It was nice to see the women of the show featured as the main story line of the show, usually they are supporting Jack, Sawyer, Sayid etc... and it was a nice change to have Claire, Kate, Libby, Sun and Rousseau as the main characters featured for this episode.

I do hope they do this more often and I enjoy when characters that usually do not communicate with eachother have story lines together.

Yeah that was kind of neat! I thought it was cool to see Kate protect Claire so much.

I really enjoyed that as well. it shows how strong the women really are.

Yeah, it was a refreshing change to see women in charge. It's more real. Why should the men be the ones to undertake dangerous expeditions all the time?
You go, girls!! :) :)

I agree. That was well needed and well deserved. And excellent episode!

I agree that it was a nice change of pace. I love strong women and so it was nice to see an episode that included most of the women on the show contributing and moving the plot forward in some way. A lot of shows portray women as either sweet innocent girls who need protecting or ****** selfish vixens.

Kudos to the writers' for showcasing the diverse female characters and giving the very talented female actors a time to shine.


**Mod edited - circumventing the language filter. Please let the language filter work. It's better to let the language filter determine how suggestive your post will be than for you to do it yourself if you are unclear about what is allowed. Thanks.**

My theroy on 'Maternity Leave' was that while the party of women where trying to uncover a secret (what happened to Claire) in one hatch the Lostie men where trying to keep a secret (Henry) in another Hatch and while the women became closer together (Claire & Danielle) the men began to split apart (Locke & Jack)

I've never really looked too hard at the male/female focus on lost, mainly because I think writers always did a decent job of keeping everybody involved. Another thing that might cause this to seem unbalanced is when several male characters have flashback episodes in a row, they it kinda looks like the girls are getting the shaft, but it's really just the order of the episodes.

I don't know if this deserves its own thread or not and I don't recall seeing it discussed before. So here goes:

Does the title of this episode and what goes on during it raise any eyebrows? I realize Maternity Leave could be taken to mean any number of things, including the time Claire was away with Ethan and the Others. But could it also not refer to the trip Claire, Rousseau and Kate made to the Med Hatch? After all, they were "on leave" as it were from the camp. And if it does refer to the trip by the three women, wouldn't that imply that all three of them are mothers? Claire and Rousseau, certainly, qualify. Does Kate? Could there be something in her past that hasn't even been hinted at yet?

I liked that these characters were getting more screen time, but I did find it kind of awkward when they were all together. It really seemed like Claire was oh-so-mad at Danielle, who she keeps saying was trying to hurt her (back when she was kidnapped), but she didn't seem so concerned that they'd be heading out there together.

It just seemed weird when they were going through their adventure.

I don't know if this deserves its own thread or not and I don't recall seeing it discussed before. So here goes:

Does the title of this episode and what goes on during it raise any eyebrows? I realize Maternity Leave could be taken to mean any number of things, including the time Claire was away with Ethan and the Others. But could it also not refer to the trip Claire, Rousseau and Kate made to the Med Hatch? After all, they were "on leave" as it were from the camp. And if it does refer to the trip by the three women, wouldn't that imply that all three of them are mothers? Claire and Rousseau, certainly, qualify. Does Kate? Could there be something in her past that hasn't even been hinted at yet?

Some would argue that something like that has been hinted at in Kate's past. First, there was a photo on Tom's refrigerator of two children. The infant was Tom's child with his wife, and he gave Kate the obigatory baby update. He never mentioned the older child though. Some speculated that the way Kate looked longingly at the photo was "interesting." Also, the fact that Kate helped Claire with the delivery of her infant, and really seemed to know the ropes, might mean she had been in that situation before in the past. It's speculation, but there are some possible hints there.

Don't forget her reaction to Sawyer threatening the baby piglet, I thought it seemed a bit over the top since it was clear he wasn't really hurting it.

Also part of why Claire was willing to run into the jungle with Crazy Rouseau was that she was in Mom Mode and a Mother will do anything for her child that is Ill and Claire was putting the baby first over any feelings for frenchie.

All kinds of baby/mother parrallels can be made with Kate, Sun, and Rousseau. I'm interested more in Rose/Libby/Ana's mommy policies. Probably because they are the least talked about.

nice suggestino Craw_daddy. There could be more to Kates past we dont know and it would be a really unexpected twist to find out she does have a child! The writers always find a way to suprise us!

btw great episode!!

I liked that these characters were getting more screen time, but I did find it kind of awkward when they were all together. It really seemed like Claire was oh-so-mad at Danielle, who she keeps saying was trying to hurt her (back when she was kidnapped), but she didn't seem so concerned that they'd be heading out there together.

It just seemed weird when they were going through their adventure.

Yeah, it seemed kind of off. Sawyer's remark did it in. I mean, there was nothing whatsoever that could be deemed 'girl-only'. These 3 hardly know each other, more despise in the beginning even. Taking Sawyer would have been logical. So it was rather 'off'. Just a cheap shot for female viewers, supposedly..girl power and all that (No sexism meant in any way, but it's just the way it is)

Just a cheap shot for female viewers, supposedly..girl power and all that (No sexism meant in any way, but it's just the way it is) This analysis intrigues me. How exactly was it a cheap shot meant for female viewers when Maternity Leave is one of the most well received episodes of Season 2?

Kate - She has a history of always going with whoever wants to go exploring on the island. Nothing unusual here. She also helped deliver Claire's baby and has a special bond with Claire and her child.

Claire - She is a desperate mother afraid for the life of her child. Her lost memories hold the key of finding the vaccine she believes will help save her baby. She HAD to go because she was the only person whose memories could lead them to where she thought the vaccine would be.

Danielle -She was the one person who could have helped Claire regain her memory by taking her to the very spot where she found her during her abduction. Also, she had ulterior motives and was hoping that their expedition would lead her to her own child. Legitimate reasons for Danielle to go as well.

So why exactly didn't it make sense for these three women to go? Why exactly did they need a man to go? I think Kate and Danielle have proven themselves more than capable of holding their own and Claire would have been quite safe in the protection of these two.

How exactly would anyone else, especially Sawyer, have made things more logical? Anyone else, especially Sawyer, would have just complicated things.

This show sometimes has faultly logic. This, however, is not an example of one.

The producers have said they are interested in how society develops. They've been very heavy handed in following the Alpha Male struggle, so I saw this gal-episode as their reminder that female interactions, especially maternal leadership, are a big part of how a group functions.

How exactly would anyone else, especially Sawyer, have made things more logical? Anyone else, especially Sawyer, would have just complicated things.

This show sometimes has faultly logic. This, however, is not an example of one.

Has been stated ad nauseam. Kate had been taken only a little time prior to this by the others. She knows how easy it was, she knows they are armed, and she knows they don't want them snooping around. Add in the fact that, to them, Sun was going to be taken soon by the others too, and there's a feeling of something that is just not right. At least she should have objected, the same as Locke objected to Claire going to the hatch in the middle of the night. It's not like Kate has a problem objecting with anyone's plans.

Even if Sawyer would not have been the best person to take, he did have the gun cache, and opened up their choice of weaponry AND other people to come along. Locke, for one, would have been a logical choice, since the girls don't know about Henry, and thought they could use his tracking skills. After all, they didn't know Danielle was going to be waiting for them, and Kate should have known her able to hide her tracks, at least well enough to dazzle Kate, but maybe not Locke.

From a simple wednesday night viewer's standpoint, I can understand why this episode was satisfactory. We had a plethora of new information and, as stated, the girl-only expedition will have had a lot of girl viewers enchanted (and for obvious reasons, most male viewers won't complain when these women are in the spotlight). But from a logical point of view, it's quite flawed. It's just something to add to the pile of unlogical stretches in the season 2.

Something ironic about this episode was that while the women were on an expedition in the woods, Locke and Jack were in the hatch kitchen washing the dishes and doing the laundry. :lol:

We had a plethora of new information and, as stated, the girl-only expedition will have had a lot of girl viewers enchanted (and for obvious reasons, most male viewers won't complain when these women are in the spotlight). Maybe I am taking this the wrong way or I have been brought up to be too politically correct, but in my opinion that sounds quite sexist.

I am a male viewer and I enjoyed the female focus of this episode from a character driven standpoint and not because of the so-called "obvious" reasons as you implied. In addition, don't you think that it is selling a lot of female viewers short that they would be so easily manipulated in liking this episode because of the supposed feminist angle as you claim? Lost fans tend to be smarter than this.

Is your problem with this episode the fact that it was a "girl-only expedition" or because you thought that the expeidition should have had more people (regardless of gender)? The latter of which I can more so understand.

A lot of people have been pointing to the fact that Kate was captured by the others as a reason that the ladies should not have gone on this trek without a man. I would just like to point out that on that particular occasion, Kate was unarmed because Jack was being a macho man, not wanting her along. Had she been armed, I doubt the others would have had such an easy time capturing her. She knows well how to use a gun. Since she was armed this time, I don't think it's a stretch at all.

Edited for typo.

Is your problem with this episode the fact that it was a "girl-only expedition" or because you thought that the expeidition should have had more people (regardless of gender)? The latter of which I can more so understand.

My problem is with the faulty logic of going for a stroll in general. And if you have a problem with the fact of me stating that this girl-only treck sounds sexist (I know it does, but I am more having a problem with it being illogical), then answer me this:

If Claire finds a bunker, where she remembers being taken, so heavily guarded that even Ethan had a hard time smuggling her out, with an obvious dharma logo on it, does it seem so normal they just open the door and stroll in? Story-wise, yes. But for someone like Kate, even if she now has a gun, she should have known better.

My problem is with the faulty logic of going for a stroll in general. And if you have a problem with the fact of me stating that this girl-only treck sounds sexist (I know it does, but I am more having a problem with it being illogical), then answer me this:

If Claire finds a bunker, where she remembers being taken, so heavily guarded that even Ethan had a hard time smuggling her out, with an obvious dharma logo on it, does it seem so normal they just open the door and stroll in? Story-wise, yes. But for someone like Kate, even if she now has a gun, she should have known better.

Well, from the way it was covered with foliage, I would think that it had been abandoned. Maybe that's what the ladies thought as well. It just doesn't seem like much of an issue to me. Based on the logic above, it doesn't make sense that Michael went off into the jungle by himself in search of Walt. Yet, nobody seems to have a problem with that. :ohwell:

My only problem with this episode is that the girls didn't really dress cute enough for their little field trip. I mean, I don't remember very well, but I think they were all pretty much wearing pants, and the french chick was in what appeared to be sweat pants, and that's just plain lazy. Also, they didn't really flirt with eachother at all, or talk about any guys at all, specifically me. I refuse to believe that Claire didn't at least mention me once.

Shouldn't their clothes all be in tatters by now, ripped in provocative places or so worn out that they become almost transparent?

My only problem with this episode is that the girls didn't really dress cute enough for their little field trip. I mean, I don't remember very well, but I think they were all pretty much wearing pants, and the french chick was in what appeared to be sweat pants, and that's just plain lazy. Also, they didn't really flirt with eachother at all, or talk about any guys at all, specifically me. I refuse to believe that Claire didn't at least mention me once.

Shouldn't their clothes all be in tatters by now, ripped in provocative places or so worn out that they become almost transparent?

I think the odds of this occurring will go up as Lost ratings go down. Don't get your hopes up cause it may never occur:biggrin: