March
6
"Lost," Episode 6, "The Other Woman"
Where to begin?
This episode was packed with plot development -- fabulously concrete, tangible, easily understood plot development, which is the rarest kind on "Lost."
First, the big picture. It's a genius move to go back to flashbacks on one of the principle characters that we know the least. Filling in more Juliet's story, and by association, Ben's, was very, very satisfying, especially coming on the heels of the last few segs that were way more question-raising than answer-providing.
Most intriguing thing to me about our sixth installment -- "The Other Woman," penned by Drew Goddard and Christina M. Kim and helmed by Eric Lanueville (he's come a long way from swabbing the halls on "St. Elsewhere") -- is how much it provided firm evidence of Juliet's complicity in the Others' dastardly deeds. We've grown to know her only in her heroic resistence-fighter mode, but in reality, she's got some 'splaining to do.
Sure, Juliet was duped into joining a super-elite research org, etc., but the progession of the flashbacks in this seg makes clear she knew a lot, if not everything, that Ben was up to in New Otherton: the dossiers on the survivors; snatching the tail-section survivors, including the kids (remember Zach and Emma?); heck, she even fingered Jack for Ben as being an 
accomplished spinal surgeon.
When Ben starts dispatching his lieutenants as Oceanic 815 disintegrates over their heads, it's clear that the focus is not on helping survivors, but somehow exploiting them. (How many times have we seen that scene? Yet each time there's a slightly different perspective on the reaction in New Otherton, which makes for a creatively satisfying way for ABC to amortize a costly fx shot.)
At the same time, the flashbacks humanize Juliet even more by filling in her back story of having an affair Goodwin and being the object of Ben's obsessive, possessive desire.
Goodwin! I'd completely forgotten about him and didn't make the connection of him being the intruder done in by Ana Lucia until well into his first appearance in the flashback scene where he meets Juliet. Later, Juliet's Bo Derek-"10" scene of emerging from the water during their wine-picnic rendezvous scene by the shore was fun. (I took note of Goodwin's aside that he swiped the bottle of wine "off the sub.") But it was also creepy to hear Juliet's Stepford-y reaction to Goodwin's suggestion that they move forward in their relationship: "Ben wouldn't like it."
Back in the present, it's mega-intriguing that Juliet, Charlotte and Faraday obviously know each other from
past adventures. Also intriguing is the sudden appearance of her old nemesis Harper in the whispering pines of the jungle. Can Juliet be right? Could Ben, in his imprisoned state, really have somehow dispatched Harper to try to convince Juliet to whack Charlotte and Faraday? (Great line from Jack about Harper: "She seemed kind of hostile, even for a therapist.")
And where are the rest of those Others hiding out, anyway? Is it true what Ben told Locke, that if his people had wanted him back they'd have stormed New Otherton by now? Ben plays Locke like a well-worn fiddle, pushing every one of his vulnerability and insecurity buttons with expert meanness. I don't trust him, not one bit. (Remember Henry Gale?)
The business about who is Ben's "man on the boat" is seems likely to be Michael, as the fan-consensus has it. Harold Perrineau's gotta show up sooner or later.
Ben finally gets explicit on the conspiracy thread about Penny's father, Charles Widmore, evil industrialist, trying to claim the island as his own for fun and profit (prophet?). Not sure if I buy Ben's explanation, but it makes for a good plot twist. What do you want to bet that Widmore at some point has done biz with Sun's dad? Something I noticed while revisiting some great season 2 "Lost" segs recently is that when Sun takes her pregnancy test, the manufacturer's name on the box is "Widmore Industries."
I won't even hazard a guess as to why Ben's suddenly walking around the neighborhood he once lorded over, looking rested and ready (if not tanned) to resume his position as evil, mind-bending despot.
Nice to get a choice "Son of a bitch" out of Sawyer in his brief appearance in this seg. In Claire's brief exchange with Locke, I also noticed that thesp Emilie de Ravin's definitely grown up a bit during the four years since season one.
As for Charlotte and Faraday and their claims to be on the side of disabling the poison gas threat housed at the "Tempest" electrical station, well who knows? For now I'll take that as it looks on the surface, on their word. One minor insight that struck me as I watched them is that Charlotte's British, and Faraday was doing his "Beautiful Mind" number at Oxford when he first bumps into Desmond, so I'm guessing they 
met there and at least at one time had a love connection. (Faraday's hard not to like in a puppy-dog way but there's still something about Charlotte that bugs me.)
When Juliet and Jack stumble upon Kate in the jungle after she's been smacked by Charlotte, you can read the look on Juliet's face. No matter what happens or where they go, Kate's always going to be turning up in need of some Jack attention. Juliet's as tough as anyone, however, as we saw in the cat fight between her and Charlotte at the Tempest station. Maybe Charlotte was a friend of Harper's?
The line about Ben having used the gas on his island brethren in the past I'm assuming refers to the distant past when Ben offed his own dad -- plus a few dozen others. But maybe there's yet another incident.
One thing that no one can take away from Ben is his sense of humor. When Locke hands him a dinner of rabbit, explaining that they're out of chickens, Ben is quick to quip: "This didn't have a number on it, did 
it?"
That one was for the rabid fans, those of us who watched the "Orchard Station" vid featuring the disappearing/reappearing rabbit with the number on its side about 100 times on ABC.com during the long drought last summer and fall between fresh "Lost" segs.
Cynthia Littleton is deputy editor, news development at Variety and a veteran television reporter. 
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I'm gonna have to disagree with Cynthia on this one. Didn't do much for me. While other eps go forward in leaps and bounds this was a baby step. I mean we already picked up Ben has a thing for Juliet and Goodwin was dead so why have so much fluff- did it really tell us something knew? Seems like a decent vehicle to introduce Harper but at the end of the day who cares? Does 90% of this show really tell is something meaningful we didn't already know? I found the Widmore tie-ins and the possibilities with the Tempest presented the only interesting moments.
I obviously suspend my imagination during this show but there's always a couple things that sort of grind on me- when did Kate pick up those tracking skills that make it so easy for them to "find their way" and at what point did Juliet learn how to kick some ass? I know I know, it's Lost and a great show, just sayin'...
Posted by: BigTex | March 07, 2008 at 10:04 AM
I thought it was an okay ep. It was certainly better than "Eggtown," but it's extremely tough to follow an episode like "The Constant" (Best. Episode. Ever!).
If it weren't for all the Ben scenes, I would have been completely turned off by this episode. Michael Emmerson is truly a master at his art and shown that he plays his role to perfection! It's sort of cute (but mostly creepy) that he's really nothing but a man-boy who misses his childhood sweetheart.
This is the first review of the episode that I've read that questioned a connection between Widmore and Sun's mob boss father (and the connection's been a long time coming, assuming it's relevant!). Something lingers in the back of my mind that tells me that Sun's Daddy was the phone bidder for ther Black Rock, and that Charles Widmore is "The Economist."
Posted by: Phil | March 10, 2008 at 03:25 AM