Episode 6 - The Other Woman
30 March 2012
Present: Daniel and Charlotte secretly head to the Dharma station “The Tempest.” They knock out Kate on their way. Juliet and Jack are in hot pursuit when Harper, the Others’ therapist tells Juliet that Ben wants her to kill Daniel and Charlotte. At “The Tempest” Juliet and Charlotte fight as Daniel succeeds in rendering potentially poisonous gas inert. Meanwhile Ben shows John a video of Charles Widmore and claims he owns the freighter. John makes a deal with Ben and lets him out of his prison.
Flashback: Juliet has been on the island a week and is presented with her own house by Ben. She develops a relationship with Goodwin, but his wife Harper warns her that Ben will not like it. Ben sends Goodwin to follow the tail section survivors and leaves him out there hoping he will be killed. When he is Juliet realises what Ben has done. She asks him why he did it and he replies “How could you possibly not understand that you’re mine.”
The Good: An episode which is good at revealing details but not good on presenting them. It’s a wise decision from the producers to return to a traditional flashback after “The Constant” as it would be impossible to follow that with new dramatic twists.
We are given the answers to many questions surrounding the Others and specifically Juliet’s relationships with Goodwin and Ben. Ben’s obsession with her sheds light on their interactions throughout season three. It also helps explain why she asked Jack to kill him on the operating table (305). Up to this point Ben has maintained that he is the good guy (224) and we have been able to believe that because he has justified the bad things he does as being for the greater good. But here any shred of potential for Ben to be a good guy is gone. His desire to be with Juliet is purely selfish and his actions toward her and Goodwin are as immoral and unlikeable as possible. In fact he clearly intended to keep her on the island regardless of how well her work went.
The writers time this revelation well as the audience can sense the impending disaster which will come from Locke putting his trust in Ben again. Ben manipulates Locke well as usual, using his desire to protect the island to further his agenda. There we get the revelation that Charles Widmore is the one who has sent the freighter, which seems to explain why the crew seemed to know about Penelope Widmore (317, 404, 405). That is of course assuming that Ben is telling the truth.
Ben’s statement to Juliet that “you’re mine” is creepy stuff. It also jars against his usually cold and calculating delivery. But it also makes him sound like a child. It suggests that part of Ben is stuck in childhood. This is a logical and tragic development from the disturbed upbringing we saw (320).
We are treated to some fine acting from Ben and Juliet in places. Until flight 815 crashes we see Ben hiding his deceit from Juliet and staring longingly at her in creepy and gripping fashion. Similarly Juliet’s reaction to being caught cheating is pitch perfect. The existence of “The Tempest” might explain why all the Dharma stations still had power after being abandoned. Daniel and Charlotte’s mission is a logical one if Widmore learnt of how Ben wiped out the Dharma Initiative (320). It’s interesting that Kate tells Jack what she was doing at Locke’s camp but wouldn’t tell Sawyer. That’s a subtle and well written indicator of her true feelings. It’s interesting to see Goodwin again (207), he still seems kind and pleasant. Again we have to ask what makes nice people justify kidnapping children.
The Bad: Sadly the high standards of storytelling, which season four has set, are not maintained here. The plot is very clumsy and it reminds us of the bad days when Lost was stretching stories out. The final “dramatic” fight between Juliet and Charlotte is there for the sake of excitement but not for one moment would anyone believe Daniel is going to fail to turn off the gas. It’s clear that he is not a killer and is telling the truth even more than we know Lost isn’t about to end with an accidental gas leak.
The writes seem keen to get all the main actors in the episode, regardless of what they add to the show. Kate’s inclusion in the story seems pretty unnecessary. She is knocked out and then follows Jack to “The Tempest.” She contributes very little but she is not the only one. Claire, Sawyer, Hurley, Jin and Sun are all featured in short scenes some of which seem more pointless than others.
We are also back to Lost’s worst habit which is characters not being honest with each other without any logical explanation. Juliet refuses to tell Jack anything at all and he still helps her. They just ran into an Other, they are on their way to a Dharma station where she reveals that Ben loves her. Couldn’t she have offered a little insight into all this on their long walk getting there? Charlotte smashes Kate over the head even though she is happy to be honest at the end of the episode. She had a gun; couldn’t she have just “insisted” that Kate cooperate with them? And why haven’t Kate and Jack asked Daniel about the gas masks already? They knew he had them when he arrived (402).
There is bad leadership and foolish behaviour all around here too. Jack’s irritable reaction to Daniel and Charlotte leaving makes Jin and Sun panic rather than reassure them. Locke is equally brusque with Claire’s very reasonable questions. But the two more glaring moments both involve Ben. First Juliet asks whether or not the children (from the tail section) should really be on the island and Ben just brushes her off. It is a pretty tone deaf response from the master manipulator. Rather like his comments to Juliet in Expose (314), the writers clumsily insert a dismissive response from him which reveals his true feelings. You would think someone as smart as him would realise how heartless his comments about children would seem to a woman who helped her sister overcome sterility. Or anyone not fully indoctrinated for that matter.
The worst decision of the whole episode is Locke’s deal with Ben. Listing the reasons Locke has not to trust Ben is a waste of space. You only need to remember that a week or so ago he shot Locke in the stomach. We’ve seen no evidence of Locke trying to turn on the Barracks’ security fence or take any other measure to ensure Ben’s cooperation. So we have to conclude that Locke is an idiot for trusting Ben. He will doubtless be held responsible for all the terrible things that occur as a result. We know Ben is already lying because he claims this information is the only bargaining chip he has. The only bargaining chip? This is the man who talked about a magic box being on the island let alone the million other things he knows which Locke would want to know. It’s poor writing which makes the characters look stupid.
It’s a shame that finding a new Dharma station is treated so flippantly. One of the best parts of Lost was exploiting the sense of mystery and suspense at exploring these places. And its existence is so open and unencumbered by the elements that you have to wonder what Danielle was doing for sixteen years in not noticing any stations (123). Though it is a small matter, we are plagued again by the survivor’s magical torches. If you can look past the amazing creation of torches which stay alight and don’t burn out, it is impossible to ignore them staying lit through pelting rain. Couldn’t Daniel have brought some torches?
The Unknown: There is plenty to ponder as usual: Jack did tell Kate that he loved her a week ago. Here he seems happy to reassure Juliet that he is with her. There is a good sense of tragedy about this, because we get the impression from flash forwards that Juliet isn’t leaving with Jack.
The swift entrance and exit of Harper in the jungle, in conjunction with the whispers, raises more interesting questions. It’s most similar to Walt’s appearance (306) to both Shannon and Sayid but may remind you of Charlie’s appearance to Hurley (401) where another mental patient seems to see him too. We know Walt wasn’t dead, so are the whispers a way to make yourself appear somewhere else. Or is Harper dead and her appearance is like Christian Shepherd’s or Yemi’s? She did use the same wording as Miles (404) when saying that Ben was exactly where he wanted to be. Was anyone watching Miles when he said this? Did he communicate with any dead people? Or is she actually alive and just ran away under cover of whispers?
Harper comments that Juliet “looks just like her” when talking about why Ben is so nice to her. An interesting theory runs from this. If Ben grew up and married Annie (320) and then she died in pregnancy. It could explain why he stole Alex and why he brought in Juliet to solve that problem and replace his love. We shall definitely learn more about Ben as the show goes on.
The use of the Others’ lists seems odd. Ben asks Goodwin and Ethan to make lists. He then claims that Goodwin is making a case for Anna Lucia. But when Juliet asks about the children Ben responds “who are we to question who’s on the lists?” That is a clear implication of Jacob’s list (as mentioned by Pickett in 306) not one made up by a subordinate. So clearly there are different kinds of list.
Did Ben really wipe out all of the Dharma Initiative with his one canister (320)? Here it is implied that maybe, more reasonably, the Others used “The Tempest” to do it. Who drew the map that Daniel uses? Is Charles Widmore “the economist” from three episodes ago? Is Ben telling the truth about his desire to exploit the island? Is Harper really in contact with Ben and if so how? Why do the Others want Juliet to kill Daniel and not want to do it themselves?
Best Moment: Of course it is Ben screaming at Juliet telling her that “You’re mine.” His delusion seems complete that she will one day love him back because he swiftly adds “take as much time as you need.” How considerate.
The Bottom Line: It’s a shame that Lost hasn’t been able to rid itself of all its annoying habits. With a bit more honesty between the characters this episode could have been less annoying. On the island not a lot happens. The walk to “The Tempest” and Kate’s involvement feel like time wasting. Otherwise solid revelations are a bit spoiled by that.
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