Theories on What Kate Did

Claimed, infected, possessed. All these terms refer to the idea of a body or person's identity being influenced, appropriated or even directly controlled by an outside force. Here are the instances where this has happened or seems to have happened:

1. Yemi appeared to Eko. Yemi had died years before, and we saw his corpse in the drug smugglers' plane.

2. Christian appeared to Jack, Claire and others. Christian had died recently, and we have never seen his corpse. The coffin carrying his body on Flight 815 is empty.

3. Walt appeared to Shannon, while Walt was off-Island, and alive. Spoke some gibberish stuff and freaked Shannon out.

4. Walt also appeared to Locke after Ben shot John. Again, off-Island, never been dead as far as we know.

5. Locke appeared after the crash of Ajira Airways 316. He had died recently. This is not merely an appearance, as this incarnation of Locke lived with the survivors for at least a day or two. Locke's body is still dead, and lying on the beach. Not Locke appears to be Jacob's Nemesis, taking on Locke's appearance.

6. Charlie, Ana Lucia, Jacob and others have appeared to Hurley after their deaths. All three have died on-screen.

7. Alex appeared to Ben, apparently as a direct apparition stemming from Smokey. Alex had died recently.

8. Horace appeared to Locke in a sweat-lodge-induced dream. Horace had died several years ago.

What does this show us? That there is not one set of rules governing this. All of these examples are not instances of claiming. Nor are they all examples of Jacob's Nemesis taking on the appearance someone else.

There have to be multiple things going on. What happened with Locke's image is not the same as what is happening to Sayid. Apparently what is happening to Sayid already happened to Claire. It took me a bit, but the day after the episode aired, I remembered Claire and Jack are children of Christian, making them half siblings. In the interest of staying current, let's discuss her a bit here:

Claire's situation closely mirrors Danielle Rousseau's. Both arrived on the Island pregnant. The Others tried to take their children. And now Claire has apparently been living in the jungle for the past three years, just like Danielle did. Did she set the bear trap and swinging bag o' rocks thing?

I still maintain she is dead. She was in a Dharma barrack that got clobbered by a direct hit during the mercenary attack and somehow came out of it looking just fine. Afterwards, Miles was very wary of her, and she took off into the jungle after Christian, leaving Aaron behind. No way she's alive and in full control of herself and does that. So apparently she died and came back just like Sayid did, and her soul/body has been "claimed" by the Nemesis.

So what does this mean? Apparently it means she'll shoot Others, and by extension, save Jin. Was the saving an accident? Does she know him? So much will be explained next episode.

Dogan wants to kill Sayid, but can't just shoot him, apparently. He has to willingly take a pill filled with kelp or something, and Jack's not about that.

In Reality B news, Ethan is still a doctor, and his last name has changed from Rom to Goodspeed, Horace's surname. Lot of intimation there, but nothing solid.

And really, isn't that what this show is all about? Watching Dogan stonewall Jack about what was going on with Sayid made me feel like the writers use the Others' reluctance to ever explain themselves as a way to keep the audience in the dark unnecessarily.

But we keep plowing on, even when they're throwing away half the episode on Kate and Sawyer crying. Never mind the fact that they've got 300 questions to answer and their last season is three episodes in.

Urgh.