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"The Moth" is the seventh episode of the first season of Lost. The episode was directed by Jack Bender and written by Jennifer Johnson and Paul Dini. It first aired on November 3, 2004 on ABC. The character of Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan) is featured in the episode's flashbacks.

Plot [link]

Flashbacks [link]

Charlie is in church confessing his sins. He comes out of confession and sees his older brother, Liam Pace (Neil Hopkins), who tells Charlie that DriveShaft has a recording contract.

Charlie doesn’t want to sign the record contract because he has qualms about the sex and drugs the band engages in. Liam talks him into signing, promising that Charlie can quit any time he's had enough. One evening at a show, Liam starts singing the chorus to "You All Everybody", which is supposed to be sung by Charlie. He yells at Liam after the show, but Liam reassures him it won't happen again.

Another flashback shows Charlie finding Liam high on heroin with groupies. Charlie kicks them out, and tells Liam that he's done with the band. Liam says no, which causes Charlie to use heroin for the first time. Years later, Charlie visits Liam's house in Australia and wants him to rejoin DriveSHAFT for their comeback tour. Liam refuses, but the band can't do the tour without him. He criticizes Charlie for still using drugs, and Charlie blames Liam for getting him started with drugs. Liam asks him to stay with him for a few weeks, saying that Sydney has some really good rehab programs and that he can get him help. Charlie angrily leaves, and says he has a plane to catch.

On the Island [link]

Charlie is suffering from heroin withdrawal since John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) took his stash in the previous episode, and is chased by a boar as he is walking in the jungle. Locke traps the boar and thanks Charlie for being bait. Charlie asks Locke for the heroin that Locke has taken from him earlier. Locke says that he'll give Charlie the drugs the third time he asks.

Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) and Boone Carlyle (Ian Somerhalder) attempt to triangulate the French transmission. At the caves, Charlie searches through Jack Shephard's (Matthew Fox) medicine for something to replace his heroin. When Jack catches him, Charlie says he has a headache and wants aspirin.

When Jack upsets Charlie by telling him to move his luggage, Charlie confronts him in a cave. Charlie's shouting causes the entrance to the cave to collapse. Charlie escapes, but Jack is trapped inside.

Using his construction experience, Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau) leads the rescue attempt with Steve (Christian Bowman) and Scott (Dustin Watchman). In the jungle, James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) goes to tell Kate about Jack's predicament, but decides against it because he doesn't like Kate's attitude. Charlie tells Locke about Jack being trapped. Charlie asks for his drugs a second time, so Locke shows him a moth cocoon. Locke explains that he could help the moth by slitting the cocoon, but it would not survive. Instead, the moth needs to struggle to break free. Nature and struggle make people stronger, Locke says, indicating to Charlie that he needs to fight through his suffering.

Kate and Sawyer stay at the second triangulation point, while Sayid goes to the third. Sawyer tells Kate about Jack's situation, and she runs back to the caves. Charlie squeezes through an opening at the cave and finds Jack.

Charlie finds Jack inside the cave with a dislocated shoulder and apologizes for the way he acted. Jack tells Charlie to pop his shoulder back in place, which he hesitantly does. Just when they think they are going to run out of air soon and while Kate desperately tries to dig them out, Charlie sees a moth which leads him to an opening and they dig out of the cave. Jack confronts Charlie about using drugs, and reassures him that it'll be okay.

Sayid sets off his bottle rocket to signal the antennae power up process. Shannon Rutherford (Maggie Grace) sets off Boone's rocket from the beach, as Boone had gone to help rescue Jack, as does Sawyer from his location. Sayid turns on the transceiver, but before he is able to triangulate the signal, an unseen person knocks Sayid out.

Charlie asks Locke for his heroin and he gives it back. He looks at it for a moment before tossing it into the fire, smiling. Charlie and Locke see a moth flying away.

Production [link]

The church scene with Charlie and Liam at the church in Manchester was actually filmed on Honolulu, where the scenes on the Island are filmed. Monaghan says that he feels Charlie's black hoodie is a sort of "security blanket" that he hides underneath and uses it when he feels "lost." ^[1]

Drive Shaft is partially inspired by Oasis. While Dominic Monaghan sung "You All Everybody" in a Prince-like falsetto on the pilot episode, since the song had not been composed yet, for "The Moth" the producers contacted Los Angeles-based singer Jude to write a full version. The song is sung by Chris Seefried, former lead singer of Gods Child and Joe 90 on the episode. The lyrics were inspired by an incident producers Bryan Burk and Damon Lindelof had seen on The Phil Donahue Show, where a female audience member said, "You all everybody, is acting like the stupid people wearing the expensive clothes."^[2]

Reception [link]

18.73 million Americans watched the episode live.^[3]

References [link]

External links [link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Moth

• "The Moth" at ABC
• "The Moth" at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Moth" at TV.com