The "Other" Woman or The Other Woman

While every episode can't rise to the level of The Constant, there's almost always something fun about every episode of Lost. First and foremost I feel that we have an episode here where the dialogue is more important than the action or lack thereof in this case. "It's very stressful being an other." was a great line. When Ben spouted "See you guys at dinner." I laughed out loud. And, "This didn't have a number on it did it?" was when I pissed my pants! But who exactly are we supposed to believe is the other woman here? Harper could be the other woman, I'm guessing they meant Juliette. Thinking about it further, hell, Ben could be the other woman for all we know. Did you see the way he sauntered up the hill and tended to the ham? Sashay, Shantee! But it doesn't really matter anyway. The biggest breakthrough for Ben was the way he started to come clean with Locke. I guess you can say he only did it as a way of getting out of captivity. That very aspect seemed to make his words all the more genuine, he’d wasted enough time in his cell, had pondered his next move, and had decided that giving Locke some answers was a lot more productive than the continued mind games.



It was pretty obvious that rain-slicked Harper was just another manifestation of the Smoke Monster. Black, wet, accompanied by whispers… even its goal seemed to coincide with that of tall island Walt: to violently stop whatever mission the freighter crew was attempting to accomplish. We saw it scan Eko and appear as Yemi, and since we know Juliet has encountered it at least once it’s not that big a stretch to say it probably obtained some of her memories too. When Juliet points out that Harper couldn’t possibly be following a captive Ben’s orders, BSM (black smoke monster) Harper tells her that Ben is "exactly where he wants to be". This part is believable. Ben’s been a player since opening night, and he knows where and when all the curtain calls are. But is drippy wet Harper truly relaying orders directly from Ben? Maybe not. I’ve long thought there was more than one force on the island: one associated with Jacob, and one associated with the BSM, the whispers, and the rain. I’m not sure they’re entirely opposing sides, but I’m not sure they have the exact same agenda either. In fact, I’d wager they don’t. I’ll even go one step further and theorize the BSM as a ‘purist’ renegade force sometimes acting counter productively to the island’s best interests, without really meaning to do so.

The Widmore reveal seemed a bit too obvious for LOST. Whichever side turns out to be white or black, it just seems a little straightforward. As Ben eagerly gave up his safe combination the magic box came to mind – the box that contains whatever it is you imagine being in there. It sure was convenient that Ben had an incriminating tape and a neatly organized file – and that’s it – in that safe (box). Just as it seemed convenient Ben came up with a tape of Juliet’s niece on a swing-set when he needed to persuade her to stay, or came up with a tape of the Red Sox to convince Jack to do his operation. For a long time now, LOST has been all about free will. Ben could’ve forced Jack to operate, but told him directly that he needed him to want to do it. He needed this because it was the only possible way the operation would succeed. Likewise Ben could’ve forced Juliet to stay on the island, but for her work to succeed she had to be a willing inhabitant. Notice that she made progress while she was happy to be there, but the minute she was being kept against her will everything she tried failed to save her patients from death .Along this same vein, Ben needs Locke to believe that Widmore is the enemy (whether he is or not) to accomplish his next goal. The only way to do this is by physically showing him, because as Locke points out several times "The problem Ben, is that I don’t believe you". Although Locke is a man of faith, Ben’s track record is way too spotty. Locke needs a visual. Ben provides. Or does the magic box provide him, once again, exactly what is needed – the same way a spinal surgeon fell from the sky?

Does Miles still have that damn hand grenade in his mouth? An even better question: does Hurley ever miss? Horseshoes, H-O-R-S-E, ping-pong, the lottery… Hurley is going to be the pivotal character when everything goes down. When a crucial moment requires a golden touch, they’re definitely gonna want Hugo around. But back to the other woman, okay, so the episode wasn’t about Juliet. It wasn’t about the Other woman, or Goodwin, or the Dan / Charlotte mission impossible last second save-the-day countdown. This episode was all about Ben. For his whole life (or lives, depending upon how you look at things), Ben’s done the will of the island. He’s followed its orders and its rules – he’s protected it and sacrificed for it. He’s done everything a good son would do, and more. Somewhere along the line though, Ben began to covet. He wanted something of his own. One of the things Ben wanted was to rectify the fertility ‘problem’ of the island. The jury is still out regarding the source of this. There are lots of theories as to why children cannot be conceived and born on the island; some of them very complicated involving time and existence. Regardless, Juliet was brought to the island for a specific purpose: Ben’s purpose. When Ben says "You are mine" he doesn’t necessarily mean it in a romantic sense. While that might arguably be a part of it, Ben’s shiny new toy was supposed to settle in and solve that nagging fertility problem. Instead, Juliet is distracted by thoughts of home and her terminally ill sister. With a little help from Mikhail, this is a problem Ben can handle. But then Juliet is distracted by something else: naked Goodwin. And this is something Ben cannot compete with. By sending Goodwin off to die, Ben is knowingly sacrificing one of his best men. The outcome isn’t in the best interests of the island, yet he does it anyway. Even the Others were pissed off last season about the fertility project, calling it a ‘waste of time’. Ben’s feeble attempts at wooing Juliet with Opera CD’s and ham don’t work, because the necessary social skills are perhaps the only talents Ben couldn’t obtain while growing up on the island. Ben fumbles around miserably, even comically in this area. Now think about the only other time in his life Ben tried to do something just for himself – Alex. Trying to be the father he never had, Ben seized and raised Alex as his own… only to have that come back and bite him in the ass too. Coveting certain things for himself is Ben’s one fatal flaw: and as these trains derail they appear to wreck his well-laid plans. Jacob abandons him, his people leave him – Ben’s lost sight of the island’s agenda. Only by putting himself back on that path can he gain favor again.

But Ben, as usual, is the real enigma of the episode. Here's something to think about—does Ben have Desmond-like abilities to peek into the future? Ben set Goodwin up when he sent him after the tail section of Flight 815, expecting him not to make it back and thus clearing his path to Juliet. Ben also tells Locke that he knows Locke's people will be rising up against him, especially when they find out Locke has no plan. When Ben tells Locke "If my people still wanted me, John, they would have stormed this camp long ago," he already knows better since he already has Harper out working for him. In all of these cases, Ben seems to be operating with some sort of foreknowledge. But like Desmond, this isn't complete foreknowledge; he didn't foresee Goodwin getting in his way to Juliet before it was already underway. Ben also dropped some theory-bait over his dinner-entrapment with Juliet when Juliet says Zack and Emma, the two surviving Tailie children, are asking about their mother in Los Angeles. Ben just says "They'll stop asking in time. They're on the list, Juliet. Who are we to question who's on the list and who's not?" Hold it—didn't Ben tell Goodwin and Ethan to make the lists to begin with and bring the lists to him? Just who is making the decisions here?

About the Tempest: One of the joys of Shakespeare is how flexibly it lends itself to all kinds of adventurous stagings. The plays have been staged and rewritten as everything from Japanese kabuki to vintage 1950's Science Fiction. So why not a magical tropical island? In fact, there's no need to improvise. Shakespeare already wrote a play quite like this! About a place where "the isle is full of noises, / Sounds and sweet airs," ...or as we call them - whispers. A place inhabited by "all spirits, and/ are melted into air, into thin air" who can disguise themselves as things like harpies... or in this case a spurned wife ("hostile, even for a therapist") named Harper. "O! I have suffer'd / With those that I saw suffer: a brave vessel, / Who had, no doubt, some noble creatures in her, / Dash'd all to pieces" It's impossible to know for sure how far Ben's powers reach. He shares many traits of Prospero, the Duke turned Magician in Tempest. He's got a "daughter", of sorts. But as odd as Ben is he can never seem to escape the utter ordinariness that hangs around him like his baggy butt pants. He's capable of astonishing things, but Magic doesn't seem to be one of his powers. Great actors have argued for years over whether Prospero or Caliban is the showier role in Tempest. So given that Michael Emerson is a Wizard of an actor, maybe it was decided to create a hybrid of the two for him to play. Because - like Caliban - Ben is something of a motherless monster. As well as, currently, a prisoner. And - like Caliban - he's a guy with a lot of problems when it comes to the ladies. Like David, in his quest to illicitly possess Bathsheba, he sent her lover into battle and a sure death. Leaving Juliet more alone than ever before. But it may just be that it was Juliet's prayer that was answered by the plane crash that brought her the shipwrecked traveler she has fallen in love with.

I have to give credit where credit is due, hard as it may be sometimes. The scene between Jack and Juliet was genuinely romantic and touching. Have we ever seen Jack be so tender? Juliet laid her feelings on the line. Jack was so touched he actually manned up and kissed her all by himself! We've never seen him do that before! "I am a fool / To weep at what I am glad of." It was as if they were clinging to each other and this fleeting moment of peace in the eye of the storm. They know as well as we do that it will not last long. Of course this sweet romantic interlude was just a ripple in the tempest of the madly thrashing story. We know that "not Penny's boat" does belong to Penny's father. (At least I think we know that.) And we know that Widmore's minions know enough about the Island to understand how to disable its defenses. The coast is clear now for the next wave of their invasion.

Much like Locke, Juliet ranks as one of the strongest-willed characters on the show, even though she continues to show a fatal weakness for the power of Ben. Juliet has tried to remove Ben from her life many times in the past, both by escape attempts and by an attempt on his life. Each time, she has failed. She now adopts a defeatist attitude, by stating with feeble certainty that "Ben is going to win" this war. Sayid’s flash-forward in The Economist guarantees that Ben will remain an integral player in the story for the foreseeable future. Perhaps Ben eventually will cede his power willingly, much like Prospero. I don't expect that Ben will ever love anything enough to set it free. I would expect that Ben’s fate on Lost will more closely parallel the fate of any other despot who violates the tenets of the social contract. In Juliet’s first ever scene on Lost, she expressed her identification with Stephen King’s Carrie, a story of an abused girl’s struggle to break free and exact revenge on her tormentors. Early in the episode, Harper explained to Juliet exactly how she could end all of her problems: "by pointing the gun and pulling the trigger". Of course, she needs to stop taking orders from Ben and take matters into her own hands. After watching "The Other Woman", I can think of no more fitting end to his reign than for Juliet Burke to commit an ‘act of free will,’ and overthrow the island’s cruel tyrant once and for all. Of course I could just be full of shit.