Getting Lost: S01E03: Tabula Rasa

This is our first character flashback episode, the first of many Kate back story episodes. This episode clarifies that she is indeed a criminal on the run, and that she has been hiding out in Australia when the U.S. Marshals finally catch up to her. Her back story resonates with her being told that everyone deserves a chance to start over...and then she is promptly betrayed by the same person within the span of 24 hours. It parallels Jack telling her the same thing at the end of the episode when she wants to tell him about her crime--he tells her they've all died and all get to start over; he doesn't want to know (hey asshole, we do!). I have to wonder how long it is before he throws her under the bus as well when I see that.

The rest of the centrism on Kate this episode really isn't terribly interesting. I like that she returned the gun to Sawyer and that he gloriously screwed up his mercy killing of the Marshal.

What really caught my thoughts this episode were the scenes with John Locke, which were few. So far we've seen him doing a lot of sitting down. I would think someone who has undergone the same miracle he has would be spending more time enjoying his ability to walk again. I'm picturing Professor X playing basketball the first time his ability to walk was returned to him. We also have more of John's strange friendship with Walt, and Walt's revelation to his father that John calls this place a miracle. We assume he's talking about their surviving the crash, and surely that is correct, but hindsight also tells us that a lot more miracle-making is going on here than that. Also of note: John is magic (which is true for so much to come). With no crafting skill in his repertoire, a knife and a simple piece of bamboo he crafts the perfect dog whistle, attracting the return of Vincent and providing Michael the first instance of someone else mending his father-son relationship with Walt for him.

This episode has one of those annoying "play some hackneyed popular song over a video montage of characters emoting" scenes at the very end. I don't remember this being a habit. I hope I remember correctly. The musical montage ends with a close-up of John looking dark and sinister. Why?






My Questions: (I will carry these forward from review to review until they answered in the show, even if I know the answer now.)
1. What is the monster?
2. Why didn't the survivors ever go in search of the tail section?
3. Why is there a polar bear on a tropical island?
4. What federal law did Kate break that has her chased round the world by a U.S. Marshal?
5. Who is the French woman on the radio?