'Lost': Maternity Leave

Strap in, kids: this is Lost at its best. It's Claire-centric, but it's so good I don't make one joke about the way that she says "baaaaybeeee" in my recap. It's a deft blend of character-based drama and delicious mythology. Oh, Lost mythology, if I could I'd drizzle you on my oatmeal on a daily basis. Now THAT'S a balanced breakfast, people. But enough about my morning routine: on with the recap!

Maternity Leave

4) In Short

"Get up, come on, get down with the sickness!"

8) On the Island

Claire is tending to Aaron, who won't stop crying. She wakes John up, telling her new protector that her child is burning up with a fever. She wants to find Jack, but he's on hatch duty. Locke volunteers to get him, since he's on button duty in the hatch, and doesn't want her to walk through the jungle alone. Locke wakes Jack up, and takes the doc's place in the hatch. He eyes the armory door wearily.

While tending to Aaron, Claire is surprised to see Danielle close by. She instinctively protects her child, in that, you know, Danielle tends to kidnap him. Danielle notes that Aaron shows signs of "infection," is surprised to learn Claire "doesn't remember." Those words cause a burst of images to appear inside Claire's noggin (a young woman, a needle, Danielle seemingly attacking her). At that moment, Kate comes to the rescue, warning Danielle to stay away. Danielle sulks back into the jungle, but her words stay lodged in Claire's ears.

Jack tries to console Claire, telling her sicknesses such as these are typical of children his age, and that the fever will run its course. He's not a fan of Danielle's second opinion, and notes that no one has gotten sick in the last two months. (Unless you count being sick of each other.) The following morning, Kate and Claire take Aaron to Libby. She doesn't want medical treatment: she wants to remember those lost days after Ethan took her. Libby doesn't think Claire has amnesia so much a selective memory block. Claire asks for Libby to unlock her.

Jack and Locke bring Henry Gale food and a book, respectively. The book? The Brothers Karamazov. Henry dryly wonders why he didn't get any Stephen King. Jack wonders why Locke would bother giving their prisoner a book. Locke in turn wants to know the long-term plan about their new roommate. Jack doesn't want anyone to know about Henry until they are sure of his identity. When he asks Mr. Clean if he has any better idea, Henry's muffled voice can be heard: "How about you let me go?" God, "Henry" is the bestest. Better than Christmas morning and slo-motion shots of Shakira.

On the beach, Libby slowly hypnotizes Claire. I won't minutely recap this, as hypnotism freaks me the heck out. The sum total: we go into what we think is an off-Island flashback, set in a doctor's office, but is an actuality an on-Island flashback. We get that impression when we see the Dharma keychain wielded by her obstetrician, one Ethan Rom. He loads a syringe with an unknown drug, and injects it into Claire's pregnant baby. Claire wakes up from her hypnotic vision screaming, with the intent on finding the place Ethan took her.

Hey, Eko! Nice to see ya, man. You've been chopping trees for like, the past six episodes or so. Nice of you to stop by the Hatch. Eko's looking for a saw to help with his woodworking, and Jack makes sure Henry (now allowed to go to the bathroom) keeps his trap shut while Locke aids Eko.

Kate confronts Sawyer: she wants a gun, and she wants it now. Sawyer wants to know why. She says she's going moose-hunting with Sarah Palin. Kidding: she's off to find Rousseau, due to Aaron's sickness. Because Sawyer's ultimately a softie, he drops his hard line due to the sick child and asks, "Whaddya want, 9MM or rifle?" That's the Island's version of "Paper or plastic?"

Sun tries to dissuade Claire from going into the jungle. This has something to do with safety, and something to do with Claire offloading a potentially contagious kid into Sun's arms. When all else fails, Sun notes a mother should not leave her child alone. Claire gets a "oh no you DIDN'T" look on her face and asks Sun if she's a mother. Ouch. Sun quietly asks Claire if she's sure about this, which triggers another on-Island OB-GYN Initiative flashback.

It's injection time, and boy is Claire drugged up beyond belief. Looks like this has happened many times since, with a type of bond now existing between the two. Ethan has a surprise for Claire, he tells her. They walk down an industrial hallway, past a brand new Dharma logo (with a red caduceus in the center) into the world's most disconcerting nursery. It's not disconcerting in that there's a mobile of bloody entrails; the weirdness comes from the juxtaposition between the industrial hatch and the warm, inviting atmosphere of the nursery.

As Claire inspects the digs, the mobile above the crib catches her eye. It consists not of the aforementioned entrails, but airplanes. Somehow more creepy. Even creepier: the mobile plays the exact same song she requested Aaron's prospective adoptive parents to sing before being unable to sign over the rights to him. While Claire stares at the mobile, mesmerized, an off-camera voice calls Ethan over. The voice belongs to a suddenly unbearded Mr. Friendly. He's plenty PO'ed at Ethan for kidnapping Claire. He was supposed to make a list, check it twice, and THEN go about stringing up washed-up rock stars. Mr. Friendly asks, "What am I supposed to tell him?"

Back to life, back to reality: Claire wakes up from her waking dream, says her goodbyes to Aaron, and treks off into the jungle with Kate. While following the trail, Claire seeks a little Rousseau 101. After Kate mentions that Danielle killed her entire crew 16 years ago, Claire wishes she had opted for ignorance. Danielle chooses that moment to reveal herself. Claire swoops in, stating all of the things she now remembers. Danielle's face changes when she hears Claire mention a teenaged girl, and agrees to take her to the place where Claire scratched her a few weeks back.

On the beach, Eko asks for a word with Jack. Turns out Eko knows about the man in the hatch, even though Locke stayed quiet about his presence. Eko wants to talk to the Mystery Man alone, in return for keeping his presence a secret from the others. (Not, you know, the Others.)

Danielle leads the trio into a lush part of the jungle, and seeks Claire's insight into the next location. Problem is, Claire doesn't remember anything about that site, and insists Danielle was trying to take her back to the Others from this location, Danielle snaps, stating the only reason she led them there was due to Claire's returning memory. Kate tries to ward off Danielle via the power of the gun, but Danielle just morosely walks over to Kate, presses herself against the gun, and says, " Go ahead. Please. Do it. " Kate's a little thrown, to say the least, ans hightails it after Claire who has gone off on a little walkabout. A nearby tree trunk sparks a new on-Island flashback.

Claire's knitting in her nursery. Ethan suggests the two of them sneak out for a walk. He takes her to the same trunk that just sparked Claire's memory. She's either just played six games of beer pong or is increasingly hopped up on Dharma dope. (The medicine-filled canteen probably isn't helping.) Ethan wants to tell Claire a secret: he's going to miss her when she's gone. He insists there's only enough vaccine for the baby once it arrives, and that she needs to return back to her friends. She wants to know if she can see the baby, and well, Ethan has an interesting response:

Hey, nobody's going to take him from you unless that's what you want. You have a choice. We're good people, Claire. We're a good family. But if you're going to trust us with your child I want you to be sure. Okay?

These words wake Claire from her present-day daze, and soon she's off running, more sure than ever of where she was held captive. The sudden and dramatic rain sure isn't helping her search, but soon, she tears away some thick brush to find the Staff Station. What was one clinical but functional is now fluorescently decayed, a shell of the facility Claire remembers. Everyone looks like they are worried a face hugger is about to impregnate them with alien babies.

Claire finally finds what was once the nursery, and is now an abandoned room, with the shadow of the animal decals ghosting the walls. In other part of the facility, Kate comes across a locker room. Inside one locker, she finds something curious: a host of tattered clothes that look awfully familiar to anyone who's seen an Other in the woods. Underneath those? A bottle of "theatrical glue," and a beard. Methinks The Others like to celebrate Halloween a lot. Too bad it's so dangerous trick or treating between the hatches.

A knitted bootie on the floor sends Claire back in time, this time remember her encounter with the mystery teenaged girl. She insists that Claire has to get out of there pronto, and helps a severely drug-addled Claire towards the hallway, where they spy several surgeons prepping at the other end. This girl insists they are going to cut her child out that night. Claire doesn't believe it, and starts to yell for Ethan. The girl responds in kind by chloroforming the mother to be.

In the present day, Claire looks for medicine in the operating room. Danielle merely stares while Claire and Kate lift up a toppled refrigerator. When Claire realizes all the medicine is gone, she confronts Danielle one final time about the drugs' location. But staring at Danielle's scratch marks sends her back one final time in her mind's eye.

Claire wakes up in the jungle, groggily asking for Ethan. She peers around, unable to see or hear anyone. While crying out, Rousseau comes across her. Torches appear in the near distance as Claire calls out for Ethan. Finally, after Claire scratches the bejesus out of her arm, Danielle knocks her out with the butt of her rifle. In the present, Claire apologizes for thinking the worst about Danielle. Danielle walks away glumly, stating that Claire wasn't the only one who didn't find what she was looking for. (What, is Bono in the Staff as well?)

Before parting ways, Claire gives Danielle a little bit of info about the teenage girl: that she has blue eyes, helped save Claire, and was "good." A bit of a loaded word, I know, but in this case, connotatively accurate. Claire's words bring somewhat of a tearful smile to Danielle's face before they part.

In the hatch, Jack and Locke prep Eko for Henry interrogation. And what follows is like experiencing overnight camping: intense. (Sound it out. It's funny. I swear.) Eko doesn't so much as question Henry as confess to him. He tells Henry how he killed two men his first night on the Island, but he was now on the righteous path. Henry wants to know why Eko is telling him this. "Because I have to tell someone," he replies, and proceeds to cut off the mini-goatee that has sprouted below Eko's chin.

On the beach, Claire is relived to learn that Aaron's fever has broken. She puts on the booty she found inside the Staff, and confesses that she wanted them to take him originally. But now, she knows they are supposed to take care of each other. Turnip Head is too busy eating the knitted booty to make any form of reply. Babies tend to do that.

Back in the hatch, Locke brings Henry a bowl of food. "No cheeseburgers?" Henry asks. Henry gently prods Locke's insecurities, asking why he lets Jack call all the shots. Locke insists they work as a team. Henry apologizes for the mistake, and goes about eating his food. But as Locke proceeds to wash some dishes, he loses it, throwing bowls and plates every which way as Henry slowly looks up from his bowl of food.

15) Off the Island

Um, I got some pretzels about halfway through while watching. Does that count?

16) The Mythology

I mean, this episode is like the mythology motherlode, isn't it? (Pun intended.) Usually at this point of the recap, I try and provide expert analysis of what went down on the mythology front, but there are a ridiculous number of elements either introduced or expanding in this episode. So forgive me the dissertation-length recap and instead just highlight how many fronts were touched in this episode.

1. The Sickness. Reintroduced in a big way, through the eventual fake out concerning Aaron's illness. But still, those vaccines are nevertheless important to The Others as a means of somehow preventing the series of stillborns on the Island. Speaking of...
2. Baby Issues. This is the first episode that introduced the importance of Claire's pregnancy into the overall arc of the Others. We couldn't possibly know the import at this time, but I definitely peered down that hall looking for one Juliet Burke.
3. Mind into Matter. Ethan's insistence on Claire's "choice" to give up the baby echoes an oft repeated scene here on the blog, in which Ben states that Jack has to WANT to perform spinal surgery on him in order for it to be successful. For some reason, Claire's permission HAS to be granted if there's even a remote chance of success in extracting Aaron from her.
4. Mittelos Biosciences. Indirectly referenced through the use of "Catch a Falling Star." You honestly think Mikhail couldn't find out about this song after Oceanic 815 crashed? Exactly.
5. Him.  Or rather, the multiple "Hims," with the ever-expanding social hierarchy getting an extra layer added atop the Mr. Friendly food chain. The "him" in question has to be Ben, although obviously we didn't know this at the time. Speaking of Mr. Friendly...
6. The art of deception. A hallmark of The Others, and apparently The Dharma Initiative. They are like Transformers: more than meets the eye. In fact, I might just start referring to The Others as Decepticons.

Whew. I need a cigarette.

23) The Moment

Watching Rousseau's face as she learned that her daughter was alive still brings chills.

42) In Retrospect

1. I loved all the little details of Ben's dialogue that eventually gets shown to have some basis in his previous life. The Stephen King reference as a book club shout out, the cheeseburger as a shout out to Juliet's culinary skills. Sure, these tidbits were added later in response to this scene, but upon rewatching them, such bits still feel wonderfully organic.
2. "I'm sorry, are YOU a mother?" Talk about loaded, given what we know now about Sun/Jin's issues around this topic pre-Island, and the fact that as Claire says this, Sun's actually preggers.
3. Today's study question: could Ethan's lack of list, coupled with his eventual death, send Ben on a "If you want something done right, do it yourself" journey that led straight into Rousseau's net? We've seen Ben as both master strategizer and awful improviser. Look no further than the latter half of Season 3 to see how rashly he acts when things go wrong. Just food for thought.

108) In Summary

I didn't go into it thinking this was a bad episode, but I forgot how unbelievably good this was until popping it back into my DVD player tonight. From an urgent plot (Claire aims to save her baby) to a loaded back story (enough mythology to choke a black horse) onto its unique narrative (never straying from the Island), this one truly has it all.

A few of you thought I overpraised "One of Them," and maybe you're right: I was just so damn happy to watch Benry from the beginning that I slightly overlooked the less-than-stellar bits surrounding his presence. But "Maternity Leave" is equally as strong when he's offscreen as when he's on.

Leave your thoughts about this episode below!

Ryan also posts every 108 minutes over at Boob Tube Dude, then peruses Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group.