Lost ReWatch: Maternity Leave
Season 2, Episode 15
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Hero of the episode: Claire, Danielle, Alex Zero of the episode: Ethan, Ben
Quote(s) of the episode: “You’re not the only one who didn’t find what they were looking for.” –Danielle to Claire | “They are being careful because they believe you are lying.”—Mr. Eko to Fake Henry
Music vibes: elevator music during Claire’s medical exam turns sinister and creepy as Ethan injects her with “medicine”
Little things: first glimpses of Danielle’s daughter, Alex | Claire telling Aaron that they were meant to be mother and son
Episode notebook:
Claire-focused episode. Flashbacks to her kidnapping and her time spent in another Dharma hatch.
Aaron is sick. His cries attract the attention of Danielle, who claims Aaron is infected with a sickness. Others dismiss Danielle as crazy, but Claire believes.
Claire asks Libby for help remembering her two weeks with Ethan.
With help from Libby, Claire remembers being held in a facility on the island. She’s convinced there is medicine there for Aaron. But she needs Danielle’s help to find it.
Claire remembers a teenage girl at the facility, which gets Danielle’s interest. Is that teen girl Alex?
Eko discovers Locke and Jack are hiding someone in the hatch. Eko asks to speak to the prisoner and confesses to killing the men who attacked him on the first night. Eko needed to unburden his soul on someone, who better than a stranger.
Kate, Claire, and Danielle find the Dharma station where Claire was held. More memories come.
Kate finds tattered clothing and makeup in one of the rooms.
Alex helped Claire escape before the doctors could take the baby and kill her.
Fake Henry starts his mind games with Locke, noticing the power disparity between him and Jack.
Episode recap: Ear-splitting cries of a young Aaron are pushing a frazzled Claire to her limits. She’s done everything to try to quiet her son. His cries draw the attention of a perceived enemy—Danielle. She plants the seed in Claire’s head that the baby is infected with the same sickness that plagued Danielle’s shipmates. Aaron’s fever and rash add weight to Danielle’s words, but that’s not enough to convince Jack that it’s anything more than a normal childhood illness. But nothing deters a determined mother, especially as Claire begins to experience disturbing flashbacks of her two-week captivity with Ethan. With a little help from Libby (she’s a clinical psychologist), Claire is on a mission to unlock those memories as they might be the key to curing her ailing child.
The flashes to Claire’s time with Ethan play out like a bad trip to the doctor. A pregnant Claire speaks in a loopy and cheerful manner, while Ethan prepares to inject her with a “vaccine.” He insists the vaccine is to protect her from a mysterious pathogen, but it feels more like a method of control, a way to keep her subdued and prevent her from escaping. Ethan and his accomplices have manipulated Claire into believing she is with them voluntarily, even though she's locked in a windowless, metal dungeon.
These glimpses into her time with Ethan frighten Claire. Kate tries to convince her to take a beat, maybe Claire’s memories are not real or are jumbled together. How can Claire know what’s real and what’s not? But everything is real to Claire, even the “vaccine” Ethan injected into her. That “vaccine” could cure Aaron and Claire wants to find it. But it means asking Danielle for help. Claire remembers scratching Danielle before she was reunited with the larger group. Rousseau is not the most trustworthy, but she’s Claire’s only lead.
When Kate and Claire find Rousseau, Danielle is initially hesitant to help. But when Claire starts describing what and whom she remembers—including a teenage girl—Danielle's interest is piqued. Alex? Could that teen girl be Alex? The first ray of hope for Danielle in sixteen years. Now we have two mothers on a mission, both are trying to save their children from a common enemy—the “Others.” They get some answers when Claire remembers the location of the Dharma station she was held in. It’s now abandoned, just some stray furniture, ratty clothing, and makeup remain. If I may digress, I don’t remember or understand why the Others needed to disguise themselves behind tattered clothing? Why did they need to pretend to be dirty, feral people when they weren’t? Hoping those answers lay ahead and are not another dropped storyline.
The empty station doesn’t hold or provide the answers either mother was looking for. No vaccine. No sign of Alex. But one mystery is solved—why Claire scratched Danielle. A doped-up Claire remembers being freed by the young girl, waking up in the jungle determined to return to Ethan and the false safety of the underground dungeon. Fortunately, Danielle stumbled upon Claire before Ethan, she scratches her savior in the process who was trying to save not hurt her.
That little insight into the young girl who freed Claire gives Danielle some comfort. She freed Claire to save her life and the baby’s, this young girl is not like the Others. She has a protective spirit; she has a goodness that hasn’t been spoiled. That’s the kind of person Aaron could be one day. As his fever breaks and rash clears, Claire realizes she and Aaron are meant to be. Meant to protect each other no matter what. Please keep reading my recap for episode sixteen is posted.