Ten Greatest Lost Episodes - # 10
Episode 3-21 “Greatest Hits”
Kicking off the countdown and coming in at number ten is Charlie Pace’s season three swan song, "Greatest Hits." The heroin-addicted rock star doesn’t actually die in the episode, but it chronicles the events leading up to his eventual death in "Through the Looking Glass." The title of the episode refers to a top five list of the greatest moments of Charlie’s life. The flashback portion of the episode shows these five ‘greatest hits.’
For much of the first three seasons, Charlie had been a very polarizing character, taking a lot of heat for his addiction and overbearing involvement in Claire’s raising of Aaron. "Greatest Hits" paints Charlie in a new light though, as a caring, tragic figure who accepts his grim fate to secure rescue for the rest of the survivors.
Charlie’s mission to flip the switch and save the survivors can be likened to Desmond’s former pushing of the 
button to save the world. It is fitting that they were in the outrigger together at the end of the episode. Both tasks presented a mental challenge that was far more taxing than anything that had to be done physically. The mental torment Desmond experienced from pressing the button every 108 minutes for three years far outweighed the task of simply pressing a button. Charlie, although he did need to swim down to the station, was tasked with nothing more than flipping a switch and all would be rescued. The challenge came in following through with everything even when death was imminent.
The writers are dealing with the issue of fate versus free will throughout much of "Greatest Hits." Desmond predicted that Charlie’s fate was to flip the switch, turn off the jamming equipment and save the group, but Charlie needed to go along with everything or the future would be changed. He had a view of his fate, but it would only become a reality if he took it upon himself to become a martyr. Charlie was a true hero and because of his selflessness, the chain of events that allowed the survivors to leave was set in motion. As we see now, after season four, rescue didn’t bring peace and resolution to the plight of the Oceanic Six, but nonetheless, Charlie Pace died a hero and his actions in "Greatest Hits" and later in "Through The Looking Glass" brought redemption to his character.
What are your thoughts on "Greatest Hits"? Check back next week for number 9!
Charlie did martyr himself, which we can see as a form of course correction, but not all of Desmonds visions came true. If i’m not mistaken he said he saw Claire and turnip-head getting on a helicopter and leaving the island and as we know now that didn’t happen. I think this is very significant and is possibly going to require some more course correction…
This was a great episode, maybe not in my top 10 but still very powerful and a key episode in the theme of redemption! Looking forward to no.9
Comment by PC Hedgehog — November 3, 2008 @ 12:08 pm
Can I be the first to say, and I can only assume the last, that I sincerely hope (although this hope will ultimately prove a waste) that “The Constant” doesn’t get voted number 1 in this countdown. Now, before you all jump out of your skin in blind fits of rage and start hammering the keys on your keyboard so hard that you almost render them useless, I’m not here to say that I think the “The Constant” is overall a bad episode, I just don’t think it’s the best. However, in saying that, I don’t think there really is a singular stand-out. “The Constant” was a bloody good episode, probably the most intricate and emtionally-charged episode of season 4, but as good as it was, it’s still hard for me atleast, to seperate it from other excellent episodes such as the two-part ‘Pilot’, “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues”, “Do No Harm”, “Exodus: Parts 1 & 2″, “Collision”, “The Long Con”, “Through the Looking Glass”, and “The Shape of Things to Come”.
I just hope Mr. B. Rowe doesn’t continue on the band wagon and bow down to popular opinion by naming “The Constant” number 1 without seriously considering some of the other great episodes this awesome show has produced.
“Greatest Hits” was pretty good too.
Comment by sydney airport — November 3, 2008 @ 12:13 pm
I just recently re-watched this episode and some the key things that stuck out to me was Charlie becoming human again and losing his demonic personality that littered the previous seasons. How annoying was it when he said ‘baby’ for about 60-63 times an episode for three years(some exaggeration there) Although I will give him some credit some how he was dating Lilly for an extended period of time. Way out of his league. Anyways back to the topic, what really stuck out to me is the relationship with Charlie and Claire finally materializing and even having that happen for him which was his dream since he saw her, he still gave up his life to try and save Claire and Aaron and the rest of the oceanic survivors. I always wondered if Claire was not responsive to him and never forgave him, do you think Charlie would have given up his life for the rest of the oceanic survivors or would he have been a coward and avoided his fate for as long as possible no matter the cost of the survivors? I tend to think he would have been a coward. Before you rip my opinion apart consider this, he sucked for just about every episode before ‘greatest hits’ and now we are supposed to change our whole view on him as a person from one episode. I think his past actions speak louder than one episode. Don’t get me wrong I think this was a great episode, very emotional and the fact that the writers could get people to change their views on him in one episode speaks for how good it really is. Thoughts?
Shipping Reds to McGeary
JulietsHusband
Comment by JulietsHusband — November 3, 2008 @ 12:54 pm
I can’t help but agree that this is clearly a top ten episode. The amount of emotion packed into this 1 hour of television is largely unparalleled up to this point in our LOST timeline, barring a couple key episodes.
That said, I do agree with JulietsHusband when it comes to the notion that it’s a bit far-fetched to believe that all should be forgiven due to the actions of one episode of LOST. I just had so many moments in which I wanted to jump through the screen and go after Charlie in previous episodes. However, I guess the real question is: does the ultimate act of selflessness redeem someone from all past wrongdoings? I suppose it depends on the wrongdoings, and it depends on the individual answering that question. In my opinion, and in Charlie’s case? He absolutely redeemed himself–I guess it’s just tough that the writers didn’t (or didn’t have the time to) allow his character to come full circle.
sydney airport: I suppose you can call it ‘bandwagon’ to think that ‘The Constant’ is the greatest LOST episode of all time–everyone is entitled to their opinion. It may just be that I’m a sucker for any episode that delves into the physics behind the goings-on of the island–and that this one did so in an absolutely mind-blowing fashion–but I will be extremely disappointed if that episode does not hit number one.
Comment by McSendison — November 3, 2008 @ 1:42 pm
Syndey Airport: I think the constant was a unreal episode. Its gotta be top 5 and I think you would probably agree with that. And the episodes you referred to I agree are great episodes except I am not as big of a fan of ‘collusion’ as you are and I don’t think it should be in the top ten episodes of lost, the rest you can probably make a case for cause there are a lot of great episodes. And I think the constant is widely regarded as one of the best episodes because of the emotional that was delivered in it. I am a big fan of Desmond so obviously it was brought up due to that fact but how long have we wanted to see Desmond and Penny reunite? Also what do you consider to be your number one episode?
McSendison: I respect your thoughts and did not consider that his character might have been cut short due to the writers strike. I hope we someone questions cuse and lindeloff will ask them that. However, what happened happened and we were expected to change in one episode. Agree to disagree.
One aspect I also really enjoyed was the linking of fate and choice. Before their was a choice for desmond to allow Charlie to die or to save him from dying but in the end he was going to die and no matter how many times they delayed it, in the end it was going to happen. The discussion of fate vs choice always brings me back to locke vs jack. Do you think the writers are trying to relay a message to the viewers that you need both to accomplish something on the island? Do we need jack and locke to work together to accomplish something great? Locke loves destiny. Jack believes in choice. Interesting conundrum to think about.
Comment by PennysHusband — November 3, 2008 @ 1:58 pm
PC Hedgehog: I just wanted to comment on what you said about Claire and Aaron getting on the helicopter. I’ve been thinking about that a lot as I’m sure a lot of others have, that everything Desmond saw came true except for that one thing. That made me want to trail back to how exactly did that not come to fruition. Well, all would have been well and Desmonds vision of Claire and Aaron boarding the chopper would have come true if it wasn’t for the intervention of Jacob/Christian. Doesn’t this sort of indirectly explain to us that Jacob is tapped into the same future predicting powers of the island that Desmond was once tapped into? Jacob could very well have seen the same vision Desmond did about them leaving the island and intervened to stop that from happening. After all, if Christian had not come along that night Claire AND Aaron would more than likely have been part of the Oceanic 7. Which makes me wonder what exactly was Jacob trying to accomplish by doing this? He either didn’t want Claire to leave the island because he needed her for some reason, or he wanted Aaron to leave the island without Claire for some reason, or both. The question is why? Isn’t it always a question of ‘why’ with this show?
It seems fairly obvious that Jacob needs Claire for something seeing as she was just hanging out in his cabin. Then another question comes up, is Claire dead? Did she die when her cabin got blown to shit? I guess we won’t know until season 6, from what Darlton has been saying Claire isn’t supposed to come back around until then.
But as far as Charlies death goes, I think it was a very heroic way to go. Granted he was kind of a bad person up until the very day he died. But he cared for Claire and he wanted to take care of her and Aaron. He was trying to be a good guy, he quit the drugs and was trying to settle down and start writing his music again. But all of that seemed to mostly just happen in seasons 1 and 2. Most of season 3 he spent in the background until “Greatest Hits”. As far as deaths on this show go, Charlies stands far above any of the rest. His death changed the entire direction of the plot. If it weren’t for him the freighter would have never come and the O6 would probably not be off the island right now…whoa, come to think of it things would be a lot better had he not flipped that switch. Oh, except for the fact that Penny might not have been searching for Desmond and the 06+Desmond and Frank could have been floating at sea until they were all dead (if the island would let them die that is).
Okay I’m done for now, I need to think some more.
Comment by LockesWife — November 4, 2008 @ 4:01 am
Pennyshusband… the question of what is my favourite LOST episode is just way too hard to answer. I threw “The Long Con” in there before as being one of my favourites because it’s a really cool ep. Just the way Sawyer pulls off fooling Jack and Locke, the speech he gives when he reveals who the new sheriff in town is going to be and then the big reveal at the end when we realise it was Charlie who attacked Sun, brilliant.
However, having said that you’ve got an episode such as “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues” where it’s been revealed that Ethan is of ‘the Others’ and has kidnapped Charlie and Claire and then the rest go on a mission to find them only to be denied by the menacing ‘other’. Plus you guys want to talk about emotion in LOST, the Charlie chest-thumping scene, as far as I’m concerned, still far outweighs the phone call in “The Constant”.
I knew “Collision” would meet with some disagreement because it’s an Ana-Lucia episode, but she really wasn’t that bad a character. I love it for two scenes in particular. The first scene being when Jack is interrogating Mr. Eko in the hatch, and the other being the final scene when Jack and Ana-Lucia are reunited for the first time since meeting in the airport bar.
I realise I may have been quite negative towards “The Constant”, but it is also an awesome episode. I too love how Darlton played the with physics of time travel in this episode. I am fascinated with the concept of time travel and was obsessed with ‘Back to the Future’ when I was a kid. But then I also like “Stranger in a Strange Land”, which has been critically panned by the fans ever since it was screened. Seriously, what’s wrong with it? I think it contains some of Jack’s best flashback scenes. Was Isabel killed? Because she was cool. It’s been said numerous times that she was snuffed at the end of season 3, but I can’t recall the scene when it happened. I guess I’ll go back and have another look.
Anyway, I don’t know. Can you kinda see where I’m going with this Pennyshusband?
Comment by sydney airport — November 4, 2008 @ 5:50 am
Syndey Airport: I would agree it is very difficult to put a definite number one lost episode because every like specific characters better than others but there are some episodes that are just so well written and provide so much emotion that it is justified to be place in a top ten. Personally one of my favorite episode was ‘Dave” mostly because I like hugo, he goes after sawyer for making fun of him and he gets a hot babe in Libby but other people I talk to don’t like that episode at all because nothing really happened but I enjoyed the story of hugo. I know overall its not one of the best episodes though but I still enjoyed it. Would I consider it in the top ten episodes of Lost… no because there were many episodes that had better writing, more questions answered, more involvement with bigger issues ect.
So after saying that I understand why you would consider “The long con” and “all the best cowboys have daddy issues” but ‘collusion” I would disagree with putting it up in the area of the top ten. One of the reasons I would believe that you think it is a good episode is because you like Ana-Lucia more than the rest of the viewers much like I like Hugo more than a lot of viewers. I don’t think the Ana-Lucia/Jack relationship was pivotal in the show either so I don’t think much of the ending with them staring at each other.
“Stranger in a Strange Land” : I felt this episode was used to pander to all those semi lost fans that complain that not enough questions are being answered so they whipped this one out to explain his tat’s. Many questions have been answered and once they do they get forgotten which really irritates me that people forget about the questions they have answered and only focus on the ones that they have still left open from season one… the black smoke blah blah blah. Back to the episode, if the flashback was more intriguing I think it would have been accepted more. The parts of the episode on the island were very good and gave us some more insight on the children and the workings of the others. So island part of the ep, great, flashback eh, overall, good ep not great.
Side notes: I also am enthralled with the element of time travel in the show. I think it is very fascinating and am extremely excited to see how they rationally explain it.
Comment by PennysHusband — November 4, 2008 @ 9:13 am
Sydney Airport, you offer a completely incoherent opinion.
You will be greatly disappointed if The Constant is named the top episode, but…
you don’t think it is a bad episode, but…
you think there are better episodes, but…
you don’t think there is a singular standout, but…
you think it was bloody good and the most intricate and emotionally charged of season 4, but…
you think you there are 10 other episodes that are just as good, but…
you think that it would be bad to name The Constant as the number 1 episode because the majority is in favor of it.
So to sum up Sydney Airports post: I don’t want The Constant to be #1 because I can’t figure out which episode I like best and since I can’t decide I hope you don’t go with the majorities opinion since they have spines and can actually make up their minds.
Comment by Blutoschmooto — November 4, 2008 @ 9:45 am
Lockeswife: What you said about Jacob/Christian intervening was very interesting and has made me think that course correction isn’t the solution because maybe Jacob/Christian are the ones doing the course correcting and are therefor in control of “fate”….oooh
The next question that arrises from this is (in my opinion) another hugely important question… who is supposed to raise Turnip-Head?
First Richard Malkin insisted claire must raise him, and goes to the bother to put her on a plane which coincidentally (yeah right!) crashes on a spooky island, leaving her with few babysitting options! then he admits to being a fony (which i’m not convinced by)
But now the all mighty Jacob/Christian have separated mother and son, which suggests the island doesn’t think she should raise him.
Then Charlie tells Hurley to tell Jack “you’re not supposed to raise him” (which speaks for itself)
Then claire tells kate “don’t you dare bring him back, which looks like even she doesn’t think she is supposed to raise him
Is he supposed to be raised by wolves?…AHHH of course, he supposed to be raised by polar bears! hmm on second thought maybe not.
What do you guys think about Turnip-heads parental problems?
Btw my fav episode is Through the looking glass! the ending literally had me doubting my own existence for a week! which was inconvenient because i had exams!
Comment by PC Hedgehog — November 4, 2008 @ 11:29 am
I couldn’t disagree more. “Greatest Hits”, to me, is an example of one of the most frustrating parts of being a fan of Lost. It was an episode where nothing happened. It’s purpose was to put the pieces in place for an episode with a much higher pay off (Through the Looking Glass). This is a common tactic in Lost. Too many episodes are there to simply fill time. Too often it is only the premier and finale episodes that bring any real movement to the storyline.
Comment by Nostrildamus — November 4, 2008 @ 12:41 pm
All right Bluto you want a coherant point. Countdown lists are stupid… There, happy?
Comment by sydney airport — November 5, 2008 @ 2:16 am
Why does everyone have to keep criticising each other? Can’t we all just get along? We need communication here, not arguing.
Comment by LockesWife — November 5, 2008 @ 2:49 am
In all fairless to “sydney airport,” countdown lists are kind of pointless, so it’s kind of a letdown that the first new content here in ages was a countdown list. Or rather just 1/10th of a countdown list. And the second tenth never showed up either. Looks like nothing has changed at TTS.com. And I’m not trying to stir up trouble, ’cause I know some people here get all crazy any time someone says anything that’s not totally cheerleaderish and positive. But let’s face it, no one really cares about top ten ists. They’re very junior high school or David Letterman. They’re not journalism, which is what TTS.com used to be.
Comment by Tobango-do — November 5, 2008 @ 4:57 am
This site will never be what it used to be so i think it’s time we all take a moment to decide where our best interest lie. Options are as follows,
-Stay here, things stay as they are now, no new content, nothing new to talk about
-Leave and never come back, find another site, get our LOST fix elsewhere, not have the stress of this place
There’s your options people ya gotta pick one
Comment by Dharmalite — November 5, 2008 @ 6:31 am
This whole “ten greatest” LOST episodes is irrevelant. This list is nothing more than the opinion or opinions of some fans.
If this list had been named as “favorite” instead of “greatest”, I would find it more revelant.
Comment by Rosie — November 5, 2008 @ 12:40 pm
It’s not even a list–just one episode two days ago…and then silence. But yeah, I agree–such a list is irrelevant.
Comment by Lorg — November 5, 2008 @ 1:53 pm
The list may be a bit irrelevant, but if you don’t like looking for an excuse to talk about lost then you shouldn’t bother posting.
now, who is supposed raise Turnip-Head???? Kate??? surly not! She wasn’t even supposed to leave the island!
btw, the bit where charlie learns to swim in this episode, is in the top 5 worst scenes in lost history!
Comment by PC Hedgehog — November 5, 2008 @ 2:18 pm
If you read, you’d notice that it says “Check back next week for number 9″
And even if it’s one person’s opinion, it’s not like you can’t give yours. There’s plenty of room for discussion.
I personally hated Charlie up until this episode. Any writer that can redeem a character that quickly is awesome in my book.
Comment by Jane — November 5, 2008 @ 3:28 pm
“If you read, you’d notice that it says “Check back next week for number 9″”
I know, that was my point–spreading a top-ten list over TEN WEEKS is ridiculous. They might as well not bother with new content if that’s what’s in store in terms of new content. A top-ten list is fluff, and needn’t be spread out over more than a single post.
Comment by Lorg — November 5, 2008 @ 9:34 pm
I think this is a stupid discussion. There has been NOTHING going on with Lost for 8 months. 8 months people. No speculation, no slipped spoilers, no faith left in the show. Personally, I think it was the stupidest decision to spread out the last season into two. We get more and more questions and no answers. There are too many questions to ever be answered at this point. I think the fandom, in general, has died down.
After the cancellation of The Lost Experience, we all felt a bit tricked. We payed close attention and looked out of every little clue that might help us figure something out but in the end, it just ended. No answers. Nothing.
Don’t go blaming your frustrations on a website. That’s not the problem. Maybe when the season starts up again, something will renew our faith. But we won’t know until then.
Comment by Liz Lemon — November 6, 2008 @ 10:28 am
If this hasn’t been said already:
The show’s not over, so who says we won’t see Claire and Aaron getting on a helicopter sometime in the future?
And sure Charlie was annoying for a while, but what did he really do wrong once he got to the island? He bucked drugs the first time, and even though it seemed like he was back on them for a while, he wasn’t. The island was screwing with him with visions in which he grabbed Aaron and looked like a babynapper. The only bad thing would probably be his kidnapping of Sun, but helping Sawyer steal the guns as a whole probably wasn’t hard as no one on the island really liked him at the time.
If you think about the visions Desmond had to save Charlie from before Greatest Hits, two of them involved him dying while trying to help Claire. During one he was capturing a seagull to help Claire’s quest to communicate with the outside world, and the other he was trying to save Claire’s life. He would do anything for Claire and Aaron, and that in the end was what sold Desmond’s vision for him.
All in all I loved Charlie and was willing to look past those episodes in Season 2 when he got bloody annoying, and was extremely touched by numerous moments in “Greatest Hits,” as well as his death in the finale.
Comment by Todd — November 20, 2008 @ 5:47 pm