I'm not bad...I'm just written that way.
Let’s start with the title, “What Kate Does”. This is a callback to the Season 2 episode, “What Kate Did”. In that episode we learned that Kate was on the run from the law, because she blew-up her father. Prior to that point, I think many of us were under the impression that Kate was falsely accused....but in reality, Kate is a murderer (extenuating circumstances or not). This week’s episode looked not at Kate’s past, but rather her present. The answer to “What Kate does”, is she is trying to help save Claire and Aaron. It is why she returned to the island and it is why she is helping Claire in the off-island story. It seems pretty clear to me, that one of the themes of Season 6, will be redemption for our Losties. And Kate’s road to redemption is to reunite mother and child (something she failed to do in her own life with her mother).
While, I can understand why people didn’t like the adventures of Kate and Claire in LA, I think there were a few interesting things to note. Recall, last week, I mentioned that alternate-universe-Jack seemed to have bits of recognition of his other life. This week, I think we are seeing more of the same from Kate. As Kate is escaping the airport in a taxi, she makes eye contact with Jack and gets a strange expression on her face. This could be a recollection of bumping into him on the flight, but it seems more likely that she recognizes him from somewhere she can’t quite place. Later in the episode, when Kate is rummaging through Claire’s bag, she comes across a stuffed killer whale and pauses to look at it. Again, she seems to remember something.....when Kate was playing mother in Season 4, Aaron had a stuffed whale just like this one. Later still, when Claire is in false labor, she yells out, “Is Aaron OK?” Hearing this name, again, seems to register something in Kate. As with Jack, these deja-vu-like moments seem to pass quickly, but I would guess, as we work our way through each of our alternative-universe survivors, they will all have these feelings, drawing them closer to the people they were when the plane crashed. It is too early to draw any conclusions about how the merger of the timelines will happen, but expect increases in these phenomena of having been there before.
Aaron with the whale in season 4
The other interesting thing that occurred in the alternative universe, is we received a deliciously ironic encounter with Ethan. Back in Season 1, Ethan kidnapped Claire on the island, brought her to the Staff DHARMA station, and injected her and in-vitro-Aaron with “medicine”. In this episode, Ethan is the on-call OB/GYN at the hospital treating Claire and says that he doesn’t want to stick her if he doesn’t have to. Note that Ethan introduces himself as Dr. Goodspeed.....he has previously only been referred to as Ethan Rom (this is what he told Hurley, when he was making a list of the survivors in the first season). Goodspeed is in fact his father’s last name (his parents were DHARMA members Horace and Amy) and he was likely evacuated from the island with his mother in 1977, before the detonation at the Swan station. While it doesn’t appear that this version of Ethan has any malicious intent towards Claire, we shouldn’t dismiss this entirely. However, if Ethan grew up off the island, than he probably never became an Other.
Dr. Goodspeed, I presume?
Enough of the alternative universe....back to the island. And for those who didn’t like last night’s episode, the defense enters into evidence, Exhibit A: Dogen (you know....the Japanese temple-dude). From what I have seen so far, he is a really interesting addition to the cast. Let’s take a look at his actions in this episode. Note that when he is informed that Sayid is “alive”, he grabs the pendant he wears around his neck. Now you might think that this is nothing of importance, but he did the same thing last week before touching the ankh in Hurley’s guitar case. I’m not sure what it means, but keep an eye on that pendant. Next, I found his “diagnosing” of Sayid to be curious. First, he blows something across Sayid’s stomach (which I believe to be ash.....more on ash below). Then he hooks up electrodes to his abdomen and shocks him (I am guessing this has a similar effect as the sonic fence). So, I believe he was testing Sayid for things that repel the smoke monster. If you look very carefully, after Sayid is shocked, the wound on his stomach appears to be open (sorry, I couldn’t find a good online image of this). Remember that just prior to this, Jack said Sayid’s wound was almost completely healed. Now, while it is possible that the wound just ripped back open, I think the reversal of the healing may be due to the “infection” moving back from the surface of Sayid’s skin due to the ash and electric shock. When Dogen places the poker on Sayid, I believe he is just cauterizing the open wound. Later, Dogen tries to convince Jack to give a pill to Sayid. It turns out that the pill is poison and Dogen believes the only way to stop the “infection” is to kill the host. All this talk about infection is a callback to Rousseau in Season 1....who killed everyone in her party because she believed them to be “infected”. More on the Rousseau tie-ins later, but clearly there is something to being “infected” or as it is also referred to: “claimed”.
Ohhhhh.....the irony!
This is probably a good point to take a little tangent and discuss something I’ve been mulling over the past few days. Last week I mentioned that I had some thoughts on the use of the circle of ash as a means of protection against the smoke monster. I wanted to do a little more research about this before putting anything out on this....I’ve done that now, so here goes. My first reaction when I saw Bram put the circle of ash around him was that this reminded me of how the main character in The Dresden Files novel series (by the way, I highly recommend The Dresden Files....very entertaining) protects himself from demons by drawing a “magic circle” around himself. My understanding is that these circles are “standard” means of protection from demons both urban fantasy literature and traditional occult beliefs. So, this leads me to believe that the smoke monster is some form of demon. Pulling this thread a little further, I did some more research and discovered that prior to Christianity, demons could be considered either good or evil. These types of demons appear in ancient Mesopotamian mythologies, as well Hebrew texts. In the Babylonian myth, “The Epic of Gilgamesh”, a hero on a quest for immortality battles a demon that guards the forest of the Gods. The reason I mention this particular myth is that in the Season 2 episode, “Collision”, Locke is doing a crossword puzzle and writes in the answer “GILGAMESH”. Clearly there is some significance here. In some Old Testament passages, there are references to demons or “angels of destruction”. However, these are not agents of Satan, but rather doing God’s bidding....representatives of God’s wrath. While I don’t think any of these historical archetypes are direct explanations of things occurring on LOST, it had me thinking that perhaps, Jacob and the Man-in-Black are demons (or angels if you prefer)....one representing God’s forgiveness, the other representing His wrath. I’ve speculated before that the island may be an entryway to the afterlife. Maybe Jacob and the MIB are on the island to pass judgment upon souls as they pass to the beyond. If the MIB/smoke monster wants to “go home”, maybe he has grown tired of this position and desires returning to the other side. Prior to Jacob’s “death” there was balance among these opposing light and dark sides of God’s will. Now the MIB stands unchecked. He seems to have little patience for mankind....and if man no longer exists, he has no need to remain on the island (“God help us all”). Now, I’ve sort of extrapolated a long way from the circle of ash, but I think the show is moving away from science fiction themes and into more mystical territories. We’ve seen the ash around Jacob’s cabin, as an attempted personal protection for Bram, and as a line of defense around the Temple. It is clearly a means to keep the smoke monster out (I’m not buying the theories that the smoke monster was once a prisoner in the cabin...and the ash was keeping him in). I’ve read various guesses as to the origin of the ash (the island’s volcano, cremated remains of The Others, etc), but I think what the ash exactly is probably isn’t crucial to the plot. The more important thing is that it works to keep the monster away. I think we will get more clues into the exact nature of the smoke monster as this season progresses. As that happens, I’ll update this theory.
Now, circling back from the above thoughts to this week’s episode, if the Man-in-Black/Smoke Monster is some form of demon, then it is not too illogical of a stretch to assume that “claimed” is a type of demonic possession. Now, one of the other hugely significant things that Dogen says is that Jack’s sister (Claire) has also been claimed. Now, think about the odd behavior Claire exhibited when we last saw her in Season 4....wandering off with her ghost dad (Christian) and hiding in the shadow’s of Jacob’s cabin. The “What Kate Does” defense would now like to enter into evidence Exhibit B: Jungle Claire. In this episode we find Claire wandering through the jungle looking very Rousseau-esque, toting a rifle. It is not a very big stretch to assume that Claire also built the trap that knocks out Justin. If Claire is “infected”, does this also mean that Rousseau was infected. Maybe, but I’d also like to throw out another possibility. Recall if you will that Claire was in a house that was blown up by Keamy and the freighter mercenaries in Season 4. It never sat well with me that she survived this. I’ve speculated previously that perhaps she didn’t survive and she is in fact dead...which is why she left Aaron and went off with Christian. However, given the way Claire seemed to be channeling Rousseau this week, I started to wonder if maybe Claire has been “claimed” by Rousseau’s spirit. Then I remembered that after the Claire-house-blow-up incident, she, Sawyer and Miles walked over the make shift grave Rousseau was buried in. So, I am postulating that maybe the dead on the island can be possessed by the souls of other dead inhabitants. This may explain why The Others burn their dead. The potential implication is that Sayid (and maybe other departed individuals, like Christian), may be “claimed” by someone other than Jacob or the MIB.
I wonder how her French is?
There is one other major item (Exhibit C), I’d like to talk about. When Others Aldo and Justin, are escorting Kate and Jin through the jungle, they debate whether or not Jin is “one of them”. This phrase reminded me of Jacob’s final words after being stabbed: “They’re coming.” I am more convinced than ever that the they/them in question are the core Losties. I am also starting to wonder if there is some type of prophecy associated with the island and the Losties. Remember that LOST likes to draw from traditional mythological archetypes.....not unlike other modern classics like Star Wars and Harry Potter. In fact, I am wondering if the question, “What lies in the shadow of the statue” is part of this prophecy. Remember that Richard’s response to this question was "Ille qui nos omnes servabit", which translates to "He who will save us all." Now the assumption at the time was that the response referred to Jacob. Maybe the “He” is one of the Losties....or “one of them”. Chew on that for a while.
That is the major analysis for this week. Here are a few miscellaneous notes:
- My favorite line of the week came from Miles: “As you can see Hugo, here, has assumed the leadership position....so that is pretty great.”
- Speaking of Miles, note that he (the ghost whisperer) was confused that Sayid didn’t experience white light, singing, or dead relatives. He also appeared very puzzled last week when Sayid was “dead”. All this implies that Sayid was never truly dead.
- Dogen tells Jack that giving the pill to Sayid is his chance to redeem himself....themes of redemption in Season 6.
- Two excellent character moments in this episode: Jack’s defiance of Dogen by swallowing the pill and Sawyer’s realization that people are “meant to be alone”. Self-determination vs. fate always seems to be at the heart of LOST.
- Dogen says to Jack, “I was brought here” and that Jack knows “exactly what I mean”. I hope we get to learn more of the back stories of these characters and how they fit into the island’s plan.
OK.....that is enough for this week. For a “dull” episode it sure had plenty to write about. I’m guessing next week will ratchet up the intensity.
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