Lost: Tabula Rasa

"Tabula Rasa" (Latin for blank slate) is the third episode of the first season of Lost. It was directed by Jack Bender and written by Damon Lindelof. It first aired on October 6, 2004, on ABC. The character of Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) is featured in the episode's flashbacks, showing how she got captured in Australia by the US Marshal Edward Mars (Fredric Lane). In the present day events, Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) learn that Kate is a convict and fugitive while Jack is trying to save the marshal from the injuries he sustained during the Oceanic Flight 815 plane crash. The episode was watched by 16.54 million Americans and received mixed reviews from critics. It is the first episode to feature a 'Previously on Lost' segment, a clip shown at the beginning of each episode summarizing the recent events of the show. The episode receives its name from the philosophical idea of tabula rasa, meaning blank slate, a concept which is brought in one of the episode's final lines, when Jack tells Kate that all of the Flight 815 survivors should be allowed to restart with a new life.