Flashes before your eyes was certainly one of my favorite episodes. It was a Desmond Centric and we found out a lot about Desmond and his colorful past. In this episode we see Desmond, Locke, Sayid, Charlie and Hurley all in the jungle as Locke & Sayid explain Eko’s death. During Sayid & Locke’s explanation we notice Desmond acting strange and looking around, shortly after we see Desmond running to the beach, undressing very quickly and then he starts swimming far out to sea only to return with Claire who was drowning. This leaving Hurley and Charlie very puzzled into how Desmond knew Claire was drowning.

Charlie and Hurley approach Desmond and Charlie offers him whiskey as a peace offering for saving Claire’s Life. Although at first Desmond rejects Charlie’s offer, he finds out the brand of whiskey (MacCutcheon) and begins to laugh. Then we see all three enjoying the drink. When everyone is drunk, Charlie works up the courage to question Desmond about how he knew about Claire’s drowning/the lightning. Desmond is, at first, reluctant to talk and walks away. Charlie calls Desmond a coward which then provokes Desmond to attack him. Once Desmond has pinned him to the ground, he yells the Charlie doesn’t want to know what happened when he turned the key’. Then we see Desmond’s flashback…

We see a very nervous Desmond meeting Penelope’s father for the first time in a flashback. Desmond is all suited up sitting in Widmores office whilst Widmore looks over his previous experience and begins asking him questions. After a tense 5 minutes of Desmond being grilled, Widmore offers Desmond a job with him in the administrative department only for Desmond to knock back and reply ” with all due respect sir, I did not come here to interview for a job I came here to ask for your permission to have your daughter’s hand in marriage”. Widmore smiles and replies “that is a very kind and noble gesture” Widmore then walks over to his drinks cabinet asking Desmond if he knows anything about whiskey, Desmond replies with “no sir” and Widmore then lifts two glasses from the cabinet a bottle of whiskey. Widmore explains that the whiskey he holds (MacCutcheon) was named after a great man who achieved great things in his career (Anderson MacCutcheon). Widmore says many great things about this man and uses this as a sort of anticlimax towards Desmond. He says , as he drinks the whiskey “this drink is worth more than the average man makes in a month- if you’re not good enough to drink my whiskey, what makes you think you’re good enough for my daughter”.

Despite Mr Widmore’s words, Desmond decides that he’s going to ask Penelope for her hand in marriage. Desmond visits the jewelers looking for a ring for Penelope. The jeweller is made aware of Desmond’s price range and then picks out, what she considers as, the perfect ring for him to get for Penelope.
When Desmond agrees to purchase the ring, he’s told that he can’t have it. Desmond is confused about why he is being refused to buy the ring. The jeweler tells him he isn’t supposed to buy the ring and he is in fact supposed to break Penelope’s heart. The jeweler seems to know everything about Desmond’s life, including his life on the island, despite this being their first encounter.
Although this is their first meeting Desmond believes the jeweler is telling the truth and therefore ends the relationship with Penelope, believing if he hadn’t, fate would’ve have been tempted!

If you have seen this episode and have any thoughts on the subjects covered, or anything else feel free to share your opinions by leaving a comment.