Kate Austen is Better Than You

Good morning, blogging world! Today's rant will be about why Lost's Kate Austen doesn't deserve all of the nonsensical hate she's getting. Because she's awesome. And you know it.

"Katherine Anne Austen, you are charged with fraud, arson, assault on a federal officer, assault with a deadly weapon, grand larceny, grand theft auto, and murder in the first degree. How do you plead?"

"... Not guilty."

Kate Austen... Where do I even begin? I guess we should start with her background, which is one of the reasons people hate her. Kate, for those of you reading this who haven't watched Lost (even though I doubt anyone's reading it at all), is, as illustrated by the aforementioned quote, a fugitive. Her alcoholic, abusive, wife-beating father came home in a drunken stupor one evening and unknowingly fell asleep in their kerosene-dowsed home, which Kate then proceeded to set on fire. Clever, Austen. She then goes to the local diner where her mother works, tells her she's taken care of everything, and her "loving" mother freaks out and calls the police. Yeah. So this girl thinks she's saving her mother from a lifetime of pain and instead, her mother turns her in. Nice.

So Kate spends the rest of her time between then and the doomed Oceanic flight running from the law. And for some reason, people think this is a good idea to hate her. It makes no sense to me, personally. I don't understand if people are hating her because her back story is unrealistic or if it's because they think it's boring or even if they think she should stop complaining about her tragic life. It doesn't matter why. I'm going to address them all. :)

Unrealistic first- I don't pretend to know anything about law enforcement, so I'll never know if things could have or should have went differently in the handling of Kate's criminal record. But isn't that the fun part about TV? If you don't know anything about a certain topic, shouldn't you enjoy watching and learning? Unless you're a cop, I doubt you're going to realize that, oh hey, Kate should've been detained for at least 48 hours before blah blah blah. Also, Carlton Cuse, Damon Lindelof, and all of the writers are EXTREMELY thorough. I'm sure they did their research and I'm sure Kate's story was as flawless as possible.

Boring next- this one is a matter of a opinion. Well, I guess hating her is a matter of opinion too, but whatever. I didn't find her back story boring at all. I thought it was one of the most well-written, well thought out stories on the entire show. Between hers, Sawyer's, Sayid's, Juliet's, Jack's, Hurley's, and Jin and Sun's, I felt like we really got to understand why these characters are so broken, or "lost," and why they would need a place like the Island to seek redemption. Personally, the only one with a "boring" back story, I thought, was Claire. But she irritated me most of the time anyway so... Whatever. And Mr. Eko's wasn't that fantastic, either. But I digress.

And now the last and most ridiculous one- "Kate should stop complaining about her life. We get it! You're a fugitive! Move on!" Um... Call me (maybe) crazy, but I'm pretty sure you can't just "move on" from being a fugitive. Everything she's done is going to be with her for the rest of her life. Also, I don't remember her ever whining or complaining about her criminal background. In fact, she tried to keep it a secret for as long as possible and when she finally decided to tell Jack, he told her he didn't want to know. Even when he changed his mind later, did she break down and bitch and complain about her past? Um, no. Her response was, "You had your chance to know." And they all moved on. And so should you. Haters to the left.

I never really understood what that meant, but I love when people say it. =P

Another common reason I see a lot of Kate hate is because they say she's, and I quote, "self-centered and annoying." Well I can do nothing to comment on the annoying part, because again that's a huge matter of opinion (and really, who hasn't been annoying at least once on this show?!), I am going to try and blow this "self-centered" thing right out of the water.


Seriously? Self-centered? Are we even watching the same show?! Everything Kate does is for someone else, starting from the very beginning. She kills her own father so that her mother doesn't have to be afraid of her own home anymore. On the Island, she does everything she can to keep others safe- she keeps Sun's secret about being able to speak English, she helps deliver Claire's baby, she literally does everything she can to find Shannon's asthma medication when it's suspected Sawyer has it, she, Jack, and Charlie make the trek to the cockpit to find a transceiver and get themselves rescued, she's Jack's nurse when he's overcome by bouts of both sleep deprivation and appendicitis, she helps Claire look for medication in the Dharma medical hatch when Aaron gets sick... I mean, the list goes on and on.

People think she has no regard for others' feelings and wellbeings, but I honestly don't think that's even remotely true. Would a person who couldn't care less about someone risk their own life in the hopes of saving someone else's? Because that's what Kate does, every single time. Not only does she serve as Jack's much more rationally-thinking right hand, but she saves their asses by getting news of the freighter and caring for Aaron when Claire went MIA. Which, brings me to my next point.

 
This whole Claire-Aaron-Kate thing has gotten so much flac. Long story short for the newbies- Claire was eight months pregnant on the ill-fated Oceanic Flight 815, the plane crashes and they do not get rescued, so obviously this child has to be born. Kate helps deliver Aaron, who is pictured above looking way older than he should be for his actual age, and Claire raises him with Charlie's help. Fabulous, right? Well not really. Spoiler alert- Charlie dies in the season 3 finale and Claire, who I felt never loved him as much as he loved her, flips out about this. Midway through the final few episodes of the fourth season, she goes completely missing. Just gets up and walks into the jungle in the middle of the night, leaving Aaron on the jungle floor with Miles and Sawyer. So, when the Oceanic Six (Jack, Kate, Sun, Sayid, Hurley, and Aaron) finally get rescued at the end of the fourth season, Kate decides that she'll raise Aaron. Seems logical to me.

But that's when the world went apeshit. I don't think anyone fully understood why the writers were doing this, which is why they had to explain it through their characters later on in the fifth season, but I personally thought it made sense. Others freaked out; they called Kate a manipulative baby stealer, which I personally find hilarious. You really thought Kate's lifetime wish was to have a baby so badly that she stole this one? Really? To my knowledge, when she had a pregnancy scare with her flame Kevin Callas she freaked out because she that's how much she didn't want kids. Yeah. Remember that?

Also, baby stealer? I'm sorry. This is just completely stupid. She didn't walk up to a mothering, loving Claire, snatch Aaron from her arms, and run off into the night. If my memory serves me correctly- and it should, because I know this is how it happened- Sawyer handed Kate the baby and when she asked where Claire was, he said she was "gone." And she was. She walked off in the middle of the night because she saw the apparition of her father. Really, Claire? I know you're not that bright, but come on. And leaving poor Aaron in the hands of Sawyer and Miles? For shame. I see no other choice but for Kate to raise him, as Jack, Hurley and Sayid wouldn't have exactly been fit for it and Sun was going to be busy with a new baby of her own.

So this argument really just makes me laugh. Claire abandoned her child. What did you want Kate to do? Leave Aaron in the middle of the jungle and just hope, cross your fingers!, that Claire would return? Please. I know you people aren't that stupid... Right?

And last but certainly not least, the most popular, most common reason people hate Kate is because they say she's "fickle" and cannot choose whether she wants to be with Jack (on the left) or Sawyer (on the right). This made me mad for a while too, as loyal Jack and Kate fan, but then, after an epiphany, I realized I was just as stupid as the rest of you.

Of course she's going to be fickle. Of course she can't figure out how she feels about them. Of course she doesn't know what she wants. How can she pick when she's got such great choices? Look at them. First of all, they're both extremely attractive with great eyes, great hair, great bodies, need I go on? But looking past all of that, they both have so much to offer her and, obviously, it took her a long time to realize what it was she wanted.

We'll start with Sawyer because, spoiler alert, she doesn't choose him. First of all, he's got that whole Southern twang which is the cutest thing in the world. He's sarcastic and biting and sassy (Can I use that term for a straight man? I don't know... but I'm going to) and he and Kate argue and banter like pros. But he cares about her immensely and they both come from similar backgrounds- they're both pros at conning everyone under the sun, they've both killed a man, they've both lost their parents, whether physically or figuratively- and it shows in everything they do. Plus, I do have to admit, even though I am a strict Jack/Kate fan, their little romp in the cage was hot. But ultimately, Sawyer was vulgar, he was straightforward, he was intense and I don't think that's what Kate wanted. Or maybe it was, for a time, but then the world kept spinning and she moved on. And so did he, with Juliet, and she was his perfect match.

Jack, on the other hand, was complex and stubborn from the very beginning, which matches Kate perfectly because, well, so is she. He's got these mysterious tattoos and a dark past but he also has a superhero complex that comes with being a doctor. His motto is "I can fix it" because no matter what, he wants to prove his worth to everyone, even though Kate is insistent that he has nothing to prove, not to her. Jack is all heart; he's compassionate, kind, caring and loving and, as cheesy as this sounds, everything he does, he does it for her. I'm not making this up; he's said so himself on numerous occasions. He too cares about her immensely, right from the start, and falls in love with her super easily in season 3 (or, that's when he tells her anyway; it could have been earlier). Ultimately, they're kind of opposites; like equal halves of a whole. I think Kate saw herself being with him forever, which is why they were engaged, cohabiting, and raising Aaron together. They were happy; as Kate says, "It was not all misery!"

So with two fantastic, attractive, fabulous choices, how do you choose? You experiment with both and let yourself feel, right? Well that's what Kate did... Why do you hate her for that? What was she supposed to have done?

All in all, Kate Austen is a badass. Look at that BAMF up there. She kicks asses, takes names, and doesn't give a damn about her looks on the Island, unlike her Australian and Asian counterparts. She runs around in the hot, rough and tumble climate and goes with the flow. She's strong, fierce, and compassionate. She's emotional, helpful, and giving. She's loving, empathetic, and fearless. She's Kate Austen and she's better than you.