Episode Report Card Daniel: D+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Baptism by liar
By Daniel | Season 2 | Episode 12 | Aired on 01.24.2006
Outside on the street, Charlie chases his brother and wants to know what about the band, what about the song, and Liam just says that he needs to do this and he'll give Charlie a call when things settle down for him. "For you? What about me?" Charlie should have tattooed "what about me?" on his knuckles instead, you know. "What about my family?" yells Charlie as his brother heads into the Underground station, past one of those logos that makes me think of those old Vuarnet shirts.
Back on the island, the Volunteer Fire Brigade has all but extinguished the fire. And Charlie is STILL standing there looking at Aaron. And now that the diversion he created is pretty much over, Charlie decides that now would be a good time for a second baby-snatching attempt. Claire's still standing over there, clearly waiting for her cue to turn around and see Charlie absconding with a screaming Aaron in his arms. She starts yelling and chasing Charlie, and her screams alert Locke, who comes running too, to tag-team intervene as Charlie stands in the surf of Lostaway Beach, saying he just wants to save Aaron.
I know Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular seem to be the default faiths of people on television, but right at this moment, I'm glad Charlie wasn't, say, Jewish. Can you imagine if he was trying to perform an emergency bris instead of a baptism?
By now, everyone has noticed the commotion and has come running, carrying torches, looking concerned. Eko's among them, so Charlie's all, "Hey, Eko! Tell them about the baptism!" and Eko's all, "This is not the way," which I took to mean, "Dude, I'm the new guy here. Don't drag me down with you."
Locke tells Charlie to give the baby back, and Charlie completely loses his shit on him: "Who the hell are you, John? Aaron's not your responsibility! Where were you when he was born? Where were you when he was taken? You're not his father! You're not his family!" Locke points out that neither is Charlie, who looks like he hadn't really considered that (quick note -- let no one think my dislike of Charlie extends to Dominic Monaghan, who I think rather kicks ass in this series. That's probably why I feel so free to dislike Charlie, because the portrayal is so complete).
Desperate, Charlie turns back to a teary Claire (Emilie de Ravin is likewise terrific) and says that he has to do this: "I'm not going to hurt him," he says. "You're hurting me, Charlie," she cries, and this is what seems to get through to Charlie. Locke steps forward, takes Aaron from Charlie, and gives him back to Claire, who turns away, looking at Charlie with that same mixture of anger and contempt (with a little more fear this time, though). Charlie starts to say he's sorry, but he's greeted with a pummeling by Locke, three hard punches to the face, knocking him off his feet into the waves. Locke looks kind of pissed and walks away. Claire looks like she's glad that happened, and everyone stares for a moment at Charlie and then they all turn their backs and walk away, even Hurley. And like I said in the recaplet, Charlie's hardly the first person to be having problems on the island; I know things seem a little scary with Charlie, you know, kidnapping Aaron, but can't they just handcuff him somewhere like they did Jin until things settle down? Nice that you've managed to wash all of Boone's blood off your hands, Locke.