by Teresa Jusino
I was so hopeful at the top of the show. This week’s episode opened on a close-up of Locke’s eye, and usually when that happens, the episode will focus on that character. I thought Yes! A Locke episode! (or a “Lockisode” as a friend of mine called it) Then, there was a close-up of Kate and the familiar “fade to flash-forward” noise, and I thought Oh, no. This is going to be about Kate, isn’t it? I hate Kate episodes.
Eggtown had plenty of exciting moments and reveals (Locke forcing Miles to keep his mouth shut by shoving a grenade into his mouth and removing the pin! The world thinks only eight people survived the crash at all! And most importantly, KATE HAS AARON!), but, and feel free to disagree with me here, this episode wasn’t nearly as successful as last week’s precisely because it was a Kate episode.
I’ve wanted to like Kate since the beginning of the series. It seemed like she would be one of those “strong female characters” I’d heard tell about. She seemed feisty. She has a dark past. She’s a fugitive on the run who makes every man she comes across want her and knows how to shoot a gun. She’s killed before. Apparently, time on a strange island is enough to make someone like that extremely lame. I can reduce Kate’s involvement in the show to four phrases:
I’m pretty.
What should we do, Jack?
Shut up, Sawyer.
I’m coming along whether you want me to or not!
Never mind that whenever she does “come along” she ends up needing to be rescued! For heaven’s sake! She doesn’t actually ever do anything except climb trees, walk around in a bath towel, and stare intensely. Now, there are plenty of characters who don’t do much of anything. Take Claire, for example. Most of the time, she’s following someone, or sitting with Aaron. Yet she’s more important to the story of Lost at this point than Kate is by virtue of being Jack’s half-sister, and being Aaron’s mother, in addition to having been Charlie’s love interest. Also, there was that one episode totally based around a concrete idea she had (Par Avion in Season Three). Sun remains relevant because she’s carrying a baby, and clearly needs to get off the island in order to survive. Also, she has a complex and interesting relationship with Jin that keeps me glued to the screen whenever episodes focus on them. Same goes for Rose, whose cured disease keeps her relevant, and whose marriage is interesting enough to make me care. Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for Kate to be relevant as anything other than one of the points in a really boring love triangle.
Now, in this episode, you could feel them trying to make her relevant, badass, and interesting. She bitch-slapped Sawyer (what took her so long?), she stood up to Locke (sort of), and now, *shock of shockers!*, she’s apparently responsible for Aaron. But it was still mostly what seemed like whining about her dark past, which in my opinion has yet to be relevant to the main Lost plot. All she actually did in the episode was pull a weak con to take Miles to Ben, and that was only because she wanted to hear more about herself. It’s like, we get it, Kate. You’re a fugitive. Stay on the island or don’t, but for the love of God, do something! Kate hasn’t been interesting since Season One.
[nms:lost abc,1,0]
So, yeah. Kate is pretty much the reason why most of this episode seemed like a waste of time to me. Except for the last 10 seconds, where Aaron is revealed off the island. That was pretty cool.
Oh, and for those of you who were wondering…An “eggtown” is a town where a salesman can only make bad deals because no one has anything to trade. The term comes from the Great Depression when people would try to trade traveling salesmen eggs for goods — eggs being common, fragile and perishable, and therefore not worth much. It’s used as a reference to being unable to make a good deal.
I didn’t know that either. Thank God for geeky friends who keep me informed!
For a full synopsis of the episode, you can go to the ABC Lost page.
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TERESA JUSINO was born on the same day that Skylab fell. Coincidence? She doesn’t think so. As a writer, her work has appeared in Elmont Life newspaper, and on the sadly defunct website, CentralBooking.com. She is currently at work on a collection of short stories. As a geek, Teresa loves Star Trek, Lost, comics, and anything Joss Whedon ever touched. Also, she has a fangirl *squee-ing* crush on Brian K. Vaughan. Yes, she knows he’s married. Teresa recommends: 5 Minute Lost
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TERESA JUSINO was born on the same day that Skylab fell. Coincidence? She doesn't think so. As a writer, her work has appeared in Elmont Life newspaper, and on the sadly defunct website, CentralBooking.com. She is a founding member and editor of The Revolving Door Commune Blog, is currently at work on a collection of short stories, and is writing a web series for Pareidolia Films called The Pack, which is set to debut this fall! As a geek, Teresa loves all Star Trek, Lost, Fringe, comics, and anything Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, and Neil Gaiman ever touched. She is also an aspiring fangbanger. 
Why Kate is awesome:
-she is mysterious
-the lead female
-the best actress on the show (not to mention the least experienced but she pulls it off like a pro).
-she cares about other people
I’m not really into the arguing mood but I just realized I’m in a Kate haters paradise right now, so I’ll just leave.
she is the cause of all the problems…..why is she always getting in peoples business, and sleeping with sawyer and jack, and as a matter of fact, she is an amazing actress because thats how she makes me hate her so much, but the character. I hate her, and i hope she dies, and i really hope she dies painfully. I really do. OMG im having a melt down, because i hate her character so much. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODD!
You’re welcome to stay – we really are nice people around here.
But, when we’re told to go to Hell, we like to be told exactly why we should go.
I never liked Kate. Was she supposed to come off as a strong , kick ass female? I keep reading about that but I never seen her like that.She always just looked like a manipulative liar with a pretty face who did stupid things. To me her flashbacks make no sense at all, and it just pissed me off how she kept using people for her advantage and lying all the time. It’s like to really get the truth out of her you really have to dig it out, because she’s just adictive to lying. You never know what she’s up to, and when you find out, it’s always something really silly. like a stupid toy in season one.I like her with Sawyer, because he seems to know how to handle her. But Jack…man she managed to ruin my favorite character by turning him into a lovefool that she can walk all over anytime she wants, because he “loves her” despite all her incursions with Sawyer. Hope she choses one already or just die or disappear.
I’m more interested in the fact that Adam felt the need to so fervently defend a TV character at the expense of real people!
I'm not a fan of Kate either. She's a parasite, attaching herself to whomever best suits her. She stuck to Sawyer because she saw he was adept at scrounging, which is important on a deserted island. She stuck to Jack because he was the leader. She managed to duck a murder conviction because she stuck to Aaron and let Jack make up that incredibly dumb story of her heroism on the island. She lacks faith, and when I say faith I mean she has no conscience in doing whatever she needs to survive.
i love how you think.
I just can stand Kate. Ive been waiting for her to die since season 1. She lacks any substance, and like the original poster, I dont see how she is relevant to ANYTHING. Other than she's hot or something. (I honestly feel thats why she has remained a part of the show. I think they could have just as easily kept Analucia or Libby around instead for the same storyline)
She begs to be included, but she never follows orders, then whines again about being out of the loop, follows the group and then gets captured.
Dumb, dumb character. Cant take much more.
'I’m pretty.
What should we do, Jack?
Shut up, Sawyer.
I’m coming along whether you want me to or not!'
Exactly!
yeah i also have to agree she is really getting old, iv been rewatching the series and at first i kinda liked her, but then the wanna be tom boy crap got old lol.. the lady i have enjoyed seing grow myself is juilet, shes strong fierce, yet shes also kind and carring which is wierd beacuse at first i didnt like her.. everyone else preatty much summed up why she fails how about some exampals lol…
1# season 3 eposide 23 or 24, when there heading for the radio tower, and they meet ben, jack walks out and meets him mean while kate in the background is doing her zoolander look and starts a goofy a** jog / walk around the edges of the field later comming to jack and assuring him with her ninja skills that theres only 2 track marks and the trail she found and examaned in .05 seconds. LOL it justhit me last night how i dont like her now.. O and sawyer better not get back with her hes doing way better now with the other chick!!!! SCREW KATE go be manley on some other show making those good actor looks go to waste
Kate's character is so annoying now. I like Evi as an actress but god does Kate suck.
I also hate Kate. She seems to be a way for the writers to artificially inject conflict into any given plot line. Whatever is happening, Kate is there, and she does not agree with whatever is going on. Usually she has no real concrete reason for disagreeing with whatever plan anyone has come up with, she just does. I noticed this trend in the first season and have hated her with a passion for it during the show's entire run. To me she has no personality whatsoever, and is instead just a dumping ground for the angst and conflict that the writers feel they need to make the show more interesting.