Lost/Recap/S01/E07 The Moth

Season 1, Episode 7:

The Moth
Flash Back! In church, Charlie confesses some rowdy sins to a Catholic priest and claims his falls into temptation are the result of Drive Shaft, his band, and their local success. He decides to quit the band but Liam, Charlie's older brother and bandmate, tells him about Drive Shaft's new recording contract.

At the caves, Charlie is struggling with heroin withdrawal. He wanders into the jungle, searching for Locke, and winds up distracting a boar long enough for Locke to catch and kill it. Angry, Charlie demands that Locke give back the heroin stash. He doesn't say yes, but instead makes a deal:

"Locke: I think you're a lot stronger than you know, Charlie. And I'm going to prove it to you. I'll let you ask me for your drugs three times. The third time, I'm going to give them to you. Now, just so we're clear, this is one."

On the beach, Sayid has built three triangulation antennae which, when placed around the Island and used in conjunction with the transceiver, will help him find the source of the Frenchwoman's distress signal. He gives the first two antennae to Kate and Boone, tells them where to set up and gives them bottle rockets to use for signalling when they're in place. However, parts from a laptop computer are still needed to fix the transceiver. Kate goes to Sawyer, who is reading Watership Down in his tent, and gets one of the laptops he's scrounged from the luggage. At the caves, Charlie tries to help Jack and Hurley move medical supplies but only makes a mess.

Flash Back! Liam tries to convince Charlie to stay with the band. Charlie agrees, but only if Liam promises to look out for him and to quit when Charlie decides it's time.

At the caves, Jin gets angry at Sun's new climate-appropriate/"indecent" attire, but she simply replies that "it's too hot". Charlie overreacts to a request that he put his guitar out of the way of medical supplies. He angrily follows Jack into a cave and his shouting triggers a cave-in. Charlie gets out, but Jack is trapped inside, so Charlie runs to get help from the beach group while Hurley and others try to dig Jack out. In the jungle, Sayid and Kate discuss their plan, and talk turns to their miraculous survival of the plane crash.

"Sayid: The tail section broke off while we were still in the air. Our section cartwheeled through the jungle and yet we escaped with nothing but a few scrapes. How do you explain that?

Kate: Blind, dumb luck?

Sayid: No one's that lucky. We shouldn't have survived."

Charlie makes it to the beach and rounds up a group of people to help, including Michael. After instructing Shannon on when and how to turn on the antennae, Boone goes too. Sawyer volunteers to find Kate and let her know what's going on, and tells Charlie to keep doing "whatever it is you do".

Flash Back! Liam upstages Charlie at Drive Shaft's first major concert. Backstage, he waves off Charlie's concerns and leaves with a groupie and some cocaine.

The helpers from the beach arrive at the caves. Being an experience construction worker, Michael takes over and determines the best place to dig. In the jungle, Sawyer catches up with Kate and Sayid, but when she dismisses him immediately he claims he's come to help them. Charlie finds Locke and asks for his drugs a second time. In response, Locke shows him a moth cocoon.

"Locke: You see this little hole? This moth's just about to emerge. It's in there right now, struggling. It's digging its way through the thick hide of the cocoon. Now, I could help it, take my knife, gently widen the opening, and the moth would be free. But it would be too weak to survive. The struggle is nature's way of strengthening it."

In the jungle, Sayid, Kate and Sawyer reach their first destination. While Sawyer climbs a tree to place the second antennae, Sayid warns Kate to be careful and then moves on to a spot on the high ground. At the caves, Michael and the diggers clear a small hole and determine that Jack is alive but pinned under fallen rock. Since they can't make the hole any wider, someone has to climb in and free Jack. Charlie volunteers, pointing out that he's one of the few people on the Island who isn't responsible for someone else. In the jungle, Kate and Sawyer wait for Sayid's flare. They talk, and when Sawyer lets slip that Jack was buried in the cave-in, Kate rushes off.

Flash Back! As Drive Shaft tours, Liam keeps blowing off sound checks and rehearsals to spend time with women and drugs. Charlie decides it's time to quit, like they agreed, but Liam angrily tells him that if Charlie's not part of Drive Shaft, he's completely useless. In tears, Charlie sits alone in the dressing room and takes some of Liam's heroin.

At the caves, Charlie crawls into the hole, only for it to cave in behind him. Outside, Kate arrives and gets everyone digging again. Charlie frees Jack from the fallen rock and, despite claiming that he can't, helps pop Jack's dislocated shoulder back into place.

Flash Back! Charlie visits Liam at his new home in Sydney, trying to get his older brother to rejoin the band. Liam declines: he's cleaned up, and now has a wife and young daughter. When he realises that Charlie is still using, Liam tries to talk him into a rehab program. Charlie gets angry, blaming Liam for his drug habit, and storms away.

In the collapsed cave, Jack realises that Charlie is going through withdrawal.

"Jack: Why didn't you say anything? I could've helped you through this.

Charlie: Yeah, you think I'm useless, and a junkie to boot.

Jack: Useless? You're not useless. That took a lot of guts getting in here and trying to rescue me. I won't forget that."

As the oxygen in the cave dwindles, Charlie spots a moth fluttering about. Realising that it must've gotten in through some kind of opening, he follows it up to a tiny gap in the cave roof and digs a hole large enough for him and Jack to climb through. When they return to the others, Jack sings Charlie's praises and everyone congratulates him. In the jungle, Sayid lights his flare and sees the other two go up. He turns on his antennae and the transceiver, and just as it starts to get a fix on the distress signal's source, someone knocks him out from behind with a tree branch. That night at the caves, Jack tells anyone who asks that Charlie's poor health is the result of a cold. When he sees Locke, Charlie asks him for the drugs a third time. Locke relents and hands them over, only for Charlie to toss them into the campfire.

"Locke: I'm proud of you, Charlie. Always knew you could do it."