Lost Reviews and News

The genesis of Charlie's rise to C-level fame and his eventual fall into debilitating drug addiction is analyzed in flashback. Here's the important stuff:

• At one point Charlie was a religious kinda guy, going so far as to confess his sin of having a threesome. Or maybe he was bragging. Either way, he spills his guts to a priest who basically tells him that temptation is something he should avoid rather than embrace. Unless it's a threesome; That's fine.
• Charlie is momentarily sold on this idea of running from temptation, but the moment passes when his older brother, Liam, tells him that their band Driveshaft (maybe you've heard of them?) has been signed by a major label. Charlie makes Liam promise that the minute things get too crazy, they'll walk away. Liam gives his word.
• Liam's word means crap. As Driveshaft becomes more famous, Liam becomes more enamored with Rock Star Life (ladies, drugs, ladies with drugs, that kind of thing). Charlie tries to pull the plug on Driveshaft, but Liam plays to Charlie's inferiority complex by telling him that no one even knows the name of Driveshaft's bassist (that would be Charlie). Rather than pressing the issue, Charlie decides to dope up for the first time. A druggie is born.
• A second set of flashbacks shows Charlie in his post-Driveshaft days. He makes a surprise visit to Sydney to visit Liam, who has straightened himself out. Liam's recovery is evident because he now wears thick glasses and v-neck sweaters. Charlie drops by to woo Liam with prospects of a Driveshaft reunion. Liam isn't interested in the band, but he is interested in checking his still-drugged-out brother into a rehab program. Alas, drugs have Charlie in a chokehold, so the two brothers depart on unpleasant terms. Charlie rushes off to catch a flight to Los Angeles ... and we all know what happens from there.

Charlie suffers from a "Why doesn't the spotlight shine on me?" complex. In Driveshaft, his older brother won the acclaim and the ladies. On the island, Jack has emerged as the alpha male. Whether in the real world or on a mystical island, Charlie has been relegated to Everyone's Little Brother.

But when a cave collapses and Jack is trapped inside, Charlie is suddenly neeeded. The castaways dig a small rescue tunnel, and Charlie quickly sees an opening (literally and figuratively). Charlie volunteers for hole duty. He gamely slithers into the hole ... and the hole collapses. DAMN!

Charlie managed to squrm through before the hole fully caved in, but his exit strategy has been blocked. No matter, there's work to be done. He finds Jack, pushes a rock off the doctor, then, under Jack's supervision, yanks the doctor's dislocated shoulder back into its socket.

Shortly thereafter, a hero is born. Here's how:

Charlie and Jack are still trapped. Castaways claw at rocks, but little progress is being made. The oxygen supply inside the cave is limited. Something needs to happen and then, almost as if it was scripted, something does happen. Charlie sees a moth (ALERT: Remember this moth thing) flutter toward a small opening. Using his honed digging powers, Charlie opens the hole and finds ... DAYLIGHT! The hole gets bigger, Charlie pops through and Jack soon follows. The little brother is now a man. Or something.

OK, so that deals with Charlie's confidence issues (the other castaways now look upon him as the Guy who Saved Jack, everyone is happy, blah, blah, blah). But there's still that little detox problem. Fortunately, this is neatly addressed at the very end of the episode. Charlie asks Locke for his drugs. Locke -- a very disappointed Locke -- hands them over. Charlie pauses ... looks at the bag ... shakes a little ... sweats a little ... and chucks the bag into a nearby fire. Locke beams with approval. And then, emerging from the fire, a big white moth takes flight into the night sky. Ahhh, symbolism.

So with that, Charlie appears to have successfully conquered both his drug habit and his confidence issues. Or course, when his brother shows up in Season 2 with a dime bag it'll all go to hell. It's nice for the time being, though.

The cave thing was of utmost importance, but Jack did have three additional "bonus" actions. They were:

1. Make Kate feel bad for staying at the Beach camp.
2. Let Kate give him a big "oh-my-God-I-can't-live-without-you" hug upon his escape from the cave.
3. Tell Charlie that he knows he's battling drug addiction.

Later, Kate learns (very belatedly) that Jack is trapped in a cave. Pure horror spreads across her face. In record time she reaches the Valley camp and immediately sets about digging through rocks and roots to free her beloved. She is visibly relieved when Jack emerges from his Hobbit hole.

These events bring the Estimated Times of Amorousness (ETA) to:

• Kate and Jack kiss: 2 episodes
• Kate and Jack get it on: 3 episodes

The lovelorn Sawyer reveals his incredibly thin skin. Kate makes it clear she's not a big Sawyer fan, but instead of responding in turn, Sawyer sulks. Later, he's charged with the mission of telling Kate that Jack is trapped in a cave, but when Kate insults him yet again, he withholds this key piece of information until much later in the episode. All that was missing was an extended crying sequence. Sawyer = Big Wussy.

In other Sawyer news, he seems to have made little progress reading "Watership Down."

Case in point: Locke uses a moth metaphor to boost Charlie's drug-worn spirits. Yes. A moth metaphor. He points to a nearby moth cocoon and tells Charlie that with a simple flick of his knife he could set that moth free, but his action would ultimately hurt the moth because it's too weak to survive. "Struggle is nature's way of strengthening it," Locke says. Lo and behold, Charlie ultimately finds his own strength through his very own struggle! Locke strikes again, and this time he did it with a moth.

The only odd Lockian moment comes when Charlie rushes into the jungle to tell Locke Jack is trapped. Locke displays absolutely no worry whatsoever. Did he know Jack would be saved? Did he know Charlie would be the one to save him?

This week, Sayid devises a plan to track down the power source of the mysterious distress call (remember that thing?). Aided by Kate, Sawyer and Shannon, Sayid aims to triangulate the source using jury-rigged antennae and bottle rockets. Where did the bottle rockets come from? Who knows.

The plan works! Almost. Just as Sayid is about to discover the source, an unseen character clocks him in the head with a shovel. Sayid loses consciousness, his well laid plan is thwarted and an important new question surfaces: Who smacked Sayid?

Sayid Sidenote: The triangulation stuff is Sayid's Key Moment, but he also offers this little tidbit: While traipsing through the jungle with Kate, he notes that there's no way they should have survived the plane crash. The tail broke off and the wreckage spiraled through the dense and deadly jungle. Yet the survivors emerged with only scratches. Kate chalks it up to dumb luck, but Sayid doesn't buy it. Something is afoot.

That's it for now. Be sure to drop by our "Lost" Forum for stimulating conversation and conjecture.