Lost Re-view: Born to Run

I've reached the penultimate episode of Lost's first season. It was directed by Tucker Gates, who helmed around half a dozen episodes throughout Lost's entire run. And it has unusually complicated writing credits: "teleplay by" credits for Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz, and a "story by" credit for story by Javier Grillo-Marxuach. (Outside of the pilot, this is the only time ever on Lost that the credits would be split this way.)

Unfortunately, this is a hard episode to like -- a Kate-centric hour with two big strikes against it. First, it's Kate's third episode of the series. The only other character to receive that much focus in the first season was Jack, and as I've mentioned before, this seems acceptable for Jack. And only Jack.

Second, and far more damning, this episode serves as a sequel to the first season's weakest hour, the previous Kate episode. There, we watched a flashback in which Kate planned an elaborate bank heist just to retrieve a tiny toy airplane, learning only that its significance was that "it belonged to the man I killed." A dangling thread if ever there were one.

But the thing is, the first time around, I think I was interested in the answer to that puzzle. One could imagine that she meant "the man I killed" in the sense of the crime that made her a fugitive in the first place. But no, the truth is much more self-contained, as we learn this episode.

The hour starts in flashback, as we see a woman on the run soon revealed to be Kate. She has received a letter that moves her to tears. Next thing we see, she's gone to a hospital, trying to see a patient, but finding the door to the room guarded by police. So instead, she hides in the back of a doctor's car -- her friend Tom -- and appeals to him for help.

The flashbacks are quite direct from here. Tom schedules an MRI for this patient, referred to as "Diane," so that Kate can sneak in to see her. Then they reminisce about old times together. Late that night, they drive out to a spot where they buried a time school as children. (On August 15, 1989 -- that's 8-15, Numbers fans!) Inside, they find that all-important toy plane, and a cassette tape where their young voices reach out to them across the years -- he thinks they'll be married as adults; she wants them to run away together. The "run away" part turned out to be true, if not the "married" or even "together."

The next flashback has Diane brought down to an empty hall, and left alone for Kate to talk to. The revelation comes that Diane is Kate's mother, but when she regains consciousness enough to recognize who she's talking to, she starts screaming for help. Kate is forced back on the run, and Tom foolishly and fatefully tries to help by offering up his car. When Kate blows past a police barricade, Tom catches a fatal bullet before the car is wrecked. Kate is forced to flee, leaving the plane and the rest of the time capsule contents in the back seat.

With only part of one episode to establish a connection between Kate and Tom, it's impossible to invest in the relationship. Thus, the audience really doesn't feel much when Kate loses him. Worse, what we really wanted to know at this point in time is "what did Kate do?!" Surely a third Kate episode would tell us that, right? Wrong... it only answered a question posed by the worst episode of season one: "what's the deal with that stupid plane?"

The on-Island story of the hour is only somewhat more compelling. It all revolves around the raft. Charlie is already putting his heart into the success of the raft, imagining the crazy fame he and Drive Shaft will have when the world discovers he's still alive. talk of fame doesn't go over well with the fugitive Kate, however, who quickly decides her only chance to avoid arrest is to get a slot on the raft herself.

Oh, and about that raft? It needs to launch as soon as possible. According to Arzt, the monsoon season is almost upon them, which will shift the winds south, blowing anything that leaves to Antarctica rather than towwards any rescue.

Ah, Arzt. There's a short but interesting chapter in the story of Lost. I'm not entirely sure the series needed another pompous blowhard when Michael seemed often pressed into that role. Still, there was something vaguely fun about the character, particularly in the knowledge that he was really just set up to be killed off in memorable fashion. Though perhaps that death might have been a bit more effective if Arzt had had a little more screen time. It's sort of like a replay of Ethan, introduced only one episode before his big "twist."

But let's put a pin in the subject of Arzt for a bit, and continue with Kate. She talks to Michael about getting one of the four slots on the raft. She tries to argue that Sawyer brings nothing to the table, then even argues that Michael shouldn't be putting Walt in such danger. Needless to say, telling Michael how to raise "his boy" never goes over well.

But later, when Sawyer shows his sailing ignorance to Michael, the seed planted by Kate begins to grow. Michael threatens to kick Sawyer off the raft, which of course sends Sawyer straight to Kate. He knows her secret, knows why she's itching to get off the Island, and says there's no way in hell she's getting his spot. She calmly plays back: "I want your spot, I'll get your spot."

Next thing you know, Michael is doubled over with crippling cramps. Somebody has to find the doctor!

But Jack isn't around, because Sayid and Locke have taken him to see the Hatch. Interesting debate ensues. Jack is upset that Locke has hidden this secret for three weeks, but Locke points out that Jack sat on the secret of the marshal's gun case for just as long. An even greater point of debate comes when Jack starts asking how to open it, and Sayid blows up. Sayid had figured that Jack and Locke wouldn't be on the same page, that Jack would talk him out of trying to open the Hatch, which -- given its lack of handle -- clearly wasn't meant to be opened from the outside. But really, all this is just to keep the Hatch thread alive until the season finale. Nothing more will really come from all this for now.

Instead, Kate finds Jack on the journey back, and brings him to Michael. Jack suspects some kind of poisoning from Michael's water, and soon he and Locke are questioning Hurley about it. Hurley speculates that Sawyer might have been responsible. Or maybe Kate, because of the whole "fugitive thing." Another secret that Locke (kettle) is able to point out that Jack (pot, screaming "black!") kept.

Then comes a troublesome scene that's a challenge to explain. Walt comes upon Locke making a poultice for his leg wound, and explains that he wasn't responsible for Michael's poisoning as he was for the burning of the first raft. When Locke places a reassuring hand on the boy, Walt recoils and says "don't open it. Don't open it, Mr. Locke. Don't open that thing!"

In other words, here we go again, gang -- the "specialness" of Walt. I've talked about this before, and concluded that no satisfactory explanation can likely be imagined. I believe the official word from the creators, when all was said and done, was that Walt "was not special." But let's update the running tally of what he can do -- he's a natural at knife-throwing (and apparently, the power of visualization), and now he's a mind-reader/premonition-haver. Because the thing not to be opened can only be the Hatch, right? Even if you grant the Walt's "powers" are on the fritz because nothing ultimately too horrible came of opening it, you still have to explain how he knew to talk cryptically to Locke about it. I got nothing.

So back to Sawyer, trying to make nice by bringing medicine to Michael. Being nice to Michael doesn't usually go well either, and this is no exception. He says Sawyer is off the raft, their deal null and void after Sawyer poisoned him. But when Michael calls Sawyer a liar and a criminal, that's the last straw. Sawyer whirls on "Sweet Cheeks" (Kate), tears her bag from her hand, dumps out a stolen passport she was planning to modify, and exposes her secrets to the whole group.

Kate has no choice but to confess. Yes, she's wanted; yes, she was being escorted by a marshal; and yes, she will be going to prison if they're all rescued. But she didn't poison Michael, she insists.

And it's true. Because later, Jack approaches Sun, having deduced the truth. The intended target of the poisoning was Jin, who had been sharing food and water with Michael. Sun didn't want Jin to leave, and couldn't think of any other way to convince him to stay. She didn't want to hurt him, just make him unable to go.

At least, that's most of the truth. It turns out that the poisoning, though carried out by Sun, was suggested to her by Kate, who was trying for a win-win to get a spot on the raft. But it backfired, and a boastful Sawyer tells Kate his spot is back on. She asks why it's so important for him to be on the raft, and his answer is that "there isn't anything on this island worth staying for." (Which will be echoed poignantly in season four, when Sawyer tells Kate that they should stay on the island, because there's nothing to go back to.")

And that's basically about it. The whole "who in the group is sabotaging the group" motif is one that has been played before, and it's a shame to already see the show repeat itself like that so early on in the run. What's more, as with Locke attacking Sayid, there aren't really any lasting repercussions of the duplicity, either.

The Kate back story is not very compelling, with the one solid, emotional moment coming in her betrayal by her own mother. (Though even that point is only fully resonant after seeing the next Kate episode, which includes a flashback of her mother promising to do exactly that if they ever met again.)

A few good lines here and there from Hurley and Charlie step in to keep this from being quite as poor as the previous Kate episode -- but only barely. I'd still only rate this episode a C.

But before I sign off, one last bit of business: another mobisode from the "Lost: Missing Pieces" series. This one is called Tropical Depression, and takes place during the events of this episode. It's a short scene between Michael and Arzt, with Arzt confessing that everything he said about monsoon season in the episode at large was made up. We even get the backstory on what Arzt was doing in Sydney before the flight, and it's all part of a tapestry to make Arzt a more sympathetic character.

Basically, it's trying to address my complaint that Arzt wasn't much of a character before he was killed off... though I'm not sure how effective that can really be coming after the fact. (I believe it also serves to address a fan complaint: if all those monsoons were really coming like Arzt said, how come we never saw any of them on screen in season two?) Fun, I suppose, but not much more. I'd say you could take or leave this particular Missing Piece.

Next up, the season finale!