Catfight! In handcuffs! In the mud!
So tonight we learned a little bit about Kate, and, as always, that meant that I was bored, tired and distracted through most of the episode. You know you’re in hot water when the more exciting part of the episode is the Hurley-Sawyer comic relief. But if we must trek into HSF territory, then we must.
Turns out Kate went back to visit Mom sometime shortly after she blew up her step dad (aprox. two months, as the crow flies). She doesn’t want to drop in for a chat or to say she was sorry for what she did – rather, she was more interested in finding out why mommy abandoned her and gave her up to the cops. In order to find this out, she had to recruit the preggers ex-con victim of Sawyer (Cassidy) and form the most estro-centric con artist team since Thelma and Louise.
Turns out, Kate’s mom (who, by way of IMDB search, it turns out was in such classic flicks as “Nurses in Love” and “Slammer Girls” as well as “Sabrina the Teenage Witch”) had some pertinent life lessons to teach her daughter when the two actually did meet face to face. She said, “You can’t help who you love.” Kate said “I don’t know how to act, so I’ll use the same facial expression for every emotion, including this one. But I’m hot.”
That’s about that for the off-island Austins. Kate offered to help get back at Sawyer without ever learning who Sawyer was. And then she went on her way, presumably to get that guy killed and steal his toy airplane.
Back on the beach, though, there’s some fun going down. Hurley tells Sawyer that there’s going to be a vote to exile him down the beach and cut him off. Sawyer thinks, “Big deal,” until he tries to gut his own fish and realizes that he needs the rest of the castaways. He tries to win them over through politicking – offering a blanket to Claire (who, Hurley says, has a big say in the public opinion) and throwing an island barbecue. As it turns out, though, Hurley was pulling Sawyer’s leg. There was never going to be a vote, but Hurley recognizes the leadership void and knows that the other islanders look up to Sawyer for advice and beer. He tells Sawyer as much, and then we see the con trying to make nice with the rest of the island dwellers.
Too bad everyone else above Sawyer on the pecking order is coming back next week – except for Locke. Oh, yeah, that reminds me that Kate was also doing stuff on the island.
Kate wakes up handcuffed to Juliet. The two trek through the jungle to get back to Othersville and get Jack and Sayid. Along the way Juliet pops a shoulder and meets Smokey. She reveals she has a key to the cuffs and that the others left her behind as well. She also shows Kate that Smokey doesn’t like the electric fences.
They get to Othersville and Kate goes to rescue Jack. It’s a touching moment until Kate says all the others have left and Jack asks, “Even Juliet?” With all due regards to HSF’s boring facial expression, that scene was pretty great. How heartbroken was she to hear Jack ask that? Very heartbroken. But she doesn’t get to say anything, because Jack keeps on keeping on the Juliet bandwagon. When Sayid says that Juliet can’t come back, he says she can because she was left behind, too. And that’s that. I think Juliet is a better match for Jack than Kate is, anyway.
So, that’s that. Here are some questions:
1. Do you like Jack/Kate, Jack/Juliet, Kate/Sawyer, or Kate/Juliet best?
2. Why doesn’t Smokey like the fences, and why did he flash?
3. Why did the Others leave Juliet behind? Is she a spy?
4. Why did the Others take Locke? Where were they going?
5. Why didn’t the castaways come to live at Othersville after they all left?