Lost – “What Kate Does” – review

In its last season, Lost has two kinds of viewers: those who watch the show to see if Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof can tie everything together, and those who watch for sheer entertainment value. The balance is way off, maybe 90-10 at this point…but that’s all right, the show invited this kind of obsessive fan behavior. And no character on the show has been more divisive and controversial than this week’s lovely focal point: Kate. Or, rather, Kates. Because there’s two of them now, remember?

When last we spoke, our intrepid band of Island Losties were being held in the temple by Dogen and Lennon and all them, and Sayid/Not-Sayid was coming back to life, and everyone was running around scared. But Sawyer’s not scared, or awed by resurrection–he wants to run. So of course, boom, we’re back in LA to see what happened to Kate when she ran. Turns out that she ended up ditching Claire and absconding with the cab. And then, boom, back to the temple, where Dogen wants to “see” Sayid inside, and Sawyer grabs a gun and bolts. Man, recaps are gonna be hell in this dual reality.

So Kate offers to be all Dog The Bounty Hunter to go get Sawyer, bragging (in that only-on-TV way), “I can be very convincing when I want to be.” I was gonna make a joke here about bad acting, but Evangeline Lilly has actually gotten better as the years have gone by, and now she’s not the same wooden princess that she was early on. NOTICE MY LACK OF SNARK?! Anyhoo, LA Kate manages to get Mechanic Kris Kristofferson Guy to de-cuff her, before flirting with him the only way she knows how: “I’m wanted for murder.” Upon gaining gas station bathroom access, however, she is seized with guilt for stealing Claire’s stuffed orca; okay, it’s really because she realizes what a monster she’s become in the name of liberty. Or something. Not quite sure yet. Then Jungle Kate prepares for the journey outwards with all the Other Others, accompanied by Smirking Jin and OMG DUDE FROM SUNNY!!!, and sent off by Concern Troll Jack…

…but let’s talk about Sayid Torture Porn for a second. Looks like the former Revolutionary Guardsman has met his match in the sadistic Dogen, who electrocutes the eff out of Sayid and then burns his stomach with a red hot poker. Lennon tells him he passed the test, but apparently this is not true. And now back to LA: Kate comes back with Claire’s stuff, then offers her a ride to Brentwood, so she’s nice and human after all. And now back to the search for Sawyer (see what I mean, the show has serious ADHD now); Kate engineers her own little escape by using an old Russo trap and the old “hit the guy in the face” trick.

Next, we get Jack all Demanding Answers of Dogen/Lennon, but getting none except that Sayid is “infected.” Oh, and that Jack gets another chance to redeem himself by giving Sayid a mystical pill. Sayid gets the best line of the show after being interrogated by Hurley and Miles about what it was like to die: “No. I am not a zombie.” (Although Miles’ crack about being “in the food court if you need us” is a very close second.) Jack tries to break down the sitch for his Iraqi buddy, showing the kind of honesty and restraint that hasn’t exactly been the watchword of the Losties so far. Points for that.

Uncomfortable car trip to Brentwood for the ladies, especially when adoptive mom backs out and Claire goes into labor all right there on the front porch. Kate takes Claire to the hospital, at significant risk, and then finds nice Dr. Goodspeed to help. We know him as Ethan Rom, the infiltrator whom Charlie shot in season one for trying to abduct Claire, so he might not really be the best one to be working on her, except that this is a timeline where he isn’t on the island at all, which means his father, Horace the Hippie, never went to the island in the first place. Does this mean the Dharma Initiative never happened at all on this plane of existence? INTERESTING. Aaron turns out to be fine, of course.

Kate knows Sawyer will be at the barracks–not exactly a huge leap of logic, there, but it’s all good. She sees him pull a shoebox from the floorboards and get all emo with it. After a little sexy gun-pointing, K tells S her theory about finding Claire, whose last island appearance was somewhere in Jacob’s Cabin next to her pops, Christian Shephard. Of course, Saw-dogs has to be all salty with her, because he’s ANGRY GUY now, but then he becomes SAD GUY because he ultimately blames himself for Juliet’s death, to which I think we can all say, “It’s about time.” Kate also blames herself for Juliet’s death. Damn, I’m even blaming myself for Juliet’s death at this point.

Now Jack and Dogen, so we can learn more about these Templars. He says his people were brought to the island the same way everyone else was. They banter a bit about why Jack didn’t give Sayid the pill, then Jack jauntily gulps the thing himself. Dogen forces it out of him with a couple karate palms to the gut, then admits the pill is poison. Such perfidy!

Cops come looking for Kate, natch, but Claire doesn’t rat her out. Instead, in an act of stupidity, she gives Kate her credit card for being nice. Um, wait–you’re a pregnant Australian who’s just learned that you will have to change plans and raise your baby yourself, and you’re giving your only source of money to a wanted fugitive? Oh poor, dear, open-hearted Claire; still dumb as a stone. We’ve missed you. (Foreshadowing alert #1!)

Dogen eventually tells Jack why he tried to kill Sayid; he has this theory that Sayid has been “claimed” by a darkness. Then, in a true surprise, he explains that this has already happened…to Claire! (Foreshadowing alert #2!)

And now we’re in the jungle and Jin is getting jacked up by Aldo while poor Justin tries to be reasonable and Jin gets away but gets caught in a bear trap and Aldo’s gonna shoot him but instead gets shot and so does Justin and guess who it is on the business end of that gun? That’s right, people–it’s Claire! In full-on Russo Crazy Island Survivalist mode!

And that’s the end. Man it’s late. See you next week.