Lost - Season 3, Episode 21 - "Greatest Hits"
Hello fellow Lost fans! Well, we knew last night's episode would be one hour long set up for the 2-hour Season Finale (I'd actually forgotten the finales are always 2 hours. cheers for extended episodes!), but I think they really delivered with a interesting episode that managed to touch on a lot of storylines and a lot of characters, ignoring Locke, unfortunately. But some good facetime on everybody else!
We start with a man running through the jungle. We can't see his face, but he looks young and strong. He leaps over fallen trees and comes out onto a beach. He takes off some camouflage from the outrigger last seen ferrying Kate, Sawyer, and Karl from the Hydra station back to the main island, and starts to push it out to sea.
Next we see Jack and Juliet leading the entire main cast (yep, everyone, including a baby-less Claire) out to the middle of a nowhere, i.e: an empty field. Near the back of the line, Desmond stops and looks strangely at Charlie. Charlie then asks him if Desmond had one of his "flashes." Desmond, flustered, says No. Sayid and Sawyer are wondering what the hell they're doing out here. Jack does some expositioning and then calls out for "Danielle!!" Our very own loner, Danielle Rosseau, slinks out of the woods. Jack says, "Show them," and Danielle leans over to what looks like a battery. She connects two wires to it and a tree nearby explodes in a pretty awesome blaze. So that's what Danielle was doing at the Black Rock! Jack, intense as always, says to his people that they will rig all the tents Juliet marks with dynamite and when the Others go inside, they'll all blow up.
Flashback-land, England. A heavy rain falls. Charlie and rest of Drive Shaft are stuck on the side of some country road with a flat tire. Liam, Charlie's brother, commands him to fix the "bloody tire" but Charlie is ambivalent. He wonders what's the point of it all. They're off to play some bullshit show in the middle of nowhere, when, out of nowhere, a familiar song comes on the radio. It's "You Are Everybody!", the Drive Shaft hit that Charlie couldn't stop singing throughout the first season. Liam, Charlie, and the boys are overjoyed.
We cut to the present. Back at the beachcamp, Charlie is making a list. He writes: No. 5: The first time I heard myself on the radio. Noami approaches him and asks him who they're all getting ready to go to war with. Charlie evades her question. "Long story," he says. Noami gives him a closer look and says she recognizes him. The rock star. Apparently, he got a lot of press when he "died." More so than anyone else on the plane. There was even a Drive Shaft greatest hits album that came out in the wake of the plane crash. "A greatest hits, huh?" Charlie asks with a smile. Off in the distance, he sees Desmond looking troubled.
Further down the beach, Rosseau and Jack are wiring the tents with dynamite. Rosseau says they need more wire. Jack says he'll have some people strip the plane parts (there's plane parts left???) On his way to talk to people, Sayid stops him and says he needs to talk about Noami's sat-phone. Jack tries to wave him off, but Sayid is insistent. He says he can get the phone working, but Danielle's signal (which they discovered wayyyyyyy back in the first episode) would block it out and Noami's boat, which is "only" eighty miles away won't be able to hear them. Juliet overhears and says that it's not just Danielle's signal they need to overcome, but that the Others are jamming any frequencies coming out of the Island from a Dharma station underwater called The Looking Glass (definitely the coolest name for a Station yet!). Sayid says, "The Looking Glass? I think I know where it is..."
Meanwhile, Charlie and Claire and Aaron are having a nice family moment. Until Desmond shows up and says he wants to talk to Charlie. He admits he did have a flash out there in the jungle and he saw Claire and Aaron getting in a helicopter. "We're being rescued?!" Charlie exclaims. But Desmond goes on. He says he also saw Charlie in a flooded room pushing a blinking yellow button. And then Charlie died. "This time, Charlie," Desmond says mournfully, "you have to die."
Flashback! A little boy Charlie is being coexed into a pool by his father. "Come on, Charlie! I'll catch you." Little Charlie is untrusting at first but then jumps in. On the Island, Charlie writes: #4, Dad teaching me to swim.
Elsewhere, Sayid takes Jack and Juliet back to his tent and pulls some binders and papers he presumably retrieved from The Flame before it blew up. It shows the Looking Glass station and a cable connecting it to the Beach. It also shows that they have a Moon Pool where a sub could dock. Juliet says it's still a suicide mission, the station was flooded a long time ago. That's when Charlie shows up and volunteers for the mission. He says he was on the swim team in high school and can hold his breathe for four minutes!
A little ways away, Bernard is attempting to show Rose how well he can tie knots. Rose unties Bernard's knot and smiles in that I-Know-Everything-Better-Than-You way. At another nearby tent, Jin is asking Sun what all that fuss with Juliet is about in regards to them. He says he heard them say their name. Sun tells him (um, finally!) that Juliet took her to the Staff station to check out the baby and everything is fine. Healthy. Jin is overjoyed.
Hurley then notices something out in the water. It's the outrigger coming ashore. He shouts, "Hey!" and Sayid jumps up and tackles Karl into the sand. Sawyer steps up and tells them to leave him alone. He's... "okay," Sawyer admits. Karl says he's here to warn them that his people are coming. "We know,"Sawyer says. "So then why are you still here?" he shouts. Sawyer smiles. "When they come tomorrow night, we'll be ready." Karl is almost in hysterics now. "Tomorrow night? No, they're coming tonight! They're coming right NOW!!"
A sign onscreen reads: 9 Hours Ago. In the Others camp, Ben returns from his trek with John Locke, minus Locke. Alex is gutting a rabbit and asks, "Where's John?" "He had an accident," Ben says and returns her gun to her. Ben then turns to Richard and tells them to mobilize. "Jacob" wants them to attack the beach tonight. Richard is not thrilled. He wonders if Juliet will be ready. "Then we'll take all the women!" an angry Ben shouts. He goes to find Ryan, a burly-looking Other, and asks him how long it'll take him to reach the beach. Ryan says he'll gather his ten best and leave immediately. Ben tells him, "If any of the men get in your way, kill them."
Alex, looking distressed (pretty much as always), runs out of the camp and into the jungle. She calls out for Karl, who emerges from hiding and asks, "Where's the rabbit?" Alex tells him her father has ordered the attack on the survivor's camp now and he has to go warn them. Karl is at first unresponsive. Then Alex reminds him that Kate and Sawyer saved him when Ben was going to kill him. Karl, reluctantly, leaves and heads into the woods to the outrigger.
On the beach, Jack and the others start to strategize how to repel the invasion. Jack asks Danielle if they have wiring at the moment to enact their current plan. She says No. Then Sayid says, "Why don't we shoot the tents?" They can hide in the treeline and shoot the tents when the Others are nearby. Meanwhile, Danielle will take the survivors to the radio tower to take out her signal and Charlie will go to the Looking Glass Station to try to block the Others' jamming device. Everything has to happen at the same time for any of it to work.
Flashback! Charlie, with some weird pink streaks in his hair ("the rockstar look"), is in bed with two girls when he's woken up by his brother, Liam. Liam wishes him a "happy" Christmas and they share an early morning drink. Liam tells Charlie that he's a serious fuckup and it's Charlie - the only drug free rockstar (at the moment) - who will have a real life. A child, a family. So Liam gives him a ring inherited from their grandfather with the initials DS on it. The D.S stands for Dexter Stratton and was impetus for the name Drive Shaft. Flash to the present, Charlie writes in his list: #3: The Christmas when Liam gave me the ring. Charlie then shares a little heartfelt moment with Claire where she questions his wanting to go on the mission. But Charlie reassures her it's for the greater good and the two kiss before departing.
Flashback again! Charlie is playing Oasis' "Wonderwall" on a street corner. (Hmm. Close, but not exactly what we saw earlier. Significance?) It starts to rain suddenly and Charlie closes up shop. As he's walking down a street, he sees a mugger attacking a woman. Charlie almost walks on but than changes his mind and charges down the alley and scares away the mugger. The woman - who Lost fans will recognize as Nadia, Sayid's love from previous episodes - calls Charlie a Hero. We then see Charlie writing: #2: Woman outside Convent calls me a Hero.
Elsewhere on the beach, Bernard shoots a rifle at a cup fifty or so paces away and hits the mark. Sayid nods and accepts Bernard as one of his shooters. Rose, of course, isn't happy and when Jack comes over, she asks him if he promises that Bernard will be okay. Jack says that if they fail in stopping the Others, none of them will be okay.
Near Karl's outrigger, Desmond is fashioning a weight belt when Hurley huffs his way over and announces that he wants to come with them. Charlie says he can't. He's too big! Hurley is at first offended but realizes he's right. The two hug before Desmond and Charlie set off.
After a quick commercial break, the survivors gather to leave. Kate and Jack exchange a short "Here we are again" and then Juliet comes over and ruins their little romantic moment. Jack asks Juliet if Sayid found his third shooter. Together they look at Jin. Hurley asks Claire if she needs help with Aaaron but she doesn't. As they leave her tent, though, we can see Charlie's signature DS ring in the bassinet.
Next we see Desmond and Charlie landing on a separate beach. They find the cable (first seen in the episode "Solitary" from Season One) and run it through the outrigger's spokes and then head out into the ocean.
Flashback! The Island. Night-time. The first night on the island. The survivors have set up fires in various places amdist the wreckage. Charlie is walking around looking lost in his classic hoodie. He spots a very pregnant Claire attempting to sit down. Charlie comes over and offers her a blanket. Claire initially refuses but Charlie insists. The two introduce each other and exchange some shy smiles.
Back in the present, on the outrigger, Charlie is writing his final entry on his list. He then hands the paper to Desmond and tells him to give this list to Claire. It's the best moments of his life. His "Greatest Hits." Desmond has a struggle of conscious and says that he wants to go now. Charlie says, "But what about your girl, Penny?" Desmond says, "What about yours?" Charlie seems to agree and takes back the list. He then grabs an oar and smacks Desmond. Desmond falls back, limp, into the boat. Charlie stuffs the list into Desmond's shirt pocket, grabs the weight belt, and jumps into the water.
He swims through some dark water at first and then spots a structure underwater. He swims quickly underneath it and seems to have trouble finding an entrance. Finally, he finds the moon pool and it surprised to come up into air. He laughs and shouts, "I'm alive!" He climbs a ladder and falls down, exhausted, on a deck. Rusted round doors are visible in the background. Within a minute, one of the doors open and two women run out with guns drawn. They stop near Charlie and aim their weapons at him.
* * *
What drama! What great pacing!
I thought "Greatest Hits" was a great way to cap off the season. It doesn't work completely as a standalone episode, but it was very well-paced and as buildup to next week's finale, it is truly incredible. A new station! A quicker attack! Explosions! How can next week not be awesome?? (Wait, don't answer that.)
I thought the use of Charlie's list was one of my favorite plot devices yet and his character development was great. Charlie, surprisingly, doesn't have as many character-centric episodes as some of the other main characters so it's always nice to see him in his past rockstar life. And despite everything else going on, all the characters got nice little snippets of action.
I love the new station and can't wait to find out who these gun-toting women are. Are they part of the Others? Are they Dharma survivors?
We'll find out all that and more next week on the final episode of Season 3, "Through the Looking Glass."
Pictures, as always, from Lost-Media and Lost Easter Eggs.
We start with a man running through the jungle. We can't see his face, but he looks young and strong. He leaps over fallen trees and comes out onto a beach. He takes off some camouflage from the outrigger last seen ferrying Kate, Sawyer, and Karl from the Hydra station back to the main island, and starts to push it out to sea.
Next we see Jack and Juliet leading the entire main cast (yep, everyone, including a baby-less Claire) out to the middle of a nowhere, i.e: an empty field. Near the back of the line, Desmond stops and looks strangely at Charlie. Charlie then asks him if Desmond had one of his "flashes." Desmond, flustered, says No. Sayid and Sawyer are wondering what the hell they're doing out here. Jack does some expositioning and then calls out for "Danielle!!" Our very own loner, Danielle Rosseau, slinks out of the woods. Jack says, "Show them," and Danielle leans over to what looks like a battery. She connects two wires to it and a tree nearby explodes in a pretty awesome blaze. So that's what Danielle was doing at the Black Rock! Jack, intense as always, says to his people that they will rig all the tents Juliet marks with dynamite and when the Others go inside, they'll all blow up.
Flashback-land, England. A heavy rain falls. Charlie and rest of Drive Shaft are stuck on the side of some country road with a flat tire. Liam, Charlie's brother, commands him to fix the "bloody tire" but Charlie is ambivalent. He wonders what's the point of it all. They're off to play some bullshit show in the middle of nowhere, when, out of nowhere, a familiar song comes on the radio. It's "You Are Everybody!", the Drive Shaft hit that Charlie couldn't stop singing throughout the first season. Liam, Charlie, and the boys are overjoyed.
We cut to the present. Back at the beachcamp, Charlie is making a list. He writes: No. 5: The first time I heard myself on the radio. Noami approaches him and asks him who they're all getting ready to go to war with. Charlie evades her question. "Long story," he says. Noami gives him a closer look and says she recognizes him. The rock star. Apparently, he got a lot of press when he "died." More so than anyone else on the plane. There was even a Drive Shaft greatest hits album that came out in the wake of the plane crash. "A greatest hits, huh?" Charlie asks with a smile. Off in the distance, he sees Desmond looking troubled.
Further down the beach, Rosseau and Jack are wiring the tents with dynamite. Rosseau says they need more wire. Jack says he'll have some people strip the plane parts (there's plane parts left???) On his way to talk to people, Sayid stops him and says he needs to talk about Noami's sat-phone. Jack tries to wave him off, but Sayid is insistent. He says he can get the phone working, but Danielle's signal (which they discovered wayyyyyyy back in the first episode) would block it out and Noami's boat, which is "only" eighty miles away won't be able to hear them. Juliet overhears and says that it's not just Danielle's signal they need to overcome, but that the Others are jamming any frequencies coming out of the Island from a Dharma station underwater called The Looking Glass (definitely the coolest name for a Station yet!). Sayid says, "The Looking Glass? I think I know where it is..."
Meanwhile, Charlie and Claire and Aaron are having a nice family moment. Until Desmond shows up and says he wants to talk to Charlie. He admits he did have a flash out there in the jungle and he saw Claire and Aaron getting in a helicopter. "We're being rescued?!" Charlie exclaims. But Desmond goes on. He says he also saw Charlie in a flooded room pushing a blinking yellow button. And then Charlie died. "This time, Charlie," Desmond says mournfully, "you have to die."
Flashback! A little boy Charlie is being coexed into a pool by his father. "Come on, Charlie! I'll catch you." Little Charlie is untrusting at first but then jumps in. On the Island, Charlie writes: #4, Dad teaching me to swim.
Elsewhere, Sayid takes Jack and Juliet back to his tent and pulls some binders and papers he presumably retrieved from The Flame before it blew up. It shows the Looking Glass station and a cable connecting it to the Beach. It also shows that they have a Moon Pool where a sub could dock. Juliet says it's still a suicide mission, the station was flooded a long time ago. That's when Charlie shows up and volunteers for the mission. He says he was on the swim team in high school and can hold his breathe for four minutes!
A little ways away, Bernard is attempting to show Rose how well he can tie knots. Rose unties Bernard's knot and smiles in that I-Know-Everything-Better-Than-You way. At another nearby tent, Jin is asking Sun what all that fuss with Juliet is about in regards to them. He says he heard them say their name. Sun tells him (um, finally!) that Juliet took her to the Staff station to check out the baby and everything is fine. Healthy. Jin is overjoyed.
Hurley then notices something out in the water. It's the outrigger coming ashore. He shouts, "Hey!" and Sayid jumps up and tackles Karl into the sand. Sawyer steps up and tells them to leave him alone. He's... "okay," Sawyer admits. Karl says he's here to warn them that his people are coming. "We know,"Sawyer says. "So then why are you still here?" he shouts. Sawyer smiles. "When they come tomorrow night, we'll be ready." Karl is almost in hysterics now. "Tomorrow night? No, they're coming tonight! They're coming right NOW!!"
A sign onscreen reads: 9 Hours Ago. In the Others camp, Ben returns from his trek with John Locke, minus Locke. Alex is gutting a rabbit and asks, "Where's John?" "He had an accident," Ben says and returns her gun to her. Ben then turns to Richard and tells them to mobilize. "Jacob" wants them to attack the beach tonight. Richard is not thrilled. He wonders if Juliet will be ready. "Then we'll take all the women!" an angry Ben shouts. He goes to find Ryan, a burly-looking Other, and asks him how long it'll take him to reach the beach. Ryan says he'll gather his ten best and leave immediately. Ben tells him, "If any of the men get in your way, kill them."
Alex, looking distressed (pretty much as always), runs out of the camp and into the jungle. She calls out for Karl, who emerges from hiding and asks, "Where's the rabbit?" Alex tells him her father has ordered the attack on the survivor's camp now and he has to go warn them. Karl is at first unresponsive. Then Alex reminds him that Kate and Sawyer saved him when Ben was going to kill him. Karl, reluctantly, leaves and heads into the woods to the outrigger.
On the beach, Jack and the others start to strategize how to repel the invasion. Jack asks Danielle if they have wiring at the moment to enact their current plan. She says No. Then Sayid says, "Why don't we shoot the tents?" They can hide in the treeline and shoot the tents when the Others are nearby. Meanwhile, Danielle will take the survivors to the radio tower to take out her signal and Charlie will go to the Looking Glass Station to try to block the Others' jamming device. Everything has to happen at the same time for any of it to work.
Flashback! Charlie, with some weird pink streaks in his hair ("the rockstar look"), is in bed with two girls when he's woken up by his brother, Liam. Liam wishes him a "happy" Christmas and they share an early morning drink. Liam tells Charlie that he's a serious fuckup and it's Charlie - the only drug free rockstar (at the moment) - who will have a real life. A child, a family. So Liam gives him a ring inherited from their grandfather with the initials DS on it. The D.S stands for Dexter Stratton and was impetus for the name Drive Shaft. Flash to the present, Charlie writes in his list: #3: The Christmas when Liam gave me the ring. Charlie then shares a little heartfelt moment with Claire where she questions his wanting to go on the mission. But Charlie reassures her it's for the greater good and the two kiss before departing.
Flashback again! Charlie is playing Oasis' "Wonderwall" on a street corner. (Hmm. Close, but not exactly what we saw earlier. Significance?) It starts to rain suddenly and Charlie closes up shop. As he's walking down a street, he sees a mugger attacking a woman. Charlie almost walks on but than changes his mind and charges down the alley and scares away the mugger. The woman - who Lost fans will recognize as Nadia, Sayid's love from previous episodes - calls Charlie a Hero. We then see Charlie writing: #2: Woman outside Convent calls me a Hero.
Elsewhere on the beach, Bernard shoots a rifle at a cup fifty or so paces away and hits the mark. Sayid nods and accepts Bernard as one of his shooters. Rose, of course, isn't happy and when Jack comes over, she asks him if he promises that Bernard will be okay. Jack says that if they fail in stopping the Others, none of them will be okay.
Near Karl's outrigger, Desmond is fashioning a weight belt when Hurley huffs his way over and announces that he wants to come with them. Charlie says he can't. He's too big! Hurley is at first offended but realizes he's right. The two hug before Desmond and Charlie set off.
After a quick commercial break, the survivors gather to leave. Kate and Jack exchange a short "Here we are again" and then Juliet comes over and ruins their little romantic moment. Jack asks Juliet if Sayid found his third shooter. Together they look at Jin. Hurley asks Claire if she needs help with Aaaron but she doesn't. As they leave her tent, though, we can see Charlie's signature DS ring in the bassinet.
Next we see Desmond and Charlie landing on a separate beach. They find the cable (first seen in the episode "Solitary" from Season One) and run it through the outrigger's spokes and then head out into the ocean.
Flashback! The Island. Night-time. The first night on the island. The survivors have set up fires in various places amdist the wreckage. Charlie is walking around looking lost in his classic hoodie. He spots a very pregnant Claire attempting to sit down. Charlie comes over and offers her a blanket. Claire initially refuses but Charlie insists. The two introduce each other and exchange some shy smiles.
Back in the present, on the outrigger, Charlie is writing his final entry on his list. He then hands the paper to Desmond and tells him to give this list to Claire. It's the best moments of his life. His "Greatest Hits." Desmond has a struggle of conscious and says that he wants to go now. Charlie says, "But what about your girl, Penny?" Desmond says, "What about yours?" Charlie seems to agree and takes back the list. He then grabs an oar and smacks Desmond. Desmond falls back, limp, into the boat. Charlie stuffs the list into Desmond's shirt pocket, grabs the weight belt, and jumps into the water.
He swims through some dark water at first and then spots a structure underwater. He swims quickly underneath it and seems to have trouble finding an entrance. Finally, he finds the moon pool and it surprised to come up into air. He laughs and shouts, "I'm alive!" He climbs a ladder and falls down, exhausted, on a deck. Rusted round doors are visible in the background. Within a minute, one of the doors open and two women run out with guns drawn. They stop near Charlie and aim their weapons at him.
* * *
What drama! What great pacing!
I thought "Greatest Hits" was a great way to cap off the season. It doesn't work completely as a standalone episode, but it was very well-paced and as buildup to next week's finale, it is truly incredible. A new station! A quicker attack! Explosions! How can next week not be awesome?? (Wait, don't answer that.)
I thought the use of Charlie's list was one of my favorite plot devices yet and his character development was great. Charlie, surprisingly, doesn't have as many character-centric episodes as some of the other main characters so it's always nice to see him in his past rockstar life. And despite everything else going on, all the characters got nice little snippets of action.
I love the new station and can't wait to find out who these gun-toting women are. Are they part of the Others? Are they Dharma survivors?
We'll find out all that and more next week on the final episode of Season 3, "Through the Looking Glass."
Pictures, as always, from Lost-Media and Lost Easter Eggs.
posted by Elad at 9:19 AM
2 Comments:
one more week!
yeah! i've loved this 16 episodes in a row thing. i'm glad they're continuing it. it keeps everything fresh and exciting!
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