Has anyone here read Marvel Comics' House of M? It was a crossover event from a few years back, in which the Scarlet Witch created an alternate reality in which various characters' deepest wishes were granted. Peter Parker was married to a very-much-alive Gwen Stacey, Tony Stark's father was alive, Wolverine has all of his memories, and Magneto rules a world in which mutants are the majority, while humans are the oppressed minority. You can get a good enough (and hilarious) summary from Matt Gardner's 4-part series here. The reason I bring this up is because I was reminded of M while watching "Happily Ever After"; in M, just because the characters had their dreams come true didn't mean they were happy. And here, although Desmond had the thing he sought after most in his off-Island life, the approval of Charles Widmore (he had Penny for the relevant times he sought Charles' approval), he was only superficially happy. He soon realized that not knowing Penny was the worse alternative to being a rich playboy who had everything. And looking back on the alternaverse, the characters' lives have been strange inversions that aren't exactly better than the crash universe. Locke and his dad have a good relationship and he is married to Helen, but he's still in a wheelchair and has not learned to be his own man. Jack has a son, but has troubles with him and his ex-wife. Daniel got to pursue his musical talent, but never got to formally meet Charlotte. Sawyer is an honest cop, but is still haunted by the actions of the real Sawyer. Hurley is a lucky person, but I'm sure he isn't as happy as he passes himself off as (I guess we'll find out in a few days).
Also, in House of M, Wolverine having his memories was the alternate universe's undoing because he had the memories of his life as it should have been, not as it was in the new reality. In the LOST alternaverse, Eloise Hawking Widmore seems to remember the world in which 815 crashed... and in which she killed her son without knowing it. And Charlie learned how to access those memories, by nearly dying. And when his suicidal nature (he wants to see Claire again) help Desmond see Penny, Desmond embarks on a quest to find her in that world. He and Daniel, his half-brother-in-law in the 815 universe, talk about the possibility of alternate worlds and nuclear bombs creating split timelines (when Daniel saw Charlotte in a museum, he saw visions of her on the Island). When Desmond and Penny finally meet in the alternaverse, at the stadium where Jack and Desmond first met (and where Desmond and Penny were reunited after Desmond got out of prison), alterna-Desmond got a full-on view of the regular universe.
Meanwhile, the episode began and ended on Hydra Island, with Widmore subjecting Desmond to some weird experiment to see how well he can stand up to a large dose of electromagnetic energy. Desmond survived the Swan explosion, and he was able to survive something that fried an unfortunate Widmore crew member. And when he came out of it, he knew what he had to "do" (apparently, Widmore needs to do something with electromagnetism to kill Titus). But just as Desmond agreed to help Widmore, Sayid showed up to "rescue" Desmond. The suddenly zen Desmond agreed to go with Sayid back to Titus. Is this all part of Widmore/Desmond's plan?
Up next: Alterna-Hurley...
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