With all the stunners in this episode . . . did anybody notice that this was the SECOND WEEK IN A ROW that Rose was shown doing the laundry?

And her excuse for not automating the task is that she doesn't like the hatch? Implying that clotheswashing is HER job? Shouldn't somebody else be doing the damned laundry?

Wait, why should someone else be doing the laundry. Maybe Rose volunteered to do the laundry. And the reason she was doing the wash is because there are a lot of clothes. And a lot of stuff to be done on the Island.

yeah i figured that's just what her role was to help... Jin did the fishing... Rose does the washing... that sort of deal...

Exactly. Someone keeps the fire going, someone gathers wood, etc...

How about the look on Hurley's face when Rose said that it's so sad that Shannon is distraught over losing a loved one.

Hello? Jin is the fisherman, Locke the hunter, Jack the doctor and Sayid the tech support because those are jobs that require special skills. Laundry is menial work. Either everyone should do his/her own damned laundry, or if they're being communistic (which actually is a good idea now that they have a washer and dryer) the job should be rotated along with other menial jobs, such as cleaning fish or cooking dinner.

Rose is a middle-aged African-American woman. Who knows what she did in the real world? To relegate her to laundry is just . . . offensive. What is she, everybody's Aunt Jemima?

Well when she is doing it she seems happy. She doesn't have to do it if she doesn't want to. I mean she could object and say she wants to do more important things. Noone is forcing her. And Hurley does little things too.

It might be a stress reliever for her. Or some way to keep her mind off of being on that island! I know there are some CRAZY (haha) people that love to clean when they are stressed.

Being me.. HAHA. When I am upset, I clean my mind to get it off my mind.

Hello? Jin is the fisherman, Locke the hunter, Jack the doctor and Sayid the tech support because those are jobs that require special skills. Laundry is menial work. Either everyone should do his/her own damned laundry, or if they're being communistic (which actually is a good idea now that they have a washer and dryer) the job should be rotated along with other menial jobs, such as cleaning fish or cooking dinner.

Rose is a middle-aged African-American woman. Who knows what she did in the real world? To relegate her to laundry is just . . . offensive. What is she, everybody's Aunt Jemima?

Personally, I love doing wash, the whole process, sorting, washing, folding, even ironing. It gets my mind off work and is relaxing. It's sort of a cleansing thing, too. I can so see Rose volunteering, no matter how well educated or successful she is. And I remember reading once in an interview that Princess Diana liked doing ironing.

Good grief, maybe she LIKES doing the laundry. I didn't see her complaining about it. And by the way, that IS a very important job. Maybe she is the only one responsible enough to do it. Everyone would be going around in stinky, stiff clothes if not for her. Why does menial have to mean less desirable? Some people find zen in menial chores. I find the Aunt Jemima remark offensive.

Rose is one of my favorite characters.....I am a romance sucker and I loved the confidence Rose has always had about Bernard being alive (as an old married woman myself, I really identified with this). I think you can probably overanalyze every scene in this show, and laundry may just be doing laundry :). However, maybe her comment about not liking the dryers in the hatch just goes to show that Rose is more connected spiritually and more grounded. She has a wonderful mysticism about her and perhaps she senses evil there. I have high hopes that she will be a central figure at some point.

As a side note, I heard commentary on the Season 1 DvD that the actress that plays Rose (forgive me for not knowing her name) is very busy in theatre and thus RL prevents her from playing a larger part.

If I were her, I wouldn't be washing anyone else's stinky clothes. P.U.!!

i think it's her way of either coping or doing to pass the time. i know friends and relatives that if you visit them they are nonstop around the house carrying a conversation like it's nothing. i've done it before, not laundry in this case but something i don't necessarily realize i'm doing.

i think it's just something she likes doing for the sake of staying busy. she likes to move around.

Hello? Jin is the fisherman, Locke the hunter, Jack the doctor and Sayid the tech support because those are jobs that require special skills. Laundry is menial work. Either everyone should do his/her own damned laundry, or if they're being communistic (which actually is a good idea now that they have a washer and dryer) the job should be rotated along with other menial jobs, such as cleaning fish or cooking dinner.

Rose is a middle-aged African-American woman. Who knows what she did in the real world? To relegate her to laundry is just . . . offensive. What is she, everybody's Aunt Jemima?

she's, you know, OLDER. what sort of job do you think she should be doing?

I agree--lots of people (believe it or not) find solace in cleaning. I don't understand this mind-set at all. Give me a good book any time, that's my stress-buster.
Then again, it does give ya a good feeling to know that all the laundry's done.

It may be Rose's way of helping keep her mind off her sweet husband, too. helping her to cope.

If I were her, I wouldn't be washing anyone else's stinky clothes. P.U.!!

If I were her age, and were her, I would, because I would ot be able to go hiking and I would want to help out.

Good grief, maybe she LIKES doing the laundry. I didn't see her complaining about it. And by the way, that IS a very important job. Maybe she is the only one responsible enough to do it. Everyone would be going around in stinky, stiff clothes if not for her. Why does menial have to mean less desirable? Some people find zen in menial chores. I find the Aunt Jemima remark offensive.

And the Aunt Jemima was a bit wrong.

It's probably the safest job. If she's doing it to releive stress, it's definately working.

Most of the 'main' characters have 'jobs' or at the very least the things that they do while stuck on the island. Rose mentioned to Charlie in S1 when he was distraught about Claire that he should 'do his part'. Having Rose do the laundry gives her something to do besides nothing when the writers want to incorporate her character and her gentle insight into an episode. Thus laundry, an easy task that always needs doing and allows her character to be available at any time to interact with any other character. I thought the telling line was, "I don't like the hatch" and I think Hurley's interpretation of that to mean the 'doomsday button' was too simple. I think Rose has a bad feeling about the hatch. And to date her character has been so prescient ... I would think there's much more to that than just the comment itself.

she's, you know, OLDER. what sort of job do you think she should be doing?

I really dont know why her being OLDER would have anything to do with her having to do the laundry.. Doing laundry by hand is very hard work, so surely you cant mean she is physically unable to do other things..
What they should be doing is tapping her knowledge and life experiences to help them figure out things there on the island..when she is asked by someone she always has good sound advice.. So, they had better listen to her when she says the hatch isnt good...and I am certain, she could, if given the chance..type in 4 8 15 16 24 48 and hit execute...even if she is OLDER....I have loved the Rose character from the beginning......Maybe, when Bernard gets there she will be given more respect..when they see she was right about him being alive...:redface:

I really dont know why her being OLDER would have anything to do with her having to do the laundry.. Doing laundry by hand is very hard work, so surely you cant mean she is physically unable to do other things..
What they should be doing is tapping her knowledge and life experiences to help them figure out things there on the island..when she is asked by someone she always has good sound advice.. So, they had better listen to her when she says the hatch isnt good...and I am certain, she could, if given the chance..type in 4 8 15 16 24 48 and hit execute...even if she is OLDER....I have loved the Rose character from the beginning......Maybe, when Bernard gets there she will be given more respect..when they see she was right about him being alive...:redface:

Well first of all she said she doesn't like teh hatch,a dn she woudl rather DO LAUNDRY OUTSIDE. She liked hanging them in the sun she said.

There's no shame in doing laundry. And she gets to say these wise lines while doing so. It's probably some easy busy work for her to do in the scene, rather than always showing her staring out at sea. Hurley's an odd job man and perhaps Rose is too, in her way.

I like that she doesn't like the hatch.

I applaud Rose's choice to 1)take care of laundry and 2)to do it outside. At no time does it seem that Rose was ordered to do the laundry or that she does it because of the color of her skin or because of her age. It seems to me that there's just not a lot of things to do day after day. There's no tv, no library, no computer, no mall, not much of anything. Doing laundry is something to pass the time. I'd much rather see Rose busy than sitting all alone by herself on the beach. I love this about her. I can't believe that there's even a suggestion that she does this due to some stereotype - it makes me wonder how people function in real life - because laundry is one of those things we all have to do and if anything those that have someone willing to do theirs are very lucky because most of us have to do this and many other things ourselves.

Hello? Jin is the fisherman, Locke the hunter, Jack the doctor and Sayid the tech support because those are jobs that require special skills. Laundry is menial work. Either everyone should do his/her own damned laundry, or if they're being communistic (which actually is a good idea now that they have a washer and dryer) the job should be rotated along with other menial jobs, such as cleaning fish or cooking dinner.

Rose is a middle-aged African-American woman. Who knows what she did in the real world? To relegate her to laundry is just . . . offensive. What is she, everybody's Aunt Jemima?

do NOT try to throw the race card around here on this site. your comments are just that.
a racist type assumption. such comments are frowned upon on this site.

why is NOT okay for her to do laundry? Hurley obviously knew about the dryer in the hatch.
as in he probably had used it in the past. she is one of the calming factors
and mentor for many of the characters. she is helping them to move forward with
their lives and providing them with "normal" everyday activities. laundry is just one
of those activities.

how do we know that it is not just as racist to "make" Jin the fisher?
do you think that ONLY the women are doing the cooking? or the gardening?
so yeah, i think that the writers are out of the box enough to make the doing of the
laundry be just that, not a commentary about who Rose is or what her ethnicity is.
the writers of this show have IMO broken every stereotype concerning characters.
not only that but they made an interracial couple. which to me is brilliant.:)

I didn't think that she was doing the job because she had to but rather she seemed content while doing it. I agree with those who are saying that I wouldn't want to wash let alone touch other peoples dirty what nots. Maybe she is just washing the shirts and shorts and leaving the unmentionables to be cleaned by their owners.

I don't even understand why there is a thread concerning why she's doing the laundry!

She's doing the laundry because she wants to, she's a very sanguine, passive and thoughtful person. She's probably doing the laundry simply because it's something to do! Plus what else is she gonna do? I doubt she'd sit down and watch the sea all day every day, she's progressed from that and bcome part of the community far too much to do that....

Plus when she's utside she can observe people, she seems to enjoy being a people watcher like she's quietly figuring people out (not in a bad way)....

What I was more concerned about, considering her slightly psychic tendencies (knowing Bernard was alive), is why she seems so anti-hatch?

Probably just overspeculating though!

A quote from Television without pity from earlier this season that I wholeheartedly agree with:

"Hey, Rose is back! She's doing laundry, much to the chagrin of people with a little too much white guilt. Look, laundry needs to be done. For all we know, laundry is done on a rotation. And from what little we've seen of Rose, I have no doubt that she'd tell everyone to stick it if the chore divvying was done up under a "let the black woman do laundry" mentality. So unless you see Sawyer sitting on a verandah sipping a mint julep and watching her do the laundry, no need to panic." -Daniel

Seriously you guys, it's just laundry!

Yes, each survivor has a role. Jack is the doctor, Sawyer is the outlaw, Locke, the hunter, etc. Rose and Hurley nuture the other survivors. They in their individual ways provide emotional support to the rest of the group. We've seen Hurley create a golf course (bringing some enjoyment to a terrible situation, which helps them cope with stress), and take care of the food from time to time. We've seen him make a roster of the survivors so everyone knows each other's names, fostering a sense of community. And we've seen Rose dispense advice and empathy, warmth and wisdom to frightened, confused souls. If one were to see every story only in the political terms of race relations, we could simply see her demeaned as the group's laundress, but what I see is a reasonable illustration of her characteristic as a nuturing figure, taking care of her group by keeping them clothed.

Whatever happened to the golf course? :(

Am I neglecting to remember an important event to signal the end of the golfing?

Yes! I noticed that. I thought it was odd, couldn't figure it out, and then forgot about it. Any ideas why? I thought maybe because he knew she and Sayid were together.

Rose is a very important character (IMHO). In this episode we saw two important things.

She told Hurley that she felt sorry for Shannon because she lost a loved one on the island. Hurley looked at her funny as if to say, hello? same thing happened to you!

It is not romantic that she holds onto Bernard. She KNOWS Bernard is alive. She knows a lot of things.

I also think that it's important that she hangs around Hurley. I think Hurley has that bad luck around him and Rose is going to help him shake it. Like when he shared the food.

Laundry is a chore with two thoughts in my head: Yes - it is a bit Zen mediation like but it also reminds me of the mythology of Hades. Remember that guy who had to push the boulder up the hill just to have it crash down on him right before he got to the top and then he was force to roll it back up the hill again? That's laundry to me on a bad day. Just when all the laundry is clean, I realize that I am wearing dirty clothes.;)

She also made the joke about spoilers.;)

Hello? Jin is the fisherman, Locke the hunter, Jack the doctor and Sayid the tech support because those are jobs that require special skills. Laundry is menial work. Either everyone should do his/her own damned laundry, or if they're being communistic (which actually is a good idea now that they have a washer and dryer) the job should be rotated along with other menial jobs, such as cleaning fish or cooking dinner.

Rose is a middle-aged African-American woman. Who knows what she did in the real world? To relegate her to laundry is just . . . offensive. What is she, everybody's Aunt Jemima?


I think Rose is supposed to be a "mother" figure. She always seems to "know things" and is kind/supportive like a mother. She has a "take care people" personality. What is more motherly than that? If anything it should be a sexism issue. But I don't think it is that either.

Methinks there is a LOT more to Rose than we know at this point.

A number of us took special note of Rose during the first season and waited for her return to an episode as well as holding curiosity about her Bernard. I don't think the strong impression she made on us was misspent.

We surely don't know about Rose's pre-island life but I'll just bet we find out as she develops into a full-scale story line, character, and back-story. I'll also wager a guess that she was very much NOT a "wash woman" in pre-island life - in fact, I'll bet she was quite the opposite. My thinking is this:

a) To have Rose's pre-island life be menial labor is too easy and too offensive a racial stereotype, a la "Aunt Jemima" reference of a previous poster. The writers are too smart, respectful, devious, and original than that. They are not going to paint anyone's prejudiced stereotype of an older African-American woman.

b) Note that if one went with the odds for an African-American woman of Rose's age, she WOULD have likely been married to man of color. We are already aware that Rose was very much her own person pre-island and did not follow any prevailing winds of society in her choice of spouse. My guess is that her vocation and life will also be unique to her and not fitting into any mold or limited box.

c) Working with one's hands is one of the most relaxing things a person can do to relieve stress. Many will agree that the corporate types, movers & shakers of the world who often have a great deal of cerebral anxiety and pressure use manual labor as a healthy release for physical and mental stress. If she's smart (and I surely think she is,) Rose may well be letting her brain rest through using her hands and not her smarts as she contributes to the lostaways' community efforts.

d) Symbolism may come into play here: the washing away of the old, cleansing, purging of soil/taintedness.....

Them's my apples!

We've seen other folks doing laundry in past episodes.

The writers defy sterotypes with some characters. But they follow them with others (Sawyer as a bigotted Southerner; Hurley as a lazy, unambitious, overweight man). I don't see the writers placing Rose in a negative light, so I don't see much to object with the way they write her character.

Rose ...

I also think that it's important that she hangs around Hurley. I think Hurley has that bad luck around him and Rose is going to help him shake it.

She also made the joke about spoilers.;)


aw, that would be so sweet (and in character) if Rose would help Hurley shake the "bad luck" feeling. Does she know about him and hte numbers yet? I can't remember. But that would be great if she could help him out that way.

And...what spoilers? I don't remember her saying that, and I don't record the shows. Can you tell us, please?

The writers defy sterotypes with some characters. But they follow them with others (Sawyer as a bigotted Southerner; Hurley as a lazy, unambitious, overweight man). I don't see the writers placing Rose in a negative light, so I don't see much to object with the way they write her character.

One thing I have noticed is that, eventually, we learn that our first impressions about just about everything on this series are usually revealed to be wrong in later episodes. Once we learned more about Locke, Kate, Jin and Sun, we saw they were much more than the survivalist, pretty girl, domineering husband and submissive wife. That is how the writers defy stereotypes, by setting them up and breaking them down. We already are learning that there is much more to Hurley than being lazy and unambitious (he has a history of mental/emotional problems serious enough to land him in a hospital). I suspect that we will learn that Rose is a strong woman with specific skills that will help the survivors in their most pivotal situations.

aw, that would be so sweet (and in character) if Rose would help Hurley shake the "bad luck" feeling. Does she know about him and hte numbers yet? I can't remember. But that would be great if she could help him out that way.

And...what spoilers? I don't remember her saying that, and I don't record the shows. Can you tell us, please?

Hurley and Rose are talking while she is doing some laundry. Hurley says something like "you know there's a washing machine in the hatch." Rose says something to the effect that she prefers to be outside (or is it that she doesn't like the evil hatch). She then says "anyway, we wouldn't want to spoil ourselves, would we?"

Then Rose comments on Shannon who goes by to find Walts clothes for Vincent to sniff. She says that she feels sorry for her because she lost a loved one on the island. Hurley looks at her strange. I think he's thinking that Rose lost her husband. But as we know, Bernard is alive and well and will shortly be reunited with her.

I wonder now if Rose knew that Shannon would soon become a lost loved one herself.

Loved that scene.

Everything about the reunion between her and Bernard was amazing. It made me tear up. I love both of them and I can only hope to see more of them.

Does anyone have (or could anyone make me) an avatar with Bernard and Rose on it?