Born to Run brings us yet another installment of the Kate Austen saga, and once again she's on the run without much of an explanation. We can only be sure of one thing: she's gonna manipulate a whole lot of people to get what she wants.
This time she heads to her hometown in Iowa to kill two birds with one stone. She pays a visit to childhood flame Tom Brennan who, conveniently enough, is a doctor and thus able to isolate Kate's mother long enough for an impromptu visit. Since they have "three hours to kill" before heading to the hospital, Tom and Kate (not to be confused with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes) stroll through memory lane and unearth some old memories. Ohhhh, I get it, that's where the toy airplane comes in.
The twist comes when Kate finally catches up with her mother Diane. I was prepared for a tear-jerker of a reunion, but Diane shouts for help. Kate's reckless escape ends up killing Tom and... yeah. I think it's time to show us what Kate did, because this routine's wearing a little thin.
The island storyline's pretty straightforward, with Sawyer and Kate squabbling over a spot on the raft and Michael inadvertently getting poisoned in the process. It's somewhat fulfilling that Kate doesn't get her way, considering it was her idea for Sun to poison Jin's water in the first place — and she only proposed the idea to benefit herself.
In terms of writing, Born To Run isn't horrible and certainly has a few memorable lines, particularly between Locke and Jack. But the overall story certainly feels like an attempt at stalling. I dare say Season 1 might have been better served with 2 or 3 fewer episodes if it meant they could trim the fat such as Born to Run.
Evangeline Lilly has an uncanny ability to turn on the waterworks whenever it's needed, an invaluable asset considering perpetual agony follows her wherever she goes. Her "time capsule" scene with Mackenzie Astin (Tom Brennan) is actually quite brilliant, particularly when they play the cassette and young Kate talks about running away. For a brief — VERY brief moment — I felt for adult Kate, and only because of Lilly's top-notch acting.
Bonus points to Beth Broderick (Dianne Janssen) and Daniel Robuck (Leslie Arzt) for brief yet impressive debuts.
Tucker Gates rivals Jack Bender for my favorite director on the series, but even Gates really couldn't do much to make this a standout episode. Early in the episode we see the camera pan up from Kate's car to a cloud-filled sky, then the infamous toy airplane fades into view. It wasn't a smooth transition visually, but even it had been it was a bit too "hey look at me!" for my taste.
The one visual that WAS striking took place at night in a cattle field under a gigantic, ancient tree. The way the fog rolled across the landscape was either an example of brilliance or just plain serendipity.
Short as it was, I should also credit Gates for an effective "car chase" scene at the hospital. I put the phrase in quotes because, well, it wasn't really a chase and it might be the shortest vehicular escape attempt ever filmed.
If there were one or two fewer episodes which essentially tell the same story, Born To Run might fare better in replay value. As it stands, and since I have no vested interest in Kate's overall arc, this one's almost a chore to get through.
The only real advancement in terms of the mythology is Jack being brought to the Hatch, which could've obviously been squeezed into any other episode. Even then, all Jack does is state what we already knew — the Losties should figure out what the hell's in that thing.
One could skip Born to Run entirely and not miss any important steps in the progression of the island or even Kate's own arc.
If on-island Kate was showing some sort of improvement over the flashback version, episodes like Born To Run would be considerably more interesting to me. That would at least show progress, some realization on her part that the island was a second chance (I thought Jack already established that in "Tabula Rasa"?).
Instead, we have Kate flat-out lying to Jack in Whatever The Case May Be, then prodding Sun to poison Jin under the pretense of helping her. Given all this, I don't understand how some LOST fans were accepting her as a protagonist at this point in the series.
Therefore it should come as no surprise that Born To Run scores very low in the Intangibles department. The atmosphere was only as good as what the island provided, and I was completely detached emotionally from Kate and her goals.
