Lost Rewatch: Greatest Hits

 

We will never know how much of what we see Naomi do on the island is real or a performance. (There’s an excellent chance the writers never figured that much out themselves.) However there’s a part of me that really thinks that her one major scene in The Man Behind The Curtain was completely genuine.

In that scene Sayid has just told everybody about who Naomi and where she has come from. When Claire brings up the fact that everyone thinks their dead, Sayid tells them ‘that’s not important right now.” Claire tries to bring them back to that point, and then Naomi asks: “Don’t you people want to be rescued?” It is very telling that immediately afterwards everyone because discussing whether they can trust Jack and that Juliet has corrupted her.  Jack shows up, there’s an ugly confrontation and then Juliet tells Sawyer to turn the tape over.  Sayid is apologetic and asks why he didn’t tell them, and Jack says: “Because I hadn’t decided what to do about it yet.” He then says that they have a lot of catching up to do.

We never know what exactly they talk about that night but its very clear that Jack, in keeping with his nature, hasn’t decided to tell anything. We see them all walk out into the middle of nowhere (or just to be clear, all of the regulars walk out to the middle of nowhere; the socks don’t factor in to this) so that Jack can reveal that this plan is to wait until the Others show up the next day to kidnap the pregnant women and that they intend to blow up the tents.  There’s no indication he is considering rescue; he is laser focused on his war with the Others.

Indeed, when everybody goes back to the tents Jack seems just as determined to stick with his revenge. Sayid practically has to shout at him that he wants to get them off the island. It’s worth noting that while we’ve heard practically every other major character express some desire to be saved since Naomi crashed, Jack still seems focused on revenge more than rescue. Indeed, even when they seem to have a clear path forward to opening the path to communication with Naomi’s freighter, Jack has decided to put his path towards personal vengeance over salvation. He actually pulls the leader card even though he's still not trusted.

Then events force everybody’s hand. Karl shows up on the beach (it’s the first time we’ve seen him since Sawyer cut him loose in Stranger in a Strange Land). For the first time we get a flashback that doesn’t involve a major character, and it’s kind of frightening.

Ben has returned from his trek and he’s not a great mood.  His response to Alex’s reaction of “Here’s your gun back,” is cold even by his standards; it’s small wonder this is the nail in the coffin when it comes to their relationship.  Ben then does everything in his power to try and make everybody forget he took John with him (Richard clearly isn’t buying it) and he orders Pryce, one of the absolute loyal soldiers he has left to take his men to the camp and grab all the women.

Ben’s not thinking clearly at all.  The last thing Richard told him about this was that the recording with his instructions never got to Juliet. Even if he doesn’t suspect he’s been betrayed, Juliet isn’t psychic and can’t behave according to instructions she hasn’t been given.  There is an excellent chance that Ben is as focused on revenge as Jack is; his last instruction to Pryce is if any of the men are stupid enough to get in your way, kill them.

Ben has already been betrayed twice; in this scene he gets the ultimate Judas Kiss. Alex has also chosen a side and it’s not Ben’s. She’s clearly been protecting Karl since he came back and now she tells him that they have to protect the people on the beach. It has been clear since we met her that Alex has never truly been committed to the Others mission and the doubts that Sayid put in her head the last time he saw her are very clear. When Karl says her father will kill him if he’s found out, Alex only says: “Is he my father?”

Karl then shows a level of candor unheard of on Lost; he tells Jack everything he knows, including the truth about Juliet. (I love Juliet’s reaction to that: I helped rescue this kid and he still gives me up? No respect.) Jack then realizes he has to finally do everything at once. But even then, its clear there’s a part of him that still wants to dance on the Others graves more than lead his friends to rescue. Sayid calls him on it yet again (showing he can use the leader card better than Jack) and finally forces his hand.

Of course, all of this is going on in the midst of what is a Charlie-centric episode. Some questioned the idea of it at the time, but its very clear we needed to have it. Ever since Flashes Before Your Eyes, Charlie has been dealing with the almost certainty that he is going to die. He has spent much of the season trying to deny it, focusing on Claire and then helping participate in the mission that led to Naomi’s rescue. But it’s clear that’s its been weighing on his head and he’s trying to make peace with it. I’m pretty sure that’s why he begins to make his ‘Greatest Hits’ list even before Desmond sees him: he knows that time is just about up for him one way or the other.

Now Desmond tells him that he is going to die but in this case, it’s going to be for something meaningful.  As we are finding out concurrently, the signal is being jammed by the Looking Glass station. (I’m guessing Sayid took some more information from the Flame than just the path to the barracks.) It’s clear the station is underwater and the only way to turn the signal off is to swim down and get it. Charlie volunteers in place of Sayid. I’m not sure that Sayid would have let it stand if Karl hadn’t shown up and it became clear that his talents were needed elsewhere.

Charlie agrees to go and spends the rest of the episode reflecting and saying goodbye. Charlie is determined that if death is coming, he’s only going to take the good memories with him. He will not remember Liam as the brother who dragged him on the path to becoming a rock star and a junkie, but rather as the loving brother who celebrated their first triumph and gave him a special gift. (I have to say Liam’s moment with Charlie is sad for a number of reasons, not the least of which that is show a moment of clarity for him that we have not seen in his previous flashbacks about how messed up he would become.) We never get a picture of the kind of man Charlie’s father was outside his dream (though it clearly wasn’t a good one) but Charlie clearly has enough in him to find one truly good memory of him. We’ve seen that Charlie’s need to put his addiction about people cost him the appreciation of a woman he respected in ‘Homecoming’, now we see him when he truly acts unselfishly. (Yes the woman he saves is Nadia, but unlike the flashback we saw in Lockdown, I think this is a more accurate portrayal of where Nadia was at the time. This looks like it takes place around the same period as Flashes Before Your Eyes and by that point Nadia had long fled Iraq.)

And in both the past and present, his true north is Claire. This list is meant for her and it’s the first confirmation we’ve gotten since the series began of two people who are soulmates. It’s the night of the crash, Charlie is walking around sees Claire and takes down his hood.  This has usually been seen as a symbol that Charlie’s is on drugs, but I also take it to mean it is a sign when he has given in to darkness. The fact that he sees Claire as someone worth showing his true face to means that there is a part of him that recognizes who he is. There’s no guile in any of his actions; it’s Charlie at his best.

In the present, he acts warm to Claire and cuddles Aaron. The scene with Hurley just as Desmond and Charlie are about to shove off is one of the most profoundly moving in the entire third season: their friendship is one of the truest in the entire show and it’s clear there’s love here. Does Hurley know that Charlie is on a suicide mission? He has been aware of Desmond’s flashes and how they pertain to Charlie; he saw the consequences of one just a few days ago.  And there’s a sad look on his face as he stares at Aaron and Claire, as if he knows she’s going to need someone else to watch over her soon. In a sense, however, the most ominous scene comes when everyone begins to leave the camp on their trek to the radio tower. We see the cradle…and Charlie’s DS ring in it. At the time we assume it’s a bad sign for Charlie; we don’t realize the full portent until much later in the series.

In the last three minutes Desmond tries to convince Charlie it is his job to take his place. I think Desmond is genuine here; he has been willing to risk his life for Charlie before, he really thought when he turned the fail-safe key he was going to die and we know how obsessed with honor he is. What is more honorable than to sacrifice your happiness with the love of your life for someone else’s? Charlie has no intention of letting that happen (I agree the oar to the head was a little excessive) and jumps into the water.

And its worth remembering, a full week before the showrunners pull what will be their greatest act of subversion, that Greatest Hits does a version of it here. Ever since Abandoned, we’ve come to expect that episodes like this are essentially memorials for a character who is about to die. The writers have spend the entire episode, if not the season, leading up to this very point and we keep thinking that all the time were watching Charlie dive into the ocean and into the pool.

And then…he doesn’t. He comes out to the surface and exhales. Dominic Monoghan’s been remarkable the entire episode  but it’s capped by the moment of other surprise and exhilaration on his face as he finds the energy to climb out of the pool and inhale. When he shouts out: “I’m alive!” we are as exhilarated as he is. The writers have pulled another trick and it’s that someone lives. And then, the lights go on and two women guns come out of hiding. The Looking Glass isn’t just not flooded, it’s clearly still inhabited. And we wonder if Charlie escaped one death to face a completely different fate.

 

The Trailer for the Season Finale gives away a few critical pieces of information: Ben confronting Jack, Jack saying he’s going to get his people off the island and Jack saying to Kate: “I love you.” Of course, the episode has in big signs ‘EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE’. The cynics we were, we didn’t believe the hype. For once, the network was underselling it.

VHS Notes: The episode shows film previews of Live free or Die Hard, early enough that it had not received what would be its PG-13 rating Knocked Up, the vehicle that would make a superstar of Seth Rogen and put Judd Apatow on a pedestal and 28 Weeks Later, the second installment in a franchise we never saw the end too. The episode also pays tribute the season 3 finale of Grey’s Anatomy which previewed what would eventually be the exit of Isaiah Washington.