Review: Meet Kevin Johnson

I think if I were to dig back into the Dharma Blog archives (and I’m talking pre-website…that’s right, kids: we used to send out ridiculously long emails…), I think you would find an entry or two where I went off on how frustrated I was with Michael. I’ll be honest: I don’t really like the guy. His character lied, cheated, stole, and killed to get what he wanted. While we were instructed to believe that it was all for the love of his son, I questioned his motives all too often and wondered if, in the end, he was really serving himself and not his son.

However, with the announcement of his return this season, I decided to open my mind up to the possibilities that maybe Michael has changed…maybe he wasn’t soo bad after all. Anticipating his return to the show during the last several months has been semi-exciting as everyone has tried to figure out how he was going to fit into the current storyline. As the rumor mill started to predict that Michael was, indeed, Ben’s spy-on-the-boat…well, I’ll admit I was pretty excited.

Tonight’s episode delivered a lot of answers. Although I still am not a huge Michael fan, I’ll give well-deserved props to Harold Perrineau. He delivered a believable performance as a weathered-and-battered man, haunted by his past, despised by his son, and clinging to the hope of redemption. Yet, as we have seen all too many times this season, redemption comes with a steep price tag.

Another Close Call
We started out tonight’s episode with another close call: a survivor of flight 815 attempting to take his own life, but failing. Jack tried to jump off the bridge during the season 3 finale, but was interrupted by a car accident (what we thought was an ironic twist of fate). Locke was seconds away from pulling the trigger as he laid in the Dharma mass grave in the season 3 finale, but was interrupted by “Taller Walt” (another supposed ironic twist of fate).

Well, turns out it wasn’t irony. It wasn’t luck. It was the island. Turns out the island won’t let our characters die.

I know what you’re thinking: “Come on, Maggie. It’s an island. How does that make any sense?” Duly noted, friends. And I don’t quite know the answer. However, there is a phrase we keep hearing during these close calls: “You have work to do.”

Where does that leave us? At the crossroads of fate vs. free will. Through their desire to end their lives prematurely, these suicidal characters are trying to change their fate and their destiny. I think the island represents predestination – there is a path each of these characters is supposed to take. Suicide would not allow them to complete the “work they have to do.” In order to assure that their paths are taken correctly and completely, the island interferes and Locke, Jack and Michael all live.

It is clear that the ramifications of this inability to take your own life have not been fully realized. Sure, we’ve seen three case studies – but as you recall, there are several other survivors of 815 (Oceanic 6, anyone?) who survive and, assuming they are psychologically tormented as these guys, are going to really struggle in their post-island lives. Whether or not the island steps in to save their lives is yet to be seen.

It is worth noting, however, that the island we initially felt was threatening the lives of our characters is now saving them…

Ghosts of the Past
Rewatching that scene from the Swan Station when Michael kills Ana Lucia and Libby was pretty interesting. In the initial viewing, I was more taken with the reality that both characters had just died in a matter of seconds…not so much thinking about Michael and his reaction. At the time, I was under the impression that he was a cold-blooded killer, pure and simple. Libby was on her way to a date with Hurley, for crying out loud! I was shocked by that scene the first time it aired – and just as shocked this time…

…but this time, my shock was for a different reason. Look at Michael’s face. He looks terrified…absolutely terrified…that he killed Libby.



Michael was told by Bea Klugh to bring back Ben from the Swan Prison. Once Ben was safe with the Others, and Jack-Kate-Sawyer were successfully captured, Michael and Walt would be able to leave. As Ben so calmly told Michael over the Freighter telephone, “No one told [you] him to kill Ana Lucia and Libby. [You] He did that [yourself] himself.” I think it is safe to assume that Michael didn’t plan on killing both Ana Lucia and Libby. Maybe Ana Lulu did have to die in order for Ben to successfully escape (she has some pretty crazy moves – I point out Goodwin’s death scene, for example)…Libby’s unexpected return to the Swan, however, was not part of Michael’s plan. And when he pulled the trigger and saw the blood begin to pour out of Libby’s body, the terror set in.


Therein is where Michael’s haunted past began.

We found out that even his love of Walt couldn’t save him from the reality of what happened. After leaving the island, Michael told Walt that he had killed Ana Lucia and Libby. We can only assume this confession to his son was entirely selfish – it was an opportunity to rectify in himself the truth and move on. However, Walt’s reaction was, I must say, predictable. If you were to do some research on this, I have a feeling that most 10 year-olds would be terrified out of their minds to find out that their father had killed someone…and not just 1 someone…2 someones!!

Upon their return to New York, we find out that Michael and Walt head to Grandma’s house for refuge, claiming new names and not offering any explanation for where they’ve been and what happened during the last 2 months. Walt separates himself from Michael, haunted by the ghosts of the women he killed just as much as his father. Grandma is torn between the love of her son and the love of her grandson, unable to reconcile what has happened, but stepping into the caregiver role in Walt’s life.

Michael responds by attempting to kill himself in a high-speed collision. But the island saves him.

A Familiar Face
Following his recovery and subsequent denial from his mother to see his son, Michael is again at the end of his rope. After pawning the watch from Sun’s father that caused so much confusion and heart ache during season 1, Michael takes the gun he traded it for and frantically attempts to load the weapon in an alley. Pulling the barrel to his temple, Michael once again attempts to kill himself. This time, the island saves him through the presence of our old friend, Mr. Friendly.

It is now time for a short commercial break.

Since I know someone is going to ask me why I didn’t mention it, I’ll take this opportunity to confirm that, yes, Mr. Friendly (Tom) is gay. When he told Kate that she was “not his type,” this indeed meant that he was gay. Can we move on now?

And now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Since this is one of his supposedly few trips to the mainland, we find Mr. Friendly living lavishly (and eating lavishly) in a Penthouse suite somewhere in Manhattan. Turning to Mr. Friendly as a last resort and wanting some answers, Michael shows up and demands to know what the hell is going on. Mr. Friendly not only gives us answers – but he also confirms many of the theories that have been swirling around the show (and the internet) on that blasted plane at the bottom of the Sundra Trench.

Through purchase orders, receipts, and morbid photographs of a cemetery that has been completed emptied of all bodies, Mr. Friendly confirms for us that Charles Widmore is behind the staged Oceanic 815 crash. In Mr. Friendly’s words, he needed to plant this plane so that no one would try to find out where the plane actually crashed. Penny once said “With enough money, you can find anyone,” and it appears she may have learned this lesson from her Dad. The freighter is funded by Charles Widmore and charged with the mission to find the island. Through the Black Rock Diaries that Widmore bought, to the boat race he sent Desmond on, to the hot-air balloon race he sponsored that took the life of Henry Gale, to the current efforts (read: large freighter with machine guns) he has undertaken to find where 815 landed…it sure seems like Widmore is, indeed, looking for the island.

Mr. Friendly offers Michael a deal: get to this freighter, work for us, and save the rest of the 815 survivors…otherwise, they are all going to die and their deaths will hang over Michael’s life forever, just like Libby and Ana Lulu are now. Broken and torn, Michael accepted the offer and made his way to Fiji.

Now, sit right back and you’ll hear a tale…a tale of a fateful trip.
Under the new identity “Kevin Johnson”, Michael headed to Fiji as an employee of Ben. His standing orders are initially to kill everyone on board. However, during his third suicide attempt of the night, Michael discovers that Ben may (or may not) have a heart. In Ben’s words, there are some people on the boat who are not bad…who do not know what is the mission of this freighter. Ben claims these innocent bystanders do not deserve today, which is an interesting twist on the demeanor he had during the Purge.

So how do we know who is good and who is bad? Through a list, of course. In a strange way, Ben takes on the role of Jacob and has Michael compile a list of everyone on board. We know he completed at least part of this task because Ben knew a whole boatload about Charlotte, Daniel and Miles just a few episodes ago.

Posing as a deckhand, Michael lays low and tries to blend in…as much as a ticking time bomb can blend in. Conversations with Miles take place (“Everyone on this boat is lying about something”), conversations with Frank Lapidus take place (“The reason I’m on this boat is that the financier believes that Oceanic 815 didn’t crash at the bottom of the ocean.”), and conversations with Ben take place (“I need you to do this for me, Michael. Do you think you can do it?).

And when Sayid and Desmond come on board, Michael is once again nearly ready to end it all. His mission of repentance has gone completely awry. The one man who stole his innocence (and Walt’s innocence) is in control of his life. He has essentially discovered that it was a huge mistake to come work for Ben. He just wants to go home.

But Sayid has another idea.

Sayid tattles.
I was disappointed in the scene when Sayid took Michael into the captain’s quarters for a number of reasons. The main one, however, is this: what the hell has happened to Sayid? The tattle-telling was absolutely ridiculous. Sayid still has no idea what is going on aboard this freighter. Sure, he has some pent-up anger/frustration towards Michael (most of our 815’ers do), but to waltz in all high and mighty to tell on Michael? It was extremely unbelievable. The Sayid I know would have taken care of things himself. No, I’m not saying he would have killed Michael...but he would have figured out a plan and maintained control of the situation, not thrown the information to another stranger. If this is simply a new character arc for Sayid, fine. But it seemed rushed, abrupt, and not entirely believable.

The Temple
Meanwhile, back on the island, Ben sends Danielle, Alex, and Karl to the Temple for safety. I was pretty thrilled at this idea – a new station! Awesome!

Then I looked at the clock (9:51PM).

Then I remembered the previews (Someone…will…die…).

Then I started to freak out.

I think it is safe to say “Rest in peace, Karl.” I’m sorry you died. Not really really sorry, but it sure sucks for you. And no one wants to die from darts. Now, I’m not convinced Danielle is dead (she had fewer venom-arrows thrown at her…and this is Lost), but I will say “Feel better, Danielle.”

In a moment of sheer panic, we hear Alex yell out “Stop! Don’t shoot! I’m Benjamin Linus’s daughter!” Ohhhhhh shit. No you di-dn’t, Alex! And with that one sentence, we both went backwards on the storyline (Alex disowned Ben earlier in the season) and went forward on the storyline (looks like Alex just went from C-list Lost character to A-list Lost character). The implications of this scene are huge…Ben didn’t want Alex to be used to get to him, but it looks like Alex just chose that path. What does it mean? Who knows…but I loved it.

And, to be completely honest with you, faithful readers, I was pleasantly surprised and relieved that the character death was just Karl. Any death sucks, but I had a Paolo/Nikki reaction to his bloody torso. I don’t know what that means about my morality, but it is what it is.

Now what?
Well, it is time to take a breather and a step back. We’ve got ourselves a little hiatus so our producers and cast can catch up. Mark April 24 on your calendar with a large red circle, for this date will start our final build-up to the season 4 finale. We have 5 episodes left, which will be quite a treat!

So what do you think? Were you impressed by the episode? Did you feel like it was a cliff hangar at the end, as it had been promoted? Did you cry when Karl died (be honest, Charlie…)? One…two…three…comment!

Stuckey Rating: 6.9
Stephan Rating: 7.8

Namaste,
Maggie

Preview: Meet Kevin Johnson. Then Run For Your Life.

First of all, much of this article will deal with actor Herald Perrineau, who for the first two seasons was known as Michael Dawson. He now goes by the name Kevin Johnson. Same song, different verse. In order to avoid cumbersome nomenclature like “The artist formerly known as Michael Dawson” we will refer to Herald Perrineau’s character with the apt portmanteau “Kevichael.” Creative? No. New hit buzzword for summer? Probably.

The Preview
We’ll begin this week with a breakdown of the made-for-DVR preview:
Sayid confronts Ben’s spy on the freighter, and Ben urges daughter Alex to flee Locke’s camp in order to survive an impending attack.

Sayid confronts Ben’s spy on the freighter…
Last week’s tension-filled meeting between Sayid, Desmond and Kevichael left some ambiguity to the issue of how aware Kevichael is with his situation. It was tough to discern whether he was trying to send Sayid the “don’t blow my cover, I promise I’ll explain” look or the genuine “Do I know you from somewhere” look?

That all kind of depends on what angle of the Kevin Johnson story you believe. Is Michael Dawson a willing, knowing participant in this sham, or is he unaware of what has happened, perhaps due to an unfortunate time travel incident. I covered this last week a little, so I won’t rehash it here. But if you haven’t read it, click here to do so. And for the record, I've come around to believing that Kevichael knows exactly what he's doing. And it isn't gonna be pretty.

The word that strikes me about this preview phrase is “confronts.” Sayid is on a mission for answers. And after last week’s gabfest with El Capitan, Sayid may smell blood in the water. I think if Kevichael is the least bit hesitant to tell Sayid the Kevin Johnson story, Mr. Jarrah may revert to some torturous tactics (or at least threaten to).

Also interesting – and here’s where flash-forwards begin to pay dividends to us aimless prognosticators – is that we know Sayid ends up working for Ben, albeit because Ben apparently used someone important to Sayid (Nadia?) to tap into his killer instinct. So tonight we will see Sayid “confront” Kevichael about his connections with Ben. While you watch Sayid enter “confrontation mode,” keep it in your mind that he ends up working for the same person as the man he’s confronting. That Ben Linus. He could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves.

…and Ben urges daughter Alex to flee Locke’s camp in order to survive an impending attack.
Sweet! Does anyone else find it strange that they’ve never explained how Ben came to be Alex’s “father.” Did everyone just forget that Alex is Rousseau’s daughter, and that sheer physics and logic alone would present Ben and Rousseau from conceiving a baby? Ben’s introduction of Alex to Rousseau last season was pretty anticlimactic – almost obligatory: “Alex, this is your mother.” I mean, my sister just adopted a Chinese baby, and I’m pretty sure there was more fanfare than that when she picked her up in China this week (by the way, proud uncle pictures of that later).

And yet, Ben’s paternal instinct seems unflappable. Not even the glaring truth that he is not her real father seems to deter him from offering advice to Alex and trying/promising to protect her. He even went all Papa on the First Date with Karl a few weeks ago (funniest moment of the season, by the way).

We know that Ben feels like an attack is imminent. He’s spent most of Season 4 trying to convince Team Locke of that, if only to buy himself a ticket out of the dungeon. Now that he’s acquired that freedom, he’s probably intent on saving only his own life and that of his “daughter.” Though the fact that he’s free but still expending energy on saving himself and his daughter makes me think he might be telling the truth after all. Listen to me. I just said I might believe Benjamin Linus. What’s next, me buying a Sheryl Crow CD? (answer: never in a million years, for she is a no-talent ass clown).

So that’s what the powers-that-be have decided we should pay attention to tonight. But let’s diverge from that beaten path and look at what else we know.


The Killing Fields
Last week’s post-episode melodramatic preview included one of ABC’s favorite teaser devices: the death guarantee! Oh yes. Substituting for Desmond as the Island’s Grim Reaper, the network beat around nary a bush in warning us about an upcoming death. Time to do what I do best: predict LOST outcomes based on sketchy details and clues.

I was doing a little thinking about previous deaths, especially those that occur early in seasons. In Seasons 2 and 3, LOST followed two separate but simultaneous storylines to open the season. In Season 2, we learned at once about the tail section survivors and the familiar beach-dwelling survivors. In Season 3, we had to keep track of Jack, Kate and Sawyer in the Hyrda station while also trying to figure out what happened to the hatch, why Locke was deaf and why Desmond was naked. Eventually, LOST stages a convergence of these storylines. And that's when things get dicey.

Remember in Season 2 when the tail section folk met the beach folk? That one ended with Ana Lucia (mercifully) killing Shannon. And in Season 3? As Kate and Sawyer were attempting to escape and reunite with the other survivors, Danny Pickett (the big bad Other out for revenge after Sun killed his wife) was capped by Juliet. See what I'm getting at here? Early in the season, LOST weaves two separate storylines together and somebody ends up dead.

What's that mean for tonight? Well, there are three ways (that I can see) that simultaneous plots can converge. One could be a meeting of Team Locke and Team Jack. Another would be Team Locke and the freighter folk. Or it could be the reunion of Team Jack and the freighter folk. Between whom that convergence occurs will dictate who's gong to die, I think. That said, here are the odds, as I see ‘em…

Jin (25:1). Look, it's gonna take a lot to kill Jin. Trust me, I've tried taking down Korean assassins before and it is tricky. I know last week's episode left many feeling that Jin actually dies. But I don't think he does. And if he does, I don't think it's tonight.

Desmond (20:1). While Desmond is in a very good position to die (single tear), I still think he's a little too important to kill off right now. His time traveling abilities are going to be too paramount to this show to kill him off yet. Plus, if I'm made to watch a scene where Penny finds out that Desmond is dead, I might lose it.

Alex (15:1). Eh. I'm only including Sally Slingshot because she's listed in the preview. If she dies, I don't think I'll care too much. Though it would deny us the Titanic-esque love scenes of Alex and Karl. Oh, wait.

Kevichael (12:1). So soon? That would be wrong. We just met Kevin Johnson!

Claire (5:1). A likely innocent bystander if Team Locke and the freighter folk get into a fracas. As Maggie will tell you, with Charlie gone Claire is slightly more expendable to the show. Plus, it might help explain how baby Aaron becomes Kate's.

Juliet (3:1). Poor Dr. Burke. Never could catch a break. With nowhere to go, nobody to run to (except Jack, who we know leaves her on the Island). The Others don't need her, the LOSTies don't trust her and the freighter folk probably have no interest in saving her. And that, my friends, is why I think Juliet is (throat slashing motion).


Checking In
I'm assuming that tonight's episode is a Kevichael-centric offering. I'm also assuming it's going to blow a few minds. So to ground ourselves, let's just look at where we stand with each group on the show.

On The Beach
Everything is pretty much in a holding pattern for Team Jack. Much of their time has been spent deciding whether or not to trust Charlotte and Faraday. And now that the two weird scientists have supposedly prevented the release of toxic gas (insert fart joke here), they might have gained a little respect from the likes of Kate, Jack and Juliet. Other than that, not much to report. Except that Daniel Faraday is just awesome. Oh, and pay attention to Juliet tonight. Seriously, she's gotta be the one.

On The Freighter
Sayid and Desmond know about Michael. Captain Gault does not. The rest of the crew seems anxious to get to this Island, despite knowing that Minkowski and Regina were killed (presumably) by that same temptation. There are a lot of competing interests at work here. Sooner or later, they're going to have to make their move to the Island. Oh, and remember Frank Lapidus' midnight run last week? Where was he going? Why? What kind of "errand" do you run in a helicopter in the middle of the night?

In Othersville
This is where things are getting interesting. Locke is misguided. Ben is free. Sawyer is surly. Hurley is chubby. Claire is a doting mother. Miles is tied up. And everyone else is getting done some much needed laundry.

However these multiple, simultaneous storylines merge, I think it's going to originate from the folks in Othersville. They are so intricately connected to everything else going on, what with their freighter prisoner and their long-standing ties to those on the beach. The impetus tonight will likely come from Locke, who has been without a plan for so long (what, like 5 episodes!?!) that I fear he's about to do something rash. And with Ben there to push his buttons, that becomes all the more likely.

Off the Island
I'm not sure if tonight will flash us forward, back, up, down, around or betwixt. Mmmmmm, Twix®. I think we'll see a Kevichael-centric episode. And that could go either forward or backward. I'd put Kevichael in my "Top 5 Most Likely To Have Been in the Coffin at the End of Season 3" list. So if we shot forward and saw that Ben had gotten him off the Island, but not as one of the Oceanic Six, that could be interesting. But I'd bet if it's a Kevichael-centric episode, we'll flash back (in time?) to see how in the hell he went from "Bon Voyage" to "Hey guys, I'm Kevin Johnson and I'd like to swab the poop deck. Did I mention I have a psychic son who may or may not be experiencing accelerated puberty?"

If it's not a Kevichael episode, it might be a Ben episode. Hold on, let me check a calendar. Nope, not Christmas. Not my birthday either. Nevermind, this probably won't be a Ben episode.

In Closing
That'll do it kids. My apologies if this post has been a little disjointed, for I am running on about 3 hours of sleep a night thanks to a little puppy who really hates sleep (and I think me). Allow me to leave you with a haiku.

The guillotine falls
But who's head is gonna roll?
Probably a blonde.

And finally, on an unrelated but adorable sidenote, I wanted to send a congrats to two of my very favorite Dharma Blog readers: my sister Alissa and her husband, Jason. I hold these two in remarkably high regard, and I'm very proud of them and excited to meet the little Chinese girl they just adopted. She is Leila Grace, my Chinese niece. Or as I like to call her, the Chiniece. You can read more about their journey on their blog. Congrats kids, I love you very much.


Namaste.
Uncle Chuck.

Baby Mama's Drama: A Review of Ji Yeon

In terms of Locke- or Desmond-like mythology, Ji Yeon didn’t have much of it. But then again, most Sun & Jin Kwon-centric episodes don’t. Their characters have zero mysticism or mythology, except for the Island’s supplying Jin with gun powder for the blanks he'd been firing. So last night didn’t explicitly journey through time travel, smoke monsters, ghosts and the like. But, for LOST fans who crave answers (everyone), Ji Yeon satisfied. We got a fair amount of plot development this week, instead of the puzzling mindf%(@ we sometimes get. Let’s discuss.


Kwon-tam Leap
I spent a good portion of this episode trying to decipher if I was watching a flash-forward or flashback. While Sun’s scenes convinced me we were in the future, Jin’s left me unsure. And the disconnect between the two characters’ stories seemed too ominous.

And so, of course, it wasn’t a flash-forward or a flashback. It was both. Thanks, LOST. You bastard. Let’s review what we know after last night.

Two Steps Forward
Sun gets off the Island, and joins Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid and baby Aaron as the final member of the Oceanic Six. (Congrats, Maggie. 5 out of 6 ain’t bad). We catch up with Sun when she’s quite pregnant, as she writhes in pain feeling – presumably – some residual effects from Island Baby Mama-itis. Apparently though, not enough damage was done to prevent Sun from giving birth to a bouncing baby girl named, in accordance with Jin’s wishes, Ji Yeon. Finally! An episode where it’s very clear what the title is referring to. Of course, I’m sure “Ji Yeon” refers to some obscure Confucian concept that’s way over my head. Oh well, ignorance is bliss.

One Step Back
Based on Sun’s story alone, this episode was obviously happening post-Oceanic 815 (made abundantly clear by a nurse referring to Sun as one of the O6). But the infusion of Jin’s terrified, stuffed-panda obsessed mad dash through the streets through me for a loop. Until the end, when we find out that the stuffed-panda voyage is really just another errand that Jin must run for Mr. Paik, the controlling father of his new bride. Jin’s story was a flashback.

Here’s the chronology: Jin and Sun got married. Two months later Jin had to honor another baby’s birth with a stuffed panda as a diplomatic gesture. By juxtaposing Jin and Sun’s storylines, we were thrown for a bit of a loop. When it was revealed that Jin was visiting a baby boy and Sun had a girl – and again when Sun and Hurley visited Jin’s (empty?) grave – we were thus clued into the fact that we were seeing both a flash-forward (Sun) and a flashback (Jin). As an added bonus, we learned the Korean word for “bastard.” Thanks, LOST!

Single Tear
And yes, let’s talk about the grave visit that closed last night’s episode. Anyone else feel like LOST hired the world’s foremost expert in tragically romantic scriptwriting for this season? Penny/Desmond, now Sun/presumed-dead Jin. It was heart-wrenching, and it was good. I usually have a tough time caring for Sun and Jin, mostly because I feel like their mythology-free storyline doesn’t whet my appetite for Island insanity. But I was sucked into the story last night. Of all the O6, Sun must be having the hardest time with big lie, as it means pretending her husband died. And the addition of Hurley, flying halfway across the world to be with Sun, reassured us that not all the Oceanic Six relationships are troubled. There is some measure of goodwill and camaraderie among the reluctantly famous survivors.

But enough of the sappy, tragic romance. Is Jin dead? Or are the O6 just propagating their story to the universe by pretending that – like the rest of the people on the flight – Jin died in the crash? My guess is it’s the latter, and that Jin’s still alive and on the Island. But I want to know why he couldn’t go and Sun could. Very interesting. Perhaps the newly-introduced captain and/or his boss, Charles Widmore (told ya so), felt a tinge of sympathy for a pregnant woman confined to an Island that kills pregnant women.


Meanwhile, back on the mysterious freighter of doom…
Sea Sickness is a Bitch
We finally met someone in charge, but not before seeing another supposed authority figure succumb to Island Madness. Two weeks ago we saw big, bad George Minkowski reduced to dust, unable to comprehend the time-warp effects of his near-Island excursion. And last night we saw his #2, Regina, chain herself up and take a long walk off a short poop deck. The cause of Regina’s suicide: “A heightened case of cabin fever,” according to the refreshingly straightforward Captain Gault.

I Want The Truth!
I like this Captain Gault much in the same way that I like the Others. I think he’s evil, but I don’t know why and I’m left constantly questioning his intentions. And at least he doesn't beat around the bush when giving answers. He may not even have been a blip on my Evil-Dar, save for the “Don’t trust the captain” note that was slipped to Sayid and Desmond (probably by the ship’s “saboteur.” Much more on that later). The other moment that made me like Captain Gault was when he explained that his crew’s cabin fever was probably due in part to their close proximity to the Island. It’s reassuring that somebody on this boat seems to have an idea about of magnitude of this mission.

But the honesty didn’t stop there, folks. The captain was – as Sayid said – “surprisingly forthcoming.” He gave so much information away up front that I feared my conscious mind had become unstuck in time and traveled forward several episodes. But who am I to complain about the free flow of information – especially on this show?

You Can’t Handle The Truth!
Captain Gault spilled the beans about Charles Widmore, then proceeded to give Sayid and Desmond the raw scoop on the Oceanic 815 cover up. Part of that scoop included the implication (if not flat out admission) that Widmore & Co. suspect Ben Linus of having the “resources” to stage the crash, complete with 324 dead bodies. Captain Gault told Mr. Hume and Mr. Jarrah that this heinous act was just one of many reasons they wanted to capture Ben Linus. Consider that conversation the closest thing we’ll get to a warrant for Ben’s arrest. But at least we have some idea as to what they’re really doing.

Or do we? Let’s not forget that “Don’t trust the captain” note. Granted, it was probably written by the saboteur that is working for the same Ben Linus the freighter folk are out to get. But this early in the game, I’m not ready to take Captain Gault’s word as gospel. His boss (Widmore) didn’t exactly seem like “the good guy” when he was kicking the crap out of some kid on Totally Hidden Ben Linus Video last week.

For me it comes back to the very question I posed last week: Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? If Ben’s the good guy, then maybe Widmore and the Captain really are trying to exploit the Island. If Widmore and the Captain are the good guy(s), then maybe Ben Linus really is the evil mastermind we’ve always suspected him of being. Once again, LOST answers one question (“What are the freighter folk after?”) with another (“Is that really what they’re after?”).


That Kevin Johnson Looks an Awful Lot Like Michael
Quick note: the headline of this section was a joke that I tested out on my LOST Watch Party last night. It got a slight chuckle, if nothing else from sheer pity, so I decided to use it.

Good for LOST. They made no bones about Herald Perrineau’s (Michael) return to the show. And when Ben announced he had a man on the boat, it didn’t take Doc Jensen to figure Perrineau was the right man for the job. But nobody probably saw this coming: Michael Dawson now goes by Kevin Johnson (not this guy). And Kevin doesn’t seem to know Michael Dawson from Michael McDonald (“If I hear ‘Llamo Be There’ one more time I’m gonna Llamo Burn this Place Down”). There’s a lot to dissect here, but I think I’ve got two possible explanations.

“Charlie, You’re Not Gonna Say ‘Time Travel’ Are You?”
Time Travel! Remember when Ben set Michael and Walt free at the end of Season 2? He told him to follow a very specific compass bearing to freedom. That made enough sense at the time. But after Daniel Faraday’s insistence that Frank Lapidus follow an exact compass bearing, and after seeing how that compass bearing led electromagnetically-charged Desmond to become unstuck in time, Ben’s compass bearing directive to Michael takes on a new meaning. Perhaps, just as Faraday guided Lapidus through the wormhole, Ben “freed” Michael and Walt from the Island by sending them to the past.

But then what has become of Walt? Did he go back in time, too? I think so. And I think that will work to explain his sudden progression through puberty. Maybe Walt and Michael went back, but Walt was allowed to return to 2004 and the Island, and those “visions” of him we’ve seen (all grown up) aren’t visions at all, but actual visits from the Bird Whisperer himself.

If Walt was allowed to return to the Island, that opens Michael up to be manipulated. And if Michael traveled in time, he probably didn’t have the mental faculties (or Faradays’ guidance) to comprehend it. But you know who would? Ben. And maybe as Ben worked to calm Michael and cure him from the effects of time travel, he gave a shattered, confused Michael a new identity: Kevin Johnson.
You know what would be interesting? “What, Charlie!?” I’ll tell you. What if Kevin Johnson found a constant (like Walt)? Would he snap out of Kevin Johnson mode and remember that he was really Michael Dawson?

Either That, Or Michael’s Just Lying
Yeah. Time Travel is explanation #1. Michael being a jerk (as per usual) is #2. I do think Michael would’ve gotten as far away from the Island as possible if he had Walt. That makes me think Ben really does still have the boy wonder. If that’s the case, Michael could be lying his way back to the Island to get his son. He’s done it before, he could do it again.

But Honestly
But my money’s on time travel, kids. Mostly because Kevin Johnson legitimately doesn’t seem to remember Sayid and Desmond (though his face did seem to very innocently say, “Do I know you from somewhere?”).

I really liked how they introduced “Michael” back into the show. If the reveal was spoiled by announcing Herald Perrineau’s return to the show last summer, the revelation that Michael was operating under an assumed identity was just the shock to the system we’d expect from LOST.

Here's an interesting little tidbit. LOST filmed 8 episodes before the strike. We've heard we're only getting the first 7, then after a break we'd get 6 more. But last night's "Next week on LOST" informed us that we would be getting episode 8. I remember reading an interview with Damon Lindeloff where he spoke about episode 8, and said that if the strike had ended the season after episode 8, people would've been pissed. It's that much of a cliffhanger, apparently.

Oh, and the title of that tantalizing episode 8? "Meet Kevin Johnson."

In Conclusion
Just typing "Meet Kevin Johnson" made me forget everything about last night and focus my excitement on next week.

But really, I liked last night's episode. I thought we got a fair amount of answers, and I have to credit the Kwons on a pretty superb acting job, especially Sun at the grave. That was her best scene in the series, I think.

Here are some things to ponder. Go ahead and ponder them in the comments section if you'd like.

• Jin: Dead or alive?
• Michael/Kevin Johnson: Brainwashed, Unstuck in time, Lying or Crazy?
• Captain Gault: Good or evil? Do you trust him?
• The preview said someone was gonna die next week. Any ideas?

Stephan & Stuckey episode ratings:
Stephan: 7.3
Stuckey:

Namaste.
.charlie

Oh, and as promised by Maggie yesterday... here is this entire post translated into Korean, in honor of the Kwons.

Preview: Ji Yeon

Tonight's episode, Ji Yeon, is Kwon-centric. Flash forward? Flash backward? Flash upward? Flash downward? Only Jacob knows. (Cue laughter)

The Oceanic 6 is Complete:

We've been told we will find out the last of the Oceanic 6 tonight. I don't want to rehash an old post, but this logically means one of two things:

1. Aaron is not an O6-er (for some reason) and the Kwon's (both of them) are the last two members of O6.
   
2. Aaron is an O6-er and one of the Kwon's is the final member of O6.
   

My vote (as it has been since January when I first posted about the Oceanic 6) is that both of the Kwon's are members of O6. Aaron is not considered a member of O6 because, for some reason, there is a cover-up about who Aaron really is (i.e. people think he is legitimately Kate's son).

Mr. and Mrs. Kwon:

So, if Sun and Jin get off the island and are O6-ers, do they live happily ever after? Nah. It is never that easy. Would the writers really separate the Kwon's through death? Surely not, unless there is someone or something that comes between them. I read an interesting analysis earlier this week stating that whenever a Lost rivalry emerges, there is always one definitive way to end the conflict once and for all: kill one of the participants. Boone, Shannon, Susan, Jae Lee, Ana-Lucia, Libby, Paulo, Nikki, Charlie, Elsa, and Goodwin all suffered premature deaths. Not a great pattern to think about...

Plot Predictor 101:

But enough of this morbid talk. It's time to think about the Kwon's and what may or may not happen tonight. To assist in the discussion, I have made a chart. Follow along with this easy-to-use plot predictor…then chime in! What do you think?

	Jin stays on island and lives	Jin stays on island and dies	Jin leaves island and lives	Jin leaves island and dies
Sun stays on island and lives	Sun and Jin would need to join Locke in the barracks and become convinced that Ben is the good guy; freighter is the bad guy. In addition, Sun would somehow need to be cured of the pregnant-woman-die disease on the island. Both of these scenarios seem unlikely.	This scenario, like the one to the left, seems unlikely because of the large shift-of-conscious that both characters would need to make (or be forced to make). However, Jin sacrificing himself for the love of his wife? Yes, I could see that happening.	I have said it before, I will say it again: I do not see a scenario where Jin would leave Sun on the island and rescue himself, forcibly or willingly. He loves Sun too much and would not save himself without saving Sun. Sure, he left Sun on the island when he got on the raft…but things were different back in season 1 (i.e. the stakes weren't so high: Sun was not pregnant).	Without sounding too repetitive (too late), I don't see Jin leaving pregnant-Sun behind on the island.
Sun stays on island and dies	If this pregnant-woman-die disease is true, Sun will die if she stays. Will Jin turn to a new life of "crime" and work for Ben at that point? I don't think so…my guess is that Jin will be pretty upset if Sun dies and will want to get as far away from the island as possible.	Two lovers meet their fate at the hands of Ben? It has happened before. Totally could happen again.	To repeat: if Sun dies, Jin will want to leave. Yes, this could totally happen.	Would Jin die from a broken heart if he lost his wife and unborn child? Ab-so-lute-ly.
Sun leaves island and lives	If the helicopter comes back, I can see Jin putting Sun on the helicopter to save her life. Jin loves her – he would do anything for love…and he will do that. (Just giving a little love to my man, Meatloaf)	In the same vein as a previous entry, Sun will be heartbroken if Jin meets a cruel fate on the island…you can bet she will want to get off as soon as possible.	Will we find out tonight that these two are the last members of the Oceanic 6? I continue to prophesize YES…	This would be a terribly tragic end for the Kwon family – rescue, followed by heart ache when Jin dies. Will he go back to work for Paik Industries? Will he just run out of luck?
Sun leaves island and dies	So – Sun gets rescues, Jin stays behind, and Sun dies once she gets off the island? Does that mean Kate will raise the baby? I'm kidding. But no way would they have this happen.	While this might be the saddest ending for the two of them, it would almost be easier to bear, assuming that they don't know the fate of the other…	Could it be that the pregnant-women-die disease continues to have an effect off the island? Do they really know the ramifications? From what I remember, Ben wouldn't let Juliet take a pregnant woman off the island to save her…	Absolutely. Positively. The. Most. Tragic. Ending. Possible. They are saved…and they die. My little heart won't be able to take it.

Off Topic: Juliet

And finally, I would like to share with you all a very interesting analysis from DarkUFO about the Juliet/Ben dynamic from last week. Get ready to have your mind blown (or read something that really puts into words EXACTLY what you've been saying!!):

"While traditional love triangles serve as a major theme throughout this episode, The Other Woman also explores perhaps the oldest love triangle of all: the Oedipus complex. The founder of modern psychiatry, Sigmund Freud, introduced the theory of the Oedipus complex, which consists of two parts: hateful desire to kill and usurp the parent of the same sex, and sexual attraction to the parent of the opposite sex. Oedipus was the name of a tragic figure from Greek mythology who inadvertently murdered his father and married his mother. The Man Behind the Curtain already established Ben's murderous hatred of his father, and now the latest epsiode hints at Ben's twisted affection for his mother, through the proxy of Juliet. Juliet's therapist comments on the probable source of Ben's infatuation with Juliet. Harper mentions: "Of course he likes you. You look just like her." Many viewers have guessed that this other woman might be the mysterious Annie from Ben's childhood. Any amateur psychotherapist, though, will tell you that Ben's issues probably stem from events even further back in his life. While there is little to no information available about Annie, she too may have served as the previous stand-in for Ben's mother. Juliet not only looks remarkably similar to Emily Linus, but Ben even appears to be breaking her in as a maternal figure, as he commends her work with Zack and Emma. With Juliet, Ben sought to share the type of relationship that he could never experience with his absent mother."

Hot damn! That makes sense, doesn't it?

Catch up with you tomorrow, when Charlie will write his entire post in Korean, in homage to Jin and Sun.

Namaste,

Maggie

PS: If you haven't visited the Washington Post's Lost Madness, a fun play on March Madness, head on over! They pit one character against another in a quest to find the ultimate Lost character...brilliant! http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/television/features/2007/lost-central/lost_madness.html

Review: The Other Woman

Any episode that follows “The Constant” would have the unfortunate fate of not living up to the viewers’ standards. As I watched “The Other Woman” last night, I was both intrigued by the clues and disappointed by the clues. Juliet’s backstory was interesting, but not entirely necessary. I think we could have easily packaged what we learned about her in a mobisode during the down time (those 2 minute vignettes that were posted on abc.com before season 4 started). Nonetheless, it is what it is and it was what it was. There were a select few scenes that really had my heart pounding. Let’s take it one affair….er, scene…at a time.

The Other Woman
Okay, I get it. Juliet is the other woman. In her off-island marriage, her husband cheated on her with another woman. In a Sawyer-esque twist of fate, she became the woman she hated. Juliet was the other woman to Harper as she is now to Kate. It actually appears she is about to be replaced as the other "bad" woman in the survivor camp by Charlotte, too.

What can we learn from this? Well, it was a window into Juliet’s past. It was an explanation of why she feels the way she feels and why she does the things she does. Did I see the Goodwin affair coming? No, but it didn’t make my jaw drop. Meh. I’m indifferent. What DID make me cringe was…

Your Love’s Got Me Looking So Crazy Right Now
It was beyond creepy to watch googly-eyed Ben pull out all the stops for his secret one-on-one dinner that she thought was a group dinner! WHOAH! I couldn’t believe it! I would have walked out. Honestly. That was ridiculous. We all knew Ben had it in him to be obsessive. Last night, it was absolutely confirmed that Ben is crazy in love with Juliet. Brilliantly crazy. But crazy nonetheless.

It seems like it was common knowledge that Juliet and Goodwin were having an affair…and, obviously, Ben knew about it, which is why he sent Goodwin to the tail section. Here’s a question: assuming Ben chose Ethan to “become a survivor” for the same reason he chose Goodwin (to die)... what had Ethan done? In a cruel twist, Juliet is taken to the decomposing body of her (star-crossed?) lover, Goodwin, and forced to grieve in the presence of her captor, Ben. Through fitful cries, she yells “Why did you bring me here? Why did you want me to see this?” Ben’s response? “You are mine.”

This confirmation of Ben’s serious issues makes my hair stand on in. Ben is clearly dealing with some deep, deep security issues and finds it necessary to be in control at all times, at all costs. Where does this come from? I don’t know if we have actually been filled in on this part of his story. Some will say it is because he was blamed for the death of his mother throughout his childhood and is trying to preserve himself and his self-worth. Some will say it is because he is on a “list” himself (Widmore’s?) and is spending his life trying to make sure he doesn’t die. Some will say it is a response to the cancer – needing to maintain some semblance of control over his life when he lacks all control over the disease.

Whatever it is, Juliet is caught up in the middle. And although I’ve been predicting Claire’s death for a few weeks now, sign me up for the “Juliet is going to die” club…because I think Juliet is going to die.

Is Ben taking cues from King David?
Those of you who grew up going to Sunday School at Westminster Presbyterian Church are probably thinking “Why does this story of Ben sending Goodwin to die sound familiar?” (ahem)

Today’s reading comes from Second Samuel, Chapter 11. But instead of reading, I will summarize. After King David lies with Bathsheba (G rated Bible language…infer what you want), he send her husband, Uriah the Hittite, into battle so "that he might be struck down, and die.” Hmm.

Maggie, are you comparing Ben to King David? Well, yes, yes I am. David and Ben are oddly similar. Remember the battle of David and Goliath? Remember David’s deliverance of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem? Remember when David’s son, Absalom, rebels against David?

However, I don’t want to lose everyone, so I will continue to look into this odd theory and do a bonus post sometime soon where I continue the analysis of Ben and Biblical King David.

"You Look Just Like Her"
Harper’s comment to Juliet about her appearance and it’s connection to Ben gave me the heebee-jeebees.

1. Is "she" Ben’s mother? I say 70% chance true. I really think that fits. Mother dies in childbirth; resulting baby falls in love with fertility doctor who looks just like her.

2. Is “she” Annie? I say 25% chance true. Many have predicted that: 1) Annie survived the purge; 2) Annie married Ben; 3) Annie got pregnant; and 4) Annie died. Those hard-core fans out there will remember that Annie had brown hair, not blonde like Juliet. However, I still think this is an interesting theory. His obsession with Juliet is both because of her likeness to Ben’s dead wife and her ability to “fix” the pregnant-then-die cycle that the women are stuck in.

3. Is “she” someone else? I say 5% chance true. Leave it to Lost to reference a character we’ve never heard of before.

The Tempest
There are a lot of questions surrounding this station. First things first: this station did not appear on the blast door map inside of the hatch that Locke saw. Is it another Hydra-like station – a station that Ben didn’t tell everyone about?

That was quite a scene inside of The Tempest. Clearly, there was uncertainty about whether or not Dan could really get the job done….they were wearing gas masks and hazmat suits. However, the real sticking question is what on earth (or not?) were they doing? People are hypothesizing that the gas contained in The Tempest is the gas that was used during the Purge. You’ll recall Goodwin came to Juliet during her first week for first aid on a chemical burn. Where did the gas come from and what was it to be used for?

In other news, Dan's abilities seem to go beyond physics. Chemistry? Computer Whiz? Who is this guy and how does he know all he knows?

Is Ben still in control?
We also found out that Ben seems to have the ability to send and receive information on the island fairly effortlessly, given Ben's message via Harper and her insistence that he was exactly where he needed to be. This scene was oddly familiar to another person with a supernatural communication skill, who while imprisoned said the same thing…(ahem: Miles)

But moving on, is Harper at “the Temple” with the rest of the Others? How is Ben communicating with her? When Ben said “If my people wanted me back, they would have stormed this camp long ago”, was he covering up? Or was he telling the truth?

The Widmore Reveal
Ben's last card? Yeah right.

Ben gives up Charles Widmore, and it would appear has given up his man on the boat to Locke as well, or so it would appear by his freedom in the last scene (When Ben said “See you guys at dinner” to Hurley and Sawyer, I laughed quite hard…brilliant! Hilarious!)

So Widmore has been looking for the island because he wants to make money off of it…in a Jurassic Park sort of way. Ben doesn’t want Widmore to find it because….I’m not sure. I don’t buy that he is a member of the Arbor Day Foundation and just wants to protect the natural setting of the place. Ben is somehow surviving on this island quite literally – as in, Ben has money flowing somehow. I’m not sure who his benefactor is, but I don’t think the Others pay rent.

If you are Charles Widmore and you are trying to find an island, what do you do? How about sponsor a boat race around the world, making sure the path is very near where the island might be? (Check.) How about sponsor a hot-air balloon race around the world, making sure the path is very near where the island will be? (Check. Rest in peace, Henry Gale and wife.) How about send a freighter near where the island might be and send a helicopter through the worm hole to enter the island’s atmosphere? (Check.)

The tape was very interesting, too…Charles Widmore appears to have Jin-like abilities and kick some major a$$. Who was he beating up? What did that person do? And who was filming the video?

Regardless, Ben’s explanation of who Widmore is and what he wants really does fit, folks. I’m not saying that I believe everything Ben says (I don’t, not-Henry Gale). However, of all the lies Ben has told, this one checks out the most.

Charlie has been preaching for some time now that Widmore is going to be involved in the mythology of this show in a major way. I’ll give him some props for this keen observation. Truth be told, I think all of us thought Widmore had something to do with all of this. Last night was not so much a reveal, but more of a confirmation. We can all agree that Ben cannot be taken at his word, but this has just been coming for far too long and hinted at with the ominous music when Widmore is on the screen (like the auction last week). It is almost painfully obvious that Michael is going to be on the freighter as well…

Going off of Charlie’s good vs. evil post from yesterday…our question now is who is the evil one? Ben obviously wants to stop things from happening that will cause him to lose control and power. As much of a jerk as Widmore has been to the lovely Desmond, is he really the bad guy? It is starting to look like evil vs. evil. I think it’s pretty obvious that Widmore was the Economist as well. Hunting each other, each trying to control and possess the island, they are both wrong, both evil.

It will be interesting to see what Ben is holding over Sayid to get him to do his dirty work. It will also be interesting to see what happens between Penny and Daddy when she inevitably finds out what he's been up to.

The Love Triangle is now a Love….Heptagon?
If my scorekeeping is right, the score at halftime is:

Jack likes Kate.
Kate (maybe) likes Jack.
Sawyer likes Kate.
Kate (maybe) likes Sawyer.
Juliet likes Jack.
Jack likes Juliet.
Ben likes Juliet.
Goodwin liked (sad) Juliet.
Harper likes Goodwin.

I don’t want to get caught up in this mess. I’m still starry-eyed over last week’s Desmond/Penny phone conversation. Just for fun, I’m including the transcript in this post. If you haven’t watched it lately, you should watch it again. Ladies, this is what true love looks like…
Desmond: I love you Penny. I’ve always loved you. I’m so sorry. I love you.
Penny: I love you too.
Desmond: I don’t know where we’re at, but…
Penny: I’ll find you Des.
Desmond: I promise.
Penny: No matter what.
Desmond: I’ll come back to you.
Penny: I won’t give up.
Desmond: I promise.
Penny: I promise.
Unison: I love you.

Next Week
Get ready for the last episode in this seven week series: Ji Yeon will be a Jin/Sun-centric episode and from the looks of the previews, Sun needs to get off the island in 3 weeks or she will suffer the same fate as the other pregnant island women. The preview also claims that we find out the rest of the Oceanic 6….could it be Sun and Jin?? After next week's episode, we have a four-week hiatus so they can catch up on filming. Then, we will come back with an exciting six-episode end to this season.

And for those of you who don’t speak fluent Korean, Ji Yeon is a name. I’ll leave it at that.

Namaste,
Maggie

Preview: The Other Other Woman

Tonight. LOST. "The Other Woman."
9/8c. ABC.

In a soap operatic twist of episode titling, LOST brings us the 6th installment of Season 4. Tonight’s episode will feature Juliet, the exiled Other whose allegiance some still question. Today we’ll discuss what we know about Dr. Burke, what may be in store for her tonight and the continuing battle between The Man of Science, The Man of Faith and the Man of Bug Eyes. We’ll also explore the title of tonight’s episode and what it may mean.


I’m Not an Experimental Fertility Doctor, But I Play One On TV
A Brief History of Juliet Burke
Juliet Burke: doctor, sister, kind of an Other. Juliet was once a humble, shy fertility doctor who used extreme, unconventional methods to give her sister, Rachel, the baby she always wanted but thought she could never conceive because of her cancer. That miracle caught the attention of the baby-deprived Island’s powers-that-be, and they sent for her via a team of creepy recruiters with questionable tactics. Once on the Island, Juliet was baffled and frustrated by the fertility and labor mysteries. She wanted to go home. Ben got her to stay by promising to keep Rachel and her child (aptly named “Julian” to give a little extra tug to Juliet’s heart strings) alive and well. Thus, Juliet was enslaved on the Island by Benjamin Linus, exchanging her freedom for the safety of the sister she had fought so valiantly for.

But that humble, shy Juliet who arrived to the Island groggy and wide-eyed in the submarine would soon be replaced by the ass-kicking, manipulative, seducer of Jack we’ve come to know and love. Once she knew her sister and nephew were okay, she started looking for her ticket off the Island. Enter Oceanic 815. Its passengers – especially Jack – have renewed her drive to leave the Island. She has engaged in manipulations of Ben, physical force and deception with soul purpose of getting back to the only family she knows.

Still loyal to Jack, she opted not to bite on Locke’s “Come with me if you want to live” promise. And like Jack, her constantly scrunched up countenance expresses her doubt in the freighter folk. But she’s plugging along, placating eccentric physicists and pithy archaeologists while she bides her time and ponders her next move. Which brings us to tonight.

Let’s Make a Deal
Tonight’s Tivo-ready preview:

"Juliet receives an unwelcome visit from someone from her past and is given orders to track down Charlotte and Faraday in order to stop them from completing their mission – by any means necessary. Meanwhile, Ben offers Locke an enticing deal."

Let's break that down.

“An unwelcome visit from someone from her past.”
Huh? Who do we know (that’s still alive) that could be both unwelcome to Juliet and on the Island? Honestly, I’m a little stumped. But my guess is it’s someone we don’t know yet, and we’ll get the background (and perhaps the encounter itself) of that person in Juliet’s flashback. Oh, and yes, I think tonight we get a flashback, mostly because it would be a little early (and entirely too generous) of the LOST writers to give us the final piece of the Oceanic Six puzzle already. If it’s not an unknown entity from her past, it may be the resurrection of a deceased entity from her past (perhaps her old boyfriend Goodwin, who fell victim to the ole’ stake-in-the-ground-pointy-end-up maneuver courtesy of Ana Lucia). We’ll pay attention to that tonight. My .0000001% probability guess: Charles Widmore. I have little reason for that, other than the fact that my Theory of Total Widmore Domination was partially resuscitated by last week’s auction scene.

“Given orders to track down Charlotte and Faraday in order to stop them from completing their mission – by any means necessary” (cue melodramatic ‘duh duh duh’ music)
So whoever this skeleton in Juliet’s closet may be, they have some interest in stopping The Fantastic Freighter Four from info-mining the Island. And they’re going to offer her something (Rachel? Julian? Me?) that prompts her to use “any means necessary” to stop Charlotte and Danny boy. Forgive my pessimism, but how many times is Juliet going to embark on a wild goose chase to get off the Island, only to be denied? There comes a point when every woman has to say, “Damn it, I can’t solve the fertility problems of this mystery Island, I fear my boss has imprisoned me, people keep dying, I’m a wreck and I want to see my sister and the child I artificially impregnated her with.” Come on ladies, you’ve all been there. My point is, whatever Juliet gets promised tonight, it better be pretty good, because the dear doctor has to be getting tired of running.

“Ben offers Locke an enticing deal.”
Whoa, curveball! Excuse me while I lift my jaw off the floor in the wake of this bombshell. In fairness, they’re required by law to say this every week as it occurs that often. It looks like Ben’s gradual wearing down of Locke is about to pay off. The mind games will convince John that he does not have as much control over destiny as he thought, and he’ll turn to the one person who can promise that to him. It does remain to be seen what exactly that “deal” will include, but count on Island knowledge, access to Jacob or freighter folk info as the likely suspects. My hope is Ben will fess up a little more about who the freighter people are and who they’re really working for.

Other Wise
Once again, let us invoke my history minor and take some lessons from the past regarding the title of this episode.

Good and Evil
So much of LOST focuses on the complexity of determining “good vs. evil.” In the Season 2 finale, Ben said ominously, “We’re the good guys.” Before she lowered the boom on him, Ana Lucia was told by Goodwin that she wasn’t taken by his people because she wasn’t “good.” The creepy vision of John Locke in Season 1 showed him with one white eye and one black eye to foreshadow the duality of good and evil that the show would soon explore.

The Battle For Good
And nowhere was that duality more clearly played out than in the battle between the Oceanic 815 survivors and the “Others.” As viewers, we are to believe that the people we’ve followed are the good guys. They are the protagonists in this narrative. Anybody who is new, scary, creepy or strange automatically falls on the other side of that coin. Hence, The Others. Not “The Evils.” The Others. But the more we learn about our protagonists, the more cracks and flaws appear in their once-pristine foundation. Jack drove his dad to drink. Sawyer killed and conned, as did Kate. Sun contemplated leaving Jin. Hurley ate way too much chicken and had an imaginary friend. Suddenly, our perspective of the people who are supposed to be “good” seems a little warped. But that’s kept in check by the fact that, no matter how flawed our survivors may be, they are in constant opposition with people who kidnap, kill and lie. So our guys have to be the good guys, right?

Not necessarily. Imagine that the pilot of LOST took place in Othersville, where a peace-loving people had their existence shattered by a plane crash, which brought with it felons and liars who killed, kidnapped and lied. As viewers following Ben Linus’ people, we learn how awful some of the people on the plane are and we cheer as our heroes separate the good and the evil, deeming certain people worthy to experience what the glorious Island has to offer. And whatever it is that the Island is offering, we admire the extreme precautions Ben takes to protect it, much in the way that we currently hold a soft spot for crazy ole’ John Locke.

Am I saying the Others are the real good guys? No, not really. But maybe. And that’s one of the many motifs that LOST writers have woven into this story: that our notions of good and evil are formed by our perspective and our past experiences. And therefore, some people are not purely “bad,” but perhaps misunderstood or just taken out of context.

The Constants of Good and Evil
That concept has been illustrated beautifully by the use of two characters, who travel between the two sides of our narrative. First is Ethan Rom, the Other who infiltrated the 815 camp shortly after the crash. Anagram fans take note, “Ethan Rom” can be rearranged to spell “Other man.” Second is tonight’s start, Juliet Burke. If Ethan was an Other thrust into a normal person’s world, Juliet is his antithesis – that is, a normal person thrust into the Others’ world. These two serve as, to borrow from last week’s episode, “a constant.” They are common elements to each camp that act and react differently based on whom they’re surrounded by. In Othersville, Ethan is the skilled surgeon, resident handyman, and loyal follower of Ben while Juliet is the troublemaking, whining, nonbeliever who is seen as arrogant because she doesn’t want to be part of Ben’s master plan. Contrast that with the beach environment, where Ethan is the creepy, murderous, lurking kidnapper and Juliet – though not trusted at first – becomes a valuable insider and ally to Jack. So who’s to say who’s right or wrong? Most people will tell you Ethan is the bad guy, but they would do that with the perspective of someone who believes the survivors to be the “good guys.” You could make the argument either way.

The Good, The Bad and Juliet Burke
But, interestingly, Juliet is neither an “Other” nor a plane crash survivor. She doesn’t fall in either camp. So each time Juliet does something, many viewers (and characters) are confused and suspect her of ulterior motives. If one side is good and the other evil – which is how Locke oversimplified this idea with his backgammon analogy in Season 1 – then Juliet is neither.

That’s why she’s a bit of a wild card, and that’s why she’s an interesting character. Because through Juliet, we are forced to reevaluate our own notions of what is good and what is not. In other words, if an “Other” is a bad guy (as we’ve long believed), what exactly qualifies somebody to be an Other?

Also, if Ethan Rom is "Other Man" and Juliet is his bad twin (if you will, and I will, a-thank you) then is Juliet "The Other Woman?" Muah ha ha ha.

Other "Otherly"-Titled Titles
Back to tonight’s episode, “The Other Woman.” Two other episodes have directly used the word “other” in the title: Raised By Another (Season 1) and The Other 48 Days (Season 2).

Raised By Another featured Claire’s psychic, Richard Malkin, warning her sternly about letting anyone else raise her baby. He said:

“It can't be another. You mustn't allow another to raise your baby.”
On its face, that statement makes sense. But, oh, the beauty of subtle copy editing:
“It can’t be an Other. You mustn’t allow an Other to raise your baby”.

The Other 48 Days, on its surface, refers to the time spent by the “other” survivors of the crash (the tailies). But the episode went beyond that to focus on a group of tormentors we would soon come to know as, simply, The Others.

So forgive me for being suspicious about tonight’s title: The Other Woman. On the surface, it seems melodramatic. But knowing that “Other” is defined a little differently – and taking into account the confusion that LOST creates about what constitutes an “Other” – I think we’re in for more than a love triangle. It’s not something you’ll need to think about while you watch. But when the episode’s over, do some thinking about what The Other Woman really means and come back tomorrow with your thoughts. Then again, maybe it’ll be completely obvious.

Your Thoughts?
What do you think? Who is the person from Juliet's past? What does Ben offer Locke? Could the Others really be the good guys, or am I off my rocker? How the hell did Hillary win Ohio and Texas? Okay, don't answer that last one. But do answer the other ones in the comment section. And.... go!

Garth, That Was a Haiku
A deal with Ben
A mission for Juliet
And someone might die

Quick note, about the ominous last line of that haiku. I'm sorry, but I think it's coming. An important person hasn't died in 5 whole episodes, which is an eternity. Maggie, this is where you start fearing for Claire's life. And I, for Desmond's. I'll see ya in another life, brutha.

Namaste.
.charlie