Episode Report Card LTG: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT How Many Others Are There?
By LTG | Season 4 | Episode 6 | Aired on 03.05.2008
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.It's a Juliet episode, which I assume means half of you didn't watch it. Juliet and Jack take off into the jungle to find Charlotte and Daniel, who have disappeared. Harper, Juliet's old shrink, shows up and tells her where to find Charlotte and Daniel. She also tells Juliet to kill them both before they release the gas that will kill everyone on the island. Juliet and Jack take off for the Tempest, another station on the island, where all the super-dangerous chemicals are stored. Along the way, they run into Kate, who is lying around unconscious because Charlotte clocked her when she found that Daniel was carrying a bag full of gas masks. Juliet dumps Jack and Kate and gets to the Tempest, where she finds Daniel fiddling with a computer (which is giving audible warnings about contamination and such). Daniel claims that he's not trying to release the gas -- he's trying to make it harmless. Juliet tries to stop him, but he gets to keep working when Charlotte arrives and starts beating on Juliet. Ignoring the catfight going on behind him, Daniel makes the gas inert at the very last second.
At the Barracks, Locke and Ben continue their male bonding. Ben convinces Locke to let him out of the basement in exchange for some information. That information consists of a videotape of the man allegedly in charge of the freighter. That man? Our very own Charles Widmore. Ben also gives Locke a file he has on Widmore. And he gives him the name of his man on the boat -- but we don't get to hear it. Since Ben gave him the info, Locke agrees to let him live in a house.
Finally, the flashbacks are all about Juliet and her earlier time on the island. She was initially miserable, and her misery was made worse by the thought that Harper hated her. Fortunately, Harper has an attractive and sympathetic husband in whose arms Juliet can find some comfort. That husband was Goodwin, by the way. Harper asks Juliet to stop sleeping with Goodwin because she's afraid that Ben will do something to hurt Goodwin in order to get him out of the way. Why would he do that? Why, because he thinks he owns Juliet. Back in the present, Juliet warns Jack that someday Ben will come after him because Ben knows how Juliet feels about Jack. Jack decides that’s the perfect time to kiss Juliet. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously, the Boaties arrived on the island, with some purpose in mind that was not quite the same as rescuing the Lostaways. Locke took some of the Lostaways to live in the Barracks, with Ben as their prisoner. And a long, long time ago, Juliet was recruited to come live with the Others in order to solve their fertility problem.
Juliet, looking clean and not like she lives in the wild, is sitting in an office decorated in various earth tones. There are diplomas on the wall over some native pottery and a little sand garden on the table. So I'm guessing chiropractor, massage therapist, or plain old brain therapist. The door opens and a dark-haired woman enters. She introduces herself as Harper Stanhope. Which could be an allusion to an orchid. Or a polo player. Or a hotel. Or about twenty other things. By which I mean, yay writers, for giving us a character that's a character and not a clue. Harper tells Juliet that their session that day is just a meet-and-greet, and Juliet responds that she doesn't really need therapy. Harper: "How about we call it 'talking' instead of therapy?" You know, when I talk with people, they rarely sit across from me and write notes on a piece of paper. So I think we probably should call it therapy. Or performance review. Or police interrogation. So why does Juliet need therapy? She doesn't "like being treated like a celebrity." She just likes getting Botox like a celebrity. Harper tells her it's not surprising that she would be treated like a celebrity: "You're big news right now." This is the worst misdirection ever -- we're supposed to think that Juliet is big news because she's one of the Oceanic Six. Except we all know she wasn't on the plane, and thus would not likely be one of the famous survivors of the plane crash. Juliet tells Harper that being the center of attention makes her feel isolated and alone. Harper tells her to get over herself, because she'll soon realize that she's no different than anyone else "here." There's a knock at the door, and our old friend Tom walks in and tells them that Ben would like to see Juliet. Before Juliet leaves, Harper welcomes her to the island.
Juliet follows Tom out of the office. They're at the Barracks, and the people who are going about their lives all steal glances at Juliet as though she were, indeed, a celebrity. Tom tells her that Harper's skills as a therapist will soon have her crying about her daddy. Which shouldn't be that hard, in a world where there are no good fathers. Tom then points out Ben, who is standing on the porch of a bungalow with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. Ben: "Welcome to your humble abode." Is there ever an abode that isn't called humble? Juliet is surprised to hear that she's getting an entire house. Ben tells her that since she's there to help them, they want to treat her well. Not only does she get a fancy house; she's got a well-stocked fridge and a collection of opera classics. It looks like the buyer's market arrived on the island a couple of years before the real-world housing bubble burst. Juliet thinks Ben has gone to too much trouble, since she'll only be there for six months. Ben, obviously lying, tells her that they want her to feel at home.
Cut to Juliet on the beach, constructing a shelter with her own two hands. Sun sees her struggling and runs over to help her. (Vincent alert: Sun and Jin were rubbing Vincent's belly when the scene started.) Sun asks Juliet why she's going to the trouble of constructing a Gilligan-class bamboo shelter when they are just about to be rescued. Juliet, about a good a liar as Ben, tells her that she still needs a place to sleep for a night or two. Jack walks over and asks Juliet where Daniel and Charlotte have gone; it seems all their gear is missing. Juliet asks if Jack still has the satellite phone. The almost imperceptible shake of his head indicates that he doesn't. Jin speaks up and, with Sun translating, tells them that he saw them going into the jungle. Jacks why Jin didn't do anything to stop them. Jin: "You say they are friends."