Thursday, November 15, 2007

Archive Post: S3E21 - "Greatest Hits"

Episode: Greatest Hits

Character: Charlie

Hi, everyone! As always, we had a great episode last night, leading up to next week’s season finale! I hope you all enjoyed it. Let’s get into some discussion points. As always, I’d love to hear your feedback on theories and ideas on the show.

Losties in Wonderland: Before last night’s episode, I hadn’t yet re-watched “The Man Behind The Curtain”, but made sure to sneak it in before the new episode. My wife was quick to point out that in Ben’s vision where he saw his mom outside the pylons, that she looked a lot like Alice, from Alice in Wonderland. Then Ben had a white rabbit. And this week, we found the newest of Dharma stations—the looking glass. This is an awful lot of Alice in Wonderland references. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen “Alice in Wonderland” and can’t make any real comparisons. If you’ve seen it and can think of any other references or possible Lost connections, please send them to me. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Karl knows? After Ben returned from shooting Locke, he tells his camp that they are going to attack the Losties a day sooner. Alex runs to tell Karl so that he can warn them. Right before leaving, Karl tells Alex that if he gets caught, then her father (Ben) will kill him. But she quickly comes back and says “Is he my father?” And the look on Karl’s face seems to indicate that he already knows the truth about Ben not being her real father. More importantly, though, it shows that Alex is accepting that fact and could possibly be on a mission to find her mother.

Wonderwall: In one of the flashbacks, we see Charlie standing on a street corner playing “Wonderwall” by Oasis. In the middle of singing, it starts pouring down rain. This scene mirrors the one from “Flashes Before Your Eyes” where Desmond approached him…. Except now, he didn’t. So the question is—is this supposed to be the same scene? Has something changed? Luckily, you won’t have to wait until future episodes for an answer: The clothing that Charlie is wearing, however, is different. And his surroundings are not same either. So, while Charlie was playing the same song, it was not the same flashback.

United We Stand, Divided They Will Fall: When Ben arrived back at his camp, Richard was asking him where Locke was and seemed very concerned about what Ben did. I have a feeling that (assuming my ‘Locke=Prophecy’ theory is right) there is going to be a GREAT divide between Ben and the rest of the Others. Ultimately, I think this war we are facing will not end well for the Others. (See ‘Death Toll Predictions’)

Drive Shaft’s Greatest Hits: Charlie was talking to Naomi and mentioned that she was in Drive Shaft, which she had recognized as the rock star that died in the crash. She flooded him with a story about how they had a huge memorial service for him and Drive Shaft put out a “Greatest Hits” album. Wait a minute! How long have they been on the island? I thought it was only 90 days. So let’s think about this…. After the plane crashed, they had to have a search party. Then someone had to stage a fake plane wreckage, complete with dead bodies and all. And then after that, Drive Shaft had time to throw a huge memorial service and then put out another album? I don’t know about you, but I’m convinced that time on the Lost island moves a lot slower than time outside the island. (i.e. 1 day on island = 1 month off island). This could definitely explain what would happen if Walt ever came back (post-puberty) and was 6’10”.

Charlie’s Greatest Hits: My favorite aspect of this episode was Charlie writing his own Greatest Hits. His flashbacks corresponded with them as he went down the list:

#5 – The first time he heard himself on the radio

Charlie, Liam, and the rest of DriveShaft were fixing a flat tire on their van and just as Charlie is telling Liam that he wants to quit the band because they aren’t amounting to anything, their famous hit single “You All Everybody” came on the radio. And the rest is Rock-N-Roll history.

#4 – His dad teaching him to swim at Butlins

We learned back in season one that Charlie “doesn’t swim”. It was never said that he can’t swim… just that he doesn’t. We saw him learning how to swim from his father. (this must’ve been pre-daddy-issues). But I wonder why he normally doesn’t swim. Something must’ve happened in the water to make him afraid of swimming.

#3 – The Christmas when Liam gave him the ring

Let’s face it… the ring was a great gift. But you know that if Charlie wasn’t giving his “Greatest Hits” list to Claire, he would’ve put his Christmas Eve present on that list. (That’s all I’m gonna say about it… if you don’t know what I’m talking about, re-watch the episode).

#2 – The woman outside Covent Garden calling him a hero

Charlie was wrapping up one of his street corner performances when he saw a woman being mugged in an alley. He ran over and smacked the guy with his guitar case and he ran away. The woman looked up to thank Charlie and WHAT?!—that’s Nadia! Sayid’s girlfriend! She’s catching up to Christian Shephard in flashback crossovers, now having appeared in the pasts of three losties (Sayid, Charlie, and Locke).

She also made a comment about how there were 3 people that walked past and didn’t help her. Now I can’t help but wonder if Charlie was being tested by Nadia. Now, let me preface this by saying that a part of me believes that everyone on that plane was hand-picked to be on that plane and to be on that island. While the passengers are being picked, the man in charge decided that they needed someone that had characteristics where he would save a woman in danger.

#1 – The night he met Claire

“First plane crash? I can always spot a newbie.” A funny beginning to a terrific relationship on Lost. Their relationship is one of the main reasons why I don’t want Charlie to die. I think that this relationship is much stronger that Kate’s relationship with Sawyer (or Jack), which merely exists out of lust.

Inside the Looking Glass: Ready to die, Charlie dives into the water so that he can flip the switch in the Looking Glass station to allow the Losties to communicate with Naomi’s ship. When he arrived, he was very relieved to be breathing again—but that didn’t last long. Two women rushed into the room with rifles (hey, maybe those are the two girls from the second row). In all seriousness, I don’t recall seeing either of these women in past episodes. They appear to be completely new characters.

Who Can We Trust? Trust is a very important issue right now. The trust-value of some of the losties is definitely in question. I’m just gonna run down a list of some of these people and whether or not I trust them.

Juliet – Sorry to say it, but you can probably trust her.

Jack – Before last night, I would’ve said No, but I’m gonna also trust Jack.

Karl – Yes Yes Yes. I really like his character and would trust him.

Naomi – I have no reason not to trust her. Plus, she’s their only chance off the island.

Danielle – Eh…. You could probably trust about 30% of the things she says…. I’d say that at least 25% of the things she says is a lie. And I know what you’re asking—what about the other 45%?! Well, that’s what happens when you spend years and years alone on a deserted island—you just go crazy. So, recap: 30% Truth, 25% Lies, 45% crazy ramblings due to deserted jungle lifestyle.

Ben – You can’t trust ANYTHING Ben says.

The Plan: A war is on the horizon and here’s what the Losties have up their sleeves—Juliet is supposed to mark specific tents so that the others know who to kidnap. Jack has teamed up with Rousseau (and her dynamite) to rig explosive devices to be placed in those tents. Once the others arrive, the plans is to “blow them all to hell.” The problem is, they’re on a tight deadline and don’t have time to wire the explosives. So instead, they’ve got to set up a few sniper positions and shoot at the dynamite. But something tells me things aren’t going to go quite as planned.

Death Toll Predictions: Nowadays, it is almost required to kill off at least one person in your season finale. This year will be no different. I’m sure at least one person will die… possibly even a few people. So here are my predictions:

Jack – He’ll be alive till the end.

Kate – Let’s be honest, she’s too pretty to die.

Sawyer – He’ll die…. But not until the series finale (in 2010)

Charlie – It’s still too soon.

Hurley – He will NEVER die.

Sayid – Sorry to say it….. but I don’t think he’ll see season 4.

Claire – She’ll be okay for now.

Aaron – (see Claire)

Sun – She’ll survive… at least until the middle of the second trimester.

Jin – Tell Sun to cover her ears… I don’t think Jin’s gonna make it.

Ben – Best enemy ever… Unfortunately, it may be time for his demise.

Juliet – I’m on the fence. Maybe she’ll just be injured badly.

Rousseau – She’ll be safe until we get at least one flashback.

Tom – I think he’ll be the one to kill Ben.

Rose & Bernard – Their first season 3 appearance was last night…. And I think next week will be Bernard’s last.

Next Week: First off, don’t forget to watch the new show tonight! They’re gonna talk about past episodes and give more insight into the show. It’ll definitely be cool to watch!

Next week, however, is the much-more-important Season 3 Finale, titled “Through the Looking Glass”, and will be Jack-centric (from what I hear). As mentioned before, we can probably expect a few people to die and a few more to be injured. Past finales have had cameos by the Hurley bird, so maybe we’ll see it again. And rumor has it that there is going to be a “game-changer”. I CAN’T FRIGGIN WAIT!

Until then!

-drew.


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