Charlie’s drowning
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By Veefre
- Charlie’s drowning
- Created: Mar 27, 2008
- Last updated: Aug 14, 2008
- After episode: 3.22: Through The Looking Glass
- Status: Current
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I would agree that he is probably dead, but there’s enough doubt to wonder.
— Veefre
A few thoughts on Charlie’s death: “a bit of minor speculation about a character”… sorry if this has already been discussed.
At the end of Season 3 we saw Charlie supposedly die when Patchy set off the grenade just outside the communications room.
There are some things about this scene that don’t make sense. Whether they are just production glitches or part of the plot, I don’t know.
For one, when the grenade goes off, the water flows into the room like someone just opened the door of a front load washer half-filled with water. But the ocean isn’t half filled; it was about 40 feet above that porthole. In reality, the water should have shot straight in as if from a fire hose. Production glitch or plot device? Probably production glitch.
Then there’s the matter of air pockets. The port hole was at the midpoint of the wall of the room. Charlie closed the water-tight door to the rest of the station, which means that the water would have had to displace air to fill the room. This could realistically happen until the water level rose to the top of the porthole. Then, the air - which is already at the same pressure at the water - would have resisted further flooding.
In other words, it was perfectly technically reasonable that Charlie could have swum to the top of the room, where a sizeable air pocket would have existed. There, he could have survived long enough for Desmond to figure out some form of rescue.
Then, there’s the size of that porthole. Charlie is not a big person, and it looked to me that he could easily have taken a big breath, squeezed through that porthole and swum to the surface and safety - or even swum back under the station and rejoined Desmond.
But instead it looked like Charlie just gave up and started swallowing water. Or did he? I didn’t see a lot of bubbles coming out of him, just a few. If his lungs had filled with water, there would have been a lot more air bubbling out of his mouth.
Then, we never saw Charlie’s body afterwards. We saw him suspended in the water briefly, but that wasn’t long enough to die, IMHO.
Now, I accept that it was probably a dangerous scene to film in the first place, and the actor’s safety was paramount. But I just don’t think the technical details made 100% sense, and these problems might just leave open the possibility that Charlie survived the flood. I would agree that he is probably dead, but there’s enough doubt to wonder.
Key characters
| Short Name | Full Name | Episodes | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlie | Charlie Pace | 1.7, 1.2, 2.10, 1.24, 3.21 | 403 |
| Desmond | Desmond David Hume | 2.23, 3.17, 4.5 | 858 |
Key episodes
| # | Title | Aired | Central character | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.22 | Through The Looking Glass | 5-23-2007 | Jack | 1252 |
it’s been stated before, i think the producers have stated its a production error
I think Charlie knew he was going to die one way or the other, and he would rather die a hero then a coward running from death. So I dont think the technicalities really matter tbh, he was resigned to his fate and welcomed it.
+1 for having the hydraulic theory right. Alas, I agree with the others that Charlie is no more…
I researched this a while back and so can happily and proudly state that the water not flooding concept is technically known as hydrostatic pressure. And I think it was a production error, and a bit of dramatic licence.
(Imagine how dismally anti-climactic it would have been if the water had risen to Charlie’s neck and then just stopped? This was a season finale!)
So, despite scientific rigour suggesting otherwise, I think we have to take it as a fact on the show that Charlie did drown in the Looking Glass.
A good post Veefre, although as you allude to at the end, I’m going to have to agree with AC and others and say it was all just done for dramatic effect. There will probably be more holes still in the explanation of whats going on on the island, and I think what the best thing to do is to take them all with a pinch of salt and accept what the show is trying to tell us, even if its not 100% watertight - pun intended.
I think that Charlie had no more storyline or maybe the actor wanted out but either way, his death is one of the few things that bugs me about the show because Charlie had plenty of time to get out of the room and close the door behind him. He didn’t really need to lock himself inside just to keep Desmond alive.
There’s another incongruency. Since the Station was open at the bottom - the so-called “moon pool” where subs could surface - as soon as the porthole burst in the com room, water should have started flowing up through the moon pool to flood the station, with air escaping out the open porthole. Then, when Charlie closed the door, the air should have stopped escaping and water should have started gushing into the room, leaving an air space at the top.
So Charlie was right in closing the door to save the rest of the station (and Desmond), but I agree he had plenty of time to exit the com room and shut the door behind him - thus surviving along with Desmond.
And this sort of points up a problem with creating theories about this series - those of a scientific bent might want to look at various seemingly trivial details and draw conclusions about them, which could be thrown off by the fact that there are numerous production errors, on top of the producers/writers history of making abrupt changes in the plot to suit external factors (like actors wanting to leave, getting fired, getting arrested, etc…).
Im going to get screamed at for this……. But here it goes… deep breath….. I think Charlie is still alive. I agree that he may not have had a viable story line AT THAT TIME…. but I think we will see him again. When we saw him with Hurly at the mental institution…. though he was portrayed as a “spirit” or “ghost”, thats what put the thought in my head that Charlie is STILL alive. Maybe it’s my wishful thinking because Charlie was one of my favorite charactors, but I think he’ll be amoungst the living once more. He loved Clair and Aaron far to much to not fight for his life. (go ahead scream at me!)