"Tabula Rasa"

Written by Damon Lindelof
Directed by Jack Bender


In which Kate’s fugitive past comes to the forefront when Jack discovers her secret while trying to save the marshall’s life...

Status Report - Final Analysis







Status Report
The pilot was structured to introduce the characters and setting of the series, so the actual episodes begin the job of chronicling the days after the crash, as those seeking a semblance of civilization run up against those who prefer shifting morality to match their situation. None of the characters stray too far from their own humanity, but the signs are there, however much the characters might want to tell themselves otherwise.

The episode is written in a style that is refreshingly non-linear, embracing the serial nature of the story without reservation. The episodes are covering certain activities, but it’s easy to see how the individual episodes will ultimately blend into one large tapestry. The badly injured US Marshall is at the center of the turmoil, especially given the revelations about Kate. The marshall is dying, and how several characters deal with that is revealing.

Now that he has a patient to look after, Jack seems to appreciate the chance to step out of the leadership role he took on in the first episode. He took on that responsibility largely through default, since he was the first one to organize any kind of action. Now, however, he can focus less on their overall situation and more on maintaining his own hope. Doing everything possible for the marshall is not about saving a life; it’s about not giving up.

This is reflected in Jack’s relationship with Kate. Jack learns very quickly that Kate is the fugitive, and at first, he acts as though that matters. Even after Kate tells him the truth about the French transmission, Jack acts as though the survivors are only dealing with a short-term problem. This form of denial, as Sawyer mentions, is his attempt to continue acting in a civilized fashion, and in the process, Jack makes some very simple mistakes.

For the one thing, he lets the marshall suffer far too long. That’s important to his character, however, because as long as he holds off from what’s necessary, he’s holding on to hope. It’s left to the marshall to make the decision for himself, and then Sawyer forces the issue even further. Once Jack realizes that the marshall has no hope, he makes the hard decision and finishes the job. At that point, it’s easy to see that much of Jack’s hope dies with the marshall, snuffed out by his own hands.

Jack begins the episode wondering what Kate had done, believing that it matters on some level. By the end of the episode, he comes to the conclusion that a lack of speedy rescue means that their past lives no longer matter. They have to allow themselves to be reborn within their current situation. Unfortunately, Jack will likely discover that it’s not that easy. He may not believe that the past matters, but others certainly will, and any reason to distrust will be unearthed when the time comes for sides to be taken.

The episode is dominated by the question of Kate’s true colors, and the writers do a great job of keeping the answers from being too clear-cut. If the pilot hinted at the possibility that the marshall had some kind of personal issue with Kate, then this episode takes that and runs with it. The relationship between the two is never explained, but the marshall goes to great lengths to personally take Kate into custody. There are indications that she’s very good at deception and getting people to trust her, and also suggestions that her true nature is far more violent than her demeanor would indicate.

At the same time, Kate displays a powerful compassion. As concerned as she might be for her own future, she genuinely cares about people like Ray who are caught up in her problems. In fact, the flashbacks strongly suggest that Kate committed her apparent crimes out of self-defense. It’s likely to be more complicated than that, once the truth is revealed; Kate saved Ray’s life, but she was also the reason that he was hurt in the first place. Kate tried to get away as her first priority, but refused to leave Ray behind to die for her actions.

It would have been easier, perhaps, for Kate to simply kill the marshall, if she were truly inclined to violence. But she actually cares about the man’s suffering, and wants to do something about it. So when Jack continues to delay the inevitable, Kate makes the only choice she can reasonably make. Out of compassion for both the marshall and Jack, she gives Sawyer the gun so the dying man can be put out of his misery. It’s not her fault that Sawyer botches the job.

After playing a fairly central role in the pilot, Charlie steps back in this episode, mostly trying to forge relationships with the other survivors. While his conversation with Locke is rather amusing (and convenient for Locke’s plot thread), it’s his interaction with Claire that says the most about him. Charlie could have been a posturing fool of a man, but it’s quite possible that his addiction and lifestyle overshadows a kind and generous nature. The writers could easily be using the audience’s assumptions that drug use equates to moral deficit against them.

Hurley continues to be comic relief, but things could get bad for him very quickly. Hurley lingers on things a little too much, even when people caution him to let things go. In this instance, Hurley seems very close to telling people about Kate, because he seems to think that action needs to be taken. Hurley is exactly the kind of character that could ultimately force Kate to reveal everything in her past; he’s also the kind of character that could severely piss someone off for telling secrets, especially if the survivors begin turning on one another.

As suggested by the second episode, Sayid is a natural leader, able to quickly make command decisions. Not only does he attempt to rise above personal conflicts, but he also sees the big picture. It’s interesting, of course, that he is the one that demands the truth be hidden about the French distress signal. He recognizes that the survivors need hope, but he also has to know that in the long-term, keeping secrets about their situation from the survivors can be dangerous. Sayid is placing himself directly in the crosshairs by taking on a leadership role, because if anything goes wrong, he’ll be the one to blame.

Sawyer continues to act as though he considers himself to be better than everyone else, and that arrogance is more dangerous than it seems. Sawyer shifts all too easily into scavenger mode, looting the plane when the others aren’t looking, seeking some kind of advantage. Sawyer seems to revel in the idea that the survivors must “return to the wild”, but he is also prone to mistakes. Any fool would have known better than to shoot the marshall in the chest, but Sawyer didn’t think things through. If there is an early candidate for someone to establish a less civilized subgroup among the survivors, Sawyer is that person.

Shannon and Boone have very little to do in this episode, other than to agree to Sayid’s demand that they lie about the French distress signal. Claire also seems to be out of the spotlight, though her scenes with Charlie are revealing. She’s not married, and she seems oddly cheerful. She’s absolutely gorgeous, of course, which certainly doesn’t hurt when it comes to getting people to help her.

One concern, of course, is Jack’s decision to use as much medicine as possible on the marshall. Sawyer may be rather arrogant and ignorant, but he’s absolutely right when he points out that the medicine Jack gathers should be saved for the future. This especially pertains to Claire. There’s no telling how the crash, stress, and lack of nutrition is going to affect her pregnancy, and the conditions on the island are far from sanitary. Granted, women have been giving birth in less than ideal conditions for millennia, but death during childbirth was also very common. The lack of medicine could become an issue if something goes wrong with Claire.

Michael and Walt continue to struggle with their relationship, and considering Michael’s complete lack of parenting skills, that is no surprise. Michael is the kind of parent who makes foolish promises to gain the affection of his child, and as a result, he needlessly risks his life when other solutions exist. His interaction with Sun could have been comic, but it was more like disturbing, thanks to the way the scene was staged.

Speaking of Sun, she is clearly bristling under Jin’s cultural concerns. By now it’s fairly certain that they are a married couple, or at least engaged, but Sun doesn’t appreciate Jin’s heavy-handed attitude. Sun doesn’t quite seem to know how to reach when Michael stumbles upon her, which is interesting, since Jin would definitely have wanted her to scream or run for cover. Jin better watch it, because Sun seems to be on the brink of rebellion.

Locke continues to be a mystery. His relationship with Walt is still unsettling, to the point that one might wonder whether or not something is wrong with the dog now! His act of kindness with Michael is two-sided; it helps Michael in the short term, but sooner or later, Walt is going to end up disappointed. And then there’s Locke’s secret, something about a miracle taking place on the island. Once again, this suggests that he knows where they are and what happened, and that he has a sympathetic attitude towards those past activities.

Though the bizarre creatures on the island don’t make much of an appearance (the animal chasing Michael sounded like a wild boar, nothing special), there are still some unsettling aspects of the island that are hard to explain. Mostly it’s that damned rain! It’s just creepy how it starts and stops with little or no warning, without even the relatively quick slowdown that happens with flash thunderstorms. One sees the storm on the horizon, the rain comes, and then it stops abruptly. That might simply be something that happens in that part of the world, but it’s very strange.

This episode seems designed to highlight Evangeline Lilly, and it’s well deserved. There are none of the gratuitous of her bathing in next to nothing, but that hardly matters. She practically glows in every scene, especially in the flashbacks. It’s hard to believe this is her first major acting job, because she nails the character perfectly. It’s clear that the writers wanted someone gorgeous to play the role, because it’s something that can be used to manipulate the audience. After all, as the marshall warned, there’s more to Kate than meets the eye.

The end of the episode tells a complicated story. Certainly everyone is trying very hard to work together, letting bygones be bygones and moving forward. But underneath that sentiment is the disturbing possibility that many of those individuals are being less than honest about it. Is Sawyer really looking at Sayid in a better light, for instance? The civility might remain intact for a little while, but there are hidden undercurrents that could explode given time.

It’s quite possible that the audience will react negatively to this episode. One of the problems with slashing the pilot into two episodes is that it carried forward certain expectations. The series was meant to start off with a bang in the two-hour pilot, and then settle quickly into a more reasonable pace. It might be hard for the audience to adjust to the differences between the pilot and the series (which are relatively minor and expected), and it remains to be seen if the initial ratings will remain strong. If there is one worry over the future of the series, it’s the fact that high initial ratings also gives a lot of room to fall.


Final Analysis
Overall, this episode is a good extension of the pilot’s plot threads, necessarily shifting focus from the introduction to the island and the survivors’ situation to the characters themselves. Evangeline Lilly gives a strong performance, adding to her amazing beauty the reasons why fans will adore her. The first divisions are beginning to form within the group, and it should be interesting to see where those divisions take them.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10




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