in which the brothers talk about an episode lindelof hates
Claire’s back in camp, but she’s lost her memory. Meanwhile, Ethan has emerged from whatever dark hole the Others live in and demands the survivors return her to him. Will the socks prevent their resident Aussie from being kidnapped again? Or will Charlie grossly overcompensate for a lifetime of insecurity by taking matters into his own hands?
This is an oddball of an episode, one in which nothing is significantly bad, but still leaves a mediocre taste in our mouths. We discuss whether or not we really needed an extended flashback of Charlie seducing poor Lucy Heatherton, and if the show made a serious error in eliminating its first antagonist so early in its run.
Also, here’s a fun fact: In this episode, Derek recalls that the showrunners were unsure which extra played Scott and which played Steve, and it was the audience who corrected them on which character dies in this episode. In fact, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have gone on record saying they weren’t sure who was who. According to a Lostpedia interview, Christian Bowman originally played Steve, but Matthew Fox helped him gain a slightly more prominent role as an extra – so when Steve was slated to be killed by the writers, Bowman and the original Scott swapped roles. Which means the original Steve became Scott after this episode, further adding to the confusion.