Friday, March 7, 2008

S4E06 - "The Other Woman"

While last night's episode can't hold a candle to last week's Desmond episode, it was still great. We even got an answer to one of the big questions this season. Granted, in traditional LOST fashion, even more questions were raised. Let's dive in....

Juliet: One of the Oceanic 6?
Nope. But the opening scene definitely made me wonder. But this got me to really think about whether or not Juliet would leave the island. It's said that next week, we'll learn 100% who the Oceanic 6 are. But that won't stop me from making my prediction today. My current lineup includes: Jack, Kate, Sayid, Hurley, Sawyer, & Locke. So...what about Claire? I think her time's up (sorry). Here's where the trickery comes in..... I think Jin and Sun also make it off the island, but end up going back to South Korea, and are not recognized as the famous "Oceanic 6" (a name given to the 6 American survivors).

The Return of Mr. Friendly
One of the characters that made a return this week is Tom, who Sawyer killed at the end of last season. In Juliet's flashback, he walks with her to Ben's house shortly after she arrives on the island. In their conversation, Tom mentions missing his family. So, I guess this means that Tom was NOT an island native... but was recruited like Juliet. As of now, the only island native that we know is Richard Alpert.

Psst....
There are so many secrets on this show, it's no wonder that the voices on the island are whispering. And every time I hear those whispers, I get so pumped! What concerns me is that it appears that Juliet is hearing them for the first time. And it appears that these are tied somehow to the appearance of one of the Others. A new character named Harper (who is actually Goodwyn's wife) appears next to Juliet. She tells Juliet that Daniel and Charlotte are on their way to The Tempest (YES! New Dharma Station!), and Ben has passed along orders to find and kill them. This scene alone raised so many questions...

Harper - Dead or Alive?
Her appearance reminded me of when Shannon saw Walt in the jungle (season 2). We also know that Sayid saw Walt. Charlie even mentioned that most of the people had seen Walt in the jungle. It appeared that Walt was able to bi-locate himself... being a captive of the Others, but at the same time projecting himself to another spot on the island. So is Harper also bi-locating? If the Others have figured out a way to "travel" to other places without actually leaving their current location, it would explain A LOT. Maybe that's how Ben was able to contact Harper to pass along his orders to Juliet. Then again.... if that's true, why wouldn't he just tell Juliet himself?

Look-Alike
While talking to Harper in her therapy session, Juliet is asked about how she feels about Ben. She responds that he's very nice to her, to which Harper responds, "Of course he is. You look just like her." So is it safe to assume that Ben was, at one time, married to a woman that resembles Juliet? And perhaps she died while pregnant, explaining why Ben has made solving this fertility issue his top priority?

Babies are diseases-- Confirmed!
During her flashback, Juliet gives a few more details about the fertility issue on the island, further confirming a popular long-time theory. We know that the island has VERY strong healing properties. And when a woman gets pregnant, the body treats the baby as a foreign object and works to eliminate it. That being said, Juliet went on to explain that it only happens if the baby is conceived on the island. So here's my question-- if a baby is conceived on Monday, and the mom arrives on the island on Tuesday, does that mean that they'd be okay? If so, there goes that theory!

Emma & Zack
In one of the flashbacks, Ben thanked Juliet for taking such good care of Emma and Zack. For those of you that don't remember, Emma and Zack were on Flight 815 and were some of the tail section survivors that were taken. They were headed back to LA to meet up with their parents. As for what they were doing in Sydney, that has yet to be revealed. But Ana Lucia promised them that she would watch after them and get them back to their parents. Then, when Jack was being temporarily kept in the polar bear cages last season, Cindy (the stewardess) came up and was talking to him, and Emma came up and asked about Ana Lucia (who had been shot a couple weeks prior).

Rabbit #8
Last season, Ben introduced us to a rabbit, which had a number 8 painted on its back. And over the summer, the Orchid Station's orientation video showed another rabbit with the number 15 painted on its back. Apparently, these were subjects of DHARMA experiements. And when Locke brought Ben his dinner (rabbit....yum), Ben asked, "It didn't have a number on it, did it?". Now, I would assume that if it did, Locke would've said something here.... but he didn't. That's not to say that over the past 25 years, a number couldn't have washed off. So if this is one of the DHARMA rabbits, we may be able to expect some side effects.

Answers for sale - $1.00
In an attempt to be a smart-ass, Locke gave Ben a dollar bill to give him a start on his $3.2 Million that he owes Miles. And in exchange, Locke finally gets some answers! Unfortunately, we are only given on of those answers-- The "boss" that has been trying to find Ben... The person who hired the Freighter Folk is.... Charles Widmore. I think it's pretty safe to assume now that he is the Economist that Sayid was hired to kill. But does Charles Widmore know about Desmond being on the island? I certainly think so. Think about this... Charles Widmore bought the journal that belonged to Magnus Hanso (captain of the Black Rock) in 1996. This shows that he's got interest in the Black Rock. After a few years of investigating, learns of the island and its powers, and is now on a mission to find it. He then announces a contest-- a solo race around the world (he knows Desmond will sign up). He also knows that Desmond doesn't have a boat, so he pays Libby to give Desmond a boat (claiming it belonged to her deceased husband). What Libby and Desmond don't know is that Charles has "programmed" the boat to arrive at those coordinates. He's also attached a tracking device. After the hatch imploded the signal was sent to Charles Widmore, who then hired Matthew Abaddon (who hired Naomi) to find the island.

Whew....

Okay, so I know that probably isn't 100% true, I would wager at least a 20% accuracy rate.

Mad Drawin' Skillz
Daniel and Charlotte were on their way to the Tempest station, and Daniel pulled out his "map" of the island. Now if the island is hidden from the rest of the world, it only seems logical that the map was drawn by (1) someone who has travelled across the island, (2) someone with pretty decent drawing skills (see below), and (3) someone who has met Charlotte and Daniel.
The Map
So, who do we know that fits all 3 of those? I can't help but think about how Michael trekked across the island's terrain to find Walt, had an art background, and (if my theory is right) might be on the boat. Another option is the "Henry Gale" method, where (just like Ben threatened to do in season 2), Ben's "man" on the boat drew them up a map that would lead them to a place where they would be captured. This ties in with Ben's knowledge of them going to the Tempest, and his plan to have Juliet find them there and shoot them.

Did Ethan Hit It too?
When Oceanic Flight 815 crashed on the island, Ben quickly sent Goodwyn and Ethan to assemble lists of the survivors. We know now that his reason for sending Goodwyn (and keeping him on assignment) was because he was sleeping with Juliet. Oh, yeah-- by the way, Ben's totally in love with Juliet. And he likely knew that it was only a matter of time before they figured out that Goodwyn wasn't on the plane, and they'd kill him. That way, Ben will have Juliet all to himself. ....but then he goes and gets Jack to operate on him, and Juliet falls in love with Jack.

Where's the Love?
(Disclaimer: This part uses the word "love" loosely). Some TV shows have a love story between two people (Ross & Rachel). Other shows have, what is commonly referred to as, a love triangle between 3 people (Dawson, Pacey, & Joey). LOST is breaking all of the rules here. Let's see if we can get this straight..... Ben loves Juliet. Juliet loves Goodwyn and Jack. Jack loves Juliet and Kate. Kate loves Jack and Sawyer. Sawyer loves Kate. But let's face it.... none of these "relationships" is as strong as the Desmond and Penny connection..... *teardrop*

And while I used to be a huge Charlie & Claire fan, I can't help but wonder why the hell Claire hasn't spent any time mourning the loss of her man. And I wonder if she ever found the ring that he left for Aaron.

And I'll beat you to the punchline by answering the two questions I know I'm going to get after posting about the relationships:

1) Who will Kate end up with-- Jack or Sawyer? My answer... Jack.
2) Does Ben still love Juliet? My answer... Yes.

Dinner Guest
At the end of the episode, we see Hurley and Sawyer playing horseshoes in the front yard when Ben comes walking out of Locke's house (which actually used to be Ben's house) with a stack of blankets, and he casually says to Hurley and Sawyer, "See you guys at dinner." To me, this must mean that Ben gave Locke some real answers. We saw Locke ask Ben who his man on the boat was, to which Ben replied, "You're gonna want to sit down." Unfortunately for us, we didn't get to see the rest of that conversation. But I have a hard time believing that this answer was just like, "The man on the boat is Richard Alpert," and then Locke let him go. The real answer had to just blow his mind, where Ben said something like, "Actually, John, the man on the boat is you." Could you imagine?! If Ben were to explain some of the island's special properties to Locke, I would totally understand him letting Ben go. And what does this mean for the future episodes? Will Ben and Locke become partners?

Next Week
The next episode, titled "Ji Yeon" will be (you guessed it!) Jin and Sun-centric. We are also supposed to find out the rest of the Oceanic 6. And according to some articles I've read, this next episode is supposed to be "the most shocking episode this season". I can't wait!

The New Schedule
I don't remember where it was last time I mentioned the schedule, so I'll drop a quick update. We only have 2 new episodes left before we have a six-week hiatus. And when LOST returns, it'll be on at 10pm (EST) on Thursdays, following new episodes of Grey's Anatomy.

As always, I'd love to hear your feedback! Keep the theories coming!

-drew.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

nice review !!! it's a pleasure to read you :)