[caption id="attachment_1590" align="aligncenter" width="201" caption="Season 3 saw the death of main character Charlie "]
[/caption]The writers and producers of LOST have consistently demonstrated an apt ability to use death as a tool for exploring the emotional complexities of characters, as well as recognizing the overall social consequences of death for a group and solidarity. Once season three of the show commences, however, the element of death takes more of the role of antagonist over mere condition.
Countless theories strive to ascertain the experience of death. The German philosopher Heidegger illustrates a mode of being called “being toward death” in which a person faces his or her own reality of the possibility of non-existence. This mode of being is very personal, since no one can truly experience the death of another. At best, people can experience their own sense of loss at another’s death. However, in perhaps the most interesting use of death to date on LOST, Desmond inherits the ability to experience Charlie’s death(s) in a very personal way, albeit still as a spectator. Desmond’s new sixth sense provides the foundation for some excellently executed stories, which inevitably culminate in a profoundly heroic and personal event as Charlie comes face to face with his own mortality.
I remember back when the third season of LOST first aired on television. The producers capitalized on an inspired idea and decided to air the episodes new each week without reruns. Unfortunately, though, this began the infamous six episodes in the fall, sixteen in the spring approach. The fall duration of the show marks some of the less-than-excellent moments of the program, and it also coincided with the beginnings of the first season of HEROES – I’ll save my rant on this show for a different venue, but for the purposes of this article the show’s first season delivered a decent amount of intrigue and cool elements. Long story long, by the time the spring episodes of LOST aired, I was thrilled to see some very interesting super natural elements and some solid story telling to boot. I still stand by my belief that Desmond’s newfound power was the most interesting ability on television that year – aside from the ability of Tina Fey to make comedy gold with 30 Rock, but I digress…
In “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” we see a gripping tale unfold as Desmond recounts what he experienced following the explosion of the Hatch at the conclusion of season 2, including reliving a day of his life with Penny and crossing paths with everyone’s favorite Oasis-style rocker and the ever-creepy Eloise (who of course we discover to be Faraday’s mother two seasons later). When Desmond’s consciousness returns to the present, he realizes he is able to see flashes of the future, particularly pertaining to Charlie’s imminent death, which to that point he had prevented twice.
This story arc of the season develops some engrossing and complex plots and themes, such as Desmond’s dilemma of searching for Penny’ helicopter even if it promises to be the end of his British friend. Death forces Desmond to act as protector for Charlie, and yet his foresight is a terrible burden. Desmond’s internal wrangling is powerful to watch, and perhaps the most inspired use of the theme of
death the show has ever seen.
While Desmond holds the ability to see Charlie’s morbid fate(s), he cannot fully experience his death. As Heidegger claims, death is intensely personal, and surely enough by the finale of the season the audience gains a deep personal insight into Charlie’s mind as he fully experiences being toward death.
“Greatest Hits” stands out for me as one of the highlights of the tumultuous season. The episode was heavy on character development and set up for some very poignant scenes. The only thing more compelling than witnessing the deaths of those who are close, as was the main purpose of death in season two, is certainly facing one’s own demise. Charlie resigns himself to his fate in order to ensure that Claire and Aaron safely get off the island, even though he is destined to drown in the process. Fully aware that his time is through, Charlie introspectively ranks the greatest moments of his life, with number one being the night he met Claire. He leaves his DriveSHAFT ring for Aaron, hugs his loveable best bud, Hurley, and sets off to become the hero. Of course the episode throws us for a twist at the end with Charlie surviving potential drowning only to be kidnapped by the Others. His actual heroic death occurs during the season finale when he uses his last breath to scribble on his soaked hand the warning to Desmond: “Not Penny’s boat.” I find this to be the best-handled death of the show, rewarding a highly complex character with his powerful redemption.
Thus, in season three of LOST, death is almost alive. It sounds oxymoronic, but death is almost a living character, invisible to sight, but felt by Desmond and accepted by Charlie. Death is a predator, hunting our favorite former druggie as he struggles to cope with his mortality. Never before or after does death so powerfully entangle itself in the affairs of the living. The execution of this story arc is nothing short of masterful.
Before I conclude my discussion of death in season 3, I need to at least mention two very interesting moments that approach the death motif in interesting ways (although not nearly as interesting as Desmond and Charlie). The first is the death of Eko. It is truly tragic that we had to lose such a strong and richly construed character so early in the life of the show. Eko’s death occurs at the “hands” of Smokey, in rather epic fashion. Throughout the episode Eko struggles to come to terms with the presence of his deceased brother Yemi, but in the end declares he has nothing to confess. Therefore, the dead apparition and the Smoke Monster appear to be connected (as later seasons corroborate), but we still do not know the full extent of this relationship. I personally think the death of Eko could have been handled better by the show, but I’m curious to see your thoughts.
Finally, I have to mention one of my favorite episodes of all of LOST, “Exposé.” I recognize there are a lot of haters of this episode out here, and it did pretty much nothing to further the overall plot of the show, but I think it was a terrific little vignette that was as funny as it was disturbing. I enjoyed seeing cameos by a number of characters who had died in previous seasons. In addition to Boone and Shannon we even get to see Arzt once more! Pre-explosion of course… This episode was a terrific way for the writers to kill off the two characters that fans hated and failed to work, Nikki and Paolo. Of course with respect to death, aside from reinforcing the fact that LOST is a show where the dead can reappear, we get to see the most shocking death of the history of LOST when our greedy couple is buried alive! As if spiders weren’t bad enough…
