"Happily Ever After" can best be viewed as the conclusion of Desmond's time-tripping trilogy, following on the heels of "Flashes Before Your Eyes" and "The Constant". It was a great episode, second this season only to "Ab Aeterno", one that made it much more clear what 2004X is and why we should care about it.
It's fruitless to divide this episode between the Island and 2004X, because the two stories moved together. Desmond wakes up after three days out; he was snatched directly from the hospital. Widmore assures him that Penny and Charlie are okay, and tries a sympathetic approach by saying "I can't imagine how you're feeling". When he tells Des he's back on the Island, our favorite Scot snaps and beats the crap out of Widmore. Widmore insists, as Eloise did, that the Island is not yet done with Desmond.
Widmore tells Zoe to get the test ready; it's an electromagnetic test, being housed in a setting that looks like Jacob's cabin, and for a moment I wonder if Desmond is not the crazy eye that Hurley saw peering out the window in "The Beginning of the End". Widmore is moving up the timing of the test, and people scurry about, but the poor sap who's standing near the generator gets electrocuted. Angstrom the bunny is apparently the intended test subject.
Desmond is brought against his will into the cabin where Widmore tells Desmond he needs him to make a sacrifice to save everyone. Desmond sneers that Widmore knows nothing about sacrifice; Widmore cites Faraday's death, the fact that Penny hates him, and that he's never met Charlie Hume. Not particularly compelling, I have to agree with Desmond.
As they prepare the test, Widmore is convinced that Desmond will not be hurt, as he's the only person he knows of who survived a catastrophic electromagnetic event (and it's nice that "Live Together, Die Alone" still reverberates). Desmond experiences some electromagnetic fluctuations, and then a flash of white light like we've seen before. And he's standing at LA X, where Hurley helpfully informs him where their baggage is.
Desmond makes his way to the carousel, where he helps Claire get her bag and walks the line between flirting and friendship as the two did to earn Charlie's ire during Season Three. He thinks (knows?) that her baby is a boy. Desmond offers her a ride, as he has a car waiting for him, driven by Minkowski. Minkowski offers him the hookup to restaurant reservations and hookers, but Des is all business. He goes to meet the boss--Widmore of course.
In his office, Widmore has a painting of scales (a theme we've heard from Dogen and Jacob's cave). Desmond is a trusted right-hand man, Widmore's fixer. Apparently Widmore's son Daniel is a classical musician, and he and his mother have decided to throw a benefit which will involve combining classical with rock, and of course, Drive Shaft. So Widmore needs Desmond to bail Charlie out of jail and baby-sit him. He tells Desmond how indispensable he is and shares some of his MacCutcheon with him.
As he approaches the courthouse, Desmond is reflected in the window. Charlie is unrepentant as he's released, blithely jaywalking across traffic to a bar. Over a drink, he tells Desmond that he saw a blonde woman on the plane (obviously Claire), and he felt true love, like he'd always been in love, but then unfortunately some "sodding idiot" (Jack, if I remember my "LA X" correctly) had to save him. This is the first of three times that love deja vu plays prominently in the episode.
Desmond is unimpressed and tells him it's not real, offering him a choice between seeing his musical career die and coming with him. Charlie says that doesn't sound like much of a choice, but Desmond says "There's always a choice". As they drive, Charlie keeps chiding Desmond about his status as Widmore's fixer, that he has never felt true love, that he's not happy, etc. Charlie decides to demonstrate this more effectively by commandeering the steering wheel and plunging the car into the marina that played so prominently in Season Five (and also recalls the background of the iconic photo of Desmond and Penny).
Desmond scrambles first to free himself and then to save Charlie, but Charlie is perfectly content with drowning (we've seen that before). Desmond goes to the surface for air, then dives back down. Charlie puts his hand up to the window, and finally what a lot of smart people have been expecting for some time happens--someone sees something through the looking glass. Desmond sees "Not Penny's Boat" on Charlie's hands and a quick montage of his life with Penny. He manages to free Charlie from the car and they both surface.
In the hospital, Desmond's eyes are checked as they were in "The Constant" (by a nurse who looks a lot like the young Emily Locke, although that's surely just my imagination). He's sent to the MRI, where he's given a panic button to push. When he sees more flashes, he does just that. It turns out he's at St. Sebastian, and he recognizes Jack. Jack remembers him from the plane, and actually seems interested when Desmond says there's another passenger from the plane at the hospital.
Charlie bursts through like a banshee at that point, frantically running through the hospital. Desmond catches up with him, and wants to see Charlie's hands, asking who Penny is. Charlie realizes that Desmond saw something too, and says "none of this matters". Desmond should stop worrying about him, and start trying to find Penny.
Widmore is pissed at Desmond for losing Charlie, telling he that he'll need to tell Mrs. Widmore about this and incur her wrath. Desmond's never met her, but of course it's Eloise. She says "it's about time we met", and could not be more gracious about the DriveShaft snafu, saying "what happened, happened". But when Desmond overhears some people talking about a soloist named Penny Milton and wants to see the list, she flips the heck out. Lurking in a black shadow in the background is Daniel Faraday.
Chewing him out in private, she says that it would be a violation (of rules?) to see such a list, and it is obvious that she knows much more than she lets on, such as the fact that in this iteration of things, Desmond has what he always sought--Widmore's approval. Desmond is not ready to know about what he inquires. Desmond leaves, drinking in the limo, but before the car gets rolling Faraday knocks on the window (black shadow again) and says "We need to talk".
The scene that follows is the best thing that 2004X has offered yet. Daniel explains that he saw Charlotte eating a chocolate bar as we walked through a museum, and he felt the same sensation of lifelong love that Charlie did, a love at first site. He pulls out his iconic journal, in which he'd written down some quantum mechanics equations that he couldn't have possibly done--only someone who'd studied physics their entire lives could comprehend it.
Desmond asks what those equations mean, and Daniel says that something catastrophic is about to happen, and the only way to stop it is to release a massive amount of energy, live blowing up a hydrogen bomb. He tells Desmond that this (2004X) is not the life they were supposed to have, that they changed things and messed up what was supposed to be. Desmond questions-scoffs if Faraday wants to set off a nuke, and Faraday says no--he thinks he already did. And thus, as far as he can be relied upon as a narrator, 2004X is in fact the result of Jughead's detonation.
He senses that Desmond felt this other life too, but Desmond insists that the woman he saw is just "an idea". Daniel says, "No, she's my half-sister", and tells Desmond when and where he can meet her.
The where is the stadium ("Man of Science, Man of Faith"), where Penny channels Jack by running the tour de stade. Desmond approaches her and shakes her hand, which causes him to wake up on-Island.
He was only unconscious for a few seconds, but Desmond insists to Widmore that he's okay and that he now understands his mission, asking "when do we start". Zoe and another of Widmore's men take him away, moving towards the shore when Sayid shoots the one goon and tells Zoe to run. Desmond willingly goes off with Sayid.
Back in 2004X, Desmond passed out immediately after shaking Penny's hand. She flirts that she must have some effect on, and Desmond agrees that she does. He asks her out for coffee, and she accepts. Desmond returns to his car grinning, and tells Minkowski he wants the manifest for Oceanic 815. When asked why, Desmond replies "I need to show them something".
Random notes:
* So, yes, 2004X and the on-Island world are connected, and there is knowledge and/or consciousness flowing back and forth, or at least in the Island to 2004X direction.
* Desmond going off with Sayid is certainly a scary prospect, since his importance appears to be tantamount. Does he know what he's doing (the look on his face is confident), or is he getting himself stuck with the wrong crowd accidentally as Kate did?
* Faraday's silhouette in black was also unsettling, but it seems as if 2004X is the only world in which MiB would be able to payoff on his promises. Eliminating that world would be the ultimate way to defeat MiB, by making his promises inert and meaningless (not that I believe he really intends to pay them off in any event).
