Lost Season 2, Episode 15 in-depth review
- Episode 15: Maternity Leave
- In a very Claire-centric episode, we find out that there may be more to The Others than meets the eye.
Hey readers, say hello to new contributor Wes Bain!
Massive spoliers follow, so if you haven’t seen the episode yet, you might want to come back later once you’ve seen it. Unless, of course, that’s why you’re reading.
— Chris
After a somewhat slow start to the first half of Season 2, the powers-that-be who govern Lost have finally given us something to cheer about.
For three consecutive episodes now, the focus has been on three solid characters who have not been given their proper face time due to the slow integration of the Tail-Section castaways into the main Camp. Starting with Sawyer’s Long Con, we’ve seen the tension that comes from establishing leadership when more than one strong leader is asserting him/herself (see Jack/Locke power struggle) and the unpredictability of characters making power plays (see Sawyer/Sayid taking matters into their own hands). Up until Sawyer’s maneuvering for the firearms, the Camp and the audience were taken in with Jack and Locke struggling to make decisions together, but now more than ever there is a lack of identity within the group. Last season, Jack’s authority went unchallenged for the most part. Michael took charge of raft-making and decided he was going to get off the island. Locke became the provider of food when he was hunting, and the provider of lots of questions as he unearthed the first hatch. And everyone else pretty much followed one these leads. This season, Jack and Locke bicker like the old couple from Everyone Loves Raymond….while they take turns pushing a button. Michael is MIA in his quest to find Walt. And we’re left wondering not only how things are going to shake out, but who is going to step up and do some shaking? Thankfully, Eko, Sawyer, Sayid, and now Claire have given us hope that this season will end with a bang.
So without taking any more time reviewing the last few episodes, I’ll finally get to this one. Left mostly in the backdrop since the whole baby-stealing debacle that ended last season, Claire gets some face time to finally remember what happened to her while she went missing midway through Season 1.
In the first episode to not feature backstory flashbacks (not counting The Other 48 Days, which focused on all of the Tail Section survivors) Claire’s flashbacks instead focused on the two weeks she spent in the custody of the Others. And what a two weeks it was! It seems she spent approximately 100% of the time completely doped up on drugs that kept her woozy, giggly, and unable to comprehend many of the red flags that Ethan was raising, especially the parts about cutting her open to retrieve and keep her baby. In fact, it seems like Ethan was using reverse psychology on her so that she would offer her baby up. When he took her for a walk, he said that it was her choice to give up her child and that they would only accept if she was absolutely sure. We must have missed the flashback where they persuaded her that it would be a good idea to allow intrusive surgery and then kick her out empty-handed and empty-bellied.
Before any of that happened though, baby Aaron came down with a fever and spent the first bit of the episode crying. When Rousseau appeared on the beach, in the middle of the night (more on that later) she warned Claire that Aaron had “the sickness” she has alluded to several times before. Claire and Kate freaked out about Rousseau showing up, but the next day Claire is convinced that Aaron is sicker than everyone thinks and she has to find the facility from her now-recovering memory where she believes medicine exists to help. Her initial flashbacks give us only glimpses of what’s going on, but she remembers “Evil” Ethan Rom was actually the good “Dr.” Ethan Rom who was injecting her pregnant belly with a vaccine (or so he said). She enlists the help of Libby, who claims to be a clinical psychologist, to help her recover her memory further.
(A quick note on Libby since this is my first review or post of any kind about Lost. Some people on the internet forums believe she is an Other. I’m not convinced one way or another, but she sure as hell didn’t sound like a clinical psychologist. She sounded like a relaxation tape or something of the sort. All she did was tell Claire to relax, breathe, and listen to the ocean waves. Is that all it took for her to regain her memory? That was total bullshit! I’m a Libby-skeptic to say the least. Don’t be surprised if she kidnaps the baby by season’s end…just a thought…back to the review.)
Anyway, Kate agrees to go with Claire into the jungle to help find the facility/medicine. Kate manages to get a gun from Sawyer without having to perform any sexual favors. 
Honestly, Sawyer must be a good guy deep down because he seems to part from his possessions for Kate rather easily. If he was a dog, he’d work that angle much better than he does now.
Once in the jungle, Claire and Kate encounter Rousseau again who accompanies them while they search. Claire manages to find the hatch where she was held captive for two weeks, only to find it’s been abandoned and everything (including medicine) has been taken.
Further flashbacks while she’s in the hatch reveal that “Zeke”, the burly, bearded and very mysterious man that Jack, Sawyer, and Locke stared down in the jungle is actually clean-shaven, neatly dressed, and was on a first-name basis with Ethan before Charlie plugged Dr. Rom with many, many bullets. Kate found theatrical glue, a fake beard, and “Others” clothing in a locker. Are the Lostaways simply part of an island theater production? Or are the Others a travelling Broadway show? Time may tell.
Though Claire believed Rousseau was involved with the Others’ attempt to kidnap her, it’s revealed she did the opposite and actually carried Claire back to the beach after Claire was assisted out of the facility by a young brunette woman who is certainly Rousseau’s long-lost daughter, Alex. In the end, Rousseau and Claire were both looking for something at the facility and came up with nothing, EXCEPT a better understanding of one another and possibly even a bond that may prove to be an important step in someday incorporating Rousseau into the Camp.
For subplot information, see Notes and Thoughts.
Notes and Thoughts
Does Rousseau just stalk around the jungle day and night? It seems like no matter where you are or what time of day it is, she’s always right around the corner waiting to say something cryptic. Also, is she suicidal? When Kate had the gun to her head in the jungle, she asked Kate to pull the trigger. This seems a little out of character. She’s been surviving alone in a scary ass jungle for 16 years and has access to any number of ways to die. If she really wanted to do it, she could write her own ending, she doesn’t need Kate’s help. I thought that was really odd.
The jury is still out on Henry Gale. When Eko made him poop his pants at the end of the episode with the whole confession/knife/goatee-shaving ditty I thought Henry was very convincing as a scared-shitless victim of circumstance. Then he comes right back with what seemed to be a very calculated comment at the end, asking Locke why he lets Jack run the show. This disturbed Locke deeply and will undoubtedly make the unsteady leadership within the Camp even more fractious, and will be a running theme from here until the end of the season. It’s hard to say who or what Henry Gale is. But I do know that pictures have surfaced on the internet in the last week that shows a hot air balloon on set in the jungle. Hmmm…
Speaking of Eko’s confession, I’m wondering if he did this just to get it off his chest like he said or if he was gauging a reaction from Henry. Henry’s only reaction seemed to be fear and a “why are you telling this to me?” I’m interested to see how others interpreted that scene.
Jack was upset in the last episode when Sayid was torturing Henry. Now he’s okay with keeping him captive and treating him like a prisoner. Just an observation.
Ethan referred to the Others as a family.
It seems the Others aren’t just jungle people who stalk around and kidnap fools - they’re bona fide doctors or scientists of some sort. And there were quite a few of them dressed up in scrubs ready for surgery.
When Zeke called Ethan over to the door to have their conversation, Zeke said “when HE finds out about this”… are they talking about the doctor from the film, Marvin Candle? What about the founder of the Dharma Initiative? Alvar Hanso? Is HE visiting sometime soon? How would HE find out? Phone call? Snail mail? Fax?
There are THREE hatches that we know of right now - the one that was found in this episode was abandoned within the last 45 days roughly. Possibly after Ethan Rom’s shooting death? I think there are supposed to be six hatches (stations) total. The one from last night seemed to be a medical facility where possible experimentation could be going on. The Swan Station (main hatch) is for button-pushing. The third, where the Tail-section castaways camped for a few days looked like nothing more than a storage shed.
Ethan injected a “vaccine” into Claire. When Desmond was introduced at the beginning of the season, he injected a substance into himself as well.
Outrageous Claims
Mr Eko is chopping down trees and asked for a saw. I believe he’s either making another raft or Braveheart-like spears to defend against the English army.
Rousseau’s motivations center on finding out about her daughter - she’s helped the Camp but hasn’t committed to becoming a tribe member in sharing resources and group protection, preferring to do everything solo. She’s really fucking weird.
Why haven’t the Others changed Rousseau’s message that’s been on a 16-year loop? It was originally a transmission of the numbers so why haven’t they changed it back?
This review is very average. But this episode was really good. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
March 2nd, 2006 at 9:01 pm
I loved the episode, and that’s a great review.
There are a lot of things that don’t make sense just yet.
I think Libby is an “Other”. And i think the guy they’re keeping in the hatch also is.
March 5th, 2006 at 11:23 pm
I thought this was a great episode too. The lack of flashbacks may be a really good thing, because I think the main characters have been fleshed out for all we really care to know. I’d like to see more of Hurley’s story, particularly how he ended up in the asylum in the first place, and who the guy was who he got the numbers from. The lack of flashbacks was a big change, and the episode also changed all of what we know about The Others. It’s hard to know where to go from here because everything up until now is basically thrown right out the window.
March 13th, 2006 at 11:30 am
Nice review. I’m thinking Henry Gale (Wizard of Oz uncle/wizard arrived in a hot air balloon) is the HE that Zeke is referring to. Lokking forward to the next non re-run episode.
April 2nd, 2006 at 3:07 am
Jacks Hot Stuff!!!
April 2nd, 2006 at 3:09 am
I think this ep showed more development in these much loved characters.