Season 3, Episode 21:
Greatest Hits
In flashbacks, Charlie compiles a list of the five greatest moments of his life for Claire:
On the Island, Jack gathers the survivors and explains his plan: with Danielle's help, he has gathered dynamite from the Black Rock, which they will use to set a trap for the Others when they come to kidnap their pregnant women the following night. Sayid plans to go to the Radio Tower to switch off Danielle's message so he can contact Naomi's boat, but Juliet explains that that will not be enough, as Ben has been using an underwater DHARMA Station called the Looking Glass to jam all transmissions off the Island. Desmond tells Charlie about his latest flash: Claire and Aaron escape the Island on a helicopter, but first, Charlie must swim into the Looking Glass, flip a switch to turn off a flashing yellow light, and then drown.
At Alex's urging, Karl runs to the survivors' camp to warn them that the Others are coming a night early. The survivors decide to have Jin, Bernard and Sayid stay behind to shoot the dynamite, while the rest of the group head to the Radio Tower, and Charlie and Desmond go to the Looking Glass to turn off the jamming signal. Charlie gives Desmond the list, and swims into the Looking Glass. He emerges through its moon pool, discovering that it is not flooded as Juliet had thought, and that there are two Others living there, who hold him at gunpoint.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Break His Heart to Save Him: Charlie prevents Hurley from joining him on the mission to the Looking Glass, on which he knows he will die, by telling him he is too big to come with them in the boat. However, he does make sure to hug him and tell him he loves him, just to make sure their friendship doesn't end on that note.
- Chekhov's Boomerang: The files Sayid obtained from the Flame, which he previously used to find the Barracks, also reveal the location and design of the Looking Glass. It's also revealed that the cable in the sand that the survivors have previously used to find Rousseau's territory leads directly to the station.
- Continuity Nod:
- In the flashback where he saves Nadia, Charlie busks in the street, singing "Wonderwall", before it starts raining, just as he did when he met Desmond in "Flashes Before Your Eyes".
- Claire has the scar on her chin that she had in the first few episodes of Season 1 in the flashback of her and Charlie's first meeting.
- Dead Artists Are Better: Naomi tells Charlie that a Drive Shaft Greatest Hits album was released after his supposed death in the plane crash, which sold very well.
- Deadpan Snarker:Karl: You don't trust me? What about her (Juliet)? She's a spy. She's supposed to mark the tents of the pregnant women with white rocks so they can take them.Juliet: They know, Karl, but thanks.
- Dramatic Irony: Liam gives Charlie their family's heirloom ring on the basis that he's a drug addict and a mess who won't live to see thirty, while Charlie will be married and have kids to pass it on to. In the end, Liam gets clean before Charlie, and is married and has a daughter while Charlie is not. However, Charlie passes the ring on to Aaron instead.
- Hand Wave: The writers agonised over coming up with a satisfactory explanation for how the Looking Glass could still work if it was flooded, to justify the survivors believing this to be the case, before eventually deciding to have Sayid simply state that how it works is irrelevant.
- Improvised Weapon: Charlie attacks Nadia's mugger with a guitar case.
- I Owe You My Life: Karl's motivation for warning the survivors about the Others' attack. As Alex reminds him, he still owes Sawyer and Kate for saving his life in "Not In Portland".
- Like a Son to Me: Charlie passes on his "DS" ring, a family heirloom that he is supposed to pass on to his firstborn, to Aaron.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The survivors have a plan to blow up the Others. Then Karl shows up and tells them that they're not coming tomorrow. They're coming now.
- More Hero than Thou: Desmond offers to take Charlie's place in making a Heroic Sacrifice to turn off the jamming signal in the Looking Glass. Charlie responds by knocking him out with an oar so he can do it himself."You and I both know... you're not supposed to take my place, brother."
- One Degree of Separation: Charlie once saved Sayid's lost love Nadia from a mugger in London.
- Retcon: Two minor ones; in the first season, Charlie indicated that his DS ring was a memento from Drive Shaft's tour in Finland, and he later told Jack that he couldn't swim. Here, the ring is a family heirloom given to Charlie by Liam (although Liam does give Charlie the ring during the tour of Finland), and he's shown learning to swim as a child and capably swimming down towards the Looking Glass.
- Rousing Speech: Jack gives one when he reveals his plan to blow up the Others when they arrive.
- Tap on the Head: Charlie knocks out Desmond with an oar, after which he suffers no ill effects.
- Time for Plan B: The survivors originally plan to rig the dynamite with detonators. Also, Jack puts off a potential suicide mission at the DHARMA Looking Glass station to deactivate a signal jammer until they deal with the Others. But when Karl shows up and says the Others are coming right now, they’re forced to carry out three missions at once, including a trek to a radio tower to shut off Danielle’s distress call. This also means they have to shoot the dynamite as they don’t have enough wire.
