3)  The candles actually seem to distract me from the points.  I wonder if it would make sense for me, anyway, to use a line chart.  

Edit...the only thing I can think of as a starting point is to try to find the 3's.

The problem with a line chart is that it's usually based on an average. OHLC avg, HLC, VWAP, etc... So it's doesn't tell the whole story and it won't show overlaps that invalidate a count either. Candlesticks and OHLC bars are best suited for this job.