Friday, May 2, 2008

"What's It All About Charlotte? 4.10"

A mysteriously annoying woman with many talents.
I'm still on the fence about whether Charlotte can be trusted. But I prefer to (cautiously) give people in real life and TV life a chance to prove themselves, so I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt for now. Or at least to allow her the chance to redeem herself from the lousy first impressions that she's thrown off. So, my thoughts on her are:

1) Although I don't understand why Charlotte is so condescending and belligerent to the innocent stranded Losties, her attitude reminds me a lot of Zeke's attitude toward them at the "line in the sand" moment, when the Losties first met him in the jungle...i.e., treating them as if they purposely invaded their island territory. This could be due to the fact that she is connected somehow to the early Hanso or DHARMA influence, and she thinks of the Losties in terms of the way that she considers the Hostiles who infiltrated the original DI project.

2) Charlotte's knowledge of languages could mean anything, but in the most obvious terms her knowing Korean could link her to Paik. Although it could still mean she's connected to the early Hanso/DI projects. We know that the old Hanso careers website from TLE listed a few job openings which requested knowledge of multiple languages, including Asian ones, with the Anger Management position requiring Korean specifically. Although, something tells me that "Charlotte the Red" is not into anger management. Most simply, it could just mean that as a globe-trotting archaeologist/anthropologist, she's well-versed in languages. There does happen to be a Korean Archaeological Society. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Archaeological_Society

3) There is the possibility that Charlotte is simply a bossy elitist academic who looks down on anyone who is not her equal, but somehow I get the feeling that it's more than that. Her arrogant deception is beyond belief, and Daniel seems to understand it while at the same time being annoyed by it. It could be that the F-4s themselves have been told things strictly on a need-to-know basis (which would make anyone cranky in this situation), they've been sworn to secrecy on what they do know about their mission, and most importantly they could have been told that all pay for their work is retracted if they tell the Losties anything about their mission. But that also leads to the thought that the F-4s have no idea that they have possibly been dumped permanently onto the island, much like Juliet, and any salary they think they're getting will not be spent back in the world any time soon.

I'm very interested in what other viewers think of Charlotte. Is there more there underneath her snarky exterior, or is what we see on the surface all there is with her? I hope that TPTB flesh her out a bit more than just as a cookie-cutter intellectual harpie. They may not though, considering how Rousseau just got killed without us knowing exactly why she was so crazy.

13 comments:

Amused2bHere said...

I think Charlotte is just a stuck up snotty witch, yeah she's keeping secrets but i think it's more related to her wanting scientific historical credit for her discoveries on the Island of Mysteries. She strikes me as an opportunitstic fame seeker, of the science variety. And a prima donna, elitist, old money high society dame too.

Can you tell I don't like her?

oh yeah...First!

Capcom said...

Sooooo, you would be in favor of TPTB getting rid of her before we find out more? Heheh. :-)

Yeah, I get that from her too...privileged. She probably comes from a family of famous anthropologists.

memphish said...

The strange thing to me about Charlotte is that we haven't seen her do anything on the Island other than essentially act as Daniel's caretaker. She hasn't conducted any of her own "experiments." Since Ben outed her, she hasn't asked the LOSTies about their experiences on the Island. She's gone from playing nice and dumb to playing mean and dumb. I feel like it may be the case that some of her scenes have been cut for time, but comparisons to Nikki's whiny "Hurley when were you going to tell us" aren't far off the mark.

Capcom said...

That's a good point, I hadn't realized that. Dan and Miles have been earning their pay but aside from surviving the helo jump, Charlotte just seems to stand around making reconstituted powdered milk!

Yeah, she has taken Nikki's place as the token beach-b*tch. :-D

memphish said...

And that job is Shannon's! Forever and for always.

maven said...

I think the F4s did not sign up for this bloodbath on the island. And I agree that they are given info on a need to know basis. As much as I like Dan and Frank (and even Miles), Charlotte really irks me. You're right, Memphish, she had done nothing to earn her keep (until we maybe get to the Temple). And she does appear to be a snob with her nose in the air.

pgtbeauregard said...

So far, Charlotte has not done anything to make me like her. she'd better save somebody quick, or she's off to Nikki's fate (I hope)

The secret Korean language thing makes one think there's some connection to Paik, or maybe tptb threw that in there as a red herring.

Good post Capcom!

Capcom said...

True Memphish, Shannon held that post first! LOL

You're right Maven, and Miles said that this week too.

Tx PGT! Calling all spiders, heheh. Let's hope that TPTB have a usefullness for Charlotte when they get to the ruins, that's a good guess.

Wayne Allen Sallee said...

Hi, Capcom. You've got cool comments over at EYE M SICK so I thought i'd visit. I don't know what to think of Charlotte, it seems as if she is caretaker to Faraday (as Memphish says), as in the scene with the guess the playing cards. What I've always been curious about is why she seems to be the only one who wore a bullet proof vest. Certainly Lapidus doesn't have one on under his Hawaiian shirt.

Capcom said...

LOL Wayne! And thanks! I checked out your blog about the old books too. :-)

Yes, I agree, she does seem to take care of him. I wonder if that's a part of Charlotte's heart buried deep inside of her that she rarely uses -- that geeky Dan just brings out -- or if she was also chosen, in addition to her knowledge of the DI, to help the team with the "head case" as Naomi put it. I hope that TPTB reveal that.

Didn't Dan have some kind of black vest type thing on when we first saw him? I'll have to check the screencaps. And I think that Miles gave his vest to Charlotte, because she couldn't find hers when they were bailing in the storm, and Miles said to take his. Although there didn't seem to be a heck of a lot of time to change clothes in that scene!

Wayne Allen Sallee said...

I had forgotten about the fact that Miles was wearing something like a vest. With the shirt and tie, I assumed it was simply a jacket--funny how the mind works--and he likely left it behind after being confronted about the gas masks, or because he's simply forgetful. And I do recall that exchange on board the chopper, but you are right, how'd Charlotte get that thing on before getting stuck upside down above the river? Thanks for checking out my eclectic blog, even though its not LOST related. On the left side I have scans of books I have written for, you'll see GETTING LOST by BenBella Books about halfway down. Its a great book, with some decent essays. I wrote a 55 page A-Z glossary that ends around the time that Sawyer cons Cassidy. Sadly, the book never sold as well as they'd hoped, so I've never updated the glossary. Still, it was a fun project.

lost2010 said...

Hmmmm. . . .her defense?

Hi. I'm Charlotte Lewis. I came to this island as a part of a scientific team. My helicopter ran into difficulties and I parachuted into a tree branch upside down. Luckily, there was water below and I was able to dive into the water breaking my fall instead of my neck. I tried friendly. Friendly got me shot and taken prisoner. This Iraqi showed up and swapped one of my other team members for me - I guess the other faction captured him too. The Iraqi's gone back to the freighter. I stayed behind because the Captain of the boat scares me even more than this bunch. But I don't trust them. . . if they knew what I know. . . they'd kill me.

Capcom said...

Wow Wayne, we'll have to check that LOST book out!

Interesting Lost2010! :-D I hadn't really thought about how she might have felt on the boat. It would be fun to get a FB about the F-4s while they were still on the boat.