>:execute

Thursday, March 02, 2006

alexandra the great?

Baby Aaron won’t stop crying, causing Claire to wake Locke up in a panic. Aaron is burning up and he has a rash. She wants to bring him to Jack, who’s taking a shift in the hatch. - so has he been pressing the button? – Locke tells Claire to stay put, she shouldn’t be walking through the jungle at night, he’ll go get Jack. Wouldn’t want Claire finding Henry down there… A short time later in the swan station, Locke wakes Jack, telling him the baby has a fever (And the only prescription is… more cowbell!). Jack tells him Henry hasn’t made a sound all night, and heads out to check on the baby. Locke settles in on the couch.

Topside, the baby is still crying… and Rousseau is there behind Claire. Claire backs off with Aaron, telling Danielle to stay away. “He’s infected, isn’t he?”
Danielle tells her the baby is sick, and then a look of understanding crosses her face. “You don’t remember, do you?”

Flashback – an alarm is sounding – an airplane mobile spins above a crib – small stainless steel fridge – it’s full of vials – Claire’s knitting a blue baby bootie (say that five times fast) – someone taking the cap off a canteen – teenage girl with dark hair and blue eyes (Alex?) – syringe – injecting into a pregnant belly – Claire and Rousseau fighting – the scratches on Danielle’s arm –

Back to the present – Kate rushes up and chases off Danielle. She asks Claire what she said to her.
“She said there’s something wrong with him.”

L O S T

Jack makes a diagnosis of roseola, a typical baby virus Aaron should get over soon. Claire tells him Danielle told her he was infected. There’s no infection, Jack replies, they’ve been on the island for two months and no one’s gotten sick. “Rousseau is crazy.”
He breaks out some bedside manner to try and make her feel better, and tells her he’ll be back soon to check on him. After being played for a fool by Sawyer, it looks like Kate is back into Jack now. She tells Claire, “If something was wrong, Jack would know.”
Claire’s not convinced, so the next morning she and Kate find Hurley and Libby on the beach playing with Vincent. Claire asks if Libby’s a shrink, and if she could help people remember things. “It depends on what you need to remember.” – does it really? Weird talk for a shrink. maybe it really depends on what Libby doesn’t want her to remember? – Kate and Claire tell Libby what happened to Claire and Charlie, and about Ethan. Kate says, “When Jack and I found Charlie he was hanging from a tree… by his neck!”
That line really cracked me up for some reason… Claire wants Libby to help her regain her lost memories in the hopes that it will reveal the cause of Aaron’s sickness.

Under the hatch, Locke and Jack are looking in on Henry. Jack asks if he has to go to the bathroom. He doesn’t, but he’s looking forward to telling Jack when he does have to. Locke tosses a copy of The Brothers Karamazov on the makeshift bed. “Dostoevsky – you don’t have any Stephen King?” – who is probably tickled pink right now… they’ve gotta have him write an episode. Locke lets him know their library is a little outdated. (but it ain’t.) Back in the kitchen, Locke starts to do the dishes and asks Jack if he knew that Hemingway was jealous of Dostoevsky? Hemingway didn’t think he could get out of Dostoevsky’s shadow. “Kinda sad, really.”
He asks what their long term plan is for the war in Iraq… Henry. I meant Henry. Jack gets all bitchy and snippy, and says they don’t have a long term plan for the button but they keep pushing it (well, isn’t that the long term plan for the button?). Until they know the truth from Gale they have to keep doing what they’re doing. But if Locke has a better idea, let’s hear it.
“You guys could let me go”, Henry yells from the armory. Heh heh heh…thin walls.

On the beach Sun is watching Aaron as Libby puts Claire into a trance, using a weird accent. She tells Claire to visualize herself when she was pregnant and think about what she sees.

Flashback – voiceover “we don’t want him to get sick” – alarm – fridge – vials of CR 4-81516-23 42 – Alex? – Mobile with a pooh pillow under it – someone behind a door – needle – an ultrasound being performed, the monitor showing a baby in the womb – Alex saying “wake up” – injecting belly – flash from the “dream” last season when she thought someone poked her (so Ethan was doing it all along, and she just woke once? He must have been drugging her too) –

Now it’s back to normal and Claire’s in a doctor’s office looking room getting an exam. She tells him she’s going to L.A. and he tells her that third trimester air travel isn’t usually recommended. He understands when she explains that she’s going there to give the baby up for adoption. The doc heads toward the fridge/medicine cabinet we’ve seen in the flashes. It’s locked, but he’s got the key on his handy Dharma keychain. There’s also a Dharma bottle on top of the ultrasound machine, and a painting on the wall behind it that looks an awful lot like an abstract version of something you’d normally find in an OB/GYN office… He opens up the fridge to get the medicine for the baby then turns around… and it’s Ethan!

He tells her not to worry, that she’s just going to feel a little pinch.

– alarms – inject – Alex? – Claire drinking from a canteen – knitting the bootie – fridge – CR 4-81516-23 42 vials – belly injecting – log in the jungle – mobile (are they little oceanic planes?) – ethan smiling –

Claire snaps out of the trance and freaks out.
“I saw Ethan! It was Ethan!” She tells Kate and Libby that Ethan drugged her and was giving her an exam. She asks Kate to help her find the room they had her in so she can find the medicine they were using for Aaron. Kate agrees while Eko chops down trees.

Under the hatch we get a good view of the entire mural as Eko enters. - At the very top there’s a black face with a white face to the left of it, and what’s either the black rock or whatever Desmond was racing around the world on under them. Some type of ship with a sail. Under that is what looks like a typhoon, or a wormhole, or maybe just scribbly circles. Next to it are a few upside down stick figures, and the one on the bottom is surrounded by red. The same red that the floor of the corridor Eko is walking in on is painted. The “wormhole” looks like it turns into a net over a house at the bottom of the mural. There’s a blue arrow pointing up from that house past another house to a white fish with black stripes(?) in a blue patch next to the white head. - Henry is washing up in the bathroom, and Jack joins him when he hears Eko calling, pulling the door closed behind them. He tells Henry to keep silent. Eko finds Locke replacing a light bulb, and asks if he can borrow a saw (He’s gotta be building a church). He glances over and sees the bedding and book in the gun closet. Eko knows something’s up.

On the beach, Kate is all business as she tries to get a gun from Sawyer. She tells him what they need it for, and is having none of his small talk. Kate, or “Thelma”, doesn’t really believe Claire, but she wants to protect her. Awwww. “Alright, whadda ya want: 9MM or a rifle?”
Sun, while trying to talk Claire out of going, asks if she’s sure she wants to do this, and that phrase triggers more memories for Claire.

– log - Ethan saying “You need to be sure” – alarms – mobile, and the thing the planes are circling looks like the shape from threshold, or the thing DeGroot was playing with in the orientation video – Alex says “you need to get out of here” – exam room full of surgeons (six of them, 2 women and 4 men?) – Alex chloroforming Claire – syringe - belly – canteen – drinking from the canteen –

Now it’s back to normal and Claire’s all fucked up on the exam table. Ethan injects her with the CR 4-81516-23 42 juice and then leads her to a surprise down the hall. They pass an escape hatch, and the dharma logo with a caduceus in it painted on the wall.

It’s the Dharma hospital, the real St. Elsewhere. (uh oh… snowglobe?) Ethan opens the door to a baby blue nursery, fully stocked with stuffed animals and toys. And an abacus. Claire looks around in doped up amazement, then gets serious and asks about Charlie. Ethan says he’s fine; he let him go back to the camp. She melts back into wonder, and asks where everything came from. Ethan gets the line of the night, “Well, I’d love to explain everything to you Claire, but I’m afraid it would be a little overwhelming right now.”
She turns on the mobile, and yep, its four little Oceanic planes with a silver star type thing in the center. So Oceanic is connected with Dharma for sure? I’m not sure what the song is, (now I am, thanks Cax and Peggy - 'catch a falling star'; the same song that Claire had asked the adopting couple to sing to the baby. It was special because her dad sang it to her growing up. or it was the only lullaby the person in charge of implanting memories knew? obviously a big clue there.) but the mobile is really reminding me of the St. Elsewhere snowglobe here. A familiar gruff voice calls Ethan out to the hallway. The voice asks what happened, Ethan was supposed to make the list then bring her in. He tells the voice he had no choice, they knew he wasn’t a passenger on the plane. We see the owner of the voice, and it looks like a clean-shaven Zeke to me. Huh? Shot of the shadow cast by the mobile looks almost Tim Burton-ish.
“What am I supposed to tell him?” hmmm… Zeke’s not in charge? Is 'him' Henry? “You know what he’s gonna do when he finds out. Damnit, Ethan.” It sounds like this isn’t the first time Ethan has fucked up. Zeke looks in at Claire and pulls the door shut.



- alarm – fridge – vials – mobile – canteen – drinking canteen – bootie – belly – injection – Alex – log – hand on knee – ethan –

is part of this a metaphor for what the losties have really been thru? Claires “real” memories trying to break through? is this giving us a rough timeline of the sequence of events leading up to the plane "crash"?

here's the order in which claire sees the 'flashes':

- alarm – fridge – vials – mobile – canteen – drinking canteen – bootie – belly – injection – Alex – log – hand on knee – ethan –

what i'm trying to say is that each of these visions/sounds represents a stage in our losties 'evolution':

the alarm sounds due to 'the incident', or something like a biological WWIII

the fridge represents the losties cryogenically frozen; maybe years before the incident, or possibly some kind of failsafe measure at the time of the 'incident'

the vials are part of the life extension project, which i think has to do with the crionics above. some type of serum (not necessarily CR 4-81516-23 42) is used to revive the popsicle people

the plane mobile represents the implanted memories of the cryo subjects, the reason behind them all appearing on the island is the 'plane crash'. the silver star in the center represents a kind of collective conciousness, maybe the mind of the programmer responsible for implanting their memories; the reason for the character overlap - six degrees of separation style - in the flashbacks. do four planes mean anything? if it is all part of some scientific plan to repopulate the world after a catastrophe, it would make sense to have more than one project running. four sets of clones... the others can train and replace at will. okay... i'm getting out there.

the canteen is the islands water supply

claire drinking from the canteen, she said it tasted sour and this was most likely how ethan was drugging her - so the islands water supply is tainted, what for, i don't know - maybe it's just tainted from the incident, maybe something else to keep them healthy?

the baby bootie represents hope that the world will live on

the pregnant belly is, well, a kid. an uncontaminated test subject. a successful healthy pregnancy (ultrasound), may be very rare now? so would having to give up your child have something to do with this as well? i don't know why, but we have michael with walt, claire with aaron, kate and her dad, locke and his, etc...

the injection is the others search for a cure, at any cost

and alex is the first (or only?) successful result. they need a male now?

I’m not sure about the rest, maybe it’s not important? Or is it? I'm probably way off base anyway... but it's fun.


Claire snaps to as Kate arrives and says goodbye to Aaron before they head out. While tracking Rousseau, Kate tells Claire Rousseau’s story, which Danielle had told her on the hike to the back rock. Claire asks what happened to the rest of the people that were with the French chick, and Kate hesitates, not wanting Claire to worry more about Aaron’s “infection”. Danielle herself pops up and lays it on the line. She killed them all because they were infected (infected with the disease that destroyed the rest of the world?) Claire tells Danielle that she is remembering what happened, that she was the one that scratched Danielle, and she remembers a teenage girl where she was being held captive. She wants Rousseau to lead her there, and Danielle agrees to take her to the scene of their struggle. The mention of someone that could be Alex seems to have given her some hope.

On the beach, Eko and Jack are talking over the water supply. You notice a lot of conversations in this show take place by the “water cooler”? Eko knows about Henry – Locke didn’t have to tell him – and in exchange for keeping Jack’s secret, he wants some alone time with Mr. Gale. Pretty slick, Eko.

The women arrive at the clearing where Danielle and Claire tussled. Claire wants to continue to St. Elsewhere, and so does Danielle. Unfortunately neither of them knows where it is. Rousseau is desperate to find Alex, and gets rough with Claire when she realizes she isn’t sure where the place is. Kate pulls the gun on her. The crazy French chick lets Claire go, and walks right into the pistol. “Go ahead. Please. Do it.”
Kate puts the gun down and runs after Claire. Danielle slowly follows and further ahead Claire comes across the log she’s been seeing in the flashes.

- Claire unconscious in the clearing – Alex, “wake up” – ultrasound – belly – inject – canteen – log – exam room with surgeons –

Ethan walks in as Claire finishes knitting her first blue baby bootie. He offers to take her out for a walk. Outside, Claire’s tripping, both metaphorically and physically… they take a seat on the log. Ethan hands the Dharma canteen to Claire, and she takes a drink. “It’s really sour!”
He tells Claire he’s going to miss her. She needs to go back to the camp once the baby is born because there’s not enough vaccine for the both of them. She asks what if she wants to see her baby later, and he tells her she can go back to the camp now if she wants to, that it has to be her choice to give them the baby. “We’re good people, Claire, we’re a good family.”
Creepy. Another cool matrix shot to reveal present Claire watching flashback Claire and Ethan on the log. She knows she’s close now. Kate and Danielle catch up, and Claire uncovers the entrance after a bit of searching. They open it up, and it looks deserted down there. They descend, and find it is deserted down there.
Kate finds a convenient utility box with some dharma flashlights, and heads off to find the fuse box. Claire and Danielle make their way down to the nursery, which looks to have been cleaned out in a hurry. There are still some boxes and a rocking chair in there. Kate gets the lights working, and explores a nearby locker room. She opens up a locker to find “Other” clothes and Zeke’s hat. (there’s writing on the inside of the locker door – I can make out 342 0716 ROM F-the rest I’m not sure- ool? oot?) At the bottom of the locker she finds a box containing Dharma theatrical glue (these guys had all their bases covered, no?) and Zeke’s beardo beard! He must have some extras. In the nursery, Claire finds the bootie she knitted.

- alarm – wake up – knitting – “dr” ethan injecting – the ultrasound being performed, but this time the monitor is blank (like when jack looked at Michael and Walts IM?) – vials – injection -

“Wake up.”

Alex wakes Claire from her drug-induced stupor. She gets her out of bed and shows her the exam room down the hall, which is now filled with the Others in surgical garb. Alex tells Claire she has to quietly get out of there now, because they’re planning on cutting the baby out of her shortly, killing her in the process. Claire doesn’t believe this and starts to call to Ethan, so Alex is forced to knock her out with some chloroform.
“You’ll thank me for this one day.”

- alarm – Claire coming to in the jungle clearing – fridge – vials – ethan feeling the baby kick – ethan – syringe – belly – injection – aaron

Claire snaps out of it in the nursery, and races down the hall to the fridge in the exam room. She finds it empty, and demands answers from Danielle, who has none. Claire flashes back to waking up in the jungle clearing. The alarm is blaring in the distance – quarantine breach? – as Claire groggily gets to her feet and starts shouting for Ethan, telling him that she’s sure she wants them to take the baby. This is the second time she has betrayed Aaron. Will she do it a third time before the cock crows twice? Danielle emerges from the jungle and tries to shush Claire as a few Other torches start heading their way. They struggle, and Claire scratches the shit out of Danielle’s arm, giving her no choice but to knock her out with the butt of her rifle. Back in the exam room now, things finally come into focus for Claire. Rousseau tells her that she carried her on her back to the camp, and left her where the losties could find her. She tells Claire that she’s not the only one who didn’t find what she was looking for, and turns to leave.

A while later the three women are marching back through the jungle. Danielle starts to go her separate way, but Claire has something to tell her first. She asks if her baby was a girl, and Danielle says yes, she her name was Alexandra. Claire tells her it was a girl with blue eyes that saved her – just like Rousseau did herself. “She wasn’t like the others, she was… good.”
A teary Danielle tells Claire that she’s sorry Claire didn’t find what she was looking for, and that she hopes the baby isn’t infected. “But if it is… I hope you know what must be done.”
Yep, always leave ‘em laughing, Danielle. She’s awesome.

In the swan station, Locke is doing the dishes again. There are some Dharma water bottles there that remind me of the one that Desmond handed Jack during their talk in the stadium – shades of the canteen from this episode. Jack shows up with Eko and tells Locke that he knows about Henry. Locke’s not too surprised. Before letting him in with the prisoner, Jack warns Eko to watch what he says; Henry is smart and curious. Locke reminds him not to tell Gale what the alarm is for.
“What is it for?” asks Eko.
Locke is stymied and Jack chuckles in the background, sipping from the water bottle.
Henry just about shits himself when this huge black dude is locked in the closet with him, but Eko just gently introduces himself and asks permission to sit. He asks a few questions and seems to be playing good cop/bad cop all by himself. Great acting. He abruptly switches tones and tells Henry the story of his first night on the beach, when two others tried to snatch him and he crushed their skulls with a rock. He tells Gale that he needs him to know “…how sorry I am for this. I need you to know that I am on a righteous path now, and that I regret my actions. I ask you for your forgiveness.” (is there some religious significance to him confessing his mortal sins to this man? A necessary part of redemption, like a 12 step program or something?)
Henry asks why he is telling him all this, and Eko says he needed to tell someone, while drawing his knife. Is he going to kill Henry now? Holy shit - is he going to kill himself? Is that why he confessed?

Nope… just chopping off the last reminder of the men he killed, two little dreads from his goatee. I wonder if Eko’s wallet says “bad motherfucker” on it?
Henry certainly believes it does.

On the beach Aaron is recovering. Claire has a heart to heart with him (I admit, I was afraid the baby was gonna start speaking perfect English here or something. “Mother, this show has jumped the shark.” Thank god he didn’t) She confesses to him that she was willing to give him up. She doesn’t mention that she did this twice… but now she realizes that the two of them were meant to be together, and she loves him so much.

In the armory/cell Locke is getting played by Henry. He tells Locke he overheard him talking to Jack about Hemingway living in the shadow of Dostoyevsky’s genius, and asks which Locke thinks he is, the genius or the one in the shadows of the genius.
“I just don’t understand why you let the doctor call the shots.”
(Oh come on, Locke, you’re smarter than this.)
“No one calls the shots. Jack and I make decisions together.”
(Okay, maybe you’re not.)
Gale dismissively agrees, and Locke leaves to do the dishes again. He flips out and slides everything on the counter to the floor with a crash. Henry hears this in the cell and smiles to himself, as Locke stews alone in the kitchen.



L O S T
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