Lost (TV Series) The Moth (2004) User Reviews

The Rock-God

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 8 April 2006]

Charlie Pace is obliged by John Locke to stay clean and feels the effect. Meanwhile, Sayid Jarrah, Kate Austen and James "Sawyer" Ford tries to triangulate the French distress signal through antennas to find where the transmission source is located. When the cave collapses burying Jack , Charlie rescues him and win his inner battle against the drugs.

In my opinion, "The Moth" is the best episode of "Lost" up to this moment, when the former life of Charlie Pace is disclosed and how he involved with drugs. I liked the metaphoric message using the fight of the moth to open the cocoon, and the butterflies flying in the end. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "The Moth"

Note: On 19 March 2013, I saw this episode again.

Chrysallis

[ctomvelu-1 · 7/10 · 18 September 2008]

I have read some very mixed feelings here about THE MOTH. Frankly, I think the scenes between Locke and Charlie, using the moth metaphor, were the best part of the episode. I agree the rest of the story was a bit lame. Jack gets trapped in a cave-in. Big deal. We've seen this on practically every hourly drama ever to hit the airwaves. Charlie rescuing Jack also left me flat, but Charlie finally kicking his habit was something to behold. We also see Sawyer reflecting on his place in the world after confronting Kate about Jack. Could this be the beginning of a new Sawyer? Somehow, I don't think so. It is also made clear here that the only person having any fun on the island is Locke. Man, is he living out his fantasies or what?

Charlie's hour

[MaxBorg89 · 9/10 · 20 October 2010]

After the slightly uneventful House of the Rising Sun, Lost gets back on track with an episode that focuses on one of the more interesting characters: has-been rock star Charlie Pace, played by former Lord of the Rings cast member Dominic Monaghan (the only real "name" in the show's cast when it originally started airing) with the appropriate mix of charisma and angst.

Expanding on the pilot episode's revelation that Charlie is a heroin addict, The Moth shows him trying to kick the habit, with some encouragement from the customarily helpful Locke. In fact, he gets a chance to prove himself when Jack is trapped in a cave-in and he tries to rescue the good doctor. Unfortunately, he gets stuck as well. As for the other survivors, Kate, Sawyer and Sayid try to triangulate the origin of the freaky French radio message.

Flashback-wise, it's all about Charlie, more specifically his glory days with Drive Shaft back in Manchester, the hit song "You All Everybody" (later heard in the Season Four premiere of that other J.J. Abrams hit show, Alias) and his first contact with drugs, initiated by his brother Liam and other shady characters.

Sure, it all might look like a standard "troubled musician" thing, but what really makes a difference, both in the flashbacks and the present day scenes, is Monaghan's fun and simultaneously affecting work. It's no surprise to learn the part was originally meant for an older actor (though unnamed, a special feature on the Season One DVD suggests it was someone who had worked with Abrams in the past), nor to find out that Monaghan's audition was so convincing they retooled it to suit him. Much like in the Rings trilogy, he does charming and vulnerable with equal ease, sometimes in the same scene, and his interaction with Terry O' Quinn and Matthew Fox ranks as the episode's top moment.

Proving that there's more to it than just polar bears and a mysterious killer entity, Lost is perfectly capable of great character studies, as long as it's the right people, like Locke or Charlie. Why else would the series have such a large ensemble?

The beginning of charlies story

[matiasbockerman · 10/10 · 20 November 2018]

I was a junkie, using especially opioids so it's very easy to understand what charlie is going through because I have another passion besides drugs and it is guitar. This barely scratsh a surface of charlies story but it's getting better. I'm happi he won emmy later, but I cannot understand why he doesn't get nomination for this. Such an great Character.

Wow

[TheFirst01 · 10/10 · 13 November 2019]

Lost really keeps producing classics after classic after classics. The moth is one of the best episodes so far this season showcasing Charlie's redemption story and wow I could not have been more dissapointed.

Mediocre episode

[ametaphysicalshark · 26 June 2008]

I used to love "The Moth". I found it enthralling when it first aired and liked it again when I saw it on DVD, but this most recent viewing left me frustrated and even worse, wondering what on Earth I loved about it in the first place.

"The Moth" is one of few episodes where the flashback is completely, absolutely, 100% superior to anything that happens on the island. The island events here are a haphazard collection of poorly-written and offensively simplistic metaphors in addition to character interaction of minor interest outside Charlie's important interaction with Locke. Charlie's flashback story here is perhaps my favorite Charlie flashback, really quality drama throughout and a fine introduction to Charlie's character background.

I found myself very disappointed in Jack Bender's direction here- very predictable and obvious and honestly it just didn't work for most of the episode. In addition to all the other flaws in the episode, the cave sets really just look bad and silly.

To be honest, I'm struggling to find much to say about "The Moth". It is an overly simplistic episode with two or three key scenes that must be seen. The rest of it can only be tolerated with the accompaniment of the excellent audio commentary on the DVD with Damon Lindelof, Bryan Burk, and Dominic Monaghan (who all comment continually on how illogical parts of the script are). Oh, and there's always Maggie Grace's astonishing body to distract from the surprisingly lackluster script by Jennifer Johnson and Paul Dini. You know when the highlight of an episode is two minutes of Maggie 'Legs' Grace that there's something very, very wrong. Luckily after two less-than-great episodes in a row, LOST would get back on track in a very significant way with "Confidence Man", the upcoming episode.

5/10

Drug habits, cave-ins and moth metaphors

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 6 December 2017]

When 'Lost' was in its prime, it was must-watch television. Remember first watching it, found it remarkably easy to get into, was hooked from the start and was on Season 3 by the end of one week. The general consensus is that the final season is a disappointment and cannot disagree.

Like "House of the Rising Sun", "The Moth" is not one of my favourite 'Lost' episodes. It doesn't even make it as one of my favourites of Season 1, and doesn't come close to the brilliance of "Pilot" and "Walkabout". Do agree with a few of the criticisms, especially with the blatant and heavy-handed use of the metaphors. The ending is on the predictable side, and more thought could have been put into the cave escape which didn't fare so well in the logic department.

Charlie's drug subplot however is written brilliantly, as is his interaction with Locke. The cave-in business has a good deal of tension.

The photography is excellent, with "The Moth" being made with a lot of atmosphere and slickness and with no cheapness at all, while the setting is both beautiful and mysterious.

Even for so early on, the writing is smart and taut as well as provoking a lot of thought. The music as ever is a good fit, both understated and chilling.

Dominic Monaghan and Terry O'Quinn give particularly wonderful performances here.

In conclusion, good episode but not a great or brilliant one. For a show that has numerous examples of both, good is just a little underwhelming. 7/10 Bethany Cox

A solid first flashback for Charlie

[foleyjd · 7/10 · 7 December 2015]

Charlie episodes represent the most inconsistent of any Lost characters. When it comes to Kate, here episodes are generally sub- par, with Locke they are in general excellent, with Sayid they tend to B+/A-, but Charlie is responsible for both arguably Lost's worst episode (Fire+Water) and one of its best (Greatest Hits might not be the best episode but if it isn't in your top 10 you're insane.)

The Moth is probably his one and only middle of the road episode. It isn't terrible, but it is probably the weakest of these opening seven episodes and one of the weakest first flashbacks we ever get. Charlie's episode aren't just hit and miss, but the character is.

A couple characters on Lost struggle because they overly defined by one concept (the best example being Michael and his fatherhood), Charlie certainly isn't this. It would be easy for Charlie to be solely defined by his drug addiction and at times the show is at fault of this, but even within The Moth we get to know a lot of other things about him that would come to define just as much as his addiction.

Primarily his savior's complex. Even his relationship with the one pregnant survivor is quite indicative of this and The Moth really hinges on Charlie saving Jack, so in this sense Charlie is by no means a one dimensional character. It is difficult to really get a grasp of Charlie as a hero in his flashbacks, which is maybe why he was never suited to a flashback, because within them he is just defined by his drug addiction and his jealously.

The Moth is a certainly well told episode and its pretty polished but there are some issues. There is a lot of Kate/Jack pushing in this episode and once again it feels like the show showing its hand a little bit too early, meaning an inevitable backtrack.With an emphasis on Jack/Kate comes a dodgy performance by Evangeline Lilly, another reoccurring problem when it came to the early days of Lost.

The Moth is also a prime example of the sort of week to week storytelling that Lost employed in its first season. The Moth has serialized elements, but relies quite heavily on the obstacle of the week element. There is nothing particularly wrong with that, particularly when considering the show would grow out of it, but it does make The Moth a tad forgettable.

Nonetheless The Moth is an enjoyable enough hour of television.

A bit of a dud

[jdjc001 · 5/10 · 8 August 2020]

Until now, I'd been mostly enjoying the show, especially Locke's episode. However, parts of this episode were just so contrived and cliché that I was starting to switch off. Charlie's storyline is the most cliché of the bunch with its very cringeworthy dialogue and somewhat shallow portrayal of topics that really do require depth (drug addiction and fame, namely). Then, there was the trapped-cave storyline which was also a big cliché and just didn't really lead anywhere plotwise (I mean, they were obviously not going to kill off the main character this soon). Sayid's plan and the dialogue between Kate and Sawyer were by far the most entertaining parts of the episode.

The One With The Cave-In...

[taylorkingston · 7/10 · 24 October 2015]

I really like this episode. It's really good. I love that there just happens to be a cave with a fresh-water source, not too far from the beach, that Jack just happens to find. Coincidences just make me laugh. This is one of my favorite episodes from the beginning on the series, mainly because of the Kate/Sawyer scenes.

In this episode, Charlie is going through heroin withdrawal, since he's trying to kick his drug habit. But he does have the encouragement of Locke, so that's got to help? I put a question mark because I don't know if it actually does help. Meanwhile, Jack finds a cave with a source of fresh-water, a waterfall. But then he gets trapped in a cave-in. Kate, Sayid, and Sawyer all attempt to triangulate the position of the distress signal. When Kate finds out that Sawyer kept Jack's accident from her, she gets super upset.

Overall, I give this episode a 7 out of 10, which in my ratings book is: Great.

Charlie's Character Emerges

[borowiecsminus · 7/10 · 2 July 2016]

This episode gives new light to a very interesting character: Charlie. It also presents itself with a problem on the island, for the first time. Riddled with subtext, this episode was full of surprises, including Charlie and Liam essentially switching places in life.

The cave-in escape made no sense, however, the direction they went in and the direction from which they emerged were not even remotely similar. However, overlooking that, it was an interesting choice.

Charlie's drug problem is extremely well-written and realistic for someone who is attempting to go cold-turkey, even if the ending was painfully predictable and Locke's dialogue stale.

All in all, a good episode of "Lost," just not anything earthshaking.

Not Sure I Can Go On

[JMaddocks96 · 1/10 · 20 August 2019]

Please can someone explain the hype for Lost.

It was this episode that made me realise how bad and boring the show was, and how awful the acting is.

Additionally, the interesting bit is that they had a plane crash and are lost on some fantasy island. I literally couldn't care less about one kid's drug addiction or anyone else's back story for that matter.

The moth

[gedikreverdi · 8 November 2021]

The cave roof collapsed and jack got stuck inside. Charlie's rock band story is a bit boring. Locke help him quit cold turkey. A moth in the cave showed Charlie the way out and he saved jack. Sayed was about to spot the French transmission with triangulation but someone hit him with a bat.