I hope Kat is dead

Yes...it was funny.

Kat has pretty much become my favorite character on this show, for character potential if nothing else. Her lack of memory serves as a great lens for the examining what makes an identity. Not to mention, I love how confident she is about herself and the agency she demonstrates, despite all the questions in her life.

However, I have a theory as to why we can safely say Kat is not dead and who may or may not be safe. I know some people don't like reading theories about where a story is going, so just a heads up that everything else in this post will be theory based. Also, apologies if this has already been brought up and I'm just rehashing the obvious. I just finished marathoning season 2 about an hour ago.


That pocket knife Kat has that is potentially from her past has the initials JD carved on it. There's a throw away line about it during the episode, which I doubt they would do if it didn't have some later significance. Parish's real name is Jacob Dunham. Now, Parish has said he has no grandchildren left, but that doesn't rule out a connection between the two. Either a more distant familial relation or a surrogate one. Either way, the only way to pursue that story line would be to keep Kat around. Also, killing off such an under developed character with whom most of the characters don't show much of a connection to anyway would be a waste.

I can see Rosen or Rachel dying in regards to storyline.

Nina is safe because they usually won't kill off a love interest (via Hicks) without building in the relationship a little more. Not to mention Hick just started to calm down from being so angry about Dani. It would be a little dull for his character to have to end up grieving the same kind of of loss so quickly.

Hicks himself is safe because he and Nina are the only couple with UST (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnresolvedSexualTension) right now and shows rarely are willing to give that up.

Bill is safe because he is the foundation of the group and most of his personal connections (wife and Adam/Benjamin/Kyle) are not strong enough characters in the show to receive their own storyline about coping, but are strong enough ties that they can't be ignored. So it's far more likely he'll get an arc about how the events affected those bonds.

Gary, unless they do something truly left field, is fairly safe. Both because the photostim apparently didn't affect him, and because killing off the only PWD (person with a disability) on the channel could have some unfortunate implications.

Skylar I consider safe partially out of bias. Summer Glau is awesome. But also, with her daughter in the picture with no other place to go and a character already having adopted one alpha kid, again it would be a story repeat. Also, it
could be interesting to have Skylar dealing with the fall out that she built these machines, even under duress.

Parish is on the edge. He has reached a point where his story could be over or it could continue in several different ways. Personally, I want him to stick around and him staying put would play into my Kat theory better.

That leaves Rosen and Rachel (assuming I didn't miss anyone). Starting with Rosen. Again, my bias is coming into this a bit. I'm mostly just done with Rosen. He's extremely arrogant and superior toward other people and always seems to fixate on one thing until extreme events show him maybe he's not quite so knowledgeable as he may think. I'm also in agreement that he unnecessarily exploits alphas' and their abilities, even before crossing his moral event horizon at the end of the season. You see it most clearly with Nina. No pushing unless absolutely necessary translates to no pushing unless you are furthering Rosen's investigations. Yes, sometimes this is justified, but his lack of awareness and empathy for the alphas who work for him is grating at time. Look to the episode where they discover Nina can extra memories. Rosen uses Kat as a test, dredges up a potential connection for her, then just drops it, races off after Parish, and leaves his supposed patient confused, lonely, and without anyone to turn to for answers. Good job, doc. Because of his actions near the end of this season, Rosen has gone to a pretty dark place, although not killing Parish and talking Hicks down gives him a little bit of redemption. The main reason I see Rosen as not entirely safe is the potential for Parish to take over as leader of the group. While Rosen does seem to be the main focus of the show and the character usually there to show us that non-alphas are important too, if he survives Parish becomes a little redundant. So, Rosen's death is a far cry from certainty, but I do mark it to possibility.

Finally Rachel. Let me start by saying, I do not want Rachel to die. Her family arc was interesting, the enhanced senses ability has so many neat uses, and I actually like the healthy relationship between her and John. Her development of finding her confidence and controlling her ability has been well done. It's also nice to see a positively portrayed Iranian character on television. Sadly, it is for many of these same reasons that I think she may be on the chopping block. She's pretty much the only person right now who is happy. (The fact that this is my main reasoning may mean I watch too much Joss Whedon, but oh well.) John is enough of an independent character to receive an arc about coping with his grief and assigning blame. He asked Rachel to evacuate with him but ultimately left the choice to her and did not go with her to the station and that could also result in some guilt. As far as logistics go, Rachel was the only one to be exposed to the photostim before and it resulted in seizures and I'm not sure how her powers would enhance a second time.

The other option is, of course, Rosen is either a latent Alpha or Nina put him to sleep and everyone lives. But what fun is that?


EDIT: It was pointed out to me that I was using some unclear abbreviations, so I hope that is clearer now. Guess I've been spending a little too much time around tvtrope.org.

-*-
When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.

So is Nina. Kill her too.

Once Upon A Time Abridged http://daesgatling.livejournal.com/11439.html#cutid1

Yeah, I don't see Hicks and Kat hooking up, either.



Cheese fries...next time.