WHAT KATE DID

If there was an episode that could peel away the layers of LOST, it may be "What Kate Did."

"What Kate Did" is the ninth episode of Season 2. Kate begins to believe that she is going mad after she sees the black horse from her past and hearing her father when speaking to Sawyer.

A 24-year-old Kate is sitting on her porch, playing with a lighter, when her father, Wayne, arrives inebriated. As Kate helps him to bed, he complains and makes advances toward her. Kate soon leaves. As Kate rides away from the house on a motorbike, the house explodes.

She rides to a diner where her mother, Diane, works.  Kate confronts Diane about an injury caused by Wayne and then presents her with a homeowners' insurance policy, telling Diane she'll be taken care of. Despite worried pleas from her mother to explain what she did, Kate leaves, fighting back tears. Later, we would learn that her mother rejected all Kate had done.

After Kate is arrested by the FBI agent, a black horse appears before the car, causing the car to hit a pole. With Agent Mars momentarily stunned by the opening of the driver's airbag, Kate grabs the handcuff keys and tries to unlock the handcuffs, but the marshal revives. After a short fight, Kate kicks Mars out of the car. She reverses the slightly damaged car and turns on the headlights and drives away. To her surprise, the lights show the black horse standing next to the road quietly looking at her for a few seconds before leaving into the darkness.

Kate travels to a recruiting station to visit her stepfather. She tells Sam she recently discovered he was her stepfather and Wayne was her biological father. Sam says he had known all along, but hid the truth because he knew Kate would kill Wayne if she ever found out. He informs Kate that he must call the authorities, but gives her a one-hour head start.

So we learned what Kate did: she committed murder, insurance fraud, and resisted all arrests. She is a very bad and dangerous person.

On the island, a distraught Sayid digs Shannon's grave while Jack tends to the injured Sawyer in the Swan bunks. who mutters, "Where is she?" which Jack assumes refers to Kate. Sawyer whispers, "I love her" twice, stunning Jack into silence. While collecting fruit,  Kate is shocked to see the black horse from her past standing in the undergrowth. She returns to the Swan to attend to Sawyer and computer  so Jack can attend Shannon's funeral.  At the funeral, Sayid tries to say a few words, but, overcome by emotion, can only declare that he loved her before walking away. Jack, Locke and the other survivors continue the improvised ceremony by each pouring a handful of sand into the grave.

As Kate tends to Sawyer, he begins to mumble, and as she leans in to hear better, he grabs her by the neck and says, "You killed me. Why did you kill me?" Kate is shocked by the statement, and flees her post. Jack and Locke return to the Swan to find the computer alarm blaring, Sawyer on the floor, and Kate nowhere to be seen. With only 23 seconds to go, Locke hastily enters the Numbers, resetting the clock to 108.

Jack tracks Kate down and accosts her for leaving the Swan. Kate shouts, "I'm sorry I'm not as perfect as you. I'm sorry that I'm not as good!" She tries to run away, but Jack grabs her forearm and pulls her back. With emotions reaching a fever pitch, Jack pulls Kate close and holds her. Without warning, Kate kisses Jack passionately and, seemingly shocked by her actions, runs off into the jungle. Jack calls after her, but she does not turn around and he does not follow.

Later, in the jungle, Jack is cutting wood when Hurley approaches, making small talk, eventually leading into the topic of Sawyer. Hurley asks Jack if he is mad at Sawyer, which Jack denies. But Hurley says Jack is cutting wood which Sawyer used to do. Hurley tells Jack about "transference," a medical term he heard at the mental institution, to explain what Jack is doing, but Jack is flippant at the remark.

Sayid goes to Shannon’s grave to place his prayer beads on her cross; he discovers Kate sitting there. She apologizes for missing the funeral and says she thinks she's going crazy. When asked if he believes in ghosts, Sayid says he saw Walt in the jungle just before Shannon was shot and asks if that makes him crazy too. 

Kate returns to the Swan and relieves Sun, who has been tending to Sawyer. Kate asks Sawyer if he can hear her, first saying "Sawyer?" then "Wayne" Sawyer stirs and mumbles inaudibly. Kate, believing that Wayne's ghost has possessed Sawyer's body, confesses aloud that she killed him after finding out he was her biological father. It was too much for her to bear to know that the man who she hated would always be a part of her. Furthermore, whenever she had feelings for Sawyer she couldn't help remembering Wayne.  Following Kate's confession, Sawyer awakes as his normal self, and his comments reveal he has heard the whole conversation. Kate is embarrassed but relieved.

Sawyer believes that they had been rescued, seeing the kitchen, beds, and such in the hatch. Kate shows Sawyer around the Swan, before taking him outside to prove they have not been rescued. The two talk until something catches Sawyer's eye; Kate turns to see what he is looking at and sees the black horse standing nearby. Kate asks Sawyer if he sees it and Sawyer says he can. Kate approaches and pets the horse before it walks back into the jungle. Back at the beach, Jack approaches Ana Lucia, who is sitting carving a stake with her hunting knife. Jack offers her one of three miniature bottles of Tequila, recalling their first meeting at the airport. They commiserate, smile, and share a moment together.

The other important aspect of the episode is Locke and his deepening ties to the Swan station.
Locke shows the orientation film to Michael and Eko and says he has set up two-person shifts every six hours to enter the Numbers into the computer.  When Locke asks Eko what he thinks, Eko leaves without saying a word.

Locke demonstrates to Michael that the keyboard only works when the alarm sounds - Michael asks to inspect the equipment and Locke hesitantly agrees, but only if he doesn't break it. Eko calls Locke aside and, after leading in with a story about Josiah and the book found during Josiah's rule, reveals a hollowed-out Bible which contains a small reel of film. The book was found by the tail-section survivors in a Dharma station they inhabited on the other side of the Island. Locke unrolls part of the reel and recognizes Dr. Candle, the narrator from the original film. Locke discovers that the film found in the bible was cut from the original Swan orientation film; Eko and Locke splice the film back into the main film reel. Locke marvels at the odds of them finding the missing piece, but Eko advises him not to "mistake coincidence for fate." This statement will be the core to Locke's later downfall.

Locke and Mr. Eko watch the missing section of the film, in which Dr. Candle expands on his warning that the computer is to be used only to enter the code. He explains that while the isolation of Station 3 may tempt one to use the computer to communicate with the outside world, such action would compromise the integrity of the project and may lead to another "incident."  At the same time, as Michael examines the computer equipment, he hears a beeping from the terminal and goes to inspect. He notices there are still 51 minutes remaining on the timer and the text "Hello?" is shown on the screen. Unlike Locke's attempt earlier, Michael is able to enter text and types "Hello?" A moment later, "Who is this?" appears and Michael responds, "This is Michael. Who is this?" After a few seconds, "Dad?" appears on the screen. Michael is stunned. 

"What Kate Did" brought to the forefront various conflicts.
The Other Others, the Tailies, had joined the beach survivors with deadly consequences.
Sawyer was shot and not doing well, but Jack did not want to deal with him because of the conflicting emotions with Kate's apparent relationship with Sawyer.
Kate was conflicted - - - she breaks down to Jack that she could never be as perfect or good as he is; and later she would make a similar confession to a sleeping/medicated Sawyer. Kate appears to know that she has been terribly bad, and she breaks down to realize that she will never be good. She has judged herself harshly, but cannot choose between a good man or a bad man.

When he comes to, he asks if they had been "saved," and Kate says no. Sawyer, with his long hair parted in the middle, looks like a painting of the Savior, but all he can say is "damn."

We learn that Kate blew up her biological father, Wayne, in order to allegedly save her mother the abuse of a drunken spouse. But Kate grew up thinking Wayne was her stepfather. When she was told that her first dad, Sam,  left her because her mother was in love with Wayne, Kate could not accept it.  And her real stepfather, Sam,  a military man who knew Sayid in Iraq, told her that he had to call the authorities.

But it was with the recovering Sawyer, Kate's horse appears in the jungle. She goes over to it and pets it. The horse is calm. Sawyer also sees the horse from Kate's memory. Collective illusion?

Locke has saved Eko from the polar bear who dragged an injured Eko away from an encounter with the smoke monster. Eko tells Locke the story of the book that rebuilt the ruined temple. It was not gold but the word of God. In the bible he found, Eko gives Locke a piece of film which is spliced in the orientation film. It is Dr. Chang telling the Hatch operators not to use the computer terminal for anything but inputting the Numbers, otherwise another "incident" could occur. But Michael goes by the computer terminal - -  which beeps "Hello?" He answers the question, then the shocking response from the other end was "Dad?" Walt had been captured by the Others - - - and this sets Michael on his frenzy quest to get Walt back.

Kate killed her father. Killing one's father or parent was the key to leadership on the island. It showed you could cast away your own family for something greater. Perhaps that is why Kate was a candidate, and actually the true leader who brought down MIB in the End.

It is the recall of the story, especially the formation of the horse, that binds what Kate did and what Kate will do in the future.  If she is only striving to prove that she could be good, she would have to personally defeat the bad or evil that threatens the greater good. 

The episode puts into the LOST cabinet of major clues: life and death, good and bad people, crazy, illusions, transference behavior, coincidence not fate, false salvation and the unknown (like the Numbers or "the incident.") If you add all those elements together, you may get the real premise of the show.

It still comes down to the improbabilities of island situation, whether it truly real or not. Consider the fact that Hurley brings to light psychology to a medical doctor. It that an odd coincidence or was that Hurley or his mind generating the island story line?

Or is Hurley or his mind merely an enabler for other character's imagination release? This episode is clearly the centerpiece of the original framework of how the series was supposed to focus in on the Kate character (with Jack's death in the early pilot script). If Kate was going to be the center of the show universe, this episode brought possible criminal psychological issues to the forefront of the female lead character.

Every young person considers personal fantasies and indulges in flights of fancy to relieve boredom or anxiety. However, such natural, transitory digression isn’t severe enough to warrant identification with specific, categorical terminology. Some  psychological affectations  refer to mental statuses that noticeably affect an individual’s social behavior: anti-social interaction; bipolar personality shifts;  psychotic anti-social tendencies; self-delusions and fantastic aspirations to influence their behavior to a degree that evokes social stigmata and even potential harm. Depending on the nature and extent of a person's fantasies, they may change from merely harmless, to momentary distractions, to dangerous behavior.  If Kate firmly and intractably believes that she is right and everyone around her is wrong that she unwittingly digs herself continually deeper into her own dissatisfaction. Her effort to psychologically appease herself and escape from distasteful reality actually counter-productively reinforces the very situation that she’s desperate to alter. Kate is adverse to open and beneficial discussion of mental health issues so she merely relegates her responses to any psychological impairment as a slap, slur or a joke. Instead of growing out of their childhood issues, many individuals are ignored, ridiculed, or just accepted as idiosyncratic instead of needing psychological counseling to become stable in their own mental health.

Daydreams are entirely ordinary and harmless. However, someone that allows daydreams, fantasies, and exaggerated unrealistic self-identification to become so compulsive and consuming that the behavior affects and obstructs positive social interactions and hinders productive maturation, or even places the individual in potentially harmful circumstances.

Whether Kate truly did all those bad things, or she has convinced herself that she did so in some psychological madness, her world including the island would be wrapped up in those inner conflicts. It ties back to the old theory that the island events are the collective dream of a group of mental patients and/or institutionalized criminals, possibly a test subject group for Dharma scientists.

This notion is reinforced in the episode where Hurley brings up the subject of "transference" to Jack snaps back whether Hurley is analyzing him but Hurley says that is what was said at the mental institution. The transference concept has been a long running theory of the show: that the characters are not whom they seem to be - - - either in personality, or reality. Jack may not really be a doctor, he just imagines himself as one. In turn, Kate is not a murderer but a confused child trapped in her own nightmare world with a set of vivid imaginary friends and foes.

This episode was the tipping point for the entire series. It raised the key factors and confirmed them through other characters. It shows that like her or hate her, Kate was a central figure in the series. And perhaps that is why Kate winds up with her Jack in the end, because that is the fairy tale ending that most young girls dream about.

LEVELS OF DEATH

There is still a nagging question about the sideways purgatory stinger. First, it came out of left field and led many viewers to question the first season plane crash as being unsurvivable. Second, it clearly stated that all the characters were in fact dead, but some died long before and others long after Jack did. But Jack realized his death in the church before we saw him actually "die" on the island. Third, the story telling vehicle of flashbacks, flash forwards and leaps in time create an uncertainty of WHEN the characters "died."

If death is the ending, when did the characters actually die?

It is not as simple answer.  For those who steadfastly believe that the characters survived the plane crash, then bear in mind in the scheme of LOST universe, the characters were "alive" in their own perception and interaction with people and objects in the sideways world. It was "real" to them, even though they did not realize it was not the Earth existence we know as life.

As such, there is no prohibition that this perception of a sideways "real" life could extend to the island world, or even to each character's flashback or background events.  In other words, LOST may have been a show about death from the very beginning.

I speculated long ago that deep within the background stories of the main characters, there were chilling life and death moments which we were led to believe each character survived. But what if they did not?

No one knows what happens after death. Many cultures believe a human soul must travel through inter-dimensional portals to find paradise. Some religions believe a soul is judged in hell or the various levels of the underworld before it is cleansed or purged of its sins to be worthy for heaven.

The LOST universe could be a construction of various levels or stages of the after life. If during childhood, the main characters were killed by the accidents or traumatic events in their lives, then those child souls could have been given an opportunity to perceive or "live" a new life in a sideways world like existence. Those could be contained in the recent or adult flashbacks; illusions and dreams of children coming to "life." Once those souls ran their course in their first after life level, they were rounded up and boarded Flight 815 for the next level of spiritual attainment, the island. With themes like sacrifice, trust, redemption and judgment, the island is the ideal place for a religious component or a place where lost souls could get rid of regrets or selfish desires in order to move on to the next level of spiritual existence.

It is probably hard to imagine that the characters who boarded Flight 815 in Sydney were already dead. But it does make sense in reference to the season finale in the church. The characters died at different times in different places and they could not move on without finding each other. The whole series then did not have to follow Earth bound concepts of linear time, physics, time or any form of relativity because it was not of this planet.

Now, the show's creators and writers would dismiss this theory as nonsense because they continue to be adamant that the characters did not die in the plane crash. Again, it may be parsing words, but if they were already "dead" before the plane crash, then it would be true that they would not die in the conventional sense in the plane crash on the island.

For example, Locke's "miracle birth" aftermath was actually the beginning of his soul's first life in the after life. It would have been highly improbable that a premature baby injured in a car collision in rural America in the 1950s would have survived the trauma with limited medical technology. This theory is bolstered by the fact that an immortal, Richard Alpert, visited him in the hospital.

Jacob was then not recruiting human beings but lost souls who were given a second chance to live a normal (abet fantasy) life.

It would also explain why Michael, after he left the island, could not kill himself. Mr. Friendly told him that the island was not through with him; he had work to do. A supernatural place was affecting Michael's suicide attempts; therefore, off-island was also a realm of supernatural actions. They could be classified as one in the same. If the island was a place of death then so to would be the off-island.

And then there is the Aaron problem. How could he be "born" twice? He was "born" just as the series ended in the sideways purgatory where everyone present was already dead (but just not aware of it). Aaron was so born earlier on the island. How could that be when the island did not or could not allow births of babies (if the island is hell or the after life that makes sense: who can bring new human life in the after life that is made up solely of souls). So this gets the trace back to Claire and her auto accident which severely injured and ultimately killed her mother. It could have also killed herself and her baby, leading the moments after the accident her first stage in the after life. Since Aaron was never born, he was always a spirit in the show who would manifest himself when Claire needed him.

This levels of death theory tries to unify the various aspects of a disjointed story line under one single premise: death.

WORK OUT

If you ever have worked in a shipping/receiving department for a factory or warehouse, you know that it can be quite a tedious job. It is repetitive. It does not challenge workers on an intellectual level. You process boxes, sort them, post them, and ship them out. Hour after hour; day after day; week after week, etc.

So what if this concept is overlaid onto the LOST story?

What if Jacob and his brother (some reports thought he was to be called "Saul") are merely shipping/receiving workers but instead of handling parcels they handle "bad souls?"

There was a constant stream of "visitors" that come to the island. From what we have learned, most of the visitors came to the island for some "special" purpose, but MIB said they lost their way and "corrupted" the system. What system?

If the characters coming to the island were lost souls seeking redemption, the island is the sorting facility to determine whether they should be accepted and move on to heaven or be rejected and destroyed by the island.

The concept would simplify the story lines.

The main characters all came to the island with troubled pasts, infidelities, sins, crimes and personal issues. If the island was to test their inner resolve to see if they could be reclaimed by a higher entity (god), then the taskmasters would be Jacob and MIB.

Jacob and MIB would be devilish minions working in the after life. Their job was to determine whether a person's soul had enough qualities to be saved. In order to make that determination, Jacob and MIB put those souls through a series of tests which mirrored their prior back stories to determine whether those dead souls could change. Change would be the key to salvation.

But after thousands of years, Jacob and MIB got bored with routine soul searching and devised a more elaborate system. Some of it involved cult worship; some of it involved horror and power struggles. Instead of change for salvation, the motivation to release souls to the after life plane was to see if the mere human souls could outsmart, outwit and outplay their superiors (which is very Survivor like). Those who played the game very poorly turned into whispers (trapped spirits). Those who played the game so-so turned into the Others, fodder for the next group of souls. Those who actually defeated Jacob and MIB got their release to the other side.

RESURRECTION

Most LOST fans do not want to consider that the show was truly a story about people traveling through purgatory. They make their belief based upon TPTB statements in Season 1 that the show was not about purgatory. Well, one explanation is that TPTB lied. The series is full of images and symbols of the after life and a purgatory journey of lost souls. TPTB also told us that we would get answers to the deep questions and mysteries  of the series. They lied about that, too.

For if all the major issues were addressed by the finale, we would still not be wandering the theoretical desert trying to find answers.

Resurrection, eternal life, and reincarnation are recurring themes in the plots and sets of the show. Christian, Egyptian, and Native American symbols were used to reinforce these themes.

The most common images of the after life theme were the Egyptian hieroglyphs and temples. The ancient Egyptians had an advanced funeral rites religious take on death. The temples and pyramids were grand palaces to worship the gods to help the worthy through their perilous journey through the after life. A prime example of the theme coming full bore is a dead Sayid being reincarnated in the temple pool.

Other aspects of the Egyptian death culture were found in the frozen donkey wheel chamber where the hieroglyphs referenced resurrection and portals to "Earth gates." The Egyptians believed that a dead person's soul and body would be split in the after life and travel through the various levels of the underworld to be reunited in paradise. The Hatch's warning glyphs stated "He Escapes Place of Death." The unique Egyptian cross, the Ankh, is seen in symbol form and worn as a pendant by Dharma leaders prior to the purge. Christian crosses, such as the one worn by Eko, were also seen throughout the series. Churches, were people pray for the souls of their departed, were also settings in the series.

On the Geronimo Jackson artwork, the Native American symbol of a hatband is shown. It represents everlasting life. The native tribes had a clear sense of a cycle of life by living on the plains. This cycle of life and rebirth follows the natural observation of nature's seasons. When Aaron was born, Boone had just died which shows a connection to the cycle of life from death. Even the Dharma symbols of ying-yang represent the circle of life; an endless balance and cycle of the univese which includes reincarnation as an essential element of its religion.

Locke was immersed in the resurrection theme. As a boy, Alpert visits him at a foster home. Alpert gives Locke several items to view. He then asks him which objects are "his." This test is similar to tests are done to find the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. When Locke is working a cross word puzzle, one of the answers is from the story of Gilgamesh, in which the main character searches for immortality. When Locke is killed off the island by Ben, Locke's body was returned to the island. As a result, MIB transformed into Locke's image, a form of reincarnation, to instill fear and loyalty in those remaining survivors.

After Locke's death, his body was transported by "Canton-Rainier" which is an anagram for "reincarnation." To take the effort to make an anagram for what was going to happen in the series could be considered foreshadowing or an explanation of what the series is truly about.

There were also clear references to religious texts and beliefs. Ajira Flight 316 takes its number from the most recognizable biblical quotation, John 3:16. The passage states: "For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Eko's walking stick contained numerous references including  "Colossians”, which includes the text: "When you were dead in your sins... God made you alive with Christ..." (Colossians 2:13)The appearance of his dead brother to Eko is also similar to the new testament passages of how Jesus came to be seen by his apostles after his death and resurrection.

While the action of LOST clearly contained struggles of life and death, hidden in plain sight were symbols and acknowledgments by the writers that the deeper meaning present was resurrection, eternal life, and reincarnation.

REFLECTIONS

It was once believed that if one stared into a reflective surface, like a mirror or polished volcanic glass, the person would be transported to other worlds. More than 400 years ago, the Aztecs used mirrors to see the future.  Even during the 18th century era of enlightenment, many people would mediate in their reflection in order to "hear" angels give them prophecies about the future.

So what does this have to do with Lost? There was a theme around mirrors. Mirrors as a reflection or introspection of a character's soul. And throughout the series, we saw characters stare blankly out into the ocean (a reflective surface). Is this the portal to the off-island events and alternative realities?

It may be considered a sub-set of mental themes of the series. Are the characters crazy, or are they really crazy. Can someone really have a conversation with a dead person? Can a dead person actually physically assault a live person? Can disembodied souls remain as whispers? If the characters were all surrounded by a mirror surface (the ocean), is this an inner trace for each character to find what he or she lost in their real lives?

One would have hoped that all the characters would have some some profound meaning during their island stays. But in the end, there was no Great Plan revealed; there was no great understanding; there was no great bond between the characters. It was like they all got off the boat in the same port of call.

Which gets us back to the island itself. If the journey to and through the island was one to test the soul, to find redemption, then none of the characters really surged past the finish line. In fact, the best one could say is that most of the characters were "punished" mentally for their past transgressions, but the island did not change their base personalities (Sayid continued to be a torturer; Sawyer continued to be a con-artist, etc.). The only people "rewarded" by the island appeared to be Rose and Bernard, since her cancer was "cured" and they spent their time alone and happy. The only mental anguish they suffered as a couple was the separation when the plane crashed on the island.

Even if the island was a passage of punishment, that would mean that the reunion in the church was not the happy time most people believed what happened to the characters. What if the next leg of the after life journey was not to heaven (the white light) but actually to the next stage of death: judgment. Only after the pain of punishment is there a judgment to determine if a soul has redeemed his or herself to be worthy of a heavenly after life. So believed the ancient Egyptians. That belief is the cornerstone of most modern religions. So when there was lack of religious context throughout the series, and the mish-mash of all religious symbols in the church, one could assume that the characters next chapter would be answering for all their personal sins. They certainly did not reflect on their past mistakes in the sideways world. Once they were awakened, it was time to "move on." To what? Judgment. That is the most probable answer to the question.