It seems like for the entire run of LOST that episodes revolving around Kate have always been less-than-stellar. Whether it’s because the “criminal with a heart of gold” theme feels so trite or because it’s just not as engaging as every other character arc, something about Kate doesn’t seem to sit well. This week’s “What Kate Does” seems to hold true to that and yet does something different at the same time.

Robert: I know some of us have never cared for Kate-centric episodes of LOST, but did this one change any of that?

Armando: I must say that other than the storyline at the temple and the ending, I didn’t care much for it.

Scott: Not in the slightest. What a pointless nothing episode this was. Kate is the most boring character on one of the most exciting shows in TV history. She’s a criminal with a heart of gold who runs runs runs, and she’ll end up with Jack or Sawyer. So what?

Coming on the heels of “LA X”, which beautifully launched the end of LOST with a breakneck pace over two hours, this one hour was a dull slog that played up all the worst parts of LOST: wheel-spinning narratives, static characterizations, silly cryptic statements that could be answered by a character simply asking “Why?” Seriously, Jack considered giving Sayid that pill without thinking it was poison? What else would it be, fish oil?

Then our kicker at the end was introducing Clairesseau (trademark MINE), who apparently has some kind of darkness growing within her. Though Claire was a welcome presence in LOST’s first two seasons, the writers are clearly done with her and so are we the audience, evidenced by the fact that no one noticed she wasgone all last year. Thankfully, it looks like Locke, Richard and worthwhile storytelling will be back next week.

Chris: Everyone seems to hate Kate episodes though, right? I liked it and I think this episode really demonstrated how the whole “flash-sideways” thing is going to work going forward. And I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the rest of the characters’ sideways-stories. Seeing Claire again was great, the whole naming the baby Aaron thing, that Kate went and helped her out (I thought Kate was gonna have to deliver Aaron in sideways-world too!), and cameo by Ethan(!)… this episode felt like it moved incredibly fast. I looked at the clock thinking there was gonna be 20 minutes left and it was 9:54.

SH: I’ve yet to be convinced by the flash-sideways, though. I tolerated it last week because the on-island segments were so incredible, but I don’t really care what happens in the alternate reality. It’ll matter in some way in the end, but I’d rather they spent the time on the island wrapping things up.

RC: Total opposite here. I thought the stuff with Claire and Kate was actually interesting and a nice alternative to what happened before. I agree, CJ, that this is a neat way of showing us some flipsides to these same characters we’ve known for so long.

With the scenes in the temple, I found that old feeling creeping up on me with this episode. The dialogue carried of lot of the old “don’t worry about that” responses—that, frankly, this show should’ve already long dispensed with—to what were pretty important questions. It really became frustrating in the scene where Jack attempts to swallow the pill to get answers about what it is. That alone didn’t really make sense to me and for all that trouble, I still don’t think Jack got a real answer as to what exactly it was, other than “poison” to kill an “infection” in Sayid.

Really though, I thought the best moment was with Sawyer where he comes to grips with everything that went wrong for him last season with Juliet and choosing to stay when they both had a chance to leave. I think Sawyer is my new favorite character after that.

CJ: I agree, Sawyer’s character has come a long, LONG way from Season 1. And, think about it — in the premiere we saw Season 1 Sawyer again, the swaggering, devil-may-care con artist who’s ready to fleece Hurley out of his lottery winnings or cooly allow a pretty fugitive to escape the fuzz. Stark contrast to this episode where Sawyer makes a run for it but not for some scheme or plan, but just to have time to properly mourn Juliet. The scene at the dock was great.

SH: Yes, Sawyer is definitely my dude. One of my favorite parts of the series as a whole is where it’s taken the two characters who were initially set up as villains: Sawyer, the venture capitalist who doesn’t give a shit about anyone, and Locke, who especially in the pilot was a scarred creep talking about “two sides, light and dark”. I wonder if the original plan was for Locke to be Smokey from the outset and they decided before making episode 2 to make John Locke an actual person.

AR: The Sawyer character arc has been good to watch. Ultimately, that is about the only thing I really cared about in this episode, the characters—Sayid saying to Jack that he trusts him and that he would take the pill if Jack wanted him to, seeing Sawyer’s pain and anguish on the dock.

But as far as the overall story and the second/alt/flash sideways/whatever it’s being called now, the island story went nowhere, and I’m with Scott, I pretty much don’t really care what happens in the side timeline. Where are we now in the story compared to the end of “LA X”?

I keep hoping that one of the “classic” stares we get when one of the characters ask what is going on will actually turn into some sort of explanation.

RC: I think my main problem with this episode is that it ultimately didn’t feel like we really got anywhere significant in terms of anything. That fact that it blew by so (for me, at least) fast didn’t help either. It reminds me of the last season of BSG where there were so many threads and answers that needed resolutions and instead of checking one or two off with each episode, it seemed like more was being stacked on. And in the end, it was a mad dash to the finish line with our hair on fire as the wheels were falling off.

SH: Robert, I actually thought the final Battlestar season offered a great example of gradually solving its mysteries. Characters met their fates over the course of the whole season, especially in the mutiny storyline, instead of checking off a list in the last 15 minutes of the last episode. Though a lot of the mythology was clumsily handled in the end, the season as a whole was urgent and brilliant. I doubt the rest of the final LOST season will be as lame as this episode – we’ve got Locke, Sayid and Ben-centric episodes coming up – and I hope I’m right, because it’s got a LOT more mythology and mystery to sum up than BSG did.

I do think there’s potential in the flash-sideways with the characters they’ve killed off; we know Boone, Faraday, Charlotte, Ana Lucia and Libby will all be coming back (fingers crossed for Meestah Eko!). Even then, though, it seems like silly asides instead of something really meaningful.

AR: I have my fingers crossed that this side timeline will somehow become “more important” to me.

I know. Be patient. (Haven’t we been for quite some time now?) But this felt a lot like filler. It didn’t have the “urgency” that Scott described BSG having in the end.

Also, with the tagline for the show now, “The Time For Questions Is Over” I was really hoping for something a little more hard-hitting. I’m curious to see what the masses are saying about it and to listen to Carlton and Damon address some of this in their weekly podcast.

RC: I suppose the bright side to this episode is that we won’t be getting another Kate-centric episode again, since she seemed to fulfill her destiny as a helping hand to Claire (but the right way this time). That’s why I think the flash-sideways in 2004 are important, because it doesn’t look like the characters in 2007 are really going to be able to accomplish anything more than saving their own asses when this “war” we’ve been hearing about finally comes.

CJ: In the episode’s defense though, you’ve never really had to be into the mythology side of LOST to get into the show. My fiancee loves LOST and it’s all about the character-driven stories for her. She doesn’t ruminate on the mythology side at all…and, when you read interviews with Lindelof and Cuse they really emphasize that they’re not going to answer everything and what’s important are the characters. I don’t think we’re going to get a checklist in the last 15 minutes because I think there’s going to be a lot that’s just never explained.

AR: Understood. And like we’ve all said, we know they won’t answer everything, but like Dr. Evil said, “Throw us a frickin’ bone here!”

In the end, it looks like we’re mixed on “What Kate Does”. We saw Kate’s arc coming to a close in the alternate timeline, Claire returning to the fold, and both Sawyer and Jack both individually wrestling with their past motives on the island. What did you think?

Chris Johnston talks about video games old and new at Player One Podcast. Armando Reyes talks comics, music and life on the road on Twitter.