"Lost" - Maternity Leave

Hey Lost fans! Wednesday’s ep. certainly had lots of stuff to talk about, so let’s get into it.

“Maternity Leave” – Claire Story

This episode saw the return of Ethan Rom, the sociopathic Other that kidnapped Claire, hung Charlie, killed Scott (or was it Steve), and then got riddled with bullets before he could offer any insight into what he was up to – more on him later. But first off, I liked how the backstory involved something that happened on the island. I hope the writer’s continue this structure when talking about other storylines, ie. Walt’s or Michael’s, should the writers choose to ever talk about those two again. But what exactly did it reveal?

Thanks to Libby’s expert psychoanalysis (I think she was a dog psychologist back in the real world), Claire was able to remember what happened to her during her abduction. Because of this, we know that there’s another Dharma facility that was functional at the time of Claire’s abduction (we know that Dharma Arrow is abandoned from the Tailies story). I found this video that may or may not be genuine (and I mean “genuine” in the sense that it came from the show and not a fan): http://www.prestonandsteve.com/video/144.wmv
This video shows the functions of the various Dharma facilities on the island. However, after freeze framing the door of the facility that Claire was held in, it doesn’t match any of the designs in the video. The one Claire was in had a symbol of what looks like a caduceus on it – so perhaps this was a dedicated medical facility, or maybe it was a main Dharma bunker at the core of all the others. Or maybe it’s bullshit. Either way, it shows all the interesting things Dharma’s been up to on the island.

We also now know that the Others may not be as bad as we had originally thought. Sure, the kidnap women and children and kill people by the dozen, but this episode also brought back a theme that has been dormant since the beginning of the Rosseau story – the sickness. We know Rosseau killed her team after they become sick, and Ethan and company seemed very concerned that the baby be saved from getting sick. Could the outbreak of “the sickness” be the incident that was mentioned in the Dharma video? And is the sickness severe enough the warrant the rampant killing of anyone not within the quarantined structures of Dharma? Claire’s baby seems to be significant to the Others, as does Walt, so perhaps children are vital to the overall plan of the Dharma Initiative.

And how about my man M.C. Gainey? I’m sure we all collectively did a double take when we saw him without a beard, then we did that math and figured out that he would have had to grow a giant beard in about 2 weeks to the time he blew up the raft. Luckily they explained this when Kate found the fake beard, the ratty clothes, and the theatrical glue. But why? Why do the Others put on that façade when they interact with the survivors of the crash? Is it to create the illusion that they’re savages that aren’t to be fucked with? I guess their bad-assness would be compromised if they were roaming the jungle in suits and medical lab coats.

And sweet Rosseau. I thought that main characters were good at not talking to one another about anything that may be vital to a given situation, but Rosseau is the best. Whenever anyone asks her a question, she responds with a blank stare and walks away. Brilliant! After a day of Claire yelling at her and Kate pointing a gun in her face, she waits until the very end to say that she saved Claire and carried her back to camp. And where does she live? Didn’t she blow up her own place last season?

Then there’s Ethan. That guy creeps me out. Apparently he was a higher-up in the ranks of the Others, a doctor of sorts that could also infiltrate the camp and kidnap Claire. Here’s my question, if the Others are worried about getting sick, then what about Ethan hanging out in camp for those days or weeks before taking Claire? Did they just jack him up with enough of the serum to make sure he was safe? And I guess after Ethan was killed, the Others decided to pack up shop in that Dharma bunker and continue their work elsewhere. But they did leave behind Claire’s knitted bootie, which after being on a dirty floor for a month, Claire found and brought back to baby Aaron in a very sweet scene. Nothing helps a sick baby like chewing on a disgustingly germ-infested bootie.

Quick word on the other stories: The prisoner Henry Gale and Mr. Eko. That guy is definitely an Other, but I didn’t like the Locke outburst at the end. I mean, Gale pulled the most obvious attempt to usurp his captors but trying to pit Locke and Jack against each other, so why did Locke fall for it? Or was he pissed at himself for letting Gale get to him?

I have no idea what’s going on with Mr. Eko. I think he may be building a church, but I don’t know what anything he said to Gale meant, or why he cut off his beard thing. But I loved the reaction Gale had to Eko walking in to the room - sheer shit-your-pants terror.

Score (out of a possible 20)
Back Story: 8
Island Story: 8.5 (points for answering a story line that happened in season 1)
Overall: 16.5

Here’s a link you will enjoy. It’s all the frames labeled with their significance. Some great stuff to check out: http://www.4815162342.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9533