Lost, Ep. 4.06: The Other Woman

I’m a Juliet fan, so I love any episode featuring her! But ominously, it was a flashback, which makes me worry for her off-island prospects. I was pretty sure she wasn’t making it off anyway, but I’m holding out hope…

Summary: Locke and Ben play politics while Juliet follows Daniel and Charlotte to the Tempest station to sabotage what she thinks are their plans to gas the Island. In flashbacks, we learn about Juliet and Ben’s relationship.

• The therapist is named Harper Stanhope. Is Stanhope Goodwin’s last name, or just hers? All this time I thought “Goodwin” was his last name, but obviously it’s his first name.

• Juliet complains of feeling like a celebrity (which was a mislead to make us think this might be a flash forward, but sadly, it was not to be). This reminds me of how Locke felt when he arrived among the Others.
• Juliet builds a shelter on the Island and Sun asks “Why bother if we’re leaving?” Juliet knows she’s not leaving. *grumpy green guy* That make Hulk sad
• Argh! More whispers! I can’t wait to find out what they say. But I don’t like listening to their creepiness alone, so I’ll wait till later.
• Harper! Was she really sent by Ben? Is she alive? Juliet didn’t seem surprised to see her, implying she knows it is possible for her to appear. Does Juliet know how people convey messages around here? Thru some form of teleportation or astral projection? It has to be physical since Jack saw her too (and Sayid saw Walt with Shannon). If it is some sort of projection or teleport-type thing, that could explain some of the whispers. The whispers could be other people around the person projecting. I always remember the movie The Others in these situations. They were occupying the same space but in different dimensions/times.

• Oh yeah, Harper! So if Ben sent her, we didn’t see it or know about it. He seemed pretty distracted with Locke through this whole episode. It could have been a previous plan with Harper, but it seemed very well timed. Of course, that may have been the plan. Wait until the right time. Anyhoo, travel by smoke monster and whispers seems fun.
• So they are going to the Tempest. Obvious Shakespeare reference here. Although there already were lots of untones from The Tempest in the show. 1. The Island. 2. A guy manipulating a group of survivors. 3. Redemption/repenting stories. 4. Caliban = Cerberus = Smoke monster?
• Goodwin lies about his burn. The power station isn’t just a power station. Juliet’s first real hint about Ben’s deceit and first opportunity to bargain.

• Daniel’s map sure had a lot of “unknown?” comments written on it. Where did they get this map? Obviously someone who didn’t quite remember or know, but who knew enough…hmm…
• Kate is so stupid. How many times can you walk into a situation where you don’t belong and turn your back!?
• Awesome Juliet line: “It’s very stressful being an Other.”
• She also says “You don’t wanna see my file.” But we don’t get any bad impression about her. What could she possibly think Jack would disapprove of or judge her for? He’s been quite accepting of Kate, even knowing what she has done. But it makes me think that Ben wouldn’t just pick a girl like Juliet because she looks like mommy. He would make sure he had plenty on her, plenty to manipulate her with. So she very well may have something worse in her file.
• She reexplains the baby theory to Ben: Immune system attacks baby in women who’ve conceived on the island. Ben is dismissive though. He’s clearly interested in a little sumpin-sumpin instead. This makes me think something very very bad…
• What if Ben has created this women die issue to keep Juliet? I still think it’s possible he unconsciously and psychically created the women/baby issue because of his mother issues. But it’s possible Juliet has succeeded, but he keeps killing the women anyway, or he keeps changing her data, just to keep her. Then I think, he told Alex he took Karl so she wouldn’t get pregnant, so he must really believe that pregnant women will die. Then I think, no, he could still have told her that because he knows if Alex got pregnant he wouldn’t let her die, thus foiling his own plan to sabotage Juliet and keep her for his own. Muhahahaha!
• Claire asks Locke to let her talk to Miles because she might get out of him who the freighters ARE, not just who they are not. I say she wants to talk to Charlie. She’s all into psychics, she will totally ask to speak to Charlie. It’s a good plan, actually. Come on, Locke!

• Ben hilarity: “It didn’t have a number on it, did it?” HA
• Ben keeps manipulating Locke so easily. “Amenable for coercion.” Indeed. Remember, Alex said Ben will make you THINK it was your idea. But it wasn’t. Ben has probably been planning Locke’s rise to power for a while. Harper says he’s exactly where he wants to be. Ben says he has no more bargaining chips. HA! Of course, maybe his plan failed. Juliet didn’t shoot Daniel. She let him render the gas inert. Seems bad for Ben since he may be counting on using that gas again.
• Ben’s plan: WTF is it? To wipe the Island clean?
• Juliet and Goodwin: “Why? Cuz Ben has a crush on you?” Uh…it’s a bit more than that, buddy. Bam, Ben sends Goodwin to the tailies and to his death, which at the end it seems he knew was coming. More evidence of his having flashes? Probably not. Probably the fact that he is a genius analyst and knew Ana-Lucia would nail Goodwin eventually. Sick. Bastard.
• Ben tells Locke “If my people wanted me they’d have stormed this place long ago.” HA. Manipulation. They’ve got their instructions. Ben really is where he wants to be. Stupid Locke.
• More Ben hilarity: “I taped over the game.” HAHAHAHA
• Ben knows about Charles Widmore! Charles Widmore does know about the Island! He is so behind the plant of 815 at the bottom of the ocean. This has been coming since the first summer without Lost, in the ARG. So! Excited!!! Ben says he doesn’t know how Widmore knows, but he SOOO does. The journal.
• Locke: “Tell me who your man on the boat is.” Ben: “All right. But you might want to sit down first.” At first I went: It is SO Michael. Now, I’m certain it isn’t. It’s WALT. Walt can get messages to Ben from off the island through his abilities. Walt can appear to Locke when Ben wants and get him to stop the freighters from coming to the Island. Ben shot Locke, but had plans for him when he got tied up and couldn’t talk Jack out of it. So he called up Walt.
  Ben’s dinner with Juliet. Creepy. Mention of Zack and Emma (sad). Tried to manipulate her about Goodwin, but she wasn’t buying it. “His assignment will be over soon. I promise.” He was just waiting for the inevitable.

• “Who are we to question who’s on the List?” Ben seemed dismissive of this as well. Does that mean the Lists aren’t so the big deal she’s been led to believe they are? Or is his obsession with Juliet taking over his caring about everything?
• OK, the lists. We know Jacob makes the lists of who to take. But Ben asks Ethan and Goodwin to provide lists in 3 days. So now I’m thinking all that meant was a list of who survived so they could narrow down who they bothered started files on.
• We get a Jack/Kate moment and a Jack/Juliet moment. It occurs to me that Juliet is to Jack as Sawyer is to Kate. Juliet is Jack’s obvious match. They are both doctors, both trapped by Ben, both self-sacrificial and required to use their skills to save friends, sisters; both required to be leaders when they didn’t want to be; both have similar leadership qualities. They make sense. Same with Kate and Sawyer. They are both lawless and self-centered, both believe they are not worthy of anyone better than each other. They make sense. Just an interesting parallel.
• Then we see it’s kind of Juliet’s fault that Jack got in the mess with Ben that he did. At first she just thought he could help Ben, then she said he was cute, which probably pissed Ben off pretty good. And I think she probably saw a savior for herself in Jack, probably offering to be the one to manipulate him into doing Ben’s surgery. She knew she had to get out from under Ben’s thumb and that Jack might do it given the right motivation. I really hate her and love her for this.
  And now, of course, she has kissed Jack in front of Ben, which ought to really rile him up. Is she still manipulating Jack thinking he can save her from Ben, or did she really give away her true emotions when she kissed him in front of Ben, believing then that Ben really was trapped and Jack really had won?

• The Tempest: OK, Daniel was trying to render the gas inert, but the manual override wasn’t working. So to counter someone trying to hack the system, the computer contaminates the area. Right? OK, so there really was no danger to the Island, and in fact, Juliet not shooting them saved the Island, possibly permanently if the gas is inert now. (Also, side thought about Dan: He cried when he saw 815 found at the bottom of the ocean because he knew these people and the situation in the future? Since we now know he has a constant, that implies he flashes.) But how did Daniel get the right code to work at the right time? How did he know what it was?
• Juliet and Ben at Goodwin’s body. Scariest. Scene. Ever. “How can you not know that you’re MINE!” Then, sweetly “Take as much time as you need.” Think of all the times we’ve seen Ben show emotion and how all those times we couldn’t believe any of it. But this ONCE, he was really who he is. *shudder*
• Juliet to Jack “Ben’s gonna win.” “He knows here to find me.” Once again, a selfish manipulation on her part, or truth about how she feels? I really think it’s truth that works in her favor.
• Best Ben scene out of all of the awesome Ben scenes: “See you guys at dinner!” I was cracking up at him cheerfully strutting along with his new bedsheets!