LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, Season Two, Episode 12, Fire + Water

On-Island Events: Charlie dreams of the piano he received as a childhood Christmas present and then hears a baby crying as the piano drifts into the ocean. He becomes concerned about Claire and Aaron but then becomes jealous as he sees Locke interacting with them both on the beach. Charlie attempts to talk to Claire, asks her about Locke, but then agrees to give her space and leaves. 

Charlie practices guitar on the beach and again hears a baby crying. He swims out to Aaron's cradle, floating in the ocean but when he brings Aaron back to the beach he sees a vision of his mother and Claire, who chant together that Charlie must save the baby. Hugo jolts Charlie awake and he realizes it's the middle of the night and that he's taken Aaron out of his cradle. Claire slaps Charlie when he tries to explain his dream. Later Charlie tries to convince Locke to take his side; Locke advises him trust is a difficult thing to win back.

Next Charlie approaches Eko, who is marking trees for his church. Charlie accuses Eko of telling Locke about his saved Virgin Mary statues; Eko assures him he said nothing but asks Charlie about his dreams. Eko considers the fact that Charlie's dreams have meaning, sending Charlie back to Claire, raving about baptism, as Locke observes from afar. When Charlie breaks away to check on the hidden statues, Locke catches him fondling two baggies of heroin and seizes all the drugs telling him he's "given up the right to be believed." 

When a fire breaks out slightly inland from the beach, most of the camp goes to fight the blaze leaving Claire and Aaron alone in their tent. Charlie sneaks up, takes Aaron from his cradle, and begins carrying him out to sea. Claire, Eko, and Locke plead with Charlie to return Aaron to his mother and he finally hands the baby back; Locke responds by knocking Charlie down with several punches. As Eko examines the burned area, Claire asks him to baptize Aaron; Eko agrees to baptize Aaron and Claire, together. Locke secures the statues in the hatch's weapons closet and Charlie sits by a fire, alone on the beach.

Flashbacks: Charlie visits Liam's new daughter, Megan, in the hospital, and covers for Liam's absence. When he finds Liam passed out after a heroin fix, Charlie berates Liam for his irresponsibilities and implores him to clean himself up for his daughter. 

The members of Drive Shaft perform for a diaper commercial but Liam, still under the influence of heroin, can't handle the choreography and loses the gig for the group. After Liam is kicked out of his house, he comes to Charlie and the two harmonize together at the piano and plan for the future.

Charlie returns to his apartment to find his piano gone and Liam packing a suitcase. Liam admits to having sold the piano in order to move his family to Sydney, Australia to get treatment. 

Greater Meaning: Locke tells Claire that Charlie feels like he must save Aaron because he's been unable to save himself. Charlie's methods of going about this "saving" seem skewed at best, and reckless at worst; whether this is due to his own unawareness of how he comes off in these actions or the strangeness of the actions themselves, we can't know exactly what the point of it all really is. Who on earth thinks taking  a baby away from its mother is the right move? Especially after the trauma Claire has suffered both while pregnant and shortly after giving birth?

Charlie has fought (and beat) heroin addiction, but still kept the Mary statues full of drugs. During his addiction, Charlie engaged in dangerous, manipulative behavior but always seemed to respect the role that music and family played in his life, which were both symbolically linked to the piano his mother gave him for Christmas. The fact that Charlie has now associated Aaron with the piano is significant; despite Claire having banished him, Charlie still cares for her and Aaron, but if Locke is correct, Charlie's desire to save Aaron comes from either seeing himself in Aaron or seeing himself as a father figure in Aaron's life. If Charlie only wanted to save himself through baptism, it seems less likely that he would react with such jealousy at Locke's ability to "father" Aaron. Charlie's bizarre obsession seems more to do with controlling Claire and less to do with being a savior. In contrasting this with how Jack and Locke "save" others, Charlie's desires to help and the actions he takes come off as ineffective, desperate, and immature. Charlie's religious leanings do not elevate him or guide him as a gifted savior, if anything, they seem to be leading him further astray from doing the right thing. 

Further Questions: 

1. Did Charlie ever get his piano back?

2. Will Claire ever forgive Charlie?

3. Is there something sinister in Charlie's obsession with Claire and Aaron?

4. Will Charlie start using drugs again?

5. Are Claire and Aaron still in danger?

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, episode 15, Homecoming

Events: On the island, Locke and Boone return Claire to the caves, having apparently just escaped from Ethan. Locke, Sayid, and Jack discuss what to do about Ethan and Charlie is suspicious of their abilities to protect Claire and the baby. Ethan assaults Jin and threatens Charlie, demanding that they return Claire to him. When the men decide to offer Claire up as bait to trap Ethan, Jack arms Locke and Sawyer from the cache of guns he'd been hiding; after Jack forbids Kate from getting involved, Sawyer offers her one of his guns and invites her along. Charlie, shown in flashbacks to have taken advantage of a young woman named Lucy during his post-Drive Shaft drug days, increasingly frustrated over the group's inability to protect Claire and refusal to listen to him, shoots and kills Ethan after he'd already surrendered to Jack and Sawyer.

Greater Meaning: Charlie and Claire's budding relationship becomes suspended after Claire loses
her memory of all events after the crash, so in order to maintain any sort of exchange with her, Charlie appoints himself Claire's protector. Charlie's decision to shoot Ethan technically makes sense when considered with the flashbacks of Charlie's humiliation and poor choices regarding Lucy ("you'll never take care of anyone"), but still seems a little forced and unnecessary unless the writers are laying the groundwork to develop Charlie further as an egotistical and unstable person. The episode title is "Homecoming," after all, and Claire is the person who's just come home, but the events largely concern Charlie, Charlie's decisions, and Charlie's reactions. The episode ultimately works as it is, but seems a little disjointed and unsatisfying compared with the neatness and balance of all the previous ones.

Further Questions: 
1. Are Claire and the baby really all right?
2. Where did Ethan come from?
3. Are there more people like Ethan?
4. Why does Ethan want Claire?
5. Is Charlie violent?

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, episode 7, The Moth

The Moth

"Give me my bloody drugs!"

Events: Charlie is in active detox from his heroin addiction; John attempts to distract him with exercise but it turns out he really just needed bait for a wild boar trap. When he asks Locke for the drugs he found inside the Virgin Mary statue back, Locke says he'll return them only after Charlie asks him three times, that giving him a choice in the matter is important. Later as people relocate to the caves, Charlie offers to help and things go poorly. Jack blows him off, ("We don't need you right now.") Charlie brightens when Hurley seems to notice his guitar, but Hurley has no real interest in it, he just needs Charlie to move it. Protesting the way he's being disregarded to Jack in anger, Charlie proclaims, "I'm a bloody rock god!" The force of his voice causes the cave he and Jack are in to collapse; Charlie gets out, Jack is trapped. After getting a group of people together to help Jack, Charlie asks Locke for his drugs a second time. John responds by showing Charlie a moth cocoon and explains in detail how the moth's struggle is difficult but necessary. Charlie ends up saving Jack by climbing into the cave himself and pushing back out. After his third request, John gives Charlie the drugs but Charlie throws the heroin into the fire.

In other events, Sayid, Kate, and Sawyer attempt to triangulate the source of the French woman's distress signal but just as Sayid switches on the transceiver someone clubs him with a stick from behind, knocking him down and thwarting the mission.

"I could help it,"

In flashbacks, Charlie's rock star lifestyle presents several moral challenges, prompting him to quit Drive Shaft after a priest's warning during confession. He admits to brother Liam, the lead singer, that the music is getting lost in the chaos of the band's success and implores that they both walk away if it gets to be too much. Eventually, Liam sings over Charlie's vocals at a concert, openly takes drugs, and misses sound checks. Charlie decides again to leave Drive Shaft but Liam responds with cruelty, driving Charlie to use drugs himself. Just before the crash of Oceanic 815, Charlie visits Liam in Sydney in an attempt to reunite the band but Liam, clean now, refuses. Charlie expresses his anger, blames Liam for his own drug addiction, and walks off.



Greater Meaning: The themes of this episode focus around religion and respect. Charlie has been religious in the past yet he actively experiencing drug addiction. The fact that he was singled out by a boar and before, a polar bear, suggests the monkey-on-the-back metaphor of drug addiction or a physical embodiment of being literally chased by one's demons. John compares Charlie to the boar in discussing the factor of choice that humans employ, not just a blind, animalistic devotion to physical drives (which in many ways, Charlie has lived in his experiences as a rock star). Religion seems to have been an influence in Charlie's life prior to the plane crash and his music career, but on the island, animal instincts, not just in him, become more important than an organized system of social rules and norms. Events on the island seem to have primal, immediate implications that supplant religion.

Early in the episode, Charlie is disrespected multiple times yet still insists that he can be useful. His former "Rock God" status, which earned him respect in the past, doesn't matter on the island; music is nice but actual survival skills are more valuable now. Charlie ends up proving his use in the best possible way----he earns the respect of the two most important people on the island (Jack and Locke) through what can be rightly viewed as sacrificial behavior: putting his own life at risk to save Jack and forgoing his own physical needs for the drugs to rise to Locke's expectations of him.

The issue of respect applies to many other character dynamics in this episode, too. While Jack and Hurley's disrespect of Charlie brings about serious consequences, Kate's disrespect of Sawyer does the same. In her dismissive treatment of Sawyer, Kate brings forth equally cruel and defensive reactions from him. Jin appears to consider Sun's comfort in relaxing his attitude on her wardrobe, moving toward respect, and Walt sees his own father, someone still somewhat unfamiliar to him, assert his skills and take charge, moving toward respect, and Locke, in the end, respects Charlie's decision to ask for the drugs a third time, although he had no foreknowledge that Charlie would destroy them.

Further Questions: 

1. Sayid insists their survival was extremely unlikely, so why did it happen? How?

2. Who hit Sayid, and why?

3. Jack admits to Charlie when speaking of confession that he's "no saint, either." What sins has Jack committed?

4. Will Charlie stay sober?

Lost season 5

I love it.
LOVE it.

My thoughts are seeming to be correct about how this really is all about Jack and the old man. John Locke I think, may or may not be "the leader," but my prediction is that John will either stay dead or fail, and it will really come down to Jack in the end. As in, can you take the leap of faith? Can you leave your ridiculously scientific thought processes and just realize that there is more to life than that? Christian told John how to get Jack back, couldn't help him physically, but also told him that he, John, NOT BEN was supposed to move the island. How is Ben involved in all this? Is he out? Just trying to weasel his way back onto the island? Of course he would be manipulating everything in order to engineer his own favorable outcome. . . but why was his face all bitched up when he called Jack? And if he somehow coerced Kate into going to Jack's to screw him and get knocked up I am going to be very, very upset. I'm sure he somehow got a hold of Aaron, held him for ransom, had been secretly charting Kate's menstrual cycle and then forced her to go and put out. Widmore? What is WITH that guy? What is his interest in the island? That guy seems to have everything he needs, there must be some secret between him and Ben that he needs the ability to time travel back to the island for, some deep, dark vendetta that needs avenging. Perhaps a woman?

Penelope and Desmond are going to be a factor, I think. What of the babies? Aaron, Charlie, Sun's daughter?

Everyone had a different mixed-up identity when they got on that plane again. Hurley had a guitar, as if he were Charlie (Drive Shaft). Sayid was in cuffs, as if he were Kate. Kate may or may not be knocked up, as if she were Claire. John Locke is in the hold, in his casket, wearing Doc Shephard's shoes. FRANK LAPIDIS IS THE GODDAMNED PILOT!

"We're not going to Guam, are we. . . " followed by a grimace.

Of course that damned note would be the catalyst for the actual transformation. It kept following him! I about cried when Jack read what it said.

I just watched it again for the 2nd time. Thomas the Apostle? Has to put his hands inside the wounds in order to believe? Then, according to history went on to become the most widespread Apostle to branch out from the promised land? (dies a martyr, somewhere in India?) Jack is beginning to believe?

Somehow, they got Kate, Sayid, and Hugo onto that plane by telling them that Jack was going to die or something. Kate is all distant and awkward, Hugo has a hard time maintaining eye contact, Sayid looks as if he really wants to tell Jack something. . . Sun probably doesn't care either way.

Ben's mother did NOT teach him to read. Didn't she die giving birth to him?

And was that little "scuffle" that Ben was in before the flight something to do with Widmore? Wasn't his last promise something along the lines of I'M GOING TO KILL YOUR DAUGHTER? He mentioned before leaving the church that he was going to do something, something he'd promised an old friend?

This is getting a bit obsessive.