“If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant“, Daniel Faraday in Lost.
Desmond Hume is one of the best written and placed characters in the history of Lost. Not one of the survivors, not one of the Others, but a autonomous narrative vein pregnant with dramatic poetry and romantic tragedy. Yet, even if apparently destined for unhappiness, Desmond has the incredible ability to affect the lives of all the characters, both in their life on the island and in that so-called parallel reality prodromal to the final farewell. Like a fallen angel, the Scotsman unites all plots, unconsciously for a long time, tries to save those who cannot be saved and above all rediscovers what his cowardice had made him lose: the love.
The character from whose angle of perspective can best appreciate the role and the very essence of Desmond is undoubtedly Charlie. The young rock star is the glue between the previous knowledge that Desmond makes with Faraday’s mother, Eloise – and the sad but inevitable notions about destiny – and his soul ready for redemption, willing to do anything to be able to do something good in his life, after losing Penny.
The moment epifanicoin addition to the usual intimate relationship with spirits (in particular with that whiskey which he has never felt up to), is obviously represented by the ihatch accident caused by John Locke. This event drastically changes Desmond’s fate who, due to his sensitivity to electromagnetism and the island’s qualities, becomes able to move his consciousness in timeespecially in the past, but also having flashes of the future.
Man is obviously not capable of controlling this “power” of his, but rather experiences it more as one condemnation that as a gift. And back to one of the most exciting reports of Lostthe one with Charlie.
The whole dynamic that shows the rescues of Desmond, until the death of Charlie (and therefore the second half of the third season) is a writing masterpiece.
In fact, the spectator is not omniscient (he never is in Lostone could say): although the rescue actions are observed from Desmond’s point of view, the psychological perspective instead is common to that of Charlie, who does not understand – like us – why Desmond performs seemingly senseless actions.
As the viewer is approached to Desmond’s personal story, and in particular to his narrative path after the explosion of the hatch, we begin to understand that his behaviors have an altruistic sense, until it is Desmond himself who reveals to Charlie who is bound to die no matter how many times I save him.
“There is no way to correct the course of the universe”.
Things change again when in one of his visions Desmond believes that his beloved Penny is coming to the island to save him: the Scotsman has a purpose again, and if that means letting the universe take its course, so be it. Or at least that’s what he believes. He saves his friend again from an arrow in the throat and discovers that the woman who arrived by parachute is not Penny. The desperation, the moral dilemma, allow us to understand how much being a fallen angel is really a sentence.
Charlie’s courage to accept to die (giving birth to one of the most beautiful season finales of a TV series) to save all his friends will mark Desmond more than he can think, not only for the tragedy of the event, but also for its uselessness since the ship arrived near the island
“NOT PENNY’S BOAT”.
If Desmond is the fallen angel in the Survivor universe, and particularly in Charlie’s, the final season of the series further treads this role in a completely different perspective.
In the last season of Lostin fact, it is precisely the meeting in the so-called parallel reality with Charlie that triggers that series of events and encounters leading up to the final episode and the “let go” together with all the protagonists. The gesture, the contact that activates the memory in Desmond is just Charlie’s open hand underwater, while the car sinks, exactly as happened in the DHARMA underwater station where the boy met his death. The sixth season returns to Desmond that role of fallen angel that he had lost in the previous onein which his reunion with Penny had somewhat concluded his story arc.
Regardless of the (legitimate) criticisms that can move to the final season of Lostit is undeniable that the emotional work through the characters, built over six long seasons, is mammoth. Through Desmond’s guidance, all the characters come together, find each other, look confused and experience what they have never experienced in “real” life. The reunification operation has its own (profane) consecration in a structure that recalls a church, or in any case a religious building, in which all the characters (or almost) meet, ready to go further. Desmond is there with them too, demonstrating that his role as fallen angel is over, and he can go on: it is Jack’s father, Christian, who picks up the scepter, and guides those present towards the Light. Towards the Beyond: because, in the end, it’s not true that we live together and die alone. In Lostthe journey on the island is what matters most, it is life and death, it is letting go together.
“I’ll see ya in another life, brotha”.