Rose Henderson-Nadler is a recurring fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by L. Scott Caldwell. She is a plane crash survivor from the fuselage section on Oceanic Flight 815, and is married to Bernard.

Fictional character biography

Prior to the crash

Rose is a woman from the Bronx, New York. She met her husband Bernard when her car became stuck in a snowbank one night. After dating for five months, Bernard proposed to her at Niagara Falls at which time Rose revealed that she was sick with an illness that went into remission but which has now recurred; she only has a year left to live. The two marry regardless, and on their honeymoon, Bernard takes Rose to a faith healer named Isaac in Australia. Despite her protests, she agrees to see him.

Isaac claimed the spot his house is built upon was a point of strong magnetic force, and he channels the force into sick people to cure them. He tells Rose that he actually cannot help her, not because he couldn't heal her, but because the place where she can be healed was somewhere else. Rose told Bernard that she had been cured, in order to stop him from wasting any more of the time that they had left together. Just before boarding the plane, she had a brief encounter with a wheelchair-bound Locke.

Mid-flight, Rose is left on her own after Bernard leaves to use one of the restrooms. Whilst he is away, she ends up speaking to Jack, who was seated a few seats away. Shortly after Charlie pushes past them, the plane suddenly hits turbulence. Jack does his best to comfort her up until he passes out.

After the crash

Season 1

Upon impact, Rose lies unconscious on the beach. She is seen to by Boone, but is revived by Jack after he fails to properly perform CPR on her. She eventually comes around. During the first few days on the island, Rose is in a state of shock, and keeps herself away from the other survivors, attracting the attention of Jack. While Jack believes that Bernard is dead, Rose is adamant that he is still alive. Rose's illness had reentered remission, and had disappeared entirely since the crash, but neglects to inform anyone of her previous condition. It is also noted that in the Pilot episode Rose says that there is something familiar about the sound of the monster. This reveals that there might be a connection not yet revealed between Rose and the Monster.

Rose is a level-headed, compassionate woman with strong Christian faith. She finds Charlie sitting alone on the beach, and asks him to help her move some of the wreckage before it drifts away. That night, she comforts Charlie by encouraging him to not lose hope, sensing that he is still distraught over the kidnapping of Claire. As he breaks down in tears, Rose begins praying for him. Much later, she is approached by Hurley, who takes her into the hatch since she is the only one uninterested about it. Rose helps him keep stock of the food pantry's inventory, and also talks him out of blowing up the food altogether. Since then, Rose refuses to reenter the hatch, yet does not give a reason why.

Season 2

Later, Rose is finally reunited with Bernard when he returns with the tail-section survivors, as well as Jin, Michael and Sawyer. The two attend the funeral of Shannon. Later, Rose is upset that Bernard forgot her birthday when they assist Sun. When Bernard concocts a plan to create a giant S.O.S. sign on the beach, Rose discourages him from spreading false hope among the survivors, and refuses to take part. He then blames her for his lack of success when motivating other willing survivors, but points out his flaws in management. After boosting Locke's faith, she confronts Bernard and apologizes to him for lying about being cured in Australia, and explains that she fears her illness will return should she leave the island. The two reconcile and Bernard abandons his S.O.S. sign.

Season 3

Much later, after Jack announces his plan to deter the Others from executing their plan to kidnap all pregnant women, Rose and Bernard assist in rigging the targeted shelters with wire from the wreckage; while Bernard struggles with knotting, Rose manages perfectly fine. However, when Karl arrives to inform them of the Others' sudden imminent arrival, Rose grows concerned when Bernard volunteers to stay behind and detonate the dynamite. She reluctantly allows him to take part, but grows angry at Jack when the plan backfires later that night. Regardless, she presses on with the remaining survivors to the radio tower, and watches as Jack contacts Naomi's freighter.

Season 4

After this event, Rose and the rest of the survivors reunite at the cockpit in the jungle. When Locke proposes to migrate to the barracks, Rose refuses to accompany him, having witnessed him killing Naomi, and instead follows Jack. Later, Rose and Bernard argue with Charlotte and Daniel regarding the Morse code message, but is interrupted when Jack collapses after breaking it up. She later helps in preparing a table for Jack's operation, where she comments that people aren't supposed to "get sick" on the island. She is still on the island when it disappears and moves to its new location.

Development

Kate Austen was originally intended to be much like this character. While Kate was changed drastically, Rose was added so that the character could still be on the show. According to the Season 2 DVD featurettes, L. Scott Caldwell's husband was going through health problems during the shooting of the first season; this likely factored into Rose's absence during this time. Caldwell's husband's story inspired the character's flashbacks in her focus episode, S.O.S.. After S.O.S., Rose didn't appear for 25 episodes, until the third season's episode "Greatest Hits The writers later cited the Caldwell and Anderson's other projects as a reason for their absence. Additionally, it was feared that fans would complain if they appeared, when many actors with star billing had received limited screentime in the early third season. But in a comment on "Greatest Hits", the writers also said that they do not want to have the couple on the show if they are just going to be standing in the background; they want to have Rose and Bernard in the show with interesting storylines. In deleted scenes from the second season it was revealed that Rose once had a daughter, but that she had "passed." The canonicity of this scene is unclear.

In the 05/21/07 podcast, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse joked that Rose and Bernard would later have their own spinoff show entitled "Rose & Bernard's Love Island", with Charlie as a pool boy, which would air for 39 episodes after Lost.

Reception

When the character returned with her husband, in "Greatest Hits", after not having appeared for 25 episodes, she and her husband were welcomed back by fans. Also, a petition was started on Petitiononline to get Rose and Bernard back on the show. Matt Roush from the "Ask Matt" section on the TV Guide website, called L. Scott Caldwell terrific, and hopes "they'll find some use for her again".

References

External Links

• Rose Henderson-Nadler at Lostpedia