Lost: Season 2, Episode 15: Maternity Leave Review
Maternity Leave
Original Airdate: March 1, 2006
Writer: Dawn Lambertsen Kelly and Matt Ragghianti
Director: Jack Bender
Considering how male dominated last week's episode was (only Ana-Lucia and Rousseau had brief speaking parts,) it seems fitting that they've made this a Claire-centric episode to even things out. An added bonus is that they've decided to reveal what happened to Claire when Ethan took her, along with some hints of what The Others' true agenda is. This seemed to ease some of the complaints that "nothing's happened" this season and that "they haven't answered anything".
Some have complained that Claire exhibited a strange lack of curiosity about what happened in the missing two weeks of her life (this has happened before with some characters, but perhaps they marvel off camera to avoid retread). Well there is some weight behind that complaint, but now that Aaron is sick, it makes sense for her to figure out what happened to her because the influence of The Others is likely the cause. Before, she must've thought that if she didn't feel pain and Aaron was born heathily, then nothing happened.
This also gives Libby something to do. While some have theorized that she isn't a clinical psychologist, she is effective at getting Claire to uncover those memories. However, these memories, despite those rapid flashes and that alarm, don't seem traumatic enough to block. She was drugged, so that could be why she doesn't remember much of that. Or perhaps the initial trauma of being kidnapped and the final trauma of Rousseau smacking her with her gun was enough for her to block everything between.
Besides telling us where Claire has been, there are some major revelations about the others and how they operate. The biggest being Kate's discovery that they play dress up, down to Zeke's beard (seeing him talk to Ethan, you'd think he was someone else entirely). This is something I don't understand. Why do The Others feel the need to disguise themselves as hillbillies when they are rather professional? It may make sense when two of them are trying to blend in with survivors of a plane crash, but what about their everyday operations?
Luckily for Hurley, Goodwin wasn't assigned to the Fuselagers camp, or he would've gotten his neck broken when he started snooping around with the census in "Raised By Another". Instead, Ethan merely bolted with Claire when he figured that his cover was about to be blown. He was supposed to compose a list, much like Goodwin, but wasn't able to. That does explain why so few people have been abducted in the Fuselage Camp. Since we don't know what they mean by "good people", we can't really nit pick that Ethan could've guessed which ones were "good" by the time he had to run.
There is also the new man in the hierarchy: "him", the presumed leader of The Others who apparently won't be happy with Ethan failing to get the list. Since this episode, countless theories have been thrown about, including just about every male cast member who wasn't on the plane. He could also just be Alvar Hanso, the man behind the Dharma Initiative. Or his identity could be a MacGuffin, something Lost has a few of (like those numbers).
The sickness that consumed Rousseau's crew is detailed in this episode, finally giving some flesh to the vague concept she introduced in "Solitary". Anytime someone mentioned an illness of any type, like the guy with the rash in season one to Henry Gale's wife dying of a sickness to the obsessive nature Charlie and Michael have displayed, people have assumed that it is this sickness. Now we know what Aaron had in this episode is close to what Rousseau remembers the sickness as. It is also something that The Others are aware and cautious of, as they injected Claire with the vaccine to protect the baby. Seems that they were hoping to raise him, which ties into the prophesy the psychic made in "Raised By Another" ("an other", get it?)
Claire's odyssey takes us to another hatch, one with a caduceus as its logo (Ethan's canteen bore a logo similar to one found on the shark). Yes, I didn't know what its name was before the Lost fans got it for me. It would make sense that they would have a hatch for medical supplies, but perhaps they were aware of the sickness before they got there, or built it after some succumbed to it. It is curious that the hatch, in the month or so since Claire escaped, has been abandoned, save for their costumes and a few medicine cabinets. Is this some trick they're pulling on Claire, in case she were to lead the survivors to the caduceus station?
This episode seems to confirm that the Alex Zeke referred to in "The Hunting Party" was in fact, Danielle's daughter who appears to save Claire. Now a teenager, she doesn't have the same agenda as those she has lived with her whole life. This could be interesting to see in the future, whether her rebelliousness will be found out and if that would cost her or The Others' endgame. Since, as far as we know, she wasn't with the Others at their on set, that may affect how she feels about their philosophies. Also, since Claire is expecting, Alex may have some memories of her mother, and seeing Claire has inspired her to save her. Perhaps she was told Danielle was killed.
While Rousseau is somewhat allied with the Fuselagers (disproving Claire's theory that she was bringing her back to The Others when she escaped), there is still a lot of mystery surrounding her. What exactly is her relationship with The Others? Have they had any confrontations between the time they took Alex to now? Why have they let her exist on "their" island for so long? Have any other castaways found themselves on the island and did Rousseau try to help them like the Fuselagers? And a mild complaint, why wouldn't she carry Claire back to someone in the camp, like Sayid? This should make for a good flashback episode whenever that happens.
Henry is certainly adding drama to the hatch situation. Because he can't leave the hatch, Jack and Locke have to rearrange the button schedule so as not to tell everyone about Henry. Regardless, people are going to find out quickly, and Jack and Locke need to control how that information is dispersed. Eko was able to tell just from instinct.
Eko has special ability to tell if someone is hiding something and what it is. Despite it never leaving the hatch, he has learned that there is a man in there, and that he is one of them as Sayid believes. While Sayid beat Henry severely, Eko, whose past is possibly the most violent of the castaways, mildly confesses his sins and cuts off his little beard extensions to show how sorry he was. That probably freaked Henry out more than a beat down by a former Iraqi soldier.
Despite the confession freak out, Henry knows how to get under the skin of his captors. Locke, who we know has a history of anger management problems, has a hissy fit shortly after Henry subtly declares Locke the Hemmingway to Jack's Dostoyevsky. Jack and Locke's feud has intensified this season, and Henry, with the thin door to the armory, is privy to a lot of information that he can exploit for his own will. Since he is certain that he won't be released from the armory, he might as well make it difficult for his captors, most of who aren't professional guards.
So we got some answers, are the nitpickers happy now? We know what happened to Claire and a whole bunch of Others mythology too. In addition, Henry is starting to become a really interesting character as he toys with the Fuselagers, picking at the scabs of the relationships in crisis.
Score: 8/10
Some have complained that Claire exhibited a strange lack of curiosity about what happened in the missing two weeks of her life (this has happened before with some characters, but perhaps they marvel off camera to avoid retread). Well there is some weight behind that complaint, but now that Aaron is sick, it makes sense for her to figure out what happened to her because the influence of The Others is likely the cause. Before, she must've thought that if she didn't feel pain and Aaron was born heathily, then nothing happened.
This also gives Libby something to do. While some have theorized that she isn't a clinical psychologist, she is effective at getting Claire to uncover those memories. However, these memories, despite those rapid flashes and that alarm, don't seem traumatic enough to block. She was drugged, so that could be why she doesn't remember much of that. Or perhaps the initial trauma of being kidnapped and the final trauma of Rousseau smacking her with her gun was enough for her to block everything between.
Besides telling us where Claire has been, there are some major revelations about the others and how they operate. The biggest being Kate's discovery that they play dress up, down to Zeke's beard (seeing him talk to Ethan, you'd think he was someone else entirely). This is something I don't understand. Why do The Others feel the need to disguise themselves as hillbillies when they are rather professional? It may make sense when two of them are trying to blend in with survivors of a plane crash, but what about their everyday operations?
Luckily for Hurley, Goodwin wasn't assigned to the Fuselagers camp, or he would've gotten his neck broken when he started snooping around with the census in "Raised By Another". Instead, Ethan merely bolted with Claire when he figured that his cover was about to be blown. He was supposed to compose a list, much like Goodwin, but wasn't able to. That does explain why so few people have been abducted in the Fuselage Camp. Since we don't know what they mean by "good people", we can't really nit pick that Ethan could've guessed which ones were "good" by the time he had to run.
There is also the new man in the hierarchy: "him", the presumed leader of The Others who apparently won't be happy with Ethan failing to get the list. Since this episode, countless theories have been thrown about, including just about every male cast member who wasn't on the plane. He could also just be Alvar Hanso, the man behind the Dharma Initiative. Or his identity could be a MacGuffin, something Lost has a few of (like those numbers).
The sickness that consumed Rousseau's crew is detailed in this episode, finally giving some flesh to the vague concept she introduced in "Solitary". Anytime someone mentioned an illness of any type, like the guy with the rash in season one to Henry Gale's wife dying of a sickness to the obsessive nature Charlie and Michael have displayed, people have assumed that it is this sickness. Now we know what Aaron had in this episode is close to what Rousseau remembers the sickness as. It is also something that The Others are aware and cautious of, as they injected Claire with the vaccine to protect the baby. Seems that they were hoping to raise him, which ties into the prophesy the psychic made in "Raised By Another" ("an other", get it?)
Claire's odyssey takes us to another hatch, one with a caduceus as its logo (Ethan's canteen bore a logo similar to one found on the shark). Yes, I didn't know what its name was before the Lost fans got it for me. It would make sense that they would have a hatch for medical supplies, but perhaps they were aware of the sickness before they got there, or built it after some succumbed to it. It is curious that the hatch, in the month or so since Claire escaped, has been abandoned, save for their costumes and a few medicine cabinets. Is this some trick they're pulling on Claire, in case she were to lead the survivors to the caduceus station?
This episode seems to confirm that the Alex Zeke referred to in "The Hunting Party" was in fact, Danielle's daughter who appears to save Claire. Now a teenager, she doesn't have the same agenda as those she has lived with her whole life. This could be interesting to see in the future, whether her rebelliousness will be found out and if that would cost her or The Others' endgame. Since, as far as we know, she wasn't with the Others at their on set, that may affect how she feels about their philosophies. Also, since Claire is expecting, Alex may have some memories of her mother, and seeing Claire has inspired her to save her. Perhaps she was told Danielle was killed.
While Rousseau is somewhat allied with the Fuselagers (disproving Claire's theory that she was bringing her back to The Others when she escaped), there is still a lot of mystery surrounding her. What exactly is her relationship with The Others? Have they had any confrontations between the time they took Alex to now? Why have they let her exist on "their" island for so long? Have any other castaways found themselves on the island and did Rousseau try to help them like the Fuselagers? And a mild complaint, why wouldn't she carry Claire back to someone in the camp, like Sayid? This should make for a good flashback episode whenever that happens.
Henry is certainly adding drama to the hatch situation. Because he can't leave the hatch, Jack and Locke have to rearrange the button schedule so as not to tell everyone about Henry. Regardless, people are going to find out quickly, and Jack and Locke need to control how that information is dispersed. Eko was able to tell just from instinct.
Eko has special ability to tell if someone is hiding something and what it is. Despite it never leaving the hatch, he has learned that there is a man in there, and that he is one of them as Sayid believes. While Sayid beat Henry severely, Eko, whose past is possibly the most violent of the castaways, mildly confesses his sins and cuts off his little beard extensions to show how sorry he was. That probably freaked Henry out more than a beat down by a former Iraqi soldier.
Despite the confession freak out, Henry knows how to get under the skin of his captors. Locke, who we know has a history of anger management problems, has a hissy fit shortly after Henry subtly declares Locke the Hemmingway to Jack's Dostoyevsky. Jack and Locke's feud has intensified this season, and Henry, with the thin door to the armory, is privy to a lot of information that he can exploit for his own will. Since he is certain that he won't be released from the armory, he might as well make it difficult for his captors, most of who aren't professional guards.
So we got some answers, are the nitpickers happy now? We know what happened to Claire and a whole bunch of Others mythology too. In addition, Henry is starting to become a really interesting character as he toys with the Fuselagers, picking at the scabs of the relationships in crisis.
Score: 8/10
posted by Matt @ 2:55 PM
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