Before Happily Ever After aired for the first time Damon Lindelof tweeted, "In one week, the conversation is going to change."
He wasn't lying. HEA is the moment we turn a major corner in the flash-sideways (FS) and it's a crazy ride from here on out.
Phase 1 of the FS involved delving into the conflicts, fears, and regrets harbored by the characters we'd grown to love. Happily Ever After introduces Phase 2, which is a path each character must take to remember those who helped them overcome those obstacles. For lack of a better term I'll refer to this moment of remembrance as an "awakening".
What's interesting is how Desmond seemingly enters the FS. He's brought to a chamber at Hydra Island and subjected to a (typically) lethal amount of electromagnetism, which sends his subconscious right into the thick of the FS. I won't try to reconcile how he was able to go there, interact with others, and then return to the Hydra in present-day but that's another matter.
Once in the FS, Desmond returns to Charles Widmore's office and finds himself warmly greeted. Once again a character "fixes" things in the FS, getting past one of the primary obstacles in his former life. But the twist is the next task Widmore assigns him: he is to bring Charlie Pace to a gig at a charity concert.
Charlie already seems to have had a mini-awakening of some sort, which was sadly interrupted when Jack pulled the bag of heroin out of his throat (LA X). In order to help Desmond see what he's referring to, Charlie rides in Desmond's car long enough to steer it into the ocean. Desmond frantically swims down to save Charlie, Charlie raises his hand to the glass, and [ B O O M ]. We, the audience, finally get our first cross-reality reference. We get our first taste of an awakening.
It happens again post-crash when Desmond gets an MRI and sees visions of former-reality Penny. A conversation with Daniel Widmore (Faraday) further pushes Desmond toward the moment of truth — meeting Penny at a nearby stadium.
Desmond snaps back to consciousness at the Hydra and he's suddenly a changed man. He's convinced he knows exactly what awaits him and becomes a willing participant in Widmore's plan. Much like Juliet got a glimpse of something beautiful before her life slipped away, Desmond got an extended preview while being zapped within an inch of his life.
Let's face it, any episode featuring Henry Ian Cusick has instant credibility. Even when he's being thrown into a box by a bunch of silly Widmore goons, you know something profound is about to happen. Desmond's due for yet another grandiose adventure which will require just about every emotion across the spectrum. Cusick nails them all as expected.
I've seen a few online complaints about Dominic Monaghan's portrayal of Charlie in this episode, and I have to agree that his performance wasn't exactly what I expected. This wasn't the vibrant Charlie we remembered from the island, this was a dark, standoffish version instead. I'm willing to chalk it up to simply being an effect of his FS circumstances, but others have suggested he was simply caught in his personna from Flash Forward (the canceled series). Since I didn't watch FF I'll have to take their word for it.
Seeing Jeremy Davies, Sonya Walger, and Fisher Stevens again was a real treat and made this feel like the ambitious, sprawling episodes of old.
The rating is dampened a bit by Fionnula Flanagan (Eloise) and Fred Koehler (Seamus), both distractions in an otherwise well-acted episode.
I'll start right off with a scene that featured phenomenal execution from everyone involved, from Jack Bender to Henry Ian Cusick to Michael Giacchino. Can you guess which scene I'm referring to?
It's the crash of Desmond's car into the marina waters. It's a moment triggered right in the middle of a conversation and therefore snaps us to attention. Then Bender puts us right in the back seat as the car slams into the ocean and water violently rushes in. Positively bone-chilling.
Desmond swims to the surface, gulps in air, then swims back down to Charlie for the first "awakening". Note how Giacchino's score is synchronized with the various stages of the scene, how the mood evolves along with what we see. We go from shock to suspense to an extremely emotional jolt — the iconic image of "Not Penny's Boat" scribbled on Charlie's hand.
Desmond's MRI awakening is yet another stirring visual. It's a safe bet that all of the awakenings from this point forward will win me over, so apologies in advance if I sound like a broken record.
Bonus points for the ultra-cool effects of the solenoid coils in Widmore's box at the Hydra.
The most important aspect of Happily Ever After is the timing in which it aired. I don't think the audience was willing to handle another Recon or The Package; we needed some forward movement in identifying the nature of the FS was and that's exactly what HEA gave us.
HEA certainly packs a punch when it comes to nostalgia. Charlie's back in the mix, Desmond is meeting Penny all over again (at the stadium from Man of Science, Man of Faith no less!), and 'ole Faraday has blessed us with his presence. Good times!
The first time through I was genuinely shocked at the "Not Penny's Boat" moment, and by then I was already reeling from Charlie apparently trying to kill himself and Desmond in one fell swoop. The "awakening" moments were very emotional even if I didn't understand their exact nature yet.
There was a trade-off to all this, though. When HEA first aired I was becoming convinced that these two apparent realities would somehow merge, fuse, whatever. Therefore it seemed any significant moments (namely character deaths) in the future would be marked with an asterisk, with an excellent chance those moments would be negated post-merge. Luckily I had no idea what I was talking about back then.
