Lost - What Kate Did

***/****

Since becoming acquainted with Lost nothing has pleased me more than each passing episode giving greater context to its characters, revealing more about them, offering further back story even as their potential demise/departure is imminent. Shannon might have been shot in the stomach but Lost gifted her back story prior to the sendoff. Also, what is neat about Lost is you think you pretty much know all there is to know about the characters and then something new is introduced to you. It freshens up the characters, keeps them from growing stale, and allows those in Creative freedom not to be handcuffed to the traditional storytelling of television’s past. Why not alternate between the island and “civilian life” for the characters? Why not alternate these past and present events for individual characters so that we see them in different context? It gives the actors/actresses characters not interlocked in a holding pattern, boxed into a particular setting. Like Kate in this episode, What Kate Did, given further back story on why she’s on the lam and the horse that appears on the island (and supposedly an old ghost from the past arising out of an unconscious Sawyer to choke Kate). Just this horse all of sudden appearing seemingly out of the ether before Kate as she picks apples from a tree for Sawyer can be such a cool storytelling device that startles us out of the slumber of any potential “same ole/same ole” feeling any other show might lull us into.

Further storytelling for Kate (or any other character, for that matter), spending further time behind the curtain to see details not revealed before, is never a bad thing to me. Do I need every answer provided to me that might explain this response or that reaction? Not really. Television does often eventually give it to us, though. Kate has been elusive and doesn’t always talk it out with Jack or Sawyer. She has her secrets. All of the characters do. We all have our secrets, don’t we? If we’re honest with ourselves, that is. Kate committed a crime and eventually the US Marshals caught up with her. Frederic Lehne’s Marshal Edward Mars returns in flashback, capturing Kate and later driving her to (presumably) a jail cell. The horse that looks identical to the one on the island shows up in the middle of the road causing Mars to wreck the SUV, giving Kate enough time to overpower him, pushing him out of the vehicle so she can get away. As if a ghost from the past the island decides to unearth from the ruins of her life to remind her of where she came from. I’m not saying that was necessarily the intent, mind you, but I gleaned that from the episode just the same.

I personally love being startled with something unexpected. There is no reason for a horse to be on this island. Yet Orientation opened up that possibility. Seeing a shark with the Dharma Initiative logo on its tail fin previously definitely sparks that astonishment…as viewers, when we see something so peculiar it sets in our minds that *anything* is possible on this show. I appreciate creativity and imagination in storytelling. I like when creative, bright storytellers are given the opportunity and means to take us in directions other shows haven’t (or few have, that is).

Kate’s back story has familiar details a lot of folks can relate to. Learning that the man she always thought was her father (a military recruiter) isn’t, Kate is told that he was in Korea when her mother slept with a no-good lowlife drunk named Wayne she blows up in his house after taking off his boots during a bender. Mars is driving Kate to her destination, going through those awful details and commenting on how he understands why she’d go off the deep end, yet questioning the timing of when she acts. The mother giving Kate up to the police is just the cherry on top of this lousy shit sundae that is her life. The father going on and on about how pretty Kate is, his inebriated, good-for-nothing, sorry ass put to bed, as his daughter is about to bid him adieu through the ole KABOOM! Kate leaves Sawyer alone in the bunker after the chokehold, fleeing into the jungle shaken by memories of Wayne. Later, Kate sits down with “Wayne”, she admits that any feelings that she has for Sawyer brings his memory back, leaving a disgust/distaste. Perhaps talking to his “spirit” at this moment is therapeutic. She sure has been carrying that baggage around with her.

Jack and Kate’s complicated relationship has been a focal point on Lost up until this episode. In the first season, episodes would end with Jack and Kate sitting on the beach, looking out at the ocean. At the end of What Kate Did, Jack and Ana are sitting on the beach instead. Kate is at her wit’s end with the island, damn near in hysterics as Jack follows her to calm her down and comfort her. The two shares a kiss that afterward leaves an awkward face to face neither can really deal with. Kate returns to Sawyer and Jack brings Ana tequila. Ana needs a friend and Jack needs the company. Win-win. Jack chopping wood (a common Sawyer activity to blow off steam) as Hurley visits him while taking a walk, commenting on how it appears there has been “transference” (Sawyer’s anger transferring to Jack), is a single scene I enjoyed quite a bit because there are few behavioral traits those two share (besides loving Kate). That Kate and Jack finally locked lips for the first time, as if no longer imprisoning that desire, won’t just go away. Once the horse is out of the barn galloping on the island…

Saying goodbye to Shannon isn’t easy for Sayid. The funeral has the expected sullen faces and solemn tone. Jack leads a line of mourners dropping a handful of dirt on her body out of respect for her memory. Kate stayed with Sawyer so Jack could go to this funeral, leaving the bunker and ticking computer timer when “Wayne” grabbed her by the throat. Jack overhearing Sawyer say he loved Kate, and Jack’s inability to shake it off is a subtle acting touch for Matthew Fox. Jack can’t stand the thought of Kate and Sawyer being together instead of him and Kate. Ana feels isolated from 

everyone, on an island (pun intended), so Jack being friendly certainly helps.

*Locke learning of an excised slice of tape from the Orientation video featuring scientist Dr. Candle, from Mr. Eko who found it in a bible on the other side of the island in another Dharma bunker is like the little breadcrumbs left behind for the viewers to nibble. I love this shit. Love being led around by those in Creative, giving us just a taste, teasing us of the possibility of mysteries still left untold. Such juicy bait.

*Truthfully I think the dialogue piece from Mr. Eko in response to an enthusiastic Locke talking about how neat it was that both of them found different pieces of the Orientation tape, seemingly insinuating fate while he feels it was just coincidence is delightful. I love how those in Creative won't totally let us dive into fate being the engine driving everything despite how we all might feel otherwise.