Found in Lost: Thoughts on "The Other Woman"

What’d you think of the latest episode of Lost? Where do you stand on America’s favorite love quadrangle? Read on for some of our thoughts, and leave yours in the comments. Spoiler alert: stop reading now if you’re not up-to-date!

TOPH TUCKER ‘08

First of all: The Tempest plot felt a little rushed. I'm really gonna miss the 9 episodes we're missing this season....

Moving on, umm, I can't stand Juliet. However lost she may have been upon arriving on the island, Ben has gotten to her, by which I mean that she has been infected by his sneaky schemingness. Except when Ben does it it's great, and when Juliet does it it's annoying. She has adopted the "ends justify the means" mentality. Whatever she’s doing—saving them all, killing them all, whatever, it’s hard to tell sometimes—she is not afraid to completely betray her allies (many times over) in the process.

Regarding Ben & Juliet's relationship: whoah, crazy. I think there needs to be Lost-brand Valentine's Day cards with that great line—“Why? You're asking me why? After everything I did to get you here, after everything I've done to keep you here, how can you possibly not understand THAT YOU'RE MINE? …Take as much time as you need.”And it could be one of those talking Hallmark cards, for extra creepiness.

HARPER: So, Juliet, what do you think of Ben?
JULIET: He's great. Uh, very smart... and intense. Challenging. He's been really good to me.
HARPER: Of course he has. You look just like her.

It’s unclear who Harper was referring to—Annie is one possibility, but Liz suggested Emily, his mom, which would be oh-so-Oedipal. Anyway, the Annie reference is intriguing--if she's still around, and I'm still convinced she is, then Ben's relationship with Juliet seems a little... dishonest. And it’s further proof that Harper is very close to Ben (professionally, naturally), and probably has been for a long time. Also, it's dangerous for Ben to be forming attachments like that. I've mentioned how I think so much of what he does is motivated by his guilt over killing his mom, and that has probably caused him to make some unwise decisions. Any sort of romantic relationship jeapardizes his ability to be a cold, calculating, removed, infinitely patient, oh-so-creepy mastermind.

What was going on in the present with Ben and Locke was pretty interesting. I think Ben was lying when he said the Widmore info was his last bargaining chip--hello, how's he contacting Harper and Juliet???--but may have been telling the truth when he said his people don't want him any more (which isn't to say that most of them aren't still loyal to him). I've thought for a little while that it's possible that the failed attack on the Losties last season was actually orchestrated by Ben to cull the weak and disloyal from his group. Or it may just have been a big stumble. Speaking of stumbles, it would seem he stumbled by failing to stop Daniel and Charlotte. But who knows. His new allegiance with Locke ought to be interesting.

I'm hoping that the relationships are only so messed up now (e.g. Jack w/ Juliet) so that it will be that much more satisfying when, ultimately, everyone ends up with the person with whom they are SUPPOSED to be. The universe has a way of course correcting, and Jack is way off-course. I hope.

Regarding the Widmore revelation—I’m pretty sure Penny isn't manipulating/using Desmond. I'm pretty sure that, if anything, her dad is just secretly piggybacking on her work. But of course, he's been looking for longer than she has. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Desmond is on the island in part *because* Mr. Widmore was looking for it. That race around the world? What if he had a vague idea of where the island was, so he decided to send hundreds (?) of sailboats streaming past it under the pretense of a "race"? What if he was tracking every boat in the race (you'd think he would) via GPS, and Desmond actually led the freighter to the island?

I LOVED the Red Sox bit. But after Ben's tape of Widmore, instead of going to static it should have gone back to the game. That'd have been awesome.

And finally, did anyone else notice the "hostiles" talk?!? Completely reinforcing the concept that the Island's power progression is cyclical.
JACK: That woman--what was her name?
JULIET: Harper.
JACK: The two of you friends?
JULIET: Not exactly. She was my therapist.
JACK: You people had therapists?
JULIET: It's very stressful being an Other, Jack.
JACK: Seemed kinda hostile, even for a therapist.
---
CLAIRE: John, we have to find out who these people are and where they came from and why they're not interested in rescuing us.
JOHN: And you don't think I'm gonna get that out of him?
CLAIRE: No, I... I just think we might be taking the wrong approach. I mean, you killed one, Ben shot one, and now we're holding one prisoner. You know, it's not hard to understand why they might think we're hostile. I might be just a little less intimidating.

See?!? Damon & Carlton (the writers) made a good point in some interview: when the Losties arrived, there were already cliches and power struggles going on, but the Losties didn't have a sufficiently nuanced view of the situation to call them all anything but "others." And now the Boaties have arrived, and they're not all sure who to trust, and they sort of see the Losties/Others as being hostile. Look at how they killed Naomi! Of course, *we* know that that was just Locke, but how are the Boaties supposed to realize that Locke is fundamentally different than the rest??? The Losties ARE the Others.

Images from http://www.lost-media.com/ (beware of spoilers, including for upcoming episodes)