Season 1, Episode 3 — "Tabula Rasa"

In true "Lost" fashion, "Tabula Rasa" saves its biggest nugget of wisdom till near the end of the episode, when Jack tells Kate he doesn't want to know what she did to become a fugitive.

"It doesn't matter, Kate," he says, "who we were, what we did before this, before the crash.
Three days ago, we all died. We should all be able to start over."

Of course, four seasons later we know that's a big, recurring theme in "Lost," the second chance at redemption. Only three episodes in, we could already see that happening -- most notably in Michael and Walt getting a second chance to build their father-son relationship, and obviously, in Kate getting her shot at redemption -- but we were so far in the dark, and we didn't even know it.

We didn't know about Jack's issues, or Claire's, or Sayid's, or Hurley's, or Sawyer's, or Locke's ... you get the point. Everyone has something they would change about their lives, if given the chance, and now they have the chance.

By the end of this episode, we can see the Losties starting to come together. We see Jin begin to show affection toward Sun, who he had treated like dirt since the crash; we see Charlie and Claire forming a bond; we see Locke do something kind for Michael, a perfect stranger, when he finds Vincent the dog and allows Michael to deliver him to Walt; we see Jack, and to some degree Hurley, give Kate a second chance by not telling the others about her fugitive status; we see Boone fix Shannon's sunglasses, even though she's an awful person and doesn't deserve it (is she dead yet?).

But then the shining, happy moment gives way to an ominous looking Locke, and the music turns from carefree to dramatic, giving the sense of things to come -- that things aren't always as simple as they seem.

Doesn't this show have a way of reminding us of that in the most mind-blowing ways?


THE RUNDOWN
Beginning: Jack is working on the marshal, who wakes up and warns Jack that "she is dangerous." Jack thinks he's talking crazy until he pulls a piece of paper from the marshal's jacket pocket and sees a police mugshot of Kate. Doh!

The Flashback: We're just now getting the hang of these flashbacks, which in this episode center on Kate, who wakes up on the wrong end of a shotgun in an Australian farmer's sheep pen. He gives her a job doing farm chores until he catches her fixin' to slip out the back door one night and offers to take her to the train station in the morning. The marshal pulls up alongside them en route, and Ray (the farmer) confesses he gave her up for a $23,000 reward. She grabs the wheel and rolls the truck ... and she would've gotten away with it, too, if she hadn't dragged Ray from the burning truck. Her gesture gives the marshal enough time to apprehend her. Back on the beach, the dying marshal asks Kate what favor she wanted to ask right before the plane crash, and she tells him she wants him to make sure Ray gets his $23K.

Middle: The hikers agree they won't tell the rest of the Losties about Frenchy's transmission, because, "If we tell them what we know, we take away their hope. And hope is a very dangerous thing to lose," Sayid says. ... The flashback (see above). ... Despite the aforementioned agreement, Kate tells Jack about the transmission, but not about her fugitive status. ... Jack goes into the fuselage to fish medicine out of luggage, and he bumps into Sawyer, who is looting the plane for "booze, smokes, and a couple of Playboys." Sawyer urges Jack to not use all the medicine on the marshal, who is probably going to die anyway, but his plea falls on deaf ears. ... Charlie uses a wheelchair (we're enlightened the second time around to know it's Locke's) to cart Claire's luggage across the beach, commenting "whoever's this was is probably better off than we are." ... Walt tells Michael that Locke told him a secret about "a miracle" that happened to Locke, but it would've taken a pretty sharp cracker to put two and two together about the wheelchair (but that's coming in the next episode). Michael tells Walt he doesn't want him hanging out with Locke anymore, but surely he'll change his mind when Locke delivers the dog to him. ... Sawyer tries to put the marshal out of his misery by shooting him in the chest (with the last bullet in the gun, no less) but he misses his heart and instead perforates his lung. Oops.

The End: An optimistic view of the survivors pulling together is interrupted by ominous music and a close-up of a rather steely-eyed Locke, which foreshadows the next episode, in which we'll learn more about the bald man with a miraculous secret. I can't wait to get to know John Locke all over again.