Tabula Rasa or Walkabout?

[MsHllywdJenn]

Okay I've posted something related to this poll before but with so many answers it's hard to get a clear result. So I'm gonna make it easier this time.

A lot of us were dissatisfied with the ending of Tabula Rasa, many (including myself) felt we should have found out what Kate did or a confession of some sort yadda yadda. Walkabout gave us the PERFECT example of what should have happened (in my opinion) on the previous ep. A reveal to the audience, but NOT to the characters. So on w/ the question.....

Which episode did you like better?

[MsHllywdJenn]

Most awesome Mods! I gotta give ya a shout out and say thanks for putting up w/my passionate yet sometimes crazy notions for polls. You guys rock! I promise you I won't post them often so long as the writers of the show agree with me and do what I tell them to. MWHAHAHAHAHA! :evil J/K :lol

[Beckers1]

I chose Walkabout but that's not saying that Tabula Rasa was an unsatisfying episode. I think there is probably a good reason why we didn't find out what it is that Kate did and it will be revealed later in the show. I was just happy with what we did learn about Locke. He's turned into a really interesting character. :)

[boobie_tassels]

I chose Walkabout, but it has nothing to do with the ending of Tabula Rasa. I have a feeling we'll still find out Kate's crime eventually.

[MsHllywdJenn]

There's no doubt in my mind that we WILL find out what Kate did. However, my point is that, you shouldn't be led on for an hour thinking you're going to get a discovery and not have that satisfaction. When you compare the two eps, Tabula Rasa and Walkabout, which leaves you feeling even more excited for the future? We know somethings the rest of the castaways don't. Whereas, with Kate, we still don't know anything. So what was the point of the episode? That's why I didn't like Tabula Rasa that much. I didn't hate it, there were some really interesting things that went on. I just felt a lot better after watching Walkabout, even though I had more questions, than I did after Tabula Rasa. :D

[PlaneJane22]

I chose Walkabout. I had no problem with not finding out Kate's crime yet. Rather, I find Locke to be a much more compelling character than Kate.

I know that Evangeline Lilly is the big breakthrough star, but I don't find that I care that much about the Kate character and am kinda glad the second ep was about her, so hopefully there won't be any more Kate centric episodes in the near future. I'm much more curious about other characters. I'd much rather watch another Locke episode than a Kate one.

[lpnman57]

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[Enchirito]

Whereas, with Kate, we still don't know anything. So what was the point of the episode?

Thats pretty much how I felt about Kate's story after watching Tabula Rasa. We basically know nothing about her that we didn't know from watching the 2 pilot episodes.

[Beckers1]

Whereas, with Kate, we still don't know anything. So what was the point of the episode?

Actually, we did learn a few things.

1) We found out what the favor was she was going to ask the Marshall.
2) We learned where she was hiding out for 3 months before she was found.
3) We had the confirmation that Kate was not a criminal who was self-possessed and a phony. The slipping the mask on her captor in the plane wasn't a fluke when the plane went down. She rescued the farmer even though, as the sheriff said, she probably could have gotten away if she hadn't.

And finally ...

4) We learned that Jack trusts Kate despite what her captor told him before he died. Will it be something he will eventually regret? only time will tell .... :)

[MsHllywdJenn]

All of those things we learned were well and good. However, without knowing her crime Kate is an unestablished character. Why should we care about Kate? What makes her interesting? I know this post is best left to the Kate board, please forgive me mods for this one rant.
I think we care a lot more about Locke now because we know what he's been through. We as an audience know him better so we want to watch him more. Why should the audience spend energy on a character we hardly know more about than we did at the start? I know JJ can write awesome female characters, I looove ALIAS, and I have watched Crossing Jordan, Kate has serious potential! I Want to know Kate! After a whole episode about her I still don't empathize with her or care about her story. Who gives that Jack trusts her! I don't care! I want to trust her I want to watch an episode and go "ooo I wonder what Kate's gonna do here cuz remember that ep where we found out she did this?!" That's what makes it more exciting to me. Phew!
Now don't get me started on that again I have to have explained myself by now! :rollin

Yikes my passion for this show is starting to wear me out. :lol

[MsAllegro]

I think leaving Kate, as one of the leads, a mystery to be solved over time makes more sense than just telling her story and being done with her. It makes me want to watch more in the future to find out more about her.

Yes, it's a bit of a tease to build up and then not give us the goods, but on an overall series level, I understand it, and think it works.

That said, I loved Walkabout, simply because it was so emotionally arresting. Terry did a brilliant job.

[angry may queen]

Walkabout was just brilliant. I've seen posts where poeple say they knew that Locke was paralyzed or figured out that it was his wheelchair. I had no clue. I just thought it was fabulous and surprising.

[Enchirito]

I had been stewing over the "Mr Locke said a miracle happened to him" line from Tabula Rasa so I suspected it right from the beginning as soon as it showed him looking down at his toes. I pretty much was 100% sure after the scene with his boss where he talks about Norman Croucher. They did a great job revealing it at the end for those who aren't obsessed with the show enough to notice the foreshadowing. All reasons why it's my favorite episode.

[lostdomfan]

i was frustrated with the end of tabula Rasa, but if I like the show this much, I'm trusting that the writers had a reason to do it that way.

[DomMonaghanFan]

I chose Walkabout not that I didn't like Tabula Rasa. I think the ending of Walkabout was great. We find out that Locke was unable to walk for 4 years and now he can but no one except Walt knows. That was interesting. Then the whole monster thing. How did he survive? That made it interesting too.

[Latuki Max]

Walkabout had a better twist to the ending. A lot more seemed to happen, in my eyes.

[My Sins]

walkabout...better twist.

[Spirit Shards]

Even though I really like both episodes, I liked Walkabout a bit more. It was about Locke! :) I love Locke!

[Zambini Stardust]

No, folks, we still don't know Locke's story. I've discussed this overall point elsewhere - i.e., we learn a little about the featured character, but not everything. To wit...

We know Kate is a criminal, but what was her crime?
We know Jack's mother held him responsible for the father going to Australia to die, but we don't know what Jack did to cause that.
We know Locke had 'lived with this condition for four years' but we don't know what the condition is.

See? Just as many unanswered questions on the other two featured characters as on Kate. I'll bet that will continue with every episode and every featured character. A peak into their background but not the whole story.

But to answer the specific questions, Tabula Rasa was the least satisfying episode so far because too much time was devoted to the flashback at the expense of the real-time survival story. Also, as someone else has said, I find Kate (and to some extent, Jack) the least interesting character of all because the producers seem to be shoving her down our throat. I find myself more engaged with the 2nd tier lead characters - Locke, Hurley, Charlie, the Koreans, even Rose - where is Rose?

[seraphism]

another vote for walkabout here, locke is definately one of the more interesting characters and i must admit i did choke up a little bit when he was in the "walkabout" office. :(

[prydain15]

What would be the point of learning everyone's secrets this soon into the show?? Secrets are good to a certain extent, they keep you watching. But I hope they don't get like The X-Files. That show brought up so many questions they couldn't answer them all before the show ended.

[MaxKaladin]

But I hope they don't get like The X-Files. That show brought up so many questions they couldn't answer them all before the show ended. That's not true in my opinion. I think X-Files had plenty of time to answer all the questions it raised but Chris Carter kept wasting time with "wierd monster of the week" episodes that had nothing to do with the main plot. When he needed to spike ratings a bit for sweeps or something, he would tease the audience about revealing some hint about what was going on with the metaplot then fail to deliver anything of substance. It got to the point where watching these episodes was a lot like watching Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown and then pulling it out of the way at the last second. Carter would tease the audience with some big revelation he was supposedly going to make and then in the actual episode throw some enigmatic and anti-climactic clue out there that only served to deepen the mystery without ever really giving any answers to any of the existing questions. I stopped watching X-Files completely after the "Big Reveal" in the movie went nowhere and decided I wasn't going to watch any more Chris Carter productions until I had reason to change his tune. I'll probably stop watching Lost if the writers try to pull the same kind of tricks as X-Files. So far, it doesn't appear they are though. Tabula Rosa was annoying at the end, but hardly establishes a pattern.

[Mattie]

I voted Walkabout because of it's final scene. But Tabula Rasa is easily in my top 10 episodes (for me) so far. I loved it.