Lost (TV Series) Tabula Rasa (2004) User Reviews

"We should all be able to start over."

[MaxBorg89 · 9/10 · 26 January 2010]

The episode's title, Tabula Rasa, is a common concept in philosophy, a "blank slate" usually associated with the human mind as stated by, for instance, Plato and John Locke. Given the latter's importance in Lost canon (they named a key character after him), it was to be expected that the "tabula rasa" idea make its way into the series. In this case, it refers to the survivors and the fact that they have now been given an opportunity to start over, leaving the past behind.

In some cases, however, starting over isn't going to be that easy, since Jack finds out from the dying U.S. marshal that Kate is a dangerous, untrustworthy fugitive and subsequently clashes with Sawyer as to what to do with the marshal and the recently acquired information. In addition, Said is reluctant to reveal what he discovered while trying to send a distress signal, and the mysterious Locke (there we go) offers to solve Michael's family problems by finding Walt's missing pet, a Labrador named Vincent (the same dog Jack spotted at the beginning of the pilot episode).

Meanwhile, the flashbacks show Kate hiding in Australia and being offered shelter by a farmer, although the latter's financial situation eventually forces her to be on the run once again (we also get to see the plane crash from her point of view). Exactly what she did remains a mystery for now, and it will be interesting to see if it matches the marshal's description of her, compared to what we have seen so far.

Tabula Rasa is less spectacular than the pilot (then again, the latter did cost a lot more than the average series premiere), and also less concerned with the show's sci-fi nature, but it's already possible to see the essence of Lost (a blend of mystery, existentialism and flat-out weirdness) slowly, yet intriguingly shape up.

Disclosing Kate Austen

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 2 April 2006]

The mysterious past of Kate Austen is partially disclosed through flashbacks, when she was betrayed in Australia and delivered to Marshal Edward Mars (Fredric Lane). However, what she did to be chased is not presented. Meanwhile, Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau) is preoccupied with the friendship of his son Walt Lloyd (Malcolm David Kelley) and the weird John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) and promises to find his dog Vincent to get his attention.

"Tabula Rasa" is a good episode of "Lost", where the intriguing past of Kate is partially disclosed. The story is more dramatic than the pilot, and the lead characters are being very well developed. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Tabula Rasa"

Note: On 18 March 2013, I saw this episode again.

On The Run

[TVGuy3 · 8/10 · 31 July 2010]

This episode focuses on Kate Austen's past and how she knew the man with the shrapnel in his chest, who turns out to be a U.S. Marshal who was taking Kate to L.A. to go to jail or something like that. Anyway, Kate basically just runs around in the episode, the flashbacks are capable but don't do anything for me. The on-island action is good. This turns out to be a good episode but pretty weak compared to other season 1 episodes.

Standout Performance: Matthew Fox

Best Lines: U.S. Marshal moans in pain Shannon: I WISH HE WOULD JUST DIE ALREADY! Boone: Real humane, Shannon.

8/10

Books have covers

[ctomvelu-1 · 8/10 · 15 September 2008]

Kate is found out, although her reasons for being a fugitive from the law are not spelled out in this episode. We see a flashback where she stays with a farmer, who eventually betrays her for the reward money. The group who heard the distressing French transmission decides to keep it from the others, for fairly obvious reasons. Michael frets over his son's growing attraction to the weird Mr. Locke. Characters are being developed and better defined in this episode. We also discover the good doctor is not always willing to play the white knight for the survivors. The episode also offers a bit of cheesecake involving Kate that was overdue, in my humble opinion.

Even though nowhere near the brilliance of the pilot, a very good episode all the same

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 26 November 2017]

When 'Lost' was in its prime, it was must-watch television. Remember first watching it, found it remarkably easy to get into, was hooked from the start and was on Season 3 by the end of one week. The general consensus is that the final season is a disappointment and cannot disagree.

It would have been a Herculean task to follow on from the brilliant pilot, still one of 'Lost's' best episodes, and one of the best pilots ever produced for television. "Tabula Rasa" is a worthy follow up but somewhat of a let down. It is very important in establishing Kate's back-story and how she came to be in the situation she is now, but when it comes to 'Lost' in general, while Kate's story is still intriguing, there are even more interesting and important stories. In correlation to this episode, the whole stuff with Sawyer fascinated more.

Evangeline Lilly does well with the acting, though to me trying to believe Kate as a fugitive is a bit of a stretch.

"Tabula Rasa" on the other hand is excellently photographed, made with a lot of atmosphere and slickness and with no cheapness at all, while the setting is both beautiful and mysterious.

Even for so early on, the writing is smart and taut as well as provoking a lot of thought. The story is absorbing, it's suspenseful, fun and even has some sweet pathos. Everything with Sawyer is especially well done.

Characters are interesting and one leans towards root for them than getting frustrated. The direction is solid as rocks. Of the across the board strong acting Josh Holloway is especially great.

In short, very good if a let down compared to the pilot, which set such a high standard that it was inevitable that anything that followed would struggle to live up to it. 8/10 Bethany Cox

"Three days ago we all died"

[matiasbockerman · 10/10 · 19 November 2018]

Kates story is fascinanting and very interesting: storytelling is getting more and more thrilling. One question though: why on god earth Sawyer and Hurley didn't get even a nominations on emmys?

Lost delivers a solid second installment.

[foleyjd · 8/10 · 25 November 2015]

When I did a similar project and reviewed all the episodes of Mad Men I mostly avoided talking about episode titles, but I feel it would be amiss of me not to do this for Lost. Not necessarily for every episode but for some the titles are incredibly provocative and in the case of Tabula Rasa the title is very telling.

It is the first Lost episode to employ the one character flashback, over the course of the first season each of the 15 survivors of Oceanic 815 that we are concerned with will get flashback episodes that will demonstrate why they all need clean slates (tabula rasa) and why the island represents this for them.

(For more reviews go to donheisenberg.tumblr.com)

The character in question in this episode is Kate Austen. Now Kate was never the most loved character amongst the Lost fandom and she was certainly a problematic figure, particularly in the early days of the show. I think there were a few reasons for this, while Evangeline Lilly would grow into the character at this stage of the show her performance was a little underwhelming and this meant the writers couldn't maybe give her what they could give Locke or Jack.

I think another issue is the way in which they, the writers, dealt with the mystery introduced in this episode, what exactly did Kate do? While the moment at the end of this episode, where Jack says he doesn't want to know what she did, works well enough it is kind of indicative of the way the writers felt the need to hold out on this part of her backstory.

Now there are other instances where Lindelof and co, do hold out a big piece of backstory and yet manage to deliver several excellent episodes about the character but in the case of Kate there was never quite a enough to fill her episodes without addressing this.

At the same time Kate episodes can get a hard wrap and Tabula Rasa is a perfectly decent hour of Lost. There are issues with it, the montage at the end of this episode, and at the end of several early Lost episodes, seem beneath the show and a little misplaced. Otherwise there is plenty to like about Tabula Rasa.

Jack and Matthew Fox get a lot of good stuff to work with and we get various little exchanges between characters that lay the ground for lots of the great stuff to come. In particular those last moments were the camera focuses onto John Locke, setting up the stunning episode to follow.

Excellent

[gridoon2024 · 9/10 · 2 May 2009]

The first LOST episode to contain long-term (meaning, before the plane crash) flashbacks, "Tabula Rasa" is an excellent continuation / extension of the Pilot. Emphasizing the "nothing is as it seems" tactics of the show, at first Kate is revealed (to Jack, Hurley and the viewers) as being potentially a very dangerous person. And then, turning all that around, her true nature is shown - she is even willing to sacrifice her own freedom in order to save the man who was largely responsible for her capture in the first place (admittedly, hints of her nature had already been dropped in the Pilot, when, in the middle of great panic, she found the time to put the breathing mask on the unconscious marshal's face). "Tabula Rasa" is also notable for the way intense, dramatic situations (the dying marshal and the actions that may have to be taken to relieve him from his suffering) are followed by sweet, heartwarming scenes (the epilogue). A terrific episode from start to finish. ***1/2 out of 4.

Entirely average episode

[ametaphysicalshark · 10 June 2008]

The first of the several 'Kate on the Run' episodes, "Tabula Rasa" is a Damon Lindelof solo effort that only barely manages to stay interesting thanks to some character development and the interesting character Ray Mullen in the flashbacks.

After the thrilling "Pilot, Part 2", "Tabula Rasa" is a bit of a comedown. Still just a basic survival drama with some mystery at its core ("Walkabout" would introduce many of the enduring concepts in the series, but at this point there's not even much of a hint of the show being anything other than a survival drama and frankly the island events suffer for it. I guess "Tabula Rasa" is a necessary evil; an episode that is designed to further introduce some of the characters and take some time to expand upon some of the concepts introduced in the pilot.

The whole 'Kate is a criminal' storyline seems awfully boring and hackneyed as we view it now fully aware of what Kate actually did and how poorly-executed the future events in the storyline are. Not much happens on the island, mainly a lot of suffering on the Marshall's part and a lot of Kate looking worried and anxious. In many ways this is Sawyer's episode more than Kate's- at least on the island. Sawyer is the character that develops most in this episode- you could watch the Pilot and wonder if the Sawyer we're seeing in the later seasons has anything at all in common with this Sawyer, but in the space of about 15-20 minutes of screen time Damon Lindelof makes Sawyer a far more interesting and sympathetic character. It's just a shame that the writers have completely ignored the island's magical hair-growing abilities and their obvious effects on Sawyer's hair.

This episode was the first episode of "Lost" directed by series regular Jack Bender who took over the job from J.J. Abrams who directed the pilot episodes. He was a veteran director by this point but is clearly still familiarizing himself with this particular series. Michael Giacchino's score for this episode is disappointing and noticeably weaker than his efforts for "Pilot, Part 1" and "Pilot, Part 2".

6/10

Tabula Rasa (#1.3)

[itsactuallyase · 8/10 · 27 January 2022]

The mysterious backstory of Kate Austen is revealed via flashbacks, where we learn she was betrayed in Australia and was delivered to Marshall Edward Mars. But however, we do not learn what she did just yet. Meanwhile, Walt Lloyd (The son of Micheal Dawson) lost his dog, Vincent. So, the strange John Locke says that he will find Vincent to get the attention of Walt to hopefully build a better bond between him and his father.

I do like the idea of flashbacks to learn more backstory of the characters. Not as good as the past two episodes but still good regardless.

The One With Kate's Past...

[taylorkingston · 7/10 · 25 July 2015]

I really enjoyed this episode. It's a good start to the show, because it gives us more insight on who these people really are.

In this episode, Jack and Hurley discover that Kate is a fugitive, as the U.S. Marshall reveals it, as his life hangs in the balance. We see flashbacks of Kate, and start to discover her past, while we see how she got caught. Meanwhile, Kate, Charlie, Sawyer, Sayid, Shannon, and Boone, all try to decide how to tell the group about what they encountered, without actually telling them.

Overall, I give this episode of 7 out of 10, which in my ratings book is: Great.

The first Kate episode

[WhenUPlayTheGameOfThrones · 8/10 · 4 December 2007]

The anticipation for this episode really was hitting me hard. I wanted to know what Kate did, I wanted to know why she was on the plane. Obviously she did something horrible enough to make the marshal, even in severe pain, ask for her. The episode definitely didn't give me any of that, just some character development and the end to the marshal and Kate storyline. Kate is one of the most annoying characters on "Lost", not because she is a criminal, it's because she always needs to go everywhere with everyone and always has a secret. Frankly, it gets old.

First, on the island story. This episode revolves around Kate Austen. Transitioning from "Pilot: Part 2" it starts with Jack tending to the marshal and finally learning of Kate's origins. The group returns from the hike and decides not to let the others know about the French signal in worry that it will cause panic. They fight about who should keep the gun and decide on giving it to Kate who then tells Jack secretly about the transmission. When Walt asks Locke about backgammon (in which Locke is playing) Locke explains the origins and then reveals a secret about the island to Walt. Micheal confronts Walt about Locke and tells him to stay away from the man and Walt responds telling Micheal that Locke told him a miracle happened to him on the island.

The marshal is being kept in a tent to slowly die. The marshal tells Jack that he wants to speak to Kate alone. Kate enters the tent and Hurley tells Jack that Kate had a gun with her. They see Kate leave the tent and hear a gunshot behind her. Sawyer walks out behind Kate and says that he did what had to be done but the cried continue. Sawyer shot him in the chest missing his heart. Jack throws Sawyer out of the tent. Locke creates a dog whistle and finds Vincent (the dog) who had ran away earlier. He tells Micheal to give it to Walt as a way of bonding. Kate offers to tell Jack about herself and he dismisses it saying that their pasts don't matter here considering they are all dead to the world anyway. Micheal then gives the dog to Walt and Locke watches darkly from afar.

This isn't my favorite episode of "Lost" seeing as though it comes right after the Pilot which, in my opinion, is fantastic. I do like Locke's explanation of the black and white pieces in backgammon which are theorized by fans to come into play in later episodes. Kate's flashback is somewhat interesting and can hold its own as a separate story behind the island's story. I absolutely love Locke's mystery in this episode and his "secret" which is revealed in the next episode.

On the downside, this episode, for me, doesn't revolve around Kate like it should. It revolves around Locke and Sawyer. By the end, the episode just makes me wonder what Locke's secret is and not feeling bad for Kate. Also, I don't feel bad for Sawyer when he doesn't kill the guy. You can see it in his eyes, that he's upset. I also don't really like the happiness at the end of the episode, it sort of seems out of place and a little strange for me.

My favorite part of the episode: When you think Sawyer shot the marshal and killed him, only for it to be revealed that he isn't dead. My heart fell the first time I saw it.

Bla

[thomasvjevyak · 1/10 · 20 July 2021]

And more Bla

Would like to see what you preach but not seeing what you preach .

"I'm in the Wild"; An Entertaining Episode, Though Not as Great

[Im_A_Complex_Guy · 7/10 · 9 June 2009]

To me, "Tabula Rasa" will always seem slightly underrated, but not criminally so. For when I watch it, I do notice some flaws and moments of lesser quality, but afterwards, I always look back on it with appreciation, and while not perfection, I think it is a plain out good episode that had the misfortune to be sandwiched between the "Pilot: Part 2" and "Walkabout", probably two of the best episodes of the first season. Then again, it is also the first episode directed by Jack Bender, and that happens to be my soft spot director, so as you can see, many things bias me to this one.

One undeniable fact, though, is that this episode steps in line, without standing out, and gives us some clear survival drama, taking a step back from the mystery, which is a step back away from goodness. However, the character build is nicely, and while we wanted to see Kate's history, I cannot say what we saw was sufficient for satisfaction. In fact, while it was Kate's episode, Sawyer was the one who had the greatest effect on me. The moment when we found out he didn't "kill" the marshal made me sink in my seat, and then the agony of hearing his screams.

This episode had to have been expected though, for so early in the season, there is a lot left to cover, and many characters to elaborate on, but I would have liked to see a greater mix of off-island, on-island events, but I understand why the writers did what they did.

Locke is finally given a bit more light, but more light to him is still dim, as we know absolutely nothing about him, save for he claims a miracle occurred by crashing on the island, further giving us evidence to belief he enjoys being here.

Like I said earlier, though, this episode hits the more dramatic side of "Lost", and really touches the idea of starting a new life here, and that everyone is given a second chance. This feels like quite a prominent concept in season 1, since everyone's back stories are hardly predictable, so it is nice to hear a bit of that here. The ending of the episode, too, with "Wash away" is a nice moment, and a surprisingly calm showstopper, unlike practically every that comes soon after it. But the mood fit, and it seemed like a contrast of happiness and sadness, for I could not tell which it was trying to be.

In conclusion, a lesser episode then what came before, but still a good effort to build hype, and our first –centric episode, despite the flashbacks being a tad dull. Not that great, but thoroughly enjoyable.

Best Scene- Sawyer finds out he didn't kill the marshal Best Performance- Josh Holloway -RicardoAlpert815

Kate's story

[gedikreverdi · 8 November 2021]

Sawyer shot the wounded agent to end his misery. Kate's a criminal. The dog is back. Nothing much happened. Jack didn't want to learn what Kate did. There are a lot of people that survived the crash and that means a lot of backstories which I like very much.

Kate's character is interesting

[kaczkahans · 29 April 2022]

Contains spoilers for later seasons

This episode was great. It showed more of Kate's past and you already see that she is not a "typical" criminal. Whatever the lady has done to be in handcuffs, there might be still hope for her. She has edeeming qualities such as helping a man on his farm and dragging him out of the car before it explodes although he's betrayed her before. Kate even grabbed a mask for the cop who arrested her in the plane, so he could breathe oxygen. Kate also refuses to kill him although she may have had the desire for a little bit. I understand people that don't like her because of the later love triangle with Jack and Sawyer, which may have wasted her character potential. I personally haven't thought about that really much because I liked her the whole time. Imho, you can't deny that she was an interesting character at the beginning of the show.