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The Lost Reading List
1.3 Tabula Rasa

Jack: "Three days ago, we all died. We should all be able to start over."

One down, forty-seven to go.

This episode drove home the fact that there are no police stations, hospitals, or courts of law on the Island, that the survivors are totally on their own. And there appeared to be some consensus that rescue was definitely NOT around the corner, sort of like victory in Iraq. And rescue, for Kate, meant something completely different than it did to the others; i.e., imprisonment, or even death. Is Kate happy to be stranded, perhaps?

There were a ton of moral dilemmas in this one, mostly for Jack. Do you give a dying man all of the remaining antibiotics when you know he won't live if there is no rescue, when there is no way to tell how long that supply of meds will have to last? Is it right to help someone out of this life if there is absolutely no way whatsoever to ease their suffering (as Jack clearly did in the end)? And how important can it be to Jack, in their current circumstances, that Kate is a fugitive?

We learned something about Kate and a little about her captor, the marshal... except we still have no idea what Kate actually did. It was probably the dramatic staple, a murder she didn't commit; it was clear from the way she saved the farmer who betrayed her that she has a fully functioning conscience. (He was even a one-armed man, harkening back to The Fugitive.) But maybe it's not the cliche, after all. Maybe she committed a very interesting crime.

Now that the marshal is (painfully and gruesomely) dead, that leaves forty-seven survivors, Rambaldi's favorite number. (That's an Alias reference, for those of you who don't watch it.)

Character bits:

-- This episode did NOT start with a closeup of Kate's eye. But it did end with a closeup of Locke, whose story is next.

-- Kate's arrest photo had, "61136 Harrison Valley Police" on it. She used the name "Annie" in the flashback sequences.

-- The campfire crew, Kate, Sayid, Shannon, Boone, Sawyer and Charlie, decided to keep the Frenchwoman a secret. And then Kate promptly told Jack.

-- Sayid continued to be a useful, logical, and natural leader.

-- I'm sure Jack will keep Kate's secret. I wonder if Hurley will. I think he might. He seems to be a really good guy.

-- I'm glad Locke isn't a pedophile. That subplot about the whistle he carved and the dog was just lovely.

-- Charlie used a wheelchair for a wheelbarrow.

-- Sawyer just got jerkier, more selfish, and more self-centered. He had no desire to "help" the marshal; he just wanted the guy to shut up. But then he looked pretty upset about what he did.

-- Michael and Sun had a close encounter of the embarrassing kind.

-- Charlie wrote "LATE" on his finger bandages.

Bits and pieces:

-- This episode took place on the third and fourth days after the crash.

-- Why, with so many minor injuries, did the marshal get hurt so badly?

-- I'm a huge Buffy fan. One of the best episodes of Buffy was also called "Tabula Rasa," which means, "clean slate." Which clearly refers to the castaways in general, and Kate in particular.

-- The farmer's name was Ray Mullen. His wife died eight months ago.

-- The reward for Kate was $23,000, which is an odd amount.

-- I don't care much for country music, but I love Patsy Cline. It also referred to Kate: "If you've got leaving on your mind."

Quotes:

Jack: "You're looting."
Sawyer: "You say potato..."

Walt: "Mr. Locke said a miracle happened here."
Interesting.

Hurley: "If you didn't see it, how do you know it wasn't a dinosaur?"

Kate: "In case you hadn't noticed, I did get away."
Marshal: "You don't look free to me."

Two out of four polar bears,

Billie





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