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When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

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Hey, fellow Lost junkies! We’re back with our weekly round table discussion featuring bloggers Theresa DeLucci, Rajan Khanna, and Bridget McGovern. Fair warning: spoilers abound below the fold; if you’re cool with that, please join us and chime in with your thoughts, opinions, insanely complex conspiracy theories, rants, and predictions for this final season (plus some bonus Lost-related links)…

Theresa: I like how the title of this episode can read like a Lost Mad Lib. “What Kate Does is…” continue to do the exact opposite of what people ask and generally act so annoying viewers forget that way back in the series pilot, everyone thought she was cute and endearing. When Kate was revealed to be a fugitive, I had hopes that her crime would be really bad and the Losties had a female Richard B. Riddick in their midst along with the smoke monsters and polar bears. But of course Kate committed an “acceptable” crime, killing her abusive step-father. So of course we’re supposed to root for her and not think she’s something of an impulsive psychopath who constantly makes bad decisions. (On the topic of female killers, I have a whole rant on audience reactions to Kate vs. Ana-Lucia, but I’ll spare you.)

This episode was pretty sloppy and boring to watch, up until the last ten minutes. Even when Kate’s carjacking someone, she feels entitled to demand personal information. Nosiest. Carjacker. Ever. And how stupid is Claire to get back in a car with the woman who just robbed her at gunpoint earlier that morning?! The biggest highlight of that story for me was the car mechanic who helped Kate out of her cuffs. I loved that guy as Willow’s scuzzy magicks dealer on Buffy. Lost is where all the cool character actors go.

The irony of Sayid, the torturer, being tortured again got old about four seasons ago. Seriously, he’s been tortured at least three times now. Anyway, while it wasn’t Richard Alpert chained up (much to Bridget’s disappointment, I’m sure) I will overlook this tired convention because at least we got to see some shirtless Naveen Andrews. So there’s that. I’m curious if this infection Dogen talked about was the same sickness that killed off Danielle Rousseau’s team in the ’80s. So how can you make a child-shooting torturer even darker? Guess we’ll find out more when we learn where Darth Claire’s been all this time.

Raj: I agree that after the excitement of the premiere, this episode was a little disappointing, not the least because it focused on Kate. It’s nice, at least, that she finally got around to remembering Claire. I’m a little unsure about everyone’s starting position in Earth-1. Kate is as annoying as usual, Sawyer’s all angsty, and Sayid is, well, weird. Of all of them, I think Hurley is the one who is impressing me with how he’s behaving. But it’s probably not a good sign that I find the two new characters (Lennon and Dogen) to be more interesting than the Losties.

Interesting that there was no glimpse of what is going on on the other side of the island.

I agree with you, Theresa, that the infection seems related to the sickness that Rousseau talked about and what made her team all crazy. And it seems Claire got it, too, which is why she was like Rousseau reincarnated at the end. Whether this is related to Jacob and Silas remains to be seen.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m tired of people trying to escape the Others. I know it probably sucks being stuck in their temple with armed guards all around, but they’re the only ones who seem to really know what’s going on and you’d think by this time the Losties would want answers and want to know everything. I was actually impressed that Jack asked a few questions this time. But still not enough.

What’s next week’s episode called?

Theresa: The Temple has a food court! Why would you want to leave?! I wonder if there’s a Sbarro on the Island?

Next week’s episode is called “The Substitute,” and rumor has it focusing on Locke.

Bridget: Okay…was it me, or did this episode have a certain melodramatic, soap opera quality to it? I felt like the combination of shocking reveals (Ethan Rom!!! Secret, tragic engagement rings!!! “Because it happened to YOUR SISTER!!!”) and unbelievable or uncharacteristic behavior (Kate and Claire’s post-carjack, buddy movie-style bonding seemed a little rushed, didn’t it? “Take my credit card,” Claire? Really? And what was with Sayid’s blind trust in Jack after being tortured in the Pit of Despair?). I know the writers have a lot to cram in, but I have to agree with you guys that this felt a little sloppy.

Having said that, I love all the connections they’re making to the past in both realities; obviously this week’s title clearly echoes the second season episode “What Kate Did,” but the new episode also contained significant links to season four’s “Something Nice Back Home.” The stuffed killer whale toy in Claire’s guilt-inducing suitcase of sadness belonged to Toddler Aaron in that episode, as Kate and Jack’s engagement storyline crashed and burned into a wet pile of boring tears and drunken shenanigans.

In the same episode, Claire abandoned Aaron to follow Christian (or the Adversary in Christian-form?) into the jungle, and now she’s back as feral, shotgun-toting Claire, and I don’t care if she IS evil—I’m happy to see her. Who knows, it might be an improvement! But all of this re-opens the central question of who is actually supposed to raise Aaron… Not Jack, according to Ghost Charlie (via Hurley), which leaves psychic Richard Malkin’s insistence that Claire must raise the baby herself—but clearly he is suspect on several fronts since he is an admitted fraud and is directly responsible for Claire being on the original Flight 815 when it crashed. Poor Aaron—that towheaded little blob must be the most often-abandoned kid since John Locke.

As far as the Island-based action, I just can’t be bothered with another one of Jack’s crises of conscience, and as much as I enjoy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, bringing back the character of Aldo was just annoying and felt like a gimmick. Everybody gets hit in the face with a rifle butt sometime, buddy—it’s the Island! Stop whining. I’ll be with Miles and Hurley in the food court until something good happens…like a Miles/Hurley episode. Or better yet: spin-off!

Agree? Disagree? Please weigh in the comments! In the meantime, here are some more delightful Lost links for your amusement:

• Imagine “an alternate history where Lost was created and aired in 1967 as a campy sci-fi action series.” Genius.

• A hilarious, character-by-character throwdown pitting 2004 against 2007, based on last week’s season premiere (via Movieline.com).

• A magical montage of Sawyer Bein’ Sawyer, featuring all his snarky nicknames from Seasons 1-3.

• “11 Early Roles the Cast of Lost Wishes We’d All Forget.” Warning: May be painful to watch; cannot be unseen. (Compiled by the awesome Sam Greenspan at 11 Points).

• For those interested in a mythological reading of the show, check out Doc Jensen’s intriguing, insanely ambitious theories following the end of last season over at EW.com.

• And finally, while ABC doesn’t seem to be offering Lost Valentine Day’s cards again this year, you can still find them online…You know. If you’re into that whole thing.


Theresa DeLucci is a graduate of the 2008 Clarion West Writers Workshop. Her fiction has appeared in Chizine. She is fully supportive of a Miles/Hurley spinoff show.

Rajan Khanna is a graduate of the 2008 Clarion West Writers Workshop and his fiction has appeared in Shimmer Magazine. He lives in Brooklyn with his two cats, Chloe and Muppet.

Bridget McGovern is a lit nerd, a film geek, and a complete pop culture junkie. She enjoys David Bowie, roller coasters, and The Venture Bros. more than anyone probably should.

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Bridget McGovern

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Bridget McGovern is the Managing Editor of Reactor. She wasn’t really all that screwed up by Watership Down, if you don’t count the fact that she just stays up nights writing frantically about bunnies (and will always maintain a vague but potent distrust of Art Garfunkle).
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