'Lost': Raised by Another

Talk about a one-two punch: first "Solitary," now "Raised by Another," another mythologically loaded, show-expanding episode of Lost. Given the events of Season 4, this episode now resonates more than ever, with the long-term planning of the show really making itself evident with the events in the latter half of the most recent season. But for now, let's go back to where it all began, shall we?

Raised by Another

4) In Short

"Dionne Warwick and her cavalcade of psychic friends ain't got nuttin' on this guy."

8) On the Island

A new eyeball gets a close-up to start an episode: this time, it's Claire. She wakes up in the caves, hearing a baby crying nearby. She feels her very flat, very un-pregnant tummy. She follows the cries into the jungle, where she comes across John Locke, sitting at a table with an electric lamp, reading tarot cards, with one eye completely white and the other complete black.

He tells her that "He was your responsibility but you gave him away, Claire. Everyone pays the price now." Well, that's not creepy at all. She then finds a crib, with an Oceanic plane mobile above it. She unraps the blanket in the crib to find a huge pool of blood. OK, now I want my mommy. Turns out this all was a nightmare, which we learn when she wakes up screaming the way I scream whenever I see Bill Larry the Cable Guy on Comedy Central.

Jack tends to Claire's bloody palm (a side effect from digging her nails into them during the dream), and confides in Kate that she's due to give birth soon. He doesn't seem too thrilled by the idea. Charlie tries to console Claire by sharing one of his own dreams, and then offers to be her friend. It's freakin' adorable, but she reads between the lines, and isn't ready for the type of friendship he's offering. He takes the hint and walks away, tail between his English legs.

That night, Claire has a vision/dream of someone putting a hand over her mouth and injecting her with something. Or was it real? That's the question, as several people question the reality of her story. As far as she's concerned, this really happened. Hurley points out that in lieu of the recent events, a census should be taken as a way to both make an official record of those still on the beach and a way to enforce some type of order on the Island. This promises to end...interestingly.

The following morning, Jack and Charlie argue over the reality of her attack while Hurley takes his census, including a man named Ethan Rom. Ethan's from Ontario. Ontario's not in Portland. Just sayin'. Jack tries to give Claire a sedative to calm her down, but she worries about how that might affect the BAY-BEE and storms off. Charlie catches up with her and decides to make sure she's safe going back to the beach.

While continuing his census, Hurley learns of the existence of the flight manifest, which could be used to cross-reference the census with those already dead. Turns out Sawyer has the manifest, which Hurley manages to obtain after pointing out Sawyer could "use the points."

While walking in the jungle, Claire starts to have contractions in the jungle, and orders Charlie back to the caves to get Jack. On the way, he runs into Ethan, who seems incredibly concerned about Claire's well-being. He agrees to run back to the caves while Charlie tends to Claire. Charlie then suggests that rather than being a fraud, the psychic might have known EXACTLY what he was doing in putting Claire on that flight. Claire, upon hearing this, agrees. She tries to return to the caves, feeling much better physically.

And then: Sayid breathlessly tells Jack they are not alone on the Island. Hurley tells Jack there's someone not on the manifest in their camp. And Claire and Charlie run into Ethan Rom's creepy ass stare.

15) Off the Island

Claire's freaking out, along with her boyfriend Thomas, over a positive pregnancy test. After initially freaking out, Thomas suggests they could raise the child, despite her low-paying job and his painting career. He says this "could be the best thing ever," which is Hollywood for "this guy's due for a freakout in the second half of the episode."

Claire's friend Rachel takes her to a psychic, an endeavor that Claire's less than thrilled about. We see her sitting at a table that looks awfully familiar to one we saw in the jungle earlier in the episode. He takes her palms, closes his eyes, and then asks when she found out about the baby. Claire's skepticism is punctured, and then both she and psychic Richard start freakin' the eff out. He hands her back his money with shaky hands, and asks her to leave.

Back in Claire's apartment, Thomas is applying hot coals to his cold feet. The fit is about to hit the shan. He tells her he cannot be a father to their child, as all the responsibility that goes with it doesn't jive with his "paint still lifes of peaches and puppies" lifestyle. We can see your "art," T-Bone: the future's not looking too good for ya. I mean, maybe your art mind end up in an office someday, but besides that?

Claire revisits the psychic, who still shows insanely accurate insight into her life. She presses on, anxious to know what "blurry" thing he saw last time. Richard seems almost physically ill by what he sees. And this happens:

MALKIN: I can tell you, this is important.

CLAIRE: Okay.

MALKIN: It is crucial that you, yourself, raise this child.

CLAIRE: You mean with Thomas? Is he..

MALKIN: The father of this child will play no part in its life, nor yours.

CLAIRE: So what exactly are you saying?

MALKIN: This child parented by anyone else, anyone other than you -- danger surrounds this baby. . .

CLAIRE: Danger?

MALKIN: Your nature, your spirit, your goodness, must be an influence in the development of this child.

Whoa. Even creepier this time around, knowing what happens in Season 4.

A few months later, Richard calls Claire in the middle of the night, saying he has a plan for the child. Claire refuses to listen, saying she's going to put the child up for adoption the following day. At the adoption meeting, the couple's lawyer lays out the ground rules for the transaction: Claire essentially gets a lot of cash and, in return, will never see her baby again. She requests that "Catch a Falling Star," be sung to the child, since it was a song her father sang to her as a child. However, the pen doesn't work while Claire tries to sign the paperwork. Having second thoughts, she flees, and runs right back to the psychic.

Richard's plan? Fly to LA, where a couple is anxious to raise the child. Claire notes the irony in him suddenly wanting her to give away the child, when for months he insisted she has to raise it herself. He notes these are "good" people, and yea, there goes the hairs on the back on my neck. He gives her a ticket for Oceanic 815, leaving the following day, and insists it must be THAT plane.

16) The Mythology

The first show that demonstrated that the freaky events on the Island were not solely contained within this Island. This, "Special," and "S.O.S.," just to name a few, showed that strange things were afoot before our Lostaways ever landed on what Shannon so gleefully calls, "Craphole Island." We'll learn more about Malkin later, but needless to say, many things in this episode now suggest that everything in Claire's life in the 8 months leading up to her landing on the island was part of a larger design.

Oh, and there's apparently a boatload of people on this Island. (Or maybe a submarine-load is a more appropriate phrase.)

23) The Moment

Ethan's insane, soul-piercing stare at the end.

42) In Retrospect

1. Jack to Kate: "Ah, new plan. You're going to just sink your way right off the island." Boy, given what happened in the Season 4 finale, sounds like Kate was on to something!
2. We know now who was injecting Claire, and why. Those of you new to game will have to wait a season, but your first guess is probably your best guess.
3. I sat up when Thomas talked about Claire's "Daddy abandonment crap." Wonder if they knew, all along, who her father was? More than likely, I'd wager, which also makes all the early Jack/Claire interactions that much more fascinating in retrospect. It's funny, after Season 1, the two don't really share a lot of screen time. But here? It's front and center.
4. Did the island make her preggers? Did the Island make the pen run out of ink? Silly questions before "Meet Kevin Johnson." Now? Not so much. You decide!
5. Favorite line of the re-view: Ethan's line reading "You would think so," in response to Hurley's line, "You'd think after a couple of weeks on the island with the same people, we'd all know each other." I mean, my God: the disdain implied in that response just encapsulates a certain opinion a certain group has of our survivors. And yes, I struggled in making it even that vague.
6. Speaking of which, Malkin's assertion that the couple in LA are "good" people brings a severe chill in retrospect. His flip-flop on Claire's raising the baby is a convenient way to show the conflicting sides centered on her child, sides that are only now truly striking blows at one another.

108) In Summary

The reveal of Ethan Rom, and the subsequent events that transpire in the episodes to come, really gave the show a true antagonist for the first time. With the monster largely unseen in recent weeks, and survival more and more likely through hunting and water supply, the show turned the show sharply in introducing an on-Island, human threat for our survivors. On top of that, we finally learned that events on the Island may have been set in motion long before anyone boarded Oceanic 815. A stellar episode, a Top 5 of Season 1 installment, and a remarkable primer for events that finally transpired years later.

Leave your thoughts about this episode below!

Ryan also posts every 108 minutes over at Boob Tube Dude.

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