Lost (TV Series) Happily Ever After (2010) User Reviews

I felt it too...

[ricardo-jorge-gouveia-ma · 10/10 · 7 April 2010]

At this moment, this is one of the best episodes of the entire series, at least for me. Best flash-sideways by a long distance, except this time the flash-sideways connects with the island story, and that was what made the episode so beautiful. Every meeting Desmond had was great, especially with Daniel and Charlie. Henry Ian Cusick did an awesome performance, especially on the emotional level. There wasn't much island story, but I didn't miss it at all. Only hope the rest of the series can maintain this level of acting.

Favourite scene - Desmond smiling when he finally sees Penny Favourite acting - Desmond and Charlie

***** out of 5*

Simply wonderful

[pliten · 10/10 · 8 April 2010]

This episode is simply wonderful. Breath-taking. Absolutely cool. Not keeping you on the edge of your seat, but definitely on the verge of shouting: I've seen that. I know what that means. Or wait, SERIOUSLY? Very entertaining, and very...LOST-like. In fact, on the few LOST episodes, where without saying much, the producers have managed to let us join the ride and just enjoy it. It doesn't answer many questions, but it explains, or rather, puts a different spin to the flash-aways, and the characters, and how all of this is somewhat related.

I don't know about you guys, but I predict a grand finale coming on soon. Something over the roof.

5/5 stars.

Desmond and penny

[enasaljammal · 10/10 · 25 July 2022]

Desmond and penny's relationship is probably one of the sweetest and most romantic love stories made on tv , with the touch of lost of coarse ,

This is one of the best episodes in season 6, Henry Ian cusick is an amazing actor , makes an impact with every appearance Can't wait to see what other mysteries will unfold during the finale.

Powerful Episode

[CabinFever12 · 7 April 2010]

Well, this episode was... AWESOME, BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING... if you did enjoy Flashes Before Your Eyes, Catch-22 and The Variable, this one will not let you down, trust me.

Great to see Faraday and Charlie again. These one doesn't solve any mystery of the island, but tell us more about the flash-sideways, and also show us what LOST its all about - characters. OH, and of course if you love the romance between Des and Penny you gonna love this one. I am not going to give it away the ending, but i just have to say that is REALLY COOL, and it makes you fell good.

Awesome as The Constant? Maybe...yeah great as the constant. The best of the series? No... but one the greatest, and probably the best of season 6 Best flash-sideways? Yes

5/5 10/10 Amazing Episode

The Questions' Answers

[joy-ride · 10/10 · 7 April 2010]

This the most breathtaking episode of the season and one of the most interesting ones of the series! Des is my favorite character after Sawyer! I think, the series - where Des in a leading role - are the most exciting! And I was very glad to see a couple Demond-Penny again - thank the writers heartily for this!

Also the episode gives so many answers and new information that I've got a good brainwash! It becomes nearly clear what the hell alternate reality is, what the hell Wildmoreforget on the Island and whether Des and Penny be together... But of course, there are many new questions...

I like this episode, the greatest one after the 'Constant' and "Looking Glass"!

outstanding.

[mikerowerush · 8/10 · 9 April 2010]

once again a really left of field episode and the return of an old friend.i really wish lost would do what lots of other TV shows do,that is not show the guest star's name in the credits at the beginning.you know straight away who is going to pop up and leaving their name off till the end would be more of a surprise.desmond is one of the show's best characters and its great to see him back.coupled with the alternate time line inserts this episode really upped the ante'and only leaves the door open for more questions.the appearance of a couple of back story characters made the whole thing race along and gave us all food for thought.

Alternate Desmond

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 6 October 2018]

When 'Lost' was in its prime, it was must-watch television. Remember first watching it, found it remarkably easy to get into, was hooked from the start and was on Season 3 by the end of one week. The general consensus is that the final season is a disappointment and cannot disagree.

It, Season 6 that is, started promisingly enough with "LA X", both parts, but the season since up to this point was variable, mostly somewhere in between of being decent and great. There were disappointments like "Lighthouse", "The Package" and particularly "What Kate Does", but there were excellent episodes such "Sundown", "Dr Linus" and the season's high point "Ab Aeterno" too.

"Happily Ever After" is an outstanding episode. Would go as far to say it's one of the best of the sixth season (second after its high point "Ab Aeterno"), one of the best episodes of the latter seasons and one of only two episodes ("Ab Aeterno" of course being the other) up to this point of the sixth season to not have anything wrong with it.

Pace is tight and none of the writing is taut and not soapy. There are even more shocks and the answers and revelations to the mysteries provided are wholly unpredictable. There is more story clarity than the previous episodes and character motivations are not as vague as some of the previous Season 6 episodes and along with "Dr Linus" it is one of few of the season to successfully link the timelines and themes in a way that is all-the-way-through cohesive and harmonious rather with clashing or an episode of two or more halves.

Of all the episodes of the show, up to this point of the season and of the season overall, "Happily Ever After" is the second most illuminating in terms of revelations and twists after "Ab Aeterno". It all makes sense and in no way feels disjointed. The story is utterly gripping, full of suspense and has emotion. The story and character development feels advanced rather than going backwards, being reiterated or ground to a halt. After a while of being underused or completely neglected, Desmond is the most interesting he's been in quite a while and has his meatiest material since goodness knows how long. Widmore is a formidable antagonist and Faraday and Charlie are written in remarkably well, not shoe-horned.

Acting can't be faulted, with particularly superb performances from Henry Ian Cusick and Alan Dale. The visuals are slick and stylish, the music chilling and understated, the writing tightly structured and the direction showing ferocity and control.

Concluding, outstanding. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Is this an explanation of the other world?

[mike-ryan455 · 8/10 · 7 April 2010]

I don't consider it a spoiler to say that we have seen an alternate reality, where Jack has a son, Sawyer is a cop and Hurley calls himself the luckiest man alive. Besides enduring the plot twists and turns, I think we all wondered how they would explain all that.

Last week, Sayid saw Desmond being taken off the submarine. This week, we saw what they did with him. I won't go into all the details, except to say that they present the beginnings of a reason for what is going on along with an alternate view of Charles Widmore, Penny Widmore, Daniel Faraday and Eloise Hawking.

The episode was good. It wasn't the greatest. I feel like something is missing. I just hope they get it together in time.

Convincing performance, weird and inspiring story, unbalanced dual arcs and conventional editing, disappointing pace but intriguing ending

[igoatabase · 8/10 · 7 April 2010]

In my humble opinion The Constant, season 4 5th episode, is by far the best Lost episode. In fact it's the only one I rated 10 out of 10 with Sundown. So at the end of The Package when Sayid and us saw Desmond my heartbeat went on a tribal rate that lasted until now. One week to remember what happened. One week to think about him and Penny. One week to feel in love, again.

Happily Ever After wasn't as strange as The Constant but it was definitely an excellent installment. First Henry Ian Cusick's performance was impressive and his charisma astounding. Considering his appearances are rare comparing him to Matthew Fox wouldn't be appropriate but they definitely play in the same league, right with Terry O'Quinn and a few others. Second watching the episode was as intense as riding a twirling roller coaster. From the characters he met to the alternative situations my jaw was sweeping most of the time. Third even if I found the story a bit naive, probably because I'm not obsessed by romance, it was quite inspiring.

But I can't help thinking that it could have been better, even if its forty minutes felt like seconds. I found the island and urban arcs weren't well balanced and the transitions between the two not as creative as in Dr. Linus for example. An other issue is that Desmond hadn't been featured a single second since LA X and it was already ten episodes ago ! So I think his coming back should have been better planned, with some sort of prequel episode or something. Moreover even if some moments were intense it didn't reach The Constant's level, far from it.

Last but not least the most disappointing element was probably the pace. It's like nothing much happened. I think some parts could have been shortened to give some space to more important ones. The first half wasn't that surprising for example when the other one was astonishing. But don't get me wrong the last seconds confirmed that the remaining episodes should be captivating. Considered as a standalone episode Happily Ever After was just great but if you try to comprehend it as a whole then it could be the gear wheel that controls them all. A first step toward the inevitable end of Lost.

Flashes Before Your Eyes, Part II

[gridoon2024 · 7/10 · 7 April 2010]

Desmond is probably my favorite character in "Lost", and two of his episodes ("Flashes Before Your Eyes" and "Live Together, Die Alone") are, and most likely will remain, in my personal Top-5 of the entire series, so I had high hopes for this episode. Ultimately, just like it was the case for Locke with "The Substitute", or for Ben with "Dr. Linus", "Happily Ever After" is entertaining enough, without really matching the quality of Desmond's best centrics (it's arguable if it beats "Jughead"). In many ways, this plays like a remake of "Flashes", starting with some island action which leads to a moment where Desmond is exposed to huge amounts of electromagnetic energy, which then sends him (or, more accurately, his consciousness)....back in time in "Flashes", in the alternate timeline in "Happily Ever After". Then we spend most of the episode there, until an unexpected event brings him back to where he started. The difference? "Flashes" is a masterpiece, "Happily Ever After" is an interesting jumble."Flashes" is jumbled too (that's part of its appeal), but back in season 3 it was much easier to accept new mysteries and questions, knowing that we would have plenty of time ahead of us for them to be resolved. Now, in season 6 and with only seven episodes left, these teasing tactics ("Why can't I see the list?" - "Because you're not ready yet, Desmond") are more frustrating than anything (Widmore, Charlie, Eloise, Daniel, everyone knows "more than they're telling" here. But the series is ending soon: when are they going to tell us WHAT they know?). This episode does make the strongest connection between the two timelines so far, however the scene where Daniel Faraday....sorry, Daniel Widmore, explains, to a man he had never met before in that timeline, his theories about how "maybe we aren't supposed to be living these lives", ranks as one of the most heavy-handed scenes in the history of the show. The episode does have its strengths, though: all the important players of past Desmond episodes are back, the car-crash-into-the-sea sequence is extremely well-done, and in the end, Desmond still remains my favorite character. *** out of 4.

Finding What Is Looking for

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 23 April 2013]

Desmond learns that he was abducted by Charles Widmore and brought back to the island. Widmore's team prepares to perform an electromagnetic test with Desmond and accidentally kills one of the men during the preparation of the experiment. Desmond is sent to the parallel reality in Los Angeles, where he meets his friend Charles Widmore. Desmond is assigned to release the addicted Drive Shaft bass player Charlie Pace from the jail to play in the charity event promoted by Widmore's wife Eloise for her son Daniel. Desmond invites Charlie to go to a five star hotel to play but Charlie pulls the steering wheel of Desmond's car and throws it into the sea. Charlie refuses to play and tells him to look for Penny. Desmond visits Mrs. Widmore to tell that Charlie will not play and he meets her son Daniel, who is a musician, and tells that he feels misfit in the world. Daniel tells Desmond where he can find his half-sister Penny. When Desmond meets her, he awakes in Widmore's camp.

"Happily Ever After" is another messy episode without explanation of "Lost". Why Desmond should go to an alternate Los Angeles? Again, more mystery and no explanations to the countless mysteries raised along six seasons of a show that began as a drama, switched to sci-fi and became supernatural. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Happily Ever After"