LOST: Feelin Like A Criminal

Just when I thought I sorta almost kinda understood what was going on, Sawyer goes and gets a box and my whole theory is out the window.

I am getting really distracted this season by trying to figure out this whole alternate universe thing. For instance, this is all that has been going on in my head since Tuesday’s new episode: if Juliet, Sawyer, Miles, etc. flashed back to 1977 Dharmaville into a different Universe X, then Jack, Kate, etc. joined in (somehow from the Ajira flight), which allowed them to alter the chain of events in their imminent futures on the island (based upon their experiences in the universe where Oceanic 815 crashed) by detonating an H bomb, then WHY is there a box that Sawyer buried in his house (presumably in Universe X) when the people who lived in those Dharma houses (where he is tearing up floor boards) were the Others who survived the purge in Universe Oceanic 815??!?!?! Isn’t the Universe X Dharmaville that Sawyer and Juliet played house in sitting at the bottom of the ocean? Does this detail really matter? I don’t know but it is seriously pissing me off and confusing me.

This is why this season is so frustrating. I literally couldn’t stop myself from thinking about all these specifics, so now I can’t just sit back and enjoy the show like I used to. We are so close to figuring out what is going on that I am fact checking all of my theories that have been brewing for the past six years, when I should just be watching. I guess the flash sideways to Universe X should provide a little bit of downtime, to go, “oh Kate and Claire would have met and both been bonded to Aaron in some way no matter what.” But I can’t think like that when all this weird stuff is happening on the island and challenging my mental capacity to follow a TV show.

I suppose we can recap what did happen this episode, then I will get to my questions that I will be thinking about while writing this whole post anyway.

This episode, “What Kate Does,” seems to be a sister episode to “What Kate Did” back in season 2 where we learn that she blew up her step-father. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but am I? AM I??? Here we get a taste of destiny vs. free will: was Kate going to be a convict no matter what? Did she commit the same crime (she seems to insist she’s innocent)? Will she be a mother figure to Aaron? Was she going to wear that outfit either way? Then there is Claire, who is stuck with her baby because the couple that was supposed to adopt it breaks up and the woman can’t raise a kid on her own. So Claire is forced to become a mother in both worlds and Kate is still on the run in both worlds. They still have a meaningful connection even though a plane crash didn’t force them to meet. So what will happen with them? Was Claire wearing a wig?

I did like that Ethan was Claire’s doctor and was talking about how he didn’t want to stick her with needles if he didn’t have to (he needled the crap out of her on the island to do something to the baby). Also, his last name here is Godspeed (his parents’ last name) now instead of Rom, which I’m assuming he adopted when he was recruited by Richard/Ben to join the Others. So, would Ethan have just been a normal doctor if he never went to the island and became a huge creeper? How did his parents (Horace and Amy) get together if Amy’s first husband was never killed by hostiles on the island?

Now for the temple folk. I’m guessing Sayid isn’t the Sayid that we know and love. The temple people torture Sayid and say that they were diagnosing him. The groovy translator tells him not to worry, he passed, but he clearly didn’t. They try to poison Sayid by giving Jack a pill to give to him, but Jack knows something’s up and takes it himself, revealing the trick. The temple folk try to explain that Sayid is infected (what Rousseau was always saying about her team and that’s why she killed them). They say he has been claimed and a darkness is spreading in him, and if it gets to his heart he will no longer be the friend Jack knows. Temple people claim to know this because it happened to Claire, who we see saving Jin and lookin a hot mess at the end of the episode. Soooo I’m guessing all this claiming and darkness stuff is how the smoke monster recruits. Do you have to die and then be possessed by the smoke or something? Does this relate to the French team?

Meanwhile, Kate has gone on the run once again to find Sawyer, but really to try and get him to help find Claire (really?). Before she makes it to Dharmaville, she beats up Aldo (how did he get out of Philadelphia?) and Justin because she is no man’s woman, damn it! Before the prison break, Justin kept saying things to Jin and Kate that were pissing off Aldo…so the Temple Others know what’s up (the Ajira flight, Rousseau being dead for years and the traps) and it is annoying that we don’t know the answers when they do. When Kate finally finds Sawyer in his old Dharma house (WHICH HE NEVER REALLY LIVED IN BECAUSE 1977 ALREADY HAPPENED IN THE UNIVERSE OCEANIC 815 THAT THEY ARE IN RIGHT NOW) and he is moody and Kate is confused/needy.

I don’t even care what else happened with them because I am so confused. I don’t understand how a box that Sawyer hid in his version of 1977 would suddenly be in the Dharma barracks that were blown up by Widmore’s people and lived in by the Dharma Initiative that was purged. My brain can’t handle these versions of time/ universe travel. Also, that got me thinking, how was Sun able to see a 1977 picture of the Dharma Initiative recruits with her friends, if that version of the island was blown up/ deep under the ocean? Wasn’t she in Oceanic 815 Universe while they were getting their 70s on in Universe X? How is there cross over with that picture and the box? How do those things fit in when they altered their future X selves by making the island into the Lost World of Atlantis-Dharma edition?

I think my theory might be dunzo but I can’t stop myself from trying to nail this down. It is driving me crazy. Next week I hope we learn more about Claire and what she has been doing, but I have a feeling it’s going to take a while. Maybe she only speaks French now or something wacky. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised.

For another opinion on this episode, check out No Zombie Apocalypse =( by Bilal Mian.

Season 6 Episode 3: What Kate Does (Originally Aired February 9, 2010)

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Wednesdays, 9/8c on ABC

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