Charlie’s Problem Is Locke’d Down
“Save the baby Charlie.”
Lost’s episodes that favor character development over advancing the plot are precarious. It’s as though you’re telling a large part of the audience “Keep squirming and we’re going home. Now sit still and learn something.” Sometimes it pays in spades, as it did with Mr. Eko’s backstory in The 23rd Psalm; sometimes it’s middling like Fire + Water. If last night’s episode didn’t feel right here’s the difference:
The 23rd Psalm had an clear ending.
While there isn’t much happening in The 23rd Psalm, we learn a hell of a lot about Mr. Eko and where he finds his resolve. It’s the best episode of the season because there’s a satisfying conclusion. We learn where Mr. Eko comes from (and I’m not talking about Nigeria) when as a child he kills an old man to keep his brother from falling in with the wrong people.
The middle of the episode gives us the revealing shot of the monster aka the black smoke creature, while the flashback explains Mr. Eko and his brother’s failed attempts at saving one another. Upon reaching the Beechcraft drug plane Mr. Eko finds closure and his story ends on a positive note. Though Charlie’s takes a turn for the worse in the closing reveal.
Structurally Fire + Water resembles The 23rd Psalm in how it begins with the child Charlie, and shows us the worst part of his brother’s drug addiction. There are very minor plot developments involving Hurley and Libby’s relationship. (When that connection is revealed it’ll be a jackpot winner, I’m sure of it.)
Not much else happens except for Charlie’s freak outs. Dream sequences don’t work for me, unless they’re as far out as the ones seen in Twin Peaks or Spellbound. Like anything else in pseudo-psychology you or I, meaning untrained professionals, could interpret dreams any way we wanted because they’re never literal. The phrase “It was all a dream” pisses people off for a reason. One word: Dallas. Dreams? No thanks. But I digress. We can talk about cheats and writer’s crutches another time.
The end of Fire + Water couldn’t come any sooner because we’re sick of being told what Charlie’s problem is by Locke and Eko, yet we’re still forced sit through his flashbacks. Yes, this is TV and traditionally exposition is more tolerated than in any other storytelling form, but come on! Show us, don’t tell us.
Through all of that I think the episode served its purpose. Even in the middle of nowhere, Charlie can’t escape his past of being the drug addict little brother. More importantly, and this is something hinted at from the previous season and this season’s premiere, we learn that Locke is capable of brutal violence.
Now, you might think Charlie deserved his smack down for starting the fire, putting the camp in danger, and messing with Claire’s baby. That’s all fine and good, but the point of that scene was: Locke can throw a wicked right. A Locke problem? Indeed.
One last thing about dialog. Namely…
“Are you hitting that?”
That is money in the bank. Would any character besides Ana-Lucia have said that? No, because the characters on Lost are well thought out. They’re real people with their own languages and upbringings. If we had dinner with people from New York, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Chicago, and Hawaii at the same time, I’ll bet you could figure out where everyone was from without being told.
All the fine details of character will make them who they are. If your characters all speak in a similar vain they’d better be whip smart and charming — Gilmore Girls is the only TV series I know that does this successfully — otherwise they won’t be real people.
