Previously on LOST: Ethan took Claire! (All right already- we know!)
We open on Charlie's dear sleeping face until he is disturbed by some commotion from within the camp. But it's only Locke carrying an unconscious Claire in his arms so he rolls over and goes back to sleep. Didn't buy that one, did you? Actually he's quite excited, but so is everyone else and Dr. Jack has to tell everyone to back off for a minute so he can check on her. He tenderly rouses her out of her sleep, but she is not too happy when she wakes up. She backs away from everyone screaming in terror- apparently she has no idea who any of them are. Cue creepy LOST title screen.
Claire uses the commercial break to calm down, but she still can't remember anything after the plane crash. Jack explains about the crash and that the baby is still alive inside her while Sun and Jin look on having a subtitled conversation. One might deduce that Jin is trying to trap his wife into admitting she understands what is going on around them, but Sun successfully plays dumb. Elsewhere, Locke gets pretty snippy with Boone when he starts asking questions about Claire and Ethan. Locke makes sure to be extra creepy so that we the viewer will suspect him of something.
Meanwhile, Charlie gets Claire situated in her bed and they begin to talk. When she asks if they are friends, he stays honest and says yes- not trying to trick her into loving him like in that Goldie Hawn movie. Wouldn't have worked anyway, since he returned her journal. All this reconnecting gets Charlie thinking back to the time when he and a buddy schemed to get drug money by seducing some lovely young ladies. One flick of the jukebox and Charlie, the young rock star, is in their good graces.
At the beach, Sayid questions how a severely pregnant woman could escape from someone as calculating and tough as Ethan. Charlie is uncharacteristically quick to anger about all the Claire talk (and for no good reason I might add) and says he is going to actually spend some time with her instead. On his way back he runs into Jin and tells him how wonderful it must be to live in blissful ignorance of Ethan, monsters and French transmissions. Jin stops him at the sound of something whoosing in the brush and is subsequently knocked over by a flying projectile. It wasn't an accident either- it was an Ethan attack. Big E lifts Charlie by the throat and tells him that if Claire is not returned to him, he will kill one survivor everyday until she is. Just to make sure he feels the full effect of this threat, he tells Charlie that he will be last. (Next to last, I say. He's not going to kill Claire obviously!)
Later at the shore, Jack and Charlie agree that they should hunt down and kill Ethan, but Locke advises against this foolish plan. His own plan is to set up traps and guards at both the beach and the caves.
Later still, Claire worries that Charlie is the only one talking to her and that something is happening. Charlie assures her that everything is fine and flashes back to when Lucy from the pub brought him back to her place after their first date. As she prepares tea, Charlie looks around and eyes a flask that oddly enough sets off the tense and creepy LOST soundtrack. He finds out that it belonged to Winston Churchill and agrees to meet Lucy's dad at a dinner.
Kate approaches Jack about the hot topic of the day- Ethan and Claire- and suggests opening up her case and using the guns. That's a whole can of worms Jack doesn't want to open. At the beach, Locke and Sayid set crude traps and discuss the appointment of sentry duty, which Boone volunteers for. No one seems concerned that Boone is a certifiable screw-up.
That night, Charlie once again voices his concern over the protection of Claire and flashes back to dinner with Lucy and her dear old dad. When asked about his band, Driveshaft, Charlie gets more personal than the question asked for and admits that he and his brother have had a falling out and the band is probably dead. The next day, Charlie's pal expresses dismay that Charlie has accepted a position in Dad's copier company since he was only supposed to be in the relationship to steal something he could pawn off for drug money.
The tense night continues for the survivors and, wouldn't you know it, Boone has started to fall asleep on sentry duty. He is jerked awake the next morning by one of the tripwires being set off and runs to investigate. Lucky for him, it's a false alarm- it's just Vincent the dog. Before they can plan the welcome home party, they hear a scream and run to the beach. It seems Ethan has struck as promised and everyone's favorite background character Steve is dead. No wait, it's Scott. All the patrols didn't matter because somehow the body washed in from the ocean. Hurley suggests it was an accident, but not too many drowning victims have broken necks, arms and fingers.
With Claire not remembering anything, Hurley takes his position as the understudy eulogy giver. Scott Jackson had won the trip as a prize from work. Now he's dead and we're down to the final 45. Back in Cavetown, the extras look understandably nervous since they are clearly first in line to slaughter. Claire confronts Shannon about why everyone is staring at her and learns that Charlie lied to her about what's been going on.
Claire tells him off for his deception which causes him to flash back to his preparation for the first day of work. A weekend with no drug fix has left him a sweaty mess, but he passes it off as nerves when Lucy gets close to fix his suit and tie. When she steps out of the room to get him his surprise, Charlie swipes the Churchill flask and sticks it in his inside pocket. Lucy's surprise was a new briefcase and a ride in to work, which seems to put some doubt in Charlie's mind.
Back at the caves, the reality of Scott's death has pushed up the sense of urgency in Jack and he decides to show Locke the guns in Kate's case. Locke takes one with his now patented creepy smile. He doesn't say, "Locke and load!" but I wish he would have.
That night, Charlie protests Claire being used as bait, but he has no case since Claire herself says she'll do it. Having been defeated, Charlie flashes back to a comical montage of his first sales pitch where he can't quite get the product he is selling to work properly and finally just gets sick and throws up on the thing.
The three gun-toting men still have one more gun to hand out and for whatever reason, Jack decides to recruit Sawyer. He has shot a polar bear after all. Kate, as usual, pouts at not being included, but Sawyer gives her the marshall's gun.
It was a dark and stormy night, not fit for man nor cliche, and Claire stumbles around the woods trying to lure Ethan out ofhiding. After a few tense moments, she succeeds and takes off running. Ethan's prowess is as wildly inconsistent as Jason Voorhees' here- he can lift Charlie with one hand, but he can't overtake a pregnant woman on the run? He closes in quickly but is intercepted by Jack's flying tackle. The gun has been lost on the ground, so they start round two of their fist fight. Jack is so motivated to win this time, that he overtakes Ethan before the back-up can even get there to draw their weapons. The man is down, but Jack gets in an extra punch or two or twenty. If I didn't know better, I'd think they were foreshadowing something there. Finally, someone (Sawyer) thinks to point the gun at Ethan but before they can ask him anything, he is blown away quite unexpectedly. Charlie has picked up Jack's gun and killed the survivors' best chance for some answers to the island's mysteries. Can't say I blame him, but was one question too much to ask?
At sunrise, all is peaceful again and Jack has a heart to heart with Charlie about what happened. Charlie says there was no way he was going to take any chances with that animal. Charlie bites his nails and flashes back to the time when he showed up on Lucy's doorstep begging for forgiveness. He had gone to the hospital for his illness and was subsequently busted for being a junkie and having the flask. Lucy tells him to take a hike and that he will never take care of anyone. He probably doesn't realize how haunting that notion will become.
Night falls one more time. Hurley puts on his headphones, which amazingly still work. Sayid and Shannon form a loving circle with their bodies and Claire comes over to make peace with Charlie. She remembers peanut butter and she wants to trust him. The End.
Next week on LOST: Kate and Sawyer do some bonding and Sawyer kills Jack.
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