Can you believe it has almost been 10 years since the season 6 finale of LOST? It seems like yesterday we were all sitting around our TV screens, watching in anticipation to see if our favorite castaways had made it off The Island and evaded capture from those pesky Others.
When the show first aired, it was a huge success with fans. However, one aspect they hated was the ambiguity and random storylines that left them with more questions than answers. Especially when it came to the former fugitive, Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly), whose story was left unresolved. Here are 10 unanswered questions fans would like to know.
What’s with the horse?
We’re still waiting on an explanation for the black horse that kept haunting Kate. The only time it was seen was in the episode “What Kate Did” when the animal helped Kate to escape as the Marshal crashed his car, trying to avoid it. The horse then reappeared on the Island whilst she is picking fruit for the survivors.
The writers have neither confirmed or denied what the horse means, which has led to the frustration of fans. Some have theorized that the equine was a manifestation of the Smoke Monster, while others have suggested that Jacob had used the animal to keep her available for candidacy. Either way, it seemed like a pointless fact to include when it amounted to nothing.
Did she go to prison?
One of the biggest mysteries that remained unsolved is if Kate spent any time in prison post-season 6. In the episode “Eggtown”, Kate was offered the deal of time served plus 10 years of in-state probation for the crimes she committed. Kate agrees to these terms, saying she wants to put all of this behind her.
However, Kate is seen to break these conditions when she boards the flight to Guam in order to return to the Island. Since Kate disappears for three weeks, wouldn’t her parole officer realize she was missing? How did the airport not pick her up on the cameras? Surely someone in the airport would have recognized her since she featured on the news several times.
What happened after Jack died?
When the flash-sideways was revealed to be a purgatorial existence for the Islanders, it was a surprising twist. For Jack (and fans), he realized that he and everyone else in the church were dead. Although Kate remembered her life in the last few moments, fans are led to believe she lived a long time after returning to the mainland for a second time.
However, it would have been nice to know what happened in these missing years. Did Kate help Claire with Aaron’s upbringing? Did she decide to start afresh? What did she do after her probation ended? A lot of questions remain unanswered.
Was she a candidate?
There was an ambiguity surrounding the question of whether Kate was considered to be a candidate or not. We are led to believe that Kate is a candidate after Jacob visited her as a child. Her name also featured in the cave, meaning that she was considered to be the protector of the Island.
However, many other characters have insisted that she isn’t. For instance, Mikhail insists that she isn’t a candidate because she is flawed (“Par Avion”) but this contradicted by Jacob when he insists that he crossed her name off because she was a mother. He then offers the job to Kate, telling her she could have it if she wanted. If finding the protector was as easy as this, why did he wait six years to ask?
Tom’s toy airplane
In season 1, the writers left us all in suspense as fans waited to see Kate’s origin story. Fans got a brief insight into her past when she asked Jack to help get the briefcase back from Sawyer (“Wherever The Case May Be”). Inside was a little toy airplane, which belonged to Tom - her childhood best friend who died trying to help her escape.
Considering how persistent Kate was to have it, the object mysteriously disappeared after this. It also raised questions as to whether Kate tried to make amends with Tom’s widow after she returned from the Island. Since she felt deep remorse for Tom’s death, it seemed likely that she would. It’s just another chapter of Kate’s life unclosed.
Her purpose in the flash-sideways
In the final episode of LOST, Christian revealed to Jack that the flash-sideways was a sort of purgatory for the survivors. They all created it with the purpose of moving on to the afterlife together, whilst also trying to get closure on some personal issues.
Some examples of this include Jack’s with his father issues, Sawyer’s over his shady past and Hurley over the numbers. Yet, Kate’s story proved to be no different than her real one. The implication remains that she has killed someone and regrets doing it, which fans saw she did while on the Island. Kate doesn’t even get her closure as Desmond forces her to remember. So what was the lesson Kate was meant to learn?
The meaning of ‘Sawyer’s favor’?
In the season 4 finale, Sawyer jumped from the helicopter to ensure the Oceanic Six would be able to make it to the freighter. Before he departed, Sawyer whispered a favor in Kate’s ear, asking her to make sure Cassidy and his daughter were taken care of.
This secret was the main reason Jack and Kate broke up in season 4 - but questions have to be raised here too? Why did Kate become evasive about her whereabouts when Cassidy was a friend? How come it’s taken three years to do this ‘favor’? Did she intentionally bring up Sawyer as an excuse to sabotage the relationship because she was scared or because she was hiding a bigger secret?
What happened to Kevin?
After Kate had killed Wayne and before the plane crash, the fugitive tried to stop running and settled down in Miami. Here, she met Kevin, a police officer who she would go on to marry under the alias ‘Monica’. However, Kate ends up drugging the policeman when she realized they couldn’t have a life with her secret hanging over them.
Again, it is implied that Kevin doesn’t seem to care about Kate’s survival as he only appears in one episode. Yet, there are so many questions unanswered. Wouldn’t he like to have got closure? Would Kevin have understood Kate’s crime or turned her in? It would have been nice to see a scene between Kate and Kevin so this chapter of her life could be closed.
Is David her son?
Several theories that had been circulating the fan forums are about the existence of David. Some have argued that he could be Aaron as he vanishes when the child is born. Others have said he is an extension of Jack himself. Yet one theory Jate fans might like to hear is that David is actually Kate and Jack’s son.
Fans may recall that Jack and Kate slept together the night they were set to return to the Island. According to the official timeline, the events of season 5 and 6 were spread three weeks, meaning Kate could have been pregnant when she left and Jack died. If this is true, then the afterlife had allowed David the opportunity to bond with his father before he moved on.
Why didn’t Sam visit her?
Before Kate ended up killing Wayne and discovered the truth about her real parentage, she was led to believe that Sam was her father. Kate adored the army sergeant, fondly talking about how he taught her how to hunt and track. Sam proved to love her just as much and gave Kate a head-start on the authorities as she began living on the run.
However, after the Oceanic Six return to the mainland, why is he not there to show his support for Kate? Even after Kate has been arrested and put on probation, he doesn’t even contact her to make sure she is okay. Or is it more tragic than that and Sam died while she was on the Island? We need to know.
