Episode 321 - You All Everybody, It's Charlie's "Greatest Hits"

A new Dharma hatch! A master plan!! and Bernard and Rose live (and shoot straight)!!! All this, plus Charlie's heroic suicide mission (or is it?), in "Greatest Hits."

Because this week's flashback (the "greatest hits" of Charlie's life) was a character-revealing device more than a crucial story point, I won't give you my usual flashback qua prologue intro. Instead, the sequences will come towards the end of the recap, where it fits best into the story. So now, on with the show...

6 Hours Ago
Alex (cutting up a rabbit, because boy, those rabbits have a rough time in Ben's family) asks Ben when he got back, and where Locke is. Ben angrily gives back her gun. Richard sees him and asks what’s up.

Ben tells him John had "an accident." Ben orders Ryan, the mean-looking Other who stood guard over Sayid at the barracks, to step up the attack, at Jacob's insistsence. Richard points out that Juliet may not have had time to mark the pregnant women's tents, and Ben, clearly losing his legendary cool, tells Ryan's team to take all the women and kill all men who get in the way.

Random Aside #1 - forget Smokey. Forget Tom in his crazy beard. Forget crazed hungry polar bears and tattooed sharks. Far and away the scariest individual we've seen on this island is Ben, his incredible control dropped, his tight grip on the Others slowly slipping away, lashing out with his incredible influence, his wrath unleashed...Man, those bug eyes and the anger at Jacob's revelation to John, still seeping through this week. Powerful stuff...

Alex runs and tells Karl, who has been hiding in a cave (and for whom she was prepping the rabbit) to warn the beach camp. “He’s gonna kill them, Karl. Austin and Ford saved your life. You owe them.” She gives Karl her gun and, when Karl suggests her father would not be pleased, she asks if Ben is really her father.

Real Time
Jack leads most of our characters out to a clearing. This is perhaps the largest gathering of our main characters since Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Hurley and Michael left the beach last season. “Why does everything always have to be such a secret?” asks Charlie. This triggers something in Desmond, but he denies he had one of his flashes when Charlie asks.

Jack tells the group what Juliet told him about the Others' plan, and how Ben wanted her to test the women and help abduct the pregnant ones. Juliet apologizes to Sun. Sayid wants answers. And we get some too. The questions? Where have Jack and Juliet been sneaking off to together, and why was Rousseau rounding up dynamite sticks when Locke saw her outside the brig in the Black Rock. Jack summons Danielle Rousseau and aks her to “show them.” She pulls out two connecting wires, and detonates a tree. Jack explains he is done hiding, so he found help. He tells the group that Juliet will mark the tents, but they will actually contain dynamite, not pregnant women. In a moment nearly as scary for Jack watchers as the order to attack was for Ben lovers, Jack, wide-eyed, says, “we stop hiding, we stop running, we stop living in fear of them. Because when they show up, we’re going to blow them all to hell.”

Back at the beach, Charlie starts to write a list. More on this later... Naomi asks him who they’re going to go to war with. Charlie recognizes Naomi as a fellow Mancunian. She recognizes Charlie from the big deal greatest hits album that released after his death. Charlie is thrilled to learn of his posthumous fame, especially, as Naomi puts it, since he's still alive. But Desmond seems to want Charlie to follow him…

Random Aside #2 - Does anyone here trust Naomi as far as they could throw her? Hey, just how far can you throw her? But seriously, after 90 days, the outside world has had time to find the plane, identify Charlie's body, decide to make a big deal out of DriveShaft, release a greatest hits album, and catch the attention of a search and rescue worker stationed in the South Pacific? Isn't that, I don't know, a little too short a time period? More evidence Naomi is from the future? You decide...

Juliet and Jack gingerly stack dynamite. Danielle works on wiring. Sayid insists he and Jack discuss the sat phone.

Jack, incredibly is too busy to discuss the most likely method of rescue they've seen, but Sayid insists. He says Danielle’s transmission is blocking the sat phone signal. Juliet says it's not just the French loop (and Danielle concurs, since, after all, she had been broadcasting for 16 years but nobody off the island ever seemed to detect it). Juliet says Ben is using an underwater Dharma station, "the Looking Glass," to jam all transmissions off the island.

Claire worries that the Others, baby-hungry as they seem to be, are coming for Aaron. Charlie promises to protect them both. That’s when Des arrives and asks Charlie for a “hand with something.” “So how’s it happen this time?” Charlie asks his personal grim reaper. “What I saw, Charlie, was Claire and her baby get into a helicopter, that lifts off and leaves this island." The kicker? "if you don’t [die], none of it will happen. There won’t be any rescue. I’m sorry brother, but this time? This time you have to die.” Desmond tells Charlie there will be an underwater hatch, a room full of equipment. There’s a blinking light. Charlie flips the switch, the light goes off, then he drowns. Desmond doesn’t know when. Charlie, realizing his death would mean that Claire and Aaron, his surrogate family would live, confirms, “before I drown, I just have to flip the switch.”

Sayid has the plans to the looking glass (boy, he really did pick the best binder in the Flame station library, eh?) Juliet doesn’t know anyone who’s been down there. She says there was an accident, and it’s completely flooded. Sayid sees the cable on the schematic, which he knows so well. It’s possible to swim in and disable the switch, since there is a moon pool underneath big enough for a sub. Sayid volunteers, but then Charlie comes along, and claims he was junior swim champ in Northern England. Jack refuses to indulge this talk, and says now is the time to worry about the Others.

Random Aside #3 - "The Looking Glass?" Did you see the white rabbit logo? What's up with all the bunnies? And for that matter, just how many Dharma stations are there? We heard in the Swan film that there are six stations...but now we've seen 1. the Swan, 2. the Caduceus/ Staff, 3. the Arrow, 4. the Pearl, 5. the Hydra, 6. the Flame, 7. the Barracks, and 8. the White Rabbit. I don't think Dr. Candle was very honest in those videos, eh?

The survivors (if they can be called that, right, Naomi?) get to work wiring the camp to blow up the Others. Bernard shows Rose how to tie knots with the wires…only she shows him better (yes, Virginia, they live!).

Jin asks Sun when she is going to tell him what Juliet said about them on her tape to Ben. He heard their names, and saw everyone look at Sun. Sun tells him about the trip to the ultrasound, but stops short of the “I’m going to die” part when Jin looks overjoyed that she saw their healthy baby.

Karl, with Alex’s boat, paddles furiously, after running through the jungle. Hurley spots him bringing his boat ashore. Sayid tackles Karl, but Sawyer vouches for him. “They’re coming, my people.” Sayid is not impressed, since they already knew the Others are coming tomorrow. “Tomorrow, no! No, they’re coming tonight, they’re coming right now!!!”

Karl thinks he’ll get their trust by outing Juliet as a mole. The camp tells him they already know, but they believe he's sincere about the early assualt. They don’t have enough time to rig the dynamite with remote wiring dynamite, but Sayid suggests shooting out the dynamite from hidden positions. They form a 3-part plan to repel the Others and alert Naomi's ship. A group will go to Rousseau's hijacked transmission tower and shut it down. Charlie, with Desmond's help, will shut down the Looking Glass jamming equipment. And a small group will stay behind to shoot the dynamite when the Others come.

Charlie goes to see Claire, who is worried about his swimming mission. Charlie asks Claire to promise not to worry about him while he’s gone. He takes Aaron back to his crib. Aaron reaches for Charlie’s face. Charlie tells Aaron he loves him. He tells Claire he’ll see her soon. They kiss, a real kiss for the first time, and then smile at each other. Charlie turns and walks off.

Desmond made Charlie a weight belt to help him sink faster. He asks how long Charlie can hold his breath, and Charlie asks what difference it makes.

Bernard demonstrates his ability to shoot. Rose insists on staying, but Jack says no. Sayid insists that he will stay behind, and Jack should lead them to the radio tower. Sayid says, “this afternoon you said you were our leader. It’s time to start acting like one. Lead them to the radio tower, Jack, and then lead us all home.”

Hurley joins Charlie and Desmond at Karl's outrigger. He wants to go along. He feels useless everywhere else, but he’s a good paddler. Charlie says no, because….he’s too big, he won’t fit in the boat (excuses). The wound he inflicts works, Hurley walks off, but Charlie runs after him and hugs him. “Just remember I love you, man,” “Yeah, whatever, I love you, too.”

Jin will be the third shooter. Hurley offers to help with Aaron. When Claire lifts him to leave with the rest of the camp, Charlie’s DriveShaft ring sits in his crib, where Charlie left it for his would-be adopted son.

Desmond finds the cable on the beach. They put it above the outrigger and pull out to sea.
Desmond looks down, and sees the looking glass below. Charlie gives Desmond the list he has been making. That list makes up this episode's Charlie flashbacks. I will let Doc Jensen's review of these 5 moments work for me here. Take it away, Doc...

5. Charlie hears his song ''You All Everybody'' on the radio for the first time It couldn't have come at a better time, too. His band, Driveshaft, was going nowhere. Seriously. Their touring van had busted a wheel during a driving rainstorm. Charlie wanted to quit. The album was tanking, they were only booking loser gigs, they sucked and couldn't face it — and then he heard it, loud and clear on the radio. It was like Island magic on a lame man's legs. Charlie's hope had been rewarded; his optimism restored and hard-wired. (Homework: Compare this moment to Hurley's similarly themed ''Road to Shambala'' broken-Dharma-bus escapade.)

4. Charlie's father teaches him to swim

And with the old ''Trust me, I'll catch you'' bait and switch, no less. Once again on Lost, a father burns his son — but this time, for a good reason. And with the horror story of Ben and his manipulative and mean dad still fresh in our minds, this deceit seemed downright sweet. Lesson learned: Courage.

Random Aside #4 - Want proof that Charlie is doomed? How about that, almost unlike any other character on the island, he had a decent, loving father, who left him with happy memories? Yup, he's gotta go...

3. Charlie's brother gives him the ''DS'' ring for Christmas

We used to think ''DS'' stood for Driveshaft. Nope: It was a family heirloom, passed down through the mother's side and given to the firstborn; it stands for Dexter Stratton. Liam gave it to his little brother as an acknowledgment that Charlie really was the good son of the two — an ironic, happy-ending inversion of the Jacob and Esau story, the older brother willingly surrendering the birthright to the younger. The relationship between Charlie and Liam would ultimately become more complicated, but the fact that Charlie decided to memorialize the memory on his list indicated that bygones were bygones. And in doing so, the ring became imbued with forgiveness and grace, making the precioussssss object a mirror twin to the one Gollum killed for and Frodo sought to destroy (but couldn't) in those aforementioned hobbit books. (Fun fact! Dexter Stratton is a fusion of two names from the 1980s Ricky Schroder sitcom Silver Spoons!)

2. Charlie saves a woman from being mugged and is dubbed a hero In the pouring rain, too — another memory wet with the semiotics of baptism. The timing: Charlie's street-corner minstrel days, first seen in Desmond's time-travel episode. Charlie's song selection: Oasis' ''Wonderwall,'' a tune about an imaginary friend (Dave? Jacob?); its title is a reference to George Harrison's soundtrack to a ''lost'' movie of the same name. The woman whom Charlie saves is also something of a blast from the (Lost) past: It's Nadia, Sayid's Iraqi lady love, last seen in John Locke's ''Daddy made me rip off the Mob'' flashback from last season. The lady sure gets around, doesn't she? But why? Is her presence in these past lives purely coincidental or evidence of a divine (or devious) design that links all the castaways? Questions, I think, for another season to answer....

And finally, Charlie's most favorite moment, No. 1 on his all-time personal hit parade: his first encounter with Claire, on the night they crashed on the Island 'Nuff said.

Thanks, Doc. Your assistance on the flashbacks (albeit not voluntary) was spot-on...

Charlie asks Desmond to give Claire his list, which he says is the 5 best moments of his sorry excuse of a life. His "greatest hits." Memories are all he’s got at this point, the moment before he's been told he is to die. Desmond says he’ll go, that maybe he keeps seeing Charlie die because he’s supposed to take his place. Charlie asks about Penny, but Des asks about Claire. Charlie knocks Desmond out with an oar, makes sure Des is safe on the boat, and that he has the greatest hits list. “You and I both know, you’re not supposed to take my place, brother,” are Charlie's parting words to the world of the living. He takes the weight belt, and dives down. His shoes float up. He swims up into the looking glass…and it’s not flooded! He’s alive!!! He climbs up out of the water, and shouts, “I’m alive!!!!…"...when two gun-toting women charge out from behind a door and hold him at gunpoint!!!”

And that, my fellow Lostophiles, will set the scene for our bang-up 2 hour, game-changing finale, "Through the Looking Glass." Remember, the finale starts an hour earlier next week. Until then, Namaste!