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Template:Infobox Lost Character-1 Katherine Austen, better known as "Kate," is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Evangeline Lilly. She is the de facto lead female character of the series.
Biography
Prior to the crash
In the episode "Born to Run" we learn Kate grew up in Iowa, and was the daughter of a soldier and a diner waitress. In All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues, she tells Jack she learned how to read tracks in the wild from her father, an avid outdoorsman who once took her into the woods to track deer for eight hours.
As we learn in flashbacks in "What Kate Did", the character's parents divorced and Kate's mother Diane married Wayne, an alcoholic who physically abused Diane and may have abused Kate. When Kate was making a scrapbook as a present for her father, she discovered the man whom she thought was her biological father was still in Korea when she was conceived; she then realized Wayne is her biological father. Kate took out an insurance policy and blew up her house with Wayne inside it, meaning to benefit her mother. She explained this to her mother and fled, but was captured at a bus station by US marshal Edward Mars, who claims Kate's mother went to the authorities with what Kate had told her.
En route to the indictment hearing for Wayne's murder, a large black horse appeared in front of the Marshal's car, causing him to swerve off the road. While the marshal was still stunned from the air bag deployment, Kate was able to take his keys. After a brief tussle, Kate knocked him out of the car and drove off.
In the flashbacks in "Born to Run", Kate traveled around the country with a car trunk full of license plates from various states, using hair dye to disguise her appearance.
Kate then received word her mother was dying from cancer, Kate took a chance and went home. There she met and reignited her childhood romance with Tom Brennan, now married and a doctor at the hospital. The two dug up a time capsule they had buried 15 years earlier, which contained a tape recording and a selection of Tom's toys, including a little toy airplane. Kate convinced Tom to arrange a visit with her mother, who was being guarded in the chance her daughter would make an appearance. Once Kate revealed herself to her mother, Diane began screaming for help, and Kate was forced to flee. She asked Tom for his car keys, but he demanded to go with her, saying the police would be easy on her if she cooperated. Kate sped towards a police car blockading the entrance of the parking garage, and an officer fired off a few shots as she passed. She then crashed into another car. Kate turned to Tom and saw he was dead. Kate fled the scene, leaving behind the toy airplane.
In the episode "Whatever the Case May Be" Kate is involved in an elaborate bank robbery in New Mexico, in which she presented herself to the bank manager as an innocent bystander while she was actually romantically linked with the bank robbers' supposed leader. Posing as "Maggie Ryan" applying for a loan, Kate was rounded up by the robbers as one of the hostages. This shows the character's willingness to deceive people, and that she may not always be genuine.
When another hostage overpowered a robber, Kate grabbed one of their guns, but immediately claimed to be unable to use it. The lead robber then took Kate into a back room, and after a quick kiss, hit her so as to continue the ruse. The robber brought in the bank manager and claimed he would kill the seemingly innocent Kate, unless the vault were opened. Thinking he was saving her life, the bank manager complied. In the vault, the robber revealed Kate had actually planned and organized the entire operation. The robber, intent on shooting the manager, was stopped by Kate, who instead shot the robber in the leg, then forces the manager to open a safe deposit box. Inside the box is a single item: Tom's toy airplane.
In the episode "I Do" Kate (under the alias Monica) met a police officer named Kevin and eventually settled down with him in Miami, Florida. At the day of marriage, Kevin's mother gave Kate a gold chain with a trinket on it that was supposed to go to her daughter, but since she had four boys Kate was the only choice. Later on, Kate called Edward Mars from a phone booth. She set a timer (supposedly it went off one second before they could trace her call) and begged him to stop looking for her because she was happy. Mars said he would stop chasing her only if she really settled down, but that he knew she would never stop running. Afterwards, Kevin revealed he bought two tickets to Costa Rica (also on Oceanic Airlines) for a honeymoon. After a home pregnancy test she took showed two blue lines, Kate decided to come clean. She drugged his tea so he wouldn't remember the conversation and wouldn't lose his job. She told him she was a fugitive, her name wasn't Monica, and she almost had a baby. Kevin, a little woozy from the drugs, was emotionally struck with this revelation. He fell unconscious to the floor, and Kate placed the gold chain in his hand as she left.
Sometime later, in the episode "Tabula Rasa" Kate turned up in Australia. Using the name Annie and claiming to be Canadian, she arrived at the house of an Outback farmer, who, in exchange for help around his farm, offered her a wage and a home. Months later, in the middle of the night, Kate attempted to sneak out of the house. The farmer interrupted her in this attempt, and insisted he drive her to the train station the next morning.
On the road, their truck is followed by Edward Mars. The farmer admitted that he saw Kate's picture on a wanted poster at the post office and turned her in for the cash reward (later revealed to be $23,000; 23 is one of the numbers). Kate grabbed the wheel and drove off the road, rolling the truck. Despite being free to escape, Kate pulled the injured farmer away from the wreck, giving the marshal time to capture her.
Immediately prior to the flight, the marshal revealed to an Australian law enforcement officer that he had been chasing the character Kate for three years, and he had put the toy airplane in the safe deposit box as bait. He now had the toy airplane in his possession, presumably having recovered it from Kate's possessions after capturing her.
On board Flight 815, she was sitting handcuffed beside the marshal. Just prior to the crash, she asked the marshal for a favour, which she later claims was to make sure the farmer received the reward for turning her in. As the plane broke apart, the marshal was injured. Kate stole the keys to her handcuffs, but made sure to apply the marshal's oxygen mask before putting on her own.
After the crash
Since arriving on the island, Kate has been involved with most of the major developments that occur to the survivors, from the recovery of the transceiver, to the discovery of the repeating transmission, the polar bear, the cave-in, and the decision to move to the caves. This is due in no small part to her friendship with Sayid, Charlie, and Hurley, as well as her apparent feelings for both Jack and Sawyer.
In "Walkabout", the character Kate will not help Locke kill the boars, even though her father trained her how to hunt, and says, "I'm a vegetarian." In a later episode, however, she is seen killing a shellfish with Sawyer helping her get the food for others on the Island.
During a game of "I Never" in "Outlaws", Kate reveals to Sawyer that she was married, though she says the marriage didn't last very long (her marriage to Kevin). She also reveals that she has killed a man, although she may have been referring to Tom, as she also tells Jack that the toy airplane "belonged to the man I killed"
Later, the character Kate helps deliver Claire's baby boy in the middle of the jungle, while Jack is in the midst of trying to save Boone's life.
When Sawyer dumps out the contents of her backpack, he finds out that she is carrying the passport of a survivor who drowned a few days after the crash, presumably to use for future false identification, in "Born to Run". He then tells everyone about it because she made a statement that she would take his spot on the raft.
Kate is also the first to enter into the DHARMA Initiative station known as "The Swan" and therefore the first to be captured by Desmond Hume. Inside, Desmond tells Kate to tie Locke up, but Locke insists that she is the more dangerous one. As a result Desmond instructs Locke to bind Kate's hands and feet. Locke does so, but smuggles a knife into Kate's jeans, and then locks her inside a cupboard room. There Kate, after struggling loose with Locke's knife, finds that the room is full of food. She takes some Apollo bars, eats some but saves one or two, and escapes through the vents. Soon she exits the vents and finds that Locke, Desmond, and Jack are arguing and that Desmond is holding Locke as a hostage. In an effort to stop this, Kate hits Desmond over the head and arms the computer to the countdown timer.
Later, when all of The Swan incidents are resolved, the character Kate invites Jack to a game of golf at Hurley's makeshift golf course. There she and Jack are confronted by Mr. Eko who brings a wounded and delirious Sawyer. Kate takes care of Sawyer as his fever worsens and is left alone with him in the hatch. This results in Sawyer trying to choke her and demanding to know why she "killed him". Confused and frightened Kate runs off into the jungle, leaving Sawyer on the floor. She believes that Sawyer was being possessed by Wayne, her birth father whom she killed. Jack finds Sawyer alone and on the floor, and goes to find Kate in the jungle, demanding to know why she foolishly left a wounded man unattended. An emotionally distraught Kate lashes out at him and tries to run, but Jack won't let her. As Jack comforts her, Kate gives in to her feelings for Jack, and kisses him. When the kiss is over, Jack looks at her with confusion and Kate stumbles away from Jack, running further into the jungle. The kiss greatly complicates Kate and Jack's relationship, which is no longer purely platonic.
After Sawyer, Jack, and Locke decide to go after Michael, Kate demands to go with them. Jack denies her request, but she disobeys his request by following them anyway. Soon after she is captured by "The Others" and is exchanged for the trio's guns and promise to return to their camp. Jack holds this against Kate, making their relationship even more complicated. Sawyer, however, tells her he would have done the very same thing.
Later, Claire and Kate go out to find Rousseau so they can find the place Claire was taken to. When Claire asks Kate about Rousseau, she is reluctant to tell Claire about Rousseau killing her team because they were sick. They happen upon another hatch, which seems to be an abandoned medical station (dubbed "The Staff" on a map viewed by Locke in a later episode). Kate opens some lockers to discover raggedy clothing, a fake beard, and glue.
In "S.O.S." Jack enlists Kate to go with him to recover Walt, as she is a strong character, in exchange for Henry Gale. Kate is flattered that Jack has welcomed her back into the club, but Jack merely states that he has chosen her because Sayid refused him. During the venture into the forbidden line, Kate apologizes for kissing Jack. Jack says he doesn't feel sorry about the kiss. As the two are about to talk about their relationship in further detail, an exhausted and possibly injured Michael stumbles toward them, thus halting any more attention regarding Jack and Kate's tempestuous relationship.
In "?", Jack asks Sawyer for the heroin he has stashed away in order to ease Libby's pain before she dies. Kate goes with him, and discovers that Sawyer's hidden stash is in his very tent, buried underneath the sand. She also is the one who tells Hurley that Libby has been shot. During Libby's death Kate is overcome by sadness and weeps to herself. There, Sawyer comes to comfort and weep with her. Kate then aids Hurley in digging the graves for the dead Ana Lucia and Libby.
During "Three Minutes", Kate agrees to go with Michael and the other people to go and get Walt. She is unaware that in fact the Others told Michael that she is to be one of the people that has to be brought to them.
In the season 2 finale "Live Together, Die Alone", Kate is suspicious about Michael's claim of the Others being primitive "hillbillies," mainly due to her prior discovery of the clothing in The Staff. As they are walking, she discovers that they are being followed by two members of the Others. She and Sawyer begin firing at them — hitting and (presumably) killing one of them. Jack then tells them he knew that they would be following them, and subsequently gets Michael to tell them about his plan.
The Others trap the party when they stop to investigate a pile of tubes in a field. While trying to escape, the character Kate is hit with a powerful dart, rendering her unable to move. She falls down in a comatose state. Jack then tries to carry her, but is also shot by a dart and both are rendered immobile. They are taken to the Pala Ferry, bound, hooded, and gagged, whereupon Michael is reunited with Walt and allowed to leave with him. Kate gets the Other known as Tom (also known as Mr. Friendly) to admit that his beard is a fake. She then waits as Henry Gale comes to give instruction to The Others. Shortly after a mysterious light and sound emanates from the hatch, Kate, Sawyer, and Jack are taken away.
In the season 3 premiere, "A Tale of Two Cities", Kate wakes up on the floor of a shower with Tom standing over her. He tells her to shower and clean up, ignoring her questions about her current location or the status of Jack and Sawyer. After Kate showers, she discovers that her clothes have been taken away, but a note on a nearby locker reads "Wear This." Inside is a sun dress of Alex Rousseau's, which Kate has no choice but to wear. Tom appears again and escorts Kate to a beach, where "Henry Gale" is waiting at a table, complete with a full breakfast. Kate is handcuffed. She asks about Sawyer and Jack, and Henry is curious why Kate asked about Sawyer first. Henry tells her that the dress and the breakfast are being offered because he wants Kate to have a taste of civility, since the next two weeks are going to be "unpleasant." Kate is then locked in a cage in a type of abandoned zoo, where Tom removes her handcuffs. Sawyer is in a cage across the way and the two are relieved to be reunited.
The next day, the characters Kate and Sawyer are forced to excavate and move heavy rocks ("The Glass Ballerina"). A hidden Alex speaks to Kate from the bushes, asking about a boy named Karl, who was in Kate's cage before she arrived. Seeing Kate working in the sun dress is too much for Sawyer, and the two kiss for the first time in the equivalent of almost two seasons. They seem to have reconnected, and indirectly, broken the connection between Kate and Jack.
The next morning, Sawyer is beaten by Ben and taken out of his cage ("Every Man For Himself"), only to later return very subdued and quiet, refusing to continue plans to escape. Kate asks what happened to him, but Sawyer refuses to answer (he believed a pacemaker was put inside of him to prevent him from escaping, and if he told Kate, one would be put inside her as well). Soon, an Other named Pickett begins beating up Sawyer, who does not fight back. Pickett repeatedly asks Kate if she loves Saywer, and she frantically says she does in order to stop the beating. Later on, Kate realizes she can climb out of her cage, and when she successfully gets out, Sawyer refuses to escape with her. Instead of leaving him behind, she goes back into her cage.
Kate worries for Sawyer's safety as Pickett threatens to kill Sawyer ("I Do"). Juliet takes Kate to see Jack, who she must convince to do the surgery or Sawyer will be killed. She fails, however leaving Jack extremely angry. Pickett tells her to say what she has to say to Sawyer as he will kill Sawyer soon. Climbing out of her cage, she enters Sawyer's by breaking the lock. After a heated conversation with Sawyer, she kissed him and they had sex. Jack sees Kate in Sawyer's arms on the camera. Shocked and heart-broken, he agrees to perform the surgery on Ben as he has nothing left to stay on the island. Pickett holds a gun to Sawyer's head and almost kills him, but Jack, preforming surgery on Ben, gets Tom to radio him, and interrupts, inadvertently preventing Sawyer's death. Jack tells Kate to run and when she reaches safety to radio him telling him the story he told her the first time she met him. Kate says she cannot leave without Jack but Jack again tells her to run.
Trivia
- In the original pilot for Lost, in which Jack dies when the group finds the cockpit, Kate was to emerge as the leader for the survivors, motivating them to build shelter and begin considering life as permanent residents of the island.
- In the original description for Kate, she was a slightly older woman separated from her husband, who went to the bathroom in the tail-section of the plane. However, that idea ended up being used for the characters of Rose and her husband Bernard.
- Yunjin Kim originaly tried out for Kate. The producers liked her but didn't think she was right for the part, so they wrote the role of Sun for her.
- The character of Kate was originally named Rose, but was changed later on.
References
- Lost Season 1 DVD (DVD). Los Angeles. 2004.
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