“I got trust issues.” - Kate

Months after Lost’s remarkable pilot episode was shot, the series was picked up for series and it was time for the show’s writers and producers to figure out where the story was going and what the series’ format would actually be.

Although “Tabula Rasa” is the first true episode of the first season, the show is still a work in progress. In many ways, “Tabula Rasa” is the missing final third of the pilot, dealing with the immediate aftermath of where that double-length episode left us off. Some quirks in this episode show us that the producers still hadn’t quite figured out the rhythm of the show and all the conventions of the format. And of course, it wouldn’t be until the show’s next episode, “Walkabout,” that Lost would truly become the show you talked about around the water cooler at work the next day.

Obviously in a Kate-centric episode, the most important aspect of paying off the pilot episode is dealing with the fact that Edward Mars, the U.S. Marshal who had been transporting Kate back to Los Angeles from Sydney in handcuffs, is awake and able to communicate the truth about Kate.

(Hence the name of the episode, literally “a blank slate,” suggesting Kate’s desire to not be burdened by her past. Of course, the title is more than just about Kate. It’s a nod to every character on the show and the entire premise of the show, which is that this is a group of people, most of whom have never met before, who are now stranded on a maybe-not-so-deserted island. They can lie about who they are. They are, like the new kid moving into your school from out of state, a blank slate. Of course, as Lost’s flashback storytelling format rapidly makes clear, every decision you make in the present is indelibly colored by the events of the past. If there’s one theme to the series as a whole, it’s that: The past is not dead. It’s not even past.)

Since this is her big time to shine, let’s talk about Kate. This episode is perfect in that it does what the show will do for several more Kate flashbacks to come — tease you with the idea that you’ll learn details of Kate’s crime, only to leave you unconscious by the side of the highway next to your flaming vintage farmer truck.

I do enjoy the flashback involving Ray Mullen, the recently-widowered one-armed Australian farmer, who knows that “Annie” is on the run from something but is compassionate enough (and maybe needy enough) not to care. Hey, if you were on the run from the law in a foreign land, wouldn’t you want some nice local to befriend you and give you a place to stay? I especially enjoy the scene where Ray discovers Kate removing her money from her hiding place in anticipation of making a break for it. You can play that scene back and watch it from his perspective as a surprised host, then from Kate’s perspective as a paranoid fugitive, and then a third time once you realize that Ray’s not just keeping her around for hospitality’s sake — he’s realized that she’s a fugitive and wants to collect his $23,000 (Australian). (Also, I love that Kate poses as a Canadian, given that Evangeline Lily actually is a Canadian.)

In the end, Kate tries elude Mars by crashing poor Ray’s truck. And what a good job she does of it, turning it into a real CHiPs-level event, complete with multiple rollovers and a nice burst of flame. Turns out Kate’s got a heart of gold, too, because she pulls Ray from the wreck to save his life, even though — as Mars taunts her about — she might have gotten away if she hadn’t stopped to save one-armed (and now truckless) Ray.

Later, after a gratuitous replay of plane-crash scenes from the pilot episode (a trick that the show simply doesn’t do anymore, replaying scenes without providing new information), we learn that all Kate was trying to say to Mars before the plane crash was a request for poor old Ray to get his $23,000 Australian dollars for turning her in. Can you blame her? She wrecked his ride. Talk about guilt.

In the end, of course, the Marshal doesn’t make it. He’s around long enough to provide Jack (and Hurley) with her mug shot, allowing Hurley to declare “She looks hard core!” (So much for Kate’s blank slate, eh?) But before the Marshal gets busy dying, he gets to be a part of some memorable and important scenes. His screams of torment enliven the very first real one-on-one scene between Sawyer and Kate.

Of course, Kate can’t put him out of his misery because she’s as far from an impartial person as possible — even though she might be the best qualified person to do the job. Instead it falls to Sawyer, who reveals that he might not be the tough guy we all might have assumed he was by botching the job, leaving Mars in even more agony and facing a long, slow death. Jack has no choice, then, but to clean up Sawyer’s mess and end it. Thus begins the Kate-Jack-Sawyer dynamic.

But before Jack does lord knows what to finish Mars off, he’s got one piece of advice for Jack. With the hindsight of 100-plus episodes, it’s amusing to hear what the Marshal tells Jack about his future would-be girlfriend: “No matter what she does, no matter how she makes you feel, don’t trust a word she says. She will do anything to get away.” The way I read Kate’s character, she’s actually the opposite of how the Marshal views her: she’s one of the most trustworthy characters on the show, as well as one of the least likely to flee a difficult situation.

Fortunately for Kate, Jack appears to immediately disregard everything the Marshal says as the rantings of a madman. I mean, can you blame him? She’s so purty. Especially in that orange shirt.

The rest of this episode is largely society-building stuff, necessary to the concept of the show — you’ve got to at least pay lip service to the idea that they’re setting up a society on this island now that they’ve heard the French transmission and realize they might be here for a long time. So we get Sayid exhorting people to collect fresh water, for example. Jack goes into the fuselage (populated by “B-O-D-Y-S,” as Hurley says, not realizing that the whole spelling-out trick doesn’t work on kids older than six) to find medicine and runs into Saywer, who is scavenging for later use. And then there’s Jin, who is once again shown to be a real dick, despite the fact that in all his flashbacks he doesn’t seem quite so boorish.

This episode provides Charlie’s first real act of chivalry for Claire, setting those characters on a path that will have plenty of ups and downs, leading to one of them drowning and the other, uh, disappearing into a ghost shack. By the way, if you’ve watched the episode, did you notice how Charlie helps Claire with her suitcase? He puts it on a conveniently located wheelchair. I wonder who that chair belonged to? We haven’t seen any paralyzed people on the show. Oh well. I’m sure it’s not important.

Speaking of John Locke, in preparing us for next week’s Locke-centric episode, we get a lot more of him in this episode than in the pilot. But he’s still treated as a bit of a weirdo. “Mr. Locke said, a miracle happened to him,” Walt tells Michael, revealing the “secret” Locke told him in the pilot episode. But Michael, ever the bad parent, figures that Locke is too creepy and tries to keep Walt away from him.

As it turns out, the mysterious Mr. Locke is an old softy who has been carving a dog whistle so that he can coax Vincent out of the jungle. And once he’s got Vincent, Locke brings the dog to Michael to present to his son. It’s a really sweet moment, showing that not only is Locke a decent person, he’s got a level of industry that might come in handy.

And yet with all those good feelings, how does the episode end? (I mean, other than the musical montage — as heard through the headphones of Hurley, in another sign that the show is still working out what it wants its overall vibe to be.) With Michael bringing Vincent back to Walt — under the staring eyes of John Locke. Cue creepy music!

Well, which is it, Lost? Is John Locke some creepy guy or is he misunderstood? Why do you go to great lengths to show us that he’s a thoughtful, friendly guy, only to give us as the episode’s parting shot a full pan around his dome and close in on his face as he looks at Walt and Michael while menacing music plays. Yeah, I know, Locke is a mysterious guy. But when you have characters behaving in one way, and then the show’s technical tools — camera moves and music cues — push you in a totally different way, it’s disconcerting. As if the music and camera angles are trying to negate the script.

The guy carved a freakin’ dog whistle and then gave the kid’s dad the chance to look good by returning his dog as if the dad had found it himself. And for that, he gets creepy music and a weird panning shot? Dirty pool.

Skippable? Not really, but this episode is not quite as essential as you might think. There’s a lot of extension of the pilot episode. Still, how can you not want to see how it was that Kate was captured? Though if you want to see the crime she committed, you’ll be waiting a while.

Superfluous: There’s a scene where Michael accidentally finds Sun topless. This is the beginning of a very strange plot thread in which Jin becomes jealous of Michael, putting them at odds during the building of (and torching of) the first escape raft. I kind of got the feeling that the writers were halfheartedly trying to create a love triangle between Sun, Jin, and Michael. In hindsight it seems kind of dumb. But it seemed dumb at the time, too.

Up next: Get your brochures and a comfortable pair of I’m-not-actually-walking shoes. It’s time for a “Walkabout” with John Locke. And if you see John Locke, just for kicks, tell him what he can’t do. He loves that.

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