What Kate Does doesn't quite know how to write a woman of action who's also in love … many of the show's Kate flashbacks are just plain silly … there have been a lot of pretty dire Kate episodes." Whitney Matheson of "USA Today" said that she "wanted to stab Kate with a hot poker" after watching "What Kate Does". Josh Holloway's supporting performance as a grieving Sawyer was commended by Carabott of IGN, who said that his acting on the dock as he cried and revealed to Kate that he was going to ask Juliet to marry him was "one of Josh
What Kate Does reviews"; however, this was down significantly from the previous episode's 89 and Bonnie Covel of About.com noted that " 'What Kate Does' brought us a bit of negativity. In general, fans just didn't like the episode". "What Kate Does" was largely considered to be a step down from the season premiere in pacing, revelations and writing; Mike Hale of "The New York Times" described the episode as "contemplative", "anticlimactic" and "subdued" and the flash sideways as "kind of boring and seemingly pointless." Chris Carabott of IGN, who gave the episode a score of 7.3 summed up that " 'What Kate