Lost/Whatever the Case May Be

Whatever the Case May Be
Season 1, Episode 12
Airdate	January 5, 2005
Production Number	111
Written by	Damon Lindelof Jennifer Johnson
Directed by	Jack Bender
← 1x11 All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues	1x13 → Hearts and Minds
Lost — Season One

Whatever the Case May Be is the twelfth episode of the first season of Lost, and is the twelfth episode overall.

Enlisting Shannon to help translate the papers he stole from the Frenchwoman, Sayid makes a startling discovery. Meanwhile, Kate and Sawyer find a briefcase in wreckage submerged in a hidden lagoon and find themselves pitted against each other when it becomes clear that the contents of the case hold vital information about Kate's past.

Starring: Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Matthew Fox (Jack), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Maggie Grace (Shannon), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Malcolm David Kelley (Walt), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), Terry O'Quinn (Locke), Harold Perrineau, Jr. (Michael), Ian Somerhalder (Boone).

Guest Starring: L. Scott Caldwell (Rose).

Co-Starring: Victor Browne (Shooter), Tim Halligan (Mark Hutton), Dezmond Gilla (Baseball Hat), Achilles Gacis (Six Foot Five), Michael Vendrell (Trucker).

Plot Overview

The Island

• Picking fruit out in the jungle, Kate discovers that Sawyer has been following her in order to "protect her" after what happened to Claire. Kate hears something in the distance and the two discover a waterfall-fed lagoon tucked away in the jungle. Sawyer goads Kate into taking a dip and the two make another discovery below the water - the remains of two passengers still strapped to their seats. Kate spots a briefcase lodged underneath the seats and claims it's hers to get Sawyer to retrieve it for her. But Sawyer realizes it's not hers and decides to keep it for himself. Unable to get the case back on her own, Kate talks to Jack and tells him the case in Sawyer's possession belonged to the Marshal and contains 4 guns and a few boxes of ammo. She tells him the key to the case is in the Marshal's wallet in his back pocket. Jack tells Kate that if she wants his help they're opening the case together, and Kate agrees to his terms. The two exhume the Marshal's body and Kate tries to hide the key from Jack, but he's able to see through her sleight-of-hand and takes the key. Jack confronts Sawyer about the case. He tells Sawyer that he won't give him any more antibiotics for his knife wound unless he gives him the case. Sawyer gives it up and warns Jack that he might think he's doing Kate a favor, but she's lying to him. Opening the case with Kate, Jack discovers an envelope marked "Personal Effects" and hands it to Kate, asking her if that's what she wanted. Inside is a toy airplane that belonged to the man she killed.
• At the beach, the survivors are hurriedly trying to collect as much stuff as they can as the tide begins pounding away at the fuselage. Jack and Sayid discuss how it can't be normal, the tide shifting so suddenly. Jack wants Sayid to take him to Rousseau as she mentioned there being others on the island and Claire's missing. Sayid dismisses Rousseau as having lost her mind and what he heard in the jungle was merely the wind playing tricks. Jack inquires about the documents Sayid stole from Rousseau, and Sayid tells him that he's good at mathematics and decryption, but Rousseau's equations are beyond anything he's ever seen. He also needs help translating her notes in French and asks Shannon to help him. Sayid becomes annoyed with Shannon's translations, remarking that what she's saying doesn't make any sense. Hurt by his remarks, Shannon leaves. That night, Shannon approaches Sayid and tells him his Frenchwoman's notations are song lyrics.
• On the beach, Rose asks Charlie why he's not helping everyone else move the camp up the beach. She tells him he's not the only one on this island that's got something to be sad about. Later, Rose tells Charlie that nobody blames him for what happened to Claire. He did everything that he could do and came close to dying himself. She tells him he needs to ask for help, but she's not the one that can help him. With that, she prays to God that He show Charlie the path.

The Flashback

• Flashback: Kate

Kate, under the guise of Maggie Ryan, is inside a New Mexico bank talking with the manager, Mark Hutton, about a loan application. As she's discussing her line of work, three bank robbers storm the bank and order everyone to the floor. One robber, Jason, grabs the manager and orders him to open the money cage before people start getting killed. Hutton refuses, claiming he'll just be killed either way. As Jason is trying to get the key, a man whispers to Kate that he can take one of the robbers. He goes after the robber, knocking his gun towards Kate and yells for her to pick it up and shoot. She picks it up but claims she doesn't know how to fire it. Jason grabs the gun from Kate and takes her into a back room to "have a talk". Away from everyone else, it's revealed that Kate and Jason are working together. Kate has Jason hit her so Hutton will cave in and give up the key. Jason brings her back to the front of the bank and tells Hutton he'll kill her if he doesn't give up the key - Hutton gives in to his demands. Jason and another robber bring Kate and Hutton to the money cage. Hutton opens it and asks that they let Kate go. Jason tells him that Kate is the one who set him up, the one who picked the bank and the vault, that the whole thing was her idea. He takes off his mask and aims his gun at Hutton, but Kate takes the second robber's gun and takes aim at Jason. Jason thinks she's bluffing and cocks his gun - Kate shoots him in the leg, picks up his dropped gun and shoots the third robber who came in to know what's going on and then shoots the second robber. Kate tells Hutton that she needs the bank's key to safe deposit box 815 as she has the customer key but is not on the signatory card. Inside the safe deposit box is a single envelope.

Notes

Mysteries

• How did Kate kill the man she loved?
• Why did Rousseau write song lyrics on her notes?

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• An abnormal tide begins swallowing up the wreckage, forcing the survivors to move their beach camp.

Characters

• Sayid and Shannon grow closer together.

Trivia

The Show

• Toy Plane: Kate's toy airplane is a twin-engine Douglas DC-3. The DC-3 first flew on December 17, 1935 and military variants were built under the designations C-47, C-53, R4D, and Dakota. 10,655 DC-3s were built at Santa Monica, CA and Long Beach, CA.

Behind the Scenes

• Zero Halliburton: The Halliburton case that Sawyer tries to open, but is laughed at by Michael and Hurley, is manufactured by Zero Halliburton. The case is a 5" silver attaché model P5-SI and retails for $570.00. The P5-SI features a heat-tempered aluminum shell that has the strength of steel at only one quarter the weight, a triple-digit combination lock for added security, extra-strength hinges that can withstand pulling of over 400 pounds, and an innovative neoprene gasket that keeps out dust and moisture.
• Cost-cutting Ocean: The "unusual" rising tide which engulfs the wreckage and forces the survivors to move their beach camp was written in to cut costs. The producers did not want to have to haul the wreckage back to the beach to film later episodes.
• Missing in Action: Although credited, Claire and Jin do not appear in this episode.
• Location, Location, Location: The waterfall where Kate and Sawyer take a swim is part of the Waimea Valley Audubon Center on Oahu. The New Mexico bank is actually the Chinatown Branch of the First Hawaiian Bank in Honolulu.
• Ratings: The first airing of this episode was watched by 21.5 million viewers, and was the highest-rated show of the night.

Allusions and References

• Finding Nemo: The CG movie that Shannon mentions watching in France is Pixar's Finding Nemo.

Memorable Moments

• Wielding two guns, Kate takes down three armed men by herself.

Quotes

• Kate: Are you stalking me now?
  Sawyer: Stalking you?! I was protecting you.
  Kate: From what, Southern perverts?
• Sawyer: Son of a bitch.
  Michael: You're wasting your time, man. If you pick the lock on a Halliburton, I'll put you on my back and fly us to L.A.
  Sawyer: You better find yourself a runway, daddy, 'cause there ain't a lock I can't pick.
  Hurley: What's he trying to do?
  Michael: Pick the lock on a Halliburton.
  Hurley: [laughing] Good luck.
• Charlie: Why are you smiling?
  Rose: Am I?
  Charlie: You look... happy.
  Rose: Well, I guess I must be then.
  Charlie: There's no reason to be happy. Things are awful.
  Rose: They're not that awful.
  Charlie: We're stranded on an island. No one's coming for us.
  Rose: You don't know that.
  Charlie: Well, what I do know is there's something in that jungle that eats people. Just 'cause we've not heard from it in a couple weeks doesn't mean it won't get hungry again. And I know there's a person or people that are trying to hurt us.
  Rose: Charlie. Nobody blames you.
• Sayid: You've been telling me what sounds very much like nonsense for the past hour, and now it seems familiar?
  Shannon: Okay, A: I told you that my French sucks. And B: This isn't my nonsense, okay? Do you ever think that after 16 years on Mystery Frickin' Island, your friend might not be quite adjusted?
• Jack: Sawyer?
  Sawyer: Doctor. So, what can I do you for? [Jack points to the case] Figured she'd get you to do her dirty work for her. So, what? We gonna wrestle for it?
  Jack: No, you're gonna give it to me.
  Sawyer: Am I?
  Jack: Yeah.
  Sawyer: I'm just gonna give it to you?
  Jack: Yeah.
  Sawyer: Why would I want to do that?
  Jack: Cephalexin.
  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. 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 itch. The day after that, the fever's gonna come and you're gonna start seeing 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.
• Jason: I swear to God, you better kill me, Maggie, 'cause if you don't...
  Kate: My name's not Maggie.

Reviews

• Overall Grade: C+ with 1 review
• Review Breakdown: A+: 0 A: 0 A-: 0 B+: 0 B: 0 B-: 0 C+: 1 C: 0 C-: 0 D: 0 F: 0

• Oh, hey, it's another Kate episode. This one is much better than Tabula Rasa, but not by much. This time around, her backstory is far more intriguing, as we learn more about her and her two-faced, multi-layered past. Again, it seems a bit too ambitious for its own good, but, for this episode, it more or less works. Too bad the island plot is still nothing more than filler. C+ --Wizardryo 03:39, 31 Jul 2005 (PDT)