Season 1 - Episode 09 (Solitary) and Episode 10 (Raised By Another)
Episode 09 (Solitary)
Open on Saayid, sitting on the beach, alone. He's contemplating the picture that Claire found for him. Nadia, his love. Then, he has what I consider the second "Island in a bottle" moment. He spots a cable buried in the sand. It leads out into the ocean and back into the jungle. Not being a fish, Saayid follows it into the jungle.
Jack is bandaging Sawyer's perforated arm and Sawyer is taunting him about his conscience. Like Kate says, "Accidents happen when you torture people." Accidents also happen when you're a selfish, provision hoarding black marketeer, but Sawyer's profiteering is obviously less of a moral issue than torture with her, since he kisses so well.
As Saayid follows the cable back through the jungle, he spies a trip wire and deftly avoids getting caught in a trap. Unfortunately, someone out there is a bit craftier than he and has placed a second trap precisely where someone would have to step to deftly avoid the first one.
Presumably several hours later, we see Saayid hanging upside down, praying. Someone cuts him down and he passes out.
Cut to Jack treating one of the survivors for hives. He and Hurley discuss the stress levels of the group. Jack figures that things could be worse. Hurley sums it up nicely: "How?"
Saayid awakes to find himself strapped to a metal bedframe. Man, I hate it when that happens.
Someone is asking him where Alex is. Saayid really doesn't know. After a jolt of electricity, he still really doesn't know. Another jolt and...
Flashback to Saayid questioning someone named Falah. We've already seen his questioning techniques applied to Sawyer, so it's not really a surprise to see him question Falah with his fists and threats. Apparently, he's very good at what he does and is about to be reassigned to Intelligence and the fast track to promotion. Then he sees her.
Locke and a really helpful new guy named Ethan bring Hurley some luggage that they found in the jungle. Then they head back out to hunt. Walt wants to go, but Michael prefers that his ten year old son not venture into the deadly jungle of mystery after dark. Hurley wedges open the bags, putters around and finally finds something that drives him to find the balls to iron out some of the survivor's stress.
Meanwhile, Saayid still doesn't know who Alex is. He tries to explain how he got there and who he is. He explains about the cable and the French transmission. Turns out that his captor is the mysterious French woman in the message.
Being alone on the island for sixteen years has apparently dulled her social skills. The two of them discuss the power shortage on the island and we are introduced to "Them", "The Others" through their conversation. Rousseau wants to know who Nadia is.
Nadia is a subject of Saayid's tender questioning skills. Turns out that she and Saayid were childhood friends. That's gonna make him uncomfortable when he's shoving reeds under her fingernails.
She shows him scars from previous questionings. He continues doing his job.
Rousseau asks him about his past and the woman in the picture. She also wants to know, if he one of many survivors of a plane crash, why is he in the jungle alone? We learn that Nadia is dead, and it's Saayid's fault.
Michael and Jack are designing shower facilities when they are interrupted by Charlie. Apparently, Hurley has something to show them. He's built a golf course. The boys are skeptical. As usual, Hurley has the line to sum it all up:
Hurley: "Dudes. Listen. Our lives suck. Everyone's nerves are stretched to the max. I mean, we're LOST on an island. Running from boars and monsters... Freakin' polar bears!"
Michael: "Polar bears?"
Charlie: "You didn't hear about the polar bear?"
Hurley: "Look, all I'm sayin' is: If we're stuck here, then just surviving's not gonna cut it. We need some kind of relief, ya know? We need some way that we can...you know, have fun! That's right, fun! Or else we're just gonna go crazy, waiting for the next bad thing to happen."
The big man, as usual, finds the humanity and distills it down to it's essence.
Saayid offers to fix Rousseau's music box. He might not have offered if he had known that being Mr. Fixit would involve injected barbituates. Then again...
The boys are playing golf.
Once he awakes, Saayid is still willing to fix Rousseau's music box, but he wants something in return. Her name. And more information. We learn that Rousseau was part of a science team, along with her love, Robert. They were shipwrecked on the island, three days out of Tahiti. For two months, they survived on the island, until they were infected by "Them" with whatever mysterious disease "They" carry. Rousseau hears them whispering in the jungle.
Flash to Saayid bringing Nadia food in her cell. Today, he's the good cop. He shows her pictures of suspects to identify, but she prefers to play the game some more.
News of the First Island Open reaches the beach. Everyone heads up to check it out. Everyone but Sawyer, who knows how unpopular he is.
Saayid has successfully repaired the music box. Rousseau is ecstatic. Not ecstatic enough to let him go, but still pretty darned happy. Cue some nasty sounding growling. If they're lucky, it's one of the bears. If they're lucky?
Saayid thinks it might be the monster. Rousseau, despite being alone on an island for sixteen years and completely insane, knows that there are no such things as monsters.
Except, of course, men who torture their childhood sweethearts and then execute them.
Now that Rousseau is off bear hunting, Saayid manages to use the screwdriver he palmed and escape, taking Rousseau's maps and a gun.
Back at the links, the gang's all watching as Jack, Hurley, Charlie and Michael are playing. Charlie attempting to teach Hurley proper swing technique is absolutely priceless beyond measure.
Saayid has Danielle Rousseau in his sights and vice versa.
Flash to Saayid trying to help Nadia escape. He is forced to kill his superior officer and then shoot himself in the leg to cover her escape. She takes his gun and gives him the picture.
Back in the jungle, he pulls the trigger. No firing pin, though. He was willing to kill and apparently, so was Rousseau. She killed her party, to avoid the possibility of them infecting the outside world with the mysterious disease.
We learn that the writing on the back of the picture says "You will find me in the next life, if not in this one." We also learn that Saayid tried for seven years to find Nadia, without success.
Saayid: "The more I hold on (to the memory of Nadia), the more I pull away from those around me. The only way off this... this 'place' is with their help."
Hmmm. "Place"? Not "Island"? "Place." Perhaps Saayid is wondering just what kind of deserted tropical "Island" has a large cable streaming out from it's interior into the depths of the ocean...
He invites Rousseau to come back to the beach with him. She declines. She also warns him to watch the other survivors closely.
One last time, Saayid asks her who Alex is. Alex was her child. So, there's a crazy lady who has lost her child on the island. Good thing there aren't any babies on the island, or the whacko might try to steal one...
Back at the golf course, wagering runs hot and heavy on Jack sinking his putt. Sawyer chimes in and begins the road back to acceptance within the group.
Locke is practicing knife throwing. Walt wants to learn. Locke is happy to oblige.
On his way back to the beach, as he plows through the jungle Saayid hears something.
Whispers.
Click here for more whisper transcripts.
Discussion
Episode 10 (Raised By Another)
This is Claire's eye. This is Claire's eye opening. This is Claire's eye hearing a baby cry. Ok, so her ears are doing the hearing, I'm still doing that writing style thing. Work with me here, people. Oh, and this is Claire's eye discovering that she's no longer pregnant.
After a slow cautious trek through the mysterious jungle of weirdness, Claire finds herself confronted by a Tarot reading John Locke. Oddly, he's sitting at a little desk like table with an electric lamp. Even more oddly, his eyes have been replaced by two stones, one black, one white. According to him, thanks to Claire, everyone pays the price now.
Claire sees someone running through the jungle. She follows and finds a crib from which emanate the sounds of an infant crying. A mobile with Oceanic airplanes spins above the crib. When she pulls back the blankets, she finds nothing but blood.
She awakes screaming.
Doctor Jack is treating her bloody hands. It turns out that during her dream she made fists so tight that she dug her nails a quarter inch into her palms. The possibility that Claire might have been sleepwalking comes up. Beyond the obvious, she seems to be in good health and her pregnancy is going along fine. Thankfully, this is dramatic television, so we know that won't last.
At an apartment somewhere in Australia, Claire has just peed on a stick. Her boyfriend Thomas is anxious to determine if she did it right. She's pretty sure that she did.
Two pink lines. She's pregnant. Thomas thinks that it might be a bad test, like when his uncle had testicular cancer. Of course, his uncle did have testicular cancer.
Have I mentioned that Thomas is an idiot?
He suggests that they could make a go of it. After all, she has a job at the Fish 'n' Fry and he has his painting. We get flashes of some of his paintings, leading me to ask:
Have I mentioned that Thomas is an idiot?
Back on the beach Jack finds Kate. She's doin' something. She's sinking. Water goes out, takes the sand with it and the person on the beach sinks. We'll call that "Island in a bottle" moment number 3. I know, it's reaching, but it just has that feel.
Claire is writing in her diary. Charlie gently mocks her and attempts to offer himself as a shoulder to scream on. He wants to be her friend. Besides, he's getting that "I gotta baptize somebody" itch and she's got the whole baby thing going on...
Claire and her friend are off to the psychic. Single, soon to be mothers have very few things in their lives that are higher in priority than an expensive visit to the local psychic.
Speaking of the local psychic, when he does her reading, something comes to him that makes him stop mid-read and return her money. No chance this guy's a fraud. No self respecting con-man would ever let their mark hold on to the money, just ask Sawyer.
Asleep in the cave, Claire is attacked by someone who injects something into her belly. Now, where would someone get an invitro needle on a deserted island? It's not like there's a medical facility built into the side of a hill anywhere or anything.
Once again, Claire wakes the whole camp, screaming her annoying little head off. The Scooby Gang fans out to look for her assailant. They cover the entire perimeter and find no one. No monsters, no evil kidnappers, not even a guy in a fake beard.
Hurley suggests that since they don't know who Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, er...Scott and Steve are, they should really do a census. After all, his name isn't Hurley. It's Hugo Reyes. Hurley's just a nickname he has. Why? He's not telling.
He figures that if they lay down the law, people will stop the Lord of the Flies backslide that seems to be happening.
Charlie will never leave Claire. Of course, she's a girl, which means she's heard that before.
Thomas said something like it, actually. Now, he's decided that he can't be a Dad. In his words, "This isn't workin'". He even infers that Claire trapped him into being a Father. What about his life? His painting?
Have I mentioned that Thomas is an idiot?
Hurley begins his census. Locke wonders who watches the watcher. Hurley, pure, naive, innocent Hurley has a pure, naive, innocent answer:
"Uhh...me."
Having nothing to hide, at least nothing that a census could reveal, Locke gives Hurley his information. When asked his reason for travel, he answers "I was looking for something." When asked if he found it, he answers "No, it found me." Like most of us, Hurley finds Locke creepy enough that he beats a hasty retreat.
Jack, Kate and Charlie are discussing Kate's plight. Jack figures that she's imagining the attack. Charlie disagrees.
Hurley's next census subject is Lance. Actually it's Ethan, but Hurley has confused him with Lance who is the little skinny guy with glasses and red hair. Considering that Ethan is a big brunette with no glasses, you have to wonder if the confusion was a mistake or a Columbo-ism. Anyhow, Ethan Rom is from Ontario, Canada. As a Canadian, I screamed at my TV, since we always introduce ourselves to Americans the same way: "I'm from suchandsuch city, that's in Canada", not "Ontario" which is a province and thus pretty much meaningless to anyone not from Canada. I can honestly say I KNEW he wasn't Canadian right then.
Jack tries to give Claire sedatives to keep her from having another episode. Probably should have given them to the guy who was attacking her instead. She's not impressed and storms off.
Claire finds herself back at the con-man's, er...psychic's office. He seems to know that Thomas left her. He also tells her that he saw something in her last reading, a blurry something, that made him stop the reading. Claire learns that the baby MUST be raised by her and no one else. Her goodness must be an influence in the development of the child. There is no happy life for the child without Claire.
He returns her money. They argue. Claire storms off.
The psychic, Richard Malkin begins harassing her and trying to convince her to follow his plan for her and the baby. His efforts might be more successful if he tried calling her during the day rather than the middle of the night.
Back on the island, Claire is storming off. Through the jungle. Alone.
Have I mentioned that Claire is an idiot?
Hurley's census continues with Shannon, the island's cartographer. Why is she the island's cartographer you ask? Because she puts the name "Craphole Island" on the map. I really hope some hot Latina babe shoots her.
Boone suggests that Hurley's life would be a lot easier if he had the flight manifest. Naturally, Sawyer is in possession of said list. With trademark Hurley good humour, he gets Sawyer to give up the list gratis.
Claire and Charlie are still slogging through the jungle of mystery when Claire starts having contractions. Fortunately, she is with one of two people on the island who specialize in comic relief. In stereotypical pregnant girl fashion, she finally yells at the man and sends him for help.
Get Jack. Right. I'm on it.
Speaking of help, we flash back to Claire in a lawyer's office. The adoption of the baby is about to be finalized. After some sappy "Please be good to my baby. Please sing him a lullaby. Please put me up in a two bedroom apartment and pay my living expenses and a big fat fee for acting as a human incubator for you.", Claire tries to sign the papers. The first pen is dry. The second pen is dry. The third pen is the magic "I've decided to keep my baby, screw you, your barren, lifeless womb and you're impotent husband" pen.
Claire storms off.
She heads right to Richard Malkin to find out what he's offering.
Charlie is plowing through the jungle in search of help. He finds Ethan and send him to get Jack while he heads back to be useless with Claire.
It turns out that Malkin wants Claire to give the baby up after all. She's to go to Los Angeles to arrange the adoption with some good people.
Charlie figures that maybe Mr. Psychic guy put her on the plane to L.A. because he knew that she'd end up on the island, forced to raise the baby herself. He certainly seemed adamant that she take flight 815 and no other. Claire starts to think that maybe he did know.
The false labour passes. One crisis down. Cue the next one.
Beaten and bloody, Saayid stumbles into the caves.
"Listen to me. I found her. The French woman. A woman, on the island. I had to come back. We're not alone."
So, there are "Others" on the island?
Hurley has finished the census. Forty-six people are in the manifest. There are forty-seven of them.
Ethan.
I wonder if Richard Malkin foresaw Claire and her baby being kidnapped by a crazed island inhabitant? Nah. That would mean that the con wasn't a set up to take Claire's money, but her baby...
Discussion
Open on Saayid, sitting on the beach, alone. He's contemplating the picture that Claire found for him. Nadia, his love. Then, he has what I consider the second "Island in a bottle" moment. He spots a cable buried in the sand. It leads out into the ocean and back into the jungle. Not being a fish, Saayid follows it into the jungle.
Jack is bandaging Sawyer's perforated arm and Sawyer is taunting him about his conscience. Like Kate says, "Accidents happen when you torture people." Accidents also happen when you're a selfish, provision hoarding black marketeer, but Sawyer's profiteering is obviously less of a moral issue than torture with her, since he kisses so well.
As Saayid follows the cable back through the jungle, he spies a trip wire and deftly avoids getting caught in a trap. Unfortunately, someone out there is a bit craftier than he and has placed a second trap precisely where someone would have to step to deftly avoid the first one.
Presumably several hours later, we see Saayid hanging upside down, praying. Someone cuts him down and he passes out.
Cut to Jack treating one of the survivors for hives. He and Hurley discuss the stress levels of the group. Jack figures that things could be worse. Hurley sums it up nicely: "How?"
Saayid awakes to find himself strapped to a metal bedframe. Man, I hate it when that happens.
Someone is asking him where Alex is. Saayid really doesn't know. After a jolt of electricity, he still really doesn't know. Another jolt and...
Flashback to Saayid questioning someone named Falah. We've already seen his questioning techniques applied to Sawyer, so it's not really a surprise to see him question Falah with his fists and threats. Apparently, he's very good at what he does and is about to be reassigned to Intelligence and the fast track to promotion. Then he sees her.
Locke and a really helpful new guy named Ethan bring Hurley some luggage that they found in the jungle. Then they head back out to hunt. Walt wants to go, but Michael prefers that his ten year old son not venture into the deadly jungle of mystery after dark. Hurley wedges open the bags, putters around and finally finds something that drives him to find the balls to iron out some of the survivor's stress.
Meanwhile, Saayid still doesn't know who Alex is. He tries to explain how he got there and who he is. He explains about the cable and the French transmission. Turns out that his captor is the mysterious French woman in the message.
Being alone on the island for sixteen years has apparently dulled her social skills. The two of them discuss the power shortage on the island and we are introduced to "Them", "The Others" through their conversation. Rousseau wants to know who Nadia is.
Nadia is a subject of Saayid's tender questioning skills. Turns out that she and Saayid were childhood friends. That's gonna make him uncomfortable when he's shoving reeds under her fingernails.
She shows him scars from previous questionings. He continues doing his job.
Rousseau asks him about his past and the woman in the picture. She also wants to know, if he one of many survivors of a plane crash, why is he in the jungle alone? We learn that Nadia is dead, and it's Saayid's fault.
Michael and Jack are designing shower facilities when they are interrupted by Charlie. Apparently, Hurley has something to show them. He's built a golf course. The boys are skeptical. As usual, Hurley has the line to sum it all up:
Hurley: "Dudes. Listen. Our lives suck. Everyone's nerves are stretched to the max. I mean, we're LOST on an island. Running from boars and monsters... Freakin' polar bears!"
Michael: "Polar bears?"
Charlie: "You didn't hear about the polar bear?"
Hurley: "Look, all I'm sayin' is: If we're stuck here, then just surviving's not gonna cut it. We need some kind of relief, ya know? We need some way that we can...you know, have fun! That's right, fun! Or else we're just gonna go crazy, waiting for the next bad thing to happen."
The big man, as usual, finds the humanity and distills it down to it's essence.
Saayid offers to fix Rousseau's music box. He might not have offered if he had known that being Mr. Fixit would involve injected barbituates. Then again...
The boys are playing golf.
Once he awakes, Saayid is still willing to fix Rousseau's music box, but he wants something in return. Her name. And more information. We learn that Rousseau was part of a science team, along with her love, Robert. They were shipwrecked on the island, three days out of Tahiti. For two months, they survived on the island, until they were infected by "Them" with whatever mysterious disease "They" carry. Rousseau hears them whispering in the jungle.
Flash to Saayid bringing Nadia food in her cell. Today, he's the good cop. He shows her pictures of suspects to identify, but she prefers to play the game some more.
News of the First Island Open reaches the beach. Everyone heads up to check it out. Everyone but Sawyer, who knows how unpopular he is.
Saayid has successfully repaired the music box. Rousseau is ecstatic. Not ecstatic enough to let him go, but still pretty darned happy. Cue some nasty sounding growling. If they're lucky, it's one of the bears. If they're lucky?
Saayid thinks it might be the monster. Rousseau, despite being alone on an island for sixteen years and completely insane, knows that there are no such things as monsters.
Except, of course, men who torture their childhood sweethearts and then execute them.
Now that Rousseau is off bear hunting, Saayid manages to use the screwdriver he palmed and escape, taking Rousseau's maps and a gun.
Back at the links, the gang's all watching as Jack, Hurley, Charlie and Michael are playing. Charlie attempting to teach Hurley proper swing technique is absolutely priceless beyond measure.
Saayid has Danielle Rousseau in his sights and vice versa.
Flash to Saayid trying to help Nadia escape. He is forced to kill his superior officer and then shoot himself in the leg to cover her escape. She takes his gun and gives him the picture.
Back in the jungle, he pulls the trigger. No firing pin, though. He was willing to kill and apparently, so was Rousseau. She killed her party, to avoid the possibility of them infecting the outside world with the mysterious disease.
We learn that the writing on the back of the picture says "You will find me in the next life, if not in this one." We also learn that Saayid tried for seven years to find Nadia, without success.
Saayid: "The more I hold on (to the memory of Nadia), the more I pull away from those around me. The only way off this... this 'place' is with their help."
Hmmm. "Place"? Not "Island"? "Place." Perhaps Saayid is wondering just what kind of deserted tropical "Island" has a large cable streaming out from it's interior into the depths of the ocean...
He invites Rousseau to come back to the beach with him. She declines. She also warns him to watch the other survivors closely.
One last time, Saayid asks her who Alex is. Alex was her child. So, there's a crazy lady who has lost her child on the island. Good thing there aren't any babies on the island, or the whacko might try to steal one...
Back at the golf course, wagering runs hot and heavy on Jack sinking his putt. Sawyer chimes in and begins the road back to acceptance within the group.
Locke is practicing knife throwing. Walt wants to learn. Locke is happy to oblige.
On his way back to the beach, as he plows through the jungle Saayid hears something.
Whispers.
Click here for more whisper transcripts.
Discussion
Episode 10 (Raised By Another)
This is Claire's eye. This is Claire's eye opening. This is Claire's eye hearing a baby cry. Ok, so her ears are doing the hearing, I'm still doing that writing style thing. Work with me here, people. Oh, and this is Claire's eye discovering that she's no longer pregnant.
After a slow cautious trek through the mysterious jungle of weirdness, Claire finds herself confronted by a Tarot reading John Locke. Oddly, he's sitting at a little desk like table with an electric lamp. Even more oddly, his eyes have been replaced by two stones, one black, one white. According to him, thanks to Claire, everyone pays the price now.
Claire sees someone running through the jungle. She follows and finds a crib from which emanate the sounds of an infant crying. A mobile with Oceanic airplanes spins above the crib. When she pulls back the blankets, she finds nothing but blood.
She awakes screaming.
Doctor Jack is treating her bloody hands. It turns out that during her dream she made fists so tight that she dug her nails a quarter inch into her palms. The possibility that Claire might have been sleepwalking comes up. Beyond the obvious, she seems to be in good health and her pregnancy is going along fine. Thankfully, this is dramatic television, so we know that won't last.
At an apartment somewhere in Australia, Claire has just peed on a stick. Her boyfriend Thomas is anxious to determine if she did it right. She's pretty sure that she did.
Two pink lines. She's pregnant. Thomas thinks that it might be a bad test, like when his uncle had testicular cancer. Of course, his uncle did have testicular cancer.
Have I mentioned that Thomas is an idiot?
He suggests that they could make a go of it. After all, she has a job at the Fish 'n' Fry and he has his painting. We get flashes of some of his paintings, leading me to ask:
Have I mentioned that Thomas is an idiot?
Back on the beach Jack finds Kate. She's doin' something. She's sinking. Water goes out, takes the sand with it and the person on the beach sinks. We'll call that "Island in a bottle" moment number 3. I know, it's reaching, but it just has that feel.
Claire is writing in her diary. Charlie gently mocks her and attempts to offer himself as a shoulder to scream on. He wants to be her friend. Besides, he's getting that "I gotta baptize somebody" itch and she's got the whole baby thing going on...
Claire and her friend are off to the psychic. Single, soon to be mothers have very few things in their lives that are higher in priority than an expensive visit to the local psychic.
Speaking of the local psychic, when he does her reading, something comes to him that makes him stop mid-read and return her money. No chance this guy's a fraud. No self respecting con-man would ever let their mark hold on to the money, just ask Sawyer.
Asleep in the cave, Claire is attacked by someone who injects something into her belly. Now, where would someone get an invitro needle on a deserted island? It's not like there's a medical facility built into the side of a hill anywhere or anything.
Once again, Claire wakes the whole camp, screaming her annoying little head off. The Scooby Gang fans out to look for her assailant. They cover the entire perimeter and find no one. No monsters, no evil kidnappers, not even a guy in a fake beard.
Hurley suggests that since they don't know who Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, er...Scott and Steve are, they should really do a census. After all, his name isn't Hurley. It's Hugo Reyes. Hurley's just a nickname he has. Why? He's not telling.
He figures that if they lay down the law, people will stop the Lord of the Flies backslide that seems to be happening.
Charlie will never leave Claire. Of course, she's a girl, which means she's heard that before.
Thomas said something like it, actually. Now, he's decided that he can't be a Dad. In his words, "This isn't workin'". He even infers that Claire trapped him into being a Father. What about his life? His painting?
Have I mentioned that Thomas is an idiot?
Hurley begins his census. Locke wonders who watches the watcher. Hurley, pure, naive, innocent Hurley has a pure, naive, innocent answer:
"Uhh...me."
Having nothing to hide, at least nothing that a census could reveal, Locke gives Hurley his information. When asked his reason for travel, he answers "I was looking for something." When asked if he found it, he answers "No, it found me." Like most of us, Hurley finds Locke creepy enough that he beats a hasty retreat.
Jack, Kate and Charlie are discussing Kate's plight. Jack figures that she's imagining the attack. Charlie disagrees.
Hurley's next census subject is Lance. Actually it's Ethan, but Hurley has confused him with Lance who is the little skinny guy with glasses and red hair. Considering that Ethan is a big brunette with no glasses, you have to wonder if the confusion was a mistake or a Columbo-ism. Anyhow, Ethan Rom is from Ontario, Canada. As a Canadian, I screamed at my TV, since we always introduce ourselves to Americans the same way: "I'm from suchandsuch city, that's in Canada", not "Ontario" which is a province and thus pretty much meaningless to anyone not from Canada. I can honestly say I KNEW he wasn't Canadian right then.
Jack tries to give Claire sedatives to keep her from having another episode. Probably should have given them to the guy who was attacking her instead. She's not impressed and storms off.
Claire finds herself back at the con-man's, er...psychic's office. He seems to know that Thomas left her. He also tells her that he saw something in her last reading, a blurry something, that made him stop the reading. Claire learns that the baby MUST be raised by her and no one else. Her goodness must be an influence in the development of the child. There is no happy life for the child without Claire.
He returns her money. They argue. Claire storms off.
The psychic, Richard Malkin begins harassing her and trying to convince her to follow his plan for her and the baby. His efforts might be more successful if he tried calling her during the day rather than the middle of the night.
Back on the island, Claire is storming off. Through the jungle. Alone.
Have I mentioned that Claire is an idiot?
Hurley's census continues with Shannon, the island's cartographer. Why is she the island's cartographer you ask? Because she puts the name "Craphole Island" on the map. I really hope some hot Latina babe shoots her.
Boone suggests that Hurley's life would be a lot easier if he had the flight manifest. Naturally, Sawyer is in possession of said list. With trademark Hurley good humour, he gets Sawyer to give up the list gratis.
Claire and Charlie are still slogging through the jungle of mystery when Claire starts having contractions. Fortunately, she is with one of two people on the island who specialize in comic relief. In stereotypical pregnant girl fashion, she finally yells at the man and sends him for help.
Get Jack. Right. I'm on it.
Speaking of help, we flash back to Claire in a lawyer's office. The adoption of the baby is about to be finalized. After some sappy "Please be good to my baby. Please sing him a lullaby. Please put me up in a two bedroom apartment and pay my living expenses and a big fat fee for acting as a human incubator for you.", Claire tries to sign the papers. The first pen is dry. The second pen is dry. The third pen is the magic "I've decided to keep my baby, screw you, your barren, lifeless womb and you're impotent husband" pen.
Claire storms off.
She heads right to Richard Malkin to find out what he's offering.
Charlie is plowing through the jungle in search of help. He finds Ethan and send him to get Jack while he heads back to be useless with Claire.
It turns out that Malkin wants Claire to give the baby up after all. She's to go to Los Angeles to arrange the adoption with some good people.
Charlie figures that maybe Mr. Psychic guy put her on the plane to L.A. because he knew that she'd end up on the island, forced to raise the baby herself. He certainly seemed adamant that she take flight 815 and no other. Claire starts to think that maybe he did know.
The false labour passes. One crisis down. Cue the next one.
Beaten and bloody, Saayid stumbles into the caves.
"Listen to me. I found her. The French woman. A woman, on the island. I had to come back. We're not alone."
So, there are "Others" on the island?
Hurley has finished the census. Forty-six people are in the manifest. There are forty-seven of them.
Ethan.
I wonder if Richard Malkin foresaw Claire and her baby being kidnapped by a crazed island inhabitant? Nah. That would mean that the con wasn't a set up to take Claire's money, but her baby...
Discussion
posted by Greybishop at 10:45 AM
