"What Kate Does" (Season 6, Episode 3)

The title of this episode is a variation on the season 2 episode, "What Kate Did". In that one, we saw Kate kill the man she thought was her stepfather but was in fact her biological father. She did this by blowing up his house while he was passed out inside. This time around, we have a somewhat gentler, kinder Kate as she helps out Claire. Should we expect a Thelma and very pregnant Louise storyline?

Best Lines (More than one this week because you can never have too many sarcastic remarks.)

• "As you can see, Hugo here has assumed the leadership position. So, that's pretty great." Miles at his most sarcastic.
• "I'm sorry. Is this a press conference?" Aldo responding to Jin's questioning.
• "We'll be in the food court if you need us." Miles to Jack.
  

Did You Notice? - 2004 Parallel Timeline

• Kate and Jack seem to share a moment of recognition in the airport parking lot more than from just their passing each other outside the airplane's lavatory. A simultaneous deja vu for both of them?
• Leslie Arzt says "I'm walking here" which is a famous movie line spoken by Dustin Hoffman in "Midnight Cowboy" when the cab almost runs him over. Maybe more appropriately, this line is also spoken by Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) in "Back to the Future, Part II". It also mirrors the time Sawyer used the same line when Ana Lucia almost ran him over while driving for Christian Shephard in Australia.
• The stuffed killer whale Kate finds in Claire's bag is the same as the one Aaron had when Kate was raising him after the Oceanic 6 returned from the island.
• Last week, we had Jack looking at himself in the airplane lavatory mirror; this week, Kate in the mechanic bay's mirror. Alice Through the Looking Glass moments? I'll have to notice if these scenes of reflection (pun intended) continue in future episodes.
• In one of the early episodes, Claire had been warned by the Australian psychic not to let her baby be raised by another. Is the breakup of the adopting couple the universe's way of "course correcting" and making sure this doesn't happen?
• The nurse with the wheelchair who brings Claire into the hospital was previously Kate's nanny in Los Angeles when she was raising Aaron.
• How odd to see a benevolent Ethan Rom, I mean Goodspeed. His hope to not have to stick Claire with needles is a departure from his Dharma alter ego who happily poked and prodded the expectant Claire on the island. This Ethan obviously escaped the island's fate before it was submerged.
• Kate seems to sense a familiarity when Claire mentions her unborn baby's name is Aaron.
• Big shout-out to co-worker Theresa who noticed the date on Claire's ultrasound picture was 10/22/04, exactly one month after the original Oceanic Flight 815 was scheduled to arrive. From the series start, September 22 was their arrival date in LA. Since this episode's parallel events take place on the same day Oceanic 815 landed, then this new date implies the flight took place in October in this version. Check it out:
  

• "Joan Hart", the name Detective Rasmussen uses when asking for Kate, is the same alias Kate used in an early episode when she sneaked into the hospital to see her dying mother. It is similar to the name of actress Melissa Joan Hart, who starred in "Sabrina the Teen Witch" which also featured the actress who played Kate's mother.
• Are we to presume this parallel version of Kate committed the same crime as she did originally or is this why she asks Claire if she would believe her if she said she was innocent?
  

Did You Notice? - 2007 Island Timeline

• Both last week and this week, Miles seems preoccupied with Sayid. Since Miles can commune with the dead, does he know more about Sayid's condition than he's letting on?
• Why is it so important to Dogen and Lennon that Sawyer has to stay at the temple? So much so that Dogen even speaks English to try and convince him not to leave. Does Dogen know of a role that Sawyer will play in upcoming events?
• The Other named Aldo first appeared in Season 3, guarding the Dharma building that housed Room 23 where Alex's boyfriend Karl was being brainwashed by visual stimuli. You may also recognize him from FX's comedy series, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".
• Presumably, the dark powder that Dogen blows over Sayid when he is testing him is some of the magic ash that is used to keep the Smoke Monster at bay.
• I believe Sayid fails the test because he doesn't react as Sayid truly would. He seems pitiful as he begs "Why?". As a torturer himself, Sayid would be more stoic. If being "infected" or "claimed" by the Smoke Monster (and not Jacob as some had theorized last week) alters your personality, this may explain why Claire was creepy after she disappeared with her and Jack's dad (or more likely, the Man in Black posing as Christian).
• If you didn't remember (and I'll admit I didn't), Rousseau was shot and killed with Karl by the mercenary Keamy. Miles discovered their bodies on the jungle floor.
• Sayid's comment that Dogen didn't even ask him any questions during the torture is similar to a scene in "The Empire Strikes Back" with Han Solo on Cloud City after Darth Vader has shocked him.
  
• Hurley's zombie remark to Sayid reminded me of a scene early in the series when Charlie said to Hurley that their whole island adventure would probably end with them being chased down the beach by zombies. First Claire, now Sayid. It shouldn't be long before Nikki and Paulo are going to be digging themselves out of the sand!
• The scene of Sawyer lifting the floorboards to get the ring made me think of young Kate and her childhood friend Tom digging up the shoe box to get the treasures they had buried as children.
• We had previously seen Desmond toss Penelope's ring in the water not unlike Sawyer throwing his in the ocean in last night's episode.
• Dogen was also the name of a Zen Buddhist teacher who lived in the 13th century.
  
• Regarding Dogen and his baseball: In the TV series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", Benjamin Sisko, the commander of the space station, always had a baseball displayed on his desk throughout the entire run of the show. In the pilot episode, he used the baseball as a metaphor to explain the nature of linear time to the inhabitants of the wormhole, who experienced time all at once. Also, thanks to co-worker Ben for pointing out that there are 108 double stitches on a baseball. 108 is the total of The Numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42. Since the stitches are double, some refer to the number as 216, which is what you get if you multiply 6x6x6. 666 is the sign of the devil. Spooky!
• Dogen's reference to Jack's sister obviously means his half-sister Claire.
  
• In the three years between 2004 and 2007, Claire has obviously taken up the role of crazy, rifle-toting foreign lady whose child was taken and now puts booby traps in the jungle. Rousseau would be proud.
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• Sawyer asks Kate if she thinks there are 5, 10, or 100 guards outside the temple.
• Aldo reminds Kate he was there during her prison break from the Hydra Station 3 years ago.
• Ethan says Claire is 3 centimeters dilated.
  

Next week, this episode will be replayed as the enhanced version (comments along the bottom of the screen) at 8 p.m. ET followed by the new episode, "The Substitute" which focuses on UnLocke. Look for these episodes and which characters will be featured in the weeks to come:

February 23 - Jack
March 2 - ?
March 9 - Ben (What will Benjamin Linus be like in parallel 2004?)
March 16 - Sawyer
March 23 - Richard Alpert (Black Rock slave backstory?)
March 30 - Sun and Jin