(Group1: What Kate Did) Coming to Terms with the Past?
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By jazprof
- (Group1: What Kate Did) Coming to Terms with the Past?
- Created: Sep 25, 2007
- Last updated: Aug 14, 2008
- After episode: 3.22: Through The Looking Glass
- Status: Current
- Flag this theory:
“You know that horse, Freckles. Yeah I do.” She finally accepts herself.
— jazprof
Before looking at the main theme, I wanted to mention something connected to the idea I posted from a couple days ago about Ben possibly controlling the chess game at the Flame station. When Locke and Eko piece together the entire orientation video here, Candle emphasizes that the computer NOT be used for communication. And just as they are doing so, Michael is using it for just that purpose—to communicate with what seems to be Walt. I think it’s Ben and I think the further implication is that the DI includes this in the orientation film to try and guard against the possibility that Ben can infiltrate and influence what is going on at the Swan.
OK on to the main idea—At first I was thinking this ep was about freeing oneself from the past, but looking closely at Kate’s story I think “freedom” is the wrong word—her going up to and petting the horse I think stands more for coming to terms with the past and with herself.
One way I see that is in the first FB scene she is sitting on the front steps of the house flicking a lighter off and on while she’s already got the gas going inside. I think she wants to kill herself here as much as she wants to kill Wayne (also her mother talks about her riding her death trap motorcycle with no helmet). In fact she sees herself in Wayne and that’s why she kills him.
Kate says late in the episode that Wayne has been haunting her relationship with Sawyer all along. The black horse appears, and then Sawyer speaks to her as Wayne and tries to choke her. (Walking after Midnight is the song she put on—both the black color of the horse and it’s appearance at night causing the crash I would connect to the song.) I do think the horse is real, partially because both Sawyer and Kate see it later. Symbolically, going back to its appearance when the Marshall has arrested her, I think it stands for both Kate’s shadow (her fear that she can never be good because she is Wayne’s child), her always running from the shadow, but also, I think, her strength.
Then she meets Jack and Jack first acts in a morally condemning way (“Are you sorry?”). Kate says here she’ll never be as good as he is. Her distress makes him back off his moralizing and instead acts in what I see as a good paternal way (holding her as Major Austen does later). By holding onto her and telling her everything will be alright I think he helps her take the first step to not running and to forgiving herself. But what goes wrong is that the romantic response she has to Jack makes her again feel that she is no good.
Sitting by Shannon’s grave—if Kate doesn’t resolve her past she will lose the possibility of love altogether. And Sayid’s words at the funereal underline this—he speaks of having had the chance to meet Shannon, speak to her, love her. Then when Sayid shows up, Kate confesses she’s going crazy and speaks of her vision. Sayid says he saw Walt—this connection allows Kate to return and confront Wayne.
When she confesses her reasons for killing Wayne, I think his spirit is exorcised. Sawyer has a very Sawyer like response “Who the hell is Wayne?’ (Odd echo of what he says about Nikki later.) Then when she helps him up and he says she keeps smiling at him—I think because she can look at him without seeing Wayne. Also symbolized by the horse—”You know that horse, Freckles. Yeah I do.” She finally accepts herself.
Jack—I felt sorry for him chopping the wood later and what Hurley says about transference. Jack and Sawyer have exchanged places. Jack won’t admit he’s angry though and brings alcohol over to Ana Lucia to commisserate with her. Jack not dealing with his feelings and drinking—foreshadows the FF.
Sun & Jin—also a reconciling of the past symbolized in Jin finally getting rid of his handcuff and of course there were other ways in which he and Sun seemed to have escaped the darkness of their past.
The Locke/Eko exchange and the story Eko tells of Josiah and the temple. The temple is not built through gold but through the use of the old testament. (Recurring idea that the numbers are connected to some corporation making money and that this is a perverted use of them.) Locke I think is going to return the Temple to its proper use from Ben.
One last thing—Sayid’s speech was so well delivered and so devastating. I really wanted someone to make a physical connection with him. But maybe the fact that no one did really emphasized his isolation.
Key characters
| Short Name | Full Name | Episodes | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kate | Katherine “Kate” Austen | 3.6, 1.2, 1.3, 2.9, 1.12, 1.16, 1.22, 3.15, 4.4, 4.12 | 714 |
Key episodes
| # | Title | Aired | Central character | Theories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.9 | What Kate Did | 11-30-2005 | Kate | 97 |
excellent post and analysis JP
To expand on the suggestion that the DI mentioned not using the computer because of Ben possibly communicating with the Swan: do you think that you could suggest a timeline for this - I am intrigued by this suggestion but can’t really place it within the chronological framework of the show. Help! ; )
Excellent comments Lady Jaz. You made me think of Colonel Kurtz when you described Ben and the DI. I think what you say about Ben being the reason the computer should not be used could turn out to be highly significant. Alas February is still a long way away.
Hex, the Orientation Video is copyrighted 1980 according to Lostpedia. Also found this interesting tidbit—the missing splice of film which Eko gives to Locke (the splice that was found in the hollowed out Bible from the Arrow station) is said by Kelvin to have been removed by Radzinsky (no reason is mentioned) in the ep. “Live Together, Die Alone.” Here’s a transcript which shows what the splice says:
(Original Orientation Film)
Now do not attempt to use the computer… * …for anything… *
(Transcript of the spliced clip introduced in “What Kate Did”)
…for anything else other than the entering of the code. This is its only function.
The isolation that attends the duties associated with Station 3 may tempt you to try and utilize the computer for communication with the outside world. This is strictly forbidden. Attempting to use the computer in this manner will compromise the integrity of the project and worse, could lead to another incident. I repeat, do not use the computer for anything other than entering the code.
OK, jaz, but it wouldn’t be difficult to make the computer impossible to use for this purpose. Why make the computer able to communicate with the outside world and then only highlight this feature by warning against it being done?
I think the communications ability of the computer was meant to be a temptation. And I think Radzinsky edited the film in order to remove that temptation.
Excellent post, as always, and great comments, too!
Kat what’s going on? You changed names luv? Confused me then you did. Great picture though!
Profelegant—nice q&a :-) Yeah, I like the temptation idea.
So if the DI put the temptation there, why? It can’t be that it’s just a behaviorism experiment being watched from the Pearl, cause the Pearl itself was dumping its records on a waste heap, right?
Here it results in Michael eventually being turned. So trying to figure out why the DI might build that possibility in and why Radzinsky would remove it.
Jaz, it seems to me some of the answers to your questions depend on who the Swan computer communicates with. I’ve been assuming the Pearl (so essentially it was communication between the Pearl and Swan that was “forbidden”) but perhaps the computer connects to someplace else. The Flame? Dunno. The answer to that question, though, seems key.
Jazzie: Nice post! I do agree with Proffie about the Computer. I do not believe that Walt was the person communicating with Michael, either. I believe that Mikhail was observing what was going on in “The Swan”, and used the information to proper advantage. The chess game, was specifically targeted to appeal to Locke, to manipulate him into destroying the station.
Kate’s horse and other visions, I believe are manifestations of “the island”, whether they are done so by the participants involved, or are part of the magical properties of “the island”, for purposes which have not been revealed to the viewers.
I, like you, have noted Sayid’s isolation. He is deep, mysterious, and sad, but has tremendous capacity for great empathy and understanding. He walks alone! +1
Great comments all.On the subject of Kate..I like the idea of her accepting herself at the end of the episode.A lot of people feel that she shows no remorse for killing Wayne..Id like to think this episode was the first step on the road to confronting what she did.Still think she has a ways to go though.
Since Ben mentioned the temple I have also been intrigued by Eko’s story about the temple. I think that like Locke, Eko also knew a lot more about what was happening on the island, like when he confessed to Ben about killing two Others and assured him that he was now ‘back on a righteous path’ he seemed to already know that they were Bens people long before he was unmasked as their leader.
Also what compelled him to carve the scripture onto his stick, which Locke later interpreted as a sign pointing him towards ‘Otherville’?
Good comments everyone.
An additional thought about the temptation—the orientation tape is post incident, but I think it’s before the purge. If as prof suggested the forbidden communication was with the Pearl then perhaps the original purpose of the temptation was this kind of behaviorism test to see how long someone would follow orders. However after the purge the ban on communication takes on a new meaning because the others/Ben gain access to the Swan computer.
kat, I was thinking like you at first that Radzinsky was in opposition to Ben, but the part that he removes is the part that forbids the communication so I wonder if instead he might have been in league with him? Not sure, also not sure if his death was a suicide or murder or a suicide that he was manipulated into.
Final thought about the computer and communication—if Ben has access to communicating with the Swan, would he also be able to stop the computer from entering the numbers? If he could, then the question would be why go through all the hassle of manipulating Locke into losing faith and not entering them. And one possible answer would be that Ben doesn’t just need the numbers to not be entered, he also needs the key to be turned and he didn’t have the key. Again, a lot of “ifs” there.
CPB & kat—I like what you guys said about Eko. I thought in this one he seemed more in tune with what’s going on than Locke. I wonder if one way his silences can be read is that he’s actually communicating in those silences with the island. If he was more in tune, as has been suggested before, maybe this is why he was killed.
Right, jaz… the goal was for the failsafe to be activated. That wouldn’t come about by just remotely tampering with the Swan computer.