The Desmond Brothers aka "See you in another life, Brother!" by cabinboy

(I was gonna post this before "The Last Recruit" aired and was redirected to the forums, but got no feedback there, so, I'm posting here as well. Please feel free to reroute to the forums if that's where this post belongs.)

My friend Jim has this frickin *brilliant* idea about Desmond as of "Happily Ever After" that I just didn't see...

[ A summary of some of my jargon (more details here)... LOST1 is the original show reality. LOST2 is the new, season 6, alternate reality. The snowglobe is the pocket dimension of the Island and as far as we know, all the people we've met on the Island have their origins and histories in LOST1.]

When Desmond2 touches Penny's hand in LOST2 and faints in the stadium stands, it's Desmond1's consciousness that recovers afterward. And crosswhile, back in the EM shed on the Island, after being zapped by the Big Generator, it's Desmond2's consciousness that opens Desmond's eyes and asks Widmore for a hand up from the floor.

The Desmonds have switched bodies (and realities)!

I originally suspected, and I think Jim did, too, that the idea would start springing leaks left and right once you watch the two Brothers continue on their merry divergent ways, but y'know, with a little help, I think it frickin works!

(And of course, me being me, the more I think about it, the more I WANT it to work. =)

The "little help" it needs is a (at least selective, but perhaps complete) transfer of experience and memory between the two Desmonds. Given how the crossover downloads seem to happen to non-EM-hardened Losties, that seems a fair assumption to make, right? (See Charlie's, Daniel's, and now Hurley's experiences.) So, both Desmonds wake up in alternate realities AWARE of both realities, and somewhat clued into the idea that events in one effectively created the other, and that together, he* is in a unique position to help save, preserve, or perhaps repair or improve one or both realities.

*Heh, what's the proper pronoun agreement for this situation?

MAYbe in the switcheroo Desmond was given a glimpse of the picture on the uberbox, but I'm not certain that he's got enough info or directive to know EXACTLY what has to happen, but he definitely gleans enough to send him on a mission to enlighten the flight 815 Losties.

So, Desmond1 wakes up in LOST2 with the understanding that he's just met Penelope for the first time, a decade or so later than he did in LOST1. Also, that the counterparts of his Losties here in LOST2 can be (re?)connected to their other, LOST1, lives and loves with his help, playing the role of cupid and/or chaos. So, with Minkowski's help, he begins tracking and enlightening them one by one. Does he have a specific plan? I don't know. If I were him, tho, I'd want to "wake up" as many counterparts as possible, get them together with the likes of Daniel, Faraday's journal, the DI-Other-1977 cabal of Chang, Alpert, and the Widmores, and perhaps Ilana if she's available on the spot, figure out what's to be done, and do it.

And, Desmond2 wakes up in LOST1 with his longtime loyalty to Charles Widmore intact, a ghost familiarity with the Losties that Desmond1 befriended, and a notion of a mission that he is charged with by Widmore that will help save the world (and Desmond1's Penny and Charlie), altho ignorant of the specific threat to it and its form. It's this frame of mind that causes Desmond to seek Widmore's hand immediately after waking up in the shed. It's this frame of mind that lets him roll so easily with his rescue/abduction by Sayid, whom Desmond1 trusted. It's this frame of mind that keeps him so at ease in the presence of the Locke-ness Monster, whose identity Desmond1 would have no reason to question. Again, you have to ask, does Desmond2 have a specific plan? No. Desmond1's memories tell him that his EM-munity makes him a uniquely qualified agent for Something Important that must be done on the Island, but uninformed of the master plan, all he can do is trust in others to ge! t him where he's needed and tell him what he's to do.

Now, how can the Desmonds help each other or coordinate anything thru the snowglobe / across realities? Well, if anything they're doing DOES need to be done in concert somehow, unfortunately, they ARE in different realities—neither would know what the other is up to or has completed... until/unless of course, one of them goes in for an MRI, or... maybe after a ton of research and surveying, the other happens to gain entrance to a site on the Island, say, at the bottom of an ancient well, that is popping with periodic high-powered EM activity, but, with only six hours of show time left, what are the odds of THAT happening, right?

Commence hole-punching... now! =)

(If any of this resonates for you, you can scan more of my LOST rambling here. Thanks for reading!)