Another Thought About Claire



So I really hate the idea that Claire died in the rocket blast on her house and has been a walking zombie ever since. So I have another idea. What if the shots given to Claire first by Ethan and then Juliet have heightened Claire's "specialness" which allows her to see Christian? I'd also argue that in the cabin Claire has been given more Ethan style happy juice, possibly as an additional accompaniment to more of these shots.

Now who else do we know has had similar shots? Well, a young Dharma Initiative child named Ben who just happens to see his dead mother on the Island. I'd argue that whatever is in these shots heightened Ben's specialness as well. Did the Dharma Initiative know what it was up to with these shots? Much as in the case of time traveling bunnies perhaps they had a rudimentary understanding, but were incapable of conceiving of such grand results in a certain chosen few.

And who else had those shots? Desmond -- a guy who kept seeing a dead Charlie before he was dead. Maybe in Desmond's case the combined effect of the shots and turning the failsafe key crossed his wires so that he also saw dead people only future, not current dead people.

So What The Heck Is Up With Claire?



Here's the big problem I have with Claire being killed in the rocket attack. What makes her an instant zombie when we've seen tons of other people on the Island die without the same effect? Boone died and it took a while to get him in the ground. Ana Lucia especially took a long time to bury. She laid there in the Swan Hatch while Libby bled out. But if Claire isn't dead, what is the deal? Any ideas? (And would a zombie need a band aid?)

Sis and Bro -- When Will They Learn?


















Rumor has it that Jack and Claire will learn they are half-siblings. Do you think it will be on Island via Juilet or Ben or off Island say via Aunt Lindsey?

Were Claire's Memories Real?













Throughout Episode 2.15, Maternity Leave, Claire has
flashes of memory about her time with Ethan and the Others
at the Medical Station. One of the most coincidental of the
memories is that in the nursery there is a mobile of Oceanic
airplanes just like the ones in Claire's dream before she was
taken by Ethan. Moreover the mobile plays "Catch a Falling
Star," the song she associates with her long-gone father and
which she asks the prospecitve adoptive parents to sing to her
bay-bee.

Now ever since the episode aired I've wondered, how could the
Others know about that mobile and that song? Did Smokey scan
Claire and inform them? Were they the ones trying to adopt
Aaron in Australia? Were they working with Malkin?

Well I think the answer may be much simpler than that, and it's
given to us in the episode. Libby tells Claire:

Claire, what you saw could be combining experiences of what
happened before the crash to the night you were having dreams
here on the island.

So while Claire was remembering things that did happen to her
in The Staff, I think she was also adding in pre-crash memories
and post-crash dreams.

Claire's time with the Others raises other questions as well
which I hope won't just be written off as faulty Claire memories.

First, what were they injecting in Claire? It was a liquid, not
an "implant" unless it's nanobots. :D

Next, why not keep Claire? Both Ethan and Alex state that they
were planning to keep the baby but not Claire. Does Claire's
willingness to give up the baby both pre- and post-crash make
her a "bad" person?

Finally, Alex's rescue of Claire -- Girl Scout goodness or
Ben's manipulation? I guess at a minimum it was Ben anticipated
therefore the implant.

Maternity Leave is one of my favorite episodes for its
on-Island flash and its paying off of things started many, many
episodes before. But there are still things I want to know.

Put On Your Log Carrying Shoes

I noticed rewatching Episode 2.3, Orientation, that
when Desmond makes his run for it while he grabs
his injection gun and some vials for injecting, he
leaves behind a LOT of additional vials. Sorry I
couldn't find a screen grab or a video clip of this, but
it occurs at about the 28 minute mark on your DVDs.
So this leads to the question -- why did Claire have to
go all the way to the Staff Station to look for medicine
when there was plenty of the stuff in the Swan?

The obvious answer is she didn't know that stuff was in
the Swan, and here's where your log carrying shoes
come in to play. If you were one of the 25 or so people
carrying logs around in the background, making friends
with Nikki and Paolo, helping Bernard build SOS signs,
wouldn't YOU want to explore a place full of food, books
records and a shower?

Locke says that he's going to set up shifts of teams of
people to push the button. I for one would be Log
Carrying Girl #1 to sign up for that duty. No wind,
no rain, no sand, a shower, a chance to do laundry, new
reading material, some tunes, a chance to find kooky
medicine that I might need for mah baaayyy-beeeee. Yet
I'm pretty sure we never saw a single non-credited cast
member in the Swan.

I prefer seeing The Socks (as Darlton refers to the
background extras) pitching in around our main characters
to giving them contrived stories of their own (cough Nikki
and Paolo cough). You could be pretty sure that if
I'd crashed on Flight 815, Claire would not have needed
to trek off into the jungle.

Plot Payoff














I had not remembered that Claire has "flashes" of memory
of scratching Danielle during Exodus, Part 2. It still doesn't
explain the scratches on Ethan's face in Homecoming. But
at this point the ground work was laid for Maternity Leave
fifteen episodes later. It's nice to be able to look back at these
sort of payoffs.

Is This The Black Rock Claire Was
Dreaming Of?














In Episode 1.14, Special, Charlie reads Claire's
journal. In it he finds this entry:

I had that weird dream again, the one with the
Black Rock I can't get away from. I try to leave it but
it won't let me.

Now here's something I'd like to go back to. What kind
of Black Rock was Claire dreaming of when she was pregnant
with Aaron? The ship that's on the Island? A literal black
rock? According to Wikipedia, there are a number of islands
named Black Rock. Is it one of them? Should LOST Island
be named Black Rock? Any ideas?

[How the Black Rock got into the jungle, that's a mystery I
can leave unsolved.]

And after you think about the Black Rock, don't miss the
extra post below with more questions about Danielle.

Who Scratched Ethan?














This is what Ethan looked like in Episode 1.15,
Homecoming, a face that looks like he ran
into a wildcat on his way to knock out Jin with
his slingshot and threaten Charlie. But how did
he get these scratches when last we saw him clearly
in Ep. 2.15, Maternity Leave, he looked like
this?















I guess it was just the case that they were hedging
their bets back in Season 1 about how Claire escaped.
Claire did scratch someone, but it wasn't Ethan, it
was Rousseau.

But here's another question for you that relates back
to my earlier "Was Ethan Rogue" post. Why does Ethan
demand Claire's return and even kill poor Scott to
insure it only for the Others never to pay attention to
Claire and Aaron again? True love is being willing to
kill 40 people? And where are the rest of the Others
during all this, and why don't they do anything about
Ethan's death? Aaarrggghh those Others! Will I ever
understand them?

Bonus Post - Part 2
What I've Decided I Think
About Richard Malkin

Thanks for the comments on my earlier post about
Richard Malkin. After watching the episode Outlaws
and its encounter between Christian Shephard and
Sawyer I think I've come to a conclusion about Richard
Malkin. As Jay suggested, I think Richard Malkin was
working for Christian Shephard and getting Claire on
Flight 815 on that day was Christian's way of reuniting
with his daughter and future grandchild. Here's why.

I think in the first instance the encounter between
Malkin and Claire was as Capcom suggested a strange
situation where the fake psychic got a real sense of
something, and since he was no longer in control of
what was going on, he ended the meeting. Remember
that this encounter was two days after Claire took a
home pregnancy test to learn she was pregnant.

I think a week or so later Claire finally visited a doctor
who confirmed the pregnancy, and I think at this
point Christian was notified much as he was notified of
the wreck we saw in the Par Avion flashback. I also
think Claire probably told her aunt about her strange
encounter with the psychic and that Christian later
learned about the psychic from the aunt.

I'd guess that after Thomas left Claire, she told her aunt
who told Christian in an I-told-you-so sort of fashion, kind
of, "see you're daughter is just like her mother" thing, and
"what's more she's more likely to listen to some psychic
rather than me her bitchy aunt."

Now you might not think that Christian Shephard would
be the type of guy who'd deal with psychics. I think that
would definitely be true of Jack Shephard, but not Christian.
Christian is a guy who writes everything in his life (and
others' lives) off to FATE. I think he would view Claire's
interest in psychics and astrology as proof of his DNA in her.

So Christian somehow finds Malkin and tells him, if Claire
ever comes to you again make sure she doesn't give up the
baby, my grandchild. Christian probably promised a nice
payday to Malkin to insure this.

But Claire makes things difficult. She's certain that she can't
raise the baby on her own, so Christian comes to Australia to
try to meet with her though it takes him four days to get
enough courage from his bottle given their last encounter at
the mall. He's bought a ticket for her on his return flight,
Oceanic Flight 815 on September 22, 2004. Unable to get
the ticket to her himself, he gives it to Malkin who has
concocted the story of the couple in LA to get Claire on the
plane with her dad (and I guess Ana Lucia.) But before
Christian can board, he drinks himself to death and dies in
an alley.

I know, I know, it's pretty fantastic and relies on a lot of
speculation, but I think Christian had decided it was his
FATE to have a second family and this is how he was
going about accomplishing it.

Questions Raised by
"Raised by Another"
























Unlike some Season 1 episodes, a lot of mysteries introduced
in Raised by Another still remain. The biggest, the one about
the psychic is discussed below, but here are some others.

1. Does anyone know what the symbol on Claire's necklace
means? I couldn't find it on LOSTpedia.

2. What is the deal with Thomas, Aaron's biological father?
He's the one with the bright idea that he and Claire can be a
family for this unplanned baby and then he bolts. Just cold
feet and enroaching responsibility or something more? Ironic
how two of our artists manage to knock up their girlfriends, but
never get around to marrying them. (Michael's the other with
the pregnant girlfriend; best I can tell Desmond hasn't
accomplished this feat.)

3. How did Hugo Reyes get the nickname Hurley?

4. The psychic tells Claire that her "goodness" is needed to protect
the baby, but she's not on Jacob's list (we think.) Why?

5. How did Catch a Falling Star end up on that Oceanic mobile
in the Staff Hatch? And does Claire actually remember her dad
singing it, or was she told that he did? I'll take option B on that one.

6. Finally, the failing pens -- coincidence or fate?

Real or Fake?















So what is the deal with Richard Malkin, especially when it comes
to his relationship with Claire Littleton? Crazily enough, when we
first met Mr. Malkin and saw his encounters with Claire unfold
I never doubted that he was a real psychic and that he set Claire
up to be on Flight 815. It wasn't until his encounter with Eko in
? that I ever doubted him.

Malkin tells Eko he's a fake. But if he's a fake, how did he know
that Claire was pregnant? There does not seem to be tell given
off by Claire or her friend before he asks directly how long she's
known about the baby. And then he refuses to go on because he sees
something blurry. Could this blurry thing have been Smokey? Or is
it more like the Dark Thing that covers part of the galaxy
in A Wrinkle in Time?

It seems to me that if Malkin's a fake he would not go to the
extremes he does to make sure Claire raises her baby. The
implication is even that he buys a plane ticket with his own
money to ensure Claire ends up on the doomed Flight 815. So is he
a real psychic so concerned about this young girl and child that
he harasses her and spends his own money? Or could he be a fake
working on someone else's behalf? Perhaps he's an agent
protecting time as suggested at Eye M Sick.