Lost - The Other Woman

**** / ****

The fourth season continued to give us details on Juliet, Ben, and the Others that we were unaware of. Goodwin and Juliet’s love affair was made known to us not long after Juliet was introduced to us. But details regarding Goodwin’s wife, a psychiatrist, Dr. Harper (Andrea Roth), wasn’t. It is clear almost immediately Harper was not particularly fond of Juliet’s emergence on the island. Later it is revealed that Ben had selected Juliet as his mate. On this island Ben decides to take what he wants and considers, it seems, only those deserved of coming to his locale should be allowed. So if Juliet had no interest in Ben and preferred Goodwin, on this island, that would be dangerous. Harper tried to warn Juliet of this, but it took Ben revealing a stick protruding from a decaying Goodwin corpse to get that point across. But what I found quite fascinating is how Harper appears to Juliet in “present island” telling her to kill Charlotte and Daniel. Ben, once again, somehow manipulates folks nowhere even close to him. Has anyone seen Harper at all before this episode? We have seen Walt emerge where he shouldn’t be, right? Jack’s father, Eko’s brother, etc. all have shown up unexpectedly on this island…and shouldn’t. Yet she just up and appears like a phantom, tells Juliet to kill Charlotte and Daniel (how does Ben even know about Charlotte and Daniel going to the Tempest? Why is it important to stop them? Why would Ben care?), and eventually vanishes when Jack’s attention is diverted by whispers out in the jungle somewhere.

Elizabeth Mitchell can get all the time she needs as far as I'm concerned. And episodes with her and Emerson always compel me. That moment where Juliet is welcome to the barracks and later when Ben has Juliet mourn for Goodwin as he informs her of how things are leave quite an intense power to them. I find Ben detestable, but that doesn't mean he isn't always captivating, even if for the wrong reasons. But Mitchell's roller coaster experiences through Juliet are a nice tie-in to One of Us.

Juliet arrives on the island with much fanfare because she brings expectations that never materialize. Pregnancy leads to the death of the mother and no success. But Ben will not allow Juliet to leave because he believes she belongs to him. Ben just forlornly lusting with those mesmerized eyes at Juliet while she is looking at a slide under the microscope, and later inviting her to dinner quite enthusiastically in the hopes of perhaps charming her…but Goodwin already won her heart. Harper even confronts Juliet about the affair with Goodwin, worried about (not what she would do) what Ben would do. This is where some of the details fill the gaps. But still with the Harper phantom popping up in the jungle like a dummy operated by Ben, the ventriloquist; there is much left open for interpretation.

Jack and Juliet kissing was actually a moment I well liked because, with all the awkwardness and failed attempts to spill their guts to each other, Kate and Jack just never fully committed to potential feels that existed earlier on (and perhaps still do, although Kate also feels for Sawyer, so she’s a bit conflicted). And after the tension and angst early on between them, Juliet and Jack ultimately made it through a rough start and found common ground. The chemistry has always been there, but the conflict between The Others and Oceanic survivors worked as a wall dividing Jack and Juliet. But after what Juliet goes through in The Other Woman, her feelings for Jack are admitted and he assures her he doesn’t sweat Ben.

I have talked a lot about my indifference with Locke over his character shifts which seem to alternate episode to episode, especially over the third and fourth seasons. But in The Other Woman he inexplicably releases Ben from his cell (like that wasn’t a given he’d cleverly escape that damned room eventually) because of information he didn’t have. Ben understands that in order to keep *his* island safe from those that might look to exploit its magical qualities (Locke and him both can walk despite probably having no reason to), he will have to secure Locke’s trust…until he can be rid of him, I guess. Locke sure enough lets Ben out, learns of Charles Widmore’s owning the freighter, a tape recording of one of his men being pummeled by Widmore and a thug, and how the dangers of too many from the outside world intruding upon this island is in both of their interests to stop. Locke wants to keep the island free of those that might seek to exploit it, but there is only one leader Ben will tolerate to remain on it…himself. Sawyer and Hurley playing horseshoes and noticing Ben bandying about free in the open off to his house, reacting with surprise, says it all. Ben makes points. Ben makes statements. And once again Ben is free to plot and plan his next big surprise.

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Kate getting involved is just expected, isn’t it? Charlotte and Daniel are presented as suspicious, having left the beach into the jungle. Jin-Soo saw them, early that morning, go into the woods, not telling Jack because Jack did tell them these two were friends. Jin-Soo doing so in English, overcoming his language barrier just makes for a special moment that might be brief but nonetheless significant. She is cold-cocked across the head by Charlotte as they needed to get to another station, The Tempest. The Tempest has great importance in that it explains how the Dharma Initiative was massacred (the purge, a title that can’t clean the distaste of the event), with Charlotte and Daniel painted as using it to kill everyone on the island, when instead their goal is to make sure the gas can no longer be used by Ben. While Ben often gets what he wants, if just this one weapon is taken away from him, I am personally satisfied. Claire actually talking sense to Locke regarding learning information from Miles, speaking to using less violence and intimidation—while Locke skins a rabbit no less—and being allowed to do so left me a bit pleasantly surprised. Locke listening to reason is a welcome change of pace, although with Ben now loose that is all subject to change. And nice cameo for Tom who served as a type of welcoming committee after Juliet had a rough start with Harper. These scenes with the Others are quite a contrast to what the show built as imminent terrors early in the show.