Episode 406 - Juliet Suffers As "The Other Woman"

Before we jump into Juliet's big season 4 moment, "The Other Woman," some house-cleaning remains from last week. Jeff Jensen at ew.com posted a column this week (which you can read here) in which Damon Lindelof confirmed the mechanics of what we saw in "The Constant." In a nutshell, the electrical storm, infused with "island magic," pulled the mind of Desmond from 1996 forward in time to his body in 2004. This was why Desmond had no memory of Frank or Sayid - he would not meet them for 8 years. Eventually, when Desmond made contact with his constant - Penny - in both the past and future, the effect reversed itself, and Desmond's 2004 mind rebooted itself in its proper time and place, only with the memories of his trip forward in time from 1996. These are memories Desmond did not previously have, so he has changed his own history. Much as in "Flashes Before Your Eyes" last season, Desmond has now essentially repeated his own history, but with full knowledge that his actions would lead him to the island. Meanwhile, the late, nuttty George Minkowski's 2004 mind was being projected backwards, inhabiting his past self. This was essentially an opposite effect of what Desmond experienced, which makes sense, given that Faraday explained the effects of travel to or from the island were "random." So, now on with the show...

The big bad guy revealed! Yet another Dharma station!! Gratuitous whispering!!! All this, plus links to flahsbacks from seasons 2 and 3, in "The Other Woman."

Flashback - Juliet Burke

The flashback sequences weave in and out of the same three-year time period covered by Juliet's prior flashback, connecting the dots between her fling with Goodwin (briefly depicted last season in "One of Us") and Goodwin's infiltration of the Tailies and eventual death (as depicted in seaon 2's "The Other 48 Days").

The flashback began with Juliet, one week into her time on the island, meeting with Others' psychotherapist Harper (Andrea Roth, the fiery Janet Gavin on FX's brilliant series, "Rescue Me"). Juliet was confiding her discomfort with her sudden celebrity amongst the Others, when Tom interrupted to bring Juliet to see Ben. Ben was waiting for her with flowers and the keys to her new house, which she found excessive, given that she was only going to stay for six months (heh heh).

Later, Juliet had a fairly lame meet-cute with Goodwin. She was mourning the loss of Henrietta, a pregnant Other, when Goodwin came looking for gauze to wrap a burn he claimed to sustain working at the power station. Juliet called Harper mean and spiteful, only to learn she and Goodwin were married. Given our familiarity with Juliet's eventual hook-up with Goodwin, it's fair to say at this point that the plot has just thickened...Juliet said she would not reveal Goodwin's lie about how he was burned (she recognized a chemical burn) if he didn't tell Harper what she said, the beginning of their shared deceptions.

Still later, Goodwin accidentally interrupted Ben and Juliet with a sandwich he brought for Juliet. Ben instantly sensed what's going on. While Juliet seemed oblivious to it, it became clear to us here that Ben's interest in Juliet was not limited to fixing the toxic baby problem on the island. In therapy, Harper asked Juliet what she thought of Ben. Harper let slip that Ben has been good to Juliet because "you look just like her."

Aside time...there were a few of these throwaway lines in this episode that seemed to hide much bigger reveals. Whom did Juliet resemble that got Ben's attention? His mother? Annie, whose story we have yet to discern?

Harper observed Goodwin and Juliet have been friendly, then asked when Juliet started sleeping with her husband. Juliet faked a huff, but Harper said she followed her and watched them go at it (eww). But Harper's concern was not with Goodwin's infidelity - it was with the consequences for Goodwin for getting between Ben and Juliet.

Sometime later, Juliet and Goodwin enjoyed an island picnic - very From Here to Eternity. Goodwin said he plucked the wine off the sub (ok, so my theory that the sub was not the real conveyance used by the Others may have been a bit far-fetched), and he hated being so private. He had been sleeping on the couch for a year, but Juliet said it would not be a good idea to confess to Harper, because Ben wouldn't like it. "Why," Goodwin asked, "because he has a crush on you?" Ben had Goodwin working on "chemicals that could kill every man woman and child on the island." Goodwin asked (prophetically) what Ben would do if he got upset? Cut to another replay of the 815 crash as seen from the barracks - Ben sent Goodwin to infiltrate the tail section, prompting Harper to give Juliet an "I told you so" look.

One evening, Ben flirtily greeted Juliet, whom he fooled into a private romantic (or as close as Ben can get) meal by inviting her to a dinner party. He thanked her for being so wonderful with Zach and Emma (the abducted tailie kids). Juliet questioned if they really belonged there, since they kept asking about their mother, but Ben insisted they did since they were "on the list." Juliet asked why Goodwin had not returned since all tailies on the list had been brought to the Others. Ben, in his winking, ominious manner, replied Goodwin was making a case for bringing in Ana-Lucia, but Ben was "not convinced" this would be a good idea.

In the final flashback scene, Ben came to Juliet's lab as she was reading Jack's file, noting that his experience with tumor removal could help Ben, a fact which didn't excite him as she thought it would. Ben then led Juliet to Goodwin's body, with the stake Ana-Lucia ran through his chest still sticking through. "Guess I should have listened to you," Ben said coldly. Juliet asked why he showed her Goodwin looking like this. "You mean, instead of his wife?" asked Ben cruelly. Juliet accused Ben of knowing this would happen and asked, sobbing, why he would want Goodwin to die? In a rare moment of total candor, Ben laid it all out for Juliet: "Why? After everything I've done to bring you here, everything I've done to keep you here, how can you not understand, that you're mine?!" Collecting himself, Ben looked down on Goodwin, then said, "take as much time as you need." and stormed off.

So...wow...if I'm reading this scene right, it was not so much that Ben would not allow anyone off the island. It's more that he would not let Juliet leave. His feelings for Juliet explain a lot - why he would confide in her the jamming going on in the Looking Glass station, why he would suddenly insist nobody could leave the island even though he, Richard, and more Others clearly have from time to time, why he was so peculiarly wounded when he learned it was Juliet who betrayed him to the beach camp, and why his behavior had become so erratic, it had Richard and Tom questioning his leadership. Moreover, in a show that is no stranger to biblical allusion, Ben here took a page out of the story of King David, who sent the husband of the woman he coveted off to die on the front lines to make the woman his. And yet, for this awful flaw, David is still considered one of the heroes of Judeo-Christian theology. Still, this flashback, while ostensibly Juliet's, sure did cast a negative light on Ben's claim that he is one of the good guys...

Island Time - Team Jack
We open in the "present" with Juliet trying to build a shelter on the beach. Sun wants to know why she bothers when they're about to leave? Daniel and Charlotte, meanwhile, took off into the jungle, and Jin didn't stop them or say anything because "you...said...they...are...friends." Sun wonders to Jack, "are they?" Jack launches a search party into the jungle (man, this would be easier with Kate or Locke). Juliet, searching one section alone, starts hearing the whispers - the name, "Sarah," (Juliet's sister) was definitely in there - but she turns and finds...Harper, who claims it's been a while.

Harper says she came to deliver a message from Ben - Daniel and Charlotte are going to "the Tempest," and if they figure out how to deploy that gas, everyone on the island will die. Harper says that Ben insists that Juliet be the one to kill Daniel and Charlotte, and that Ben, although apparently a prisoner, is where he wants to be. Jack emerges and sees Harper, who suggests Jack and his gun join Juliet. The whispers return, prompting Jack and Juliet to look for their source, and suddenly, Harper is gone. Juliet says it's safer for Jack if she doesn't tell him what "the Tempest" is (aside from being the power station for the island). She then asks him for help.

Okaaaaay... Here's my take. This was not the "real" Harper, but rather Ben somehow causing her to manifest to communicate with Juliet, much like Yemi, Christian and Kate's horse have manifested in the past. And, as with those prior visions, Jack was able to interact with this "vision" because, in a way, she was really there. I interpreted the whispers as an indication of the "island magic" coming and then going. After all, unless Ben really plans ahead (i.e. with the information gleaned from his spy on the freighter), it would be mighty hard for him to send a message to Juliet via courier while still bound and locked in a basement. Not that I have any cogent theory on the mechanics of all this, or the extent to which Ben can be connected to all of these visions, but if you think you have a more complete explanation, by all means, send it my way!

In the jungle, Daniel and Charlotte are following a map of the island. This map is intriguing for two reasons - 1) somebody with lots of knowledge about the island was able to give it to them (more on this later), and 2) This mysterious someone seemed to have only limited knowledge, as evidenced by the "unknown?" notations on three parts of the map. Daniel asks what happens if he can't do it, But Charlotte reassures him. Kate, on her way back from the barracks, finds them, and Charlotte draws her gun, but Daniel tells Charlotte it's okay. Kate confirms Locke has Miles, but he's fine. Kate catches Charlotte in an obvious lie about dead phone batteries and missing chopper packs. Kate looks in Daniel's pack, and sees gas masks...and Charlotte knocks her out with the butt of her gun.

Jack asks Juliet about Harper, and why the Others need a shrink. "It's very stressful being an Other, Jack" (great line). Jack asks why Juliet needed therapy, and she responded, "I'm sure there's things you don't want me to know about," to which Jack retorted, "Yeah, you read them in my file." "Trust me," responds Juliet ominously, "you don't want to read my file." The next morning, they find Kate, still unconscious (query about the editing of this episode - we went from Dan and Charlotte with Kate in the daytime, to Jack and Juliet at night, to Jack and Juliet finding Kate in the morning...) Juliet tells Jack she's going to fetch some water, but really seems to be giving Jack space to ask Kate why she changed her mind again and left the barracks. Kate, who doesn't take the opportunity to say, "because I prefer you over Sawyer," tells Jack Daniel and Charlotte had gas masks. Suddenly, Juliet is out of earshot, and Jack realizes they've been ditched. Kate tracks Juliet, and sees she's following Daniel and Charlotte. Jack asks what happened that made Kate leave. She says she stayed to find out if the people on the boat knew who she was, and confirms that they did.

Juliet arrives at the Tempest (which was teased on the hatch map, I believe, as DHARMA's weather station).

The key pad has been smashed, but Juliet opens the front door with a pulley. She pulls out a luger. Sirens blare, and a recorded voice repeats, "Warning - computer switching to manual, test is unauthorized." Juliet finds Daniel, in a gas mask and hazmat suit, trying to hack a computer. When Daniel sees Juliet has a gun trained on him, he seems...disappointed? Concerned for her? He apologizes but says he can't step away from the computer. Daniel says he's not trying to release the gas - he's trying to make it inert. Charlotte attacks Juliet, and they catfight like crazy. Charlotte insists they're trying to stop Ben from using the deadly gas against them in a repeat of the purge. At the last moment, Daniel succeeds in disabling the gas.

Kate is not quite ready to trust Charlotte when she and Jack arrive at the station, despite Juliet's assurances that they're on "our side." Jack says he'll take their word that they just saved their lives, so that Kate will take Charlotte in and leave him with Juliet. He checks on Juliet, tenderly. She says Ben wanted her to kill Daniel and Charlotte. Jack asks how he could tell her? "I don't know, but he knew how to get to me, and he knew where they were going, and what they were doing." Juliet explains that the F4 came to wage war against Ben, but that Ben was going to win, "and when he does, you don't want to be anywhere near me, because he thinks that I'm his, and he knows how I feel about you." Jack kisses her, and gives his version of George W. Bush's infamous "bring it on" line.

So, despite thwarting Ben's doomsday device, Juliet seems to know Ben still has the upper hand in the struggle to come. "How to get to" her clearly was with Harper, who would highlight for Juliet what happens when she chooses anyone or anything over Ben. As for Jack kissing Juliet...I don't like it. Who needs a love quadrangle? Is Jack just going with Juliet as a safe option because his true love, Kate, is too much work? And does Juliet, who seems pretty astute, really want to settle for that, given how badly being the "other woman" went for her last time around? But I do love me some Juliet...

Island Time - Team Locke

That said, as much as this was ostensibly Juliet's episode, Ben had the best showing...

Claire approaches Locke, and says she wants to talk to Miles herself, that she might be less intimidating than John. "All Charlie said is whose boat it isn't - don't you want to know whose boat it is?"

John goes to see Ben, and brings him some rabbit. "This didn't have a number on it, did it?" (Awesome). Ben asks if the revolution has begun yet. "It must be tough to have all those people second-guessing you. Your people are going to be sooo angry when they find out you still don't have a plan." John scoffs, but Ben says, "I always have a plan." Locke plays his trump card - "does this plan involve raising 3.2 million dollars?" Ben changes tactics by saying they have a common enemy, the one the freighterites work for. John says he doesn't trust Ben, who says, "alright then. I guess I'll have to show you." Ben, who has John bring him upstairs, assures him, "If my people stil wanted me, John, they would have stormed this camp long ago." He directs John to a painting, behind which is a safe. Ben gives Locke the combination - 36-15-28 - and Locke finds inside a videotape showing surveilance footage of Charles Widmore having a captured Other beaten. DING DING DING!!!! This is the man who's been trying to find the island!!!! Ok, so, by now this was about as obvious as Jack and Claire being siblings. But isn't it great when a theory pans out? Last week I gave three possibilities of how Charles and Penny could be connected to the island. This certainly points towards number three - Widmore wants the island, and may have used Desmond to try to find it. Penny learned about this and has been working around her father to find the island and, by extension, Desmond. In any case, as hard as it is to take Ben at face value in his claim that Widmore is the "bad guy" (or in any other claim), we now know who Ben's adversary is, for suresies. Ben compares Locke's miraculous recovery from paralysis to the appearance of the Virgin Mary in a patch of mold, and notes that if thousands flocked to see the mold, just think what people would do if Widmore finds the island. Ben hands John the file he has on Widmore - some he knows, some is his theories. Locke demands to know who Ben's mand on the boat is. "Alright," says Ben, "but you might want to sit down."

The episode ends with Sawyer and Hurley (remember them?) playing horseshoes. Hurley wins, and has another one of those throwaway lines to explain the victory, "guess I'm just lucky"

What I love about this line is that this is a "guess" Hugo never would have made before. Something has changed for him, and I can't wait to see what that might be...

....but Hurley's though is interrupted when they see Ben walking free, carrying clean clothes and sheets into one of the houses. Ben sees them, smiles, and says, "see you guys at dinner."

It would appear Ben's story about his spy's identity persuaded Locke that they're on the same side (prior gutshots notwithstanding). At this point, all signs seem to point to Michael being the man on the boat, an answer we should expect to get next week.

So there you have it. I kind of liked the episode, as it clearly moved things forward. There are some problems - the lack of chemistry between Jack and Juliet, for one, and the fact that Daniel and Charlotte seemed to dilly-dally so long before heading to the Tempest and neutralizing the gas, but I still liked how much was explained (or implied) in this episode. I don't feel the need to discuss the parallels between this episode and Shakespear's The Tempest, (or the pop sci-fi classic "The Forbidden Planet, loosely based on the Bard's play) since Doc Jensen did that in his recap on ew.com. So, until next week, Namaste.