The Moth

And we go right to her confronting Sawyer, since he's been hoarding stuff like a packrat since the crash, so she doesn't believe that he doesn't have a single laptop. He smirks and says she must be a little testy after her "breakup" with "Jacko." And Kate, who doesn't seem to be all that concerned about actually getting a battery, says it must be exhausting "living like a parasite: always taking, never giving." Sawyer smirks some more, and she digs a little more by saying that Sawyer likely doesn't care if they get off the island because he's got nothing to go back to. "Nobody to miss, and no one misses you," she says. More smirking. "You're feeling sorry for me," he says. "I don't feel sorry for you," she says. "I pity you." They speak English in Australia, right? Or does "pity" have another meaning over there, other than "to feel sorry for"? Anyway, Sawyer pulls out a laptop, grabs the battery, and tells her all she had to do was say please. More smirking, from both of them. Yawn. Are they rescued yet?

Charlie's strumming on his guitar again, when Hurley and Jack come along lugging baggage. Hurley's complaining about how much the bags weigh, and Jack explains that he packed everything they might find useful. I'd find it useful to know why Hurley would complain about the weight of the bags at the end of the little portage, but that's okay. Charlie volunteers to help, since he used to lug Driveshaft's equipment around before they got roadies. He grabs a bag, but before Jack can warn him about the broken zipper, he spills pill bottles all over the place. Charlie apologizes. Jack says it's okay, and grabs Hurley to go get the rest of the bags while Charlie cleans up. Naturally, though, as soon as they're gone, Charlie starts rummaging through the bottles. Just as naturally, Jack comes back and wonders what Charlie's doing. Charlie makes up an excuse about having a headache, so Jack takes the bottle he has and notes that it's diazepam, which is for anxiety. Hey, that's the stuff from "Metal Gear" that you need to steady your aim when you're using the sniper rifle! Uh, not that I still play video games or anything. At least, not often. Although, if I was in a plane that crashed, and wasn't able to play a daily game of "NHL 2005," I'd look something like Charlie does. Shit, the real NHL has been locked out for a month and I look terrible. Well, not "terrible," exactly. After all, I'm getting more sleep, because I'm not staying up to watch games on the West Coast. And I've lost a little weight, since I'm exercising more after work instead of watching hockey and eating junk food, and I'm spending more time with the future Mrs. Daniel, which is nice for both of us, and...where was I going with that? Oh, yeah. Oilers rule! So Charlie says he was looking for aspirin, and Jack, the DOCTOR, finally notices that Charlie don't look so hot and tells him to go get some water. Charlie continues to try to clean up, so Jack has to pretty much order him to stop: "Charlie, I got it. Go take care of yourself, man. I don't need you right now." Charlie stomps off, picks up his guitar, and the bonging of a church bell brings us back to Madchester, where Liam and Charlie are apparently not just at a church but at a seminary or something, and there are nuns walking around, all the better to take offence at Liam saying, "Come on, Charlie! You are bloody Driveshaft!" as he tries to convince Charlie, who writes all the songs, not to leave the band. Liam tries to use the fame argument, but Charlie says he only cares about the music. "I love the band. It's not who I am. Sometimes I just get lost in it." Liam promises that he'll look out for Charlie, that they'll look out for each other, because that's what brothers do, right? So we've got an English band with two brothers, one who writes the songs and the other, who's named Liam, who sings them, is that right? The writers didn't work too hard on this one, did they? Charlie agrees to stay with the band, but makes Liam promise that if things get too crazy they'll just walk away. Liam agrees, and then says, "Blur is bunch of fucking knobbers." Okay, we get it. "You're the rock god, baby brother," says Liam.

Back at the spring, Jin (played by the tastefully named Daniel Dae Kim) is tending to his wrist, which is being rubbed raw by the handcuff on it. Sun comes by, and says, in Korean, that he should have the doctor look at it, but he says it'll heal. Then he notices the skimpy top she's wearing, making him the last male to do so. He says it's indecent, and I really must beg to differ. He tells her to cover up, and she just looks at him and tells him that "it's too hot." And getting hotter!

Hurley's lugging over a guitar case to Charlie. "Dude, this yours?" And Charlie gets all "why, yes, I am the bass player from Driveshaft" on him and starts going on about how he's written a lot of tunes on that guitar, and Hurley just rolls his eyes and tells him that Jack needed it moved because it was in the way.

So Charlie stomps on off into the cave to confront Jack, saying that lots of people look up to him but Jack treats him like a child. Jack, naturally, is a little confused about what's got Charlie all worked up, and tries to calm him down. "You don't know me! I'm a bloody rock god!" yells Charlie. And I don't know if we're supposed to think that the force of Charlie's words are what triggered the cave-in, but the cave starts collapsing around them. Hurley, Sun, and Jin and some no-names come running up just in time to see Charlie emerge from the rubble. His hood is now up. I guess that's what saved him. "Where's Jack?" yells Hurley, and Charlie stands there silently pointing at the rubble in a shot that lingers a little too long. Commercials.

As Hurley and Sun start poking at the rubble, Charlie's explaining that he and Jack were talking and the roof caved in, and it all happened so fast, but no one's listening. Hurley yells at Charlie to go down the beach and get help. Charlie scurries off. "And make sure you tell Kate!" yells Hurley. Yes, that's what's most important here. Making sure Kate knows. Christ.

Kate's walking through the jungle with Sayid. She wants to know what the odds are of his plan working. He responds by asking what the odds were of them surviving that plane crash. That bad? Kate says people survive plane crashes all the time, but Sayid says, "Not like this one." He says that the tail section broke off while they were still in the air and the plane cartwheeled through the jungle, yet they escaped with nothing but a few scrapes. "How do you explain that?" he says. She suggests they were just lucky. "No one's that lucky. We shouldn't have survived," he says. Her opinion is that things just happen, and between that and her "faith" comment earlier, I've had just about all the little banal philosophical nuggets I can handle from her.

Back on the beach, Charlie is running past all the non-speaking extras to enlist the help of cast members, including Boone and Mercutio, who yells at "Scott" to come. The extra says, "I'm Steve," and another says, "I'm Scott." Now's not the time, guys. No more lines for you! Boone remembers he has another job to do, so he runs over to Shannon, who's lazily sunning herself. to me on the couch, Dan Kwa's attractive lawyer wife says, "She looks way too good for someone who crashed on a deserted island eight days ago." (When Dan Kwa asks you to fill in for him, he ain't kidding.) He explains to her the whole triangulation thing and stresses the importance of firing off the bottle rocket and only turning on the antenna once all the rockets have been fired. She's all, "Who in the what now?" and he urgently asks if she can handle that. She smiles and says of course she can. Look, there's no one else there? With Shannon, I don't think it's a question of whether she can do any given task as much as whether she will do it. And judging by the force with which she's rolling her eyes at Boone as he runs off, I'm thinking her compliance rate with this particular task won't be so stellar.

Charlie's on his way back to the cave-in before he remembers that informing Kate of the accident is much more important than digging the island doctor out from under several tons of rubble. Sawyer, who's shirtless (and those of you who have expressed disappointment at Sawyer's allegedly very ordinary torso have made me very sad, and ensured that once I am done this recap I will spend all my free time doing crunches, preferably on a treadmill, if I can figure out a technique to do both simultaneously), says that Kate and "Moo-hammed" went off into the jungle, and he promises Charlie he'll saunter on after them and let them know the situation. He tells Charlie to get back to doing whatever it is that he does around here. Because Sawyer is such a valuable member of the team, you see.

Also more important than digging Jack out? Flashing back to some concert, in which Jack and Liam are all smiles, standing back to back onstage. Back to back? What was the last band to actually do that, Van Halen? If they're from Madchester, shouldn't they be gazing at their shoes? Everything's all happiness and serviceable rock music until they get to the chorus of the song, which appears to be "You All Everybody" or "You Are Everybody" or "We Are Not Oasis" or something along those lines, and it's clear from Charlie's glare that Liam seems to be hogging Charlie's part of the chorus. Liam takes no notice of the angry hobbit with the bass guitar.

Backstage, Liam's the one getting all the hugs and the kisses and congratulations and such, while Charlie continues glaring until he confronts Liam with a "what the hell was that?" Liam apparently thinks it was another "kick-ass show" and that Liam was "bloody brilliant," but Charlie's annoyed because he's supposed to sing the chorus to "You All Everybody," not Liam. But it's about the music, not the fame, right? Liam explains that he's sorry, but he just got caught up in the moment and the "fans wanted it" or something. Charlie starts explaining that if he starts the chorus, and then Liam comes in, it's -- only he never gets to explain what it is, because they're interrupted. It's probably "more rockin'" that Charlie was going to say. That's what I'm going with, anyway. Liam's distracted by the arrival of some blonde woman. And also, drugs! Which Liam seems to keep in little film canisters. Charlie, the bass player in a massively popular English rock band, has apparently never seen drugs before. At any rate, he's never seen his brother with them. Liam catches his sibling's shocked stare and says, "Chill, baby brother," and he retires into another room with the blonde.

Back at the cave-in, an assembly line has already been formed to clear rocks out of the rubble. Mercutio puts a stop to that as soon as he arrives, despite Hurley's urgent reminder that Jack's in there, because he wants to check it out in case it's unstable. When Hurley starts to wonder how he'll know, Mercutio cuts him off with an "eight years in construction." Walt says they should get his bestest buddy Locke, who Hurley tells him is off in the jungle killing things. Mercutio examines the area where everyone was digging, then says this section is load-bearing, and they need to find a place where there's no danger of the wall collapsing in on them, which is...right around the side! He starts organizing the diggers, telling them to work in fours and go slowly, and those who aren't digging should be clearing the rubble and bringing water. Walt watches his dad take charge, with a look that unmistakably says, "Wow. My dad may not be a weird old bald white guy with a gajillion knives, but he's all right."

Sayid and Kate, strolling through the jungle. Now, Sawyer went running after them, but he's somehow managed to catch up to them by arriving from the opposite direction, which is a pretty cool trick. And he's greeted with a "what the hell are you doing here" from Kate, and she adds a "what makes you think I'm interested in anything you have to say" when he says he came to tell her something. And for those of you who think Kate was kind of harsh on him, please review TWoP's policy on posting after consuming hallucinogenic drugs. I know Sawyer has shaggy blonde hair and adorable stubble and all, but he's been nothing but a sexist, racist asshole since the crash, and you reap what you sow. And the argument that in such a dire situation people need to work together to survive is, if anything, more indication that Sawyer needs to change his behaviour than that Kate needs to be nicer. And when Sawyer clenches his jaw all hurt-feelings and declines to tell Kate about the cave-in (opting to pretend that he's just there to help them instead), well, it's just more proof what a prick he is. Sorry, Sawyer-lovers. Kate's skeptical that he's there to help (and she's right to be), and he says that if she acts any more surprised he'll be offended.

Locke is still skinning that damn boar and has managed not to get attacked by any of the other boars that you'd think would obviously be in the vicinity. Charlie's lost any pretence of urgency as he wanders up to tell Locke about the cave-in. "Is anyone trying to get him out?" says Locke. Charlie says there's a bunch of people there. "Then why aren't you with them?" asks Locke. Charlie says nothing, and Locke says that Charlie didn't come here to tell him about Jack. "I want my stash, Locke," says a quite distressed Charlie. "I can't stand feeling like this." Locke says he wants to show him something, growing on this ol' metaphor tree over here.

It's a cocoon, and Locke asks Charlie what he thinks is growing in there. Charlie, all what-the-fuck?, says, "I don't know, a butterfly?" Locke says it's much more beautiful than a butterfly: it's a moth. "Moths spin silk. They're stronger, faster." Charlie wants to know what the point is, and Locke explains that the moth is struggling to get out right now. Locke could help it, by taking his moth-cocoon knife out and widening the opening, but then the moth wouldn't be strong enough to survive. Charlie continues to stare, because the anvil hasn't hit him yet. "The struggle is nature's way of strengthening it." Locke points out that this is the second time Charlie's asked for the drugs. "Ask me again and it's yours." Why Charlie doesn't immediately say, "Okay, for the third time, can I have them then?" is anybody's guess. Here's what bugs me about Obi Lockenobi's bullshit: if he just throws Charlie's drugs away, Charlie's going to struggle just as much, won't he? The moth analogy would work a little more if there was another little moth in the cocoon, a little bald moth with a knife telling the first moth that he could help him get out, but won't. That little bald moth is a bit of a prick. Commercials.

Working. Digging. Grunting. Digging. Sweating. The would-be rescuers are making good progress, good enough that Hurley starts yelling for Jack. "Come on, dude, answer me." Eventually the dude does. Yay! He's alive! Incredible that they didn't kill off the lead seven episodes into the series, no? But before the celebration can begin, Jack yells that he's pinned and can't move. The rescuers start murmuring, "How do we get him out?" but Mercutio silences that. Jack asks after Charlie, and is informed that Charlie made it out alive. "Tell Mr. Rock God thanks a huge frigging bunch!" yells Jack. Well, he doesn't. But wouldn't you?

Sayid, Sawyer, and Kate have hiked their way to where they're going to put the second antenna. Sayid sends Sawyer scurrying up a tree, and the surprisingly minimal backtalk from Sawyer consists solely of a sarcastic "yes, boss." As Sawyer leaves, Sayid reminds Kate to look for Sayid's bottle rocket at five o'clock, and then it's her turn. Then, turning an eye to Sawyer, Sayid says, "I don't trust him." "Who does?" shrugs Kate, smiling. Sayid goes further: "I don't trust him with you." Awww. That's sweet. Too bad she's spoken for, Sayid. "I can handle him," says Kate. ["And I can 'handle' Sayid, if you know what I mean. And I believe that you do. Electronics experts are hott." -- Sars]

Back at the hole, Mercutio says they can't make the hole any wider, and since Jack can't move, someone's going to have to go in there after him. Hurley expresses a little surprise that Mercutio wants someone to crawl through the tunnel they just dug. "I think he means someone smaller," says Boone, I guess because there's never a bad time to make fat jokes. Jin starts babbling, and we don't get subtitles, and a weary Hurley says, "Dude, we don't understand Chinese." Korean, Mercutio corrects him, much to everyone's surprise. Sun gives him a look as well. Man, nothing brings together disparate cultures like pretty women in skimpy clothing. "I'll do it," says the returning Charlie, but Mercutio says he's too shook up. Mercutio thinks he can do it himself, but Charlie stops him by asking him who'll look after his son if something happens to him. I think from Charlie's comments here that a lot of people assumed his brother was now dead, likely from an overdose, but Charlie only actually eliminates people who have loved ones on the island itself. "I'm alone here. No one on the island." He turns to Mercutio. "Let me do this." Mercutio knows he's right, since -- damn, did you see Sun?