The Constant

For other uses, see Constant.

"The Constant"
Lost episode
Episode no.Season 4
Episode 5
Directed byJack Bender
Written byCarlton Cuse
Damon Lindelof
Production code405
Original air dateFebruary 28, 2008 (2008-02-28)
Running time43 minutes[1]
Guest appearances
Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus
Alan Dale as Charles Widmore
Sonya Walger as Penny Widmore
Graham McTavish as Sergeant
Darren Keefe as Billy
Edward Conery as Auctioneer
Fisher Stevens as George Minkowski
Kevin Durand as Martin Keamy
Anthony Azizi as Omar
Marc Vann as Dr. Ray
Chris Gibbon as Soldier
Episode chronology
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"The Other Woman"
Lost season 4
List of episodes

"The Constant" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the American Broadcasting Company's (ABC) serial drama television series Lost, and the 77th episode overall. It was broadcast on February 28, 2008, on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada.[2] It was written by executive producer Carlton Cuse and co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and directed by executive producer Jack Bender.[3] "The Constant" was watched by 15 million American viewers and is widely regarded as Lost's best episode and one of the best episodes of television produced in the 21st century.[4][5][6][7] It was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, a Directors Guild of America Award, and a Hugo Award.

In the episode, Desmond Hume (played by Henry Ian Cusick) and Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) are being flown by Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey) to the freighter where Lapidus' mission is set. After going through turbulence, Desmond's consciousness unexpectedly travels through time between 1996 and 2004. The helicopter reaches the freighter and Sayid and Desmond are introduced to communications officer George Minkowski (Fisher Stevens), who is "unstuck in time" like Desmond.[8] The writers took twice the time expected to develop the episode's script;[9] the biggest concern was the avoidance of a temporal paradox when dealing with time travel.[10]

  1. ^ "Lost – Netflix". Netflix. Retrieved November 24, 2017.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ ABC Medianet, (February 1, 2008) "Weekly Primetime Program Schedule Archived February 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine". Retrieved on February 2, 2008.
  3. ^ ABC Medianet, (February 11, 2008) "Desmond Experiences Some Strange Side Effects on the Way to the Freighter Archived November 8, 2014, at the Wayback Machine". Retrieved on February 11, 2008.
  4. ^ "The Ringer's 100 Best TV Episodes of The Century". besttv.theringer.com. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  5. ^ "Ranking Lost". IGN. June 2, 2010. Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  6. ^ Dahl, Oscar, (February 29, 2008) "Unstuck in Time ", BuddyTV. Retrieved on March 9, 2008.
  7. ^ Poniewozik, James (November 3, 2008). "Top 10 TV Episodes of 2008". Time. Archived from the original on February 27, 2010. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
  8. ^ ABC, (February 29, 2008) "'The Constant': Season 4, Episode 405 Recap Archived May 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine". Retrieved on March 10, 2008.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference usa was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Kaku, Michio, (March 3, 2008) "Are Lost's New Time Travel Physics Junk Science? Maybe Not, Expert Says: Hollywood Sci-Fi vs. Reality Archived August 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine", Popular Mechanics. Retrieved on March 10, 2008.