1.12 Whatever the Case May Be

Kate’s foray for fruit deep in the jungle is interrupted by an intruder. She picks them off with a rock and finds out it is Sawyer, there, he says, to protect her. When they discover a waterfall and deep pool, they go for a frolicking swim together. But their fun ends when they discover a couple of bodies at the bottom of the pool. Sawyer salvages a wallet, while Kate is interested in a metal case. This appears to be the case that her captor was holding. But Sawyer takes it from her, and Kate acts as if she does not care.

With the tides rising, Sayid and Jack plan to move people down the beach. Jack would like people to move to the caves, but people are wary of the jungle, especially after Claire’s disappearance. Jack asks Sayid for information about the French woman, but Sayid has little to share.

Boone and Locke have been searching for Claire for four days. Boone berates Shannon for doing nothing to help.

Sayid asks a reluctant sunbathing Shannon to help him decipher the French notations.

Sawyer is trying to pick the lock on the case. Michael tells him the only way he will get into a Halliburton case is with brute force, and suggests using the axe.

Charlie comes out of his lifeless funk to help Rose move her stuff up the beach.

Sawyer moves to the jungle to try bashing the case on rocks. When he throws it down off a drop-off, not only does it still not open, but Kate runs through and steals it. Sawyer tracks her down and wrestles it away.

Kate tells Jack that the case has guns and ammo in it, and that Sawyer has it. Kate knows that the key is in the back pocket of the ranger (whom Jack buried). Jack agrees to help on the condition that he and Kate open the case together. Sun is nearby and hears this, because no one suspects that she can speak or understand English.

Rose tells Charlie that he is not to blame for Claire’s disappearance.

Jack and Kate exhume the body, but the key is not in the wallet where Kate said it would be. Or is it? Jack realizes that Kate palmed the key while dropping the wallet to distract him.

Shannon is working with Sayid but she is getting nowhere.

Jack gets the case from Sawyer by threatening to stop his antibiotic treatments, even if it means Sawyer loses his arm.

Kate and Jack open the case together, and Kate gets back the trinket that she says belonged to the man she loved, to the man she killed.

The beach group has moved camp. Rose, who still has faith that her husband is alive, comforts the weeping Charlie with a prayer.

Shannon tells Sayid that the French woman’s notations were the lyrics from a song. She then sings, ‘Beyond the Sea’ in French.

Kate’s backstory flashbacks:

Kate is in a bank where, as she was applying for a loan, two masked gunman broke in a robbed the place. In the real world, she sneaks into Sawyer’s tent and tries to get her case back, but he wakes up and is able to fight her off, even after sustaining a head butt.

Kate at the bank robbery, where it is revealed that she is in on the whole thing, not a victim as it seemed before.

The bank, where we learn that Kate was there not to help the robbers, but to get the contents of a safety deposit box.

Comments

It was blatantly obvious that Shannon was going to make a contribution by translating the French notes that Sayid mentions to Jack.

Shannon looks really nice in a bikini, and Kate looks even better viewed from above than she does when swimming in her underwear.

It is interesting to see how Jack’s ‘caring physician’ personality has begun to evolve into more of a doctor who is trying to survive on an island among partial savages like Sawyer.

Nits

In the previous episode All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues, Boone and Locke found a metal ‘something’ in the ground. We didn’t find out anything else about that in this episode – it seems like this plot thread has been dropped.

Memorable Moments

• The emotional moment when Kate breaks down

Quotable Quotes

Sawyer: I’m just gonna give it [the case] to you. Why would I do that?
Jack: Cefelexin.
Sawyer: Yeah, go on.
Jack: That’s the antibiotic I’ve been giving you for the knife wound in your arm. You’re right in the middle of a treatment cycle. Now if I keep giving you the pills, you’re gonna be as right as rain. But I’m gonna stop giving you the pills. And for two days, you’re gonna think you’re all good. Then it’s gonna start to inch. Day after that, the fever’s gonna come, and you’re gonna start seein’ red lines running up and down your arm. Day or two after that, you’ll beg me to take the case, just to cut off your arm.
Sawyer: That’s a nice story, Jack, and even if it were true, I don’t think you could do it.
Jack: You’re wrong.

"It’s a fine line between denial and faith. It’s much better on my side."
- Rose to Charlie