Lost: Everybody Loves Juliet

Well I've been calling for this season of "Lost" to give Elizabeth Mitchell's Juliet something to do, and last night I finally got what I asked for. (In fact, they even threw in a gratuitous bikini shot for good measure.)

Unfortunately, I also got the first episode of this fourth season that was, um, kinda bad.

I'm not giving the episode a failing grade or anything — if for no other reason than the fact that Juliet delivered what is probably my favorite line of the season. When Jack found out that Juliet had been in therapy on the Island, she responded (with a perfect delivery) that "It's very stressful being an Other."

My problem was that a significant portion of this episode hinged on a premise that I'm just not really buying — the idea that Ben, the in-control, calculating head Other had a major crush on Juliet, and got his widdle heart broken.

It just came completely out of nowhere for me. I'm going to have to go back to the tape (well, the discs, actually) and look for any hint of this. I'm not expecting to find something as obvious as the moment where his hand brushed uncomfortably against hers, and I realize that they seemed to have some sort of weird vibe/connection, but I never, ever thought it was love. The kind of love that makes a man take time off from leading a group of people on a mysterious island to make a ham dinner for his unrequited honey.

Then again, maybe it isn't love exactly. I thought that Ben's choice of words after revealing to Juliet that he arranged for her lover Goodwin's death was curious. He told Juliet "You're mine!" which made me think that maybe he's fond of her and possessive in a way that isn't exactly love. You never really know where Ben is coming from. Then again, this could just be me rationalizing what is, in my opinion, a completely outta-leftfield turn of events.

Let me backup to the beginning of the episode where we learned that Juliet was in therapy with a bitchy and high-strung woman named Harper, played by Andrea Roth, who plays the bitchy and high-strung ex-wife on "Rescue Me."

After Jack and his crew noticed Faraday and Charlotte were missing, they went looking for them in the jungle, where Juliet ran into a curiously ghostly-looking Harper. Harper told Juliet that Ben decreed that the freighter fiends needed to be stopped before they reached "the Tempest" station and released a gas that would kill everyone on the Island.

A couple of curious things about this scene, the most significant of which being Harper's presence? Was she a ghost or the Smoke Monster (ala Jack's dad and Eko's brother appearances on the Island) If so, would this mean Harper is dead? Or could it be a different phenomenon where a living person just appears in a place they really shouldn't be (ala Walt's appearance to Shannon and Sayid right before she got shot). I'm leaning towards the latter. Also, if Harper IS still around, it made me wonder where Alpert (the eternally youth Other) and the rest of the crew have been hiding out all this time.

Anyway, Juliet's flashbacks revealed the origins of her relationship with Goodwin, who we knew she was involved with before his impaling by Ana Lucia. What we didn't know was that their relationship was an adulterous affair because Goodwin was married to Harper.

Maybe the writers have something in store for future episodes, but I didn't really see the point of this revelation. Juliet and Goodwin feel no real conflict (and neither do we), because she was kind of a bitch from the beginning. Also, Ben's jealousy would've worked just as well (or not well, according to me) if Goodwin were single.

In the end, Juliet caught up with the Faraday and Juliet, and it turned out that they were actually trying to neutralize the threat of the poison gas (what is this, a James Bond movie?) which they did with a little over a second to spare (what is this, one of those silly Roger Moore James Bond movies — not like "Casino Royale")

Mitchell, as usual, gave a strong performance in the flashback scenes, as well as the Island portions. I liked her little speech toward the end about how Ben will inevitably win the war against the freighter people. She's the second person (after Sawyer) to recognize and acquiesce to Ben's mad skills. But then Jack decided to kiss her. Whatever.

We also got strong work, as usual, from Michael Emerson as Ben and Terry O'Quinn as Locke. (Certainly stronger work than we got from Sawyer, Hurley and Claire, who were seemingly thrown in so the actors would have something to do in this ep.)

I loved Ben asking Locke is his breakfast rabbit had a number on it, and his needling of Locke about his leadership skills. This is always good stuff, but I love that Locke had a trump card to play, revealing to Ben that he knew about Miles' blackmailing scam and giving him a dollar to get him started. Very nicely done.

In the end, it seems like Ben won out again, manipulating Locke into releasing him back among the rest of Locke's crew by promising to reveal the identity of the man who hired the freighter. And that man is Charles Widmore. Could this be another trick by Ben? Sure. But I'm actually inclined to believe him, especially since we saw Widmore just last week apparently showing an interest in the Island by spending top dollar for Black Rock's ledger.

His identity was revealed through footage taken, I'm guessing, by Ben's spy on the freighter. By the way, Michael is SO Ben's spy on the freighter. I don't dabble in theories, but I'm guessing when Ben sent Michael off the Island and gave him that specific bearing to follow, he was somehow sending him to a time in the past where he could easily infiltrate the freighter on gather information for Ben.

So what'd you think of this episode? I'm not the only one who thought the Jack/Juliet kiss was slightly forced, right? Does Kate HAVE to do something stupid every week? (How could she let Charlotte sneak up behind her like that?) Where is Ben going to get the rest of the $3,199,999? Why would Ben want the gas to be released and kill everyone on the Island now? (I understand why he did it in the original Purge that included his dad.) Finally — and the biggest mystery of all — why does Hurley kick Sawyer's ass at, well, everything?