Lost: The Other Woman

Well this one seems like a wild hare (or rabbit dinner [har]) episode. Not at all like last week’s The Constant.

Here we go again:

  • The Tempest
  • Obviously another station – the power station – originally helmed by Goodwin and now the source of some noxious gas that is rendered inert.

    Also the name of a Shakespearian play dealing with magic, romance, an island and forces vying for control.

    I guess Ben is Proximo and Widmore is Sycorax, but I’m not Shakespearian scholar.

    Needless to say I’m sure we’re all firing up Wikipedia and hitting up the local library or a high school English teacher somewhere.

    What can I say? It’s late. Do your own research (or do mine for me).

  • Juliet
  • I’d considered it a thin Shakespeare allusion before, but she certainly is a star-crossed lover adept at attracting would-be Romeos.

    At least we know Jack makes it out alive. Maybe Juliet too.

    I love how they toyed with us in the beginning, playing Harper as potentially some Oceanic Airlines-funded shrink sent to Juliet to help her deal with being a member of the Oceanic Six.

    Thanks, Lost!

    Bonus points for being flashback and not flashforward this week as well.

  • Fortune Tellers
  • Can Ben predict or see the future?
    Did Harper know (because Ben told her) that Juliet would sleep/was sleeping w/ Goodwin?
    Is Ben really where he wants to be?
    Why aren’t the Others coming after Ben?
    Who recorded that tape of Widmore?
    Who was the dude in the blindfold? (It wasn’t Charlie, I checked)
    Do Daniel & Charlotte have other maps?

  • Maps & Numbers
  • 36 15 28 – Combination to the safe AND mentioned in Find815.com game
    8°N 33 ° E – compass bearings leading Daniel & Charlotte to The Tempest
    Any others I missed?

    Someone will have a scan from HD of the map, but there were other directions & notes and the whole thing seemed oddly like Tolkein’s map of Middle Earth that’s in the front of every Lord of the Rings book.

    Anybody else? No? Just me then.

  • Charles Widmore
  • Confirmation of a hunch/theory is always good, but what more do we really know?
    What are Widmore’s actual intentions w/ the island?
    Why wouldn’t Ben have figured out the Desmond & Penelope angle yet?
    Is Desmond potentially Ben’s man on the boat?
    Is Sayid?
    Is Michael?

    I LOVE knowing even just this nugget more, but it only draws us closer to the end-game and that saddens me a bit.

    The fun is the path to finding out. The journey. The search.

    I’d hate for the final reveal to be a letdown.

    That said, I’m really curious about Ben’s “Virgin Mary” metaphor and I want to explore it further.

    Is there some crossover to the divine here? We’ve posited TONS of scientific answers, but is the truth more akin to Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons where we have the discovery of some universal truth that squares the circle of science AND religion at the same time?

    I’m rambling, of course, but I’m so conflicted about a scientific versus a spiritual resolution that maybe the ultimate zenith is that the island was man’s attempt at controlling the divine?

    Maybe I’m catching my wife’s head cold. 😉

I think I’ve said enough. Smarter folks than I (mostly all the fantastic commenters) will surely know more, notice more and contribute more than I have.

15 thoughts on “Lost: The Other Woman

  1. Great thoughts.

    As for the ‘Virgin Mary’ metaphor – the key I think is that it took place in Gainesville, FL – Great things happen there… ; )

    I posted a few thoughts of my own over at my blog – have a loook and let me know what you think.

  2. Jessica says:

    I ruled Sayid and Desmond out as the man on the boat when they were locked in the infirmary and somebody opened the door for them to escape. My vote is for it being Michael, especially after the previews for next episode said something about seeing a face you never thought you’d see again. Either somebody’s coming back from the dead, or it’s Michael on the boat.

  3. HunterMaxin says:

    Not a fan of last night, at least not yet…and mostly only more questions:

    Does Penny know the boat is her father’s?

    Is Harper even alive? Was she real or just another “vision?”

    Did Ben really send her?

    Ben really is a petulant child. Brilliant, devious, but developmentally (socially) still a teenager. not a question, I know.

    Whispers? Hard with the rain, but did anyone do their voodoo magic on them to find out what was said?

    Was it just me or does he existence of the Tempest or at least giant death cannsters make less than zero sense? And why at a power station? Is it a power station? did Goodwin build it (hence the chemical burn?) and if so, why so “late” in the game (that would make it new)?

    Who is the “her” Harper mentions (You look just like her)?

    Too much too soon with Widmore?

    I’m mostly troubled by all this. Troubled troubled troubed.

  4. Cindy says:

    My take is that this episode revealed more than what was on the surface….and yes more questions. Don’t mind me if thast doesn’t totally make sense; I’ve got that head cold from Seth’s wife, probably from reading this blog 😉

    Anyway, the “her” Juliet looks like bugged me and then it hit me at the end of the show. Ben’s Mom!!! Yeah, he has totally taken with her, but it is seemingly in a nonsexual way. He is a child on many levels as Hunter points out.

    Where did that map come from Daniel and Charlotte had? And did you catch Charlotte’s reassurance to Daniel that “he’ll remember how to do it”?

    Anyone catch the exact wording that Ben is “exactly where he wants to be” . Just like what Miles said about his situation. God, I hope he’s still not biting down on that grenade.

    I think its gonna be Micheal on the boat. Unfortunately for me and prob others, that’s no real surprise. Anyway, how about these possibilities for fun….Walt. Captain Walt going back for Vincent.
    Mr. Eko…only cause I miss him.
    Or Ben is yanking us around and its really a woman on the boat….Shannon LOL

  5. Jessica says:

    A few thoughts in follow-up to Hunter and Cindy’s comments…

    Something tells me that Penny doesn’t know a lot of what her father does – trying to buy off Desmond, for example. I doubt she knows it’s his boat.

    Did anyone else notice that the people who randomly appear (Harper, Walt) always appear when it’s raining and are accompanied by whispers? Or am I mistaken on that?

    Maybe the Tempest is a “power” station in that whoever controls it has the power?

    I agree with Cindy that the “her” is most likely Ben’s mother.

  6. I haven’t found any audio of the “whispers” that harken Harper’s arrival, but I’m equally curious about whether or not she’s actually alive or just another astral projection (like Walt).

    I think “other woman” could mean “Other” woman or could reference Ben’s mother or Ben’s long-lost girlfriend (and certainly Juliet’s mistress status).

    I also find it odd that Harper insists early on that Juliet will be “just like everyone else” or “nothing special”. I’ll have to watch it again to see, but maybe the island identifies workers/drones from others. It certainly seems fairly caste-like or at least very stratified.

    Maybe there’s something contentious regarding whether or not Juliet “deserves” to be there.

    And Ben really is a child. A conniving, cunning child, but a child nonetheless.

  7. Jessica says:

    That’s a good point about Harper’s comment that Juliet will be “just like everyone else.” I had forgotten she said that. Perhaps Ben is playing Juliet up to be bigger/better than she is – refer to his comment about how much he has done to get her to, and keep her on, the island – and is treating her differently (giving her a house of her own, for example) than everyone else because of his oedipal obsession, and the rest of the “others” are jealous of it.

  8. E says:

    Following up on the comments, I’m not really surprised that the F4 have a map, keep in mind they came to the island not only expecting to find Ben and the Survivors, but also Desmond. They obviously have some sort of line on info from the island.

    As far as Hunter being not really there, Jack did see her. I don’t really remember and I’m too lazy to look it up, but did Sawyer actually see Kates horse? Have the “apparitions” been visible to anyone aside from the intended audience? I guess Hurly did see Jack’s dad in the cabin…

  9. E says:

    Also, Ben’s explanation for the reasons Widmore wants the island (ie “it healed you, Locke”) makes total sense since as runs a pharmaceutical company.

  10. Drew says:

    My wife thinks I’m nuts, but Ben is officially my favorite character now. Delightfully smart and conniving, manipulative, but flawed thanks to how his father raised him and blamed him for his miserable life.

    As for Juliet looking just like “her,” I’ve always wondered what happened to the little blond girl Ben tagged around with when he was young. Didn’t he still have the birthday present from her in his tent after the others left the barracks? My theory: Ben and her were close, maybe close enough that she got pregnant and died.

    I think Michael is definitely the man on the boat. I also think Michael’s the one who gave Faraday the degree of entry and exit when navigating around the island since it’s the same one Ben gave him to get away safely. Wouldn’t shock me if Widmore paid a lot for that information.

  11. Lichorosario says:

    As for Juliet looking just like “her”, Linus mother was played by his wife in real life. So, this must be a joke, since Ben seems to look for a woman who looks like his mother (edipo) and he is looking for a woman who looks like his wife at the same time.. 🙂

  12. Anne Fitzgerald says:

    To Hunter’s point last week on the sickness Danielle mentions…any thoughts on it being the time-stuckness that killed Minkowski?

  13. Lost: Ji Yeon…

    I think I have some of the same feelings of angst and uncertainty about this week’s episode, Ji Yeon, as I did about last week’s episode, The Other Woman. On the one hand, I like learning more about the endgame. On the other hand (I have …

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