My Serious, Logical Thoughts on What Kate Does

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What Kate does refers to more than just what Kate does in this episode. It is actually a play on words of a former episode entitled What Kate Did. In that episode we learned that Kate killed her stepfather.

To remind you AT = alternate timeline and allows me to reference the same character in the timeline where the plane landed. The alternate timeline gives us an insight into what would have happened to the LOSTaways had the plane landed. Though this timeline has been altered by the disappearance of certain objects such as coffins, knives and at least one person. We learn that the plan of Claire to give up her baby for adoption would not have worked because the marriage of the adoptive parents fell apart. Hey, try picking up a phone next time so AT Claire doesn’t have to travel across the ocean to find that out! I am reminded that Claire was warned by the psychic that she had to raise the child herself or something dreadful would happen. There was some speculation a few seasons ago by some that the psychic knew Claire would crash on the island and that there were no waiting parents in L.A. That theory was proven wrong by this episode, but that doesn’t mean that the psychic didn’t know about the plane crash.
In both timelines there is a definite Kate-Claire relationship. In the original timeline Claire asks Kate to watch her baby, and Kate goes back to the island to rescue Claire and bring her back to Aaron. AT Kate befriends Claire despite her felonious circumstances and the two become friends so quickly that Claire even covers for Kate when the cops show up. This may be because both can sense the other timeline in which they have a strong bond which involves Aaron.
Notice how AT Claire knew the name of the baby was Aaron. This indicates that the two timelines are not as separate as they may appear. This alternate timeline may in fact be slowly converging into the other timeline. When Kate is in the cab at the airport, for an instant she sees Jack and feels like she knows him. Look for more people and things to disappear as the episodes of this season continue. In the end only one timeline will remain. Notice that we see AT Ethan. To remind us, Ethan was the child of two members of DHARMA. In the original timeline after DHARMA was killed off the Others adopted Ethan. In the AT Ethan escapes on the sub off the island before it explodes. He is called doctor Goodspeed in the AT. In both timelines note that Ethan is a doctor though in the original timeline we have no info on any medical degree just that he is an excellent surgeon according to Ben. We have not seen AT Juliet yet. Wonder if we will. Will she be back with her sister, or will her sister be dead from cancer?

Since season one we have wondered about the mysterious sickness first mentioned by Danielle Rousseau. She of course had to kill her own team members when they became infected with something. During time traveling Jin actually sees her kill her own husband after he tries to fire a rifle at her not knowing that the firing pin has been removed. This sickness now appears to be not an infection in the conventional sense that you can treat with antibiotics. It appears to be a sickness of the soul and turns you into some kind of evil person. This also agrees with what Ben said when he said we are the good guys referring to the Others. We are told that you get this sickness when you are claimed. This implies that someone is doing the claiming. That may be the Locke-ness monster. He claims you as his own and then you turn into some kind of bad person. The sickness erases the old person. Whatever this thing is it changes your heart so much that you are a completely new person and for the worse. The Others know this and that there is no cure. Once you are claimed you are claimed. The test used to diagnose Sayid seems to be based on the reaction of the body to strong heat stimulus and electrical stimulus. But how does this test work? If Sayid had passed the test what would have happened differently? Notice that the tester spreads what looks like gunpowder across the chest of Sayid. Interesting that the part where Sayid says they tortured me and did not ask me any questions is a line straight out of the Empire Strikes Back and was spoken by Han Solo in the cloud city.

Claire has already been infected. This may have occurred on or before the day when she abandoned her baby in the jungle and went off. We find her later in a shack with Christian. But is Christian just another representation of the Locke-ness monster? Could be. And that lends credence to my idea that you get claimed by the Locke-ness monster. He claimed Claire and so she is with him now. That is a quote from Claire herself: I am with him now. There was some speculation a while back that Claire might be dead, but she turns up alive and well at the end of this episode and toting a gun in uncharacteristic Claire fashion. Ever see Claire shooting a gun? I did not think so. She seems to be a decent marksmen too. Could the evil have already infected her heart? If so then how will that affect her relationship with the other LOSTaways? Will she want to kill them help them or get them claimed like herself. By the way, how did the Others know that Claire was the sister of Jack? Even Jack did not know this when he got on the plane. The trap that Aldo, Justin, Kate and Jin almost fell into was set by Claire though it is mentioned that it looks like a trap Rousseau would set. So now Claire has become like Rousseau living on her own setting traps and such. She heard that trap sprung when Jin got caught in it and that is how she showed up so quickly.

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