"Greatest Hits" is the 21st episode of the third season of Lost and 70th episode of the series. It was written by co-executive producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and directed by supervising producer Stephen Williams. The episode first aired on May 16, 2007, on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada. "Greatest Hits" was viewed by 12 million Americans and was well received by critics. Lost's editors received a Golden Reel Award nomination.
The episode takes place on December 22, 2004, 92 days after the crash of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815. A group of survivors prepare for an upcoming raid on their camp by the "Others", while the rest prepare to contact a nearby freighter. Charlie Pace (played by Dominic Monaghan) recounts the five greatest moments of his life, which are depicted in flashbacks, as he prepares to fulfill Desmond Hume's (Henry Ian Cusick) premonitions of his death.
Plot
The Others' leader Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) orders ten of the Others to go to the survivors' camp to kidnap any pregnant women that night—a night earlier than was scheduled. Ben's adopted daughter Alex (Tania Raymonde) persuades her boyfriend Karl (Blake Bashoff) to canoe to the survivors' beach to warn them. The survivors' leader Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) plans to kill the ambushing Others with dynamite retrieved by island resident Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan). Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), Jin Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim) and Bernard Nadler (Sam Anderson) are selected to stay behind to shoot the dynamite-rigged tents when the Others arrive.
Desmond tells Charlie about his latest premonition: Charlie's girlfriend Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin) and her baby Aaron will escape the island via helicopter if Charlie flips a switch in a Dharma Initiative station and drowns. Sayid tells Jack that he may be able to communicate with the freighter roughly 130 kilometres offshore. He can use the satellite phone of Naomi Dorrit (Marsha Thomason), the helicopter parachutist who landed on the Island. Once he goes to the radio tower to disable Rousseau's distress signal. Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) informs Sayid that this will not work because the underwater "Looking Glass" is blocking outgoing transmissions. Sayid realizes that a cable he found seventy days before connects to this station and that they will need someone to go on a probable suicide mission there, and Charlie volunteers.
Naomi tells Charlie that his band Drive Shaft released a successful greatest hits album after the crash of Flight 815. Flashbacks show Charlie's "greatest hits" of his life, referring to his life's five best moments, in descending order. Charlie writes them down on a note.
Before paddling out to the Looking Glass with Desmond, Charlie assures Claire he will be fine, kisses her goodbye and leaves his ring in Aaron's crib. Once Desmond and Charlie arrive over the station, Charlie gives Desmond his note and asks that he give it to Claire. Desmond offers to do the job instead, saying that he suspects that his flashes are recommending him to take Charlie's place. To keep him from doing so, Charlie knocks Desmond out with an oar and dives into the water. Upon entering the station, two Others named Greta (Lana Parrilla) and Bonnie (Tracy Middendorf) appear with guns aimed at Charlie.
Production
Most of the island scenes were filmed from April 9, 2007 to April 12. A detailed episode synopsis was uploaded online before the episode aired and Disney investigated the leak. The name of the Dharma station in the episode is an allusion to Lewis Carroll's novel Through the Looking-Glass. Dominic Monaghan was inspired by Leonardo DiCaprio's underwater performance in Titanic and opened his mouth briefly underwater to appear under greater duress.