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"What Kate Does" is the 3rd episode of Season 6 of Lost and the 106th produced hour of the series as a whole. It was first broadcast on Feb 9, 2010.
Synopsis
Previously on Lost
- Sawyer caresses Juliet after her death, blames Jack for her death.
- Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid are captured by the others and Sayid is immersed in the Temple waters on the orders of Dogen. Sayid dies but "awakes" and says "What happened"?
Parallel timeline (2004)
Kate holds the Taxi Driver at gunpoint and orders him to drive. Claire begs to be let out of the taxi but Kate refuses. The driver stops when a man's luggage is strewn on the road, and he is picking it up. Claire tries to get out, but Kate won't let her. Kate momentarily sees alt-Jack and looks quizzically toward him. They finally get past by running over the luggage, but then the Taxi driver escapes. Claire, however, still isn't allowed to get out. Then Kate drives the taxi to a curb, where she tells claire to get out and ,refuses to let her get her suitcase from the trunk, and then speeds away. Kate stops at a garage and pays a mechanic 200 dollars to remove the handcuffs with a punch press. She gets changed into Claire's clothes and realizes Claire is pregnant as there is a photo of a pregnant Claire and a soft toy (a killer whale) in the bag.
She drives back to where she let Claire out to find her sitting on the bench. The couple that were to adopt Claire's baby had not shown up to pick her up. Claire thought that they had gotten their days mixed up. Kate offers Claire a ride to where her baby was to be adopted. Claire is hesitant at first but then decides to go with Kate.
A woman answers the door in tears, as her husband had just left her. She tells Claire that they can not take the baby and that she is truly sorry. Claire becomes upset, and goes into labor. Kate then drives her to the hospital, where Doctor Ethan Goodspeed asks Claire if she is ready to have her baby, which confuses her. It appears the baby is ready to be delivered, even though it is still slightly premature. Ethan then tells her that he can have the baby now or he can give her drugs which are safe and may stop the labour. Claire decides that she isn't ready and that she will take the drugs. Claire calls the unborn baby Aaron.
Claire is looking at her ultrasound which is dated October 22, 2004 at 9:29:42am, one month after the crash of Flight 815 in the original timeline. Detective Rassmussen and a police officer arrive looking for Jo Hart(?), she covers for Kate saying that she was just a cab driver who helped her into the hospital. Claire gives Kate her credit card.
Original timeline (2007)
Inside The Temple
Lennon hurries through corridors to tell Dogen the news that Sayid is alive. Jack tells Sayid he died. The last thing Sayid remembers is being shot back at the Barracks. Sawyer is resentful that a torturer and child shooter should have another chance and tells Kate that he is thinking about running. When Dogen learns of Sayid's revival he and Lennon request he come with them. Jack, not trusting the two, insists on going but eventually allows them to take Sayid.
Sawyer appears and begins firing his gun demanding to be released from the confides of the temple. Despite objections from The Others he needs to stay and that they won't hurt his friend, Sawyer replies they are not his friends. He promptly leaves and asks nobody come after him.
Jack, still resisting the others and showing concern over where Sayid is being taken, is held at gunpoint by Aldo and told to calm down. Lennon wants to know where Sawyer has left the temple for. Kate claims she can bring Sawyer back. Jin volunteers to accompany her on the mission. Lennon, still cautious as to weather Kate can accomplish her task asks what makes her think Sawyer will listen to her. Kate replies she can be very convincing when she wants to be.
Once Sayid is in what appears to be Dogen's "lab" he is strapped down to a gurney and then hooked up to a small motor. Dogen uses the motor to shock Sayid as a form of torture. Dogen stops as soon as Sayid screams in agony and then goes on to take a hot metal poker and uses it to burn Sayid's chest. After this is done Sayid wants to know why they are doing this, and Dogen tells him via his translator Lennon this was a test, and that he had passed. After Sayid has been returned to the spring room, Lennon correctly guesses he has just lied on behalf of Dogen.
Search Party
Trivia
General
- Kate was the first character to have an episode dedicated to both their own flashbacks and their own flash sideways.
- Before Claire covers for Kate saying that she was just a cab driver who helped her into the hospital she is looking at the ultrasound of unborn Aaron. The ultrasound is labeled with the date and time October 22, 2004 at 9:29am, one month after the crash of flight 815 in the original timeline.
Production notes
- Nestor Carbonell (Richard), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Michael Emerson (Ben), Jeff Fahey (Frank), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Terry O'Quinn (Locke), and Zuleikha Robinson (Ilana) do not appear in this episode.
- This is Claire's first on-island appearance in the original timeline since the dream sequence in "There's No Place Like Home, Part 3" and the first time as herself since "Cabin Fever".
- Rob McElhenney reprises his role as Aldo from "Not in Portland", after a 50-episode absence.
- Emilie de Ravin is incorrectly listed before Henry Ian Cusick.
- Tania Kahale, who played Veronica, Aaron's nanny, in "Eggtown", appears in this episode as the admitting nurse. It is possible that this is the same character in the alternate timeline.
Recurring themes
Recurring themes |
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Animals • Black and white • Character connections • Children • Coincidence • Death • Deceptions and cons • Dreams • Economics • Electromagnetism • Eyes • Fate versus free will • Games • Good and bad people • Imprisonment • Isolation • Leadership • Life and death • Literary works • Mirrors • Missing body parts • Nicknames • The Numbers • Pairings • Parapsychology • Parent issues • Pregnancies • Psychology • Rain • Redemption • Relationships • Religion • Revenge • Salvation • Secrets |
- Sawyer reveals he was going to ask Juliet to marry him. (Relationships)
- Claire begins to give birth to Aaron. (Pregnancy)
- Sawyer forcefully leaves the Temple to go back to the barracks and be alone. (Isolation)
- Claire finds out that the adoptive parents who were to raise her son broke up. (Relationships)
- Dogen admits he does not speak English in front of The Others to avoid them arguing his orders. (Deceptions and cons)
- Dogen and Sayid both say that Sayid will take the pill Dogen created only if Jack asks him to do so; Jack doesn't ask Sayid to do so because he doesn't trust Dogen without knowing exactly what's in the pill. (Trust)
- Dogen attempts to convince Jack to give Sayid "medication" which turns out to be poison. (Deceptions and cons)
- After looking though Claire's luggage, Kate decides to return it to her. (Redemption)
- Dogen is seen spinning a baseball on his desk. A baseball has 108 double stiches. (The Numbers)
- Dogen has a bowl of black stones on his desk. (Black and White)
- While looking through Claire's luggage, Kate finds a stuffed orca. (Black and White) (Animals)
- Dogen and Lennon tell Sayid he passed their test when in fact he hadn't. (Deceptions and cons)
- Clarie gives Kate her credit card as she is leaving the hospital room. (Relationships)
- Aldo attempts to not reveal information about the trap in the jungle and the landing of Ajira Flight 316 to Kate and Jin. (Deceptions and cons)
Storyline analysis
Storyline analysis |
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A-Missions • Crimes • Economics • Leadership • O-Missions • Relationships • F-Missions • Rivalries • S-Missions |
- Kate steals a taxi. (Crimes)
- Miles tells Sayid that Hurley has assumed a leadership role. (Leadership)
- Kate and Jin go to find Sawyer. (A-Missions)
Cultural references
Cultural references (direct references only) |
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Art • Automobiles • Games • History • Literary works • Movies and TV • Music • Philosophy • Religion and ideologies • Science |
- Midnight Cowboy: Arzt shouts, "I'm walking here. I'm walking here!" This line is from the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy where the same dialogue is delivered verbatim by Dustin Hoffman's character, Ratso Rizzo. The line ranked #27 on AFI's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema. (Movies)
- Back to the Future Part II: The same Dustin Hoffman line that Arzt shouts was recreated in the 1989 science fiction film Back to the Future Part II delivered by Michael J. Fox's character, Marty McFly Jr. The Back to the Future (film series) also centered around time travel, paradoxes, changing history and the impact they have on family relations. (Movies)
- Sabrina, the Teenage Witch: Kate uses the alias "Joan Hart" at Angel of Mercy Hospital. This name resembles that of Melissa Joan Hart, the star of this series. Incidently, Beth Broderick, who plays Kate's mother was Joan Hart's co-star on that series. (TV)
- Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back: After being tortured, Sayid says, "They didn't ask me any questions." This is similar to the line spoken by Han Solo after being tortured. (Movies)
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Dogen has a baseball placed on his desk. In the TV series DS9, Benjamin Sisko, the commander of the station, used to have a baseball prominently placed on his desk throughout the entire run of the show. In the pilot episode, he used the baseball as a metaphor to explain the nature of linear time to the inhabitants of the wormhole, who experienced time all at once. (TV)
Literary techniques
Literary techniques |
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Comparative: Irony • Juxtaposition • Foreshadowing Plotting: Cliffhanger • Plot twist Stock characters: Archetype • Redshirt • Unseen character Story: Flashbacks • Flash-forwards • Flash sideways • Framing device • Regularly spoken phrases • Symbolism • Unreliable narrator |
- Ethan, in the flash-sideways timeline, says that he doesn't want to stick a bunch of needles into Claire if he doesn't have to, which is exactly what he does to her in the original timeline. (Irony)
- Dogen forcefully makes Jack cough up the pill that he told was medicine for Sayid but actually turns out to be poision. He then gives him a cup of something to help with the pain of regurgitaion and tells him that it's tea. (irony)
Episode references
- The title of this episode is a nod to the Season 2 episode "What Kate Did".
- The stuffed animal Kate finds in Claire's luggage is the same stuffed orca whale Aaron is carrying as a toddler when Kate and Jack fight about him. ("Something Nice Back Home")
- Sawyer throws the engagement ring he planned to give to Juliet into the water, similar to what Desmond had done eleven years before. ("Flashes Before Your Eyes")
- Kate reuses an old alias, "Joan Hart". ("Born to Run")
- One of the methods of torture that Sayid indure's is electricity. Similar to when he was tortured by Rousseau who used the same method. ("Solitary")
- Lindsey Baskum and her husband are supposedly the couple in Los Angeles who were very eager to adopt, as found by Richard Malkin. ("Raised by Another")
- When Sawyer fires his gun to get everyone's attention at the Temple it's a nod to the way he did the same thing after he acquired all the guns in "The Long Con".
Unanswered questions
For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see What Kate Does/Theories
- Why is it important that Sawyer returns to the Temple?
- What is Sayid infected with?
- What has "claimed" Sayid?
- Why is Ethan using his family name?
- Where has Claire been?
- What caused Claire to become like Rousseau in the original timeline?
- What was Dogen typing and why does he have a typewriter?
- Why does Dogen have a baseball?
- Why all the secrecy regarding Rosseau and Ajira Airways Flight 316?
- Why was Claire's ultrasound dated a month after the Original Timeline Oceanic flight crashed?