Tabula Rasa

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"Tabula Rasa"
Lost episode
Jack finds Kate's mugshot
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 3
Written by	Damon Lindelof
Directed by	Jack Bender
Production no.	101
Original airdate	October 6, 2004
Guest stars
Fredric Lane Nick Tate
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Pilot" "Walkabout"
Lost (season 1) List of Lost episodes

Not to be confused with Tabula Rasa (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Tabula Rasa (Heroes), or Tabula Rasa (Stargate Atlantis).

"Tabula Rasa" (Latin for blank slate) is the third episode of the first season of Lost. It was directed by Jack Bender and written by Damon Lindelof. It first aired on October 6, 2004 on ABC. The character of Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) is featured in the episode's flashbacks.

Plot

Flashbacks

In flashbacks, Kate is in Australia and is awakened by a farmer, Ray Mullen (Nick Tate), who wants to know why she is sleeping in his barn. Using the alias Annie, Kate is offered a job on the farm. When she later leaves the farm, she accepts a ride from Ray to the train station, but learns that he is planning to turn her in to the authorities to claim reward money. When she sees US Marshal Edward Mars (Fredric Lane) driving behind them, she jerks the wheel and causes the vehicle to crash off the road. She loses her chance to escape, however, when she pulls Ray from the burning vehicle.

On the Island

The signal party; Kate, Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan), James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway), Boone Carlyle (Ian Somerhalder) and Shannon Rutherford (Maggie Grace), return down the mountain, but decide not to tell the others about the French transmission, fearing that the message will cause panic and deprive the survivors of their hopes. When a fight breaks out over who should keep the gun, the others agree to give it to Kate. Upon arriving at the beach, Kate secretly tells Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) about the French transmission.

The group of survivors continue to tend to Marshal Mars. In the process, Jack and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) learn about Kate's past as a convict and fugitive. The Marshal's moans of pain have an effect on the other survivors, who believe that Jack is unable to save him. He tells Jack that he wants to speak with Kate, to find out about the favour she tried to request on the plane before it broke apart. While Kate is in the tent, Hurley reveals to Jack that he had seen her with a gun earlier. Jack sees Kate leave the tent, followed by a gunshot from inside; Sawyer then walks out from the tent. He explains that he shot the Marshal in the chest, aiming for his heart, as an act of kindness. However, it is revealed that he missed, piercing the Marshal's lung instead, and leaving him in even more pain. Jack says that it will take hours for the wound to bleed out and throws an extremely shaken Sawyer out of the tent. After the sound of a struggle from within the tent, Jack emerges looking distant and upset. He walks by Sawyer without saying a word. It is implied that Jack was forced to suffocate the Marshal in order to end his suffering.

Elsewhere, Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau) asks his son Walt Lloyd (Malcolm David Kelley) about his conversation with John Locke (Terry O'Quinn). Walt tells Michael that Locke believes a miracle happened on the island; Michael then instructs his son to stay away from Locke. Michael searches for Walt's dog Vincent (Madison) in the jungle. However, loud roaring causes him to panic and he flees, stumbling across a topless Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) washing herself. Both embarrassed, Michael shields his eyes and mutters awkward apologies. Locke eventually finds Vincent using a dog whistle that he made; however, he leaves it to Michael to return Vincent to Walt, saying that he thinks Walt's father should be the one to find the dog.

Kate offers to tell Jack what her crime was. However, he declines, grimly stating that their past lives aren't important and that they all died when their plane crashed.

The episode ends with shots of the main cast, seemingly more hopeful and optimistic, ending with the mysterious Locke is staring darkly at Walt and Michael, as "Wash Away" by Joe Purdy plays.

Production

Both Joe Purdy's "Wash Away (Reprise)" and Patsy Cline's "Leavin' On Your Mind" are featured in this episode.

Josh Holloway, who portrays Sawyer, asked showrunner Carlton Cuse how Sawyer could have possibly missed in his attempt to euthanise the Marshal. Cuse notes that the writers thought this to be unlikely as well and discussed the concept of making Sawyer hyperopic, leading to him receiving a pair of glasses in "Deus Ex Machina".^[1]

Reception

16.54 million American viewers tuned into this episode. ^[2]

References