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We go back to when Desmond and Sayid took off in the helicopter with the non-drunk Nick Nolte to head back to the freighter. They run into some turbulence, not helped by the fact Desmond wigs out while flashbacking to his stint in the Scottish army in 1996. What's strange is that Desmond's consciousness seems to be switching back and forth between the two Desmonds, and it's Military Desmond who is the real Desmond, and he thinks Island Desmond is a dream. Island Desmond doesn't recognize Sayid or even know where he is.
Sayid's confused because they left the island at dusk but arrived in the middle of the day after only a short flight. He calls Jack on the island, where it's been almost two days since the helicopter left. Daniel and Charlotte (especially Charlotte) are really cagey about what's going on, but Daniel tells Island Desmond via the satellite phone that the time he switches back to Military Desmond, to look him up at Oxford, and to tell him to set the machine for 2.343 and to oscillate at 11 megahertz. And if that doesn't work, Military Desmond is to say, "I know about Eloise." See, sometimes people can get quite confused on their way to or from the island, especially if they've had some exposure to electromagnetism.
Military Desmond does as he's told, and finds younger Oxford Daniel is quite the professorial douchebag. Nevertheless, after passing on the message, Daniel thinks Desmond might very well be from the future, and, using the settings, points his machine at a little mouse named Eloise. The numbers Desmond provide get Eloise's consciousness "unstuck" in time, and allows her to quickly run a complicated maze that Daniel hasn't taught her to run yet. I think it's a bit of a leap to go from "mouse quickly runs maze" to "my time-travel experiment is a success!" Especially when Eloise the mouse dies of a brain aneurysm before too long. Daniel figures flipping back and forth between two time periods is plenty tough on the old grey matter, so he tells Military Desmond that Island Desmond better have an anchor (a metaphorical one, as opposed to the freighter's anchor).
So in 1996, Desmond harasses ex-girlfriend Penny (after meeting with Mr. Widmore at an auction that drops a ton of episode callbacks) into giving him her new phone number. He promises he won't call her today, or tomorrow, but in eight years, on Dec. 24, 2004. Penny, pissed that Desmond's calling her today, apparently thinks, "Right, I hope he's STILL STALKING ME EIGHT YEARS FROM NOW," and gives him her phone number. He's going to need that, if he's to avoid winding up like Minkowski, whom we finally meet on the freighter, not long before he shuffles off this mortal coil after flipping back and forth one too many times.
As we know, things have changed between Desmond and Penny in the intervening eight years, and she's thrilled to hear from him, and they have a tearful (and, to be honest, quite tear-jerking) conversation, despite Desmond looking more and more like Jimmy Fallon as Barry Effin' Gibb.
So: time-travel. Perhaps Desmond in 2027 should be sending a T-1000 to the island to look after the Lostaways. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously, on Lost, a bunch of stuff happened with Kate that doesn't have squat to do with this week's episode. But two episodes ago on Lost, Desmond and Sayid took off in Frank's helicopter in an attempt to get to the freighter.
Speaking of that helicopter, here it is, flying over the beautiful blue ocean once again. Frank has a note taped to the...dashboard? Yeah, that works, I'll call it the dashboard. Anyway, the note reads "40 miles N @ 305." (Oddly enough, the line reads "7 K east." Isn't mixing metric and patriotic American measurements what got a space ship blown up a few years ago?) Also, just in case Frank gets confused, he has a little diagram to remind himself of which way is north, south, east, and west. Nick Nolte should get one of those -- it might keep him from driving on the wrong side of the highway. Sayid asks Frank what the drawing is, and Frank tells him it's something Daniel drew for him -- which makes the compass drawing a little more reasonable. Sayid is worried that Frank doesn't know where the boat is, but Frank tells him to relax. They keep flying on the same heading -- unfortunately, that heading is taking them right into a storm cloud. Sayid asks why Frank is flying into the storm instead of around it. Frank tells him to shut up and let him fly. Desmond is ignoring all of this, just looking at the picture of him and Penny. Sayid reminds us all that Charlie spoke with Penny and she told him she wasn't the one who sent the boat. Sayid asks what Desmond expects to find on the boat. Desmond: "Answers." He clearly doesn't know what show he's on. Surprisingly, flying directly into a storm cloud turns out to be not so fun -- the chopper gets tossed around, and Frank struggles to keep it on course. He tells his passengers to hold on, and Desmond grips the side of his seat.
Cut to Desmond, gripping the side of a cot as lights are turned on and a drill sergeant starts screaming at a bunch of soldiers to get out of bed and stand at attention. Desmond is clean-shaven, and looking pretty hot. (I know you care about these things.) Desmond, looking confused, is the last guy to stand at attention, and the drill sergeant calls him out by name for his slowness. Desmond explains that he was having a dream in which he was flying on a helicopter in a storm. (I'll leave out all the time he shouts "Sir," and all the times the drill sergeant is a dick.) The drill sergeant tells the soldiers that they're all going to be punished for Desmond's slowness.
Cut to the soldiers doing push-ups in the mud in the pouring rain. I hope my trainer doesn't watch this show -- I'd hate for him to get any ideas. They switch to crunches, and Desmond explains to his complaining neighbor that he had never had such a vivid dream. The sergeant walks by to be a dick some more, but then we cut back to the chopper...
Where Desmond, his eyes bugged out like mad, is quietly freaking out. Frank tells him that they are almost through the storm, and Desmond throws off his headset and starts removing his safety harness. Sayid asks him what he's doing, and Desmond starts screaming, asking who Sayid is and how he knows Desmond's name. Credits.
Commercials. Iron Man, Iron Man, does whatever an iron can...
Back on the beach, Daniel is pouring some coffee for Charlotte while Jack and Juliet quietly freak out. Jack's holding the phone. He asks where the chopper is, since it took off over a day ago and the people on the boat claim not to have seen it. Charlotte tells her that she only knows what he knows, and asks why he thinks she knows anything else. Juliet: "Because you're not worried." Can I just say how happy I am that people on this show seem to have gotten more intelligent this season? They're actually asking questions and making decisions based on the evidence of their senses. It's so refreshing. Charlotte gets snitty in response, asking if she should moan and pray for the chopper. Daniel tells her to calm down, and wonders aloud if they shouldn't just tell the Losties the big secret. Which, once he's mentioned that there is a secret, kind of leaves him no choice but to share it. Charlotte tries to silence him, but Juliet and Jack really want him to spill the beans. He tells them, "Your perception of how long your friends have been gone, it's not necessarily how long they've actually been gone." Jack asks what that means, but Daniel and the producers decide they've released enough actual info and he just reassures Jack that everything will be fine if Frank flew the chopper on the correct heading. If he didn't follow the heading, "there might be side effects."
The chopper is now flying through clear blue sky again, with no sign of the storm cloud. Desmond is still apparently trying to hurl himself from the helicopter, and Said is struggling to hold him back. Frank tells him they'll be at the boat in two minutes. And then he dives the chopper straight at the water. I didn't realize the freighter was a submarine. Actually, he levels out when they get low enough and we see the freighter floating straight ahead of them. That's when Desmond notices the crumpled up photo in his hand. The chopper lands, a couple of guys run up to it, and Desmond freaks out. The guys want to know why Frank is back so soon, and why he brought people with him, but they don't actually stick around to hear his explanation. Instead, they tell Sayid that they're going to take Desmond to the sick bay, but they absolutely pinky swear that after a doctor sees him, they'll let Sayid visit him. Just as Desmond tells everyone, "I'm not supposed to be here," he finds himself standing in the muddy field while his army pals continue to do crunches in the rain. The sergeant is not too pleased to see him standing up, and screams at him some more before sending the entire squad running.
It's still raining, but the soldiers are now loading some metal crates onto a truck. Desmond is on the back of the truck, and one of his pals asks him why he's acting so crazy. Desmond decides to confide in him, telling him about his little trip to the boat. But his pal just thinks he's trying to get the British equivalent of a section 8 discharge. And now I'm having trouble not picturing Desmond in a lovely housecoat with a marabou trim. Army Pal asks if Desmond recognized anyone on the boat -- it turns out he recognized Penny. Since I don't think Penny was ever a burly sailor dude, I'm assuming he's remembering the photo he was clutching in his hand. And then Desmond runs away from the truck (and his duty) to find a pay phone. He drops his change -- or rather, a hot soldier body checks him as revenge for all the punishment the squad got, causing him to drop his change -- and as he reaches down to pick it up...
He's back on the boat, madly scrambling at the wooden deck for the non-existent coins. The burly sailor men guide him into the bowels of the ship. The taller one introduces himself as Keamy from Las Vegas; his shorter pall is Omar, from Florida. And the boat's last port was Fiji. Omar: "So at least we know we're still in the Pacific." They lead him into the sickbay, and Keamy tells him that they're going to leave him there while they fetch the doctor. Yes, let's leave the apparently deranged man alone in a room full of sharp and dangerous medical implements. Even better, let's lock him in so he gets really mad. They do just that, and Desmond starts pounding on the door and screaming. Until he's interrupted by a voice calling out, "Hey! Hey!" He looks around the room and sees a guy strapped down to a bed, looking even more deranged than Desmond. He asks Desmond, "It's happening to you too, isn't it?" Man, Henry Ian Cusick really knows how to bug his eyes out in terror. This episode gets an extra half a grade just for that. Commercials.
On the deck, Sayid is carefully examining everything around him. In particular, he's watching Keamy standing on...some other deck, yelling at Frank. Look, I might as well admit it -- I know nothing about boats. I just assume everything is called the poop deck unless someone tells me otherwise. Frank walks toward Sayid while Keamy goes up a ladder to an even higher poop deck. Sayid is convinced that Frank's friends know what's up with Desmond, but Frank tells him that they haven't clued him in to any knowledge they possess. Sayid also wants to know why it is that the helicopter took off at dusk and landed on the boat in the middle of the day. Hey, you fly with Nick Nolte, there are bound to be some blackouts. Frank tells Sayid that he doesn't really know what's going on, but that he's genuinely trying to help. Sayid tells him that if he really wants to help, he'll let Sayid use the phone to call the island. Frank agrees to swap the phone for the gun that Sayid's packing. They make the swap, and Frank tells Sayid not to try to call anyone else, since the phones can only call each other.
On the island, Jack's phone rings. It's a wrong number. Or it's Sayid. There's a little mutual exposition -- Jack asks where the hell Sayid has been, Sayid tells Jack that Desmond went loco. Jack puts Sayid on speaker, thereby enabling Juliet, Daniel, and Charlotte to hear every word of the conversation. Sayid tells them what we already know, and Daniel looks very worried. Jack asks, "Side effects?" Daniel asks whether Desmond has recently been exposed to any radiation or electromagnetic fields. Just a little bit. Since neither of them really know what happened in the hatch (because nobody on this island ever shares the tiniest bit of information), they just stare at him stupidly. Daniel tells them that for some mysterious reason, some people going to or from the island can get a little confused. Juliet asks if it's amnesia. As we know, it is not.
In the sick bay, Desmond is trying to talk to the guy on the bed. His eyes are open, but he's just staring straight ahead and not reacting to Desmond in the slightest. I have to ask, is this what's happening to Desmond when his brain goes flitting off to the past? Because that would make it pretty hard for other people not to notice one of these little episodes. Bed guy blinks, and tells Desmond that he was just on a Ferris wheel. Wheeeee! The light in the room is turned on, and a sour-faced bald man in a lab jacket enters the room. Bed guy tells the medic (whose name is Ray) that he's not crazy because the same thing is happening to someone else. Ray prepares a hypodermic and sedates bed guy. After bed guy passes out, Ray asks Desmond how he's feeling. One a scale of one to ten, I would say "freaked out." He screams that he's not going to let Ray sedate him, and Ray calmly puts down the empty syringe. Ray pulls out a little medical flashlight and tells Desmond that he only wants to check his eyes. Desmond asks why; Ray tells him, "So I can help you." Desmond calms down and lets Ray approach him. Ray starts to flash the light in his eyes, and asks him to talk about the last thing he remembers.
And we're right back to the rain. Desmond is still hunched over, reaching for the coins he dropped on the ground. He turns and sees that the soldier who bumped into him is only around twenty feet away, indicating that he's only been out of it for a few seconds. He enters the phone booth, drops in the coins, and dials. Guess who he's calling. No, just guess. You're right, it's Penny. She doesn't sound thrilled to hear his voice. He tells her that he's in trouble and confused, and needs to see her. She tells him he really is confused if he thinks she still cares for him after he dumped her and joined the army. He tells her that he's about to start a two-day leave, and asks if he can come see her. Does he really still get a leave after pissing off his sergeant so badly? No wonder the British army sucks. She tells him he can't, and also not to bother showing up at her old place, because she's moving. He pleads with her, but she hangs up on him.
And we're back in the sick bay, where Ray is still shining a light in Desmond's eyes. He's clearly noticed that something's happened, and asks Desmond what he just experienced. And then Frank and Sayid enter. Ray starts yelling at Frank, and Frank tells him that Daniel is on the phone and wants to speak with Desmond. Sayid grabs the doc and yells at Frank to give Desmond the phone. And then the doc hits a panic button, meaning that the rest of this scene is played out over a loud alarm sound. Daniel talks to Desmond, and he's pretty good at cutting through Desmond's panic and actually obtaining information. The key piece of information is that Desmond thinks it's 1996. He also learns that 1996 Desmond is at a camp just north of Glasgow. Jack tries to interrupt, but Daniel shuts him down and tells Desmond that when he goes back to Scotland, he needs to get on a train and go to Oxford University. Desmond asks why. Daniel: "Because I need you to find me." Commercials.
On the beach, Daniel is pawing through his backpack, searching for his journal -- he claims that if he can't find it, he won't believe Desmond. Jack picks exactly the wrong moment to develop some curiosity, asking why Desmond thinks it's 1996. Daniel doesn't know -- but what he means is he doesn't know why it's that year. "It's a random effect. Sometimes the displacement's only a couple of hours, sometimes it's years." He finds his journal and gets back on the phone. On the boat, Sayid tells Desmond to hurry up, as he won't be able to hold back the men trying to open the door for long. Daniel flips through his journal and finds a page with a diagram with objects labeled "object @ light speed" and "space time invariance." Daniel tells Desmond to find him at Queens College and tell him to set the device to 2.342, oscillating at 11 hertz. Desmond writes the numbers down on his hand. Daniel also tells him that if the numbers don't convince 1996 Daniel, Desmond should tell his past self that he knows about Eloise. Yay! We're going to the Plaza Hotel! Keamy finally breaks through the door, and pries the phone away from Desmond.
And we're back in the phone booth, where Desmond is gripping that phone. He looks at his hand, and sees that (of course) the writing is not there.
Queens College. Desmond walks across the quad (or whatever), and sees Daniel (with much longer hair) being a total douchebag to a student. Desmond introduces himself, and starts to explain that he just came from the future, where Daniel told him to seek out Daniel in 1996. Daniel thinks this is a prank instigated by some other physics professors. As he walks away, Desmond tells him how to set his device. Daniel is intrigued, but not convinced. Until Desmond tells him that he knows about Eloise.
Daniel leads Desmond into a room with stone/brick walls -- it kind of looks like a basement, except with very high ceilings and lots of natural light. It's also full of books, physics equipment, and a large maze on a table. Daniel explains that this is where he does the work that Oxford doesn't like him to do. He thinks that if his future self told Desmond to speak with him, his future self must have remembered meeting Desmond on that day. But Desmond tells him he doesn't think future Daniel remembered the meeting. Daniel can't imagine what would make him forget. I'm sure we'll discover that in three to six episodes. Desmond asks if Daniel is changing the future. Daniel: "You can't change the future." That's not what Obama says. Daniel puts on a heavy smock, which he explains is to protect him from radiation. Desmond looks around nervously for his own smock, but Daniel explains that he only needs it because he's exposed so often -- a single exposure shouldn't hurt Desmond. He scoffs when Desmond asks him why he doesn't cover his head. Daniel sets the device and then grabs a pretty white lab rat from a cage. She's Eloise. Daniel puts her in a corner of the maze, and points the device at her. Desmond asks what it will do. Daniel tells him it will unstick the rat in time, just like Desmond. Daniel turns it on, and there's a bright glow. When the light goes off, Daniel stares at Eloise until her nose starts twitching, explaining to Desmond that she wasn't back until then. He raises the barrier that keeps Eloise in that particular corner of the maze, and she runs through the maze lickety-split. Daniel is ecstatic, but Desmond doesn't see what's so incredible about a rat running the maze. Daniel: "What's incredible is that I just finished the maze this morning. I'm not gonna teach her to run it until an hour from now." Yes, Daniel sent Eloise's mind to the future. Desmond asks how that's supposed to help him. Daniel thinks the point of it all was for Desmond to help Daniel. Desmond starts to tell Daniel about the island, when we flash back to...
The boat, where Keamy is still trying to take the phone away from Desmond. He succeeds, and Frank tries to get everyone to calm down. He explains that Daniel wanted to talk to Desmond, which is why they brought him the phone. The others are not so pleased that Daniel spoke with Desmond. Keamy tells them he has to speak with the captain; Sayid expresses a desire to do that very same thing. But I guess Keamy gets to go first, as he locks Sayid and Desmond in the sick bay. Desmond shines the light in his eyes, trying to send himself back to 1996. Sayid asks Desmond to explain what's going on; hearing his name, bed guy wakes up and asks if that's really Desmond standing before him. He tells them that he's George Minkowski, the communications officer on the ship. Back when he ran the radio room, he would get a flashing light on his console -- he had been told never to answer it. Desmond wonders why this is relevant to him. It turns out that the calls were coming from Penny. Commercials.
Oxford, 1996. Desmond is slumped over in a chair while Daniel writes on a chalkboard. Desmond wakes up, and Daniel tells him that he was catatonic for 75 minutes. From Desmond's point of view, he was only gone for five minutes. Daniel speculates that Desmond will find it harder and harder to jump back as time goes on. Desmond notices that Eloise has died in her cage. There's a touch of blood on her snout. Daniel thinks it was likely a brain aneurysm. Desmond asks if he's going to die; Daniel doesn't know. Daniel thinks that Eloise's lack of an anchor in any time frame caused her brain to short circuit such that she couldn't tell past from present. Daniel thinks you need something familiar in the two times. That something would be called a constant if this were a mathematical formula instead of a television show. Daniel tells him that if he wants the time jumping to stop, he needs to find something in the future that he really cares about. But it has to be something that also exists in 1996. I can't possibly imagine what that will be. Desmond asks if the constant can be a person. Daniel thinks that would work, if Desmond made contact with the constant. Desmond picks up the phone and starts dialing. Except that in the last day or so, Penny has changed her number.
Hey, here's a question: did Daniel ever bother to teach the maze to Eloise? Because if he didn't, then it would seem that you can change the future. Which also means you can cause a paradox. Also, if future Desmond first jumped back to 1996 Desmond, why can't he remember the future at all? Because this episode makes it seem like it's actually 1996 Desmond who's jumping forward, even though 1996 Desmond hadn't (to our knowledge) been exposed to any radiation or electromagnetism. And if that's the case, what happened to future Desmond's consciousness? Okay, that's the end of my geekery for this episode.
1996 Desmond runs down a flight of stairs, only to go catatonic and fall over. On the boat, Desmond is pacing and he also falls over. If he was in the past, shouldn't he have been catatonic? How was he pacing? Why can't I stop asking questions that I know will never be answered? How many readers will I lose if I just keep writing like this? Anyway, Desmond tells Sayid and Minkowski that he needs to call Penny. Sayid thinks a little phone nooky is way down on the list of priorities, but Desmond stresses that he really needs to call Penny. Minkowski tells them that there will be no calling, because two days ago someone sabotaged all the communications equipment. He could have fixed it, but he was strapped to a bed. Slacker. He offers to take them to the communications room if they unstrap him. Sayid asks him how they'll get out of the room. Minkowski: "Through the door." Indeed, the formerly locked door is now ajar. Minkowski: "Looks like you guys have a friend on this boat." As they prepare to leave, Desmond tells Minkowski that his nose is bleeding.
And then we're back in the stairwell with Desmond. He slowly stands up and staggers down the stairs.
Prepare for a continuity attack. We're in a fancy auction room. There's a painting of a ship (with sails) on an easel at the front of the room. The auctioneer is telling the audience that The Black Rock set sail on March 22, 1845, on a trading mission to Siam. The ship was lost at sea, but the journal of the ship's first mate was found seven years later in Madagascar. The journal is sitting in a glass case at the front of the room -- it's a large leather-bound book with the word "Ledger" stamped on the spine. (My sense of decorum tells me I should refrain from making any Heath Ledger jokes here. For once, I will comply.) The only person who knows what's in the journal is the family of the seller, Tovard Hanso. Bidding starts at 150,000 pounds. The first bidder? One Charles Widmore. The bidding goes higher and higher until Widmore gets it for 380,000 pounds. As the auction is ending, Desmond enters the back of the room. A guard stops him and isn't interested in Desmond's explanation that he only needs to speak to the incredibly rich man sitting in the room. But it doesn't matter, because Widmore walks right up to him on his way out of the room. Widmore agrees to give Desmond a moment of his time, telling him, "Walk with me." By which he really means, "Pee with me." Or maybe, "Stand uncomfortably in the bathroom while I urinate in front of you. But don't look at my junk." He asks Desmond what he wants. What he wants is some way to get in touch with Penny. Desmond clearly expects resistance from Widmore, and asks him why he hates Desmond so much. Widmore: "It's not me who hates you." He gives Desmond Penny's address and says, "I'll let her tell you herself." Desmond notices that the wasteful old bastard has left the water running in the sink. As he reaches to turn it off, he jumps back to the boat...
...Where we are still just about to leave the sick bay. Minkowski tells Desmond that it's only going to start happening faster. As they sneak down a corridor, Desmond asks Minkowski how it happened that he started jumping through time. It turns out all he did was try to approach the island in a small boat when Brandon, his compatriot on the small boat, started acting crazy, forcing him to turn back. Brandon is now dead.
They enter the communications room. The radio equipment is royally fucked up, with plenty of cut wires and smashed...radio thingies. Just as Minkowski is telling them that he has no idea who did the deed, he goes catatonic. Fortunately, Sayid thinks he can fix the equipment on his own. Sayid asks Desmond if he knows the number they're trying to call. He doesn't. Yet. But he will. In the past. Desmond looks up and sees a calendar on the wall. The year given is 2004, and all of the days from October 1 through December 23 have been crossed out. Desmond is surprised to learn what year it is, and Sayid is surprised to learn that it's almost Christmas. And I'm surprised that the show settled the date for us so easily. Unless this turns out to be an elaborate ruse to throw us off. Sayid sees that Desmond's nose is bleeding. And then Minkowski starts having a seizure. He regains consciousness just long enough to tell them, "I...can't...get...back." And then he dies. Sayid asks what happened. Desmond: "The same thing that's going to happen to me." Commercials.
In 1996, Desmond is passed out on the floor of the bathroom, and the sink is overflowing. He gets up and sees that his 1996 nose is not bleeding.
And now he's knocking on Penny's door. (Her address? 423 Cheyne Walk.) Penny opens the door and is shocked to see him. He tells her that he came because she disconnected her phone. She tells him to grab a clue and recognize that she doesn't want to have anything to do with him. Before she can close the door, he tells her that he just needs her new phone number. Penny: "Why would I give you that?" He tries to tell her he's sorry for breaking up with her, and that is just what she doesn't want to hear. But he gets very earnest and tells her that he knows he can't undo things, but that he really needs her to listen to him. She lets him in.
She tells him to speak his piece and leave. He tells her that in eight years, he's going to need to call her. She's confused, and he starts pleading again. She wonders what's to stop him from calling her whenever he feels like it, and he promises not to call for eight years -- not until December 24, 2004. Near tears, she asks him if he'll leave once she gives him the number. He agrees, and she tells him the number. (It's .) He recites it, and she can't believe he's not writing it down. He tells her it wouldn't matter, and then tells her not to change the number, ever. She's had enough, and shoves him out of the apartment.
Back on the boat, Desmond wakes up. Sayid asks him for the number, and Desmond gives the number to Sayid. Sayid dials one of those handsets that the telephone repair person uses; he warns Desmond that he doesn't know how long the battery will last. The phone starts ringing. We see 1996 Desmond walk away from Penny's house. Does this mean future Desmond is catatonic? 1996 Desmond turns back and sees Penny crying in an upstairs window as she draws the curtains. And then on the boat, Desmond hears Penny answer the phone. She sounds overjoyed to hear his voice. We see 1996 Desmond, and the small smile on his face tells us he can somehow sense that something has gone right. Penny's in her house, standing in front of a Christmas tree. She asks him where he is, and he tells her that he's on a boat and that he's been on an island. Sayid looks interested, because that last line makes it seem as though Desmond has regained his memory of the recent past. Penny tells Desmond that she's been looking for him for the past three years. Which is interesting, and perhaps throws some doubt on the date we saw on the calendar. She tells him that she knows about the island, and that she's been researching...something, we don't hear what, because the line goes all staticky. We do hear her mention speaking with Charlie, which was the moment she knew Desmond was still alive. There's some more static, and a weeping Desmond tells Penny that he loves her and that he's always loved her. She tells him that she loves him, too. We get a set of intercut lines in which they each promise to find each other, no matter what. And then the phone goes dead. Sayid apologizes for not being able to keep the call going longer, but Desmond tells him he got what he needed. That was a lovely scene, with fantastic work from both actors.
Back on the island, Daniel is flipping through his journal. On a page we haven't seen before, we see the words, "If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant." Daniel looks relieved. And that's a wrap.