CoronaVirus: During This Time of Self Quarantine, Desmond Hume Provides Inspiration!
Recent press indicates while most of the world stays at home as much as they can to help stop the spread of the Coronavirus, there have been those remembering and reminiscing of Desmond Hume’s similar situation.
On LOST, Desmond spent 3 years down in the hatch, in a self imposed quarantine of his own. Pushing the button every 108 seconds in order to save the world. Enjoy the three articles below the photo cap and let’s do like Desmond did……stay home, stay safe….let’s save the world!
‘What LOST’s Desmond Can Teach Us ABout Quarantine’
by Lindsey Romain at Nerdist.com
Desmond’s introduction on the show is one of Lost‘s great reveals. In a subplot from the first season, the characters Locke (Terry O’Quinn) and Boone (Ian Somerhalder) stumble on a hatch door buried in the middle of the jungle of the remote island where their plane crash-landed. The unlikely duo decides to excavate the hatch, but they initially keep it from their fellow survivors. Boone, on his death bed, reveals the hatch’s location to the island’s de facto leader, surgeon Jack (Matthew Fox), and the season finale involves a mission to open it and find out what’s inside.
That final episode ends with tantalizing tease: Jack and Locke peering into the hatch before the credits smash and we realized we’d have to wait a whole summer to learn what was in there.
ABC/via Giphy
So what was in there? The opening of the season two premiere introduced us to what seems like a totally unrelated series of events: normal scenes of a man starting his day. However, we quickly learn that this man is actually down there in the hatch—a strange, bunker-like place frozen in a ’70s aesthetic—and that he’s about to be confronted by the survivors of Oceanic 815, after years in isolation. We also learn that stamped on the inside hatch door is a curious word: “Quarantine.”
That means Desmond is under the belief that his bunker home is protecting him from some unknown illness on the island—an illness the survivors might now have. Because this is Lost, it would take us way too long to explain the truth of the matter, and frankly, we’re not even sure we know the answers ourselves. Suffice it to say, Desmond’s story is one of the most fascinating and heartbreaking on the show, and how he came to be on the island—and what becomes of him later—are worth the hours of investment.
What we want to do here instead is take a look at his morning quarantine routine. Because it’s actually a pretty good model for what we should all be doing every morning.
First, Desmond starts his day by hopping out of his bunk, pressing some buttons on a computer (you do not have to do this as you are not trying to “save the world” in your quarantine), and then heads to his record player and puts on some tunes. The song he picks in the season two premiere is “Make Your Own Kind Of Music” by Mama Cass Elliot—the perfect sort of breezy, infectious, and upbeat tune to get you through another day of quarantine. The lyrics are also a little on the nose for self-isolation:
You’re gonna be knowing
The loneliest kind of lonely,
It may be rough goin’,
Just to do your thing’s the hardest thing to do.
But you’ve gotta make your own music
Sing your own special song,
Make your own kind of music even if nobody else sings along.
As the song plays, he washes the previous night’s dishes, and then hops on his exercise bike. We watch his mini fitness routine, which includes pull-ups and sit-ups. Next, he pops into the shower, does a nice little scrub-down, then heads back to the kitchen to make a breakfast smoothie. We’re not entirely sure what’s in this thing; it looks like a combination of protein powder, cherries, and peaches. But he’s doing his best with what he’s got.
That’s about when things veer off into Lost territory, since we next see Desmond inject himself with some sort of mysterious medicine, and then the hatch door explodes and he’s thrust into action. But don’t worry, he makes sure to change into his work jumpsuit first! As the experts say, the best work-from-home practice is to treat it like you’re going into the office anyway; that includes getting dressed.
It’s a pretty simple scene, and honestly, not one we thought we’d ever need to look to for inspiration. But it’s 2020, the year where absolutely nothing makes sense. So why not let a moment from Lost inform us about the dos and don’ts of quarantined life? Thank you Desmond, for this vital bit of informative pop culture. May we all be as fit as you by the end of this.
‘CoronaVirus: Scene From TV Show LOST Resurfaces as UK Goes Into Lockdown’
By Jacob Stolworthy Independent.co.uk
A scene from the TV show Lost is being circulated online following Boris Johnson’s speech to the nation in which he put the UK on partial lockdown because of coronavirus.
While addressing the country on Monday night (23 March), Johnson ordered people to “stay at home” and sanctioned one form of exercise a day.
This led many to think of the character Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick) in the hit US show centered on plane crash survivors.
Desmond was introduced in the show’s second season as a character residing in a mysterious hatch found in the jungle by two survivors.
The first time he’s ever seen, he’s shown going about his daily routine, which involves listening to some music (in this instance, Mama Cass), showering and exercising.
It’s later revealed he’s been locked away for three years believing to be under quarantine due to a deadly “sickness” on the island.
One person shared a clip of Desmond’s introduction on Twitter, writing: “Me three weeks from now, working from home.”
Another added: “We are Desmond from Lost until May”.
“The longer this isolation/quarantine goes on I reckon I am going to morph into Desmond,” wrote a third.
Writer Lindsey Romain even wrote an article about the character for Nerdist, commenting: “My man Desmond had a quarantine routine before it was cool so i wrote about it.”
Of course we don’t have the added pressure of pushing a button every 108 minutes in the belief it will “save the world”, although one tweeter stated: ”I feel like Desmond on Lost, hunkered down in the hatch, and every 108 minutes I push a button to launch a Google Hangout.”
Lost is available to stream on Amazon Prime and you can follow along with a rewatch podcast.
Find a ranking of every single episode here.
‘9 Genre Characters Who Really ‘Got’ Social Distancing’
By Brian Silliman at syfy.com
Desmond — Lost
When we finally saw what was in the hatch at the beginning of the second season of Lost, we met Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick). His sole purpose was to press buttons at proper times. When he wasn’t doing that, he was adhering to a somewhat strict regimen of keeping himself entertained.
He gets pretty good at it, but when newcomers show up and he gets to hand the button-pushing job to someone (anyone) else? This dude is gone baby, gone. He could not have gotten out of the hatch fast enough, because social distancing doesn’t allow him to reunite with his beloved Penny, or “Pennahh.” He gets stuck on the island anyway, and we’re glad — he’s one of the best characters that ever appeared on this series. See you in another life, brother.
