'Light vs. Dark' in 'Lost': Charlie's visions of Aaron
Let's be honest: when drawing up a list of All-Time Great "Lost" episodes, few fans would put "Fire+Water" on their lists. Not every show can be consistently made of win, and by most accounts, "Fire+Water" is made of more maudlin stuff. But the "Light vs. Dark" series might just give this episode a little bit of redemption. After all, the series is all about looking back at older episodes of "Lost" and seeing if Jacob or The Man in Black might have had a hand in previously inscrutable moments in the show's history.
So let's take a gander back at Charlie's dream in this less-than-stellar episode. Might have either of the show's Island Titans had a hand when the Driveshaft bass player dreamed a little dream?
The Episode: "Fire+Water"
The Sequence: Charlie has a series of dreams in which Aaron is perpetually in trouble. In the first, Aaron gets carried away to sea inside a piano. In the second, people in Charlie's life posed as a religious painting on the wall of his childhood home tell him that the child needs to be saved. Charlie interprets these dreams to mean that Aaron needs to be baptized. However, in his attempts to do so, he ostracizes himself from both Claire and the general camp by starting a fire in order to bring Aaron to the ocean undetected. However, by episode's end, Claire does get both herself and her child baptized by Mr. Eko.
The Case for Jacob: Jacob sees the eventual separation of Claire and Aaron by his nemesis. He pushes Charlie via these dreams because while their physical separation cannot be prevented, bonding them through the act of baptism might eventual undo The Man in Black's kidnapping plans. The specificity of religious ceremony doesn't negate Jacob's influence; indeed, the Island has historically born witness to a variety of religious acts and iconography. (See: statue, four-toed.)
The Case for The Man in Black: This is all about using Charlie's religious guilt in order to drive a wedge between him from Claire. Almost as much as for Aaron, Charlie acts a protective shield for Claire, ensuring that he and her child stay together to perform...well, whatever Richard Malkin may have seen in Australia before Claire boarded Oceanic 815. Driving her towards the arm of his hand-picked patsy (Locke) for protection only seals the deal the loophole-looking entity.
The Zap2it Opinion: While Claire did eventually get baptized, it's hard to imagine that as anything but a small dent in The Man in Black's overall plan. While Charlie did eventually reunite with Claire and ultimately sacrifice himself to save her, the time lost via their separation in the wake of Charlie's waking dreams gave The Man in Black a tactical advantage for a while over his adversary. Luckily, Jacob's all about strategy, so he went about seemingly innocuous things like ordering the construction of a runway in order to secure long-term victory. And given the events of "The Incident," it looks like Jacob had the right approach all along.
What do YOU think?
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Photo credit: ABC
Wow Ryan I never thought you would do a Light vs. Dark comparison of the worst episode in Lost history, but your take on it is interesting. At least it would explain Charlie's strange behavior and make me feel better as a viewer in understanding this episode better if Jacob and or the MIB character had a hand in this. Don't know which one I believe had a hand in this one but would be more satisfied knowing poor Charlie couldn't help himself because of Jacob or MIB
i wonder if Claire and Aaron getting baptized by Eko somehow relates/equates to getting touched by Jacob. and if maybe THAT wasn't his plan. since he couldn't touch Aaron before the flight as he didn't exist yet.
i might be taking that one a little bit farther than it should be taken, but it's kinda late, and it popped into my head and seemed worth sharing. :-)
mri, your comment made a thought pop into my head. If Ryan's prediction about NotChristian holds true and this stripy shirted ghoul really is the Man In Black in disguise, could it be that one of his biggest goals was to separate Aaron from Claire, in accordance with Malkin's prophecy?
Claire seems convinced - although obviously confused - that the man in the jungle holding her baby is her father. It's interesting to note that his appearance at the campfire is the first time we see Stripy shirted Christian. It's also the first time we've seen Christian since Hurley's encounter with the Cabin. It could be the case that Hurley may have inadvertently broke the circle of ash, releasing MiB from his prison.
So, it could be that the MiB, posing as Christian, convinces Claire that leaving Aaron behind and joining him is the best thing to do. In this way, he achieves his goal of fulfilling the prophecy, which in turn... I dunno... maybe gives him the upper hand in ending the Game he's trapped by. How Aaron fits into it all, I don't know, but maybe the point isn't that Aaron is the Chosen One we've been believing he may be all along. Instead, maybe the importance lies in the actual bond between Mother and Son. Maybe the Bond itself is what can tip the scales in the end.
If that's the case, Kate's mission to reunite Claire with Aaron may be the single most important thing to happen in Season 6. Maybe Kate is the Neville Longbottom of the story. If she's able to reunite Claire with Aaron and reestablish the Bond, maybe that will somehow make it possible to stop the MiB.
In that way, you're hitting a number of story set-ups, culminating in one big event:
- Jacob touches the Oceanic 6, making it possible for Kate, Jack, Sawyer & co. to join everyone else in the present.
- Kate, one of the "touched", somehow manages to reunite Claire and Aaron (just don't ask me how). This weakens the MiB's power in some crucial way.
- Sawyer acts heroic, helping someone out... probably Kate
- Jin reunites with Sun, we cry
- Sayid and Hurley save the day with Dharma vans and breakdance killing skillz
- Jack and "Locke" have the final confrontation the entire show has been building towards
- and the reunification of all the key players somehow "resurrects" (or allows them to do something that resurrects) Jacob and is the final stroke in ending the MiB's reign of terror
Sorry for the essay. As you can see, I'm talking out of my butt here. But it's fun to theorize. It's even more fun to watch as the show blows your theory right out of the water.
@JeffC: I addressed all that as part of my long look at The Man in Black's long con here, for reference:
http://blog.zap2it.com/lost/2009/06/lost-the-man-in-black-with-the-plan-part-4.html
I'm not exactly convinced he's actually posting as Christian so much as exploiting his image/memories. CC versus Blue-Suited Christian (as outlined here http://blog.zap2it.com/lost/2009/02/lost-a-tale-of-two-christians.html ) could just be representative of the light/dark side in the original Christian's soul. But the general points hold, I think.
I don't think any moments from this episode should make the top 25 moments. Although, Locke beating the **** out of Charlie might deserve an honorable mention.
Well there we go. Maybe I had that theory bouncing around in my head from your article, then. Just got into my subconscious, I guess!
I believe the dreams were the work of MiB. Once Charlie breaks his bond of trust with Claire due to the dreams, it's Locke who steps in and begins to help Claire and Aaron. Since it would seem that Locke is unknowingly a pawn of MiB, it would make sense that MiB would want Locke in that position to further his plan of separating Claire and Aaron. Since Charlie had actually successfully defeated his drug addiction, perhaps he was seen as no more use to MiB who then attempted to remove him from the Claire/Aaron equation in favor of a more useful tool, Locke.
@Jeff: But it's cool, because your formulation is making me try to figure out _why_ my instinct is that he's not simply posing as CC. And the thought process is developing into an article I'll drop next week. So thanks!
werd!
Ryan, do you (or anyone) have any thoughts on where CC took Claire upon separating her from Aaron? I'm thinking the temple, which might explain the OtherClaire we meet in the cabin. (Sorry if you've already discussed this!)