Good memory! I just watched the scene on my DVD. I recalled the scene but not what he said. Kate asks Jack why he doesn't seem afraid, he said (and it's long and kind of gory!), "Fear is an odd sort of thing. When I was in residency, my first solo procedure was a spinal surgery on a 16 year old girl. At the end, after 13 hours of surgery, I was closing her up. I accidentally ripped her girdle(?) sac, shredded the base of her spine where all the nerves come together. Membranes thin as tissue, so it ripped open. Nerves spilled out of her like angel hair pasta, spinal fluid flowing out of her. The terror was so crazy, so real, and I knew I had to deal with it. So I made a choice, I let the fear in, let it do it's thing. Only for 5 seconds, that's all I was going to give it, so I started to count, 1,2,3,4,5. And it was gone. I went back to work, sewed her up and she was fine." (Let's hear Kate repeat that word for word!) I think in true Lost fashion, Jack's request was working on several levels -- to tell her not to be afraid, that she should go for it, and also to remind her of their history.

During the first season, in an interview, Matthew Fox speculated that Kate would end up with Sawyer in the short term, but with his character down the road. I think that too. For me the last few minutes made up for a pretty ho-hum episode. That was the Jack I knew and loved from season one! I hope the move the action back to the beach. I'm tired of the Others story, they're too mean and manipulative. I'm much more interested in Desmond's and Alex's stories, and the other Losties.