This episode begins with Nikki and Paulo digging furiously to escape the 3 tons of sand that has been shoveled on top of them as the rest of the Losties are raptured effortlessly toward the Heavens.  Wait a minute … that is a different Left Behind!   Even so, I am sure somewhere there is a LOST addict convinced that because God spelled backwards is dog, Vincent must be - God.  Although Vincent doesn’t appear in this version of Left Behind, at least in the guise of a dog anyway, there are a number of other spirits from LOST past who do. 

A Kate-centric episode, 3x15 begins with Kate sitting handcuffed in the family friendly Othersville rec-room wielding a pool cue like a baseball bat.  When Juliet enters the room with dinner she makes light work out of Kate, who ends up on the floor gasping for air.  Has Kate met her match?

In her flashback, set shortly after the murder of her father, Kate is stuck in Podunk, Iowa where it takes 3 days to get a Buick fan belt.  She exchanges her name for Lucy, a Saint that she learned about in Sunday school, and catches a ride into downtown Podunk with Johnny the tow truck driver.  Here she meets Sawyer’s ex-flame/protégé/ con victim, Cassidy.  The two come to a mutual understanding in front of the gas station then go to the bar for a drink and to share small pieces of their history.   Kate is trying to find her mother because she does not understand how someone who claims to love you can betray you.  This strikes a cord in Cassidy and she helps Kate find a way to speak to her mother, Diane. 

Diane makes it very clear to Kate that while she hoped Kate was there to apologize it was obvious that she was still thinking only of herself, just as she did when she murdered her father in cold blood.  Diane tells Kate if she ever sees her again she will scream for help, which she does when Kate comes to visit her in the hospital in “Born to Run.”

Abandonment and betrayal are just one of many ties that bind the Losties together.  With the expression on Locke’s face when he awoke to find himself missing a kidney and an empty bed next to him or a young Hurley watching his father ride away to Las Vegas, then finding temporary solace in a candy bar – being left behind has definitely left its mark.   This episode finds Kate being left behind both literally and figuratively. 

Locke comes to tell Kate what we already knew: he doesn’t want to go home.  In addition to wanting to stay on the island, he is leaving with The Others for parts unknown.  Locke tells her he tried to speak on her behalf but they are aware of her past and are unable or unwilling to grant her forgiveness.  She will be left behind.  He then exits in true LOST style, leaving Kate with more questions than answers.

Meanwhile, back at the beach, Hurley uses slightly less than honest means to convince Sawyer that no matter how much he would like to deny it, he needs to be a part of their society just as much as they need for him to be.  Altruism doesn’t come easy to Sawyer.  Then again, neither does throwing away 8 million dollars worth of diamonds.  While we have often had glimpses of the soft heart that lies under Sawyers tough guy exterior, his acts of contrition and attempts “to win the hearts and minds” of the rest of the Losties are evidence of a deeper change in his character.  Allowing himself to demonstrate his feelings toward Kate seems to have chipped the armor that surrounds him.  The expression on his face when Sun did not return his smile made his feelings of remorse all too obvious

After being rendered unconscious by a can of CS gas, Kate awakens confused and handcuffed to Juliet.  Juliet accuses Kate of being at fault for their situation, explaining that Jack didn’t want her to come back because she had broken his heart. Naturally, this leads to an altercation which includes wet t-shirts and a dislocated shoulder.  Juliet plays games with Kate, lying about everything from the handcuffs to how she got there and even her knowledge of the smoke monster.  Only when they are literally running for their lives does she reveal she has always had the ability to separate them.  In the words of Danielle Rousseau, she “will lie, for a long time...”

The confrontations with the smoke monster make this one of the most exciting episodes this season.  What were the flashes that illuminated Kate and Juliet in the Banyan Tree?   Smokie Paparazzi?  A digital camera?   A similar kind of scanning device that was used on Eko?   If the purpose of the sonic fence is to keep the smoke monster out of the compound who or what turned it loose in the first place?  Why can’t it go over, under or around it? 

Once Kate and Juliet make it back to Othersville, Kate finds Jack unconscious on the floor and tearfully apologizes both aloud for costing him his trip home and silently for breaking his heart.   She becomes startlingly aware that Jack has left her behind as well when he immediately asks about Juliet’s whereabouts.  Jack’s connection to Juliet becomes even clearer when he insists that she is coming back with them, over Sayid’s objections, because she too has been left behind.   

So, can Juliet be trusted?  Is it even possible that Juliet dragged Kate all that way by herself?  Where do 50 people disappear to without a trace and how?  Subterranean tunnels?  Has Kate realized that you can’t help who you love?  Can Sawyer continue on his path towards righteousness?  Will Sayid show Juliet how the mind game is truly played and will Jack allow him to?  And most importantly why are they leaving the creature comforts of Othersville for an airplane wing and a blue tarp?  For answers to these questions (and 25 more questions without answers) tune in next week to LOST!

As for the fate of poor Nikki and Paulo – Only Vincent knows.