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A good alternate title for this episode: Charlie’s Eminent Death Cock Tease.

Last night was the episode that was supposedly going to finally resolve whether Charlie was going to die or not, and although there were some good reveals and the episode itself was wonderfully done, in the end the only thing about Charlie that got resolved was, when facing certain death, he’s got pluck.

Along with earlier episodes this year featuring Desmond and Locke, Greatest Hits featured a creative use of the flashbacks.  Instead of getting an entire storyline that related, at least thematically, to the main storyline, we got a handful of scenes showing us what Charlie believed to be the greatest moments of his life.

So basically the entire episode was designed to make you fall in love with Charlie all over again - assuming you ever fell out of love with him or were ever in love with him to begin with - so that when he dies in the end you will bawl your damn eyes out.  And I was ready to bawl.  But then the sons of bitches who make this show robbed me of my cathartic moment.  The end twist was both a relief and slightly infuriating. 

Not that Charlie won’t necessarily die in the season finale, its very possible he will, but if Charlie was going to die, this should have been the episode he died in.  Nothing they do next week could possible make his death have more impact than it would have last night.  So here’s to hoping Charlie lives to die another day.

SUMMARIZE THIS!

Episode Summary:  We start off by seeing someone running through the jungle, uncovering a boat and pushing it out on to the water. 

We cut to the main Losties (Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Charlie, Claire, Desmond, Hurley, Sayid, Jin and Sun) walking across a field being led by Jack.  Desmond stops and gives Charlie one of his patented “I just saw you die horribly” looks he likes to give every now and then and Charlie asks him if he’s had another vision.  Desmond says “no,” which of course, means “yes,” but Charlie doesn’t press the issue.

Jack stops them and explains that two nights ago Juliet told him everything, that she’s been leaving tapes at the medical hatch for Ben, and that the Others are coming tomorrow for the pregnant women.  Jack then yells for Danielle (Rousseau to people who don’t know that she has a first name), who comes out of the jungle carrying one of her old batteries.  Danielle hooks two wires to the battery and blows up a tree.  Jack explains that the tree was a spy for the Others and deserved to die. 

Yeah, that’s right.  Jack has become just that crazy.

Jack then explains that hiding from the Others is pointless since its their island and there’s no place to go.  So Jack recruited Danielle to retrieve dynamite from the Black Rock (tie back to the last Locke episode, The Brig).  On the night the Others attack, Juliet will mark the tents of the pregnant women like she was supposed to, but the tents will be filled with dynamite.  Jack exclaims that when the Others show up, they’re going to “blow them all to hell.”

Awesome.  So nice to see Jack embracing violence as a means to settle the Others’ hash.  I was waiting for Sawyer and Sayid’s big “told you so” moment, but that never really came about.

FLASHBACK!  Charlie and his brother (Liam) are looking at a flat tire in the rain while the rest of the band sits in a minivan fooling around with the radio.  Charlie is complaining - their next concert is in the middle of nowhere, the album isn’t selling, they’re broke - and tells Liam that he’s quitting.  Then “You Are Everybody” comes on the radio and everyone realizes they’ve broken through and start celebrating.

FLASHFORWARD!  Charlie is writing  “#5 First Time I Heard Myself on the Radio” on a piece of paper.  Naomi walks up and it is revealed that they are both from Manchester (although her accent is considerably weaker than his).  Charlie tells her about Drive Shaft and Naomi realizes he is the rock star who died in the plane crash.  She tells him how a very big deal was made about his death and a greatest hits album was released shortly afterwards (and I’m sure a VH-1 Behind the Music special as well). 

Juliet and Jack are helping Danielle rig the tents.  Sayid tells Jack he needs to talk to him about Naomi’s phone but Jack says he’s busy and walks away.  Sayid stops Jack and tells him that he is trying to get them off the island but he can’t use Naomi’s phone because Danielle’s SOS is blocking the signal from getting through.  Danielle points out that nobody ever responded to her signal so what would be the point?  Juliet informs them that Ben has been jamming all transmissions (except the Others’) from an underwater station called “The Looking Glass,” but she doesn’t know where it is.  Sayid believes he does.

Claire is worried that the Others may come for her again.  Charlie assures her that he will protect her (not sure how he would do that).  Desmond asks Charlie to help him with something and they walk away.  Charlie asks Desmond about his vision again and Desmond tells him that he saw Claire and Aaron get rescued by a helicopter.  The catch is that in order for Claire and Aaaron to be rescued Charlie is going to have to die or none of it will happen.  D’oh!

FLASHBACK!  A young frightened Charlie is standing at the edge of a swimming pool.  His father is in the water trying to convince Charlie to jump in.  Liam is there and says that Charlie won’t do it, but Charlie jumps into the water and his father holds him above the surface and they celebrate.

Could it be that we’ve finally discovered the one castaway without any daddy issues?  I’m shocked he’s lived this long.

FLASHFORWARD!  Charlie is writing on the piece of paper again.  This time he is writing “#4″ which is his father teaching him to swim.  Desmond asks him what he’s writing and Charlie tells him its nothing.  Then he tells Desmond to tell him how he dies.  Desmond says Charlie is in a room full of equipment in a hatch.  There is a switch with a blinking yellow light above it.  Charlie flips the switch, the light goes off, and then Charlie drowns.  Charlie asks Desmond to confirm that all he has to do is flip the switch and Claire and Aaron will be rescued.  Desmond confirms and Charlie asks where the switch is.

See what I mean?  Pluck!

Sayid, Juliet and Jack are going over a schematic of the Looking Glass he had retrieved from the Flame station (Mikhail’s station).  Juliet tells them that there was an accident a while back and that the station is flooded.  The diagram shows a cable leading to the island from the station, the same cable that Sayid found on the beach in Season 1.  He wants to follow the cable out to the station, swim into the station, find the relay switch and turn it off.  Jack thinks its a suicide mission.  And really, doesn’t seem like a suicide mission?  He doesn’t even know where this supposed relay switch is!

Charlie comes up and tells them that he was a junior swim champion, can hold his breath for four minutes (that’s porn star territory) and that he’ll do it.  Jack puts his foot down saying that hes been asked since they crashed to make decisions and that he is making one now.  NO. 

Bernard and Rose show up for a few moments for some comic relief.  Its nice to see them again although I worry that they’ve only popped up now because we may never see them again after next week.

Jin asks Sun about Juliet’s tape and if it has to do with Sun’s pregnancy.  She tells him that she saw the baby on the ultrasound machine at the medical hatch.  Jin asks if the baby is okay and she says yes, but does not tell him about the consequences of her pregnancy.

Hurley sees the boat from the beginning of the episode coming to shore.  Sayid tackles the guy from the boat (isn’t Sayid such a fucking badass?) but Sawyer pulls him off saying that he knows the guy.  It turns out the guy in question is… KARL (the guy who Kate and Sawyer saved from the Hydra station)!  Long time, no see!  Karl tells them that the Others aren’t coming tomorrow night, they’re coming tonight!  DUN DUN DUN!

6 HOURS AGO (but not a flashback)!  Alex is slicing up a rabbit when she sees Ben.  She asks where Locke is and Ben gives her back the gun she gave Locke (and not looking happy about her having given it to Locke in the first place either).  Ben tells Richard that Jacob wants them to get the women now.  He says that Locke had an “accident.”  Ben asks some new guy how long it would take them to get to the beach if they left now and the new guy responds that they could make it by nightfall (you’d think he’d want to send Tom for this sort of thing) . Richard says that Juliet may not be ready.  Ben says to take all the women and kill any of the men who try to stop them.

Alex is running through the jungle.  She finds Karl hiding out and tells him that he has to take the boat and warn the Losties that the Others are coming for them tonight.  He should be able to beat them by a few hours since the Others are crossing the island on foot.  Karl says Alex’s father will kill him, but Alex responds by questioning if Ben is her father, which, I’d like to point out, totally misses the point of Karl’s statement.  They kiss and Karl runs off into the sequence we saw at the beginning of the episode.

Cut back to Karl with the castaways.  Jack asks Kate if she trusts Karl.  Karl tells them that Juliet is a spy, but Juliet tells him they already know “but thanks.”  Jack says they don’t have enough time to complete the wiring for the dynamite and they don’t have enough guns to defend themselves.  Sayid says they can use the guns to set off the dynamite.  Jack agrees to take Danielle’s rifle but tells her she is going to lead everyone to the radio tower and that everything has to happen at the same time.  He then turns to Charlie and asks if he is up for a swim.

FLASHBACK!  Charlie is asleep in bed with two women (told you the producers wanted us to fall in love with him all over again) when Liam comes in and wakes him announcing that its Christmas (Charlie has got two beautiful women in bed with him - of course its fucking Christmas).  Liam tells Charlie that since he’s been the only drug-free rock musician in the world for the last three years he has a special gift for him - his DS ring.  Turns out DS are the initials of their grandfather and inspired the name of their band.  Liam wants to give Charlie the ring because Liam’s life is a mess and he may not live to see 30.  Charlie on the other hand will have a wife and a baby and Liam wants the ring to stay in the family and be handed down.  Charlie says he will hold on to it but he won’t ”take it.”

FLASHFORWARD!  Charlie is writing “#3 The Christmas Liam gave me the ring”.  He goes to Claire who is packing stuff up and asks if he can help.  She asks why he didn’t tell her about the underwater hatch and his plan to swim to it.  He responds that he didn’t want her to worry and makes her promise that she won’t worry about him while he’s gone.  Aaron starts crying and Charlie goes to him.  He whispers to Aaron to look after his mom and that he loves him.  He gives Claire a quick kiss and leaves.

FLASHBACK!  Charlie is playing Wonderwall on a sidewalk in London when it starts raining.  Hmmm… where have we seen this before?  Oh yeah!  Its the exact same scene from the trippy Desmond episode a couple months ago, although this time there is no Desmond.  Interesting…

Walking home Charlie sees a woman being mugged in an alley.  After hesitating he scares off the mugger.  The woman turns out to be Nadia, the woman who Sayid saved in Iraq and who he was in the process of tracking down when flight 815 went down.  The woman calls him a hero, especially since three people walked by before him and they did nothing.

FLASHFORWARD!  Charlie writes “#2 Girl in alley calls me a hero.”  Desmond gives Charlie a weight belt to take him down to the Looking Glass quicker.  Desmond asks Charlie how long he can really hold his breath for and Charlie asks if it matters. 

Bernard shows off his marksmanship to Sayid by shooting cans.  Rose asks Jack to promise her Bernard will be okay, but Jack tells her if the shooters don’t set off the dynamite it won’t matter what happens to Bernard. 

Sayid tells Jack that he will stay behind and that Jack needs to lead everyone else to the radio tower.  He tells Jack that if he is their leader, he needs to act like one.  Jack reluctantly agrees.

Hurley runs up to Charlie and Sayid at Karl’s boat and offers to join them.  Charlie, searching for an excuse, tells Hurley he won’t fit.  Hurley walks away dejected, but Charlie runs up to him and hugs him.  Charlie tells Hurley he loves him and Hurley responds “Yeah whatever I love you too.”

The Losties prepare to leave the camp.  Jack asks Sayid if they found a third shooter and Sayid looks toward Jin.  Hurley helps Claire with her stuff.  As they walk away we see that Charlie has left his DS ring in Aaron’s crib. 

Desmond and Charlie find the cable on the beach and push off in the boat to follow it to the Looking Glass.

FLASHBACK!  Its the night after the crash and we see Charlie take a blanket to Claire.  He makes small talk with her trying to take her mind off the crash and tells her they will all be rescued soon.  They introduce themselves to each other.

FLASHFORWARD!  Charlie writes “#1 The night I met you.”

Desmond tells Charlie they have reached the station.  Charlie gives Desmond the paper to give to Claire saying its a list of his “best moments.”  He tells Desmond that memories are all he’s got. 

Desmond offers to take Charlie’s place.  Charlie seems to give in but when Desmond turns his back Charlie takes an oar and bashes Desmond across the head with it, knocking Desmond out (there’s that pluck again).  then takes the weight belt and jumps into the water.

We follow Charlie’s descent to the Looking Glass, which is all lit up.  Charlie desperately looks for the opening that was shown in the diagram and finally finds it.  He goes through to find that the station is actually fully pressurized and full of air.  Charlie starts laughing hysterically, amazed that he  is still alive.  Before he has time to celebrate two women enter the bay with guns.

LOST!

Final Analysis: As much as I loved this episode I can’t help but feel let down by the ending.  As much as I wanted Charlie to live I really needed to see him die.  This would have been a near perfect episode if I had had that emotional pay off in the end.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the twist.  I love that Charlie is alive for at least one more episode.  I love that we have a new hatch to explore.  But I was so ready to have that huge emotional ending that I ultimately felt a little ripped off.  Anyway, that’s my problem and I’m sure most people didn’t have the same problem.

Despite the lack of catharsis I felt, this was one of the most emotional episodes we’ve seen in a long time.  I’m not sure anything else this season could top it.  So many episodes this season (particularly in the Fall batch) felt a little cold and detatched.  The last few weeks have really been bringing me completely back into the show.  I think the turning point might have been the first Desmond flashback episode, which was just a great mindbender.  Although I HATED the Nikki and Paulo episode, I still admire the ambition it took to put that episode together, even if ultimately it failed for me.  I love where the show has been going of late and I think its just going to get better now that there is a clear cut ending point.

And let’s hand it to Dominic Monaghan and Emilie de Ravin.  We really haven’t seen enough of their relationship to fully understand the substance of it, yet last night you could feel the connection between these two characters and really see how deep this relationship has become.  Its not juvenile or silly (like the Kate/Jack/Sawyer love triangle can be at times), it’s charming in a way that most television relationships are never able to pull off.

Most of the questions this week for me revolve around the Looking Glass.  The first big question being, why did Ben lie about the Looking Glass being flooded?  Was this to keep anyone from attempting to enter it and shut down the jammer?  Or does he not know that it is actually not flooded?  And who are the two women who appeared at the end of the episode?  They don’t seem like Others or Dharma people.  One theory that seems interesting is that they might have been in Naomi’s helicopter when it crashed.  Remember that the helicopter crashed offshore where the cable was leading to.  If the women were on board, they may not have been able to see which direction the island was in, BUT they could have seen the lights coming from the Looking Glass and swam down to it.  Unfortunately we have absolutely no information to form a solid theory.

Will Claire get rescued in the finale?  If so, who else will get rescued as well?  We know that some of the characters are more than likely not going to be back next seasn, but as of yet we don’t know who or why (unless you read spoilers and I do not).  I like the idea of some of the characters getting rescued and us following them after they leave the island.  A lot of what’s going on has to do with unseen forces outside the snowglobe and it might be a good way of revealing some of those forces if people manage to escape.  I could totally see Claire and Penelope leading the charge to get their men off that damn island!  Yeah!

Next week is the season finale and the last episode of 2007.  It’s a Jack episode and is two hours long.  Its supposedly going to be huge and will contain the biggest reveal yet.  Considering that we are now officially more than halfway through the series, I expect to see more huge reveals on a regular basis. 

Who was MIA?  Locke, smokey monster of death.

Sawyerism of the Week: (Very little Sawyer this week, so this quote is from Rose after Bernard was selected to be the second shooter) “Bernard, if you’re going to be hiding in the bushes, we’d better get you into something dark.”

Score: 8 out of 10.  

All images sourced from Lost-Media.

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