Thursday's episode is titled "The Constant."

Here's what ABC.com has to say:

Sayid and Desmond hit a bit of turbulence on the way to the freighter, which causes Desmond to experience some unexpected side effects.

Ah, yes, of course something went wrong. That doesn't tell us much, though, because we could draw that conclusion from last week's preview, which included a lot of shaky shots inside a helicopter, with images of Desmond and Sayid being tossed about.

Let's take a minute to dissect the scientific title of the episode, though. According to Dictionary.com, a "constant" is defined as:

7. something that does not or cannot change or vary.

8. Physics. a number expressing a property, quantity, or relation that remains unchanged under specified conditions.

9. Mathematics. a quantity assumed to be unchanged throughout a given discussion.

Well, those are the nouns, at least. The adjectives aren't much different.

So, what remains unchanged?

Post a comment below.

The latest string of episodes have all featured one thing -- the addition of one member of the Oceanic Six (if you count Aaron, and the Lospedians certainly don't.) I feel as if tonight would be another opportunity to reveal the fifth member of that group.

Then again, I could be wrong.

Here's my best bets for tonight:

-- Miles comes dangerously close to letting go of the grenade Locke put in his mouth, rendering him faceless.

-- Ben is punched in the face at least five times (I have struck out on this the last two weeks. Ben is really due for a beating.)

-- Desmond's flash forwards become more intense, showing us a peak into his future or the future of the island.

-- The flash forward is to Desmond -- who is a member of the Six.

-- An appearance of "Ghost Charlie."

-- Kate and Sawyer have another falling out.

-- The episode ends with a big twist. Sayid and Desmond land on the ship, only to see someone they really don't expect -- like, for instance, Michael and Walt.

Wouldn't that be crazy?

Just a reminder: I'll be blogging live tonight during commercial breaks. Log on to "Get Lost" just before tonight's show and refresh for my reactions to each segment. Post a comment and get some feedback at the end of the program.

A solid three minutes into the program I am already wrong on one of my predictions -- Desmond isn't flashing forward.

He's flashing... present?

He's alternating between the past and the present, confusing the two, and he's somehow lost memory of the island and Sayid. He is somewhere between the Scotch army and the helicopter.

What kind of side effect is this?

Time has gone crazy on the island.

Faraday hints to Jack and Juliet that their perception of the time that's passed since Sayid and Desmond has left the island is considerably longer than how much time has actually passed. It's a confusing thought, and one that will likely not be fully explained this episode.

We have yet to determine if Desmond if flashing forward from the past or backward from the present -- or both. He's somewhere in between now.

We do know that their is some wild-eyed guy tied to a cot who may be experiencing the same thing.

As for the people on the boat, well, old Kimby (is that his name?) and Omar are staying tight lipped.

Is old Cuckoo's Nest on the cot going through the same thing Desmond is going through? Is it an effect of the island in general, or does it only affect people who have been through a big electromagnetic event, like Desmond?

What do you think?

You're right, Faraday, this is insanity.

As if the polar bears, smoke monsters, disappearing cabins and strange groups of natives weren't enough, now we have to deal with the time-space continuum.

This segment ended with Faraday telling Desmond to find him in the past. Yes, in the past. Will 1996 Faraday be able to help him? Does Faraday know now that he has already met Desmond and knows all about this condition? Will this alter the time line?

While the whole time element is baffling, we are getting small hints as to who the people on the boat are -- other than fans of old, wrinkled clothing. The doctor appears to be at odds with Frank -- a newer recruit -- meaning that he is likely a full-fledged member of the initiative that operates the boat.

Is it DHARMA?

This is a big episode.

Really big.

Bigger than the Oceanic Six.

We now know the general idea of how Desmond detached himself -- well, his consciousness -- from the time line. We should have recognized the light that shined on Eloise as the same light that filled the sky when the first hatch imploded when Desmond turned the fail safe key.

We also know that Penny is trying to get in contact with the boat, but they refuse to answer the call. There is also a deepening rift between the people on the boat -- who, like Naomi, seem pretty militant -- and the scientist that accompanied her on the helicopter.

Why is there that tension? Why won't they answer Penny's calls?

As Desmond struggles to find Penny -- his "constant," or his anchor in the past and present -- we see a big part of the puzzle.

Penny's father is bidding on a book from the Black Rock, the old tall ship parked in the middle of the jungle on the island. The book, a journal from the first mate, was owned by Hanso, of the Hanso Foundation, which was associated with the DHARMA Initiative.

I'm sure the other men bidding on the book are somehow important, as well.

So, did Penny's father buy the book and find the location of the island? Did he send Desmond there on purpose when Desmond was on his yacht race? Do the people on this boat work for Penny's father, too?

So, maybe it's not another piece of the puzzle, but a new gap for a puzzle piece.

Desmond may be a bigger part of the battle for the island than we expected.

Generally, these "Gut Reactions" are supposed to wrap up the episode I just watched and extract the main theme.

I don't think that's possible this week.

At its core the episode is about the relationship between Desmond and Penny, with the entire love story winding through the episode. This theme culminates, of course, with the quick cuts between the two while they are professing their love and promising they will meet again.

But that's not what really matters here.

We have a whole boat load of new questions and then some.

We have electromagnetism, time line flaws, non-linear consciousness, Flight 815-boat conflict, boat-boat conflict, Black Rock references, Hanso Foundation references, hints that Penny's father is more insidious that we thought and confirmation that Penny knows, somehow, about the island.

Oh, and the first appearance of the numbers in quite a few episodes.

That's a big, fat punch to the gut.

This will take some time to think over.

In the meantime -- post a comment below.

Also, check back tomorrow morning for "Lost Productivity" -- a Friday morning discussion about tonight's episode with regular poster Andrew Kochirka, written over AOL Instant Messenger while we sit at our cubicles.

My coworker -- CyberInk's Andrew Kochirka -- is a regular poster on the blog and probably a bigger Lost fan than myself. We decided to have a fairly regular discussion about the show -- called "Lost Productivity" because we are chatting on the clock -- and to post the transcript of our IM chat here.

Here's this week's edition:

Andrew Kochirka: I had some revelations about Lost last night
Cody Switzer: yes?
C.S.: what were they?
A.K.: I'm not sure if I’m the only one or if these theories are very obvious
A.K.: I have three "theory-esque" ideas
A.K.: obviously we all know that Daniel Faraday is "conscience jumping" if you will if only for one reason, he writes in his journal "If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant".
A.K.: this explains why, in the first introductory episode for Daniel, he was crying watching the TV channel covering the crash of oceanic flight 815
A.K.: he could be crying, for what I have thought of, three reasons.
A.K.: because his mind is switching between on the island and off, he might know the entire group from the crash is dead, he might know that they are all alive, or he might be crying because he knows the plane is going to crash and he can’t stop it
A.K.: I think his "conscience jumping" will be a huge part in upcoming episodes
C.S.: That "conscience jumping" could also explain why he needs to be quizzed on his memory and why, when we first meet him, he needs a caretaker
A.K.: exactly
C.S.: What if he's crying because he's also seen the end -- the very end -- and he knows what's going to happen with everyone on the island?
C.S.: There may be a big tragedy coming up
A.K.: yeah, that’s my thought
C.S.: The preview for Thursday's episode looks like something major will happen, too
C.S.: I don't really know why he's in a radiation suit, and so is Charlotte
C.S.: or, what looks like a radiation suit
A.K.: theory two also involves "conscience jumping" but in a much more severe way...maybe when the plane went down, it went off its original bearing which we now know is a big no-no
A.K.: in the process of going off bearing and crashing, it sent people through slight time warp if you will and maybe back to a different point in their life.
A.K.: maybe Locke isn’t healing from his paralysis, maybe he actually is at a point in his life, ON THE ISLAND, before he was a paraplegic.
A.K.: and maybe Rose wasn’t cured of her cancer, maybe she’s just physically back before she had it
A.K.: that is my theory 2
A.K.: and as for theory 3
A.K.: it has to do with electromagnetism and the purple/pinkish light
A.K.: off of the island, we know of three people for sure who have been exposed to it
A.K.: Daniel Faraday (from him having a constant and thus leading to "conscience jumping"), Minkowski (we know he "conscience jumps" so I would assume sometime in his life he was exposed to it), and Eloise the rat (we saw her being exposed to the light and she conscience jumps")
A.K.: so far, on the island, it’s just been Desmond, due to the fact that he was in the hatch when it exploded, causing him to be exposed to an extreme amount of radiation
A.K.: I was using this to think about the Oceanic 6 and who is off of this island and how it connects
A.K.: there were plenty of people who were at the implosion site and who would have been strongly affected by the radiation, but there also were a number of people who weren’t
A.K.: not near the hatch site were Kate, Jack, Hurley, and Sawyer, because they were captured by the others
A.K.: Michael and Walt were not because they were on a boat away from the island
A.K.: and Sayid, Jin, and sun were not because they were on Desmond’s sail boat making their way to sneak attack the others.
A.K.: so far, we know that four of those nine are part of the Oceanic 6
A.K.: any connection?
A.K.: I still do not think that Aaron is part of the Oceanic 6 and also, if what jack says on trial is actually true, eight survive, but only six make it off, who are the other two who make it off (if you don’t count Aaron), who are the "two" that survived, and that just leaves one of that nine to die.
A.K.: maybe the only way off of the island is through either not being exposed to the radiation, or having a constant away from the island
A.K.: they sound awesome in my head but they might come out a bit "crack pot-ish" on screen
C.S.: That's an interesting theory, and I like the way it comes together.
C.S.: So then are Locke and Desmond doomed?
C.S.: I mean, we've already seen Eko and Charlie die
C.S.: and they were in the hatch too
A.K.: I don’t know about doomed, cause one, Locke’s doesn’t want to leave the island but it’s possible
A.K.: and Desmond has a constant
C.S.: A constant can't save you from the smoke monster, though, or drowning
C.S.: I'm not necessarily saying that they will die like Eloise or Minkowski, but that they will die
A.K.: well I mean also, like Claire and Aaron and all the others that were even in the general vicinity of the hatch could be affected too
A.K.: but if history repeats, yeah Locke and Des are as good as gone
C.S.: but I don't really see that happening
C.S.: they are too important to the story
C.S.: well, at least now
A.K.: exactly
A.K.: I’m not saying in the short term, I’m saying maybe eventually
A.K.: I don’t see it happening honestly ever
A.K.: I mean, I don’t think death is guaranteed to come for them due to the light/radiation
C.S.: Still and I'd have to go back and watch this again, Eko's dying words were "You're next"
C.S.: And who did he say that to?
A.K.: he said it technically to Locke
C.S.: Locke, Charlie, Desmond, Nikki and Paolo
C.S.: well, if you look at the people around him when he said it, 3/5 of them are dead
A.K.: exactly
A.K.: plus Charlie
C.S.: I must meditate on this