S1Ep15 - Homecoming (Charlie's second flashback)

[This message was initially sent as an email to friends, it was loaded into this blog 2.5 years later]

Hello friends -

I didn't like this episode, and neither did most people on the boards. Probably because we all guessed what would happen and were therefore bored. But that is our own fault.

Anyway, here is a recap of the major things that happened and/or things to think about:

1) Does Jin suspect that Sun knows English? Many people thought that he was acting fishy by asking her all of those questions about what was going on, like he was on to her. His flashback is next week, so I'm sure they're setting that up.

2) The guns have come out. Will they go back into the case or stay out? And how does JACK know how to use a gun? Everyone else made sense.

3) Where exactly did Claire come from? Had she escaped or was she sent back for some weird reason? How could she actually ESCAPE from the likes of Ethan anyway? Also, I noticed that at first her face looked all beat up-ish but then half-way through the show she looked perfect again.

4) The fact that we got to hear "You All Everybody" when they played it at the bar in the flashback was awesome. That song is so bad, it's good.

5) When Ethan came out of nowhere and took Jin out in the woods with a little stone (or whatever that was) and then choked Charlie, when he was first approaching it sounded like weird noises were coming at them from all sides, similar to what happens whenever the "monster" appears. But I think I was the only one who noticed that, it wasn't brought up on the boards.

6) Seriously my favorite part of the whole thing was when in the flashback that girl Charlie was dating said, "My father's off buying a paper company in Slough" ... in case you aren't down with the BBC America channel, that was a reference to the hit BBC show "The Office," about a paper company in Slough, England, that is run by this horrible boss who thinks everyone loves him (they're making a US-version this year which is also supposed to be good). It's one of my favorite shows. This was similar to in Locke's flashback when they referenced "TPS Reports" from the movie "Office Space."

7) It was VERY obvious in this episode that Jack and Locke have emerged as the two leaders. I thought the exchange they had about if they should tell the rest of the survivors about Ethan's threat, and whether or not to move everyone to the caves, was very interesting. Jack seemed kind of defensive that Locke had a plan and didn't think Jack's plan was well thought out.

8) Boone was once again in his 4 aces shirt, though no one brought that up on the boards. I seriously can't stand Boone and want him GONE. He was so lame falling asleep during his watch. LOSER.

9) So the dear Scott, I believe seen only once on the show overall, is gone. And yet Hurley still had to bring up always calling him Steve by mistake in the eulogy. Since every bone in his body was broken, this leads me to believe once again that Ethan is some sort of "super soldier." But then it still doesn't make sense that 1) Claire escaped and 2) Jack was able to beat him down at the end. A lot of people on the boards commented that Ethan had a bunch of scratches on his face and looked increasingly weak as the episode went on, so maybe he was losing his powers for some reason.

10) Three other overall comments: 1) I thought once again that Locke was awesome in this episode. 2) Charlie throwing up in the copier was the favorite scene of everyone on the boards. 3) Sawyer's comment about the polar bear thinking he was a "good shot" was also up there.

11) Overall I thought this episode was weak because the Charlie flashbacks were SO OBVIOUS ... it was like, gee, do you think they're trying to show us why he's so adamant on being able to "take care of" Claire? And I called Charlie picking up the gun and shooting Ethan as soon as I saw the previews two weeks ago. People were very annoyed because we all thought we would learn WHY Ethan wanted Claire and we didn't.

However, the next episode is supposed to be great, in the top 3 of the season, it's Sawyer's second flashback. I'm not holding my breath as I keep being disappointed lately, but I do know at a high level what it's about and I do think it will be good.


FROM THE MESSAGE BOARDS

- Oh my god, how sad was it when Charlie said "yea, we are friends"!!! sniff sniff
- I think those scratch marks on his face look like they come from a FEMALE....I think Claire fought back.
- Way to go Charlie!!! Woot! Woot! I think he was right, Ethan would not have told them anything. Since Claire is starting to remember maybe we will learn from her in one of the upcoming episodes what he wanted and where he was from.
- Oh CHARLIE!!!.... oooooooooo, she remembers peanut butter!!!! Are anyone else’s eyes starting to get misty???
- Can anyone see what Jack's tattoo is?
- Great episode .Way to go Jack for kicking his butt and Charlie for the great finishing move. Ding Dong the witch is dead, or is he......
- I don't think this is the end of it. I would not be surprised if someone else comes along and wants Claire's baby too.

- Will there / should there be repercussions for Charlie executing Ethan?

- I forgot to mention Locke! And nobody else in this whole post has! Jack asked Locke if he knew how to assemble a gun and Locke put it together as if he had been doing it his whole life! A box salesman would *definitely* not know how to do that.

- And I know that the flashback for Charlie was kind of weak but his story is just that he is a one-hit wonder rock star who did drugs - how far can his story go? His flashbacks just showed how he wanted to "care and protect" a girl and she turned him down. It was kind of a parallel to Charlie and Claire how he wants to protect her and care for her. His obsession for caring for Claire is probably derived from that past experience from Lucy.

- And Boone is a dud. And I'm not quite sure why Sayid would like the so un-Nadia-ish Shannon. She and Boone - yes. But she and Nadia - no.

- I think Locke was a box-company employee the same way Steven Seagal was just a cook in "Under Siege."
- In the scene where Jin asks Sun about what is going on... he asks Sun about "the baby", and it seemed to me he was looking at Sun's torso area, NOT at Claire. Could Sun be pregnant? The survivors have been on the island for just about a month now, so if Sun were pregnant, she wouldn't be showing yet, depending on how far along she might be. And it could easily be part of the reason why Sun had a "change of heart" about leaving Jin. Yet another weird theory...
- Locke and the gun issue: clearly, Locke had a history as a hunter and adventurer... that may even be how he was injured, who knows? Even, in a wheelchair, he had a case full of rather impressive knives. Being a box salesman doesn't mean he can't have outside interests and hobbies, however off the grid.

- There are two reasons why Charlie might have killed Ethan. Either he was distraught about the violence that had been done to him, Claire, and Scott ... or he was making sure that Ethan would not talk to anybody. Charlie and Claire both returned from their kidnapping with "amnesia." Maybe they have been programmed to protect the island's secrets.
- I am glad they killed the bad guy, but am wondering if that opens the gates for more Bigger and Badder guys....

- No questions got answered last night by Ethan, or by anyone else, and a new can was opened...the guns came out. Now they will be asking for them to come out every time something bad happens. The good thing - Teamwork was shown last night. Did anyone see that? They worked TOGETHER, more then they had before, watching the perimeter and playing on each other strengths and using what they knew about each other to support the whole group. That was a few brief moments of fun.
- I don't think Ethan would have talked, even if tortured, and it's pretty likely that the others would at least come looking for him, even if they didn't make a full-blown rescue attempt. And that could potentially put all of the survivors in danger. So I probably would have shot Ethan, too, though I might not have used so many bullets--that seemed a little excessive but probably true to the emotions behind the action. But Jack beating Ethan seemed a bit excessive too--near the end there were 4 people with guns on Ethan, so why'd he keep hitting him? Rage? Frustration? Vengeance? And during Jin & Sun's conversations, I was struck by two things: Jin seems to understand English also--I think he's testing Sun to see if she'll finally come clean. I think he knows that she speaks English--if he was involved in some sort of mob work, he probably knows that she took the classes. The second thing was during their talk about Claire's baby, I noticed a certain attitude between them that I thought of as poignant. Maybe they lost a baby at some point? She could be pregnant, too, but it seemed more wistful/sad to me.
- Alright, I can see Sayid using a gun, being in the Republican Guard and all. I can see Kate using a gun, being a con-artist. Locke...he's a hunter, 'nuff said. Sawyer... see Kate. But what I want to know is how in the Seven Circles of Hell's name does Jack know how to use a gun!?! This is the third death in the rain. I guess on this island rain is bad.

- Great Locke quote when seeing the guns "Why doc, you've been holding out on us."
- I was surprised to hear so many negative comments about the episode last night. At the very least, the character dynamics are taking on a very disturbing shape, something that's definitely going to have consequences during the rest of the season. Maybe it was a question of high expectations? Whatever the case, I liked getting a better look at Charlie's past, especially since it places so much of his time on the island in a new context. And any episode with a semi-obscure reference to "The Office" can't be bad, now, can it? (And so much beautiful, beautiful Claire!)

- I wonder if anyone on the island though about pulling a page out of the movie "Alive" and chowing down on Ethan. They have been without boar meat for some time right. Hey I know it’s morbid, but when you’re hungry, you’re hungry.



- e