LOST – Season 6, Episode 3: “What Kate Does”

I’ll begin by saying that “What Kate Does” started out a bit slow for my taste, yet got ridiculously awesome as it progressed. I guess I should have expected that, though, as Kate-centric episodes have never been the show’s strong suit. Don’t believe me? Go read through any fan forum (or one man’s blog take, in particular) and that opinion will be reiterated in spades. Granted, Season 5’s “Whatever Happened, Happened” (in which Kate left Aaron with Claire’s mother) was one of the stronger Kate episodes, as it was downright heartbreaking. Why do I bring this episode up in particular? Read on, beginning with…

1. The Temple. Sal Star (who has since been identified as Lennon, which is apt considering his round spectacles) furiously makes his way through the halls of the Temple, where he locates Dogen (who I previously identified as the Asian leader of the Others, as I didn’t yet know his name) to give him the news on Sayid. A confused and barely lucid Sayid wants to know what happened. Jack tells Sayid that he died, and that he to which Sawyer sarcastically comments “he definitely deserves another go around,” which is obviously a nod to the common LOST themes, particularly in what it appears we’re seeing this season, which takes us to…

2. Taxi Driver.

No, not the film. We return to last week’s flash-sideways, and Kate has hopped into the back of a cab at LAX, pulling a gun on the driver and demanding him to drive. A frightened Claire sits in the backseat. Kate orders the driver to go, but he has to stop as Arzt’s luggage has spilled in the middle of the road. Frantic, Kate looks around and sees Jack on his cell phone (not sure of the significance of this, really, other than to say, “Hey, audience, there’s Kate noticing Jack”). Kate forces the driver to run over Artz’s luggage. The driver makes his way out of the airport, and at the red light runs off like a coward, leaving Claire in the backseat at gunpoint. See, who says chivalry is dead? Kate orders Claire out of the cab, but refuses to let her get her bag out of the trunk. And all this time, I couldn’t tell whether or not Claire was pregnant. Hmmm. We return then to…

3. The Escape. Sayid and the rest of the Losties have been brought outside into the courtyard. Miles jokingly says that Hurley has “assumed the leadership position,” which is actually quite telling. I mean, Hurley’s significance on this show has always hinted at being much more important than what it might appear. Think about it: he sees and communicates with the dead, he’s got the strongest connection with the numbers, and, if you remember back to the episode “Dave,” in which Hurley was having an “imaginary” conversation with Evan Handler, there were always hints that LOST might be going down the whole “snow globe” path. That is, what if the island and everything on it wasn’t real? What if Hurley had created everything in his mind as an effect of his neuroses? While I don’t really buy into that as the explanation for the show, the suggestion of it has always been in the back of my mind, which is the intention of the show’s writers. We should eventually have a “logical” explanation for what inevitably happens on the show, or otherwise we’ve simply been duped for six seasons, on which I’d call “Bullshit!” But I digress. Sayid thanks Jack for saving his life, yet Jack doesn’t correct him. The Others attack Jack and crew but it’s quickly interrupted by Sawyer, who has managed to get a gun off one of the captors. Sawyer makes it clear that he’s leaving, abandoning his “friends” in the process. Dogen insists that Sawyer stay, but Sawyer takes off nonetheless. We come back from commercial, still at the temple, and HOLY SHIT, ALDO’S BACK! (Sorry, but I’m a huge It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fan, so seeing Rob McElhenney reprising his albeit brief stint as Aldo totally surprised me.) Kate proposes that she be let go to bring Sawyer back, as she has the ability to track him and can be “very convincing.” Jin offers to go with her. Why, I’m not really sure, but whatever. Speaking of Kate, we move to…

4. The Mechanic. Kate pulls into a body shop where a mechanic is working on a car. She points her gun at him and demands tools. This is clearly the coolest mechanic ever, and I’ll go so far as to guess he’s done time himself, as he points out she won’t be able to remove the cuffs and keep the gun on him with only two hands. Smart fellas, those mechanics. He removes Kate’s cuffs. Now “free,” she takes Claire’s bag into the bathroom where she obviously plans to change out of her clothes. Opening the bag, we get confirmation: a Polaroid of a very pregnant Claire sits atop the bag. Inside are other baby items, including underpants and a stuffed animal (a whale, by the way, which is not only a water reference, but also black and white). She looks in the mirror and is clearly overcome by guilt. We return to…

5. The Torturer Becomes the Tortured. Kate and Jin are readying themselves to track Sawyer. Jack grabs Kate to warn her to be careful, and for a moment I thought he might actually kiss her. But, you know, that would have been too easy. And at this point, is Jack still subscribing to the “whatever happened, happened” theory, in that he knows he had Kate and lost her, so what good would a kiss do? Meanwhile, we find Sayid strapped and bound to a table, which made me think of the water torture scene in The Princess Bride, when Wesley, also referred to as “The Man in Black” (wink-wink), was being held captive. Sayid asks question after question to Dogen, wanting to know what he’s doing and why, but Dogen refuses to answer. Instead, Dogen blows some type of mystical powder over Sayid’s body, then hooks electrodes to him. He proceeds to shock/torture Sayid, but still says nothing. Dogen then removes the electrodes and pulls a red-hot poker from the fire. Rather than asking for answers of any sort, Dogen presses the poker into Sayid’s chest. Sayid, still confused, wants to know why they did this. Lennon tells him it was a test, and he passed. After Sayid is carried out, Lennon asks Dogen, “I just lied to him, didn’t I?” to which Dogen responds, “Yes.” This scene was interesting, as it’s not the first time we’ve scene Sayid in a similar spot. If you recall, Rousseau held Sayid hostage way back in season 1. What’s more, did anyone else notice that this Sayid doesn’t speak with the same certainty and confidence of, well, Sayid? Again, I’m not suggesting he’s been inhabited by Jacob as many people have pointed out. And, yes, I realize he just died and came back to life and was tortured. All I’m saying is that he clearly sounds different, and I’m wondering if it’s not only an effect of the spring, but some kind of moral choice, in that he is thankful/astonished to be alive. I don’t know. Just thinking as I’m writing. Dangerous. We go back to…

6. Thelma and Louise.

Hmmm, I’m just full of movie references today, but at least I didn’t mention Taxi. Yet. Kate returns to pick up Claire, who is apparently still at the same spot (?) where Kate kicked her out of the cab. Kate returns Claire’s money and luggage. Claire explains she’s going to Brentwood to meet her unborn baby’s adoptive parents, and Kate, out of the goodness of her (guilty) heart, offers her a ride. Pretty friendly exchange, really, considering Kate just held her at gunpoint, kicked her out of a cab, and took off with her money and luggage. We cut back to…

7. The Getaway.

Aldo and Justin march through the jungle with Kate and Jin in an attempt to track Sawyer. Aldo explains that he and the Others are protecting Kate and crew from Smokey. Jin asks about Ajira 316, and when Justin pipes up about “the second plane,” he is told to shut up by Aldo. After spotting a booby-trap, Justin keeps Kate from tripping it and says it must be one of Rousseau’s, who’s been dead for a long time. Aldo, clearly harboring a good deal of anger, points out that Kate knocked him out three years ago when she, Sawyer and Jack were being held captive (Season 3). (What’s interesting about this is that, at that time, Aldo would have been a “guard” under Ben’s command, no? So how, then, did Aldo find himself under Dogen’s leadership?) Spotting her opportunity, Kate knocks out Aldo with her canteen and trips the booby-trap, which knocks out Justin. She and Jin escape, which makes sense since Kate’s, obviously, always on the run. We then go back to…

8. The Pill. Sayid is returned to his friends and tells Jack he was tortured, but doesn’t know why. He sounds incredulous, which again was quite interesting. Jack goes to see Dogen to get answers, but Dogen can only tell him that Sayid’s “infected.” Dogen presents Jack with a pill to give to Sayid, and explains that Sayid must take it willingly. Again, Jack wants to know why they tortured Sayid, to which Dogen responds that they were diagnosing him. Dogen, in an attempt to manipulate Jack into giving Sayid the pill, tells Jack it’s his chance to redeem himself for all the blood on his hands, for those who have been hurt or killed following Jack’s lead. Finally, he tells Jack that should Sayid fail to take it the infection will spread, yet doesn’t explain the effects of the infection. We find Miles asking Sayid about the afterlife, and whether or not there was some sort of white light. All Sayid remembers is being shot, and he assures Hurley (in a comical moment), “I’m not a zombie.” Jack pulls Sayid aside and shows him the pill he’s to take. Jack explains that it wasn’t him who fixed Sayid, essentially putting the ball in Sayid’s court. Sayid says that he’ll take the pill because he trusts Jack, which results in Jack clenching his fist around the pill, as he realizes where trust from other people has gotten them. And then a quick stop at…

9. Jin and Kate. Jin is still confused by Kate’s plan, or lack thereof. He asks Kate where the Ajira plane landed, which I thought was pretty ridiculous. Why would he be asking Kate, when she clearly arrived back in 1977 with Hurley and Jack? Also, even if he really thought she knew, why ask her now? Wouldn’t he have asked her a while ago? This confused me. Kate says she’s essentially leaving Jack and company behind, and that she’s on her way to find Sawyer. Jin wants to know what she’ll do then, and Kate says she and Sawyer will “figure it out together.” Um, sounds like someone still has a thing for a southern conman, no? And this, by the way, is why people get annoyed with Kate. Choose already, motherfucker! We then move sideways to…

10. Meet the Parent(s).

Kate and Claire are driving to the adoptive family’s house. Claire has explained they were supposed to meet her at the airport, but must have gotten their days mixed up. Claire is clearly guilt-ridden about the process, and attempts to justify why the parents didn’t show. When they arrive at the home, Claire asks Kate to come with her for support. The mother answers the door, but explains that her husband left her, and she just can’t be a single mother raising Claire’s baby. Kate has a fit and wants to know why they didn’t even call Claire, who flew all the way from Australia? (Pretty interesting, by the way, that Kate has taken this much interest in Aaron in this timeline, no?) Likely brought on by stress, Claire begins to go into labor (apparently). We flip over to…

11. New Otherton. Kate locates the barracks. She finds Sawyer inside his old house, digging up the floorboards. He removes a buried shoebox and pulls out what looks like a piece of material, though we can’t quite make out what it is. Kate watches Sawyer from the hallway and tries to leave without his knowing she was there, but of course Sawyer hears her and makes his way past her, still visibly upset. We then move back to…

12. The Hospital. Kate pulls up to the hospital, and although she meant to drop Claire off and leave, a police car arrives, forcing Kate to go with Claire in order to hide. Claire is hooked up to the machines and HOLY FUCKING SHIT, HER DOCTOR IS ETHAN! I admit, I was stunned to see this. For some reason, the thought of seeing Ethan again never crossed my mind. He introduces himself as Dr. Ethan Goodspeed, which was interesting because I can’t remember whether we’ve ever heard him identify himself as such. I mean, we know he was the son of Horace and Amy, so we know that’s his actual name. Still, it sounded odd, as I was still imagining Dr. Ethan Rom. In any event, this scene was amazing. Ethan explains that they could deliver the baby now, or they could medicate her to essentially hold off the delivery. And what does he tell Claire? “I don’t want to have to stick you with needles if I don’t have to.” Claire decides she wants to hold off, but the baby’s heart suddenly flatlines. She panics and asks if Aaron is okay. They locate the heartbeat and the situation is under control. Okay, so again we’re seeing a scene play out in this flash-sideways timeline that has essentially taken place in the real timeline, in that Ethan is playing doctor to Claire and injecting her with needles, a la him injecting her to ward off the sickness(?) back on the island. It’s as though the same things are happening in this timeline, only not in the same manner. Is this, then, a foreshadowing of the fact that everything really always ends the same? That no matter how our Losties get there, they will get there. The path might change, but the destination is always the same. We return to…

13. Sittin’ by the Dock of the Ocean. Kate meets Sawyer on the dock, where she tells him she returned to the island to find Claire. Kate apologizes for Juliet’s death, but Sawyer takes the blame, saying that had he not kept her from leaving back in 1974 she’d be alive now. “I think some of us are meant to be alone,” he says, before revealing the engagement ring he was going to give to Juliet. This, obviously, is what he retrieved from the shoebox. Sawyer chucks the ring into the water, which is now the second time we’ve seen this (Desmond did the same with Penny’s ring). Sawyer walks off and we see remorse and tears on Kate’s face, only I couldn’t decide if she was broken up over feeling responsible for Juliet’s death, or jealous because she’s in love with Sawyer. We move across the island to…

14. The Heimlich Maneuver. Jack walks into Dogen’s “office,” where he is spinning a baseball. (Kind of a strange moment, really, though it made me think of Jack and the whole Red Sox dialogue.) Jack wants to know why Dogen uses a translator; Dogen explains it’s to separate himself from the others, so they’ll follow more easily when they don’t like his decisions. Jack wants to know why Dogen is here, and in a very interesting moment, Dogen explains he was “brought” there just like everyone else. Furthermore, he tells Jack, “You know exactly what I mean.” On the literal level, we could think he was referring simply to being brought to the temple. Clearly, though, he’s referring to being brought to the island itself, which is something this recent version of Jack has clearly bought into to an extent. This, after all, is the Jack who now speaks of destiny and what they’re “supposed” to do. Yes, he might be jaded after the bomb detonated and here they are, but still. Jack reveals that he didn’t give Sayid the pill, and instead tries to swallow it himself as Dogen won’t reveal what’s in it. Dogen grabs jack and applies the Heimlich Maneuver, dislodging the pill from Jack’s throat. Why? Because, as Dogen finally explains, the pill is full of poison. We jump to our timeline and find…

15. Identity Theft.

When I hear “Claire,” this is still the one who comes to mind.

Claire is staring at a picture of her ultrasound from her hospital bed. A woman, Detective Rasmussen, enters the hospital room and asks about the woman who drove Claire to the hospital, as identified on the sign-in sheet by the name Joan Hart. Unfortunately, the only Joan Hart I could find anything on was this one. Claire doesn’t give Kate up, who is hiding in the other room. Kate thanks Claire for saving her, and Claire thanks Kate in return. Kate plans to leave and Claire offers Kate her credit card, even though it’s got a small limit on it. Kate refuses, but eventually accepts. Metaphorically, this seemed pretty important to me. After all, here’s Claire offering Kate a piece of her identification to take with her. And seeing as how Kate adopts Aaron in the real timeline and says he’s hers, it’s as though she adopted Claire’s identity in the real timeline. This scene, then, like the previous scene with Ethan, appears to be another example of things unfolding the way they’re supposed to. Interestingly, though, Kate leaves by telling Claire she should keep Aaron. Hmmm. We return to…

16. The Explanation. Well, sort of. Lennon can’t believe Jack attempted to swallow the pill. Jack wants to know why Dogen would want/try to kill Sayid. He tells Jack that Sayid’s been “claimed”; that there’s a “darkness” in Sayid, and once it infects his heart, Sayid will be gone completely. Okay, this was pretty cool, but only half as cool as what happens next, when Dogen explains, “It happened to your sister.” And speaking of which…

17. Hey, Sis. Jin, who’s now on his own, is walking through the jungle when he is recaptured by Aldo and Justin. He explains he was returning to the temple, but Aldo plans to shoot him instead. Jin makes a break for it, but his leg is caught in what appears to be a game trap. Aldo holds Jin at gunpoint, but before he can pull the trigger both he and Justin are shot…by Claire. Sweet Jesus! So can we assume that Claire died when her house exploded in New Otherton, and somehow she was taken by the Others to the Temple and revived in the spring? If I recall correctly, Claire was always supposed to raise Aaron. Is this why she was brought back to life? To find Aaron and raise him as her own?

Okay, I’ve just about run out of gas. As always, I ask — no, demand – you leave comments here on my blog. What did you think of the episode? What did I miss? Agree with my takes? Disagree? Also, any thoughts on the pictures? Does it help to break up the text? The floor is yours.

Until next time, have at it, you vultures!

BD

UPDATE: Based on Cmitch’s thoughts in the “Comments” section, I thought I’d add these two pictures, one of an “old” Rousseau and one of a “young” Rousseau. Again, I must admit that the resemblance to Claire is uncanny.

“Old” Danielle Rousseau

“Young” Danielle Rousseau