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Daniel Faraday

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Template:Infobox Lost character Dr. Daniel Faraday, often referred to as Dan or simply by his surname, Faraday, is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Jeremy Davies. Faraday was introduced in the season 4 premiere, and is part of the team aboard the Kahana. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse called Daniel Faraday "an obvious shout-out to Michael Faraday, scientist and physicist".[1] Faraday was originally planned to be a recurring role.[2] While time traveling in the 1970's, Daniel is unknowingly shot and killed by his mother Eloise Hawking.

Arc

Daniel is the son of Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan) and Charles Widmore (Alan Dale), who were both Others. Eloise raised Daniel on her own, hiding the identity of his father from him and pushing him to develop his scientific mind, much to the detriment of his social life and casual pursuits. After graduating from University of Oxford with his girlfriend Theresa Spencer, Daniel is offered a £1.5 million grant by industrialist Charles Widmore. [3] In the 1990s, Daniel starts working as a physicist at The Queen's College, Oxford, with experiments involving sending a subject's consciousness through time. His initial tests on lab rats resulted in their eventual deaths, which contribute to him abandoning his studies. During his tenure, Daniel encounters Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick), who suffers from temporal displacement trapping him between 2004 and 1996. Daniel helps Desmond stop the temporal displacements and this encounter has a profound effect on Daniel, reaffirming the legitimacy of his time-displacement theories and prompting him to resume his abandoned experiments.[4]

Daniel eventually performs similar experiments on Theresa, but ends up suffering from temporal displacement as Desmond had and eventually falls into a coma. Daniel is expelled from Oxford as a result. Charles Widmore keeps the incident from becoming too public, and personally finances the treatment for Theresa. Oxford quietly removed all references to Daniel ever being at the university. At some point, Daniel also performed an experiment upon himself, resulting in long-term memory damage. While in Essex, Massachusetts, Daniel watches a news report covering the discovery of the apparent wreckage Oceanic Flight 815 in the depths of the Sunda Trench. Widmore approaches Daniel and convinces him to go to the island, which will heal him of his plight. At first, Daniel is reluctant, but Eloise convinces him to go.[3] Daniel is then recruited into a covert team alongside Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader), Miles Straume (Ken Leung) and Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey), which is organized by Matthew Abaddon (Lance Reddick) and led by Naomi Dorrit (Marsha Thomason). Their mission is to travel to the island, conduct several scientific experiments related to the Island, and to disable the Dharma Initiative station called the Tempest, which contains poisonous gases possibly killing everyone on the Island if released. They are also assigned to find Ben Linus (Michael Emerson), the current leader of the Others.[5]

Season 4

Faraday first arrives on the island on December 23, 2004. After setting foot on the island, Faraday's memory problem slowly diminished. He then encounters the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, who are believed to be dead by the world at large.[5] On the island, Faraday starts conducting experiments regarding the island's unique passage of time. After reuniting with Charlotte, Faraday sneaks off with her to the Tempest Dharma Initiative station, where they neutralize a potential source of poison gas. Later, the corpse of the freighter's doctor washes ashore. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) confronts Faraday and he is forced confess that the freighter was not sent to the island to rescue the survivors. Around this time, Daniel realizes the Secondary Protocol has been activated by Widmore, necessitating their immediate departure from the island. When Sayid arrives to take survivors back to the Kahana. Faraday begins to ferry survivors to the freighter, but Charlotte and Miles choose to remain on the island. Daniel and five survivors are caught midway between the Kahana and the island when the former explodes and the latter is "moved" by Ben Linus.

Season 5

When Ben causes the island to vanish, Charlotte, Faraday and the remaining survivors begin to randomly travel through time. After the survivors are sent to the past, Faraday lures Desmond out of the Swan Dharma Initiative station, telling him to find Daniel's mother once he is off the island. Upon jumping further to the past, Faraday and the group are captured by the Others in 1954. The Others mistaken them as military personnels and Faraday is forced to disable a hydrogen bomb labelled "Jughead". After telling the Others that they must bury the bomb, the survivors experience a further time jump. The time jumps cause Charlotte to experience nosebleeds and headaches, and she collapses. As she dies, Charlotte relays to Faraday that she now remembers living on the island as a child, and that she recognizes Faraday as the man who told her not to return once she left the island. After John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) stops the time jumps, the remaining survivors end up stranded in 1974. Faraday and his group move into the Barracks and under false pretenses, join the DHARMA Initiative. Despite the option to board the DHARMA submarine and "go back to the real world", the survivors from 2004 stay on the island together in the hope that they can somehow return to the time that they knew and Faraday becomes a scientist for DHARMA. Faraday then leaves the island and joins the DHARMA headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

In 1977, Daniel arrives back on the island and sets out to stop the construction of the Swan Station, which ultimately results in the crash of Flight 815 and their eventual time jumps to 1977. Faraday plans to detonate the hydrogen bomb "Jughead" and destroy the unstable electromagnetic energy. Before putting his plan into action, Daniel visits a young Charlotte, telling her never to return to the island once she leaves. Daniel then travels to the Others' camp with Jack and Kate Austen (Evangeline Lily) to obtain the bomb. He breaks into their camp and threatens to shoot Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell). However, he is shot by Eloise. Before Daniel dies, he tells Eloise he is her son and that she sent him to the island despite knowing he would die.[3]

Afterlife

Oceanic Flight 815 does not crash on the Island, resulting in a different background for Faraday. Daniel was allowed to pursue his passion for music, and never trained in physics. After overhearing Eloise persuading Desmond to stop pursuing Penelope Milton (Sonya Walger), Faraday approaches Desmond and shares his theory of the timeline being altered. He tells Desmond that he recently saw a red-haired woman that he strongly felt he already knew and loved. Daniel states that after the encounter, he made a series of notes in his journal which a mathematician friend has identified as advanced quantum mechanics, a topic he knows nothing about. Daniel shows his notes, and hypothesises that the world as he and Desmond are experiencing is not their correct path. Faraday then tells him that Penelope is his half-sister and where Desmond can find her. Later, Faraday meets Charlotte at his benefit concert, but they do not yet realize they are in the afterlife. Daniel later takes the stage with DriveShaft to play as Charlotte watches from the crowd.

Casting

Jeremy Davies was cast as Daniel because he is one of the writer-producers' favorite character actors, and they think that his "transformative quality [and] the tremendous intelligence that seems to emanate from him … seemed perfect for [the part]."[6] When Davies met costume designer Roland Sanchez, he was wearing a thin black tie. Sanchez merged this "cool, edgy look" with his idea for the character's clothes: a "nerdy" loosely woven dress shirt from J.Crew.[7]

Reception

Producers Lindelof and Cuse were worried about how the new characters would be received by fans, after the unhappy reaction to new characters Nikki (Kiele Sanchez) and Paulo (Rodrigo Santoro), introduced in season three.[8] However, following their introduction in "Confirmed Dead", the four characters were well received, with Paige Albiniak of the New York Post citing them as a reason behind the show's improved ratings.[9] IGN's Chris Carabott described Daniel, as well as the other new characters from the freighter, as "great" and "exciting".[10] James Poniewozik of Time liked the introduction of the new characters from the freighter because "Each got just one flashback and a little time on the island, and yet by the end of the episode, [he] felt [he] had a true handle on what they were like as individuals".[11] Oscar Dahl of BuddyTV called it the "perfect introduction".[12] Michael Ausiello of TV Guide also liked their introduction, and praised the actors' performances.[13] Jeff Jensen from Entertainment Weekly liked that the "fascinating" new characters brought "mind-blowing new possibilities, and exciting new theory fodder".[14]

Many critics praised Davies’s performance and appearance. Tom Iacuzio of The Daytona Beach News-Journal deemed Jeremy Davies's performance deserving of a Primetime Emmy Award.[15] Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger claimed Davies's performance to be "outstanding" .[16] Jay Glatfelter of The Huffington Post said that Daniel "more and more becoming one of [his] favorite characters".[17] Chris Carabott wrote that Davies presents Faraday's awkward mannerisms well.[18] In a later review, Carabott commented, "I've become a huge fan of Davies over the course of the last couple of years thanks to his performance on this show."[19] Rachel Dovey of Paste said The Variable revealed "a whole different" side of Daniel: "We've oscillated before about the true nature of the physicist, whether it's good or evil [...] We decided he's mostly a decent guy, barring the whole experimenting-on-his-girlfriend-then-running-away-when-her-brain-turned-to-mush thing. In the past, he's just seemed lost and confused, and, since he has those big, earnest puppy eyes, we decided to forgive him. But the episode showed us the dynamic at the heart of Daniel's stuttering vulnerability. Like all broken superheroes and Freudian beings, the man has mommy issues. This week we dove inside the dynamic between Daniel and his mother growing up."[20] Also, Adam Sweeney believed Davies's acting was the "high point" of the episode. [21] A reviewer for TVoholic claimed he would have "loved any sort of explanation as to why [Daniel] changed his mind about changing the past or how he thought this could work. There must have been something that made Daniel think this was possible, but he was in such a rush that he never took care to explain."[22]

Critics expressed shock regarding Daniel’s death. David Oliver of CHUD.com felt "bummed" to see Daniel go.[23] Dan Compora of Airlock Alpha also said the shooting of Daniel at the end was “stunning.”[24] Jon Lachonis of TVOvermind claimed that as an internal character piece, "The Variable" was not "so much a great ending for Daniel.[25]

Jeremy Davies submitted the episode "The Constant" on his behalf for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Drama Series.[26]

References

  1. ^ Jensen, Jeff (February 21, 2008). "'Lost': Mind-Blowing Scoop From Its Producers". ew.com. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  2. ^ ABC Medianet, (January 18, 2008) "Four Strangers Arrive on the Island, Leading the Survivors to Question the Intentions of Their Supposed Rescuers". Retrieved on February 17, 2008.
  3. ^ a b c Paul Edwards (2009-04-19). "The Variable". Lost. Season 5. Episode 14. ABC. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |writers= ignored (help)
  4. ^ Jack Bender (2008-02-28). "The Constant". Lost. Season 4. Episode 5. ABC. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |writers= ignored (help)
  5. ^ a b Stephen Williams (February 7, 2008). "Confirmed Dead". Lost. Season 4. Episode 2. ABC. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |writers= ignored (help)
  6. ^ Jensen, Jeff, (August 29, 2007) "Lost Producers on Their Five New Actors", Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on August 30, 2007.
  7. ^ Sanchez, Roland, (February 8, 2008) "The Official Lost Video Podcast", ABC. Retrieved on March 17, 2008.
  8. ^ Jensen, Jeff, Lindelof, Damon & Cuse, Carlton. Totally 'Lost' - 'Lost' producers - 5 (mov). Entertainment Weekly. Event occurs at 01:55-03:31. Retrieved 2009-07-09. {{cite AV media}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ Albiniak, Paige (February 24, 2008). "10 Reasons Why Lost is Found". New York Post. Retrieved 2009-07-09.
  10. ^ Carabott, Chris, (February 6, 2008) "Four New Characters Join the Cast", IGN. Retrieved on October 29, 2008.
  11. ^ Poniewozik, James, (February 8, 2008) "Lostwatch: We've Got Company", Time. Retrieved on April 10, 2009.
  12. ^ Dahl, Oscar, (February 8, 2008) "The Unexpected Adventure", BuddyTV. Retrieved on April 10, 2009.
  13. ^ Ausiello, Michael, (February 7, 2008) "My Big Problem(s) With This Week's Lost", TV Guide. Retrieved on April 10, 2009.
  14. ^ Jensen, Jeff, (February 7, 2008) "Chute First, Ask Questions Later", Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on April 10, 2009.
  15. ^ Iacuzio, Tom, (May 2, 2008) "The Lost Report: 'Something Nice Back Home'", The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Retrieved on May 6, 2008.
  16. ^ Sepinwall, Alan, (February 28, 2008) "The Time-Traveler's Girlfriend", The Star-Ledger. Retrieved on March 9, 2008.
  17. ^ Glatfelter, Jay, (February 29, 2008) "On Lost: 'The Constant'", The Huffington Post. Retrieved on June 7, 2008.
  18. ^ Carabott, Chris, (February 6, 2008) "Four New Characters Join the Cast", IGN. Retrieved on March 10, 2008.
  19. ^ Carabott, Chris (April 30, 2009). "Lost: "The Variable" Review". IGN. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
  20. ^ Dovey, Rachel (April 30, 2009). "Lost Review: "The Variable"". Paste. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
  21. ^ Sweeney, Adam (May 1, 2009). "TV Review: Lost - The Variable". Film School Rejects. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
  22. ^ "Lost: The Variable". TVoholic.com. April 30, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-10. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  23. ^ Oliver, David (April 30, 2009). "Thud Review: Lost - "The Variable"". CHUD.com. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
  24. ^ Compora, Dan (May 2, 2009). "'Lost' - The Variable". Airlock Alpha. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
  25. ^ Lachonis, Jon (April 30, 2009). "LOST "The Variable" - Lose a Geek, Gain a Plan". TVOvermind. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
  26. ^ "2008 EMMY AWARDS CAMPAIGNS & EPISODE SUBMISSIONS (PART 1)". The Envelope Forum, Los Angeles Times. 2008-03-25. Retrieved 2008-10-14. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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