It's possible that "I did it to protect Claire" sounded like a more noble purpose to him than "the thought of Ethan alive, nearby, and under watch by Boone would have me wetting myself with terror." Though I'm afraid the flashbacks demonstrate that the former really did play a large part in his motivation.

I don't see there even being a clear, choice-making train of thought, such as "Oh, look at this gun. Well, Ethan did hang me by the neck, and I would like to prove I can take care of a lady. We probably won't get any info from him- mayhap I'll shoot him."

It was more of an adrenaline based "You're gonna die for what you did to me and Claire and I will take care of her and BANG BANG BANG BANG".

I'm with brenda--Charlie definitely wasn't thinking of the good of the camp. If JJ and the writers take some time in either this season or next to explore exactly what the consequences of Charlie's actions are, I'll be very happy.

Someone upthread said that Charlie was possibly one of the more dangerous people on the island, just because he's looking at everything from an emotional standpoint. He makes alliances not with a strategy in mind, but from whatever feels right to him at that time. He follows leaders with a puppydog mentality of wanting to be useful. Well, if the others start taking him for granted or, even worse, neglect him, he has the potential to turn on them, as he showed last week.

I don't think at the time it actually had jack to do with anything but Ethan making him feel like a useless fuck-up.

I thought the point of the episode was to show that Charlie had changed; he's all growed up. Admittedly, they did it in kind of a ham-fisted fashion, but it's not the first time a Charlie storyline has had a whiff of the anvil about it.

Plus I tend to give Charlie a lot of leeway. He's just so darned cute.

I thought the point of the episode was to show that Charlie had changed; he's all growed up.

Huh -- I thought exactly the opposite. In both cases, his intentions were to protect and take care of the girl he liked (neither of whom had indicated in any way that they needed or wanted to be taken care of). In the first case, he failed spectacularly, and in the second, he succeeded by accident. Where's the maturity?

That's my read of it too, Jessica. While his actions may have worked out to the same end that a practical, detached view would have called for, his actual thought process (if he could be said to be thinking at all rather than letting his emotions run rampant) was anything but.

In the first case, he failed spectacularly, and in the second, he succeeded by accident. Where's the maturity?

Yeah, this is what I meant. I think the intention was to show that Charlie had matured from the flashback, where he was completely useless, more or less, to the present, where he takes some affirmative action. I just don't think it came across as that very well. It may not have been the intention at all, but that's the feeling I got. So we get a Charlie who associates protecting and providing for the wimmin folk with maturity. Which leaves me asking more questions than it answers, really.

Jessica, got the package. Thank you so much! Please pass on my big thanks to DH, too.

I actually think Charlie may be a dangerous person on the island, but Boone has so far PROVEN himself to be a dangerous person. Get me the fuck away from Boone and Locke.

I hope Locke catches Boone at his next major fuckup, and, shall we say, chastises him harshly.