Lost – What Kate Does
The general consensus among the Lost critics (see here and here) is that last night’s episode was a little lame, or at least not as satisfying as it could have been. The most interesting take on this is the idea that an episode like “What Kate Does” is going to be far more enjoyable in retrospect, when we have some idea of why we should care about these alternate timeline Losties. At the moment, the most exciting thing about that entire chunk of the episode was that Ethan shows up as Claire’s OB-GYN, and manages to be just as creepy in the guise of kindly doctor as he was as a masquerading Other. It may be true that with the benefit of hindsight, we’ll be able to understand this episode for all the pieces it cannily shifts into place, but that doesn’t diminish my sense of slight disappointment.
What Kate does: drive a cab, look surly, look suspicious
The problem is not just that we don’t have any reason to be invested in the alt-Losties – it’s that the episode was directly billing itself as a companion piece to an earlier, far more meaningful episode and failed to live up to that promise. Season two’s episode “What Kate Did” finally fleshed out the magnitude of Kate’s crimes, giving us context for her presence on Oceanic 815 courtesy of the US Marshal service and detailing her twisted family tree. That lovely hanging past-tense verb, “did,” gets a satisfying response – Kate killed the guy she thought was her abusive stepfather, only to discover he was actually her biological parent. As a bonus to all that pleasing backstory, the black horse that aids in Kate’s escape from the Marshal then appears on the island, totally freaking her (and me) out. In contrast, the answer to “What Kate Does” is much less interesting. Kate steals a cab. Kate hangs out with Claire, and they go to the hospital. Kate likes the name Aaron. Kate does nothing all that exciting.
To be fair, the episode titles do act as a nice little key to the narrative techniques here. While season two was still heavily in flashback land, “What Kate Did” is clearly a question of note. Immersed in an alternate timeline with as-yet-unknown significance, “What Kate Does” gives us a nice grammatical clue. Kate and Claire’s Super Exciting Hospital Adventure is in the present tense, further clarifying that these two storylines are simultaneous (or at least, that the alternate universe is the one happening now).
As for the rest of the episode, it managed to be both more compelling and more predictable. Sayid’s un-zombie resurrection is, as guessed, going to cause some problems down the line. The infection business is intriguing, especially as it connects with Rousseau’s account of her arrival on the island and Claire’s gun-toting reappearance. Unlike most other Lost characters, mystical Asian man seems to have spent some time sorting through lostpedia and is fully aware that Claire and Jack are siblings, which, coupled with his horticultural skills and wacky language preferences, hikes his “mystical” aura up into the stratosphere. And poor Sawyer is still broken up about Juliet.
I’m certainly intrigued by the temple and its mysterious restorative dirty pool water, and I’m all for the return of Claire and watching Sayid slowly turn into a werewolf. (Because as he made clear, zombie is not an option). Unless Lost gives me something to care about in the alternate timeline, though, it’s going to continue seeming disjointed and hollow.