Kate wants some time with Miles, so she arranges for Miles to get some time with Ben.

What does Kate want from Miles? Presumably, it has to do with his ghostbusting skills. Two possibilities:

1. She wants to take Miles to Marshall Mars' grave--she still needs or wants to know something that the marshall took to his grave.

2. More interestingly, she wants to talk to Wayne, whom she has encountered (she believes) in both the marshall and Sawyer. (I personally think Wayne was really there, since both Mars and Sawyer behaved exactly the same way when "possessed.") Would someone like Miles be able to talk to a ghost living inside a living human being? And how on earth would Kate and Miles get Sawyer to go along with the experiment?

Can anyone think of other possibilities?

Kate wants some time with Miles, so she arranges for Miles to get some time with Ben.

What does Kate want from Miles? Presumably, it has to do with his ghostbusting skills. Two possibilities:

1. She wants to take Miles to Marshall Mars' grave--she still needs or wants to know something that the marshall took to his grave.

2. More interestingly, she wants to talk to Wayne, whom she has encountered (she believes) in both the marshall and Sawyer. (I personally think Wayne was really there, since both Mars and Sawyer behaved exactly the same way when "possessed.") Would someone like Miles be able to talk to a ghost living inside a living human being? And how on earth would Kate and Miles get Sawyer to go along with the experiment?

Can anyone think of other possibilities?

Kate wanted to know what Miles knew about her, i.e. if the Freighter people knew if she was a wanted woman. He said he'd tell her everything he knew about her after he got one minute of Ben's time.

Kate wanted to know what Miles knew about her, i.e. if the Freighter people knew if she was a wanted woman. He said he'd tell her everything he knew about her after he got one minute of Ben's time.

Oh, yeah. Well, it's more than likely that's all it was, and my imagination ran away with me.

The moment Kate gave her real name to the freighter people, I was yelling at her for her stupidity.

Neither of those ideas occurred to me.
I assumed she wanted to know if Miles knew who she was, meaning...does he know she is a fugitive and know of all her crimes. If he knows, she wants to know if there is any hope she can leave this island and not have to face her punishment.
In the future we find out there is a nice cover story in place for all 6 which makes her come out looking brave and heroic.

Kate desperately wanted to ask Miles if he knew who she was, and many of us seem to assume she wanted to find out whether she should leave the island. But what would Miles' knowledge prove or disprove? Even if he had no idea who she was, that wouldn't mean that the authorities back home had forgotten her crimes.

And she could more easily have stayed at Jack's camp and asked Daniel or Charlotte the same question, couldn't she? That's assuming, of course, that she stayed voluntarily at Locke's. Why run a covert op, guns and all, risking John's wrath and indebting herself to Sawyer, to ask Miles a seemingly pointless question? Am I missing something, or does Kate have something else on her mind?

Your question.........one amongst several prime reasons why this episode sucked.

Your question.........one amongst several prime reasons why this episode sucked.

But maybe there's something more--there's *always* something more--

We've seen Kate try to assume another survivor's identity before, back in season 1.
Though I'd agree that it would be a pretty lame answer to her reason for talking to Miles because as you pointed out - even if Miles didn't know who she was, somebody back in the real world certainly would. And being rescued after surviving a plane crash is a sure way to get a lot of media coverage.
It does really not make any sense if you think about it. Of course now Kate knows that Miles knows who she is, but even that doesn't change all that much about her position. She can either stay on the island or go back (if the freighter actually offers a chance of going back).
*shrugs*
I agree that it doesn't make sense.

We've seen Kate try to assume another survivor's identity before, back in season 1.
Though I'd agree that it would be a pretty lame answer to her reason for talking to Miles because as you pointed out - even if Miles didn't know who she was, somebody back in the real world certainly would. And being rescued after surviving a plane crash is a sure way to get a lot of media coverage.
It does really not make any sense if you think about it. Of course now Kate knows that Miles knows who she is, but even that doesn't change all that much about her position. She can either stay on the island or go back (if the freighter actually offers a chance of going back).
*shrugs*
I agree that it doesn't make sense.

I speculated in another thread that Kate was looking for some ghostly communication--until another poster reminded me of the "Do you know who I am?" conversation.

Still, Kate might have wanted to speak to the marshal (buried on the island) or Wayne (who she believed had possessed Sawyer).

I speculated in another thread that Kate was looking for some ghostly communication--until another poster reminded me of the "Do you know who I am?" conversation.

Still, Kate might have wanted to speak to the marshal (buried on the island) or Wayne (who she believed had possessed Sawyer).

But does Kate even know Miles is a "ghostbuster" (for a lack of better word ;)). She saw him mumbling over Naomi's body if I remember correctly, and witnessed that afterwards he was convinced she had told the truth about Naomi's fate, but still.
My first thought at seeing him do that would not have been to assume that he can talk to spirits, but rather that he's slightly off his rocker.
And other than that scene with Naomi's body, Miles alleged ability wasn't really mentioned, was it? I just don't know if it isn't too much of a stretch to assume that Kate has seen through Miles' ability, is ready and willing to believe it and even wants to make use of it.
I think she's too sceptical for that.
Or did I forget about a scene where Miles' talent was mentioned explicitly? I'm not really sure.

The big problem with that whole exchange (and with Kate's story in general), is what Kate did isn't all that interesting. The only people that should care are the victims of her crimes and the criminal justice system. She's not a Nazi war criminal hiding out in South America, superhero, assassin, genetic mutation, werewolf, or anything else that might give her story some depth. She's a garden variety fugitive. Lame-o.

It's not at all common for a fugitive to rob a bank to get a toy plane. You have to admit that's unusual.

Actually, most fugitives don't end up doing farm chores in the Australian Outback, either. Her criminal career is certainly varied.

But maybe there's something more--there's *always* something more--

I disagree. I only started reading this board 2 years ago, but there are dozens of theories based on mistakes the director made that absolutely turned out to be nothing. In fact I would say when it comes to basic errors and basic strange behavior, there is rarely anything more and often times a mea culpa from TPTB admitting they goofed.

I suppose that its possible that we don't really know who Kate is and that she wasn't referring to her fugitive status. On another note, why does Sawyer seem to assume that rescue will result in the rescuees being taken directly to somewhere her being a fugitive will come readily to light?

If the freighter people didn't know who she was, she could have claimed to be another survivor.

If the freighter people didn't know who she was, she could have claimed to be another survivor.

By "survivor," do you mean someone who actually survived the crash, or anyone on the plane whose identity Kate could take? Either way, even if she had access to the manifest, how would she know the ages and appearances of the other women on the plane, so that she could try to match one of them? And how would she know whether the woman she chose to impersonate had no friends or family to identify her?

I suppose that its possible that we don't really know who Kate is and that she wasn't referring to her fugitive status. On another note, why does Sawyer seem to assume that rescue will result in the rescuees being taken directly to somewhere her being a fugitive will come readily to light?

YES!!! This is it! Kate actually got the answer she was hoping for. The fugitive stuff is just a red herring. Kate knows that she is a fugitive and will be arrested, that's not what she's asking. There is another reason she is asking this of Miles.

"Do you know who I am?" Kate is more involved in the bigger picture than we know.

(Oddly enough, maybe this coincides with someone else's thread about Kate being "Annie".)

YES!!! This is it! Kate actually got the answer she was hoping for. The fugitive stuff is just a red herring. Kate knows that she is a fugitive and will be arrested, that's not what she's asking. There is another reason she is asking this of Miles.

"Do you know who I am?" Kate is more involved in the bigger picture than we know.

(Oddly enough, maybe this coincides with someone else's thread about Kate being "Annie".)

Huh--that's an interesting possibility--I'd like to think the scene was more than just a plot contrivance to get Miles an audience with Ben--

Kate desperately wanted to ask Miles if he knew who she was, and many of us seem to assume she wanted to find out whether she should leave the island. But what would Miles' knowledge prove or disprove? Even if he had no idea who she was, that wouldn't mean that the authorities back home had forgotten her crimes.

And she could more easily have stayed at Jack's camp and asked Daniel or Charlotte the same question, couldn't she? That's assuming, of course, that she stayed voluntarily at Locke's. Why run a covert op, guns and all, risking John's wrath and indebting herself to Sawyer, to ask Miles a seemingly pointless question? Am I missing something, or does Kate have something else on her mind?

Because if Miles knew who she really was then she would not be able to assume someones when she left the Island. She was probably planning to say she was Libby or Joanna but Miles being a part of the rescue crew knowing her identity would foil those plans

I speculated in another thread that Kate was looking for some ghostly communication--until another poster reminded me of the "Do you know who I am?" conversation.

Still, Kate might have wanted to speak to the marshal (buried on the island) or Wayne (who she believed had possessed Sawyer).

Now that would have been a good reason to want to talk to Miles, and any kind of communication with Wayne or the Marshall would have paired nicely with the FF trial. As it played out, though, why should we even care whether Miles and co. know that Kate is a fugitive when we already know that she goes free in FF?

"Do you know who I am?" Kate is more involved in the bigger picture than we know.

This would be cool if true. And didn't Miles say something similar to Ben, like "I know who you are," or something. Yet another parallel between Ben and Kate.

But if there was nothing more to this scene, I guess maybe Kate sought Miles out because he accused her of killing Naomi - and sparked her suspicion that he might know. Maybe Kate sensed that Daniel and Charlotte are just clueless lackeys, or maybe she hadn't really planned things out but took advantage of the situation once she found herself in Otherville and learned Miles was a prisoner. I guess she didn't have a chance to ask him privately before that time.

I think she must be curious as to what the outside world knows, and is her returning home going to result in her facing her demons..

I think Kate is still undecided about whether to leave the island or not. She hopes that if the freighter-people do not know about her past crimes she will be able to return to the outside world and somehow get away with it (disappear again).
However she now found out they DO know. Yet she still is one of the six people leaving the island and will face trial. The question is: has she chosen to leave the island, or is she somehow forced by the upcoming events?