The first bad episode of “Lost”.

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I’ve finally seen an episode of Lost I thought was really, truthfully bad. I love Charlie, man… I do. But he should have stayed dead when he got hanged.

Because then, see, the episode Fire + Water wouldn’t have happened.

I’m less interested in the character episodes of this series as I am the ones that actually serve the overall plot. Honestly, most episodes so far have done both to varying degrees. This is what we call “good writing”, and it makes for an interesting show; the plot lurches forward on its own consistent terms, and everyone in the cast gets their turn in the spotlight. It’s a mesmerizing set-up… very easy to see how so many people got hooked on this show.

This episode didn’t serve the plot at all, from what I can tell. Nor did it serve to develop Charlie’s character. We “learned” that he has a strong desire to be Claire’s baby daddy, but that he struggles with it because he’s a recently-clean junkie with easy access to heroin.

What part of this is new information?

I feel like the writers got to this part in the series and said, “Welp, time for a Charlie episode!” But they’d already told Charlie’s story, yeah? Back in season one? Where he kicked his heroin habit? So they only idea they could muster was to tell that same story again. Next week, on a very special Lost

I was most disappointed in Locke. He’s my favorite character, and I thought this episode really colored him outside his lines. Locke had previously been so big on folks making hard decisions for themselves, but now that only applies if people make decisions he agrees with. I’m not saying it wasn’t fun watching Locke punch Charlie’s limey ass to the ground… it just wasn’t very, well, Locke.

And you know? Why would you begrudge the poor man his heroin? The dude is trapped on a desert island with wacky bearded jungle killers, polar bears, freaky bug clouds and a black hole bomb that threatens to eat the world every 108 minutes. I know what I’d do with a stash of junk in that situation.

4 comments to The first bad episode of “Lost”.

  • Issun

    Just have faith. This episode will pay off at the end of the season, and Charlie’s story will pay off in a big way at the end of next season.

    BTW, in case you’re wondering what the two lines that define the series were in “What Kate Did” that I mentioned, they are:

    Sawyer: “Are we saved?”
    Kate: “No Sawyer, not yet.”

    I’ll leave it to you to figure it out over the course of the series. Also, you’re almost to the introduction of the best character in anything ever.

  • Lys

    I actually count this as the second or third bad episode of LOST, but it’s definitely a waste of screentime that could have been better used for just about anything else, and is one of the worst of the series (though not the last of that unfortunate group). The writers will spend a lot of time trying to make up for the fact that they ran out of convincing places for Charlie’s story to go, but after some of the current wheel-spinning they do eventually make it work. I forgive them the quality lull of this portion of the season since, as Issun says, an intriguing new story is about to start, bringing with it a pretty fascinating character.

  • Tomm

    This episode revealed more about Locke than it did Charlie, as your post covers.

  • Rosencrantz

    I agree, this was a pretty lame episode. I think that you’re at the point where season 2 starts dragging, but it’ll pick back up (and how!) before the season ends. Then you’ve got to deal with the season 3 slog – the first eight or nine episodes are really slow, but once the show picks up speed, it starts running and the rest of season 3 and all of 4 are probably among the best parts of the entire series.

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