The hit ABC show LOST follows the lives of the survivors of Oceanic 815, an airplane that crashed on a mysterious island somewhere in the South Pacific. Each character has their own story and struggle from their past that has brought them to the island. Every character is thus undergoing a type of conversion in which they are offered the choice to overcome their past or to be overcome by it. Most of their interior conflicts are expressed through flashbacks that deal with a certain issue at hand. This is described by the executive producer Carlton Cuse, a practicing Catholic.
“Sin and redemption is a central theme of the show. Each of these characters in his or her own way is struggling with those issues that we all struggle with. We all have those issues inside of ourselves that we grapple with our entire lives. Sometimes we conquer them and sometimes we lose to them… None of us are perfect and I think what people might relate to…is that there’s a fantasy sense to the show which is that if you end up on this island you can sort of start over. And I think that even though these characters are deeply flawed, they are searching for redemption.”[1]
Charlie Pace, the rockstar from the one-hit-wonder band DriveShaft, is no exception to this rule.
Rather than using flashbacks, we will examine the life of Charlie Pace chronologically. Charlie was born in 1979 to Simon and Megan Pace, and lived in Manchester, England. When Charlie was young, he was given a piano as a gift on Christmas Day, thus beginning his career in music. Charlie grew up Catholic and sang in the choir at church. In attempt to make a name for himself, Charlie tried to use his music to make money. Charlie used his musical talents by playing on the street for money, where he spotted a woman being mugged, and saved her, prompting her to call him a hero. It is apparent that Charlie always sought to do what was right, but that at times his career in music drew him further away from his faith.
Sometime later, Charlie and his brother, Liam, had formed a band called Drive Shaft, which became popular. With the increase of their popularity growing, the temptations of sex and drugs came right along with the Rock N’ Roll. Charlie, however, experiences an interior conflict between his lewd actions and his faith. He struggles with the decision to continue following his faith or to keep pursuing his musical endeavors.
“This dramatic situation of “the whole world [which] is in the power of the evil one” makes man’s life a battle: The whole of man’s history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the very dawn of history until the last day. Finding himself in the midst of the battlefield man has to struggle to do what is right, and it is at great cost to himself, and aided by God’s grace, that he succeeds in achieving his own inner integrity” (CCC, 409).
This is seen in Season 1, Episode 7, “The Moth.”
Charlie in the confessional
CHARLIE: Bless me father, for I have sinned. It's been a week since my last confession.
PRIEST: Go ahead my son.
CHARLIE: Last night I had physical relations with a girl I didn't even know.
PRIEST: I see. Anything else?
CHARLIE: Yeah. Uh, right after that I had relations with another girl… You see, it's, it's my band, father, Drive Shaft. We've been playing the clubs in Manchester. And, uh, we've been getting some heat, a following, you know, and, uh, the girls. There's some real temptations that come with the territory, if you know what I mean.
PRIEST: Well, we all have our temptations, but giving in to them, that's your choice. As we live our lives it's really nothing but a series of choices, isn't it?
CHARLIE: Well, then, I've made my choice. I have to quit the band.
“The confession (or disclosure) of sins, even from a simply human point of view, frees us and facilitates our reconciliation with others. Through such an admission man looks squarely at the sins he is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible” (CCC, 1455).
Charlie leaves the confessional determined to leave the band. He blesses himself near a statue of the Virgin Mary. The Virgin Mary remains a consistent image throughout the show as a symbol of his faith.
About to leave. Charlie hears Liam, his brother tapping his hands on the pew…
LIAM: And the meek shall inherit the earth.
CHARLIE: Liam, what are you doing? This is a church.
LIAM: Relax, choir boy. I bring good tidings of great joy. We've just been signed. A recording contract. You're going to be a rock god!
Charlie makes the Sign of the Cross with holy water in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary as he leaves the confessional
At that Charlie smiles. The interior struggle continues and the temptation to stay in the band has only increased.
“Absolution takes away sin, but it does not remedy all the disorders sin has caused” (CCC, 1459).
Now Charlie really has to make his choice: faith or the band?
LIAM: Come on, Charlie boy. We can't do this without you. You are bloody Drive Shaft.
CHARLIE: Watch the language.
LIAM: This is our shot at the big time. What? You don't want to be famous?
CHARLIE: It's not about all that. I only care about the music.
LIAM: Yeah, your music. Your songs that got us signed. I'm just a clown with a pretty face that sings them. And you want to take away my chance to be somebody?
CHARLIE: Liam, it's not about you. It's - I love the band. It's not who I am. Sometimes I just get lost in it.
LIAM: Won't happen - because I'll be there looking out for you. We'll look out for each other. That's what brothers do, right? Right?
CHARLIE: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Just promise me one thing. If things get too crazy no matter what, if I say we're done, we walk away.
LIAM: We walk away.
CHARLIE: Liam, promise.
LIAM: We walk away. You're the rock god baby brother.
Similar to how the serpent tempted Eve, stating “You will be like gods,” Liam tempts Charlie with the idea of being “a rock god” (Gen 3:5).
“Sin sets itself against God’s love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become ‘like gods,’…Sin is thus ‘love of oneself even to contempt of God’” (CCC, 1850).
Charlie approaches Liam in the church
Here lies the constant struggle. When it comes to sin, we have a hard time getting rid of it completely because we still enjoy it.
“Because man is a composite being, spirit and body, there already exists a certain tension in him; a certain struggle of tendencies between “spirit” and “flesh” develops. But in fact this struggle belongs to the heritage of sin. It is a consequence of sin and at the same time a confirmation of it. It is a part of the daily experience of spiritual battle” (CCC, 2516).
Charlie decides to make a compromise. We know that it is not the right thing to do and that we need to stop, but often times we make compromises because of our own desires or we collapse under the pressure from other people. But compromises lead down the road of destruction. We see how this is true with Charlie.
Drive Shaft is seen on stage singing their hit song “You All Everybody.” Liam takes Charlie's part singing. Charlie is clearly upset by this. Later off-stage, we see Liam being greeted back stage by groupies and Liam pouring booze. Charlie confronts him. Liam then pulls out a bag of heroin to which Charlie looks shocked in disbelief.
LIAM: Chill, baby brother.
Then we see Charlie come into the lounge clearly angry... Liam is there, sitting on a couch with a girl on either side.
CHARLIE: Sound check, you missed sound check, you don't show up for rehearsal. We've got a show in an hour.
LIAM: [clearly high] Oooh, show. I like shows.
[Liam gets his drugs. Charlie looks on worriedly.]
CHARLIE: Alright, that's it. After tonight, we cancel the rest of the tour.
LIAM: What?
CHARLIE: We walk away…We're walking away like we said we would if things got. . .
LIAM: Walk away and go where?
CHARLIE: Liam, you're killing yourself with this junk, you're destroying Drive Shaft.
LIAM: I am Drive Shaft! Nobody even knows who the sodding bass player is. This is it, Charlie - end of the rainbow. You really think you can walk away? Then what, eh? Face it, if you're not in this band, what the bloody hell use are you?
Liam angrily leaves. Charlie is devastated, alone. In his sadness he sits down at Liam’s desk. There he sees the canisters filled with heroin that Liam left behind. Crying in desperation he opens the bag.
At this point, he was too far steeped into the lifestyle that he was living that it was difficult for him to quit.
“Sin creates a proclivity to sin; it engenders vice by repletion of the same acts. This results in perverse inclinations
Charlie does heroin
which cloud conscience and corrupt the concrete judgment of good and evil. Thus sin tends to reproduce itself and reinforce itself” (CCC, 1865).
As a result Charlie started to do heroin and soon became addicted. But as the bands fame decreased, Charlie sunk further into his addiction. With Drive Shaft disbanded, Charlie resorted to theft to support his heroin addiction. He charmed a wealthy woman, Lucy, in order to rob her, but she learned of his intentions and left him as he began to develop real feelings for her. Later, Charlie traveled to Australia to persuade a sober Liam to rejoin the band. Liam refused, offered to help him enter a rehabilitation program, but Charlie angrily refused, and left to board a plane to Los Angeles the next day. The night before the flight, he took heroin with a woman named Lily, who he fought with over the last of the stash until she left angrily. On the plane, he struggles without any heroin, and goes to the bathroom to take some, when the plane begins to crash.
While on the island, a man named John Locke discovers that Charlie is struggling with his drug addiction. This is seen in Season 1, Episode 6, “House of the Rising Sun.”
LOCKE: Just hand [the drugs] to me. You're going to run out. My guess is sooner rather than later. Painful detox is inevitable. Give it up now at least it will be your choice.
CHARLIE: Don't talk to me like you know something about me.
LOCKE: I know a lot more about pain than you think. I don't envy what you're facing. But I want to help. [Charlie walks away]. Do you want your guitar? More than your drug?
CHARLIE: More than you know.
LOCKE: What I know is that this island might just give you what you're looking for, but you have to give the island something.
CHARLIE: [giving Locke the drugs] You really think you can find my guitar?
LOCKE: Look up, Charlie.
CHARLIE: You're not going to ask me to pray or something.
LOCKE: I want you to look up.
Charlie looks up and almost cries when he sees his guitar on a cliff above.
In this conversation we see the parallel between Charlie’s faith and his music. He has clearly lost faith but in finding his guitar, Charlie’s faith is starting to be rekindled. It was thus not the music that led Charlie away from his faith but rather the lifestyle that came from being famous.
In Season 1, Episode 7, “The Moth” we see how Charlie deals with his addiction withdrawal.
CHARLIE: Did you hear what I said? I want my drugs back. I need 'em.
LOCKE: Yet you gave them to me. Hmm.
CHARLIE: And I bloody well regret it. I'm sick, man. Can't you see that?
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.
CHARLIE: Why? Why? Why are you doing this? To torture me? Just get rid of them and have done with it?
LOCKE: If I did that you wouldn't have a choice, Charlie. And having choices, making decisions based on more than instinct, is the only thing that separates you from him [indicating the boar that Locke is about to slaughter].
Locke is teaching Charlie about the dignity of the human person and the gift of free will. This goes back to what the priest said in Confession with Charlie… “Well, we all have our temptations, but giving in to them, that's your choice. As we live our lives it's really nothing but a series of choices, isn't it?” As humans we have the ability to choose the good or to not choose the good.
“By free will, he is capable of directing himself toward his true good. He finds his perfection “in seeking and loving what is true and good… By his reason, man recognizes …“to do what is good and avoid what is evil.”…He succumbed to temptation and did what was evil. He still desires the good, but his nature bears the wound of original sin. He is now inclined to evil and subject to error: Man is divided in himself. As a result, the whole of men, both individual and social, shows itself to be a struggle, and a dramatic one, between good and evil, between light and darkness.”(CCC, 1704-1707).
This is what distinguishes us from the animals that act on instinct alone.
“God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. ‘God willed that man should be 'left in the hand of his own counsel,' so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him’ Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts” (CCC, 1730).
Again Charlie asks Locke for his drugs.
CHARLIE: [looking like he going to cry] I want my stash, Locke. I can't stand feeling like this.
LOCKE: Come here. Let me show you something. [They walk to a plant with a cocoon on it]. What do you suppose is in that cocoon, Charlie?
CHARLIE: I don't know, a butterfly, I guess?
LOCKE: No, it's much more beautiful than that. That's a moth cocoon. It's ironic, butterflies get all the attention; but moths -- they spin silk, they're stronger, they're faster.
CHARLIE: That's wonderful, but. . .
Locke shows Charlie the 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. Now this is the second time you've asked me for your drugs back [he holds the heroin up]. Ask me again and it's yours.
Again Locke’s words point to the dignity of the human person and how there is redemptive power in suffering. Reminiscent of Romans 5:3-5, “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Charlie struggles with finding his purpose in life and on the island. He feels a lot of brokenness from Liam saying, “What the bloody hell use are you?” He struggles with this. He is later able to save Jack’s life by entering a tunnel into a cave. This cave reminds him of his past…
CHARLIE: This place, it reminds me of confession, those little claustrophobic booths.
JACK: I wouldn't have taken you for a religious man.
CHARLIE: I used to be. Hey, you want to hear my confession? Might take a while.
JACK: Hey, I'm no saint, either.
At this time Jack realizes that Charlie is going through withdrawal. Charlie then sees moths flying up to a light in the cave. Charlie then follows to find an escape for both him and Jack. After they are both rescued Charlie approaches Locke for the third time.
CHARLIE: Give them to me.
LOCKE: This is the third time. Are you sure you really want them?
CHARLIE: I've made my choice.
[Locke hands the drugs to Charlie. Charlie looks at them and throws them in the fire. Locke smiles.]
LOCKE: I'm proud of you, Charlie. Always knew you could do it.
[Charlie looks up and sees a moth. He looks up with hope and a tear in his eye]
Charlie’s redemption has begun, but it is not over yet. Later in the show. Season 1, Episode 12, “Whatever the Case May Be” Charlie’s best friend on the island, Claire, was kidnapped. Charlie almost died in the process, but he feels useless for not being able to help bring Claire back.
He is confused about why Rose seems to be so happy…
“Take a Christian… who, in the midst of their own community… radiate in an altogether simple and unaffected way their faith in values that go beyond current values, and their hope in something that is not seen and that one would not dare to imagine. Through this wordless witness these Christians stir irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how they live: Why are they like this? Why do they live in this way? What or who is it that inspires them? Why are they in our midst? Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 21).
CHARLIE: You look -- happy.
ROSE: Well, I guess I must be then.
CHARLIE: There's no reason to be happy, things are awful.
ROSE: They're not that awful.
CHARLIE: We're stranded on an island. No one's coming for us.
ROSE: You don't know that.
CHARLIE: Well, what I do know, is there's something in that jungle that eats people. Just because we haven't heard from it in a couple of weeks doesn't mean it won't get hungry again. And I know there's a person, or people, that are trying to hurt us. . .
ROSE: Charlie. Nobody blames you.
CHARLIE: What?
ROSE: For what happened to Claire. It's not your fault. You did everything that you could do. And you came very close to dying yourself.
Charlie cries as Rose prays with him
CHARLIE: Maybe I should have died.
ROSE: You know what I think, Charlie? You need to ask for help.
CHARLIE: Who's going to help me?
CHARLIE: Your husband was in the tail section of the plane.
ROSE: Yes, he was. But he'll be back.
CHARLIE: You think he's still alive?
ROSE: I know he is.
CHARLIE: How?
ROSE: I just do. It's a fine line between denial and faith. It's much better on my side.
[Charlie starts crying.]
CHARLIE: Help me.
“Called to beatitude but wounded by sin, man stands in need of salvation from God. Divine help comes to him in Christ through the law that guides him and the grace that sustains him” (CCC, 1949).
ROSE: Baby, I'm not the one that can help you... [Rose begins to pray] Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you for bringing us together tonight, and we ask that you show Charlie the path…
Charlie is finding through the witness of Rose that his purpose comes from God.
However, in Season 1, Episode 15, “Homecoming,” anger settles in when Claire returns and her kidnapper, Ethan, comes to recapture her. Charlie shoots Ethan mercilessly with a gun six times.
In Season 1, Episode 24, “Exodus – Part 2,” Charlie and Sayid go into the jungle and find a beechcraft carrying several Virgin Mary statues filled with heroin. Thus the island is setting up a conflict for Charlie. Here he is given the choice again… his faith or the drugs?
Charlie holds a statue of the Virgin Mary filled with heroin
This inner conflict proves to be very difficult for Charlie. He ends up lying to Claire over it.
In Season 2, Episode 10, “The 23rd Psalm,” Mr. Eko later showed Claire what was inside when he smashed it open to reveal the heroin. This was a crucial breaking point for Claire and Charlie and she believed Charlie was dangerous and did not want her near her child. Charlie later learns that Mr. Eko is a priest and they pray together the 23rd Psalm.
[Eko emerges from the plane and gives a statue to Charlie.]
EKO: For the one I broke.
CHARLIE: So, are you a priest or aren't you?
EKO: [putting the cross around his neck] Yes, I am. The Lord is my Shepard I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death, I fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod, thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.
Yet again Charlie is faced with a decision, his faith or the drugs? This continues as Charlie has a dream that Claire’s baby, Aaron, needs to be baptized in Season 2, Episode 12, “Fire + Water”. Although Charlie does not handle this properly and in the end it hurts his relationship with Claire, it was still through his suggestion that both Claire and her baby, Aaron, are inspired to be baptized by Mr. Eko.
Claire and Aaron are baptized by Mr. Eko
After this, Charlie begins to renew his friendship with Claire. Later the relationship develops much, much more.
Later, Charlie discovers the remaining Virgin Mary statues, and throws them in the ocean as a sign that he is beginning to come into reconciliation with his faith, giving up drugs. His redemption is beginning to take even more concrete form.
Charlie throws the statues filled with heroin into the ocean
In Season 3, Episode 21, “Greatest Hits,” Desmond tells Charlie that he must swim into an underwater transmission station in order to save everyone’s life on the island. Desmond tells Charlie that it will inevitably lead to his death by drowning. Charlie prepares for his death by recounting the “greatest hits” of his life. Charlie makes his peace with sacrificing his life in order that the people he cares about might live. In Season 3, Episode 23, “Through the Looking Glass – Part Two” In his last moments Charlie takes time to warn Desmond of a danger that his friends are in and as he begins to drown, with his dying breath, he makes the Sign of the Cross. Charlie has found the faith that he had lost. He found that…
“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
“By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).
And so as before he made the Sign of the Cross with holy water back in England coming out of the confessional after he was determined to leave the band, now he makes the Sign of the Cross amidst the waters of the ocean in a renewal of his baptism, in a culminating and final act of his restored faith.
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death…For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:3-5).
Charlie makes the Sign of the Cross as he drowns
[1] Rossi, Tony. “’LOST’ and Found” February 25th, 2009. http://www.4marks.com/articles/details.html?article_id=3126 Accessed March 30th, 2009.
