Lost - Born to Run

“Do you think I’m capable of that?” – Kate

“I don’t know what you are capable of.” – Jack

The ongoing subplot (which is a major ongoing part of the first season story arc of getting off the island as opposed to adapting to its environs) of Michael and Jin’s building of the raft continues while there is flashback to Kate’s time associated with a doctor. Someone poisons Michael’s water, making him quickly ill in his stomach, enough to destabilize him from continuing to build the raft-boat. Kate wants on this raft-boat something bad now, and exactly what she is capable of doing to assure her place on it is under evaluation. Sawyer learns during a tense conversation with Michael that Kate has interest in taking his spot, using her experience in sailboating as leverage. Sawyer and Kate have their own intense dialogue about jockeying for that spot, with Kate telling him that if she wants his spot she’ll take it! Meanwhile, Locke does use the “discretionary secrecy” against Jack when he learns of the hatch, while Locke learns of Kate’s “fugitive status”, and pulls the card of the Halliburton case of guns kept hidden from the party on the island. Locke now has his own points and Jack can’t really say anything. Sayid insists that Jack know about the hatch so he could talk some sense into Locke about opening it. Jack feels there might be supplies in there, or at the very least it could be used as a possible shelter. Of course Sayid is right about the hatch door, though…why then is the hatch designed to be opened from the inside???

Kate and the little airplane…what was up with that, right? A time capsule from 1989 and a visit to her first true love, Tom (Mackenzie Astin), while his wife was away on vacation (he also has a 22 month old child), explain that little airplane. A high speed chase where Tom inserts himself into a run situation after Kate visits her sickly mom in the hospital (endangering her own capture) ends in tragedy. Stealing the wallet (and identification) of the drown victim in a previous episode (Joanna), Sawyer has to call her out in front of the principles…his spot on the raft-boat was at stake. Sawyer and “Freckles” meet supposedly one last time around a bonfire, sharing that eye-to-eye, speaking and yet not…I always ponder the voices going on in each other’s mind. Do they envision having sex with each other? People might laugh, but I dunno. Seeing the likes of Charlie and Claire, Michael and even Sawyer walking away from a humiliated Kate, undermined by Sawyer as a liar and con-artist, as she topples to her knees is quite a humbling moment for the character. As the end of the first season comes to “Exodus”, characters’ back stories are opened a bit for the audience. Sure there’s plenty of what-nots Lost Creative can unleash to its audience (well, I speak present tense for me personally, while this is all past for most others…), but at least some answers were provided. The airplane and why Kate cherishes it, her last kiss with Tom, the run from the hospital, chase that results in a crash and a bullet hitting the wrong person, and Tom refusing to leave Kate or the car produce the major drama of the episode, besides the positioning for the raft-boat and who poisoned Michael.

Sun wanting Jin to stay although Jack rightly tells her to say goodbye as he’s passionate about helping Michael finish, Walt copping to Michael about burning the first raft (Walt talks to Locke before admitting to his pop about it) and daddy telling him they could stay if that is what he desired are just some of the important moments in a busy episode that tries to get in a lost within such a limited amount of time. Gosh, how episodic television has changed.