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?