Greatest Hits Review (an entry for the Lost meta challenge)
Sorry to my flisters about that last entry. My LJ cut wouldn't work for some bizarre reason. I had to delete it.
Let's try again with a boring non-illustrated version of my meta *sulks* for thequillstation.
Meta Review: Greatest Hits
Greatest Hits is more than a tribute to a rockstar; this episode is the end of an era. For me it was the last episode of old Lost before it turned into new Lost; the new show with flash forwards, time jumps and destiny calls. It’s the last episode where rescue might have meant hope. It’s the last episode where free will might have existed. It’s actually the last episode where we see all the Lostees together at the old beach camp, helping each other out. Rose and Bernard are there. Vincent is there. Danielle and her big fuck off rifle are there. It’s the last time you might call them friends. The last time before the camp splits in two, before some leave and some don’t, before time jumps, before all the lying starts and too many die or disappear from the story. So this episode is like the Greatest Hits of old Lost to me. It's a cute little Best Of narrated by its own departing minstrel. It’s the end of an era. It’s the last Lost episode that really made me happy…
…even though it mostly made me cry.
“Why does everything have to be such a secret? How about some openness for a change?”
Heh. So I like how they emphasise right from the start why Charlie has to die. The island simply will not tolerate this kind of crazy talk.
It all begins with Jack making a big heroic speech (hit!). I’m sure Jack could have explained his plans down on the beach, but evidently he prefers to drag everybody up a hill and blow up a harmless tree. Then he gets that old insane Jack look in his eyes because he’s all excited about his plot to obliterate the Others. Jack, the doctor. Jack who was playing football with them last week.
Seriously, I like Jack in this episode. Jack being the leader, standing up to their enemies and doing what it takes to protect his camp is always preferable to Jack being manipulated by Ben or just wallowing in angst. So Jack is a little unhinged here, but at least he’s proactive. The coolest thing is this is a Charlie episode and Jack used to have a soft spot for Charlie, until that night he shot Ethan repeatedly in the chest. Jack was a little wary of Charlie after that. He thought he was a loose canon. But now Jack is the one who wants to stop the Others from kidnapping pregnant women by blowing them all to hell, just like Charlie once blew Ethan all to hell. So I like to think that Jack has quietly decided that Charlie wasn’t so crazy and irrational after all. Maybe there is some unspoken respect there. And meanwhile, Charlie has lost all interest in the Others and is just quietly trying not to die.
The flashbacks are done really nicely in this episode (hit!) Instead of telling a truncated backstory in five segments, the flashbacks are five seperate scenes that inform Charlie's character. It's refreshing that this time the flashbacks don't tell us about the characters flaws and weaknesses. They tell us about the good things in Charlie's life. We find out that it never took very much to make Charlie happy - music, family, small achievements, his brother being proud of him, a pretty girl smiling at him...those were the best things in life for Charlie Pace. My favourite moment was the Nadia scene. It was always a rare pleasure to see Nadia and this flashback includes one of the only realistic fight scenes that you’ll ever see on Lost. Charlie’s sees a woman being mugged, he winces and squirms, he remembers he’s not a wimp, he runs up to them, yelling incoherently, and clubs the guy with his guitar case. The mugger loses his nerve and runs away. Charlie leans against the wall; wheezing for breath and trying to calm down. It’s not showy, it’s not sexy, it’s not larger than life. It’s just a little act of bravery that any ordinary person could do. As Nadia observes, that makes it even more heroic.
Back on the island of doom, Desmond has had another death flash (hit!) and tells Charlie “This time yer have to die!” What a lovely day we have having so far. It might have been nice if Desmond had asked. You know...politely. But anyway; along with Charlie’s perpetual death it turns out Desmond has seen a vision of Claire and Aaron boarding a rescue helicopter and being airlifted to safety. Charlie’s heart leaps at this and he asks Desmond about five times over if he is sure he saw Claire and Aaron getting on a helicopter. It’s kind of important to him. Desmond assures his doomed friend that his girlfriend and her child are totally getting rescued. Seriously, how much would this show suck if Charlie gave his life for them and they weren’t rescued? The very idea...
Sayid is particularly awesome in this episode (hit!). He manages to be brave and strategic, badass and sarcastic, all at the same time. Sayid volunteers for two suicide missions in this episode and he does it in the sort of tone that suggests he is just offering to go to the shops for everyone. It is Sayid at his dry genial best. Sayid also has several hilarious moments of trying to calmly explain to Jack that getting everyone rescued from the island is slightly more important than Jack's now rabid desire to see the Others go 'BOOM'. Listen closely and there is a moment when Sayid tells Jack "If you're angry now, I'm sure you'll be happy to make a full apology later." It is very quick. Jack misses it. But it is so pwnsome. Sayid is courteous even as he pwns. Sayid snaffles the dynamite mission for himself, because (unlike Jack) Sayid is a professional badass. Sayid also approves of Charlie taking the Looking Glass mission because Sayid, for one, happens to dig Charlie. How cool is it that Sayid digs Charlie? It is very cool.
Everyone is awesome in this episode. That doesn't happen very often. Sun tells Jin heart-breaking lies to protect his pride and emotions (hit!). Rose and Bernard appear for the first time in S3 and that alone makes me smile (hit!). Danielle is still alive and she gets to teach the Lostees how to make their own crazy exploding death traps (hit!). Little Alex and Karl are still alive and they get to foil the Others evil plans and snog like healthy teenage kids in lust (hit!). Juliet gets outed as a spy and deadpans "They know Karl...but thanks." (hit!) Even Ben is awesome here. At least Ben is openly crazy and ruthless in this episode. He doesn’t waste our time insisting that he is the good guy who won’t harm innocent people when he is at war. He doesn't bleet on that he is just doing what he has to do for the island. Ben just comes out with it - “Kidnap all their women. And kill all their men.” Then Ben stomps off to his tent for an extended sulk because Jacob loves Locke more than him. It's the kind of Ben Linus I thoroughly enjoy.
Because he is dying Charlie gets to be most awesome. Charlie says that drowning himself will be a “piece of cake” because he isn’t going to let Sayid or Jack or Desmond see him cry. He won’t even let them see him flinch. Charlie may be the world’s biggest loser, but he's not a bloody wimp. In the end, Jack agrees to let Charlie go off on a suicide mission; partly because of that old bond that they shared (also because they have drifted apart) but mostly because he has to pick someone and Charlie is willing. Charlie used to be the baby brother of the camp. He used to be the little limey runt who needed extra care and attention if he was going to survive. They all tried to save him once. Jack, Locke, Desmond; they all cared about Charlie at some time. But one by one, they all forgot to look out for Charlie, just like Liam forgot to look out for him. And now it’s too late. So they might as well just let him go.
Then there is Claire. *weary sigh* I think there are a two ways of viewing the Claire scene. We could believe that Claire is in denial about the flashes or she at least trusts that Desmond will protect Charlie like he has done in the past. Or we could perceive that Claire knew deep down that Charlie was going to his death and she accepted it for the chance of getting Aaron off the island. I lean towards the latter. I think in different times and circumstances, Claire could have grown to love Charlie. But on the island Claire has been kidnapped, terrorised and brainwashed, she has given birth and is breast feeding, she has been lied to and betrayed by too many people (Charlie included). Claire is a tired girl. It takes all her energy to get out of bed and look after her baby. She has nothing left for Charlie.
Charlie knows this. He acts like he doesn’t mind at all. He insists that Claire doesn’t worry about him, that she doesn’t care about him. Claire says 'okay' a little too quickly. She is grateful Charlie still helps her to lighten her burdens. Charlie nods and swallows. He doesn’t say ‘I love you’ to Claire because he knows she won’t say it back and that would break him. So Charlie says the words to Turniphead instead, because his love for the baby has always been purer and more precious to him. Charlie lost his innocence in the sleazy backrooms of rock concerts, but he found it again in Aaron’s eyes. This kid will always be the tiny piece of Charlie’s innocence that was always safeguarded. That’s why Charlie loves Aaron. That’s how Aaron saves him.
We all remember The Ring and The List even if the writers don't. We know now that Claire will not receive Charlie’s ring or his list. Those tokens will be lost to the sea and lost in time like Charlie himself. In the end it doesn’t matter. Charlie’s memories were never meant for Claire. They were for us.
This episode features one of Lost’s ultimate moments of Bromance (hit!). Hurley wants to join the Looking Glass team and escape from the treks and explosions, bless him. Charlie doesn’t want his dear Hurley to see him die. So Charlie calls Hurley fat out of sheer love for him. Then he throws his arms around Hurley and clings. He tells Hurley ‘I love you’ because he thinks he will say it back and Charlie needs to hear it from someone. Hurley does say it back and he means it, even if he doesn’t know what it means. Charlie floats for a moment. Then he remembers and his heart plummets. Very soon the universe will take it all away.
There are only two times that Lost has made me cry big fat tears:
1) When Walt screams out 'I love you!' to his father and Michael is granted one precious second of relief and mercy in his poor wretched life (the scene in Three Minutes).
2) When Hurley tells Charlie he is loved in this 'Duh! Of course you are loved' tone of voice and Charlie is granted one precious second of all the reassurance he ever needed.
Desmond has the biggest hard-on for Charlie in this episode (hit!). It's so touching. There aren’t many scenes where Desmond isn’t staring at Charlie - testily, worriedly, admiringly. Charlie is a little creeped out by Desmond because he looks like Jesus and he keeps predicting his death. But Charlie used to hang out with Locke and Eko and compared with those two Desmond is only diet-creepy so Charlie can cope with being in his morbid company. Desmond calls everyone 'Brother' but Charlie is the only one who says it back. Charlie likes to bond with people no matter how weird they are or how ever many times they tell him he is going to get killed.
Desmond knew from the start of this episode he was going to take Charlie’s place. He still needed to put Charlie through this. He needed Charlie to show him how to have the courage for it, just like Penny's note showed him how to have courage the last time. Desmond is a romantic and at some point in the day he fell in love with the quiet nobility of this sacrifice. He always wanted to be a great man and now he wants to be Charlie Pace. He’ll give up Penny, his rescue, his life, just to claim that honour as his own. And also because Desmond thinks poor Charlie needs and deserves something good to happen for him.
Charlie gets very confused over Desmond’s offer, because he’s not used to anyone giving this much of a shit about him and he is baffled that anyone would want to trade places with him now. It sure was nice of Dessy to offer. But the thing is if Desmond takes his place now he’ll also take Charlie’s redemption and what little remains of his pride. Charlie’s not having that. And besides, he wants good things for Desmond too. So Charlie clubs Desmond over the head with a paddle out of sheer love (and also because he has been wanting to smack Desmond for weeks). With Desmond no longer staring at him Charlie allows himself to cry a little. He really doesn’t want to die on such a nice day as this. But Charlie isn’t a wimp so he says fuck it and he jumps in the ocean.
Black & white vans can still cause my lip to wobble in shoe shops.
I have never wanted a fictional character to live as much as I wanted Charlie to live, okay? Even rewatching Charlie's dive after so much time I still get this little childish yearning - like, wanting to clap my hands and say “I do believe in fairies!” if only Tinkerbell would live. I was ready to forgive all the nonsense that Lost puts me through if only Charlie Pace would live.
In this episode at least, I get my wish. Charlie surfaces in the moon pool and takes a breath. A breath that sounds as good as the breath he took when Jack revived him after his hanging (hit!) Charlie learns that oxygen tastes better than heroin ever did and quickly gets very high. Charlie climbs out of the water and falls back into a shaft of light. He feels renewed, elated, unconquered and best of all, alive.
This is (roughly) where old Lost ends. It is a happy ending.
I guess I had better end there too...