The Variable

"The Variable" is the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of the American television drama series Lost, marking the 100th episode in the series' production history.^[1] Written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and directed by Paul A. Edwards, it originally aired on ABC on April 29, 2009.^[1] The episode centers on physicist Daniel Faraday (played by Jeremy Davies), who returns to the Island in 1977 after three years away and confronts the implications of time travel on his life and the survivors' fates.^[2] The narrative primarily follows Faraday's efforts to alter the course of events by preventing "The Incident," a catastrophic electromagnetic energy release at the DHARMA Initiative's Swan Station construction site, which he believes could change the future and save lives.^[3] Through flashbacks, the episode explores Faraday's troubled relationship with his mother, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), and father, Charles Widmore (Alan Dale), revealing how their influences propelled him toward the Island and deepened his obsession with time's malleability.^[2] It serves as a thematic companion to the fourth-season episode "The Constant," delving into core Lost motifs of fate versus free will, with Faraday postulating that human unpredictability— the "variable"—can disrupt fixed timelines.^[1] Reception for "The Variable" was overwhelmingly positive, praised for its emotional depth, philosophical inquiry, and high-stakes action sequences, earning an IMDb user rating of 8.7 out of 10 based on over 6,700 votes and an A grade from The A.V. Club for its thought-provoking execution.^[1] Critics highlighted Jeremy Davies' empathetic portrayal of Faraday as a standout, emphasizing the episode's tragic exploration of personal agency amid deterministic forces.^[3] As a pivotal installment in season five's time-travel arc, it advances the survivors' integration with the DHARMA Initiative while raising profound questions about redemption and inevitability that resonate throughout the series.^[2]

Plot

Flashbacks

The flashbacks in "The Variable" center on physicist Daniel Faraday's tumultuous relationship with his mother, Eloise Hawking, and reveal how she shapes his life toward a predetermined path involving the Island.^[3] As a young boy, Daniel demonstrates prodigious talent on the piano, but Eloise interrupts his practice, insisting he abandon music to pursue science, stating it is her "job to keep you on your path."^[3] She emphasizes his destined role as a researcher, dismissing his protests that he can "make time" for both pursuits, highlighting the theme of inescapable fate that permeates his existence.^[3] Years later, as an adult graduating from Oxford University, Daniel is in a relationship with his research assistant, Theresa Spencer. Eloise arrives uninvited and urges him to end the romance, warning that personal attachments will hinder his scientific potential; she presents him with a blank journal, symbolizing the fresh start she demands.^[3] This intervention underscores Eloise's manipulative influence, as she prioritizes his intellectual destiny over emotional fulfillment, later revealed to align with her knowledge of future events on the Island.^[2] Following exhaustive time-travel experiments that leave Daniel with severe memory loss and emotional instability, he watches news footage of Oceanic Flight 815's crash, breaking down in tears over the fabricated wreckage. His estranged father, Charles Widmore, visits and discloses the crash's staging, offering Daniel a position with the DHARMA Initiative on the Island to restore his cognitive faculties through its unique properties.^[3] Widmore's recruitment marks a pivotal reconnection, though it serves Eloise's broader agenda.^[2] In the episode's final flashback, Eloise delivers the journal—now filled with Daniel's annotations—to him before his departure to the Island, instructing him to follow Widmore's lead without revealing her foreknowledge of the tragic outcome she will cause. These sequences collectively illustrate the variables in Daniel's life as illusions, with his parents as constants enforcing a loop of sacrifice and inevitability.^[3]^[2]

1977

In 1977, Daniel Faraday arrives on the island via the DHARMA Initiative's submarine, having spent three years off-island researching time travel in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He immediately seeks out Jack Shephard, revealing that the survivors are not bound by destiny and can change the future by altering events in the past. Faraday explains his new theory that people act as "variables" capable of disrupting the fixed timeline, contrasting his previous belief in an immutable "whatever happened, happened" rule. He urges Jack, Kate Austen, and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes to join him in preventing "The Incident," a catastrophic electromagnetic event at the Swan station site that will trap Flight 815.^[4] Faraday confronts Dr. Pierre Chang at the Orchid station, warning of an impending explosion 30,000 times more powerful than a prior pocket of energy and demanding evacuation of the DHARMA barracks. To prove his credibility, he discloses that Miles Straume is Chang's son, though Miles denies it, leading Chang to flee skeptically. Faraday then locates Sawyer, now a DHARMA security officer, and demands information on the Hostiles to find Eloise Hawking, whom he needs to access the hydrogen bomb "Jughead." En route, he encounters a young Charlotte Lewis and tearfully warns her to leave the island by submarine, revealing his emotional stake in undoing the timeline that harms her. With Jack and Kate, Faraday raids the motor pool for a van but triggers a shootout with Radzinsky; an explosion allows their escape, alerting DHARMA forces and escalating the pursuit.^[4]^[5] The group breaches the sonic fence and reaches the Hostiles' camp, where Faraday demands the bomb's location from Richard Alpert. As tensions rise, Eloise Hawking emerges and shoots Faraday in the chest, unaware of his identity. Dying, Faraday whispers that he is her son from the future, whom she will one day send back in time, confirming her role in the predetermined events despite his efforts to change them. This revelation leaves the survivors captured by the Hostiles, with Faraday's death marking a pivotal failure in his plan to detonate the bomb and reset their fates.^[4]

2007

In 2007, following his confrontation with Benjamin Linus at a Los Angeles marina, Desmond Hume is shot and rushed to a hospital for emergency surgery, where he is visited by his partner Penny Widmore and their young son, Charlie.^[2] Desmond survives the procedure and reunites with his family, with Penny vowing to stay by his side.^[6] Eloise Hawking arrives at the hospital and approaches Penny in the waiting area, apologizing for the incident and revealing that her son, Daniel Faraday, was responsible for shooting Desmond as part of an effort to disrupt the plan to return the Oceanic Six to the island.^[2] Eloise explains that Desmond was an unintended casualty and confesses that, while she previously believed in the fixed nature of events under the principle that "whatever happened, happened," the variables introduced by human actions have altered the course, leaving her uncertain about the future.^[7] As Eloise leaves, she encounters Charles Widmore in the hallway; tensions escalate when Widmore references Daniel's fate, prompting Eloise to slap him in emotional distress over their shared responsibility as parents.^[2]

Production

Development and writing

"The Variable" was penned by executive producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, with direction by Paul Edwards. As the 100th episode of the series, it marked a significant milestone, centering on physicist Daniel Faraday's efforts to alter the predetermined events surrounding the island's time shifts. The narrative delves into themes of human agency against fate, drawing inspiration from Stephen King's works, particularly in its dramatic twists and character confrontations with inevitable outcomes. Co-showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse positioned the episode as a thematic companion to season 4's "The Constant," expanding Faraday's arc by revealing the personal toll of his time travel research, including the incident that left his Oxford girlfriend, Theresa Spencer, in a persistent vegetative state. The writing incorporated fan-discussed ideas on time travel paradoxes to enrich the storyline while preserving the season's established causal loops.

Filming

Principal photography for "The Variable," the 100th episode of Lost, took place on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, consistent with the series' production throughout its run. The episode's scenes depicting the Dharma Initiative's activities in 1977 utilized the show's established sets and natural locations across the island to portray the isolated environment and temporal elements central to the storyline.^[8] Key exterior sequences, including the arrival of the Galaga submarine carrying Daniel Faraday and the Outlander team, were filmed at the Moli'i Fish Ponds within Kualoa Ranch on Oahu's windward coast.^[9] This site served as the recurring submarine dock for multiple episodes, providing a secluded coastal backdrop that aligned with the narrative's depiction of secure Dharma access points. The construction site for the Swan station, featured prominently in the episode's action sequences, was captured using purpose-built sets at He'eia Kea State Park in rural areas of Oahu, allowing for controlled filming of explosive and chase elements involving the characters.^[10] Interior scenes, such as those in the incomplete Swan station and the Dharma barracks, were shot at the Hawaii Film Studio in Honolulu, where the production maintained standing sets for the initiative's underground facilities. These studio environments facilitated the episode's intense confrontations and revelations, with director Paul A. Edwards overseeing the integration of practical effects for gunfire and temporal distress visuals.^[10] To mark the milestone of the 100th episode, the cast and crew celebrated on location in Hawaii with a custom cake commissioned from the Charm City Cakes team, featured on the Food Network series Ace of Cakes. Actor Jorge Garcia initiated the request, and the bakers traveled to Oahu to assemble and present the elaborate dessert on set, incorporating thematic elements from the show like the island's smoke monster and numeric motifs. This event highlighted the production's collaborative spirit during the demanding shoot.^[11]

Reception

Broadcast and viewership

"The Variable" originally aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States on April 29, 2009, serving as the 100th episode overall in the series. It was broadcast at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time as part of ABC's Wednesday night lineup, following "Better Off Ted" and preceding a new episode of "The Unusuals." The episode marked a milestone for Lost, with promotional efforts highlighting its significance as the show's centennial installment.^[1] Viewership for "The Variable" aligned with the fifth season's trend of declining audiences compared to earlier seasons. While the series premiered its first season with an average of 15.69 million viewers per week, the fifth season opener drew 11.37 million viewers, reflecting ongoing erosion in the Nielsen ratings amid broader shifts in television consumption patterns during the late 2000s. The episode itself drew 9.04 million viewers, underscoring this pattern and contributing to the season's overall average of approximately 10 million viewers per episode. The broadcast also coincided with increased international distribution, as Lost continued to air in over 100 countries through syndication and international networks.^[12]

Critical response

"The Variable" received widespread critical acclaim for its intense narrative, philosophical depth, and emotional resonance, often cited as one of the strongest episodes of Lost's fifth season. Critics praised the episode's exploration of free will versus destiny, particularly through Daniel Faraday's arc, which challenged the series' established time travel rules and injected urgency into the storyline. Noel Murray of The A.V. Club awarded it an A grade, describing it as "one of the most intense, action-packed episodes in Lost history, yet it was also one of the most philosophical, and thought-provoking," highlighting its ability to confirm and upend the show's mythology while balancing excitement with tender moments.^[3] Reviewers commended Jeremy Davies' performance as Faraday, noting his empathetic portrayal of a tormented genius whose desperate plan to detonate a hydrogen bomb adds high stakes to the 1977 timeline. Eric Goldman of IGN gave the episode an 8.8 out of 10, lauding the "taut and thought-provoking" script that advances the plot significantly while delivering emotional payoffs, such as Faraday's confrontation with his mother, Eloise Hawking. The episode's direction by Paul A. Edwards and score by Michael Giacchino were also highlighted for enhancing the tension, with Slant Magazine calling it an "elegant puzzle box mystery" infused with "deep, religious fervor," comparable to standout episodes like "The Constant."^[13]^[2] Some critics pointed out minor flaws, including perceived contrivances in Faraday's sudden shift to believing in changeable timelines and the integration of subplots like Desmond's recovery. Entertainment Weekly's recap noted the plan's recklessness and questioned inconsistencies in character actions, though it ultimately appreciated the thematic role reversal on fate and choice. Despite these quibbles, the episode was frequently ranked among the season's best for propelling the narrative toward its climax. The New York Times later included it in a list of essential episodes, emphasizing Faraday's evolving views on time as pivotal to the series' final arc.^[14]^[15]

Legacy and fan reception

"The Variable," the 100th episode of Lost, has been recognized for its pivotal role in advancing the series' time travel mythology, particularly through the introduction of the concept that human choices serve as "variables" capable of altering predetermined events, contrasting with the earlier emphasis on unchangeable "constants." This shift provided a philosophical foundation for exploring free will versus destiny, influencing subsequent episodes like "The Incident" and the final season's flash-sideways narrative. Critics have praised the episode for its emotional depth in centering Daniel Faraday's arc, culminating in his tragic sacrifice, which offered closure to a character beloved for his vulnerability and scientific curiosity.^[16]^[17] In retrospective rankings, the episode consistently appears among the series' strongest installments, often highlighted for its blend of high-stakes action—a rare large-scale shootout involving the Oceanic survivors—and introspective character moments that humanize the complex time travel plot. The Hollywood Reporter ranked it 13th out of 121 episodes, noting its "Kingian twist" reminiscent of Stephen King's narrative style, where personal stakes drive cosmic revelations, and described it as a fan favorite for Faraday's development. Similarly, /Film placed it 16th in its list of the 21 best Lost episodes, commending the "coolest plot twists" that tied back to earlier installments like "The Constant" while revealing familial connections, such as Charles Widmore as Faraday's father, which enriched the overarching conspiracy.^[18]^[17] Contemporary reviews underscored its immediate impact, with The A.V. Club awarding an A grade and calling it "one of the most intense, action-packed episodes in Lost history, yet it was also one of the most philosophical, and thought-provoking," for rushing the narrative toward crisis while delving into themes of regret and redemption. IGN scored it 8.8 out of 10, emphasizing how it "changes what we know about time travel in the Lost universe" and lays groundwork for the season finale, fulfilling fan anticipation for answers amid the show's escalating mysteries. Over time, fans and analysts have appreciated its role in making season 5's ambitious time-shifting storyline more accessible and emotionally resonant, though some noted initial confusion over the altered rules of causality. In 2024, coinciding with the series' 20th anniversary, Lost saw a resurgence in popularity on streaming platforms, topping Nielsen's acquired series list with over 1 billion minutes viewed in one week (October 21-27), highlighting ongoing fan appreciation for episodes like "The Variable." The episode's legacy endures in discussions of Lost's innovative serialization, where scientific exposition—such as Faraday's monologue on quantum mechanics—serves the drama rather than overwhelming it, distinguishing the series from more formulaic genre fare.^[3]^[13]^[16]^[19]