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I'm gonna jump on the Felicia bandwagon (and trust me, Felicia, it will take longer than 8 minutes . . . how about 108 minutes?). Why can't she be in love/lust with Jack and still feel sorry for Kate. Merrillin's last statement above is true, but that's what makes her a flawed character, who in my view is worthy of a little empathy. If I wanted to watch sappy, perfect people who always say and do the right thing I'd be watching a Hallmark movie of the week.

I've been on a rant for a number of years now about how Hollywood TV writers haven't written a decent, interesting, strong female character since Dana Scully. I'm come to accept that writers will not ever give us a smart, competent career woman who is a good leader, acts professionally, and doesn't cry in the office on a daily basis. (I know these women exist, I'm married to one.) But maybe the writers have us all pegged. After seeing all of the knee-jerk Kate bashing going on here, week after week, without putting her actions in the context of her upbringing and all the shit she was handed, I'm beginning to think that it's the TV audience that just won't accept any female character with traditional male traits. With Ana Lucia, who was essentially written as a man trapped in the body of a hot, latin woman, the viewers (including the majority of posters here) called her a royal bitch who deserved to die. With Kate, who also possesses certain male traits (vigilante, runs from responsibility, uses a guy for sexual gratification, knows how to read sign in the jungle, etc.), the audience criticizes her to no end and acts as though she just murdered Mother Theresa (assuming this board represents the general audience in some fashion).

While I think it's a shame the writers didn't go with their original plan (Kate as the leader, with Jack dying in the pilot), I try to see her character as what the focus groups or producers suggested it become . . . a foil to Jack's personal and moral struggles as a leader, and the always out of reach love interest. But I also seem to recall that her life was pretty messed up before she even got to the island. Let's see, her stepfather may have molested her for many years, she takes him out with a big explosion, then her mother takes his side and turns her in to the cops, childhood boyfriend gets killed because of her actions, and she makes the wrong choice to keep running and ends up crashing on a goofy island, where people get kidnapped, shot and tortured on a regular basis. To top that off, she falls for a hunky doctor, realizes she's not good enough for him, falls for the bad boy and gives him what she thinks is his last nooky, then gets off the island only to figure out that the bad boy never wanted to settle down with her after all and is willing to jump out of a moving helicopter to avoid it. Now she is trying to do good and find Claire (there is no evidence that she has abandoned that quest), and the damn island and Dharma are thwarting that chance as well. Not to mention the fact that Jack now tells her that he wishes they never met, and is perfectly willing to let her rot in prison.

Has she caused misery, and screwed up, and missed many chances for redemption? Of course, just as she has been treated poorly and screwed with ten times over. Is she still driven in part by self-interest, on top of her desire to do the right thing? Yes. Big deal. Right now her purpose on the island seems to be to remind Jack, Sayid and others that they have all fallen pretty far down the moral scale, and that right and wrong are not always black and white. She is attempting to assert her free will where Jack is taking a Locke-like approach to his destiny. What did she say in last night's episode? Something like: "Oh, and shooting children and detonating bombs is now okay?" Only on a Sucks message board could she get such universal hate after trying (in her pathetic Hollywood-written female way) to be the voice of reason.

*** waits quietly while this post falls on deaf ears ***

chidelta - You can jump on my bandwagon for 108 minutes anytime. This is one of the many reasons I absolutely adore you. No, not because of the 108 minutes but because you get me. Yep, I can hopelessly love Jack and still feel sorry for Kate. Jack would rather sacrifice his past with Kate or any possible future and possibly send her to prison - that's a big ouch for me, but anyway - for the chance to save everyone who died - to completely undo everything that happened after they all boarded that plane. That's who he is. It still smacks of his "fixer" syndrome but hell, I knew he wouldn't change completely. I also feel empathy for Kate. I'm soft - that's just who I am. I have never been or would ever be anything like her but that's easy for me to say because I haven't lived her life. Mine has been relatively sheltered.
Btw, I love Meredith, even when she was darky and twisty.

GREAT POST!!