A deleted scene in Lost season 2 tied up a major mystery about Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin) and the character responsible for her presence on the island. Lost season 1 raised some big questions in Claire’s flashback episode, which introduced a so-called psychic named Richard Malkin. The episode hinted that Malkin planned for Claire to end up on the island.
Played by Nick Jameson, Malkin only made two appearances in ABC’s Lost show. He was originally presented as a psychic desperate to ensure that Claire didn’t give up her baby for adoption. After experiencing a sudden change of heart, Malkin paid for her to meet an interested couple in Los Angeles. Because Malkin’s plan involved Claire getting on a specific flight, Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) theorized at the end of the episode that if Malkin was a real psychic, he could have known about the plane crash. In other words, Malkin may have orchestrated Claire’s arrival on the island. Later, Lost added confusion to the twist in season 2 by having Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) meet Malkin, who briefly admitted to being a fake.
A deleted scene for the episode where Mr. Eko met Malkin in a flashback, titled “?”, shed light on season 1’s Claire mystery. In the scene, Malkin told Mr. Eko that a couple in Los Angeles (presumably the same one Claire spoke to) paid him $16,000 to put her on a plane. This line from Malkin seemingly lays the mystery to rest, as it reveals that Charlie and Claire were wrong about Malkin using his psychic abilities to concoct an elaborate plot to put Claire on the island. It also suggests that there was no special reason why Claire had to raise Aaron. Malkin’s insistence that she had to raise him implied that something bad would happen if he didn’t remain in her care.
By discrediting Malkin and proving that he didn’t plan for Claire to be in the plane crash, Lost essentially negated a compelling season 1 reveal that added an air of mystery to the Malkin character. There was also a sense that even though Malkin did say he was a fraud in season 2, his inexplicable interest in Claire and this notion that no one but her could raise the baby indicated that he truly did have some psychic powers. It also insinuated that both Claire and Aaron were integral to the show’s central mystery. However, the reveal that Malkin lied about everything tremendously downplayed their importance.
All of this provides good reasons for why the Lost season 2 deleted scene was ultimately cut from the episode. It ruined a shocking twist and defeated the entire point of the Richard Malkin storyline with Claire. It was of course so much more interesting to think that Claire had a purpose to fulfill and that Malkin used his psychic gifts to make it happen.
