2x15 Maternity Leave

[Bombyx mori]

not a big fan of this episode as all. why was claire so convinced that the people that kidnapped her had a cure for her baby's fever?

[Dr. Chameleon]

Originally Posted by hailey

and speaking of beards, why do the others have that stuff? or more accurately, why did the DI have it? the DI theatre group??

Yeah, that really bugs me. I've asked this before: why do the Others have so much invested in creating illusions? Three seasons later, based on what we know about them, it really doesn't make sense. I can sort of understand why they would've stripped the station (why leave valuable stuff where they can't easily access it) but all the fakery leads me to believe it's poor planning on the part of the creators.

I also wondered why the spirit gum would be Dharma brand, although my partner suggested if they were trying to create some kind of permanent uptopian society on the island, they might as well have some theatrical entertainment. I can buy that.

[Mister Derp]

Deception is one of the most valuable assets you could possibly have in a conflict. Keeping your enemy uncertain about your true nature prevents them from properly assessing the situation and forming a successful strategy. Remember how easy it was for Michael to convince the Losties that the Others were basically a bunch of underfed savages? Remember how bad they got screwed heading into the situation with that assumption?

[Dr. Chameleon]

Originally Posted by Mister Derp

Deception is one of the most valuable assets you could possibly have in a conflict. Keeping your enemy uncertain about your true nature prevents them from properly assessing the situation and forming a successful strategy. Remember how easy it was for Michael to convince the Losties that the Others were basically a bunch of underfed savages? Remember how bad they got screwed heading into the situation with that assumption?

Good point! I'm not much of a strategic thinker, obviously.

Also: Ethan drags out the old "good people" line again. I'm with Lapidus on this one.

I also think it's interesting that Ethan tried to make it clear that he was giving Claire a choice (which he wasn't really, considering the lies and the drugs he was feeding her), and that the brief conversation with Tom suggested that Ethan was going off a bit half-cocked, which may explain why he seems a little out of control and more violent than necessary.

[DharmaVan]

I understand that Claire is upset over sick Aaron and that her behavior in this episode was to add dramatic tension, but she yells at everyone who is trying to help her. It got kind of annoying after a while.

I'm really liking Libby's character a lot in the re-watch.

GALE: Are you the genius, or are you the guy who always feels like he's living in the shadow of a genius?
LOCKE: I was -- I was never very much into literary analysis.
GALE: I just don't understand why you let the doctor call the shots.
LOCKE: No one calls the shots. Jack and I make decisions together.
GALE: Right, okay. -- My mistake.

[CameraOne]

So far in my rewatch of Season 2, this has rebounded to my favorite of the this season. It was refreshing to see Claire be the focus of this episode, with a few touching scenes from Rousseau and even Libby using her psychology skills. Kate wasn't annoying... it was hilarious when Danielle asked her to pull the trigger. Ben made his first quips in this episode too.

Claire asking Sun if she were a mother, and Sun saying a mother should never leave her child had more impact because of what happened in Season 5.

Why did Claire need the vaccine? I suppose Ethan was lying about nothing having enough for her and the baby? Why were they injecting her? What was that liquid? And were they seriously going to cut the baby out of Claire? It's been so long I don't remember if these have been answered.

I remember the first time I watched this, I didn't like the Jack/Locke flip-flop... in "One of Them", Locke was ok with torturing Henry Gale but in this episode, Locke seemed to be against keeping Henry locked up.

[MiezeSchindler]

Originally Posted by CameraOne

Why did Claire need the vaccine? I suppose Ethan was lying about nothing having enough for her and the baby? Why were they injecting her? What was that liquid? And were they seriously going to cut the baby out of Claire? It's been so long I don't remember if these have been answered.

Yes, I wonder why too. Plus: Why didn´t they analyse or even talk about the vaccine Desmond left at the hatch?
I considered "the infection" to be a major affair, when I first watched LOST. But I think they just dropped it later on?!

[sdorian]

I think Brothers Karamazov is telling (whether the authors of the show had this all planned out...) in that Locke almost prophetically gives Ben a book about murdering a father. as Ben did his. as Ben will try to make Locke kill his father too. I haven't read Brothers Karamazov, but I read Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, which is about morally justifying murder, making your own morality, and ultimately the need to be forgiven and redemption. I believe, in Brothers Karamozov, the gist is that all these brothers feud over wrongs about their father and various love triangles and the son who murders his father is exiled to Siberia. Maybe it's foreshadow that patrocidal Ben will be exiled off the island..to a wasteland even. I wonder what Locke was thinking when he chose that book to give to Ben/Henry.

Also, when some other traumaticky thing was going on outside, Sawyer catches Locke ostensibly alphabetically arranging the books in the shelf. It looked like Locke was looking for something, like a piece of paper stuck between the pages of a book or something. I wonder what that was all about. I think that was in "The Long Con."

In the last episode, Locke's up for Ben torture and Jack isn't. Now it's almost reversed. The disagreement between Locke and John is so obvious, Sawyer was able to use it to con, so it's easy for Ben to exploit it. Second time around, I nearly laughed when I heard: "so what are we going to do with him?" and Ben's "why don't you let me go?" you know, for a guy being tortured and beat up a lot, Ben really has a sense of humor. I absolutely hate Ben and have wanted him to die for a couple of seasons, but I absolutely love that actor ...for making Ben so evil and interesting. What's that expression, someone you just love to hate? yeah, Michael Emerson is awesome. and hitting Locke where it really hurts, that Locke's not in charge of his life, but is still being told what to do...knowing all that follows, I only wish Jack had softened to Locke and they could've put ego and leader aside and work together.

and here's creepy Ethan again. creeeepy. I don't buy for a sec that the Others are good people, nor that they want it to be Claire's choice to give them the baby. If they wanted her choice, they'd tell her what they did to Charlie. They were going to do a C-section, why the "choice" scene? and then, if they want the baby so badly, how come no more attempts to steal him?

I didn't like Claire in this episode the first time. Too freaked out and jumpy. But now I admire her assertiveness. ...and Sun, who says "a mother shouldn't leave her child", leaves hers.

At the medical station, looks like the Others knew Claire's baby was a boy before she did, with no examination or anything. how'd they pull that off? The song the mobile plays, isn't that what Christian used to sing to her that she wanted to be sung to her baby?

Poor Rousseau. If I had been forced to kill my crew and Robert because they went nuts (or vice versa) and tried to kill me and my baby was taken from me and I was stranded alone for 16 years, I bet I'd have no fear to walk up to a gun and beg them to shoot. (Alex really looks related to Rousseau, although maybe it's just the hair.) Rousseau escaped the Others with an 8 month pregnant woman on her back to prevent them from stealing another baby!

We see why the Others needed it, but why did Dharma need theatrical glue? Maybe DI put on plays as disheveled bums for each other.

I think the scene with Eko is great. We don't know if he's the drug dealer sizing Ben up and passively threatening him, or the priest asking forgiveness to an Other for killing Others. I tend to believe Eko knows who Ben is and his speech is a bit of both...Ben shouldn't bother lying to him, he's doing Ben the courtesy of telling him why he's being kept prisoner, and warning him that they're treating him better than the Others treated them, threatening of what he/Eko is capable of doing while also repenting for it, as a leery truce to the Others...

man, so much to think about. I don't know if I've ever dissected a show this much, or been presented with one that really got me thinking. awesome. I love LOST!!!