Sea. 1, Ep. 7: The Moth

Hello and welcome once again to today's installment of the Rewatch. I have a feeling that this'll be a brief write-up, as "The Moth" doesn't offer much in the way of island lore, but it's a good episode nonetheless. As the writers were wont to do in the very beginning, this episode fleshes out some of the characters a bit more.

"The Moth" features the first deeper look at the island's resident rock star Charlie Pace. Remember how Charlie exchanged his heroin for his guitar at the end of the previous episode? Well, here we see the repercussions of that decision, as he begins to experience withdrawal. And Locke continues to exert his control over Charlie, saying that he won't return the drugs until Charlie has asked for them back three times. Locke stresses the fact that everyone has a choice, and Charlie can choose to give in easily to temptation or hold out and become drug free. Ironically, we see Mr. Destiny giving a lecture about choice and free will. As we've already covered in previous episodes, that's not what Locke seems to be about. He's a fatalist through and through. I don't know why he doesn't just use his commune with the island to help Charlie get through it without all the nasty business of withdrawal.

This episode also highlights the battering that Charlie's psyche is taking while trying to fit in among the others. No one seems to care that he was the member of a popular rock band, and his lackluster efforts to help Jack and company move their belongings to the caves get him pushed aside. Feeling lonely and small, he blows up at Jack, and his angry shouts lead to a massive cave-in of rocks. Charlie escapes the danger, but Jack gets trapped behind a wall of the rubble. Oops, Charlie.

Running parallel to this are, of course, the flashbacks. These Charlie-centric ones revolve around the relationship with his older brother Liam. It looks as though they got along famously until they literally became famous. They made it big with their band Driveshaft, but then the myriad women and limitless supply of drugs went to Liam's head. And history repeats itself, as Charlie--who was originally in control of the band--is pushed aside by his brother.

Another item of note in "The Moth" is the beginnings of the famous love triangle between Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. The two men obviously have a thing for Kate, and Kate seems to be into Jack, but we should know by now that it's just the early stages of a long and unrequited love. Regardless, in this episode we see that Kate's sad that Jack's departing for the caves. Then Jack gets trapped behind the rubble and Sawyer learns about it. Sawyer's jealous of Kate's flirtations with Jack, so he withholds the information until he knows he can upset her with it. It's really all quite juvenile and I'm sure you can tell that it's not one of my favorite aspects of the show. But it is what it is, and I appreciate the fact that some people enjoy it.

Ultimately, Charlie resists temptation (after asking Locke a second time for his drugs) and redeems himself by going into the rubble to free Jack. What's more is that he pops Jack's dislocated shoulder back into place, something which would surely make me yak. Charlie is showered with praise, and at the end of the episode we see that his transformation is complete, because he asks Locke for his heroin so that he can throw it in the fire and be rid of it.

Oh, and I nearly forgot! Sayid tries to triangulate the location of the French distress call and is nearly about to do succeed when he's sabotaged! Some unknown figure knocks him out, and he's unable to complete his task. At this point we don't know who did it, but we later learn it was Locke. Why? Locke doesn't want to be rescued. And we know that he's serious about that. He'll even blow up a damned submarine to stay. My goodness.

Like I said, "The Moth" is heavy on plot and character development, but devoid of any larger mysteries. Since we know who knocked Sayid out, there are really no secrets in this episode. Consequently, I think my recap is a bit thin compared to others. But that's bound to happen, particularly when we get to episodes like "Exposé," in which those two terrible characters that the writers tried to introduce are killed off.

But once again, thanks for reading!