Kate - one half of SKate, not "Jate"

Do any of us really understand Kate? Have we even got a chance in hell of understanding Kate since she has been inextricably linked with two men and doesn’t know if she is head over heels for one or chasing her tail for the other? Does Kate even know where her own heart lies anymore? Unfortunately it is quite impossible to discuss Kate now without mentioning her relations with Sawyer or her… somewhat non-relations with Jack.

It's hard to know if TPTB have forgotten to add to Kate's character depth since to all intents and purposes, she seems to have been reduced to a trophy lately. Putting that aside, let's look at the reasons and the underlying motives for her actions that we know of. It seems Kate’s psychological pain and confusion motivated her to rationalize some very bizarre, dangerous behavior in her pre-island life. I think Kate DID demonstrate there’s a worthwhile character to get to know underneath despite those facts. Time and again, she has been prepared to help others when it was required as we have seen over the course of the show. She has become part of that community of survivors. So, we have seen that there IS a lot of good in Kate... 2 examples: last season she went with Claire in ML to help find medicine for Aaron when he was sick. This season she was determined to rescue Jack with the belief he was stuck in captivity in Otherville. This demonstrates one of Kate’s pretty much consistent characteristics – impulsiveness - she rushes headlong into her attempts to help her fellow survivors, sometimes with dire though unforeseen and not entirely direct consequences just as have seen in her latest attempts to go to the extent of a rescue for a man who couldn’t give two hoots about her.





Did anyone else care about these events though? Mikhail’s cat (briefly) perhaps?



Kate herself landed right back into the psycho Others’ hands…



Did she look happy about it here?



…or here?



Nuh-uh. Didn't see any happy faces at this time and who can blame her since she's handcuffed and on her own this time.

Although it appears as if Locke is the one responsible here…



as usual, Kate gets the cold shoulder for this one from her increasingly pissed-off daddy



… or should I say mommy?



How could I have almost forgotten already!


Who is Kate now?

Kate was established as such a strong, feisty, independent and unique character in Season 1. What has changed since then? And I don’t mean that she’s some impostor a'la Jateresque deductions since she isn’t in an acceptable form for Jack. *eyeroll*

One major question that springs to mind - does she even love herself? Her mother appeared to love her own abusive partner, Kate’s father, more than her own daughter. This had to have repercussions in how much Kate thinks of herself. She does have an instinct for survival though – does this mean she’s still searching for that love that was never given to her as a child? Has she been looking for this in Jack who has played that authority type figure in the Losties’ lives?



Has her character changed so much that she’s now so indecisive, she isn’t able to choose between two men? Can she have changed so much in a matter of weeks since convincing us of her love for James? Or is there a difference in what she’s looking for from both men? Or does TPTB’s entertainment lie in confusing the frakkin’ hell out of all of us - Lost fans and Kate included?



At the beginning of this season, we saw Kate in a situation that was one of her worst nightmares – held captive behind bars, imprisoned in a cage. She couldn’t run the way she had become accustomed to when the going got tough. Yet when she did have the opportunity, she chose not to. Why? It seemed she wasn’t going anywhere without the man she appeared to love with her heart & soul. In this way, Kate’s motive for staying now included one of the men. It wasn’t JUST a choice she made for herself anymore. Did the circumstances make her realize she couldn’t face life without Sawyer anymore, when it came to the crunch?

Kate has been shown groveling to Jack more recently however. IMO, if Kate continues to grovel for Jack's approval at this point, it hurts her character in two profound ways. First, she hurts the guy who loves her in the humblest way possible, the guy who is incidentally the shows most popular character. Secondly, she would be portraying the ultimate nightmare for women, someone who grovels for the approval of a judgmental, superior mate. Which brings me to the question - why would Kate be IN love with Jack? Is she even in love with this man since we’re even less convinced of that compared to Sawyer? Does she believe Jack is the type of man she should love? Because he reminds her of her father Sam and that’s what she’s familiar with? Does she not love herself enough to recognize or accept the real would-die-for-you love Sawyer gives her? Because her eyes have not yet been opened to what real love is? Or is she already realizing this, slowly but surely as time goes on? Should we be even considering this if Kate in love with Sawyer IS the case already? Kate’s character will forever be damaged since she has had and I might add… continues to have sex with Sawyer if the plan in the end is to have her NOT be in love with him. This is after all the man that loves her like he has never loved any other/Other.

Is Sawyer the RIGHT man for Kate? Does she have the power to stay away from the physical, chemical and emotional undercurrent, overcurrent and no-way-in-hell-getting-away-from the current between them? Would Ohm’s Law apply here? Remember I = V/R
The greater the resistance, the lower the current except when you have two semiconductors i.e. greater conductors of energy as the temperature rises? Well the temperature certainly rises with these two, starting with that unforgettable kiss a long time ago…







…and progressing to undeniable passion in recent times









with goodnight kisses par for the course 'til living arrangements change...



When is Kate at her happiest?







Yup…one person seems to light up Kate’s face like no other.

Redemption?

Kate has still got a journey ahead of her IF redemption is required for her character. What does redemption mean for this show though? Does accepting one's own badness mean redemption? Does forgiveness from just anybody provide redemption for her sins/crimes in the past? And is forgiveness the same as redeeming? Does the one redeeming, need to be the victim of the person's crime? How can Jack redeem Kate as envisioned in Bubbleland if he isn’t the one she committed the crime against? I love the fact that Kate is psychologically and emotionally screwed up, because it makes her a fascinating, layered character, but that does NOT mean I want Sawyer to sweep her off her feet and make everything better. Healing is a process that primarily has to come from within, not from someone else - and while I love the idea of Kate and Sawyer being there for each other and helping each other grow and heal, I don't think many Skaters have ever longed for a one-sided "fixing" scenario. For some twisted reason, the Jaters love that dynamic.

So, what’s it to be?

* Will Kate renew our faith in the kickass character that she has shown us she can be?

* Will Kate show us she can still be "a formidable, take-charge kind of woman" as Gregg Nations seems to think she still is? Can't say I've seen much evidence of that lately myself.

Can’t forget the all-important question of the moment since Kate can’t stay away from one man:

* Will Kate expand her tent for all the right reasons?

* Will Kate survive into next season?

* Will Kate make OUR minds up about her in the meantime? Is she for real? (Well, no, of course she isn’t, but forget this is just a TV show for a minute. If all we can figure out is that Kate is confused, what’s the point in trying to figure out the rest of it?)

So Fishbiscuiteers...what do YOU think? Read more...

The Child is Father to the Man

According to Freud, the urge to murder Dad lurks in the heart of every little boy.



Coming from the guy who assigned penis envy to the wrong gender, I've never put any stock in that (makes it easier to look the little buggers in the eye as well). But if I were a father (or mother, for that matter) of a Lost writer, I think I'd have a hard time facing my friends at the town hall meetings. Somebody messed with these boys' heads back in the day! Vengeance upon the father, literal, metaphorical and bone crunchical, is the one Lost theme not even a casual fan can possibly miss.



It's hard to deny the role of violence in the making of men. From Sioux counting coup to gladiators slaying lions to bullfighters to Crusaders killing in the name of Christ to gangstas to jihadists to the bloodcurdling classified ads of Mercenary Magazine to the Gears of War playing in the living rooms of adolescent males, throughout time, in almost every culture and civilization, the power to kill has been a force that distinguishes one man from another. The power to kill paradoxically degrades and elevates a man in the eyes of his fellows.

And yet murder doesn't come naturally to most men.



Why did Ben want Locke to kill his father, the father Locke's subconscious apparently summoned out of the Wishing Box? Human sacrifice is a common thread in ancient cultures



and for reasons that seem rather frivolous in retrospect - to restore the sun god's blood loss or to keep the king company in the afterlife or even as a fun post ball game party where the losers' entrails provided the barbeque. What these freaks



are trying to accomplish with their human sacrifice is still a mystery. But whatever it was Locke couldn't do it.



Just as he'd always feared, he just wasn't special enough.

Ben explained to Locke that he needed to perform an act of free will. Considering this act involved ritualistic public murder, an act of pure defiance of civilized social mores..it almost seemed Ben was proposing some kind of Nietzschean Ubermensch test for Locke. What is the Ubermensch? A combination of Uber (as in over, better, above) and Mensch (as in Man or Human). It's not to be confused with the Yiddish mensch, which is more like the quintessential "guy you'd like to have a beer with"(i.e. no one remotely resembling Locke), but more like a man above all other men.



The Ubermensch is not bound by social mores. He is above them. He makes his own morality in a world of his own design. You can see where this would appeal to Locke on this island he adores. Freedom from the physical laws that broke his spine. Freedom from the social mores that designated him an unwanted, inconvenient foster boy. With all this freedom, there's really nothing holding him back from the ultimate freedom to kill as he pleases, or if he cannot



- being the spineless weasel of a loser his father so accurately described him as - then freedom to abuse another man's humanity



and make him into the instrument of the death he doesn't have to balls to be himself.


What happens to those kids?



We mostly never hear what happens to the children who survive atrocities, the kids they carry from crime scenes or who are rescued from perverts’ basements. Our sympathy for them seems to expire around the time their voices drop. In the Sudan and other parts of Africa, we know that small boys who have witnessed the mass rapes and murders of their loved ones can be efficiently morphed into mass murdering machines themselves, even of their own people. Sawyer doesn't have the self awareness to articulate what has happened to him, and probably never will. His story is the perfect tragedy, the perfect blend of pity and fear. In equal parts we fear the killer and pity the child, and if we're even slightly honest about it, we realize his story is the story of any one of us, in his place.


Sawyer's My Name Too

In this great performance by Josh Holloway, we watch Sawyer stumble behind Locke into the jungle, down, down into the bloody, blasted innocence of his childhood.



He is stunned that Locke knows about his secret murder, and denies it like a child caught red-handed, before finally confessing, ashamed.



Locke also knows about his parents' violent end, and his defenses start to fall away. He is unmasked, uncomfortable.



He vows that he isn't a killer, that he won't kill Ben. He's adamant. But that's before he arrives at the rotten, reeking Thunderdome Locke has prepared for him, filled with the corpses of slaves who died in their chains... where he is locked inside,



just as he was on the night his life was blown away.

No shoes, no weapon, stripped of his defences he faces the Devil before him, uncomprehending



but reeling with dread.


Her Name was Mary



It is chilling to watch him shift into the same stillness his mother ordered from him that night, to watch him not only become the terrified child again, but to watch him actually re-inhabit that awful moment, when his life turned...and crashed. Carefully self-controlled, knowing as he did that night that one wrong move could cause something terrible to happen, he watches and listens to the unrepentant monster.



The stranger says he is Locke's own diabolical father, that Locke was a cripple before the plane crash, and that all the survivors of 815 have been declared conclusively dead . These huge revelations wash over his face, bewilderment turning to horrified awareness. Slowly, beautifully played with great delicacy and subtlety by Holloway, he realizes that this man is in fact the white whale he's been chasing across the ocean of his warped, wasted life. And even then, he isn't ready to kill. It isn't until James says his mother's name as if he hasn't said it in 20 years,



until he is reminded that it was his own father he should have been hating all these years,



until Cooper tears his soul into a billion hopeless shreds



that the man, not the child, explodes and takes his vengeance.



And even in that animalistic act,



he is human,



More human than Ben who thinks murder is nothing more than a test to be failed or passed. More human than Locke who files his nails as he listens to another man's heart explode, all so he can bring home the trophy his new patriarch demands. When Locke opens the door to retrieve his bounty, the killer before him looks all of eight years old.




Don't Call Me James



It's hard to see where Sawyer goes from here. This killing didn't free him, it only trapped him back into the nightmare all traumatized children inhabit. He is literally a Man with No Name now. Can he continue to use the name of the Devil he returned to hell? Does he dare to use the name his murdered mother gave him? The man is in a world of hurt, now and probably forever, and it's a hard-hearted person indeed who doesn't sympathize with the path he has ahead of him.


Of Mice and UberMenschen

A man sweats and bleeds and cries and pukes when he kills.



The Ubermensch does not.



For the Ubermensch there is no remorse. No moral codes have been broken. No emotions have shattered his soul. And this is what makes him Special, the one thing Locke has craved his entire generic-retail-working, regional-managing existence.



It all seemed to work out very satisfactorily for the bald headed bastard. As it probably will for the bug eyed creep who sent him.



But the disturbing question remains - Can you borrow your manhood, your uber-manhood, from another man's horror and shame and anguish?



Can you count another man’s coup as your own? It's true men do it all the time. Those who were too cowardly to fight in foreign wars still sleep soundly on their featherbeds as other people's sons are sent to kill and die on manufactured pretext no stronger than Ben's - "You're special". Lost isn't as far removed from our reality as it seems... But the Others have taken this thing to a whole other level. They esteem themselves too good to murder, and yet they manipulate murder out of that lower breed that's capable of it. Is the killing class some kind of necessary lower class in their sick society? Or is this a Brothers Karamazov riff , where sons so share the guilt for their father's murder, that - lucky for them! - assigning guilt becomes irrelevant?



If visitors from the real world both believe that all of the Flight 815 bodies were found at the bottom of the ocean, is that what they meant by being "enslaved by time and space"? (Yeah, I have no clue what that line means, but it seems to fit about as well as any other theory.) If it's true, did Sawyer kill a man who was already dead? In fact, was Sawyer himself already dead when he killed the man who was already dead?



The dossiers the Others have on all the survivors, where they have information on crimes and sins that no one witnessed - are those their judgment books, being read at the gates of heaven...or hell?



And the BOX? The "metaphor" that brought Locke the very thing he needed to attain his gory Uber-manhood and allowed Ben to cheat a well deserved death. Can't someone wish for something useful already? Like the National Guard? How do these wishes get into that box anyway? Is it a like a Lottery?



And it’s also very hard to keep up on the cultural symbolism they keep throwing at us. Is it possible Sawyer isn’t in fact meant to represent Han Solo, as we’ve been thinking for so long, but instead represents Leia???



It’s fascinating.


What isn't fascinating ... is Jack.

Does he have a plan?



Is he a mole?



A clone?



A clown?



It’s hard to keep pretending anyone cares. I know we’re supposed to be fascinated, but it’s hard to stay fascinated by such mediocrity. Maybe it's that 99% of the Lost fanbase is snoring in anticipation of the anticlimactic moment when Jack pulls his metaphorical white hat out



and rides off on his metaphorical hobby horse to save the day (or as Cooper would put it blah blah blah...)... Maybe it's the fact that his only storytelling function these many weeks has been to reduce the once strong leading woman on the show to a degrading caricature of a weak-minded female.



All kidding aside, I'm going to plead with the Lost writers here. Guys? There is NO story you could possibly be writing that can justify the way the character of Kate has simpered and grovelled in Jack's dismissive presence this season. Please find a way to make. it. stop.

That said....

This was an absolutely magnificent episode, one of the best ever. It had dozens of delightful grace notes. Small pleasures. Like Locke & Rousseau's neighborly hookup at the corner dynamite store. And Desmond's gleeful delight in the tales being told by the pretty baby bird he's keeping alive in Hurley's tent. But what lifted it up to greatness were the two broken boys we kept seeing in the performances of these two men.



Terry O'Quinn is more than just the class act of this show - he's the master of his craft and a gift to all of us who've stood by this show. And Josh Holloway just gave his Emmy performance. And that better be in the Lead Actor category, by the way.



Let's stop playing games with that, ok? Any pretense that he's something less than that now is a charade.

Read more...

Big Insiderscoop

Well guys, read at your own peril. This looks to be a huge episode for our Sawyer. Some of you may already be wanting to rant and rave about it. So have at it.

Insiderscoop's Synopsis of The Brig (Warning Major Spoilers)

I'm reserving final judgment until I've seen the whole thing but dang, it sounds intense and as dark as the abyss they call my soul (TM Smallville). Sawyer sure ain't redeemed yet. Locke's a frakkin' coward. Kate's an oathbreaker. Jack's still constipated with his trust. Are we in hell yet?

Looks like Sawyer's gonna be in the thick of the main plot right until the end at least. That's a plus. Still, looks like Jacksus will eventually pull an almighty plan out of his hairy chimp ass to prove he's gonna save them after all. *insert extreme rolling of eyes*. Do these writers have any testes at all? Read more...

Presenting, straight from the Couch Asylum...the Jaters 23 Psalm

Call the men with the coats. Prepare the padded rooms. And try not to bust a rib. You know. From the laughing.
----------------------------------------------

Jate are my Shepherds; I shall not want.

They maketh me to lie down in green putting greens: they leadeth me inside the steamy shower rooms.

They restoreth my soul: they leadeth me in the paths of true romance for their ship's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Skate, I will fear no skex: for they are with me; their slings and their quava seeds they comfort me.

They preparest a jungle net of love in the presence of mine enemies: they stitcheth my wounds with standard black thread; my water bottle runneth over.

Surely 'verbal copulation' and 'something real' shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of Jate for ever. Read more...

OMFG!!! Punk'd.

Whoa. I'm sitting here with my mouth agape. Josh Holloway totally deserves an Emmy nomination for this performance. For a non-Sawyer centered episode, it was pretty much all Sawyer, wasn't it? As usual, the recap will be coming along after I pick my rutting jaw up and gather my brain cells. I feel like I've been Sylared. In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves. I'm sure you don't need me to suggest a discussion question after tonight's angst-fest. There are just so frakkin' many you could choose from!

So have at it my pretties! Read more...

V is for Vocabulary

For the purpose of today’s lesson we will be consulting that most mysterious of sources, a dictionary. Yes, I mean that hardbound leviathan collecting dust on your grandmother's bookshelf. Drag it down and look up the word: entitlement. Chances are, you will find something similar to this -

en·ti·tle·ment - noun
1 : the state or condition of being entitled
2 : a right to benefits that is granted esp. by law or contract (as an insurance policy)
NOTE: Some courts have held that entitlements are a property interest and therefore subject to procedural due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution when denied by federal or state governments.
3 : a government program that provides benefits to members of a group that has a statutory entitlement; also : the benefits distributed by such a program

We will be examining some Jaterific quotes which exemplify the Jate feeling of entitlement as defined in definition one above.

I am going to venture into the always dangerous arena of assumption and assume that even Bubbles are not misguided enough to believe Lost is either a government program or a contract subject to due process under the U.S. Constitution.

Ready? Here we go!

The everything and the kitchen sink argument for entitlement…

“Jex has to happen it is only fair TPTB can't let one ship have it always, in Dawson's Creek at least both guys got to have their turn with Joey. Foxy needs some action, it has been three months the man must be going insane.”

So much batshit in so little space. You could write a thesis on this alone! Umm, let’s see, “fair”? Are you out of your frakkin mind? Isn’t “fair” the official argument of eight year olds? It has no place in sex talk. Jaters whine that Kate is a whore, but they want multiple guys to “have their turn” with her? If your gold standard is Dawson’s Creek, how the hell is it that you are watching Lost? You’re bound to have no clue what’s even going on. And as for that last bit, Foxeeee is a real person. He has a wife. As revolting as the prospect sounds to me, I’m sure she puts out for him often enough that it hasn’t been three months.
**********

The Biblical argument for entitlement…

“I would say my faith plays a big role in why I'm a big Jater. The Jack/Kate relationship and interaction is like the classic Biblical definition of a proper marriage. In Ephesians 5:22-33 (Bible/New Testament) Paul sets up accountability in marriage, basically saying that the wife should allow the husband to lead and protect and provide, and the husband should love his wife as his own body and put her needs ahead of his own. He should be prepared to sacrifice everything for her.

This is totally Jate!

Skaters beware, the Bible backs up Jate!!!”

Well, not exactly. Jack divorced his wife, Kate abandoned her husband and the Bible is pretty clear on those subjects. "to the married I give this ruling, which is not mine but the Lord's: a wife must not separate herself from her husband (if she does, she must either remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband), and the husband must not divorce his wife" (1Cor.7:10-11).
**********

The begging and pleading argument for entitlement…

“Because we have beein through so much pain, and we deserve it. And please, PLEASE, anough already with the SKATE SHOW. Just like someone said, "revenge-sex", "hate-sex"... what else is coming now?
I hope, from the bottom of my heart, that hey (yeah, hey, TPTB) dont screw things up once for all. Would be a shame, lost the tiny part of me that still likes Jack and Kate storyline on this show.”

Careful what you ask for little Bubble. If we all got what we deserved, I doubt many of us would survive it. Oh, and a tip, when reduced to begging it’s usually not good to admit you’re begging for something you define as “the tiny part of me”.
**********

The we’ll take our butts off the couch argument for entitlement…

“yeah, that's exactly what I fear... instead of - again - ending this mess right there and then, no, they must drag it out again. this is beyond ridiculous now.
and this really makes me sad, because Jaters are already leaving - again -, and if they end this season without a real closure of Skate (and really I don't know how they could turn it around during the rest of the season) then there won't be many Jaters who will return next year :( (and I can't blame them, really)”

Has someone done a triangle census and determined that Jaters far outnumber Skaters? They seem to believe that driving Skaters away would be an excellent plan, yet driving Jaters away will somehow be ruinous for the show. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but TV shows are not produced in a vacuum. They have oversight and input from ABC, from marketing people, from discussion panels, from test audiences, from ratings, from hundreds of media outlets. If Lost was going to die without Jate, ABC would know it well ahead of time, and trust me they would do something about it.
**********

The desperately dill-usional argument for entitlement…

“I'm not shipping Jate "to win" - I feel like I've already won because I ship them. When they are together, and its pure Jate - like the game room scene...Yes Kate is being dumb right now and I am in NO WAY excusing her for her actions and will not accept her in this form with Jack. But they have not ended this.

Everyone can grow and be sorry for their actions and make terrible mistakes and then completely redeem themselves. I love this couple and THAT is why I'm here. I do believe they will end up together, but even if they didn't I'd still be here. And I'm not dillusional or blind because of it. "You can't help who you love" - And I adore them.

The REAL Jate, not these imposters I see on my TV, deserve it. The couch deserves it.”

One can only hope that was a spelling error and not some bizarre reference to pickles. This particular Bubble appears to be on the verge of a psychotic break. She claims not to be delusional. Alas, she is belied by her own words. As mad and tragic as Ophelia, ticking off a list of flowers.
**********

The right and wrong argument for entitlement…

“It amuses me to no end that NO ONE interrupts a Skate moment, which almost makes it grosser because there's always someone dropping in on Jate moments. And you could say that Skate is just meant to be except that it's So wrong, fundamentally. It's extremely frustrating to KNOW Jate is the "right" couple and have no idea of the intentions of the writers of the show anymore.”

I really have to wonder if the Bubbles realize Lost is a staged program and not just a bunch of stealthy camera operators skulking around getting candid scenes and then splicing them together. The interruptions or lack thereof are on purpose. They are in the script. Therefore, by definition, whether they happen or not, they are always right.
**********

The truth is stranger than fiction argument for entitlement…

“Really, she's not being "slutty", she's just being a poorly written character who currently "lives" to serve the writers strange fantasies because she's not the Kate that's been living on the island.

The true Kate wouldn't care about satisfying some strange physical need, she'd be worried about Jack getting hurt by this woman who's infiltrated their camp.”

Firstly, "some strange physical need". I am at a loss for words on this one. And secondly, there is only one “true” Kate, and that would be the Kate written by the writers of Lost. You know, the one we see on our TV screens each Wednesday? Any other Kate, including the one you seem to think is “true”, only exists in fantasies and fanfic.
**********

And lastly, this has nothing to do with entitlement, but I came across it in researching this article and it was just too good to pass up…

“I've never said that Jack's always right, I just don't believe he's always wrong, no matter how right he is.”

And there you have it my friends. How can the Bubbles possibly lose an argument when they are able to articulate themselves so cogently? Read more...