Back in Catch 22, the scene where Desmond honored his word to Mikhail to let him go free? I felt then that this mano-o-mano code of honor thing would come into play later in the season.

Sure enough. Mikhail could've pulled the ring on the grenade right then and there. Heck, he didn't even have to tap on the porthole and alert Charlie! But he did. Charlie saw Desmond running toward the room, as he'd called him over (cuz Penny was on the line!). Charlie "got" it, and closed and sealed the door. Thus, the explosion would flood only the transmission room, not the whole station. Desmond's life would be spared. This is something Charlie wanted, as Des was his friend. But more to the point, Mikhail wanted to repay Desmond for the favor. Yes, the Jacob-believing Mikhail was "evil" in relation to the losties, true. But in his own twisted way, he was a man of honor. He recognized the same code of honor in Desmond--and HONORED it.

Just thought I'd throw that out. It was a layer of that scene that hadn't been mentioned on this board yet, and I thought it worth mentioning. Another example of good continuity in writing and characterization. We manage to call out all the examples of BAD continuity; we should also, well, HONOR the good ones!

That makes perfect sense because he easily could've blew them both up (along with himself). Good catch! I love to see good continuity.

Me, too! Sure hope this thread is a keeper. I think the theme of honor is a key theme of LOST. It'd be nice to see it talked about.

It makes me think of Desmond telling Penny "I have to get my honor back" in LTDA.

Well, at least we know Mikhail doesn't get his code of honor from Ben. :D

I think Mikhail gave both of them a chance to live. There was plenty of time for charlie to leave. I am kinda ticked off that they resorted to soap opera theatrics. They said that once a person is dead , he stays dead.......This is twice Mikhail "allegedly" died. I guess you can chalk that up on your bad continuity.

I never thought of it like that, that's a great point. He definitely seemed to want Charlie to die, though, judging from the creepy taunting grin he gave him.

I think Mikhail gave both of them a chance to live. There was plenty of time for charlie to leave. I am kinda ticked off that they resorted to soap opera theatrics. They said that once a person is dead , he stays dead.......This is twice Mikhail "allegedly" died. I guess you can chalk that up on your bad continuity.

charlie could have easily walked out and shut the door behind him. they could have grabbed gear and dove. they could have even just dove without the gear. i mean that's how they got in there. and getting down there is the hard part, getting back to the surface would have been a breeze.

i mean seriously in the time it took for charlie to lock himself in, write on his palm, and die, both of them could have been on the surface.

I don't think it had anything to do with Desmond. Mikhail needed to blow up the transmission room to stop them from communicating with the outside world. If Des was in that room he would have done the same thing.

I don't think it had anything to do with Desmond. Mikhail needed to blow up the transmission room to stop them from communicating with the outside world. If Des was in that room he would have done the same thing.

This Desmond/Mikhail story arc reminded me of Saving Private Ryan. Upham, a cowardly American soldier/translator, convinces the Captain (Tom Hanks) not to execute a German soldier. Everyone else in the squad protests. The captain decides to blindfold the German and let him go.

Turns out, the same German later meets up with his platoon. They end up attacking the Americans and killing most of Upham's friends.

Back in Catch 22, the scene where Desmond honored his word to Mikhail to let him go free? I felt then that this mano-o-mano code of honor thing would come into play later in the season.

Sure enough. Mikhail could've pulled the ring on the grenade right then and there. Heck, he didn't even have to tap on the porthole and alert Charlie! But he did. Charlie saw Desmond running toward the room, as he'd called him over (cuz Penny was on the line!). Charlie "got" it, and closed and sealed the door. Thus, the explosion would flood only the transmission room, not the whole station. Desmond's life would be spared. This is something Charlie wanted, as Des was his friend. But more to the point, Mikhail wanted to repay Desmond for the favor. Yes, the Jacob-believing Mikhail was "evil" in relation to the losties, true. But in his own twisted way, he was a man of honor. He recognized the same code of honor in Desmond--and HONORED it.

Just thought I'd throw that out. It was a layer of that scene that hadn't been mentioned on this board yet, and I thought it worth mentioning. Another example of good continuity in writing and characterization. We manage to call out all the examples of BAD continuity; we should also, well, HONOR the good ones!

Sorry STH, I don't agree with this at all. Mikhail tried to kill Desmond when he was shooting at the outrigger from the beach. He's not an honourable man in my eyes. He killed two of his own team. That makes him as much of a traitor as Michael.

Traitor indeed...good point. Forgot about that shooting from the beach.

I don't think it had anything to do with Desmond. Mikhail needed to blow up the transmission room to stop them from communicating with the outside world. If Des was in that room he would have done the same thing.

Furthermore, Mikhail's crazed expression makes it clear to me that the tapping on the window was a form of taunting, in effect, "Poor little Charlie. You thought you killed me, but I now am going to kill you!". Desmond had nothing to do with it.

And, as Captain_Falafel said, if Mikhail wanted to repay a debt of honor to Desmond, then why was he shooting at him from the beach?

Back in Catch 22, the scene where Desmond honored his word to Mikhail to let him go free? I felt then that this mano-o-mano code of honor thing would come into play later in the season.

Sure enough. Mikhail could've pulled the ring on the grenade right then and there. Heck, he didn't even have to tap on the porthole and alert Charlie! But he did. Charlie saw Desmond running toward the room, as he'd called him over (cuz Penny was on the line!). Charlie "got" it, and closed and sealed the door. Thus, the explosion would flood only the transmission room, not the whole station. Desmond's life would be spared. This is something Charlie wanted, as Des was his friend. But more to the point, Mikhail wanted to repay Desmond for the favor. Yes, the Jacob-believing Mikhail was "evil" in relation to the losties, true. But in his own twisted way, he was a man of honor. He recognized the same code of honor in Desmond--and HONORED it.

Just thought I'd throw that out. It was a layer of that scene that hadn't been mentioned on this board yet, and I thought it worth mentioning. Another example of good continuity in writing and characterization. We manage to call out all the examples of BAD continuity; we should also, well, HONOR the good ones!

As others have said, his grin made it pretty clear he was just having the last laugh, and taking some pleasure at doing so. I don't think he had any conception of Charlie sealing off the comm room. I'm sure he had some pleasure of showing up Charlie, since, as you said, it was Charlie objecting to Desmond, advocating to kill Mikhail. But I agree that Mikhail has a sense of honor... of his own fashion. He was obviously conflicted, but Bonnie's argument about following orders won him over, and he remained loyal to Ben till the end.
100%
I think Mikhail gave both of them a chance to live. There was plenty of time for charlie to leave. I am kinda ticked off that they resorted to soap opera theatrics. They said that once a person is dead , he stays dead.......This is twice Mikhail "allegedly" died. I guess you can chalk that up on your bad continuity.

How so? Charlie got the door closed at the second Desmond got there. If Desmond had thought of pulling the door open before Charlie got a chance to latch it, rather than banging on the window, screeming to Penny like a lunatic, he probably would have gotten it open before it was latched.

Who "alledged" Mikhail was dead? If lying on the ground bleeding means you're dead, I've had more lives than Mikhail! :redface: They made clear he wasn't dead the first time, when he said the fence wasn't set to a lethal level, and they made clear he wasn't dead the second time, because dead people don't pull pins out of grenades or swim or grin -- at least not all at the same time, usually.

I take it all back, and am in :hide: for the time being. . . .

I believe that Mikhail also mouthed the word, "die", to Charlie just after he pulled the clip.

TBH I don't think it was really the "honour code" that made Desmond let Mikhail go. I think at the time Desmond just really wanted to concentrate on Naomi (getting rescued, seeing Penny again, etc...) He just didn't want the extra hassle.

Lets be realistic. Desmond isn't always an honourable man of his word. He isn't above lies and deception. He was scamming Charlie all the way through 'Catch 22' and Charlie was his friend not his enemy. Also Mikhail was the first time Desmond has had dealings with the Others. Desmond hasn't suffered at the hands of the Others yet. Charlie and Jin have hence why they were more untrusting and aggressive. Desmond overruled them.

I think in S4 we may actually see Desmond kicking himself that he let Mikhail go. Charlie said Mikhail would come back and try to kill them and he was right. Could Desmond have saved Charlie by killing Mikhail when he had the chance??

I think Mikhail gave both of them a chance to live. There was plenty of time for charlie to leave. I am kinda ticked off that they resorted to soap opera theatrics. They said that once a person is dead , he stays dead.......This is twice Mikhail "allegedly" died. I guess you can chalk that up on your bad continuity.I think that the reason Mikhail keeps coming back like the Energizer Bunny will be revealed.

I think that the reason Mikhail keeps coming back like the Energizer Bunny will be revealed.
I sure hope you're right.

...
Sure enough. Mikhail could've pulled the ring on the grenade right then and there. Heck, he didn't even have to tap on the porthole and alert Charlie! But he did. ...I agree that Mikhail spared Desmond, but I took his tap on the glass to Charlie as his way of making sure that Charlie knew that he was going to die. Mikhail's little way of torturing Charlie before he died.