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The Moth (Lost)
Encyclopedia
"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.
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.
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.
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."
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."
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
. The episode was directed by Jack Bender
Jack Bender
Jack Bender is an American television and film director, actor, television producer and also a screenwriter. Bender was an executive producer and lead director on the ABC television series, Lost. He directed the series finale of Lost. Bender has also directed on other popular shows such as The...
and written by Jennifer Johnson
Jennifer M. Johnson
Jennifer M. Johnson is an American television writer and producer. She has worked in both capacities on the series Lost, Reunion, Cold Case and is a co-creator of the series Chase. Johnson won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series for her work on Lost.-Career:Johnson began...
and Paul Dini
Paul Dini
Paul Dini is an American writer and producer who works in the television and comic book industries. He is best known as a producer and writer for several Warner Bros./DC Comics animated series, including Star Wars: Ewoks, Tiny Toon Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated...
. It first aired on November 3, 2004 on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. The character of Charlie Pace
Charlie Pace
Charlie Hieronymus Pace is a fictional character on ABC's Lost, a television series chronicling the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island...
(Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan is an English actor. He has received international attention from playing Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and for his role as Charlie Pace on the television show Lost....
) is featured in the episode's flashbacks.
Flashbacks
CharlieCharlie Pace
Charlie Hieronymus Pace is a fictional character on ABC's Lost, a television series chronicling the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island...
is in church confessing his sins. He comes out of confession and sees his older brother, Liam Pace (Neil Hopkins
Neil Hopkins
Neil Edward Hopkins is an American television and film actor. He is a trained actor and singer; best known for his portrayal of Charlie's heroin-addicted brother Liam on Lost.-Early life:Hopkins was born in Trenton, New Jersey...
), 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
CharlieCharlie Pace
Charlie Hieronymus Pace is a fictional character on ABC's Lost, a television series chronicling the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island...
is suffering from heroin withdrawal since John Locke
John Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
(Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
) took his stash in the previous episode
House of the Rising Sun (Lost)
"House of the Rising Sun" is the sixth episode of the first season of Lost. The episode was directed by Michael Zinberg and written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach. It first aired on October 27, 2004 on ABC....
, 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
Sayid Jarrah
Sayid Hassan Jarrah is a character from the ABC show Lost portrayed by Naveen Andrews.-Season 1:Sayid fixes the transceiver recovered from the cockpit, and leads a group into the jungle in order to send out a distress signal. Instead, he picks up a looping message . He tries to locate the...
(Naveen Andrews
Naveen Andrews
Naveen William Sidney Andrews is a British American actor. He is best known for portraying Kip in the movie The English Patient and Sayid Jarrah on the American television series Lost.-Early life:...
), Kate Austen
Kate Austen
Katherine Anne "Kate" Austen is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly. She is the de facto female lead...
(Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly is a Canadian actress, best known for her role as Kate Austen in the ABC drama, Lost.-Early life:...
) and Boone Carlyle
Boone Carlyle
Boone Carlyle is a fictional character played by Ian Somerhalder on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the south Pacific. Boone is introduced in the pilot episode as the stepbrother of fellow crash survivor Shannon Rutherford...
(Ian Somerhalder
Ian Somerhalder
Ian Joseph Somerhalder is an American model, actor and producer, best known for playing Boone Carlyle in the TV drama Lost and Damon Salvatore in the TV drama The Vampire Diaries.-Early life:...
) attempt to triangulate the French transmission. At the caves, Charlie searches through Jack Shephard
Jack Shephard
Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and protagonist of the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Lost follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to survive and escape, slowly uncovering more of the much broader...
's (Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox (actor)
Matthew Chandler Fox is an American actor. He is mostly known for his role as Charlie Salinger on Party of Five, and for portraying Jack Shephard on the supernatural drama television series Lost.- Early life :...
) medicine for something to replace his heroin. When Jack catches him, Charlie says he has a headache and wants aspirin
Aspirin
Aspirin , also known as acetylsalicylic acid , is a salicylate drug, often used as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains, as an antipyretic to reduce fever, and as an anti-inflammatory medication. It was discovered by Arthur Eichengrun, a chemist with the German company Bayer...
.
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
Michael Dawson (Lost)
Michael Dawson is a fictional character played by Harold Perrineau on the ABC television series Lost. After losing a custody battle with Susan Lloyd , Michael does not see his son Walt for almost ten years. They reunite when she dies, but on their journey home, their plane crashes on a mysterious...
(Harold Perrineau) leads the rescue attempt with Steve (Christian Bowman
Christian Bowman
Christian Jason Bowman is an actor, film director, film producer and screenwriter who has appeared in the TV series North Shore, Lost, and Prison Break.-Biography:...
) and Scott (Dustin Watchman
Dustin Watchman
Dustin Watchman is an American actor. He has a recurring role on the television series Lost, portraying "Scott", one of the crash survivors whose name the other survivors continually mix up with the deceased "Steve"...
). In the jungle, James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway
Josh Holloway
Joshua Lee "Josh" Holloway is an American actor and model from Free Home, Georgia. He is best known for his role as James "Sawyer" Ford on the American television show Lost.-Early life:...
) 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
Shannon Rutherford
Shannon Rutherford is a fictional character played by Maggie Grace on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the South Pacific. Shannon is introduced in the pilot episode as the stepsister of fellow crash survivor Boone Carlyle . She is...
(Maggie Grace
Maggie Grace
Margaret Grace Denig , best known as Maggie Grace, is an American actress. Originally from Worthington, Ohio, she dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents' divorce. While struggling financially, she landed her first role as the title character in the...
) 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
The church scene with Charlie and Liam at the church in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
was actually filmed on Honolulu, where the scenes on the Island are filmed. Monaghan says that he feels Charlie's black hoodie
Hoodie
A hoodie is a sweatshirt with a hood. The characteristic design includes large frontal pockets, a hood, and a drawstring to adjust the hood opening. They are sometimes worn with sweatpants. Some hoodies have zippers on them to allow easy removal much like a jacket...
is a sort of "security blanket" that he hides underneath and uses it when he feels "lost."
Drive Shaft is partially inspired by Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
. While Dominic Monaghan sung "You All Everybody" in a Prince-like falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
on the pilot episode
Pilot (Lost)
"Pilot" constitutes the first and second episodes of the first season of ABC television series Lost, with "Part 1" premiering on September 22, 2004 and Part 2 on September 29, 2004. The episodes were directed by J.J. Abrams, and written by him along with Damon Lindelof, based on a story by them and...
, since the song had not been composed yet, for "The Moth" the producers contacted Los Angeles-based singer Jude
Jude (singer)
Jude , is an American singer and songwriter. His music ranges from acoustic to pop, featuring poetic lyrics, Beatles-esque melodies, and memorable vocals.-History:...
to write a full version. The song is sung by Chris Seefried
Chris Seefried
Chris Seefried is an American record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the lead vocalist and frontman of bands Gods Child, Joe 90, Low Stars and producer co-writer for the neo soul band Fitz and the Tantrums....
, former lead singer of Gods Child and Joe 90
Joe 90
Joe 90 is a late-1960s British science-fiction television series documenting the exploits of a nine-year-old boy, Joe McClaine, who embarks on a double life as a schoolboy turned spy when his scientist father invents a pioneering machine capable of duplicating and transferring expert knowledge and...
on the episode. The lyrics were inspired by an incident producers Bryan Burk
Bryan Burk
Bryan Burk is an American film and television producer, as well as an occasional screenwriter.A graduate of USC's School of Cinema-Television, Bryan Burk began his career working with producers Brad Weston at Columbia Pictures, Ned Tanen at Sony Pictures and John Davis at FOX...
and Damon Lindelof
Damon Lindelof
Damon Laurence Lindelof is an American television writer and executive, most recently noted as the co-creator and executive producer for the television series Lost. He has written for and produced Crossing Jordan, and wrote for Nash Bridges, Wasteland, and the MTV anthology series Undressed...
had seen on The Phil Donahue Show
The Phil Donahue Show
The Phil Donahue Show, also known as Donahue, is an American television talk show that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast in Dayton, Ohio, and it was broadcast nationwide between 1967 and 1996.In 2002, Donahue was ranked #29 on TV Guide's...
, where a female audience member said, "You all everybody, is acting like the stupid people wearing the expensive clothes."