Whatever Happened, Happened

Kate Ain’t So Bad After All!



Am I the only person who liked this week’s episode? For me, this is the first Kate-centric episode where I didn’t want to kill her by episode’s end. Some thoughts:

• Sawyer’s request of Kate before he dropped into the ocean was no real surprise.
• Kate and Cassidy’s friendship didn’t seem like a big stretch to me. These two unconventional women and single moms have quite a bit in common.

But mostly, Kate giving Aaron to Carole Littleton (doesn’t she have a great first name? Too bad they misspelled it.) was the best part of her back story. This is just about the most adult, unselfish thing that Kate has ever done in her life. Cassidy helped Kate realize that Kate took Aaron because Kate needed him (though I’m not sure that I agree it was because Sawyer ran away from Kate). I also thought that her reason for returning to the island was a fairly good one, to get Clair back. Why? Because every child needs his mother.

In 1977, I found myself liking Kate more than I like Jack. Yes, Jack is still hot, but his refusal to treat Ben (again) was, in my opinion, reprehensible. However, some of my friends at work (Hi Amber! I would say hi to Kelly but she claims she doesn’t have time to read my blog. Humph.) think that everyone, especially Kate, expected Jack to fix everything, just like he did their first time on the island. But, in this situation, Jack was the only one that could fix it. Neither Juliet nor Kate is a surgeon, and I don’t think we want Sawyer operating on anyone. And Jack’s reason for not operating on Ben? The island just wants to fix things itself. Whatever that means. I was with Kate; I don’t like the new Jack, either. Jack spoke truly, though, when he noted, “You didn’t like the old me.” Well, there are actually three Jacks. She doesn’t like the new Jack or the drunk, jealous Jack. She likes the old, take charge Jack. And we’ve only seen glimpses of the old Jack recently.

I must say that seeing Roger Linus and Kate talking so familiarly made me squirm a little. Still, we saw a more symptathetic Roger, this time, as he acknowledged that he hasn’t been a great parent. We’ve never seen him actually worry about his son, and he seemed more human. Sadly, it may be too late.

The Comic Interludes

Unlike another friend at work (hi Brian!) who found the conversation between Hurley and Miles to be too long, I thought it was delightful! Both characters are fun to watch on their own, but together, they’ve got great chemistry. Hurley spoke for all of us as he questioned the whole time travel thing. I laughed out loud when Miles gave Hurley his gun and asked to be shot. But Hurley asked the million dollar question: why doesn’t Ben remember Sayid when they meet in 2004?

But I was confused by something Miles said in their conversation; how does Miles know about the wheel?

An Ending?

I also enjoyed the scene between Juliet and Jack more than others did. Juliet was justifiably angry (in my opinion) with Jack for refusing to honor his Hippocratic oath, which Miles and Hurley could tell by the expression on her face – they left awfully fast. Her disappointment in Jack was palpable. I felt confident that any feelings Juliet had for Jack are gone. Not everyone agrees with me on this one. Juliet certainly put Jack in his place: “We didn’t need saving. You came back for you!” And Jack isn’t sure what he’s supposed to be doing, now that he’s back on the island.

Do the Right Thing

I must say that I could not have been more proud of Sawyer than I was in this episode. Throughout the episode, his whole goal was to help young Ben, despite his knowledge of what Ben would grow up into. Actually, what Ben would become didn’t even seem to enter into his thoughts. When Juliet told Sawyer that Ben needs a surgeon, Sawyer quickly tried to convince Jack to operate. When Juliet told Sawyer where Kate was taking Ben, Sawyer joined her, saying, “Damn it, Freckles, I ain’t here to stop you. I’m here to help you.” Kate was, I’m sure, thrilled to have his assistance, but probably not so happy to hear that Sawyer was doing this for Juliet, because Juliet thinks it is wrong to allow a child to die. I so heart Sawyer.

The Choice

Juliet realized she couldn’t save Ben, and after Jack refused, knew that only the Others could. Kate, in full Action Girl mode, took off with Ben in one of the VW vans to save the day. Sawyer helped turn the sonic fence off, and carried Ben into the jungle to meet the Others (I assumed at this time that the island was keeping Ben alive through that trip!). After the Others accused Sawyer and Kate of violating the treaty, Sawyer demanded to see Richard. And Richard’s words were quite ominous:

If I take him, he’s not ever going to be the same again. He’ll forget this ever happened and his innocence will be gone. He will always be one of us. Do you still want me to take him?

As the episode ended, what really struck me was that Jack, Sawyer, and Kate all made choices that led to Ben being Ben. Jack had a hand in refusing to operate on Ben, Sawyer and Kate in agreeing to Richard’s terms. The only other parties were Sayid (of course) and Juliet. But Jack might have been able to save Ben by operating, and Sawyer and Kate might have saved Ben’s soul by refusing to submit him to the Others’ care. Remember all the way back to the second season? When Michael was given a list of Oceanic 816 survivors to bring to the Others? Those on the list were Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley. But Hurley wasn’t their goal – he was sent back. They kept Jack, Kate and Sawyer.

I’m a little disappointed that Ben won’t remember “this”. We don’t know what he will forget – how he was injured? His childhood? We aren’t sure. I guess I was hoping that if Ben does survive, his actions in the past would take on a whole new meaning. Perhaps they still will. Ben will have to have some memory of his life, and he did keep the doll that Annie gave him.

Ending Notes

I’m sure I’m not the only person who caught the Other’s warning to Richard that Ellie and Charles wouldn’t like Richard’s actions. Ellie must be that young woman that held Daniel at gunpoint in Jughead. A lot of people are speculating that she is also Eloise Hawking, Daniel’s mother. Charles Widmore, of course, must be the current leader of the Others. Regardless, Richard doesn’t answer to either. But he still hesitated slightly in taking Ben to the Temple.

And that final scene was fabulous. When Ben awoke, I initially thought he might be suddenly remembering that forgotten time from his childhood, similar to how Desmond remembered his encounter with Daniel in Jughead. Maybe he did. But I didn’t catch who was at his bedside. A quite healthy looking John Locke, “Hello, Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living.”

Now they are both in the land of the living, after brushes with death. And next week focuses on Ben’s redemption, apparently, as the previews show Ben declaring, “I came back to this island to be judged.” We’ll see.

Favorite line: Roger about Sawyer, after Sawyer asked Roger for his keys, “Bastard doesn’t ask any questions he doesn’t know the answer to.” Sawyer must be a trial attorney!

I have some thoughts on the Temple that I will write on later. In the meantime, I’m hoping to hear what y’all thought about this episode. Do you like Kate better? Or do you still feel for Jack?