(If you don’t watch LOST, these posts will be torturous to you. I apologize in advance. Just skip them and come back on Wednesdays, where I will try to make it up to you.)
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Season 6, Episode 3 “What Kate Does”
What do you know, it’s a Kate-centric episode, but the lead picture has to be of Claire. I think maybe Kate would want it that way, wouldn’t she? I mean, it’s looking more and more like her destiny wasn’t to fall in love with Jack or Sawyer. It’s looking like her destiny was the help Claire and Aaron stay together.
Before we get into it, one thought on the two timelines. Last week I wasn’t sure that it was as simple as Timeline A being the original and Timeline B diverting off in 1977 creating a whole new timeline. Now, I’m thinking it is. Timeline A is the original timeline. It’s where all of the Seasons 1-5 footage has come from. Timeline B is the Parallel timeline, a new timeline created in 1977 by “the incident”, when the H-bomb was detonated. How the two timelines relate to each other, I have no idea. But interesting to note that Kate did seem to have two moments of recognition in this episode, one with Sawyer and one with Jack. Does she know them from events in Timeline B that we just havent seen yet, or does she somehow know them from Timeline A?
[side note: Interesting to note that when the Ajira flight took off in 2007, it had 5 of the Oceanic 6 on it: (Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sun, Sayid, but not Aaron). Of those 5, only Sun was born after 1977 (born in 1980 i think). Does that explain why she was the only O6 member not to flash to 1977? Was it important that she wasn’t in 1977 when the incident occurred and the timeline split? Or did it have to do with the fact that Locke never visited her?]
Before we get to the episode, here’s a quote from Damon Lindelof, executive producer of the show:
“There’s a reason (we’re showing you both timelines). You’re supposed to be asking yourself the question of why are they showing me both shows. The fundamental mystery is what is the relationship between these two things.There are going to be a lot of good theories about it, we hope. That’s the fun of Lost…If you can make it another 16 episodes, your patience will be rewarded.”
The PARALLEL TIMELINE (B) – 2004
Forget the fact that there’s no way Kate goes back for Claire and there’s no way Claire gets in the car…but whatever, it happened. The interesting point is that the adoptive parents no longer want the baby. Why? Because daddy ran away and left Lindsey Baskum all by herself. Who were these people anyway? Well, in the original 2004 they were a couple selected by Claire’s psychic. Remember him, Richard Malkin? First he was freaked out by Claire (maybe because he saw the multiple timelines in her future…or cloudiness because of the two timelines?), then he insisted she keep the baby, and finally he found the LA couple willing to adopt.
Oh, and by the way, Lindsey Baskum anagramed is “Used by Malkins”. Coincidence? I think not.
Who is Mr. Baskum? Some think it will be Ben. Others think it will be Tom “Mr. Friendly”, who as we know, is gay. After all, Mrs. Baskum says, “My husband…he left me.” (and doesn’t finish the sentence with “for another woman.”) Rest assured this will be an interesting reveal.
Great to see Ethan again. Remember, right before the incident and the splitting of the timeline, he is taken off the island in the dharma evacuation. In Timeline A he comes back, recruits Juliet, kidnaps Claire, and is shot by Charlie. In timeline B, the island is sunk and he becomes a doctor at Angels of Mercy Hospital.
Speaking of the Hospital, that’s an interesting name. Is Jacob the Angel of Mercy and Black Smoke the Angel of Death?
And speaking of the hospital again, the date on the Ultrasound printout was October 22, 2004. There’s 1 more thing that is completely different about Timeline B from Timeline A. These folks are all flying back from Australia in October, not in September. Claire was 36 weeks prego though, and in Timeline A she was 32 weeks prego at the time of the crash, so in both timelines she got knocked up at the same time.
The ORIGINAL TIMELINE (A) – 2007
Sayid and Claire are infected with the sickness. They have been “claimed” apparently. This seems to be connected to having a near death experience? Who does the claiming? One would assume it is smokey claiming his chess pieces for the coming war, but I’m not sure.
Speaking of claiming, remember when we saw Jacob visiting our LOSTies in their youth, touching them all? What if that was his way of “claiming” them? He touched Sawyer, Kate, Jack, Jin, Sun, Locke, Hurley, and Sayid. Of those 8, Locke is dead (and so is Jacob), Sun is on the beach, and the other 6 are in the temple. Only now Sayid has been “claimed”, maybe for the other side? Does almost dying give the other team an opportunity to “steal a piece”?
Quick recap on Claire, case you forgot: In December 2004 she is asleep in the Barracks when Keamy’s crew attacks. She appears to survive the attacks, and though wounded, she seems to heal quickly. Later on in the jungle, Miles can’t stop staring at Claire and asking questions. Clearly he is freaked by her. Later that night Claire awakes to find Christian Shephard (her dad) holding Aaron. She follows him into the woods, and they leave Aaron behind. We see her later in Jacob’s Cabin with Christian, and she is strangely calm. Now, 3 years later, she looks like Rousseau. Is it because she has the same spirit as Rousseau?
I don’t think so. I think it’s just because she’s been living in the jungle for 3 years. If she was claimed by smokey, or whomever does the claiming, then that’s one thing. But I don’t think Rousseau had the sickness, and I don’t think Claire is Rousseau.
Again, I don’t think the dip in the pool was what claimed Sayid. I think maybe it could have healed him had it not been muddy. For that reason, I dont believe Ben Linus was “claimed” when his life was saved in the spring. But I’m not confident about this. After all, it did force him to “lose his innocence” according to Richard.
The tests they performed on Sayid involving the ash Lennon blew on him and the elecricity they pumped in him. Any relation to the ash and sonic fence that keep out Smoky?
One of the more interesting exchanges of the episode was an easy one to miss, in my opinion. When Aldo and Justin find Jin (right before they are shot by Crazy Claire), they have this exchange:
Justin: “No, we can’t (kill Jin), he’s one of them.”
Aldo: “He MAY be one of them.”
For some reason, they are protecting SOME of the LOSTies from the black smoke. But they are only concerned with saving some of them, not all of them. Finding out who they want to save and why will probably explain more about this war that’s coming.
One last thought on Crazy Claire: when she finds out that Aaron is off the island in 2007, is she going to care or will she flip out? I mean, she didn’t seem to care too much in Jacob’s Cabin 3 years ago that she had just left Aaron in the jungle. What’s Kate’s reaction going to be like if Claire doesn’t care about Aaron if/when they meet?
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This wasn’t one of my favorite episodes ever, but an hour of LOST is better than an hour of anything else on TV, so I’m not complaining.
Tonight…Episode 4, “The Substitute” (just 16 15 hours of LOST left)