Anyway, Kate helps one Roger Workman with the winch, and she just seems really happy that somebody’s paying attention to her. Of course, once she finds out his name, suddenly it’s a lot less fun. I like to imagine that happens to the Lostaways at least once a day. All of their conversations end with a haunted look into the distance once they realize who they’ve been talking to.
Flashback time! This is Kate shortly after leaving the Island, visiting the mother of Sawyer’s daughter, Cassidy. Or as I like to think of her, Joanie Stubbs from Deadwood. That’s two Deadwood alumni in two weeks! Now, I think we all pretty much assumed that, back on the helicopter, Sawyer asked Kate to take care of his daughter. I don’t remember if that’s been explicitly stated, but nobody should be surprised. What’s great about this scene is the way that Cassidy is ready for a fight – she is not impressed by Kate. Kate tells her the truth, or at least most of it. I don’t think she got into the polar bears or the magic numbers or anything, although that would have been funny. And Cassidy says Sawyer jumped out of the helicopter to “get away from you”. While this seems needlessly judgmental, Sawyer basically confirms this later in the episode. And then, Kate can’t manage to sell the lie about Aaron being her baby. Kate is definitely the weak link in their chain of unified lying. (Sam: “Kate’s the weak link in every chain.”)
Back on the Island, Kate is getting on Sawyer’s nerves, as well as putting him in an awkward position. Sure enough, when Horace and Phil show up, Sawyer has to cover for why a woman from the motor pool (who is also not in her approved Dharma uniform) is hanging out in the Pearl. It also seems like Horace is sort of looking for Sawyer’s weak points. There’s definitely a power struggle there, or maybe resentment on Horace’s part after the whole “drunk dynamite tossing” incident. I’m not really sure what’s going on in Horace’s head just yet. When Horace and the rest check out Sayid’s cell, they see that it was unlocked from the outside by a janitor’s key. So now his suspects are the janitorial staff: Roger, Jack, and Willie, who we never actually see. Poor Willie.
Juliet is trying to save Benry, but she’s over her head here. Being a fertility specialist doesn’t really translate to fixing gunshot wounds, and she needs a surgeon. There’s a reference to the Dharma doctor who’s in the Looking Glass and thus, unavailable. And since the submarine is gone, there’s not really a way to get him back just now. Roger’s panicky, and in a great moment, Sawyer asks him about his keys which are, of course, missing. What I love is the way that he does it like Colombo, where he actually heads inside and then pops back out for one more question. Hee. And of course, Sawyer knows a surgeon, who might as well make himself useful.
Miles has Jack, Kate, and Hurley under house arrest. Hurley’s busy waiting to disappear, because he’s seen Back to the Future and he knows how this is supposed to happen. Miles tries to explain that Benry can’t die because he didn’t die. He’s had three years to get used to how this works, and you have to imagine that Faraday (where is he, anyway?) probably explained it at length. When Sawyer shows up to get Jack, Jack refuses to help. By the way, note that Sawyer keeps calling Benry “That kid”, which is some good salesmanship on his part. Using the name just reminds Jack of who that kid really is. It’s neat to see how Sawyer’s using the skill set that made him a good con man and turning it into leadership. In another example, Sawyer has already figured out that if Benry dies, it’s going to lead to a war with the Others. Sawyer is always working the long game, thinking out the consequences of his decisions. He’s not just trying to survive, as they had to do for so long – he’s building a future for everybody. I am willing to bet that Sawyer’s already working on his plan to get them through the Purge, fifteen years ahead of time.
Now, Jack wants no part of helping Benry, in part because he understands that “Whatever happened, happened”. But what strikes me is that everybody else is taking a Calvinist view of the situation. See, Calvinism takes the view that our fates are predestined, but that doesn’t absolve us for our sins. We are obligated to do the right thing, even though it’s already been decided whether we will or not. Considering that Lost likes dabbling in philosophy, religion, and Dutch-ness, this is probably intentional. (The DeGroots are Dutch people who live in Michigan. They are most definitely Calvinists.) But in Jack’s view, Benry lives, so why bother putting effort into helping him?
Jack’s other reason for not helping Benry is that he just doesn’t want to. He already operated on Benry for Kate’s sake back when they were on the Island the first time, and Jack is done jumping through Kate’s hoops. He even suggests that the Island is trying to fix things itself. Wow, do you know who that sounds like? That sounds a lot like Locke! Yeah, Jack’s coming around. At least when it’s convenient. Hilariously, Kate just walks out which is pretty much what reminds Miles that he’s supposed to be guarding them.
Kate goes to the infirmary to donate blood for a transfusion. This, of course, leads to another deeply awkward scene between Kate and Juliet. Roger walks in on them, in a panic. Man, even terrible fathers worry about their kids. But also, on some level, he thinks he’s got a shot with Kate. Roger gets as close to being human as he ever gets in this scene, talking about how Benry just needs his mother. By the way, did it occur to anybody else that back when Roger was Uncle Rico, he wanted a time machine, and now he’s sitting on one and doesn’t know it? The cross-universe irony is palpable. Finally, Juliet comes up with the idea that she can’t help Benry, but maybe The Others can. She sends Kate away with Benry, promising to stall Sawyer as long as she can.
In a scene that I absolutely love, Miles is desperately trying to explain how time works to Hurley. Hurley can’t get over the idea that he should remember things that happen in 1977, even if he hasn’t experienced them yet. Hurley finally gets it, but asks why adult Benry doesn’t remember Sayid shooting him. When Miles doesn’t have a good answer, Hurley is really pleased with himself for winning a battle of wits.
Once again, we see the scene of Benry and the Oceanic Six at the docks, this time from Kart’s perspective. We get to see where she went after the Sun / Benry faceoff, which turns out to be the grocery store. That is not as exciting as I thought, frankly. Aaron slips away, and Kate panics. She finds him with a lady who is possibly nice and helpful, or possibly a baby thief. She wears a lot of makeup, so she’s probably a baby thief.
There’s a brief scene of Sawyer meeting Kate at the Sonic Death Fence to help with her mission. Good thing he showed up, too. It’s not like Kate actually knows the code to shut down the Fence. Hee. She’s not much good at planning, is she?
Right before leaving for the Island (again), Kate visits Cassidy to talk about motherhood. And we see how messed up she is, where her reaction to Aaron disappearing was “It’s about time”. I don’t doubt that Kate cares for Aaron, but she’s resigned herself to losing him at some point. Having spent time as a fugitive, that’s understandable, but still kind of messed up.
Back at the Sonic Death Fence, Sawyer asks Kate how she though she’d get Benry to the Others. He makes fun of her for assuming that The Others were just waiting immediately beyond the Death Fence. Ha!
At Dharmaville, Juliet kicks Miles and Hurley out of the house so she can talk to Jack. And because she’s full of moral outrage, she just walks in on him while she’s in the shower. What’s great is that this is not uncomfortable for either of them. Juliet’s got something to say, and nudity will not distract her. She says that even if we’re talking about Benry, “It’s wrong to let a kid die”. And then she stomps Jack but good, asking why he came back and messed everything up. Jack said he came back for them, but Juliet doesn’t buy it. “You came back for you”. You know what? She’s kind of right. Benry may have sold him on the idea that they had to go back to fix things, but Jack wanted to return before he ever talked to Benry. Jack wanted to go back to the Island because he was miserable and hated his life. Juliet has a point.
In the jungle, Kate talks about Cassidy and Clementine, and I find it gratifying that Sawyer very definitely uses the past tense to describe his relationship with Kate. The way he tells it, he is happy now and he’s done some growing up, and he and Kate wouldn’t have worked out. That sound you heard was the Internet cheering, by the way. Some Others pop up with guns at this point, and Sawyer demands to see Richard “Batmanuel” Alpert.
One more flashback, and I actually really like Kate in this scene. She usually makes me mad, but she’s surprisingly honest here. She goes to see Claire’s mother, Carole. And while she’s still terrible at keeping secrets, she actually confesses something here. Why did she not only take Aaron but pretend he was actually her baby? “I needed him”. In the last few minutes, both Kate and Jack have had seemingly selfless actions chalked up to selfish motives, only in Kate’s case, she called herself out. Jack had to wait for Juliet to do it. She tells Carole all about Aaron, and asks her to take care of him. Sure, it would have been nice if Aaron had a chance to meet Grandma before Mommy disappeared, but she really is working with a very tight timeline here. I actually feel sorry for Kate here, as it’s killing her to not only give Aaron up, but to face some very uncomfortable truths about himself.
Back in 1977, Sawyer and Kate are brought to Richard “Batmanuel” Alpert. They ask him to save Benry, and he explains that he can do it, but it will have consequences. Benry won’t remember what happened, and his “innocence will be lost”. Wow. On the one hand, I really liked the idea that Benry recognized Sayid at their first meeting, but I’ve accepted that they have things planned out, so I have faith that this will work out. And yeah, that “innocence will be lost” thing makes it pretty clear that Sayid’s actions created the monster that Benry would become. It’s all Sayid’s fault! Richard “Batmanuel” Alpert takes Benry to what appears to be the temple that Smokey guards. Uh of.
On another note, if a strange man in a jungle tells you that a child’s innocence will be lost, do not let him walk away with the child. That’s just bad parenting.
Finally, we return to the Hydra in the present. Benry wakes up from his beating to see his old buddy John Locke waiting for him. Awesome. Check out his reaction – Benry honestly did not expect that. When he killed Locke, he thought he was actually killing him. This is one of those rare moments when Benry is caught off guard. Even better, he makes such a habit of popping up where people don’t expect him, so to see somebody pull that trick on him is pretty great.
Next week: Benry is ready to be judged. I can not wait to see this. Between young Benry in the temple and modern Benry facing judgment, I feel like we have to learn a thing or two about Smokey.
