LOST: Episode 5.11

Whatever Happened, Happened

When I saw so much Kate in the previouslies, my heart sank. I don't think there has been a single Kate-centric episode that I thought was really good - until now, that is. This was a REALLY good episode. We found out what happened to Aaron; what Kate's reason for returning to the Island was; the Sawyer/Kate relationship was put to rest - for now, at least; we found out (sort of) why Ben Linus didn't die; and we got a hilarious primer on time travel and its paradoxes. Most satisfying for me was the fleshing out of Kate's character. Now at least she's more than just an object of romantic interest for Jack and Sawyer. Now she has a purpose, and it is a good, and selfless one. Yay, Kate! Evangeline Lilly's acting was outstanding, too. I wouldn't be lying if I said I shed a tear or two when she was saying goodbye to Aaron.

Flashbacks

Remember Sawyer whispering in Kate's ear right before he jumped out of the helicopter? Turns out he asked her to help take care of his daughter, Clementine. Shortly after being rescued, Kate finds Cassidy and Clementine and, after some initial awkwardness, she and Cassidy become fast friends again. Cassidy helps Kate to understand that her heart was broken when Sawyer jumped out of the helicopter and that she kept Aaron as her own not for his good but because she needed him to fill that void, or whatever. Kinda corny, but I'm willing to accept that as her story because it sets up her reason for coming back to the Island: To find Aaron's real mother, Claire, which for me is far more satisfying a reason than to get back with Sawyer. It sets Kate up as a whole person, with motivations and goals of her own, and should lead to some decent Kate stories in the future.

The night before she leaves to return to the Island, Kate goes to the motel where Claire's mom (Mrs. Littleton) is staying. In a great scene, she tells Mrs. Littleton about her grandson, why she kept him for long and how she is going to go back to the Island to find Claire. Kate leaves Aaron (*sob*) with his grandmother and goes to Jack's place. (Actually, she left him in the motel room by himself - I guess Mrs. Littleton said yes)

And now we know why she was practically comatose on Jack's bed when he got home later that night. And I guess the sex was just to make her feel better.

The Island, 1977

After being knocked unconscious by Sayid, Jin awakens and finds young Ben, who's been shot by Sayid. As I predicted last week, Ben is not dead yet, and Jin loads him into the van to take him back to Dharmaville. Meanwhile, Horace is rounding up a posse to search for the escaped Hostile (Sayid). While cleaning up after the burning bus, Kate befriends Ben's dad Roger and learns that his last name is Linus. When Jin returns to the village with Ben and Roger says he's his son, she realizes that the injured child is Benjamin Linus.

Sawyer notices that Horace seems to be growing suspicious of the new "recruits", so he orders Miles to hold Jack, Hurley and Kate under house arrest while he tries to get the situation with Ben and Sayid under control. While confined to the house, Hurley and Miles have a hilarious discussion/debate about time travel and its inevitable paradoxes, lending a voice to the concerns of all of the viewers. Hurley has always sort of represented the average viewer of the show, asking many of the questions the audience may have, and he is put to very good use here.

Juliet operates on Ben, but she tells Sawyer that there is internal bleeding that she can't stop and he needs a real surgeon. Sawyer goes to get Jack, but Jack refuses to help, saying that according to Miles, "whatever happened, happened", and since we know that Ben survived to adulthood, he must survive the gunshot, whether Jack helps or not. After Sawyer leaves, Kate asks Jack again to help Ben, telling him that Ben is just a child and it's wrong to let an innocent child die, but Jack refuses again. He tells her that he was already forced to operate on Ben and save his life before, that he did that for her, and he won't do it again. I can see where he's coming from, but I do think he's being a bit of an ass about it.

Kate wants to help Ben, so she gives blood for a transfusion. However, the boy continues to decline, so she and Juliet hatch a plot to take Ben to the Others, who Juliet believes can save him. So they pile Ben in a van and Kate drives him out as far as the sonic fence, when Sawyer shows up. Contrary to what Kate thinks, he's not there to stop her - he has come to help, at the behest of Juliet, and he tells Kate that he's "doing this for her (Juliet)." Aw.

They take Ben to Richard Alpert, who says he can help Ben, but they should know that after he is healed, Ben will "lose his innocence" and will not remember what happened. Sawyer and Kate exchange a sideways glance and tell Alpert to do what he has to do. When Richard starts to walk away carrying Ben, one of the Others (a young Tom, perhaps?) stops him and says that Ellie and Charles will not be pleased. Richard tells him that he doesn't answer to them.

Alone and out of sight of the others, Richard carries young Ben into The Temple.

The Island, 2007 (?)

In the ad-hoc infirmary, Ben awakens to find John Locke watching him. Considering the last time Benjamin Linus saw John Locke he had strangled the life out of him, Ben is appropriately shocked. John looks at him and says, "Welcome back to the land of the living."

A few things:

• Does anyone in Dharmaville wonder why the woman from the motor pool is a pretty good doctor?
• What exactly do you think Ben won't remember?  Being shot?  Being healed?  Will he lose even more memory than that?  Jack and company's Dharma days are numbered, methinks...will Ben return to Dharma after they are gone and not remember that they were there at all?
• I love the irony that the two men who were actively trying to prevent Ben from growing up into the sociopath he is, Jack and Sayid, were both responsible - albeit indirectly - for him becoming just that. If Sayid had not shot him and if Jack had not refused to do the surgery, Ben would not have been given over to the Others and would not have suffered the "loss of innocence" that Richard referred to.  I think whatever happens to him in the Temple contributes greatly to his cold-hearted behavior as an adult.

What did you think?