Television Review: What Kate Does (Lost, S6X03, 2010)

What Kate Does (S6X03)

Airdate: 9 February 2010

Written by: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz
Directed by: Paul Edwards

Running Time: 43 minutes

As Lost embarked upon its final, feverishly anticipated season in 2010, there was a palpable expectation that the narrative would accelerate towards its mythic conclusion. Instead, with the third episode, What Kate Does, the series exhibited an unfortunate regression, echoing the most formulaic and frustrating rhythms of its early Season 3 nadir. This was the period infamous for wheel-spinning episodes set in the Hydra cages, a stalling tactic born of the writers not knowing how many seasons they had left. Here, in the shadow of the Temple’s murky lore, that same sense of narrative inertia returns with a vengeance. Following the audacious, timeline-splitting season premiere and the Locke-centric mysteries of LA X, this Kate-centric instalment feels less like a purposeful stride forward and more like a hesitant, familiar shuffle to the side—a filler piece in a season that promised resolution.

True to its title, which consciously evokes the superior Season 2 episode What Kate Did, this instalment commits fully to the character-centric template. It functions as a kind of sequel or homage, bifurcating its focus between the ‘regular’ 2007 timeline on the Island and the newly introduced ‘flash sideways’ of an alternate 2004. Kate Austen, ever the fugitive, is the nominal lens for both, though the episode often seems to use her more as a narrative tour guide than a deeply examined protagonist.

In the Island timeline, the central intrigue orbits the Temple and the grim fate of Sayid Jarrah. Resurrected from certain death, Sayid’s return is met with joy by Hurley but profound suspicion by the Others’ leader, Dogen. What follows is a series of cryptic, brutal rituals—from near-drowning to a scalding brand—passed off as ‘diagnosis’. Dogen’s conclusion is chilling: Sayid is ‘infected’. The subsequent scene where Dogen orders Jack to administer a ‘cure’, which Jack correctly intuits is poison, is a tense highlight. Dogen’s explanation, that the infection will consume Sayid’s heart and erase everything he was, introduces a compelling existential horror. Yet, this plot thread feels oddly detached from Kate’s own journey, which is ostensibly the episode’s core.

Kate’s Island mission is triggered by Sawyer’s escape during the commotion. Volunteering to retrieve him, she ventures into the jungle with Jin and two Others, Aldo (Rob McElhenney) and Justin (Dado Aye). The sequence, involving rediscovered traps set by the late Rousseau, is competently executed but underscores a recurring issue: repetition. Aldo’s vengeful grudge—stemming from an incident on Hydra Island three years prior—feels like a contrivance to inject conflict, a minor villain from the past hauled out to service a present-day scuffle. When Kate finds Sawyer in the abandoned Barracks, the episode finds its emotional footing. Sawyer, utterly broken, delivers a monologue of devastating resignation. He articulates the cruel paradox that has broken him: Juliet, a woman seeking redemption, is dead, while Sayid, a man he labels a ‘torturer who killed kids’, is miraculously revived. His decision is not violent rebellion but utter withdrawal. Josh Holloway’s performance here is masterful, conveying bottomless grief with a terrifying quietude. His symbolic discarding of Juliet’s engagement ring into the ocean is one of the series’ most poignant moments. This profound character beat is, however, immediately undercut by the rushed return to the Temple, where a stand-off with Aldo is abruptly resolved by the deus ex machina appearance of a feral Claire Littleton, gun in hand.

The ‘flash sideways’ narrative, meanwhile, struggles to justify its existence beyond conceptual novelty. It follows Kate’s escape from LAX, hijacking a cab whose passenger, Claire, becomes her unintended charge. The beats feel like a greatest-hits compilation of Kate’s early fugitive tropes: the handcuffs, the desperate deal with a shady mechanic (a nicely gruff turn from Jeff Kober), the last-minute moral crisis. Upon realising Claire is pregnant, Kate’s conscience forces a reversal, leading her to play unlikely guardian. The plot, however, relies on stark convenience. The intended adoptive parents, the Baksums, are found in marital collapse mere moments before Claire’s arrival, a twist so neatly timed it robs the scenario of any organic drama. It exists purely to prolong Claire’s distress and facilitate her going into labour, delivering her to the hospital and a cameo from Dr. Ethan Goodspeed. Ethan’s appearance, played by the same actor (William Mapother) who portrayed the sinister Other in the original timeline, is pure fan service. While a clever nod, it epitomises the flash sideways’ early-season problem: it often plays like benign, slightly twee fan fiction, where darker characters are redeemed in banal domesticity, rather than a vital, integrated narrative strand.

This is the central flaw of What Kate Does. After the monumental revelations and high stakes established in the season’s opening, it represents a dramatic downshift. The Temple rituals, while atmospherically creepy, are protracted and opaque. The chase through the jungle feels like a retread of countless previous jungle treks. The flash sideways, lacking the urgent mystery of its Island counterpart, feels like a distraction, its emotional beats undercut by a sense of narrative obligation. Even the revelation of Claire’s wild survival—a genuine ‘wham’ moment—is somewhat undermined by its placement within an otherwise meandering episode.

What salvages the instalment, almost single-handedly, is the devastating portrayal of James ‘Sawyer’ Ford. His breakdown is not a tantrum but a profound, philosophical surrender. He highlights a moral chaos at the Island’s heart that the Others’ mysticism cannot explain. In this, the episode stumbles upon a deeper theme: the arbitrary nature of justice and redemption in Lost’s universe. It’s a shame this theme isn’t more thoroughly explored through Kate’s own lens, as her dual-timeline story feels more about plot function than character revelation. What Kate Does ultimately does too little with its titular character, leaving the heavy lifting to a supporting player and succumbing to the very pacing vices the final season was supposed to transcend. It is a frustrating reminder that, even near the finale, Lost could still occasionally lose its way.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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