Summary: In flashbacks, Claire' boyfriend Tommy convinces her to keep her baby so they can raise it together. Tommy leaves her soon after. Claire goes to see a psychic, Richard Malkin, who is horrified by what he sees, telling her that her baby must be raised by her. Richard gets her to take Oceanic flight 815. In the present, Claire is having bad dreams. One night, she claims she is attacked by somebody but no culprit is found. Jack chalks it off as it happening in Claire's head. Claire is angered by this and leaves the camp. Charlie follows her. Meanwhile Hurley makes a census of everyone on the island. He gets the flight manifest froM Sawyer and is horrified when he finds out that Ethan wasn't on the plane. Ethan confronts Charlie and Claire alone in the jungle. Meanwhile, Sayid returns, claiming they are not alone.
The Good: Once again, "Lost" changes gears and has a very different episode from everythign before it. After so many deep character episodes, the focus completely changed in this episode, bringing out the show's more mysterious, plot-related elements instead of character. There is an emphasis on the more supernatural elements of the show in this episode, making this episode feel more important, and also very exciting for the future of the show. That's not to say that Claire's story is bad. It's not. We do learn about Claire's backstory, why she is pregnant, and why she may be hesitant to trust Charlie. Her backstory isn't as complex as other characters', but it is interesting enough. Plus, her island storyline is really interesting. With her being pregnant, we can never be sure if we can trust her experiences as they may be fake. I like that the show openly explores this with Jack giving Claire a sedative, providing us some natural character conflict. Then we get to the superb end of the episode. Claire and Charlie are vulnerable at the end of the episode, and it feels like the surprising climax would be Claire giving birth. But the show throws out a number of surprises for us. For one, Sayid makes a sudden return with some cryptic remarks (see: The Unknown). But then the big surprise comes as Hurley reveals that Ethan wasn't on the plane. The final shot of Ethan staring down at Charlie and Claire with that creepy look is downright chilling, and it leaves us on an extremely suspenseful cliffhanger which makes me really enthused to watch another episode. I thought that Hurley's side story was really good. His scenes were quite funny, as usual. I particularly liked his scene with Locke, and the joke of Hurley trying to get away from Locke after being creeped out is hilarious. Furthermore, the importance of this side story is completely unexpected. After Hurley made a golf course in a harmless B-plot in the last episode, we assume that this story is more harmless fluff to develop characters a little more. But the Hurley story actually ends up being important, and it impressively set up the ending reveal in a very big way. Lastly, I thought the scenes of the psychic in Claire's flashbacks were outstanding. Richard Malkin actually outperformed Claire in this episode, and he was portrayed brilliantly. The fear and confusion across his face when he is doing the psychic reading is pretty horrifying, really playing up the mystery. Even more terrifying is his urgent reaction to Claire, demanding that she must raise the baby herself (see: The Unknown). The psychic stole the show this episode, and I'm dying to learn more about what he saw and if he will play a bigger role later in the show. The Bad: As much as I like the change of pace, the episode is missing something by not having the great character exploration that I've gotten used to. With a more emotional story for Claire, this could have been amazing. But with a simpler storyline, the episode doesn't hit as hard emotionally as previous episodes of the show. The Unknown: What was Claire's dream about? Is there any significance there? Is the psychic real? Did he actually know about Flight 815? What did he see regarding Claire's kid? Who is Ethan? How was he already on the island? How did he infiltrate the survivors group? Did he attack Claire at night? Why? Is he interested in her baby? Why? What is he going to do at the end of the episode? Is he going to fight Charlie and Claire? Kidnap them? What is his plan? What are his motives? What happened to Sayid in the jungle? He seemed pretty shaken up. Was he attacked by other people? Is that why he claimed they weren't alone? Or did he possibly get infected by the sickness Rousseau was talking about in the last episode? Best Moment: The ending of the episode chilled me to the bone. A frightening reveal that changes the story and ends the episode with a perfect cliffhanger. Character of the Episode: Richard Malkin. Claire was somewhat underwhelming in this episode so he ended up stealing the show. Conclusion: This was another great episode, changing up the formula to focus more on the plot. However, the lack of character stuff does make this episode a step lower than the other episodes of the show. Score: 68
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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