Here are my thoughts on "Tabula Rasa":
After Boone, Shannon, Sayid, Kate, Charlie, and Sawyer make camp for the night, the group decides to keep the French transmission a secret. Sayid comments that it would be a dangerous thing for the other survivors to lose their hope. This is another ironic line when one considers the path Sayid's character eventually follows. After Nadia’s death, Sayid has nothing left to live for. And we see later on just how dangerous Sayid is without this hope: he becomes all the more vulnerable to the temptations of the Man in Black.
Back at camp, the Marshal wakes up looking for Kate and comments that “she’s dangerous.” Besides providing some suspense for the viewer, this remark seems like a bit of an exaggeration. She killed a few people, sure, but most of the main characters on the show can say the same thing. The Marshal's not referring to physical danger, however. Kate's dangerous because she is manipulative; she can make pretty much anyone on the island (especially Jack and Sawyer) do whatever she wants. She seems innocent enough, but is capable of actions which are quite cold.
In flashbacks, Kate is found sleeping in a barn by Ray Mullen, an Australian farmer. She tells Ray that she likes to walk and likes farms, giving a clear indication of the character's motives. Kate consistently desires one thing: freedom. Ray agrees to employ Kate as a farmhand for a fair wage, and she discovers he has a prosthetic right arm when she goes to shake his hand. We’ve seen two other cases of prosthetic limbs on the show: Pierre Chang (Miles’s Dharma dad and that guy from the orientation videos) had a prosthetic arm in the video for The Swan station, and Montand lost his arm when pulled under the temple by the smoke monster.
It’s striking how often circumstances repeat themselves on Lost, whether on or off the island. The Man in Black eventually acknowledges this repetition in “The Incident,” when he comments that humans corrupt and destroy the island's natural properties every time Jacob summons them to the island. Misfortune has a cyclical nature according to the show, with the same tragic events playing out over and over again. Even though we see the end to Jack’s story on the island, it can be assumed that Hurley continues to bring people to the island, looking for an eventual replacement for himself. In this manner, it certainly seems that repetition of human circumstances will continue.
As soon as the A-team arrives back at camp, Kate betrays the trust of the rest of the group immediately by walking up to Jack and telling him everything they heard on the transceiver. Her actions seem like a sign of loyalty to Jack, but she doesn't find the time to admit that she was on the flight with the Marshal.
Jack eventually reveals to Kate that he’s seen the mug shot, but does not allow her to tell him about her crime. Instead, Jack tells Kate that every person is allowed to start a new life on the island. He tries to persuade Kate--and persuade himself--that people can let go of their past lives on the island. But more than anyone, it's Jack who struggles to forget his past actions and let go of his obsessions.
Another torrential downpour strikes the island during “Tabula Rasa,” and it’s interesting that Kate and the Marshal are the only two characters seen harbored from the rain. These two characters are continuing to play the roles that they did before their arrival on the island, rather than being washed away by the rain. Kate might get time to change later on, but the Marshal isn't so lucky. The Marshal is obsessive and violent until his death. Named for the Roman god of war, Mars, the Marshal is a static character who is never granted time to atone for his past actions. Jack even says later in the episode that “he needs water,” but it’s already too late.
In flashback, Kate tells Ray Mullen that she has to leave the farm because she’s “got trust issues.” I don’t believe that Kate is leaving the farm because she is afraid of being caught for her crime—her willingness to stay an extra night shows that she actually trusts Ray. Instead, Kate’s trust issues stem from her inability to trust herself. Whenever she stays with someone for too long, she ends up hurting him in the end. She’s afraid of attachment to others because she fears what will happen when the truth about her identity comes out.
Michael’s relationship with Walt begins to suffer in this episode for a similar reason: Michael pulls away because he fears his own inability. Locke told Walt in “Pilot” that a miracle had happened to him on the island. This worries Michael because he isn’t able to comprehend miracles, choosing instead to remain firmly grounded in the real world.
Michael assures Walt that he will find Vincent, Walt’s dog, as soon as the storm subsides. Almost immediately, with a look of stubborn concentration from Walt, the rain abruptly stops. Many speculated that Walt’s “special” abilities allowed him to stop the rain, and that Walt’s reading a comic book about polar bears similarly led to the appearance of a polar bear on the island. I don’t think there’s any denying that something supernatural is at work here, but I think it's more about the island's power than Walt's power. In season three, Ben Linus tells John Locke about a magic box on the island, in which anything John wants could instantly appear. The island will give you whatever you want, but only if you are willing to embrace and have faith in its power. Locke and Walt are the two people with the most supernatural encounters on the island. Locke experiences the ability to instantly walk and Walt is a child; both are more willing than others to embrace the mysterious.
By the end of the episode, Locke manages to perform an actual miracle by finding Vincent in the jungle. Locke allows Michael to return to the dog to Walt, but this doesn’t put Michael anymore at ease. Because he is unable to understand and embrace the magical properties of the island, Michael feels unable to connect with Walt on the same level that Locke does.
As the storm rages on, Jack enters the dark fuselage to search for medicine among the bodies. He finds Sawyer looting the bodies, leading a conversation that highlights the early differences among these characters. Sawyer comments that he is “trick-or-treating,” while Jack is working for the good of the group. Sawyer is the first of many characters to remind Jack that civilization is gone and that he should instead be living “in the wild.”
By insisting that the rules of the real world do not apply to characters on the island, Sawyer places himself firmly outside of the games played on the island. This is interesting language, especially considering the rules which apparently govern the Man in Black's and Jacob's struggle on the island. Throughout the entirety of the show, Sawyer is playing his own game separate from everyone else. When Sawyer eventually chooses the camp of the Lockeness monster in season six, he constantly refuses to express complete loyalty to either side. His priority is to get himself and a few people he cares about off the island, allowing some characters to escape the fate-controlled game of the island’s manipulative caretakers.
Sawyer attempts to kill the Marshal, but his failure in doing so forces Jack to violate his own moral code and kill him himself. Even though she doesn't pull the trigger, Kate kills the Marshal indirectly by allowing Sawyer to do so. She proves here that she is no different while on the island, still trying to run away from her crimes rather than acknowledge them and accept consequences. During Jack’s and Kate’s talk at the end of the episode, both are wearing white shirts, a visual signifier of the clean slate that the episode’s title refers to. What both characters fail to realize, however, is that a clean slate is useless unless they are able to recognize and atone for their past actions.
In flashback, Kate is ultimately apprehended while being driven to the train station by Ray Mullen. If she had left the farm by foot, trusting herself rather than someone else, she probably wouldn’t have been caught. She takes extra time to pull Ray Mullen out of his burning truck, and this allows the Marshal to catch up with her. Kate is most likely to escape the law by remaining independent, but she cares too much about other people to be able to do so.
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