Lost 2.12: "Fire Plus Water"

Written by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis
Directed by Jack Bender

In which Charlie begins having vivid dreams about Aaron and impending danger, and his subsequent actions prompt the other survivors to question his sanity and his choices…


Status Report

As with many episodes this season, the focus is less on addressing the larger mysteries introduced in the first season and more on advancing character arcs. In many respects, this is why the series has received a great deal of criticism; as more and more emphasis is placed on specific characters, the audience reaction is compartmentalized based on their own character preferences.

In this case, the focus is squarely on Charlie. Other characters get their moments, of course, but the psychological exploration is all about him. Unlike many expectations, the situation is not cut and dry. Some were expecting Charlie to lapse directly back into addiction in the worst possible way; others were expecting him to be accused of it and show some heroics to regain trust. The path chosen is actually a bit more interesting. Charlie doesn’t choose to resume his addictions, but the temptation to do so undermines his own credibility and his relationships with the rest of the tribe.

The question is: how interesting is this turn of events? Many have accused the writers of retreads when it comes to the flashbacks in second season episodes. Examples like “Adrift” can be frustrating. It’s debatable whether or not the flashback in this case constitutes a retread, but inevitably, there will be those who wonder whether the material reveals anything new. Perhaps this question demands a different way of looking at the information as presented.

The problem with “Adrift” is that it applied the same information, presented in slightly different form, to two very similar situations. In both Michael-centric episodes, the topic was effectively the same: getting Walt back from some interloper. The scale was different, but the underlying concepts were the same.

This episode, however, diverges from what has been shown for Charlie in the past, while remaining consistent with previous flashbacks. Charlie’s first flashback (in “The Moth”) was all about his addiction and trying to find a way to emerge beyond that constricting vice. Charlie’s second flashback was all about his duty to a woman he cares about, and how his own issues have often gotten in the way of doing what he perceives is the right thing.

This time around, it’s about Charlie’s concept of family. The writers reveal that Charlie was the son that was supposed to help the family escape the trapping of their mundane existence. (They may have been relatively poor, but if they could buy a piano as well as all those other gifts, it was more about class distinctions than income.) Failing that, Charlie felt some degree of responsibility to Liam and his new family, to find a way to bring Driveshaft back into the spotlight and make a success. And failing in that, Charlie was left with the guilt of having let his family down.

Take all of that underlying guilt and bring it forward into a situation where Charlie feels an unwarranted sense of entitlement, and things get incredibly disturbing. The writers didn’t back away from the realities of the situation. Charlie has a history, and he left himself open to extreme criticism by allowing himself to be tempted again. He instead acts irrationally simply on the basis of his own psychological issues, which is in fact more dangerous to Aaron and the rest of the tribe. He never figures out that if Aaron is in danger, it’s because he himself is the one putting him in danger.

Charlie’s hallucinations actually bring up an interesting question. If he wasn’t having some kind of delayed effect from standing next to a burning plane filled with heroin, then why was he having such vivid hallucinations? One possible answer could place several previous episodes into a new perspective.

What if Charlie is only the latest survivor to fall prey to the still-undefined “sickness” that Danielle mentioned all the way back in “Solitary”? Weren’t hallucinations part of the alleged symptom list? The idea of a “sickness” was something that was tossed into the background a long time ago, but it’s certainly possible that this is exactly how the writers intended to roll out the effects on the survivors: seeing random images, taking unconscious action, impaired reasoning, etc.

Of course, if that is the intention of the writers, then they are playing it out very well. Specifically, the survivors are doing exactly what one would expect them to do. Are they wondering if they are succumbing to some strange infection or exposure? Not at all! Since the experiences are all very personal and can be explained through personal weaknesses, it’s easy to dismiss. Never mind the fact that Danielle is hardly the poster-child for mental health!

But what makes this possibility interesting is that it doesn’t have to be true for the episode to work. It’s perfectly possible to explain Charlie’s behavior without it, which means that if the writers go another way, nothing is lacking in the story. One can classify this as the effect of stress on Charlie’s mental state. After all, Charlie was using Claire and Aaron, to some extent, as a substitute for his drug addiction. It was something to obsess over, and now that has been taken away from him. It’s not surprising that he’s falling apart without something else to obsess over.

This episode will push Charlie into a very dark place, because now he needs to find something within himself to move forward. The final scene made it clear that Charlie isn’t going to have some quick and easy moment of revelation. Nor is anyone likely to trust him with much of anything for quite some time.

The other character with some interesting moments in this episode would be Locke. Since he was the one who thought he had taken care of Charlie and his addictions in the first place, he was clearly operating out of a sense of disappointment beyond Charlie’s weaknesses. For someone who continually spouts off about the right for people to live free, he has quite the sense of entitlement of his own. He really had no call to beat down Charlie like that, regardless of how perfect the moment was, and he also doesn’t have the right to pass down moral judgment. (Except, of course, that he’s less the philosopher and more the self-styled spiritual guide.)

Still, Locke is continuing with his usual methods, though for reasons that are less obvious as time marches on. So he’s locked up the weapons and heroin behind a door that apparently only he can now open, which seems more than a little ominous. Sooner or later, Jack is going to find out, and it’s almost a given that their growing disagreement on the future of the tribe will hit the next level in the process.

If the “Charlie is suffering from the island sickness” theory turns out to be true, then this episode is not nearly as dismissive of the larger mysteries as one might otherwise assume. And more to the point, there’s plenty of reason to look at this as a transitional complication episode. A number of plot threads get incremental advancement, but they seem to be going somewhere, which is a good thing.

Jack, for instance, continues to work on his idea for building an army, and that seems to be putting him in close quarters with Ana Lucia. Ana still has a bit too learn about subtle questioning, it seems, since it was clear that she was wondering about Jack and Kate for her own purposes. (Also, this episode highlighted one of Michelle’s acting limitations: her voice doesn’t have much inflection to it, which limits her ability to express a wide range of emotion.)

Kate and Sawyer are certainly acting more like a couple. Having that shower in the hatch must be a very good thing, because the women are all looking a lot better than one would otherwise expect after so long. In essence, the survivors are all sharing a hotel room, complete with kitchen, bathroom, and lounge. No wonder they seem to have settled in so nicely since the premiere!

Hurley and Libby have that very interesting scene, which helps to remind the audience that Cynthia Watros is quite the babe. No wonder Hurley was speechless! Of course, her deft dodging of his question was also revealing, since it suggests a rather casual ability for deception. Also, what does it mean that the washer and dryer look new compared to the rest of the equipment in the hatch?

And then there’s Mister Eko. Beyond the fact that the audience is aware of how he became a priest, which makes his baptism of Claire and Aaron even more interesting than it already is, there’s something going on with trees. Just why is Eko so interested in certain trees? Is he just looking for a good place to set up his own camp, or does he have something else in mind? Say, for instance, building a church?

Claire and Aaron play a big part in this episode, though Aaron is mostly notable for being much bigger than he should be at approximately three weeks of age! It should also be noted that this episode has quite a lot of Claire in it, and therefore plenty of shots of Emilie at her best. Emilie is always beautiful, but when she gets that fire in her eyes, it’s a wonder to behold.

The main question that will be asked after this episode is whether or not episodes like this are actually going somewhere. It may seem obvious to most that Charlie’s descent will factor into future plot threads, but some elements of the audience can be impatient. To a certain degree, the writers were taking a chance on telling a story that wouldn’t really work for any other character, and it is the logical progression of that character’s arc. It may not be as compelling as the best episodes of the series to date, but it’s also a solid bit of storytelling.


Final Analysis

Overall, this episode is a solid example of character exploration, and it might even be foreshadowing for similar situations for other characters in episodes to come. While not much is revealed about Charlie’s past that couldn’t otherwise be inferred, there are enough differences to avoid a complete retread. This is very much a transitional episode, which is something that makes this kind of narrow focus easier to justify.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10

(Season 2 Average: 7.0)