Lost: Season 2, Episode 12: Fire + Water Review

Fire + Water
Original Airdate: January 25, 2006
Writers: Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis
Director: Jack Bender

Many people dumped on this episode for three primary reasons: the overall story of the island wasn’t advanced, they didn’t care much for Charlie, or both. I'm on the side for the episode. While there wasn’t progression of the mythology like the last two episodes, the character development as well as the allusions made it worthwhile and could be an interesting episode to watch again once these storylines have played out further.

We’re given a glimpse into Charlie’s childhood, even if it is a dream. Like the typical English rock star story, Charlie grew up in a working class family. Like Jack, Charlie has a desire to save people, in Charlie’s case it is to use his musical talents to raise his family from their modest origins.

For consistency, Charlie has daddy issues too. His are Jazz Singer-esque (a dad disproving of his son’s choice to become an entertainer, but this time the dad’s a butcher). His dad is a scary, faceless human, slamming the cleaver on the meat and the doll’s head (a reference to The Beatles “Yesterday and Today” album). It makes you wonder what the full story is.

This episode highlights how Liam was the screw up and Charlie was the one everyone counted on (as indicated when Charlie got a piano and Liam just got toys). Liam was busy getting high while his hot wife was giving birth, he gets them fired from a diaper commercial (which itself was embarrassing enough) and asks for drugs when Charlie has a new song. Charlie tries constantly to help his brother, but ultimately the choice comes to Liam, who wants to clean his act enough to save his new family. Unfortunately, Charlie’s need to save people leaves him alone, much like it does on the island when Claire decides to save Aaron.

Could Charlie be infected with the sickness Rousseau told Sayid about? She told him that it hit her group two months in, a milestone the Lost castaways are quickly approaching and Charlie’s behavior could be one of the unmentioned symptoms. This obsession with saving someone is similar to Michael’s and Shannon’s regarding Walt, both of whom may have been sick. However, it could undercut the character development in this episode if it could be written off as the sickness.

Thankfully, they didn’t resort to the cliché storyline of the addict who plunges into his addiction worse than ever. Charlie’s fall from grace in this episode is far more interesting. He’s driven to the point where he starts a fire to steal Aaron and baptize him (did he really think that would work?) It’s rather shocking and makes us rethink where Charlie is going.

Charlie does have some right to be mad at everyone who doesn’t believe him. Many people have had visions of things on the island, including Locke spotting Eko’s plane and Claire’s worries about her baby, but no one believes Charlie. The drugs are the central reason why, but Charlie doesn’t appear to be using.

What is most surprising about this episode is how aggressively Locke reacts to Charlie’s behavior. Locke had a history of anger as we saw in “Orientation”, but like Sun, we had never seen him lose his temper, until now. This episode shows a side of Locke we haven’t seen since early in the first season, one who we suspected could be evil. It is strange that despite Locke’s emphasis on faith, he isn’t willing to forgive Charlie, unlike Eko, whose spirituality must allow forgiveness considering his past. Perhaps Locke has a history with addiction, something that affected him personally.

He has gotten much closer to Claire (who hasn’t looked better) and her baby this season, but it was apparent back in season one when he made a crib for Aaron. Locke is a father/uncle figure to Aaron and we can see why Claire finds him good to be around, but we must ask why Locke is so interested. It may be similar to how he befriended Walt and the possibilities he has on this island.

Aaron’s place in the mythology has been largely unexplored since “Raised by Another” last season. From that episode, it appeared that Aaron’s upbringing was scary enough to have the psychic arrange for Claire to be on Flight 815. This episode offers some allusions for the future, namely the relation between the bird in Charlie’s fantasy with the story of the dove in Eko’s story of Jesus’ baptism, even if it wasn’t entirely true to scripture.

The last time we saw him, Eko had a religious epiphany. A few days later, he is marking the trees he “likes”. Some thought that Charlie burned those trees, but there was a lot of brush there that wasn’t earlier. My thought is that Eko’s next step in his spiritual journey is to build a church. If so, he may have already started followers with Claire and her baby.

Jack deals with Sawyer and Kate’s coupling by employing Ana-Lucia’s help in designing an army to combat the Others. They don’t explain what they’re doing, but it’s apparent that they’ve been alone in the jungle together several times. What exactly they’re doing is unknown, and it leads some of them to believe they are hooking up. If more noticed this, it may be interesting to have Sayid return to a prominent role because he has been friends with Jack, and his friendship with Ana-Lucia would cause friction with that dynamic.

Regardless of how you feel about Ana-Lucia, she has a good point regarding the relationships on this island. They have been on this island for almost two months and yet few couples have gotten together. There isn’t much to do on this island: they have a few books, no TV, no movies or music aside from what’s in the bunker, and that stuff wasn’t discovered until a few weeks ago. Boredom must be rampant on the island.

Kate and Sawyer are a couple, let’s get that across now. They act like a couple of teenage kids who just went steady. This relationship allows us to see the lighter side of Sawyer, as he pushes Hurley to act on his crush on Libby. Although some of his interactions with Hurley have been a bit rough, Sawyer is getting a kick out of helping Hurley’s crush, even if it is awkward (did that laundry double entendre actually make it onto prime time TV?)

Libby’s conversation with Hurley was great in its awkwardness, but as she awkwardly dismissed his “Do I know you” question, there has to be something beneath it. Diligent viewers blasted her quick explanation full of holes. What could she be hiding? The most popular theory is that she was one of the doctors at the clinic where Hurley stayed. While possible, this seems far too obvious. People who believe that have come up with the theory that she was a patient at the mental hospital, which would be an interesting way to play against our expectations. The third major theory is that Libby was a model, porn star or prostitute. Considering how they made sure we knew Cynthia Watros is hot, it isn’t too hard to believe. His recognition made her uncomfortable.

This episode got a lot of grief; most of it I believe is unwarranted. Since so much of this episode focused on Charlie, how the audience feels about him is paramount to the enjoyment for many viewers. Considering the darker turn of events, this episode may be a pivotal moment in the season.

Score: 8/10