn't happen very often, especially on a show where everyone is saying 'Lost on an island? What are you gonna do after a season or two?', so the fact that we've lasted not only a season or two but flourishing still at this time... it's shocking... it's amazing to me." In an interview with The News & Observer
The News & Observer
The News & Observer is the regional daily newspaper of the Research Triangle area of the U.S. State of North Carolina. The N&O, as it is popularly called, is based in Raleigh and also covers Durham, Cary, and Chapel Hill. The paper also has substantial readership in most of the state east of...
, Lindelof recalled meeting with the ABC executives in 2004 to pitch the idea of a plane crash and survivors stranded on an island full of mystery and danger. When Lindelof was asked by the executives where the Lost saga would stand in the future, he replied, "We're probably not going to get past episode thirteen. Let's all be honest about that up front." Lindelof added that if he had "traveled back in time to tell myself after that meeting that we were going to make it to a hundred and still have a season beyond that, I would have laughed in my face." The hundredth episode milestone was celebrated by the cast and crew on location in Oahu, Hawaii. Duff Goldman
Duff Goldman
Jeffrey Adam "Duff" Goldman is a pastry chef and television personality. He is the executive chef of the Baltimore-based Charm City Cakes shop which is featured in the Food Network reality television show Ace of Cakes...
and his crew from the Food Network
Food Network
Food Network is a television specialty channel that airs both one-time and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns 70 percent of the network, with Tribune Company controlling the remaining 30 percent....
's American television show Ace of Cakes
Ace of Cakes
Ace of Cakes is an American reality television show which airs on the Food Network. The show focuses on the daily operations of Duff Goldman's custom cake shop, Charm City Cakes, in Baltimore, Maryland; including small-business ownership, working with various vendors, tasting with customers,...
made a special Lost cake for the party to commemorate the milestone. The cake featured replicas of a Dharma beer bottles, the computer from the Swan station, a suitcase and a miniature Oceanic Flight 815. The Ace of Cakes episode featuring the making of the cake aired on the Food Network in the United States on May 9, 2009.
Reception
Since airing, the episode has received generally positive reviews from television critics, mostly complimenting Davies's performance as Daniel. Chris Carabott of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
commented that if this is the last appearance of Davies on Lost, which he "somehow" doubts, then, "I'm glad he had the opportunity to leave on such a strong note. He delivers in some really great, emotional, moments this week – especially in the scenes in which he is suffering from memory deterioration. I've become a huge fan of Davies over the course of the last couple of years thanks to his performance on this show." Rachel Dovey of Paste
Paste (magazine)
Paste is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine published in the United States by Wolfgang's Vault. Its tagline is "Signs of Life in Music, Film and Culture."-History:...
said the episode revealed "a whole different" side of Daniel: "We've oscillated before about the true nature of the physicist, whether it's good or evil [...] We decided he's mostly a decent guy, barring the whole experimenting-on-his-girlfriend-then-running-away-when-her-brain-turned-to-mush thing. In the past, he's just seemed lost and confused, and, since he has those big, earnest puppy eyes, we decided to forgive him. But 'The Variable' showed us the dynamic at the heart of Daniel's stuttering vulnerability. Like all broken superheroes and Freudian beings, the man has mommy issues. This week we dove inside the dynamic between Daniel and his mother growing up."
Adam Sweeney of Film School Rejects was positive about the episode, "For anyone who has been complaining that Lost had been too slow lately, here you go. Those who watched 'The Variable' saw more action than (basketball player) Wilt Chamberlain
Wilt Chamberlain
Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain was an American professional NBA basketball player for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers; he also played for the Harlem Globetrotters prior to playing in the NBA...
. They, and by they I mean we, also got a clear explanation of how the islanders got onto the island. You wanted answers, you got them." Sweeney also believed Davies's acting was the "high point" of the episode. David Oliver of CHUD.com gave the episode a 8.6 rating out of 10, and commented that it was a "good" episode, though he was "bummed" to see Daniel go. Oliver also said that while the episode did "very little" to advance the season storyline significantly, there were "some significant" developments and revelations in it. TV Verdict's Stephen Lackey said the episode was "fast paced" and featured "one exciting twist after another".
The episode also received some criticism. Dan Compora of Airlock Alpha
Airlock Alpha
Airlock Alpha, formerly SyFy Portal, is an entertainment news website focusing on science-fiction, fantasy and comic book television series and films.-History:...
said after a run of "several strong" episodes, Lost "has slipped into mediocrity. While none of the recent episodes have been bad, they haven't been anything special. For a hundredth episode, average simply isn't good enough. While the shooting of Daniel at the end was stunning, I expected something much more from the rest of the episode than learning the identity of Daniel's parents." A reviewer for TVoholic.com thought the episode was good, though not as good as "The Constant", and he thought "it came with lots of answers and references to past episodes from this season and the ones before it, making it all the more exciting." The reviewer would, however, have "loved any sort of explanation as to why [Daniel] changed his mind about changing the past or how he thought this could work. There must have been something that made Daniel think this was possible, but he was in such a rush that he never took care to explain." Jon Lachonis of TVOvermind said that as an internal character piece, "The Variable" was not "so much a great ending for Daniel. We brushed up against many key events and people – Theresa, Daniel’s ‘nurse’, and the Widmore and Eloise parental connection, etc. – but these forays into the geniuses’ past events were more to thread Daniel through the plot than to establish their connection to who Daniel truly was."
External links
- "The Variable" at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...
- "The Variable" at LostpediaLostpediaLostpedia is a wiki-powered online encyclopedia of information regarding the American television drama Lost. Launched on September 22, 2005 by Kevin Croy, the site uses MediaWiki software to maintain a user-created database of information...