Episode Report Card Daniel: C | 646 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT It's Time To Switch To Whisky, We've Been Drinking Beer All Night
By Daniel | Season 3 | Episode 8 | Aired on 2007.02.14
The end result is a close-up of an eye. Desmond's eye. He's lying on his back, and his face is flecked with red, but it's much too bright to be blood, and as we pull back, we see Desmond lying on the floor of an apartment, an upturned can of red paint nearby. We can see part of the paint brand name on it: "Futu-" Nice. Anyway, we hear a woman saying, "oh my god" a few times, and it turns out be Penny, and she's bringing some ice for Desmond, who apparently fell while doing a rather haphazard job of painting this apartment. She asks if he's okay, and cradles his head. And then says, as Desmond asks what's happening, "What's happening is the result of combining ladders, painting the ceiling, and alcohol." Look, let's not jump to conclusions and blame alcohol for this. Desmond sits up. "This is my flat," he says, like he's just coming to the realization. She says if he wants her to feel at home, he might start calling it their flat. He's looking really confused and it's pretty clear -- without it being explicitly explained it, at least not yet -- that this isn't so much Flashback Desmond as Island Desmond reliving this moment. Penny asks what's wrong, and he says "absolutely nothing," like you would if you woke up from a rather confusing cryptic dream, and found you were safe in your own life. But over Penny's shoulder, as he hugs her, Desmond looks really scared. He's seen Back to the Future. He knows what can happen when you screw with the past.
When we come back from commercials, Desmond's standing in front of a mirror, trying heroically to tie a tie. He glances over at a digital clock nearby, which reads 1:08, which seems a little vexing to him, but he goes back to trying not to strangle himself with his tie, since it is some kind of movie/television law that men can never tie their own damn ties and need another character to help them with it, in this case Penny, who tries from behind and then goes around to the front. She smiles when she notices that he's got paint on his neck, and asks how his "concussion" is. "Well, my severe head injury is a small price to pay for the pleasure of having you move into my humble... is rat trap accurate?" Penelope makes some kind of laugh-grunt and kisses him, finishes up tying his tie, and steps around behind him again to admire him in the mirror.