TV Review: Lost Episode 2.15

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

FROM ABC: A desperate Claire, along with Kate and Rousseau, attempts a return to the scene of her kidnapping where she believes she might find the cure for Baby Aaron's mysterious illness. Meanwhile, Jack and Locke must keep their prisoner a secret from the rest of the survivors

My Rating: 3 out of 4

Lost returns with an all-new episode this week titled Maternity Leave. This is a Claire centric episode, but instead of the flashbacks going back to her life before her time on the island, they went to the mysterious two weeks that she lost when Ethan kidnapped her. The episode begins with Aaron being sick with a fever and a rash. She wakes up Locke, and he goes to get Jack from the hatch. Jack goes to her camp, and he tells her that the baby is absolutely fine. He just has a fever, and it should go down by the morning.

When it doesn't, Claire asks Kate for her help. She also goes to Libby because she knows before the plane crash, Libby was a therapist. She wants Libby to help her remember the time she was kidnapped because Rousseau came to her camp the night before and told her that the baby was infected. Libby hypnotizes Claire, and she begins to remember what happened. She is in a room with Ethan, and it appears he is giving her a medical exam. He also injects her with something to help the baby. The memory flashes come quicker to her, and she panics. Libby pulls her out.

However, the brief memories she did have pull Claire into wanting to find the place she was held during her captivity. She will go with or without Kate, but she would rather Kate come with her. Kate then goes to Sawyer to ask for a gun. He gives her the usual amount of trouble, but when he hears what she is doing and why, he relents fairly easily. Claire and Kate then go into the jungle to find Rousseau. Claire thinks the woman will lead her to the site of her captivity.

They find her, but it is clear the French woman has no idea where Claire was taken. Claire remembers seeing her near the site and scratching her, but that is all. Claire continues to search for the location with Kate and Rosseau close behind her. They eventually find the site, another Dharma bunker, but there is no one in it. The woman begin to search. Claire ends up in the room that was meant to be her baby's nursery. She even founds a baby booty she knitted while there.

In more of the flashbacks, we see Ethan telling her that there is only enough vaccine for her baby. Once she has the baby, she will be returned to her friends. If she wants to keep her baby, they will let her. It is her decision. However, a teenage girl wakes Claire up to get her out of the facility because they plan to cut her baby out of her and then kill her. The girl helps her escape, and then Rousseau helps her get back to the camp.

It also appears the teenage girl is possibly Rousseau's daughter. When the three find no sign of anyone, they leave. However, Kate did find some costuming and theater glue that could have been used for an appearance of one of the others. We see him in normal attire talking to Ethan during one of Claire's flashbacks. They return to camp, Rousseau leaving them in the jungle, and Aaron's fever has broken.

The Claire story line isn't all that happened in this episode. In the last episode, a man had been found in the jungle by Rousseau and Sayid. This man is still being held captive in the bunker. This week, Locke and Jack must continue to keep the man locked up and secret. It doesn't work all that well because in a visit to the hatch, Eko discovers the man is there, and he goes to Locke to ask to see him. After some work, he is able to get in and talk the man. He sees this as sort of a confession that absolves him of his sins. An interesting scene for a very complex Mr. Eko. I truly love his character.

Well, before I get into what I thought of this episode, let me tell you that we don't have new episodes at all the next two weeks. The calendar I saw didn't go past that, so I'm not sure if an all-new episode will air on March 22nd or not. lost seems to be truly losing steam for me though. The episodes aren't packing as much as a punch as they once were, and this is something I even mentioned on my entertainment blog earlier today.

Tonight's episode was good because it brought back Claire and the story line about her kidnapping. Many fans wanted to know what happened during those two weeks when she was gone. Now we're left wondering where these others now went to. No one was in that bunker, and I know I had pondered a third bunker earlier this season. Now we've seen it, and it is empty. So where are these others holding up now? Are there more bunkers and hatches on the island we haven't seen.

Also, what about this infection? What exactly is it? Does the baby have it? His fever did break, but that doesn't mean he's clean. This opens a door to some more happenings. It could take the show in another direction. I just hope this show picks up a bit of speed because I'm not all that interested right now. You can download a preview for the next episode, airing March 22nd, here, courtesy of txvoodoo on livejournal. If you missed last night's episode you can download it via iTunes here.