Episode 215 - Secret Clue

This week's episode, Maternity Leave, was an absolute spin out, loaded with clues. Claire, Kate and Rousseau found a new hatch, we learnt what happened to Claire when she was abducted by Ethan in season 1 and Kate also found out Zeke aka Beardy doesn't have a beard! But the major clue in the entire episode lay in the numbers on the little vials in Ethan's mini-fridge - the supposed "vaccine" for the sickness, CR 481516-2342.

Ever since Sayid was captured by Rousseau and tortured, we've had constant reminders about the threat of the sickness - Rousseau's confession to killing the rest of her group, including her husband Robert, when they succumbed to the sickness being the most chilling. Desmond, the Scottish button pusher, was petrified that members of Jack and Locke's party were infected, and we saw him shoot himself with a vial of vaccine in the very opening sequence of season 2. Maybe the fact that QUARANTINE was spray painted on the inside of the hatch doors tipped him off.

Just last week we were reminded of the threat of the sickness by Sayid's prisoner Henry Gale, who told the interrogator of how his wife had gotten sick and died. This week, Rousseau appeared to tell Claire that Aaron's fever was actually the first sign of infection of the sickness. Something in Rousseau's presence triggered Claire's memories, and through our very first on-island flashback we got our first solid look at what the Others are up to.

Ethan wasn't a bushman - he was some sort of obstetrician, and as we watched him administer the "vaccine" to a drugged-out Claire, we caught a glimpse of a familiar vial. The same vial was used by Desmond to immunise himself against the sickness! Both had the same CR numbering, and both have the branding Rx-1, though the new hatch's vial also features its logo and the marking GND. Ground?

Yet we've not seen any survivors suffering side affects, at least that we're aware of. Aaron did come down with a mystery illness, but it wasn't until Rousseau's insistence that Aaron had been infected that Claire began to think of the mystery sickness. You'll notice that Ethan only administered the vaccine to the unborn child and not to Claire - the young girl (Alex?) told her of the plans to let her die after forcibly removing the baby and Ethan claimed that his group would take good care of her baby as they were "a good family." Is Claire not "good"? Why only immunise the baby and not all the survivors against the sickness? Could the source of the sickness be linked to the button? And finally, do the survivors have it… or they Others?

New hatch, new logo! Claire discovered a hatch with the symbol of two snakes wrapped around a staff - the Caduceus, the symbol traditionally used for medicine. You'll notice this hatch is in colour, unlike the other two, as the symbol is red. Medical and aid groups use the same colouring...

Some interesting links through the timeline were joined in the episode. Rousseau was in fact helping Claire when she scratched her arms, and the commotion in the examination in operating room must have been linked to Ana-Lucia impaling Goodwin on a spear, as both happened on Day 27. The lullaby playing above the crib in the nursery was odd, too, as the song playing, 'Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket,' was the same one Claire requested the prospective adopted parents sing it to her baby because her father used to sing it to her. Is someone sharing information about our survivors - or going through their brains?