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Claire remembers more bits and pieces of her abduction at the hands of Ethan Rom, and it involves some kind weird doctor's office/operating room in which she's getting a big belly needle from a doctor-esque Ethan. And she seems quite happy to be there, but that can be easily explained by the massive sedating Ethan seems to be doing, down in yet another Dharma hatch -- this one with the Caduceus symbol, but I think I'm going to call it Dharma Feelgood, for the benefit of everyone who knows that Tommy Lee was once in a band. There's a nursery down there, which is for the baby, and an apologetic Ethan explaining to Claire about how there's only enough vaccine for her or the baby, which they'll be looking after when they send Claire back to her camp. She also remembers Ethan talking to Gruffy McScruffenbeard, only he's not so scruffy and is in fact beardless.
See, in the present day, Turniphead is sick, and Claire is convinced -- despite Jack (who we know is actually a doctor) telling her that it's just a fever -- that she needs medicine from the scary people who abduct pregnant women, try to kill their ersatz bodyguards, and wield giant belly-needles. Makes sense to me. Kate gets a gun from Sawyer, presumably because Claire told her about the little toy planes in the nursery, and she and the other two Craphole's Angels (Rousseau being the third) go traipsing off in search of various landmarks in Claire's returning memory. They find the now-abandoned Dharma Feelgood, which no longer has a nursery and no longer has any medicine. However, Kate finds the grimy rags that the Others wear when they're out and about, hanging up in some lockers, as well as theatrical glue and a fake beard. It's almost like we can't trust these people whose hobbies include kidnapping pregnant women, hanging bass players, and blowing up recreational rafters.
Speaking of trust, Claire still doesn't have any for Rousseau, since one of her memory fragments is of Rousseau grabbing at her, which we've presumed to be part of the abduction. Comes now the revelation that Rousseau actually saved Claire from the Others, and that Claire was helped on the inside by a woman who in all likelihood is Rousseau's daughter, Alexandra. Rousseau is so taken with the possibility of her own daughter being alive and well that she tells Claire that she hopes Aaron isn't infected, but if he is, Claire's gonna have to kill him (she doesn't use the word "kill," but that's what she means). Fortunately, it turns out that Aaron really did just have a fever, and he's fine. Also, he has a huge head. It's about as proportional as Stewie Griffin's.
Elsewhere, the power struggle (if you can call it a struggle) is starting to flare up between Jack and Locke, and Henry is starting to exploit that, either because he really is an Other, or he's just trying to stir up shit and somehow be able to escape. Eko comes in to spout some mumbo-jumbo and he cuts off those little scraggly beard bits on his chin. Which, thank God, because they were starting to bug me for absolutely no reason that I can articulate.
There are also two books featured in this episode. When I write the recap proper, I will tell you, as I have done with two other featured works of literature, to check out the first word on pages 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42, because it forms a sentence that could be a hint. As with the other times I've done this, I will be lying, and I will remind you in the recap that I have lied before and am clearly not to be trusted. And yet, the day after the recap goes up, I will receive email from people wanting to know whether I'm talking hardcover or paperback. Just warning you. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
It's the middle of the night, and Turniphead's all fussy, crying and screaming like a big baby. Claire's frantically trying to shush him, and wakes up Locke, as if Locke could sleep with all the racket anyway, and says she needs to find Jack because Aaron's sick. Locke says Jack is "on shift" in the hatch. Claire makes as to light out for the hatch, but Locke stops her, saying he can't let her go through the jungle alone at night. You'd think that'd be something Claire would be quite reluctant to do without Locke saying it. But anyway, he volunteers to go get the doctor.Jack is sleeping on a couch. Boy, is old man Locke going to be pissed at Jack! Probably going to make him work on the weekend, too! Jack wakes up as Locke enters, and he's not overly thrilled when he finds out he's been roused because Turniphead supposedly has a fever. "Claire was coming here," says Locke, pointedly, and he and Jack both look at the closed-door of the armoury jail where Henry Gale is being held. So it wasn't so much chivalry that made Locke come, as not wanting their little Abu Ghraib to be exposed. Locke asks if Henry's asleep. "Not a sound all night," says Jack. So, asleep or dead, then. Jack resignedly gets up, says he'll be back as soon as he can.
Back on Craphole Beach, Claire's still trying to calm a screaming Aaron, wetting a cloth to cool him down. I've always wondered what they do to babies to make them cry like that when they need to on television shows. Or do they just sit around waiting for a tantrum? When I was a baby, my dad would surreptitiously poke me during church, so I'd start crying and he could take me out and go home and watch the hockey game. Anyway, Rousseau comes strolling up, and by "strolling up," I mean, "does that weird zombie staring walk thing she does." Claire freaks out, yelling. Nobody comes running. Wasn't there supposed to be some sort of guard system at the beach? You know, what with all the people dying? And failing that, can people be bothered to WAKE UP when someone is screaming? Rousseau is fixated on Aaron. "He's infected, isn't he," she says. Claire, who really should have run far, far away by this point, wants to know what she's talking about. Rousseau says Aaron's sick. Claire yells for her to get away. "You don't remember, do you?" says Rousseau, and apparently now Claire does, because we get a rapid-fire succession of images: a crib with a mobile of planes; the door on a stainless-steel medicine cabinet swinging open, revealing shelves full of vaccine bottles; a woman's hands holding some knitting; someone unscrewing the top of a canteen; a woman's face filling the screen; the tip of a needle, and then a very pregnant belly being wiped with a disinfectant before said huge-ass needle is poked in; and Claire struggling with Rousseau. Over top we hear a couple of klaxons with some dude saying, "It's a vaccine. We don't want him to get sick." I didn't recognize the voice at this point.
Anyway, Kate finally comes to Claire's rescue, running up and yelling for Rousseau to get out of the camp. Kate stands there, and comes face to face with what she's going to look like after twenty-five years on the island without a good shampoo and conditioner. Rousseau leaves, and Kate asks Claire what she said. "She said there's something wrong with the baby," says Claire. If anyone would know, it's the crazy lady.
So Claire is laying out all of Aaron's symptoms, and Jack displays his consummate bedside manner by saying something like, "Babies get sick," all dismissive. Claire's convinced that something's wrong, because he "always sleeps through the night," like what kind of miracle baby is this, maybe he shits chocolate or something. Jack suggests it's roseola, which is common. Claire suggests Aaron's infected, and Jack wants to know where she got such a silly idea. Kate strolls up to tell him it was Rousseau. "Claire, there is no infection," he says, pointing out that they've been on the island two months and no one's gotten sick. They're going to let the fever run its course. Jack's going back to the hatch, and he'll be back to check on Aaron in a couple of hours. Meanwhile, Kate's smiling, thinking, "I forgot how much better 'doctor who's concerned for the well-being of others' is than 'racist con man always looking to screw everybody.'" And after Jack leaves, she squats down by Claire to say that she's sure that if there were something wrong with Aaron, Jack would know.
Guess Claire wasn't convinced, because in the morning she's striding across the beach with Kate, looking for Libby. Kate's not sure about it, since they don't really know her. "I think she can help me," says Claire.
And look, there's Libby and Hurley together as usual, playing with Vincent the Useless Dog. The island yuppies. Claire's all pushy, "So you're a shrink, right?" like, no sense being nice to the person you want to help you. Libby's kind of taken aback. "I'm a clinical psychologist, but 'shrink' works too." ["Is 'shrink' even Australian slang in the first place?" -- Sars] Claire wants to know if she can help people remember things. "I guess it depends on what you need to remember," says Libby.
They go for a walk down the beach; Claire describes the abduction, and how she doesn't remember any of it. Kate fills in some parts that Claire doesn't remember/didn't know about. Like remember when they hanged Charlie? Good times. That's my desktop wallpaper. Claire whines about her amnesia, and Libby (who, all cleaned up and not so mud-encrusted, is rather smokin'. I'm diggin' on the Libby) tells her that she doesn't think it's amnesia: "You know, sometimes when something terrible happens to us, there's a little switch in your head that flicks on, to protect us from having to deal with it." She says maybe Claire's memories aren't gone, that she's just blocking them. Claire, who looks awfully, I don't know, flinty this episode, says she needs Libby to unblock them. "Because my baby's sick, and they did something to him." Libby nods, kind of reluctantly. Maybe she's sorry that she's going to be losing some Hurley time.
Down in the hatch, Jack and Locke are bringing Henry some food in their little prison. Jack asks Henry if he needs to go to the bathroom, Henry says no, and Jack says to let them know if he does. "Yeah, I'll look forward to that," says Henry. Snicker. Anyway, Locke's brought a book in, tosses it on Henry's cot for him to read. It's The Brothers Karamazov, by Dostoyevsky. And I know I lied about The Third Policeman and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," but with this book I think the show is trying to get me in a "boy cries wolf" kind of situation, because, seriously: first word, pages 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. That's hilarious. Nice little inside joke there.
But back to the show. If you're in a makeshift prison, put there by people who don't trust you, and one of them hands you Dostoyevsky? You're not getting out for awhile. Henry gamely (if a little jokingly) asks if they've got any Stephen King, and Locke says the library's a little outdated. Any Wizard of Oz?
Outside the armoury, Jack wants to know, "What's with the book?" all weirdly disdainful. Locke says it's just something to pass the time (between sessions with Sayid, I suppose). And then Locke tells some story about Hemingway being jealous of Dostoyevsky or something, but I dozed off because I imagine it's a rare writer who isn't jealous of Dostoyevsky. Thankfully, he breaks off the story to ask what the long-term plan is with Henry Gale, because they can't keep him a secret forever. Jack, all annoyed, says, "We don't have a long-term plan for the button, but we keep pushing it, don't we?" And how scary is Jack, comparing pushing some button to imprisoning and torturing a man? Even Locke's speechless, but that may be because he's thinking, "Yeah, we keep pushing the button, no thanks to you." Jack says that until they're sure what Henry's deal is, they're going to keep doing what they're doing. "If you've got a better idea, let's hear it." Then they both glance off-camera because Henry says, quite faintly, "Why don't you let me go?"
We're on the beach. Kate's holding Aaron, who's still crying. Over to the side, tucked into the trees a little bit, Libby and Claire are sitting cross-legged, facing each other. Libby's speaking softly to Claire, getting her to breathe in and out, slowly, eyes closes, as she relaxes. Libby tells her to think back to when she was pregnant, and to think about what she sees. The camera focus shifts from Claire to the ocean, and we get the Clockwork Orange montage, with some repeats and some new footage: close-up of the bottles in the medicine cabinet, with serial numbers (or batch numbers or whatever they're called on medicine bottles) 4--23 42; that woman's face again; the empty crib with the plane mobile; a door closing, with a menacing-man looking through the door's window; that needle squirting a little fluid out of the tip; an ultrasound, even though it's a lot whiter than most ultrasounds I've seen; that woman's face again, and her lips are moving; the needle going into the belly; and someone putting her hand over Claire's mouth as she struggles and tries to scream. Again, over top, someone talking about not wanting him to get sick. And that's it for this installment of Hollywood's salute to Claire's repressed memories.
And then Claire's in a white hospital gown, pulled up, revealing her belly, while the presumed doctor puts his hands on her belly. Thing is, we conspicuously can't see his face, so we all know that we're going to know who he is. And given the focus on the Ethan storyline during the previouslies, and that William Mapother's name was in the opening credits, it ain't gonna come as a shock. So the doctor's asking when her last checkup was. Claire answers about as evasively as you do the dental hygienist when she asks how often you floss. I feel bad lying to her; all she wants is to protect me from gingivitis. Claire says she's been really busy, and that she's going to Los Angeles. The "doctor" notes that travelling in the third trimester isn't usually recommended. Claire "explains" that there's a family in Los Angeles that's going to adopt the baby. "Oh, of course. I understand," says the doctor, as if, since that's the case, travelling in the third trimester is perfectly safe. Anyway, the "doctor" says the sedative he gave her was just a mild one, because he knows these exams can be very stressful. As he says this, he makes his way over to the medicine cabinet we saw flashing in Claire's memory. The "doctor" says he's going to give Claire a shot, and as he loads up the needle, the camera pulls back to "reveal" that the doctor is Ethan. He strolls over with the needle, and tells her not to worry, that she's just going to feel a little pinch. And the needles go in and we get some more rapid-fire Claire memories, like...ah, it's the same stuff. Klaxons sound, blah blah.
On Craphole Beach, Claire snaps out of her hypnosis and starts shrieking, despite Libby trying to calm her down. "It was Ethan! I saw Ethan! I saw him! It was Ethan!" Claire, tsk. Libby doesn't even know Ethan.
Kate comes running up, wanting to know what Libby did. Yeah, Libby did something, because it's so unlike Claire to suddenly start screaming. And Claire is completely losing her shit, and she wants Libby to do it again, which Libby won't, and she warns Claire that what she saw could have been a mixture of memories from before the plane crash with stuff that's happened on the island, but Claire yells that it was real. Oh, and also, Aaron is sick, and she's going to yell about that some too. Claire is the new Michael. ["…Who?" -- Sars] She yells that the room is real and there's medicine there, and she needs to find it. She asks Kate to help, and after a moment, Kate nods, almost imperceptibly. I think she's a little scared.
Remember how Eko was marking trees because they were his favourite ones? Now he's chopping 'em down. Doesn't seem to be much point to this scene other than to show AAA shirtless.
And we switch to Eko, shirt on, strolling through the hatch. "Hello," he calls out. Jack's in the bathroom with Henry, who's at the sink washing up. Henry looks up when Eko calls out, and asks Jack what's up, but Jack shushes him. So Eko comes upon Locke changing a light bulb, and Locke says, "Howdy," like this scene was originally written for Sawyer or something. "Hello, John. You are alone?" "Not anymore," says Locke, smiling, while in the bathroom Henry starts to ask something and Jack tells him to shut up. Back to Locke and Eko, who was "hoping to borrow a saw," and Locke uses his extensive department-store experience to show him the way. Oh, and Eko happens to glance into the armoury and see a cot. But he doesn't say anything.
On the beach, Kate strolls up to Sawyer, who's reading Lancelot by Walker Percy. And I know I was lying about The Third Policeman and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," but seriously...oh, forget it. "I need a gun. And you don't get to ask why," she says, and he calls her "Thelma" and says that since he has all the guns, yes he does get to ask why, and she says, "No, you don't," and he says, "Yes, I do," like COULD WE PLEASE MOVE THIS ALONG and then he says he found a new pair of glasses that are "damn near" his prescription, and he puts them on, and they're these huge glasses. So that's where Lauren Bacall put them! Kate admits that she's going into the jungle to track down Rousseau, who Sawyer helpfully identifies as "the French chick." Kate explains that Claire needs medicine for the baby. "She thinks he's really sick. As in quarantine sick." Sawyer asks what Kate thinks. "I think she's a little too worried, but she's going after Rousseau with or without me." "No boys allowed, huh?" says Sawyer. Not really, just no assholes, Sawyer. So he asks if she wants the nine-millimetre or the rifle. If you two are ever going to work things out, Sawyer, I hope for your sake she chooses the nine-millimetre.
So elsewhere, Claire is pawning Aaron off on Sun, who's really reluctant, and suggests Claire should listen to Jack. "What if Jack's wrong, okay? Jack said the fever would break and it hasn't. He's getting worse." She asks how long she's supposed to wait. It might be an Australian thing, but if you did a shot every time Claire said "okay"? Then you died last week. "A mother should not leave her child," says Sun, with some real anguish. But Claire doesn't take too kindly to Sun's judging, and snaps, "I'm sorry, are you a mother?" And Sun says that she's not, and there's clearly a lot going on under the surface with Sun. "Are you sure you want to do this?" she asks Claire, which seems to trigger something in her, and Sun has to repeat it. Again with the memory fragments: some sort of log, Ethan outside telling Claire that she needs to be sure, the plane mobile, the woman saying, "You need to get out of here," an operating room, somebody holding something over Claire's mouth, syringe, canteen.
And then there's Ethan, opening up the cabinet again and filling up a syringe. Claire's sitting up, and she seems kind of out of it. "Do you have to put that in my tummy? It really, really hurts," she says. Ethan gently says that he knows and he wishes there was another way. "But the baby needs it, Claire. Okay?" After a moment's consideration, she says okay. A wider shot reveals that this isn't so much a doctor's office as it is an operating room (judging by the big lights on the ceiling) that's currently doubling as an examination room. So he injects her, and then says, "That wasn't so bad, was it?" And she says, "Nooooooo," really drawn-out and low. She's higher than Paula Abdul. And hey, because she was so good, Ethan's got a surprise for her.
They leave the operating room, and go into a long, industrial-looking green hallway. Even with Claire being all loopy, she still seems a little unnerved. We see a little door with "Escape Hatch" over top. Passing by a circular doorless entranceway, Claire looks up, sees stairs and a ramp, and behind her, sure enough, is the Dharma logo. Ethan leads her past the presumed entrance and takes her to another room -- a nursery. "It's for your baby, Claire," says Ethan. Claire calls it amazing, in the same way that someone who's hepped up on goofballs thinks his own fingers are "amazing." Then she asks what happened to Charlie. "Charlie? Oh, he's fine. When we got far enough away from camp, I let him go back," says Ethan, "innocently." Claire buys it, though. She asks where all this stuff came from, and Ethan says he'd love to explain everything to her, but he's "afraid it would be a little overwhelming right now." Translation: the writers still aren't quite sure where this is all going. Claire touches a monkey decoration on the wall. I'm not sure a Johnny Chimpo motif is appropriate for a baby's nursery, but what do I know?
Then she looks over and sees the crib, with the plane mobile hanging over top. "Go ahead, turn it on," says Ethan. Claire does so, and it plays "Catch A Falling Star." Claire seems quite perplexed, which probably isn't what Ethan's going for here. But someone off-screen calls his name, and he says he'll be right back. "Okay," says Claire, having some difficulty taking her eyes off the mobile.
So just outside the door, Ethan's getting chewed a new one, albeit in a stage whisper, by some guy whose face we can't see. "What the hell happened? You were supposed to make the list and then bring her in. Was I unclear?" Ethan protests that it wasn't his fault, and that they knew he wasn't on the plane, because they had a manifest. Claire glances over, and we see that it's Gruffy McScruffenbeard, only he's not scruffy or bearded at all. Still pretty gruff, though. He continues upbraiding Ethan: "What am I supposed to tell him? You know what he's going to do when he finds out. Dammit, Ethan!" He notices Claire watching them, and he reaches over to close the door. What is with their fascination for lists anyway? Is "making lists" one of The 7 Habits For Highly Effective Others?
More memory fragments. Nothing we haven't seen before. And Claire comes to back on the beach, standing in front of Sun, who's asking if she's all right. Kate strolls up, slinging a bag over her shoulder, asking if Claire's ready to go. Claire starts shushing Aaron, telling him not to cry and that she'll be back really soon to make he feel all better. She thanks Sun, who says okay. She and Kate walk off, Claire looking back at Sun with Aaron until Kate asks if she's all right. She says yes. However, Kate's got a gun, and that's when people tend to die. And Kate hasn't even seen the plane mobile yet.
Kate and Claire, walking through the jungle. "You're sure this is her trail?" asks Claire. "We started at the exact spot where we chased her off the beach," says Kate, which, if you ask me, ain't exactly a "yes." Claire asks what she knows about Rousseau, and the answer is not much, despite her having spent all that time together on their trip to the Black Rock. Kate says they talked about her ship crashing, her and her research team getting stranded. And then they, um, died. Claire wants to know how they died, so Kate changes the subject by saying that the trail ends here. Mainly because she doesn't want to have to tell Claire that Rousseau's team were killed, by Rousseau. She's forced to, though, after Claire presses. And then Rousseau shows up to explain about the infection that forced her to do it, which I'm sure is reassuring to hear from the crazy woman who thinks your son is likewise infected. Claire demands that Rousseau take her back to where she scratched Rousseau, and she yells a whole lot about how she remembers the room, and the medicine, and the blah blah blah, and take me there because my baby is sick! Rousseau probably wants as badly as I do for Claire to just SHUT UP already, so she says it's not far from here.
Jack's getting water on the beach, and Eko strolls up, asks to have a word. "Who is he?" Jack plays dumb, so Eko elaborates: "The man that you are keeping in the hatch." Jack says, "Did Locke tell you?" like NICE POKER FACE, JACK. Eko says he wants to speak to him. Jack asks about what, but Eko says, "I wish to speak to him alone. Can you arrange this?" And when Jack wants to know why he should do that, Eko says, "Because you wish to keep this a secret." Game, set, Eko. Jack's only response is to do that turn-his-head-to-the-side snort-laughter thing.
So Craphole's Angels are strolling through the jungle. Rousseau stops, much to Claire's surprise, saying this is where Claire scratched her. "But there's nothing here," says Claire, and Rousseau wants to know where they're supposed to go . And here goes Claire with the yelling again, screaming that Rousseau attacked her and was going to bring her back to the Others. "Is that what you think?" says Rousseau. If Claire thinks that, she's the only one at this point who can't see how things are going to turn out. And now it's Rousseau's turn to yell at Claire because she lied when she said she remembered. Kate pulls out the gun, but disappointingly doesn't shoot anyone. Rousseau gives her plenty of opportunity; she strolls right up to Kate until the gun is pressed up against her chest. "Go ahead, please. Do it," she says quietly. She's entirely serious, much to Kate's horror. Kate chickens out, and goes chasing after Claire, who's run off alone, which is always a good plan on this island.
So in a bit of a clearing, Claire sees this funny-shaped log that she saw in one of her memory fragments, so you know we're flashing back here. Which she does. And after the slide-show-on-speed ends, there's Ethan being all charming but actually creepy as he comes into the nursery, where a clearly-still-high Claire is knitting a baby bootie. "One down, one to go," she says, and Ethan says, "Now all we need is a little foot to put it on, huh?" And then he suggests that they sneak out and go for a walk. Claire readily agrees. She's so sweet when she's high. Charlie should give her all his heroin.
Outside, Ethan has to practically carry Claire, since she can barely walk. Looks like Pledge Week on Craphole Island. He says he's sorry that this is the first time he's managed to get her outside, but his friends think she'll run away. Claire promises not to tell on him, and he eases her down onto that same log that Claire's been remembering in her flashbacks. He gives her his canteen, and she takes a swig, and grimaces. "That's really sour," she says. "Is it? I hadn't noticed," says Ethan, and he sniffs it, and shrugs, like he can't smell the drugs that he dumped in there. And then the baby starts kicking, so he asks to feel it, just because he hasn't been creepy enough thus far. He asks if he can tell her a secret, and she says yes. "I'm going to miss you. I wish...I wish you didn't have to go." Having absolutely no idea what he's talking about, she says maybe she doesn't have to go. "We've been through this, Claire. There's not enough vaccine for you and the baby." Claire points out that she's not sick, and Ethan's all, "Thank God." Then he says, "Once you've delivered, you can go back to your friends and hopefully you'll stay that way." Yeah, but what if I want to see the baby, asks Claire. "Hey, nobody's going to take him from you unless that's what you want. You have a choice," says Ethan. Claire considers this, and feels her belly. Ethan continues: "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?" And she puts her hand on his, and smiles at him. The camera spins around, and in the background, present-day Claire is watching, in what has to be a first for the flashbacks on this show. Present-day Claire steps all over Flashback Claire's line when she says, "Sure."
Kate catches up with Claire, just in time for Claire to take off again, saying she knows this is it. Kate starts yelling at her, but Rousseau says to leave her alone, and they bicker with each other. Meanwhile, Claire is off discovering a whole 'nother Dharma hatch. It's covered with a…giant trash bag? And Claire yanks it off, and we see the Dharma logo on the doors, this one with the caduceus symbol on it -- you know, the medical symbol with the two snakes entwined on a staff? From Motley Crüe's "Dr. Feelgood" album? They open the doors and stare down the shaft. Is it the season finale already? No? We're only halfway through the season? We might actually get to see inside before September?
Back from commercials, we get a shot of the open hatch doors, the hole in the jungle. Hey, close the door! You think Dharma's heating the whole island? Inside, the three woman cautiously make their way down the darkened steps, the unarmed woman with the baby back at the camp wisely leading the way. We can see a flashing light coming through the round doorway down at the bottom we saw earlier. Kate notices a Dharma-logo-stamped cabinet on the wall, and opens it to find some heavy-duty flashlights. She checks one to see if they work, and then distributes two more to Claire and Rousseau. They make their way down to the hallway, and see that the place looks empty, with flickering and buzzing fluorescent lights left on for atmosphere. Kate says she's going to go find the power and turn it on. Claire seems to be remembering things, and she leads Rousseau down the hall into the room that housed the nursery. I use the past tense because as they shine their flashlights around the pitch-black room, it seems to have been cleaned out. Reverse silhouettes of the Johnny Chimpo decorations have been left on the walls, which look really grungy, as if it has been several years since Claire was here, instead of just a few weeks. We see Claire's rocking chair, which is apparently the only thing left behind, just as the lights come on. Neither Claire nor Rousseau reacts to that. Nice that they assume that Kate found the power instead of considering the possibility the Others are back. "What is this place?" asks Rousseau. "It's where they were going to keep him," says Claire.
Elsewhere, Kate has found some sort of locker room. Opening one of the lockers, she finds some tattered clothes hanging up. Either that or the costume designer for the Dharma Initiative's main-stage production of Oliver Twist deserves some kind of award. Probably not so much the latter, but I love that they would hang up the rags. Wouldn't want them to get wrinkly, I suppose. She even finds Gruffy McScruffenbeard's little tuque thingy, and in a little box at the bottom of the locker, a bottle of theatrical glue and a fake beard.
Back in the nursery, Rousseau and Claire see something else left behind: the blue baby bootie that Claire knit. It doesn't look nearly as dirty as the rest of the room. Claire bends down to pick it up. Quick memory flashes, and this time the slot-machine of memories settles on the young brunette, late teens or early twenties, urgently trying to wake up Claire, who doesn't appear to know who she is. "Shhhh, he'll hear you. Look, you have to get out of here." Claire, who, as per usual, appears drugged, is understandably confused and keeps saying she can't leave, while the girl cajoles her into getting up and moving. They go to the door and look down the hallway, and see the Others' M*A*S*H unit getting ready. "Don't scream. They're going to do it tonight," says the girl. And since Claire is in danger of alerting them and the entire island as to what's going on, the girl brings her back into the room and closes the door. "You're going to die. They're going to cut him out of you. I can get you back to your camp, but we have to leave. Now!" Claire thinks she's lying, and she's sure about this, and blah blah blah. It's amazing to me that Claire actually even remembers this, considering how out of her head she is. She wants to talk to Ethan, and says Ethan wouldn't hurt her, and finally the girl is all "enough with the Ethan, how about some ether" and puts a rag over Claire's face, and she passes out. "You'll thank me for this one day." Shutting her up? I'm thanking you now.
More slot-machine memories, and then we're back in the empty nursery, present-day Claire holding the bootie. "It's here, the medicine's here," says Claire. They go down the hall to the operating room, with its busted light and overturned medicine cabinet. Claire tries to lift the cabinet, but it's too heavy. She asks Rousseau to help, but Rousseau's all zonked out in one of her zones again, or so she would have us believe. If I were Rousseau, I could see myself milking the whole "she's crazy" thing as often as possible, like if someone wanted me to do some heavy lifting or listen to them tell me about the weird dream they had last night. So Claire starts yelling for Kate to come help, and Kate comes running. Well, trotting, anyway. Claire explains that the vaccine is in there, so the two of them tilt it back up. Claire opens it, and it's empty. Considering the whole damn place is empty, I can't say I'm surprised so much as "not surprised." And great, now Claire's yelling again about the vaccine being in there, and then she starts yelling at Danielle, asking where it is. She yells, "Tell me!" about eight million times. We get a few more slot-machine memories, all having to do with Claire struggling with Rousseau in the jungle, and present-day Claire looks down at Rousseau's forearm, still marked from Claire scratching her. They haven't healed yet? Maybe Sawyer's got some Vitamin E cream.
Now we get a real flashback. Claire's lying on the jungle floor, asleep. It's night, or dusk, anyway. She regains consciousness, and starts calling for Ethan. "I'm sure! I want you to take the baby!" Well, at least she's keeping focused. And then Danielle shows up, doing that skittish-deer thing stepping out of the jungle towards Claire. "Who are you?" asks Claire, but Rousseau doesn't answer, and then we hear Ethan in the distance yelling Claire's name. "Yeah, I'm here!" she yells. "I can hear you, where are you?" yells Ethan. Rousseau starts trying to shush Claire, who insists that she has to give her baby to them, so he'll be safe. Danielle tries putting her hand over Claire's mouth and dragging her away, but Claire manages to break free, at least until she gets a face full of rifle butt from Rousseau, presumably knocking her out.
Back in Dharma Feelgood, Claire quietly realizes that Rousseau wasn't trying to take her back to the hatch; she was trying to save her. Instead of "duh," Rousseau says, "I carried you on my back to your camp. I left you where they would find you." Wow, this is kind of like that old story where the guy asks Jesus why, judging from the single set of footprints, Jesus left him during his most troubled times, and Jesus is all, "Bitch, please; those are the times I carried you!" So Claire apologizes. Rousseau's expression doesn't change; she does, however, turn to leave. Claire asks where she's going. Rousseau turns back: "You're not the only one who didn't find what they were looking for." Not that you'd know it listening to her screech. Damn. And maybe it's churlish of me to point out that after Rousseau supposedly saved Claire, she then actually kidnapped Aaron.
Back from commercials, Craphole's Angels are trudging through the jungle in silence, until Rousseau says, "This is as far as I go," and starts going her own way. Claire asks if her baby was a girl, which it was, and asks what her name was. "Alex. Alexandra," says Rousseau. Nice name. I married one of those! Claire starts telling a story that you'd think she might have brought up before now: "I remember a girl. A girl with blue eyes. She helped me. She saved me, just like you did. She wasn't like the others. She was good." Rousseau closes her eyes, opens them, looks like she's trying to hold back tears. Then she says, "I'm sorry that you didn't find what you were looking for. I hope your baby's not infected. But if it is, I hope you know what must be done." She turns and heads off through the jungle without a further word, Claire and Kate watching her go. See, this is why you weren't invited to Aaron's baby shower, Rousseau.
Back in the hatch, Locke is doing dishes. A lot of dishes, considering no one's ever there. Jack and Eko come in, and Locke's all, "Back for more tools?" so Jack tells him Eko knows. "Well, there you go," says Locke, sounding not entirely thrilled.
Locke opens the combination lock on the vault, while Jack tells Eko to be careful what he says to Henry. "He's smart and curious. Just give us a shout when you're done." For some reason it kills me that Jack warns Eko that Henry is "curious." Locke says, "If the alarm goes off, don't tell him what it's for." "What is it for?" Locke and Jack exchange glances, since it's not like they have an answer for him. Locke's clearly thinking, "Shut up. That's what it's for." Instead he just opens the door.
So from Henry's point of view, this huge mountain of a man with ripped clothes comes strolling in (although Eko hands his Bible Thumper off to Locke). I think Henry might need to use the washing machine, guys. Eko pleasantly says hello, and when Henry doesn't say anything, Eko extends his hand and introduces himself (using "Mistereko" or Mr. Eko" or whatever). Henry apparently decides that whether Eko plans to hurt him or not, doing what he says is probably the best option, and he shakes his hand and introduces himself too. Eko (after getting Henry's permission) sits down on the cot. "How long have you been in here?" says Eko, like he's from Amnesty International or something. "Two days," says Henry. Eko asks if they're treating him well, which Henry thinks is kind of funny. "I'm a prisoner, and I don't know why, or for what, or..." Eko interrupts him to say that he's a prisoner because they are being careful. "They are being careful because they believe you are lying." Well, that doesn't sound much like something someone from Amnesty International would say. Henry wants to know why he'd lie: "They think I'm one of these Others. 'Other' what?" "Please stop talking, Henry," says Eko, which is something that I wish people said more often on this show. Then he tells Henry about how on his first night on the island he was dragged into the jungle by two men. "I killed these men. Smashed in their head with a stone, felt their blood on my arms." Yeah, Gale's pants are going to need to soak for a while first, too. Eko continues: "I need you to know how sorry I am for this. I need you know that I am back on the righteous path now, and that I regret my actions. I ask you for your forgiveness." "Why are you telling me this?" says Henry, probably worried that it's some kind of trap. "Because I needed to tell someone," says Eko, and then he unsheathes his huge Crocodile Dundee knife. Maybe Locke can be a little more strict in the weapons-confiscating department visit, hey? Henry's terrified, and then Eko holds the knife under his own chin -- and cuts off those two little scraggly pieces from his beard. Henry's now not so much terrified as he is kinda terrifused. Eko gets up and walks out, Henry staring after him.
morning, on the beach. Jack's examining Aaron, who is of course fine - fever's broken, the rash is starting to fade. "Thank you so much," says a very happy Claire, when she should be APOLOGIZING to everybody. Jack says he didn't do anything, which he didn't, and says he'll check back in a couple of hours, and leaves. So Claire reaches into her bag and pulls out the little bootie, which holds while she burbles out a little speech about how once she wanted the Others to take him, but now I know that they're supposed to be together, and she loves him, and I can only imagine why Aaron isn't running as far away as he can from Claire at this point. Probably because his body can't support his giant candy-apple head. Then Claire gives him the bootie, which Aaron promptly sticks in his mouth, and I can only hope that Claire washed that beforehand, but I am not assuming anything. Aaron's an awfully cute baby, though.
In the hatch, Locke opens the door to the armoury and brings in a bowl of food to Henry, who says, "No cheeseburgers, huh?" and I guess the torture couldn't have been that traumatic since it's always "An Evening at the Improv" with this guy. Then he asks if what Locke said about Hemingway was true. "You have good ears," says Locke, surprised for some reason that Henry heard what he said to Jack, even though they pretty much already established that. "You have thin doors," says Henry. Locke asks if he reads Hemingway. Henry starts talking about Hemingway running with the bulls and fighting in the Spanish Civil War, when I think he meant to talk about Hemingway drinking his face off before writing about running with the bulls and fighting in the Spanish Civil War, and this is stuff that Henry can wrap his brain around. "This, I can't get through five pages of," he says, nodding at the Dostoyevsky, who, Locke says, "had his virtues, too," which include being a genius, apparently, according to Locke. "Bullfighting isn't everything," says Locke. Henry asks which one Locke is. "I'm sorry?" says Locke. Henry: "Are you the genius, or are you the guy who always feels like he's living in the shadow of a genius?" and the idea of Locke or Jack being considered a genius forced me to go lie down for a few hours. Locke just says he was never very much into literary analysis, which strikes me as bullshit. So Henry gets a little closer to the point: "I just don't understand why you let the doctor call the shots."
This gives Locke pause. He says, carefully, that no one calls the shots. "Jack and I make decisions together." Henry's all apologetic, in that "no, of course, you're right" phony kind of way.
Outside the armoury, Locke decides that the best way to finish the dishes is to sweep them off the counter and onto the floor in a rage. Inside the armoury, Henry lifts his head, and smiles. I guess he can't believe that his completely transparent manipulation suckered Locke, who should really be way too smart to fall for it.