Lost Season 6 Episode 3: Meet Dogen, Claire Returns and Realities Overlap

Lost season 6 episode 3 aired this evening on ABC. Aptly titled What Kate Does, the latest installment in the last season of the hit drama focused primarily on Evangeline Lilly's character as she continued her alternate lives in Los Angeles and on The Island. Here's what happened and what it might all mean by the time Lost season 6 comes to a close.

Lost season 6, episode 3 begins with the John Lennon-look alike translator going to the Head Honcho with a simple yet urgent proclamation - 'he's alive' - referring, of course, to Sayid, who shockingly arose from the dead during the last frames of episode 1. The action cuts to Jack, Hurley, Miles, Jin and Sayid discussing what had happened. Kate and Sawyer stand at the door watching, musing on their own: Kate doesn't understand, Sawyer isn't surprised. But honestly, it seems like Sawyer couldn't care much less about what had happened with Sayid or anyone else on The Island. His interest lies with counting guards and hatching an escape plan. I feel for him after losing Juliet, but he's definitely donning his jerk-mantle.

The action switches gears and flips to the alternate Los Angeles reality. We see Kate, gun drawn, getting into a cab with Claire. The cab takes off, and nearly runs over a man - who turns out to be the annoying science teacher who was blown up by the Black Rock on The Island. An uncomfortable chord is strummed as Kate sees Jack outside, and a strange look comes over her face; a look of puzzled recognition. Again, it seems as if the two realities cross in places, as if the juice from one seeps into the other. But Kate doesn't take the time to think it over: Claire begs to be released, the cab driver bails, Kate hops into the driver's seat, takes Claire's purse, denies her when she asks to get her luggage, and then kicks the poor preggo out of the car and drives off. Ouch, Kate. Heartless much?

Lost season 6 episode 3 continues with more from the Island reality. Sawyer and the others are outside now. Jack notes that Sayid's wound if almost completely closed, and Sayid thanks Jack for "saving my life". Honcho and Lennon man come out and say they want to speak with Sayid alone. Jack rebels, so The Others attack. They're stopped suddenly when Sawyer fires a gun. They ask him not to shoot, and honcho tells him "you have to stay" but he leaves. His attitude issues? Back and in full force. Lennon man is very concerned with Sawyer's wereabouts, and Kate offers to track him if they'll let her go. She tells the guy "I can be very convincing when I want to be." Too true. Too, too true.

Back in LA-LA land, Kate pulls up to a chop shop and asks a guy for a tire hammer with her gun drawn. He tells her she needs a different piece of equipment, and she offers to pay him $200 if he removes her cuffs. He asks her why she was cuffed, and she tells him she's wanted for murder; he seems taken aback by the news, but still lets her change in a back room. She finds a photo of a very pregnant Claire in Claire's suitcase. She also pulls out a stuffed dolphin and seems to have qualms about what she's done: That's right - she's left a pregnant women lost and alone without her things. It's sad to see Kate in 'all about Kate' survival mode, but in this reality she lacks the fullness of her experience on The Island, so I guess we can't expect much. Or can we?

Back on The Island, Kate and Jack chat as Kate prepares to track Sawyer; he promises ot take care of Sayid and she'll take care of Sawyer. They share a meaningful look, and Jack looks like he might want to kiss her, but Kate leaves before anything happens. Aw, bummer. Not that we need more relational drama, but sparks are nice. Next we see Sayid undergoing some sort of experiment at the hands of honcho, who sprinkles him with dust and then shocks him via electrodes attached to his chest. Honcho then brands him, ouch. Lennon watches, and explains to Sayid that he passed "the test" they had to put him through "to be sure". After Sayid leaves, Lennon says "I just lied to him, didn't I?" to honcho, who says yes. Ooof, that's not good news.

Reality shifts again on Lost season 6 episode 3, and we find ourselves back in LA. Kate drives up to a bench where Claire sits and asks where she'd been going as she returns her things and assures Claire that she's not taken her money. Claire is cautious; after all, she'd be crazy not to be careful with Kate, given that she booted her from a cab with no luggage, no purse, no money. But still, she seems lonely. She finally replies, telling Kate that the people she was supposed to meet - the couple who were supposed to adopt her baby - hadn't shown, and Kate offers to take her to her destination. The notion that there might actually be adoptive parents for Claire's baby is startling, given that we were led to believe they may not have existed several seasons ago. The psychic Claire visited seemed to send her on Oceanic 815 for one reason alone: It was destined to crash, leaving Claire to care for her child. It throws my impressions of that exchange for quite the loop.

Moving forward on The Island, Kate and The Others track Sawyer. One of them has a real chip on his shoulder and behaves like a jerk, hushing his friend whenever he starts to give Kate more information. She gets mad at the jerk, and takes them down with one of Rousseau's old traps that they come across.

Still on The Island, Sayid is returned to Jack and Hurley, and tells them that they tortured him. Jack, angry, goes to see honcho and Lennon man, and Lennon says he's glad that Jack came on his own. Lennon man says Sayid is "infected", and tells Jack he needs to give Sayid a pill that will only work if he takes it willingly. Honcho asks how Sayid got shot, and says the pill is Jack's "chance to redeem" himself for his role in others getting hurt in the past. Not to be terribly corny, but that's a tough pill to swallow for Jack, whose feelings of guilt coupled with his needs to be in control and to fix everything have plagued him since season 1.

Miles grills Sayid over what it was like to die, and Hurley makes sure he's not a zombie. Oh Hurley, what would we do without your random comic relief? Jack returns and speaks alone with Sayid. He unwraps a green pill, and says they want him to take it. Jack says he doesn't know what to make of it and Sayid says he'll take it if Jack wants him to take it. Jack doesn't voice an opinion, and the scene changes, leaving viewers to wonder about his recommendation. Jin and Kate are in the jungle, and asks Kate where the second plane landed because Sun was on it. He pointedly asks her who she cares about and she has no real response. So much for personal growth, Kate.

Back in Los Angeles, Kate and Claire ride in the taxi and engage in small talk. Claire is clearly insecure over why the adoptive parents didn't show at the airport to meet her. They arrive at a house in Brentwood and Claire asks Kate to go inside with her. Claire is, after all, still alone. As far as she's aware, her mother is still in a coma in Australia, and she has no one elseto lean on. It's sad and courageous all at once. A woman answers the door very visibly shaken, and tells Claire that her husband left her so she couldn't take the baby. Kate and Claire get upset, and then Claire goes into labor.

On The Island, Kate goes through an old Dharma home and finds Sawyer looking inside a shoebox. She tries to leave, and he pulls a gun on her when he hears the creaking of a floorboard. She tells him she was worried about him, and always the gentleman, he walks out. This is, of course, true to form for Sawyer, and especially so for injured-Sawyer.

In the LA reality, Kate and Claire pull up to the hospital and a nurse meets them at the curb. Kate goes to get a doctor, and egads, when the whitecoat turns around, it's Ethan! Holy cow! The hearts of many a Lost season 6 fan probably dropped into their feet at the sight of that mug. But of course, the scene moves on because Claire and Kate don't know who he was (is?). Claire asks what happened, and he asks if she's ready to have the baby. He lets her decide whether or not to have the baby now, because she's only 6 weeks early. She tells him she's not ready, but then the baby flatlines, and Ethan asks for an ultrasound. The panic ends quickly as Claire asks if Aaron is okay and they got an ultrasound image. She looks at Kate, and we see they're holding hands. How weird. Touching, but still weird. Again, Kate is still the random chick in handcuffs who hijacked Claire's taxi and then stole her things.

Back on The Island, Kate and Sawyer watch the water. Kate tells him that she returned to the Island to find Claire. She wants to bring her back to Aaron. Sawyer doesn't say much. Kate brings up Juliet and apologizes. Sawyer tells her that it's his fault she died, because he'd made her stay because he didn't want to be alone. He then muses that "some of us are meant to be alone". He fingers a ring and tells Kate he'd been planning to ask Juliet to marry him. Then he stands and tosses the ring into the water. He tells her she could probably make it back to the temple by nightfall and walks off, leaving her in tears. Who is she sad for - herself or Sawyer? There are too many commonalities between their characters to be certain. I'm voting for empathy this time.

In Others Land, Honcho plays with a baseball, and Jack comes in to see him. When asked, honcho tell Jack that he uses a translator because "I have to remain separate from the people I'm in charge of". He tells Jack that his name is Dogen (so thankfully, I can stop referring to him as honcho), and that he was "brought here" like everyone else. Jack asks for clarification, and Dogen says he knows what he means. Hearkened back are memories of Lost season 5, when Jacob and his nemesis watched the ship approaching The Island on the horizon, and nemesis noted that Jacob had brought the ship to them. Dogen then calls Jack out for not giving Sayid the pill. Jack insists on knowing what's in the pill, but Dogen says he'll have to just trust him. Jack abruptly takes the pill, and Dogen goes crazy beating him to get him to spit it out. He finally tells Jack that it has poison inside. Uh, more weirdness.

Lost season 6 episode 3 continues in Los Angeles, and Claire sits in a hospital bed looking at an ultrasound image. Two detectives come in asking about Joan Hart, aka Kate, who was hiding in another room listening. She doesn't give her up, and Kate thanks her after the women leave. Claire asks what she did, and Kate asks if she'd believe her if she said she was innocent. Claire says yes. Claire gives her her credit card. Kate compliments the name Aaron, and Claire seems puzzled by how the name had just suddenly come to her in that moment of crisis. Kate tells her she should keep him, and leaves.

The final few minutes of Lost season 6 episode 3 take place on The Island. Kate fills her water canteen as she watches Sawyer go back inside a house. In the temple, Dogen, Lennon and Jack sit together, and they give Jack tea. Jack asks why they'd want to kill Sayid, and Dogen says they think he's been "claimed". He tells Jack that there's "a darkness growing in him" and says he knows because "it happened to your sister". Whoa, wasn't expecting that.

The Others find Jin, who unfortunately gets caught in a trap and falls. The two men are shot suddenly, and Jin looks over to see that none other than Claire had pulled the trigger. That's where the hour ends in intriguing fashion.

So what can we take away from Lost season 6 episode 3: What Kate Does? A few things. First off, Claire is alive, and apparently living in some sort of Rousseau-like condition with dirty hair and a gun as her bed bud. It's odd to contrast gun-toting Claire with trusting-and-insecure-girl-in-the-hospital-in-LA Claire. Since the plane never crashed, the Claire in LA is the better representation of her at her purest form, so we're left to ponder what happened to her since we last saw her in Jacob's cabin with 'Christian'. Did she go bad as Dogen implied? Is there a darkness in her heart? Or is Dogen lying to protect someone - or something - else?

There are connections between the non-crash reality in Los Angeles and The Island reality; points in time when Kate or Jack seem bothered by one another or by another character's presence. It's almost as if their time on The Island is still running a sort of interference in their minds. Will this very interference continue to build and increase in intensity as Lost season 6 progresses? I'm assuming it will, and that it will eventually lend itself to a conflation of the two realities.

On the same train of thought, we're forced to see that despite the alternate realities, the worlds of the same characters still collide in very tangible ways. Claire still meets Kate. We're still led to believe - if only briefly - that Kate will be directly involved with Aaron's birth. The connections are still there, and the characters are somehow drawn to one another, even if they're not consciously aware of the reasons why.

Finally, can Jack, Hurley, Kate, Sayid and the rest of them truly trust The Others? There's enough history to suggest that the answer should be a resounding no, but at the same time, there are more than lingering fears over the powers of Jacob's nemesis. While seeking asylum with their previous enemies may seem short-sighted, it will also be a tempting means of avoiding interactions with the smoke.

Tune in next Tuesday evening for the third episode in Lost season 6: The Final Chapter.