A while ago BuddyTV rated Claire Littleton as the 7th most worthless character on TV. I thought about this after reading the article, and I realized that we didn't really know Claire. She'd had two flashbacks, and both were very much about her baby, not just her. They were more about island mystery than character development. The memorable part in Raised By Another was the Psychic, and the memorable part in Maternity Leave was the the revelation of the Others' hospital. After tonight, though, I feel like I really know something about Claire herself, not just Claire the mommy. Claire was the true star of her flashback; she wasn't just a device to forward the story, she was the story. It was great to see her spontaneity on the island with her bird idea, and the grief she felt in her flashback wsa heartbreaking. Emilie did a fantastic job acting. I now feel formally introduced to Claire. Bravo on a fantastic episode!

This is possibly the best post ive seen in a while.

I was thinking the same thing about that worthless yip-yap. Tonights episode was a big slap in the face to those buddy tv narcs and really, to all that have been coming with the complaints about lost in general.

Seriously, I couldnt agree with you any more.

You're right about Claire being mostly a purposeless character after giving birth. The backstory in this episode breathed a whole new life in the character that will hopefully carry over into the island storylines. 'Goth Claire' was quite a surprise, the reformation at the end added a lot of depth to the composition of her character, and it was nice to see her go after Desmond for answers. I think the viewers will identify with the characters a lot more when they demonstrate an active frustration with the lack of answers - like we saw from Claire today and recently from Hurley as well.

I also agree about Emilie's acting. When her monologue to the mom started, I was kind of expecting her to butcher it severely. Instead, she did a quite impressive job. It seems like every flashback this season has its formulaic 'tearjerker moment' and even some of the veteran actors are failing to pull it off in a way that can really strike you. But Emilie's scene this episode was perfect. She also did a good job of acting angry, which I thought was somewhat lacking in her Season 2 scenes.

But she sure is angry. She should have cut Charlie some slack, for cryin' out loud. It all worked out in the end, when she had what she wanted, but she sure laid into him pretty good for no good reason. At least, not enough reason to treat him like dirt.

I agree, her acting was superb. I often find myself getting anxious for the FB parts to be over but I thoroughly enjoyed hers. As I said in another post, we got to see another, more powerful reason why she may have decided to give her baby up for adoption - not wanting her child to be raised without a father as she was and not feeling she could be as good a single mom as her own mother was to her.

And I loved when she went after Desmond for answers - strong and willful, yet willing to listen and consequently give Charlie another chance. Maybe her believing in him will change his "luck." :p

Yep, it was definitely refreshing to see a Claire episode, and such a good one at that! I agree that we really got a look into Claire as Claire as opposed to Claire as womb.

I think of all the original Losties, Claire has been by far the most under-utilized.

I think that the fact that she and Jack landed on the same island and were on the same flight, is evidence that fate brought them together. And I hope that this fact that they are related doesn't somehow become something that only we as the audience are aware of. i really hope that they both find out. So that they can have a sense of family. I really like claire as a person, she brings hope to everyone around her. She's just a genuinely good person, just like Jack is. I really liked the note she wrote. It was very moving for me, and hope that someone does find it.

I think Claire has always had that inner strength. I remember in the season 2 episode "Maternity Leave" when she confronted and forced Danielle to give up the location of the "Staff" hatch. at that point of the series, this was the first decent piece of info any of the characters were able to get out of Danielle.

I think she was labelled a "worthless" character just because she doesnt get as much screen time as some of the others, which is unfortunate.

Good post, I agree. Claire was never one of my favorite characters to begin with, and that probably had a lot to do with the fact that we never really learned about her, and all her flashbacks/screen time dealt with the kid. I hope they continue to show Claire like this. :)

IMO Claire was never worthless she was just neglected. She had prooved her acting skills in earlier episodes and Par Avion just prooved that she is a brilliant actress again. It has opened more sides to Claire than just Aaron.

She needs to leave Aaron with Aunty Sun and Uncle Jin more and get more airtime. :biggrin:

Honestly, durring the opening moments with her in the car and what not, I was pretty miffed. The last thing I wanted to see after last week's episode was Claire's worthless *** in a flash back.

However, by the end of the hour, I was pretty surprised by her relevance to the story. I had already assumed (like may others here) that Christian was her father, but I had underestimated what that might mean for the story.

All in all, against my previous judgement, would like to see Claire be a pivotal charachter in the story outside of Aaron. I hope that the Charlie/Claire/Desmond thing doesn't carry on too much further since it seems to have gotten its point across, but Claire has hope in my heart yet.

I would just like to see Claire die, even after finding out that she is Jack's sister.

Yeah, good acting doesn't save a worthless character. And she's still worthless. Let's use the birds to get rescued? Please. With all the crazy, dangerous stuff going on around them, she's going to try to get a seagull to carry a message?

Maybe she's been hanging around with Bernard.

Claire has been pretty much in the background but no less present the whole time. I have a suspicion she is integral to the mystery unfolding, particularly the baby Aaron. I think the baby is key... to what i don't know I just believe he is.

What leads me to think this is after the plane crash the first person Jack sees as he emerges from the jungle is Claire I believe and he helps her, then elects hurley to watch her and moves on to other folks in need. Then he saved her from the wing falling and exploding. This seemed like nothing special at first but now... hmmm. TPTB did say there was a huge clue in the very first episode. I think it has to do with Claire needing to have the baby.

Now not on this topic but as a note to the major clue... the first thing Jack sees when he opens his eyes are Vincent the dog. Vincent the dog seems to be around Claire a lot too. Hmmmm???

the only reason they revealed she's jack sister is because its the only way they can justify giving her more screen time. she really is and always has been a completly worthless character. she's been nothing but a burden on everyone. what has she honestly contributed to the island? and all the other people? what? counting last week, a carrier pigeon plan that she couldn't even execute herself without considerable loads of help (and making another castaway feel like dirt in the process)
she does not carry her own weight on the island or on the show and she never has. even last week they just showed how much more of an idiot she was with that car crash.
when you break claire down, what is she? first she was a stupid goth girl who got her mom in a coma, then she got pregnant by being with a guy who didnt love her and wanted to give the baby up. then she takes advice from a psychic and gets on a plane where she crashes and adds 20 tons of extra weight onto everyone around her. then she's ungrateful to the people who do want to help her aka charlie, jack. im not seeing anything good about her. what inner strength? shes able to raise a baby on an island? what choice does she have, throw it in the river? give it to someone else? she prolly would if she could, and charlie takes care of aron more than she does. so do the other lostaways. theres nothing compelling or interesting or redeaming about her...shes just there.

I agree that the acting was great, the flashback was character-developing. I wonder why so many people think Claire is useless? She's been the castaway most needing support, which is always the case with an 8 month pregnant woman and mother of a 2 month old. The writers are showing a logical progression of her giving Aaron to babysitters more often as he gets beyond the first weeks of life and can go more than 2 hours between feedings.

I'm not sure I would have been as relatively calm as she's been, if I had to give birth with no modern convenience and raise a newborn on an island with smoke monsters after being kidnapped and finding out that the main person helping me was a junkie. Let's give Claire a break.