Season 1 Episode 3 Tabula Rasa

The third episode of Lost is the start of their classic format of island events and flashbacks of one central character for the episode. Tabula Rasa is a Kate centric episode. I enjoy this episode but it's not one of my favorites but one of my favorite episodes is a Kate centric episode, I love Whatever the Case May Be. It's so hard to try to go back and ask yourself what you thought was going on before you actually knew what Kate did but I'm sure I didn't think she was capable of murder but I knew it had to be something pretty bad for a US Marshall to be following her across the world.
First let's discuss what the title of this episode means. In Latin Tabula Rasa means "blank slate" and it refers to the idea by philosopher John Locke that we are all born with a "blank slate", that they way we are, our personalities are very selves are developed by our experiences and environment around us.








What does this title mean for this episode? Essentially every person who survived the crash of Oceanic 815 were given a blank slate. Here they are with people they think they have never met who seem to know nothing about them. Unless the past comes back to haunt them like it did for Kate they can be whoever they want to be. The ironic thing about this episode and it being Kate centric is that she seems to be the only one who doesn't get this for herself. Everyone else can be who they want to be but because of the marshall and the mugshot she will always be known as the fugitve and will be forced to earn trust when people find out what she did.


The episode starts with the Marshall telling Jack that "she" is dangerous and directs him to find Kate's mug shot. I'm sure this was devastating to Jack to find out that the one person on the island he was starting to care about is someone he may need to be afraid of.

Next we see Sawyer and Kate, Charlie, Boone and Shannon coming from hearing the french chick over the radio. As you watch this scene you can hear a strange sound in the background that to me almost sounds like a very mild version of the time traveling sound we hear in the beginning of season 5. I know I'm probably way off base but you hear this sound a lot in season 1 but not in other seasons except when we hear it again in season 5. It also sounds like the sound cicadas make.

It's night and Sayid begins to explain why no one is looking for them. Sawyer I believe calls Kate Freckles for the first time this episode. They also make a group decision to tell the first big lie. Saywer doesn't want to tell the losties back at the beach what they have found, he wants to keep their hope alive.

Back at the beach Hurley asks Jack if the monster could be a dinosaur but Jack says no because they are extinct, then Hurley finds Kate's mug shot and he is even more scared than Jack.

Sayid and company are sleeping and Boone decides to try to take Sayid's gun. I'm actually not sure why he did this and what he wanted it for. He was caught as I'm sure Sayid always keeps one eye open and they decide to give the gun to the unknowing fugitive Kate.

Kate's flashbacks start and we see her sleeping in a barn and Ray wakes her up. He wants to know what she is doing there and says the nearest town is 15 kilometers away. Even in season 1 we saw the "numbers" all the time and they seem to be intertwined in all areas of the losties lives. She tells Ray that her name is Annie and that she is Canadian and that after she graduated from college she wanted to see the world. I think it's neat fact that is what Evangeline, "Kate", did in real life. She is Canadian and did see the world after graduating from college as a missionary, I think that is so cool.

Back to Kate's flashback Ray states that his wife died 8 months ago Wednesday and he has a hell of a mortgage.

Why was Kate in Australia? We see in the 6th episode of season 3 , I do, that her husband Kevin had plane tickets for them to take a vacation. Is this why she ran to Australia? How did she think she wouldn't be tracked there when her husband had bought those tickets and could take a guess where she was going?


Sayid comes back with the losties who went with him and doesn't completely lie as he needs their help to find any cell phones and laptops to find out where the french chicks transmission is coming from.

Kate and Jack already have a close relationship and Jack is the one person she confides in and tells the truth to. However Jack cannot fully trust that she is even telling the truth as he has just seen her mugshot. Kate then becomes a little too interested in the Marshall and asks how he is doing and if he has said anything.

Hurley is pretty freaked out by seeing Kate's mug shot and wants to know what she said to Jack and asks Jacks what she did. Jack states it's not any of his business. Then Hurley seems to be as good as Sawyer at giving nicknames and tells Jack that "johnny fever" is not doing well. Jack knows that he needs to search the plane for drugs but Hurley reminds him that the "bodies" are in there.

Jack is searching in the plane and hears a noise and it turns out to be Sawyer "looting". Jack and Sawyer have an interesting conversation. Jack and Sawyer are two very different individuals, almost opposites. Jack is doing everything he can to save the Marshall not because he thinks he can but because he can't let go but we see here how easy it is for Sawyer to let go of the "real" world. He states he is in the wild and that Jack isn't looking at the big picture.



Soon we get to see the first scene where we actually get to see some love and tenderness from Jin toward Sun and we can see that it catches her off guard as much as it surprises us.

Charlie and Claire start to talk and Charlie asks if Claire's husband was on the plane and she states she's not married and how modern that makes her.

We also get to see Kate introduce herself to Hurley and we know exactly why he is nervous to be near her but Kate has no idea he knows about her.

It is dark and raining and Kate catches some time alone with the Marshall as she is leaning over him we see her flashbacks continue.

We see Jars in the pantry with 2003 on them. She has been hiding her wages in a tin can because she has trust issues yet she has no idea that the nice elderly man she has come to love is about to deliver her to the Marshall for $23,000.00. Ray convinces Kate to stay for one more night and tells Kate that everyone deserves a fresh start.

When we come back to see Kate and the Marshall, the Marshall is strangling Kate. Why is he strangling Kate? Yes she is a fugitive but that is his job, what personal reason does he have to want to actually hurt her? Does he feel like if she had never ran to Australia this would have never happened to him? Jack walks in on them and seems more concerned with the well being of his patient then Kate who is being strangled. He already things the worst of her and wants to know what she did to deserve that.



Kate then asks Jack what he is going to do about the Marshall since it seems clear to everyone but Jack that the Marshall is not going to survive. Kate asks Jack if "it" will be quick and why can't he just put him out of his misery. Jack has already assumed that Kate has committed murder when he says "I am not a murderer".

We go back to Kate's flashback and Kate thinks Ray is helping her out and giving her ride but then she notices that he keeps looking behind them and she realizes that he is about to give her up to the Marshall. She wants to know why and he says "I have a hell of a mortgage".

Now we see Micheal and Walt and Micheal wants to know what Walt has been doing with Locke and and Walt tells him that Locke told him a secret that a miracle happened to him. Instead of Micheal being patient and waiting to hear what the actual miracle was he jumps to the conclusion that the miracle is the fact that they survived a plane crash. How would things have changed if it was known right away how Locke had been healed? Micheal tells Walt that he will look for his dog and Micheal doesn't believe him but then Micheal says he will look for him as soon as it starts raining and it immediately stops raining. Is this our first indication that Walt is special?

Even in this 3rd episode we see one of Jacks greatest faults, he can't let go, he wants to fix everything.

Next we see Kate and Sawyer together and Sawyer says he came by to thank her for taking the gun because everyone knows what needs to be done with the Marshall and says it would be damn near poetic that the one bullet left would be used to put a dying man out of his misery.

Jack is working on the Marshall again and the Marshall is speaking and wants Jack to listen. He says that Kate will do anything to get away and we can see through out the series that she will do anything and betray anyone not to be caught. Even her actions in the season 5 finale left me wondering if she was still more concerned about herself. Then the Marshall states to Jack, " she got to you too". What does this mean? Does it simply mean that there is something magnetic about Kate and she is able to get anyone to do what she wants? Is this further evidence that her and the Marshall had more than a fugitive and Marshall relationship?

Kate goes into to speak to the Marshall again and we get to find out what her favor was. She wanted Ray to get the $23,000.00 because he has a hell of a mortgage.

The Marshall tells her she really is one of a kind and Kate reminds him that she did get away. He then asks her if she is gonna "do it"?

Hurley comes up to Jack and tells Jack that Kate has the one gun and is in the tent with the Marshall and he again thinks the worst of her when he is frantic that she is going to kill him but is stopped when he sees Kate walk out of the tent, but then we are all surprised when we hear a gunshot. Sawyer shot him and missed! How was it that Sawyer was able to shoot a running polar bear but not a still dying man? In a later episode of season one Sawyer finds out that he is farsighted, still kind of silly though. In the end even Jack cannot watch him suffer anymore and we are left to assume that Jack smothers him.

Now we see Locke and he blows his homemade whistle 4 times and then Vincent comes running out of the jungle! Locke finds Micheal and lets him be the one to tell Walt that he found his dog.

Kate and Jack are on the beach and Kate tells Jack that she wants to tell him what she did. Jack says it doesn't matter and that three days ago we all died and they should all get a start over, a blank slate.

As this episode ends we get to see some heart felt moments as Hurley listens to his music, Jin and Sun, Claire and we even see Sayid give Sawyer an apple and of course we get to see a bitter sweet reunion between Walt and Vincent since we know what happens at the end of season one.

We also see Charlie change the word on his fingers from fate to late. Was this significant because not only did it signify that their rescue was late but that Charlies own death was being delayed over and over until he chose to give his life for his friends in the end of the third season?

The last moment of this episode is another odd moment with Locke as he looks over everything and we hear not so pleasant music.