I know, I know, we can't expect to have a lot of answers in every single episode of season six. But despite that, "What Kate Does," the third episode of LOST's final season, felt slightly underwhelming to me. Sure, we got some cool reveals, but they were nowhere near as shocking or as informative as "LA X"'s were. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the episode, but it felt more like a season four episode and not quite like a season six one.
The Temple storyline was by far the most interesting an rich of the episode. After Sayid's reawakening, Dogen and Lennon immediately have him whisked away to Dogen's study (though not without opposition from Jack), where they proceed to torture him. First electroshock, then they burn him. Afterwards, an apologetic Lennon informs Sayid that he "passed," but after Sayid leaves, he realizes that he wasn't telling the truth: Sayid didn't pass.
Lennon's personality was developed quite a bit throughout the episode, and his sardonic earnestness is quickly making him my favorite new character of season six. Meanwhile, Dogen, while complex, is keeping too many secrets for me to really like him. Once he starts being open like he was at the end of the episode more often, then I'll probably come to dig the character.
Speaking of Dogen's openness, we got a pretty neat reveal of what happened to Claire, who we last saw on the Island sitting in what we thought was Jacob's cabin with who we thought was Christian Shephard. As it turns out, Claire has been consumed by a "darkness" and is no longer who she "once was." And the same thing's happening to Sayid. But as for Claire, if this "darkness" means no more cries of "my bay-bee," then I'm okay with that.
In fact, the only reason I shouldn't like dark Claire was that she shot Aldo, a character who we hadn't seen since season three. Played by It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Rob McElhenney, Aldo was still angry about the "Wookie prisoner gag" that Kate and Sawyer had played on him in the season three episode "Not in Portland." He's quite bitter, and seems to relish having power over Kate, even though she overcomes him once again and escapes. He's a classic case of a loudmouth who actually can't get anything done. Great character, and I'm glad he got a better send-off than just never seeing him again.
Kate, after escaping from Aldo, went to the Barracks where she found a mourning Sawyer, who reveals that he was planning to propose to Juliet. There's a lot of crying that goes on from both Kate and Sawyer, and in the end he tells her that he doesn't want her around.
Meanwhile, in the "X" timeline, Kate is still in the taxi with Claire, and she's desperate to make an escape. Things aren't helped by Arzt spilling his luggage in the road in front of them, but Arzt's luggage takes one for the team as she tells the cabbie (David H. Lawrence XVII, who does the most he can with the role) to run over it, leaving an indignant Arzt behind. At a red light, though, the cabbie flees the car, but Kate won't let Claire go. Claire eventually does, though she leaves her bags behind. After getting a mechanic to help her with the handcuffs (whoever played that mechanic did a great job), she realizes that Claire was pregnant and goes back to return her bags, and even offers her a ride to the house of the people who were going to adopt her baby, though Claire is worried since they didn't meet her at the airport.
However, the surrogate mother's husband has just left her, and she doesn't want Claire's baby. The stress from this sends Claire into early labor, so Kate takes her to the hospital. And who's the doctor? Why, Ethan Goodspeed, of course. It was good to see William Mapother again, though it wasn't the first time he's appeared on my screen this year -- he was also in last week's episode of Human Target. Ethan shows that he would have been a legitimately good person if it hadn't been for the Island, making him a direct contrast to the survivors, who we've been led to believe have been made better by the Island. Nice dichotomy there.
Claire and Kate bond despite having been at the opposite ends of a gun only hours before, though Kate's expression tells us that she's having some sort of deja vu, especially when Claire calls the baby Aaron. The universes are connected, it seems, but how?
Overall, the episode was solid but not fantastic. However, next week's episode title may mean a return to spectacular. "The Substitute" seems right on par with titles like "The Constant," and "The Variable." After all, what is the function of a variable? To be replaced with a substitute.
Overall, I give this episode a B+.
[...] LOST 6.03 “What Kate Does” Review « TVOvermind [...]
Interesting review; thanks for posting it. I don't know what in the world you saw in Lennox (he's Dogen's curly-haired companion, right?) that makes you like him; certainly I can find plenty to dislike about him. He annoys me. As for the actor's performance: well, I guess there wasn't anything too distracting about his performance, so I'll grant him that. And I'll add: the fact that his character is "annoying" may be a good thing — it'll make him a character I won't mind seeing destroyed by whatever fate becomes him. Just as Ethan was despicably evil and such a pleasure to see wasted by Charlie in whatever season that occurred in. (BTW it was delicious to find Claire and Kate encountering Ethan, drugs and all, again.)I didn't see much wrong with this episode. There were a few moments that were so predictable they were cliche (such as some of the throwaway lines that came out of Jack's mouth), but Fox's performance helped me forget those recycled utterances nearly as soon as they were exhaled (and, in fact, I'm only remembering them again now). An episode without the ongoing Locke/Linus/Richard conflict usually makes me feel like something is missing from the episode, but I can honestly say that I didn't feel that way this time. (As with the throwaways I mentioned before, I hadn't thought about the absence of Locke/Linus scenes until now. While watching the "Previously on LOST…" recap, it had occurred to me that they weren't showing any scenes involving these characters, so I expected I might be disappointed with this episode. But I honestly wasn't. Perhaps the re-introduction of Claire proved a worthy substitution, enough to keep me entertained and interested in the storyline.)
I agree.This episode felt like a season 4 episode. it was good, but it was missing what I want. Sure we got something closer to answers, but not full on answers. Which is kind of annoying. It was a pretty good episode, but definitely feels like it'll be the weakest this season. Next weeks sounds fantastic though. Hopefully some Locke answers. I agree with Aldo too. When i clicked info on my tv last night i saw "Aldo: Rob McElhenney" i was like YES. I loved Sunny, and i love his small line. He was the reason I like this episode so much. I couldn't take him seriously though. I kept thinking he'd burst in going "guys, guys, guys." But i was sad to see his fate. But still, better then never seeing him again. And to see French Chick version of Claire. Whoaaa. I remember Darlton mentioning something like this.cant wait to see next week
Sam, thanks for putting up a review for those of us who need to read something IMMEDIATELY after watching. I agree with you, and I am glad to see you aren't going off the handle like many folks are across the ol interweb. It may not be a remarkably strong episode, but it was still enjoyable, and I am confident that now that Kate's centric episode is over with, we can get to the good stuff. If this is the weakest of the season, then we have a lot of greatness ahead of us.
Interesting review, indeed. The cohorts name is 'Lennon,' not Lennox, but whatever. As far as your complaint about fewer answers goes, duh, dude. Every season basically follows the same formula of opening with an answer and question-filled premiere, and then follows with several episodes that give character development without revealing all a lot of plot answers. I'm sure that in a couple of episodes we will find out exactly what Sayid is 'infected' with (Smoke Monster) and how it will affect the rest of the show. I'm thrilled to learn tiny tidbits like Claire's taking over of Rousseau's traps and the fact thaqt the Others know that she is Jack's sister and that she has already been claimed. Can't wait for next week!
The return of the “sickness” and talk of infection turned my theory on its head, but this is my new theory. MiB is the one who revived Sayid (he may not be able to enter the temple, but he can do things from afar), and that process infected Sayid. MiB infects Sayid to make him a follower, and Sayid becoming crazy and killing people would fit. Sayid is Judas in the Last Supper poster, because as an infected person, he will follow MiB, but there will be a part of humanity in him that in the end betrays MiB.Review of the episode on my blog:http://th3tvobsessed.blogspot.com/2010/02/revie…..
eh, i give it a "B". i couldnt stop waiting for the claire/kate stuff to be over. the temple business was much more interesting.
I loved that practically everything Ethan said & did was in stark contrast to what he said & did to Claire on the island.I'm thinking the Substitute is a reference to the MIB & Locke, so that should be interesting?!
I thought your review was pretty much on point…I will say that the “sideways” world is a huge risk and I didn’t really feel anything when I saw Ethan last night because if this is a “what if” scenario then what is the point of being emotionally invested? I will say that Sawyer’s acting was phenomenal last night…I also thought that Kate looking in the mirror when she asked to “change” was just like Jack last week. Maybe the mirror holds some kind of significance to jogging their “other memories”…Loved Miles in this episode—We will be at the food court lol
the kate centric stuff needs to go!
[...] TV Overmind [...]
The writers have said in interviews NOT to view the sideways world as "what if". That it is real. Go to ew.com and find the interview with them.
You're very welcome! I'm pretty sure that the rest of the episodes are going to be very strong — at the most, there might be one more weak one.
The Sawyer Dock Scene made me cry, powerful acting from Josh Holloway considering the character hasn't had much emotional depth for at least a few seasons now!
I agree that it was a great scene and great acting, but I think that the evolution of Sawyer's character has been one of the most emotionally deep aspects of the show, especially in season five.
[...] here to see the original: LOST 6.03 “What Kate Does” Review « TVOvermind Posted: February 10th, 2010 Categories: Uncategorized Tags: always, always-sunny, and-seems, [...]