Penny - the same Penny?

[Reed]

"Seemingly" Desmond changed the timeline of events in The Constant. As of his last two meetings with Penny they were broken up yet she still loved him and has been trying to find the Island, along with Desmond.

So:

I count 3 Penny's. The original who said goodbye to Desmond at the Stadium, the second who last saw Desmond during the photograph scene where Des' threw the ring in the the river and the final Penny from this episode. Hope that makes sense. So I was slightly puzzled when Penny was STILL looking for the Island after the whole "Desmond has gone crazy" look she gave him in the house. It felt as though the scene at the flat had NEVER taken place when Penny was ecstatic when she received the call from Desmond at the end.

My point is the 3rd Penny should NOT be looking for the Island should she? I am torn. She wanted Desmond to leave her flat because she thought he had lost the plot - I had to laugh during one of my viewings of that scene because Desmond sounds completely insane.

This is all rather confusing but hopefully this all makes sense. I suppose in spite of Crazy Desmond, she still loved him and wanted to find him ever since he went missing. But does this mean the scene with Penny at the Stadium never took place?

In this 3rd timeline, how did Penny know Desmond went on the sailing trip, and for that matter how did Desmond go about doing it after the alteration of events? Perhaps SOME things stay the same [Course Correcting?] even if you change the past.

Perhaps I should be tied down like Minkowsky?

[The Wizard]

This also confused me slightly. I wondered where the scene with Desmond leaving the army and getting into Charles Widmore's car fits in. Because in that scene Charles shows Desmond all the letters he tried to send to Penny which he had intercepted. Why was Widmore intercepting these letters if he didn't hate Desmond like he said in The Constant? Also, why was Desmond sending Penny letters? I suppose he promised he wouldn't call for 8 years (btw one of the funniest things i've ever heard ) but sending letters isn't breaking that promise I suppose so he went nuts with it. Help

[Reed]

Originally Posted by The Wizard

This also confused me slightly. I wondered where the scene with Desmond leaving the army and getting into Charles Widmore's car fits in. Because in that scene Charles shows Desmond all the letters he tried to send to Penny which he had intercepted. Why was Widmore intercepting these letters if he didn't hate Desmond like he said in The Constant? Also, why was Desmond sending Penny letters? I suppose he promised he wouldn't call for 8 years (btw one of the funniest things i've ever heard ) but sending letters isn't breaking that promise I suppose so he went nuts with it. Help

Sorry about that, tbh I could have cut the post down to make it less confusing.

Precisely, just one example of where the rest of eventsd fit in and whether they infact even happen. You cannot change something inside a timeline and expect future events to stay the same. That was also odd as since when does Charles NOT hate him? What happened to the Charles that belittled Desmond as a man during the job interview?

Not sure why Desmond sent her letters as they were broken up. Good point re: the letters. Maybe he explained everything in the letters, in regard to why he was acting crazy?

I agree, that line was very funny - especially when he mentioned the specifics of "December 24th, 2004, Christmas Eve".

[D-Roc]

I think that everything we've seen of Des and Penny's past has happened as we saw it - from the stadium, to Widmore giving Des back the letters etc etc.

I think that Desmond has only changed 'moments' in time - not altered them completely, because that would make Mrs Hawin's paradox theory null and void, and I don't think she was completely full of hot air in that regard.

Basically my interpretation is that Desmond went back and did something which he didn't do before - he asked Penny to wait for him and told her not to change her phone number so that he could call her in 8 years time. She duly obliged because deep down she still loved him and would always have come to realise that, irrespective of his time travelling, years later. The crucial aspect was that he asked her to keep the same phone number - she may not have done this had he not specifically told her this - this was effectively the only thing that he changed - the rest (her looking for him etc) would have happened (and did happen) regardless, since fate course corrects.

From this I believe that we can now look at 'destiny' in a different way - Des gave Penny future knowledge of what he was going to do - this spark, this hope resided within her for 8 years - that she loved him was not a question..but the fact that she has this sense of knowing, hoping that he would call her gave her an impression of destiny - this is effectively what Des' time-travelleing did - it didn't alter a time-line, it placed an 'impression' on a time-line - one which fate wouldn't have to course correct since all Penny had to do was wait..(even tho she looked for him, this would have happened anyway, if you understand me?)

(well, that's my take on it )

[Lauren [is Lost]]

This episode is SO confusing! I've been trying to work out what events go where aswell. It doesn't seem to fit exactly. Especially the bits with Charles Widmore...the bit where Widmore gave Desmond Penny's address would have happened FIRST (am i right?) so then why would Widmore take all of Desmond's letters and then pay him off so he didn't see her?

I may have just got that the wrong way round...lol

[The Wizard]

Maybe there's a decisive missing flashback which we need to see...