Lost Reviews and News

holy cow am i first?

hahaha

Awesome episode. But it's not up on ABC.com for me to watch again.

Can someone say 1st?

holy cow am i first?

hahaha

The show is finally as good as your reviews.

So is Juliet setting up the Losties, or is she setting up Ben?

Which raises another question: is Ben setting up Locke, or vice versa?

So what is their plan, why is Juliet there?

I think she's either there to divide the camp, cause them all to turn on Jack, who’s the leader or she’s there to keep an eye on Kate who might have conceived when she did the nasty with Sawyer and sun who conceived off the island. The problem was not having babies on the island it was conceiving on the island, so I think she will be experimenting on them both. She still has to hold up her end of the deal with Jacob. (Curing the island women in exchange for saving her sister) She goes off to figure out the cure to the only place that has pregnant women or at least women who have not been exposed long enough to whatever is causing this and Ben goes to work out the Locke father son drama.

OR I could be wrong (it has happened before) and she's out for herself and not necessarily following Ben’s plan. Maybe she has her own plan we don’t know about yet. We haven’t seen what happened right after the sub “blew” up. How could she have gotten over that her chance to go home had blown up their faces so fast? I think we’re missing important info there.

OR she will become too close to the Losties and can’t go through with whatever her mission is. They gave her a tarp for god’s sake – if that doesn’t warm your cold little other heart, I don’t know what will.

This pregnant-women-dying thing would also explain Ben's desire to keep Alex and Carl apart. In the scene where Juliet gets the X-rays back, she says that Carl helped her develop them, so he was on good turns with them, what could have made them put him in a cage?? Maybe Ben caught his daughter getting a little too close to Carl?

My favorite scene? When Juliet goes buck-wild on Ben about the X-rays – he looks totally scared for the first time ever (Not counting when he was fake scared as Henry Gale) I was just waiting for Juliet to punch him in his buggy face.

Also Mittelos = Lost Time

WHAT I SAW TONIGHT (11:30 EST - 4/11/07)

Well, what can you say . . . ? . . .

I must admit, I have been fairly smitten with Juliet since her first appearance, doing her sad/happy/sad/happy swaying dance before the mirror in the book club episode. Even with all the strange turn of events I was sure she was a poor damsel in distress.

And of course, when that flashback episode with her sister - and that strange headhunter with the heavy eyeliner - and sneaky Ethan with the evil smile showed up, I was firmly convinced that surely she was being led down the primrose path and we will all discover eventually, that she is absolutely as white as the driven snow . . . tho slightly misled in her allegiances.

And then last week, as she “saves” Kate with hair-raising efficiency before the dreaded “Smokey” - literally staring it down with clear, cold, blue-icey eyes, I was more determined to believe that here was the girl of our dreams . . . the one link to the “others” who would turn away from the evil doers and lead our small band of good guys and gals to the promised land . . . one way or another . . .

And tonight, as the episode progressed, we saw our poor, poor Juliet

Saying a poignant tearful farewell to her sister,
Trucked in secret to the foundation fancy headquarters,
Slick-talked again by our resident eyeliner guy,
Seduced into unconsciousness,
Transported by clandestine means to an unknown destination,

Forced to crawl across a submarine deck in a tight skirt
and Ruched d’Orsay stiletto pumps, no doubt being taped
for future episodes of the island “What Not to Wear” Series,

Disappointed time after time with her medical insufficiency,
Saddened month after month with dying patients,
Worried sick about her sister,
Kept against her will on this evil island,
Having to film at least one scene naked and mud-free.
(Poor poor Juliet -Another terrible indignity forced upon her.)

Constantly suffering at the cold hearted decisions of Evil Ben,
Her tearful requests to go home repeatedly rejected,
Personal dilemma piled upon soul-crushing dilemma . .
Could “Jacob” REALLY heal her sister so far away?
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Could Norstorm’s ship Ferragamos to Never-never-land?

And then, at last:

Finding redemption in the eyes of Jack,
Verbally smacking down Sayid not once, but twice,
Giving a bravado performance in the jungle against the “righteous ones”,
And in the nick of time,
Against all odds,
Being the NOBLE PERSON my heart tells me she is,
Magnificent Juliet saves Claire from CERTAIN DEATH!!!
On the “Heroine Nobility Scale” It just doesn’t get any better than this!!!!

And finally, with a vote of 26 to 17, with 6 abstentions,
she wins over the hearts of our beach community who
reward her with the extra low-rent lean-too normally kept as
a possible guest house for visiting dignitaries
to lay her sweet, sweet head in peaceful slumber.

O boy, O boy. She really is GOOD JULIET!
My heart was bursting with merciful love toward our little “other orphan”.
I felt so good . . being so right . . .

And then in an instant,
she turned into
SUPER JUDAS COLD-HEARTED TRAITOR BITCH GODDESS.

My dreams were smashed.

Jack. We need to talk.

Yes, the twist at the end was jaw-dropping...if by jaw-dropping you mean completely predictable.

I've changed my mind about Juliet. As much as I wanted her to be truly evil, I now believe that she isn't so much evil as she is single-minded about going home and seeing her sister and niece. She played Jack extraordinarily well from Day One (working Sawyer and Kate like dogs to weaken their spirit and hence facilitating their jail cell romance and making sure Jack catches their hook-up like a teen-ager on the internet when his parents aren't home), coordinated her little adventure with Kate and the subsequent "saving" of Claire to garner trust with our castaways to find out who killed Ethan. And now that she knows who killed Ethan (thank you very much Hurley), Charlie's life ain't worth a hollowed out Virgin Mary statue. Anybody know if Dominic Monaghan has a guest shot scheduled on Regis and Kelly?

Wait a sec…just had a thought…did Juliet give the cancer to Ben? She out-maneuvered Ben…she's evil again! YAY!!

I thought it was extremely telling that the Flame station was functioning perfectly fine just weeks before Locke blew it up. Maybe that's why Locke blew it up…

And now for my working theory of the week…Ben told Locke to blow up the sub (and the Flame station?). Or at least make it look like he blew up the sub. In Other words, Ben told Locke, "If you wanna stay on this here island, get rid of the only thing(s) that can take you away." Locke's going away with the Others was his reward (from Ben) for Mission Accomplished.

Ouch! Just had another thought…with so many cons going on at the same time, I'm starting to get the feeling that there is a long con going on here. Anybody see Henry Gondorff and Johnny Hooker? Is that Ragtime I hear in the background?

Oh my...what a wonderful episode that was. The most behind the scenes look at the Others that we've ever gotten.

And for 57 minutes, we were told why Juliet was good, why she should be trusted, why she had good reasons to sway to the Losties side.

But then, just like that, with no warning at all...BANG. The writers burst our world with 90 seconds of "WTF is going on."

Oh yes...that Juliet...she's a crafty one isn't she? However, I think she'll be okay....I just have this feeling. And yet...I can't stop thinking of the time Sawyer told us all how dangerous she was...how she'd kill in an instant.

I can't believe I have to wait another week.

As always..thanks Mac!

Wow, Mac this episode was almost too much info to process. I couldn't sleep and it has caused me to post a comment for the first time. Your review is always entertaining and insightful and I look forward to it almost as much as the show. Thanks

Great commentary, Mac- as always, you over-whelm me.
Oh mymymy! Although, I could kind of see the double agent twist coming, it still hit me like a ton of bricks.
I noticed that was that Juliette seemed (in her conv. w/ Ben) to be really looking forward to infiltrating the losties' camp. EEEVIL
As well, isn't it odd that both Sawyer AND Sayid backed down like dogs w/ their tails tucked away?
And I guess my last question is, after bringing back an Other, and admitting that he was almost off the island (ie escaping, alone), why would anyone take Jack's word for anything?

Did anyone else thing that the woman we see die on the table could have been Ben's wife? Juliet seemed almost scared when she died. And the conversation between Ben and Juliet on the rocks - he is talking about how it is not Juliet's fault because the woman wanted to get pregnant...just a crazy theory.

Oh crap is right...does this mean that the Sun is setting?

Note in the latter beach scenes the random, generic lostie-extras mixed in with the main cast.

Are these people the future Nikki & Paulo?

Is the blondish dude Neil the Frogurt Guy?

@Mac: You mentioned the elegant old lady. Her name was "Amelia". Somewhere else, it was suggested that she might be identical with "Amelia Earhart", the pilot that disappeared in 1937 trying to fly across the Pacific. That could be true, as the name of the Mittelos airport "Herarat" is an anagram of "Earhart". Of course, she would have to be more than 100 years by now...the island´s healing power? Time running in a different way? Does it have to do with the Hanso Foundation´s Life Extension Project? Hmmmmm.

Well, I saw the Jules=mole twist coming from last week, but I thought it was nicely executed, anyway. The Jules-as-Jedi-master theme ("these are not the droids you are looking for") is brilliant, Mac. Jules seems capable of superhuman feats, explainable by little short of Jedi power. Though it was nice to see the tense look on her face as she turned her back on Sawyer and Sayid. We were at least allowed a glimpse at her being not 100% sure her Jedi mind trick had worked.

I *do* want to know how she (or anyone) knew that Sawyer killed a man the day before he got on the plane. One-eyed Mike didn't pick that one up off the broadband scope. As far as we know, no one except Sawyer knows what he did. Short of telepathy, it's hard to figure how Jedi Jules knew.

Haven't finished always.. but i just thought of something.

Druggin Juliett on the sub made me think of this.. what if the island is not that far from a main land. What if the sub trip is fake like so many other things that the Others do? They have everyone thinking there is no other way off the island but maybe there is. Anyway just a thought.

what was once a failed season and a series on the brink, has now rejoined the rank of classic

great review buddy

Interesting pickup on the anagram for Hararat Aviation. My first reaction was that it was evocative of "Ararat" the mountain that Noah's Ark is said to have landed on. Could be either/both symbolism was intended. Could just be a Jedi Mind Trick.

I found Alpert's comment about time passing on the island interesting: "Six months may seem long but you'll be amazed how quickly time passes here."
Another hint at the rate of time passage or just a shout out to the conspiracy theorists?

Only 5 episodes left already? Aieee!! :)

@Mac

>Ben says he'll see Juliet in a week, so I'm assuming the next seven days of island time are going to comprise the final six episodes of the season.

But haven't we already seen several of those days pass by?

1) He's planning with her apparently at night. The next day she implements the plan, Kate gets gassed, they 'wake up' together - maybe same day maybe next, but they spend a night in the jungle being Xeroxed by Smokey [end day 1]

2) They take off for the beach and spend a night en route [end day two]

3) They arrive at the beach, Clair gets sick, sometime that night Juliet sets off for the medicine in the dark [End day three]

4) Retrieves the medicine, cures Clair, still daylight. Seems to me she's in day four of the week. Or maybe five if Kate slept through a night after the gassing.

I loved all the little details in this week's ep. Stuff like Sawyer making a point of volunteering to fetch Claire's asprin, the meaningful looks in Sun's direction at the mention of the dangers of pregnancy, etc. Lots of little moments to evoke connections from past eps to this one, and bring a sorely needed sense of continuity.

Great catch on the anagram for Hararat (Earhart). All I could come up with was "a threat".

I think you might be on to something there, although what that might be I have no idea.

I'm just so happy that Juliet is evil.

But that doesn't quite work...

So the island has magical medical properties except for Ben. Is it because he was born on the island?
Furthermore, these healing properties can be exported as Juliet's sister clearly has not been on the island. Unless, Ben willed her there using his magic wish box.
So, we have a bunch of people living in Otherville, complete with pretty houses, book clubs and football games. Perhaps Otherville is a medical commune made up of former terminally ill patients. All is complete except the women cannot go to term and deliver a living baby. That would explain the Other's fascination with kidnapping children. Now how this ties into the Dharma initiative and the whole electromagnetic thing, well ....

Absolutely LOVED the reverse at the end - OMG! Who is she really setting up is right!

@mac Sun: Oh, crap. LMAO!

@davidrh LOL - I love your renditions as well.

I also noticed the reference to Carl "developing the xrays" and wondered about his subsequent imprisonment and brainwashing. I wondered if, because he saw Ben's tumor, he lost faith in the Other's philosophy/Jacob/etc so he had to be reprogrammed? Of course, it could also have to do with Alex.

Now, Alex, why didn't the EBS get her and Rousseau? Didn't Rousseau say she gave birth shortly (a month or so) after arriving on the island. But the EBS didn't turn her body against the baby. And I don't think they said the island prevented conception - just that the mother's all died during pregnancy as the body treated the baby as a "foreign invader".

@Ransom - nice, but there's only one 'T'

@Trinity: The aspect of this episode that the time flow theorists have to address is the apparently correct continuity between the passage of island time and real world time in the Jules backstory. Benry is at pains to point out to Jules that the date on the newspaper is the same one as by island reckoning -- "this is live" he says, and the camera responds to his commands in real time. How would that be possible if there were a time discontinuity for the island? The kid looks as old as he should, assuming time flows at the same rate on and off island. One-eyed Mike is watching live coverage of the missing Oceanic flight from world news broadcasts. Again, how would that be possible if there were a time discontinutity affecting the island? The time flow theorists have their work cut out for them, explaining away the details of this episode that only work if time on and off the island is the same.

Awesome episode, great review! One question on my mind...

Does anyone else think that Ben lied about the fact that Juliette's sisters cancer had come back so that he could use 'curing' it as a way of gaining her trust and keeping her on the island?

Oh, I almost forgot:

I thought Ethan's off-hand(?) comment to Juliet in the airport "you'll be surprised how fast time flies" [at the secret facility] was interesting. Maybe even provocative given our discussions on time with this series...

Also, Jack's comment to Juliet, "They're good people. Sometime, they're going to need some answers." immediately made me think the writers were talking about us!

Mac - Point #3 ... HI-LAR-I-OUS!! LOL. (But I'm worried about Sun, too).

That submarine ride must be a doozy if Juliet needs tranquilizers in order to journey to the island! Seriously ... what's up with that?? Did she really travel via submarine? Like Ben said in a previous episode, the sub gives the illusion that the Others can leave. Is it just an illusion? Can they really leave? And more importantly, how do they get to the island, if not by sub? Also, it appears as if Richard (the guy with the fabulous dark eyelashes) can come and go from the island. We have seen him off-island and also at the Others compound.

So the Others can conceive children ... just not carry them full term. Apparently the island effects the womb. But Ben says he's lived on the island his whole life -- but was he BORN there?? Also, why is Rousseau still alive if she gave birth to Alex on the island??

Jack .... what's UP ??? So, at the end of the episode I felt so bad for him. He has been duped by Juliet. He has rejected Kate. His leadership is on tenuous ground due to his semi-defection to the Others. He told Kate last night that he just "kept his head down" and did what he was told so he could get off the island. Wow. Jack has confused me this season. It feels like he's broken. And now, it is obvious that the writers have set him up to be betrayed by Juliet. I certainly hope Jack is smarter than he appears right now.

I almost felt bad for Ethan last night. Although, I also do not believe the whole story has been told. According to last night's show, Ethan was just trying to save Claire's life in Season One when he injected her. Then, according to Juliet's version of the tale, Ethan "improvised" the kidnapping. Hmmmm. Something smells rotten there. Why was Ethan so evil and "pumped up" like he was Super-Ethan?

If Ethan was planted in the camp *only* to take blood samples and administer medicine to Claire, then that leaves out the whole LIST THING.

So, the Tailies were infiltrated by Goodwin, who made lists. Many of their people were kidnapped, including children. But then there's the Beachies -- infiltrated by Ethan whose only mission, it seems, was to administer medicine to Claire. What about the lists? Only Walt was kidnapped, out of the entire 40-something bunch of Beachies. There was mention of Jack not being on Jacob's list. And Ben says he came for Locke. But ... why were Tailies terrorized but not Beachies?

Juliet didn't say they couldn't conceive, just that something went wrong during conception. That's way she wanted to take one of the women off the island. Rousseau conceived off the island, so EBS didn't affect her.

EBS - Tell Someone.

@DeepCover: I think you're clearly right about island time being the same as mainland time, and that those scenes were intentionally shot to quash timeline theories.

On the other hand, "Herarat Aviation" = "Earth: A Variation" so maybe time is the same but it's an alternate wormhole universe?

Just kidding, I'm with the Earhart crowd.

@Paul
I agree that Ben may have lied about Juliet's sister to keep her on the island. Perhaps an early example of his threaten-what-they-care-about-most strategy for getting people to do what he wants.

ive heard people comment and say this is all someones dream. to many details to be a dream but what about.......someones time in a comma...say after the crash

I thought this was a so-so epi until the last three minutes. I should have predicted it, but I did not.
We have been on island now for almost three months. When did Sun take the pregnancy test? I thought it was after the tailies joined the middies. (The fronties are all dead) It is my understanding that she conceived while on island, not before. I say Jin is the father and not the bald guy, IMHO.
I don't know what Juliette's plan is, but I do not think she is entirely evil, just focused on what she wants....to go home. The mighty Jack says he was going to help them after he got home, are you kiddin' me? They should string Jack up as well. Peace out.

Another thing, I think Jacob doesn't even exist. I think all the Others are put threw that brainwashing session we saw Karl put though. They make them all believe that their is a higher power - Big Brother style. Juliet looked scared and didn't even question it when Ben said Jacob would cure her sisters cancer - Wouldn't you ask how he can cure cancer or something? She just took it on faith and didn't ask about it again until she got the x-rays 3 years later! That's some mighty brainwashing!

Number 25 in, beat that people :-)

Has anyone here read Arthur Clarke's Childhood's End? There seems to be parallels.

Mac - GREAT REVIEW! Episode was great in terms of revelations and all that.

BTW, WTH is up with the giant foot Sayid found at last season's finale? Are we ever visiting that again? My take is that it has to do something with the original inhabitants of the Island, of which Ben is a descendant.

Also, are we ever getting a glimpse of the REAL Henry Gale?

Finally, @Sheila, yes I do agree... Lost is not complete without Mac's reviews...

Mac, your reviews are the highlight of my week, even though the program does not air till sundays over here in the uk. I LOVE LOST & I LOVE MAC

Two questions -

1. Was Juliet the woman who threw the bomb at the raft in season 1?
2. Do you think the producers had Juliet in mind from the beginning? Considering Ben/Gale was only supposed to do 3 episodes and is now a main character (I mean, unless the producers have ESP, how could they possibly have planned that from the beginning like they like to claim?)

@deep cover: good point on the time continuity

Thought about it some more, and this whole episode was only pretending to reveal more information. It focused on the infertility problem but gave no insight into what the Others are doing there in the first place.

Juliet is brought in to help not because she is a "good" person but because she has a critical skill.

Assuming Ben is telling the truth whenever he explicitly says he's not lying, then there is a Jacob somewhere off the island who can cure cancer but can't cure the reproductive problem. And the island must be *so* special that Jacob would rather keep the island a secret then reveal the cure for cancer.

Interesting also that we never see the sub move. Also, did it look like it popped up in a lake, or just a cove? They never quite show the full 360, but there are trees in the background of every dock shot, never open water.

The ep felt satisfying at first but was actually kind of junk-foody.

The producers have planned out 4 seasons, and have stated that they have proof in "Adam and Eve" As they go along they would probably have better ideas than they had in the beginning.

Juliet wasn't the woman who through the molotov at the raft.

We have never seen the sub move but we know that it does work because of how the Others are able to magically board the sailboat.

Right, I forgot "the sub is back" after the sailboat raid.

I took Herarat for exactly what it says (sans the poor grammar). It was foreshadowing that Juliet was a rat! We were being told from the beginning of the episode that Juliet was infiltrating the Losties camp for an alterior motive.

Some tremendous acting from the ex-Borg Queen in this episode.

Also, I love the bit where Ben exasperatedly reminded Mikhail not to shoot him.

oh yea in the scene where sayid and sawyer confront julliet did any body recognize the symbol in the tree above her head that was shown twice it looked like a big * astreck circle carved in the tree my wife pointed it out to me first and luckly it was shown again briefly or i may not have believed her it was definatly placed there and out of character

@ Sam - I always wondered about Benry and how he could have always been intended if he was only supposed to be for a few episodes. BUT, I believe the writers said that Michael Emerson was only supposed to be in up to 6 episodes, but I don't *think* they said anything about the character. My guess is that Michael Emerson was this supposed Henry Gale guy (who was an Other but not Ben, THE Other) but then was so phenomenial, they improvised and made him turn out to be the Ben of Season 3. Maybe they would have been 2 different characters at first, but the actor was so great they combined they so he could be a regular.

Also, @ Deep Cover - you're so right about the time issue. Good job!

*******I DON'T THINK THIS IS A SPOILER BUT I'M PUTTING A SPOILER WARNING HERE ANYWAY****

Apropos of exactly nothing, but Kiele Sanchez (Nikki) is credited in IMDb with appearing in the last five episodes for this season. Maybe Victoria's Secrets bras come with inflatable air pockets...

No sign of Paolo, but then again, I wasn't exactly looking...

****END PSEUDO-SPOILER WARNING****

I'm just not ready to see Jules as totally evil. I think that Ben, being the master of manipulation that he is, has sent her into the camp to finish her research and make Sun their new "control" subject. How do they know Sun is pregnant? Well, how the heck do they know all of this other stuff!? But i think Ben has promised her something else, to get her to do his evil bidding.

I also really want to know how she went from meek, verbally abused, brilliant fertility scientist, to kick-ass, pook stick swingin, Jedi mind trick usin, second in controll master manipulator!!? She is Ben's very own "Number One". They must teach classes in Bensylvannia on "How to Lie Effectively, and Get What You Want From People With A Calm Exterior". I love her character!! I love it when she kicks ass deffensively and verbally!

Good calls on the various possible anagrams ...

Here's one that occurred to me after seeing the satisfied look on Juliet's face in her bedroom scene with Goodwin:

Goodwin = I Go Down

Another good episode.

Thought #1:

Juliet is working for Juliet.

But I think she is in the middle of a multi-step process to go home, thanks to Locke. The only thing she cares about is her sister. And we all know that Ben knows how to prey on what people care about the most. So he promised to send Juliet home ON THE SUB.

Oops, way to go John. No more sub.
(as Ben smiles to himself)

So when Juliet asks to go home another way, Ben says, "uh no, I said you could take the sub home, that was what I promised." So now she is in the next phase of "earning her ticket home."

And this phase is: Prepare the Survivors for "The Invasion." They are running out of women to impregnate and they need some fresh supplies. They have the docs, they just need the subjects. But instead of kidnapping more, which would lead to gangs of Survivors coming after them since they know where they live, they have to take them by force, all at once.

Which mean, there are more Survivors than Others. Maybe?

Or, they just want to make sure they still rule the island, so remove, imprison, or just vote out the Survivors.

Thought #2:

There is no Jacob. Even Ben is not in on this ruse. Jacob is a caricature of what Dharma wanted for it's society. And if Jacob is real, Jacob may not even be a person, it may be a group or a faction or a philosophy.

Thought #3:

Good or bad, evil or sympathetic, mud- dirty or clean, Juliet is Ms. LOST Island!

Thought #4:

Will the invading Others use Locke for information and then as a tool to gain access to the Survivors? Are they making him feel that he is there Obi-Locke just to lead him to a false sense of leadership when they have other plans in mind?

Thought #5: (future prediciton)

When the Others finally invade Survivor camp in the last few episodes, Desmond's old girlfriend will arrive on the beach with her "Desmond Hunting Party" and cause a three-way standoff.

Just a few random thoughts. Great blog.
Cya

Regarding time on-island and off-island, it has been heavily implied that they travel through a wormhole, and wormholes connect not just space, but SPACETIME.

It could be that time moves more quickly on the island, but the wormhole is effectively a two-way time machine that perfectly matches on-island time and off-island time. So people on the island THINK that it's 2004, but it's really something like 2104.

Maybe that's why Ben is so determined to keep people on the island, because he's already seen the future through communications at The Flame, and he knows that only certain people make it off the island. Or maybe he's trying to change the future?

The Tree Symbol = The symbol for the planet Ummo

http://tinyurl.com/3cx9l7

@Paul:

I thought the same thing as soon as Ben pulled out those files about Juliet's sister. She didn't really have cancer, and her pregnancy was going along fine. But Ben needed a way to keep Juliet on the island without actually telling her there was no way in hell he was letting her go. So he comes up with some fake paperwork to keep Juliet on the island, where she'll have no way of knowing how her sister is, and will have no choice other than to trust what Ben is telling her. Then two+ years later when Juliet again expresses her desire to leave the island (more than likely thinking her sister has already died), "Oh, by the way, your sister was cured of her cancer and had the baby with no complications whatsoever. I kept my promise. Now keep yours and finish what you're here to do." We all know that Ben is the master-manipulater, so I believe that is the case here.

Oh, and I loved the dialog between Rachel and Alpert when she dropped off Juliet:

Rachel: "Try to bring her back in one piece..."
Alpert: "Well, we'll do our best..."

Just this short dialog exchange foreshadowed that Rachel probably would never see her sister again...and, of course, Alpert knew that.

As for island babies, it seems to me, as others have said, that women cannot get pregnant and carry to term on the island. Claire was just about to term when she arrived on the island, and Juliet said she believed that the problem happened during conception. If the child was not conceived on the island, then they would probably be fine (Aaron and Alex are both proof of this). Now, if Sun is newly-pregnant with Jin's child, things do not bode well for her. If she if pregnant with her lover's child, then she'll probably be fine, as she would have conceived off the island. A thought though -- if it IS in fact Jin's child, why would the island heal of him of his sterility if it is somehow trying to keep babies from being born on the island? And if Ben was actually conceived AND born on the island, that may explain why he is not able to be healed by the island -- he unwillingly has broken the rules of nature on the island, and therefore the island is punishing him for it, or indifferent to him because of it.

**I think Sun will be just fine**
(medically speaking)

My wife pointed out the fact that Juliet believes that the pregnancy problem occurrs at "conception". Kate may be the only one truly in trouble if it happens that Sun concieved off the island, as did Claire and Rousseau.

I was kind of disappointed when the 'answers' teaser came to an abrupt end when Jack interfered. And I have a feeling that Jack's character is shown a weak one recently because Mathew Fox wants to leave the show. Castaways will soon find about Juliet and turn on Jack.

Last week, I posted a comment saying that Juliet is a Trojan horse and that’s EXACTLY it turns out to be! When the siege of Troy for 10 years didn't work, Greeks devised an evil plan to build a huge wooden horse and filled it with their soldiers. They burnt their camps and appeared to leave in a hurry. A Greek spy convinced Trojans that the wooden horse is a gift and take it inside their city. Trojans took the horse inside the city walls and celebrated by drinking. In the night, soldiers came out of the Horse and opened the city doors for the returning ships and massacred Trojans! Don’t you see a big similarity in the story line here?

If the Island is the Cancer cure, how come Rachel is not in the island? Or is she?

Are Ben & other 'Others' cancer survivors cured of their cancer by the miraculous powers of the island? Is that why Juliet bought Ben’s argument that no one in the island have cancer?

@Dan: I haven't seen one blue police box so i don't believe the space-time theory! :)

I was wondering..if Richard Alpert was in Miami and Ben told him to get back to the island asap, could he have brought Locke's dad with him?

This epi explians why they need to take all the kids...they pro-create.

I think Jules' only motivation is to get back to her sister, that is the only thing she cares about. I think that is way she is being manipulative

I was wondering..if Richard Alpert was in Miami and Ben told him to get back to the island asap, could he have brought Locke's dad with him?

This epi explians why they need to take all the kids...they pro-create.

I think Jules' only motivation is to get back to her sister, that is the only thing she cares about. I think that is way she is being manipulative

@aj:

The island is necessarily the cure for cancer, but for any ailment or injury. It hasn't been reveled to us that there are any cancer survivors on the island. But it is implied by Ben that either anyone with cancer has been cured of it, or that the island simply prevents it from happening to begin with. Either way, this is why none of the Others have cancer. Except, as we soon learn, for Ben of course...

Oh, and thanks for the history lesson, but I would seriously hope that anyone on this blog would know the historical significance, and thus the metaphor, of the Trojan horse...

Stocky:
Rose was revealed as having cancer before she boarded the plane in sydney, once on the island it was gone.

Great Episode, Great Recap Mac Daddy...

Hi Brian, have fun at work...

Hey Mac,

Great review as always. I haven't read the comments left by everyone before me, so I do not know if it has been mentioned. I had two observations from last night's episode.

There was a black man on the submarine. We only saw his back and partial profile of his face. He looked like Michael to me. I might be stretching there and I don't have tivo, so I can't verify this.

Another observation that hit me as I was reading the review is that Herarat is an anagram for Earhart. We all know that Amelia Earhart was lost over the Pacific Ocean, it is obvious given the Lost's writers history of making subtle links, that this is to make the comparison that flight 815 was lost over the Pacific Ocean. Furthermore, just like Amelia Earhart was never found, maybe this foreshadows that the Losties will never be found.

Sam

I'm wondering if there is another way off the island other than the submarine. We have been led to believe that Michael and Walt left the island by boat. We haven't seen them all season since they left but I guess they could be held somewhere else on the island.

Am I suffering from multiple personality disorder? Did the Others clone me? Or did someone else take my name....

Signed,
the original hookedonlost.

@snow: Alice Krige played the Borg Queen. Is there another Borg queen that I do not know about?
Star Trek and LOST, two of my favorites.

What the heck does the 48 hour activator mean??? Someone infiltrated camp and planted it on Claire? Or was this part of the shots she received via Ethan?

Wouldn't Juliet want revenge for Goodwin's death?

Also, I noticed the symbol on the submarine was familiar to the hexagons of the I Ching, so I looked it up, and here is what I found:

http://tinyurl.com/3xops4

Pretty interesting, right???

See you later, alligators!

WGNABB!

Just a thought.

Y did the feed that Ben showed Juliet have to be live. What if that was a recording done by whomever at a previous time. He could have just scripted it so it appeared live (the date on the newspaper was the date in real time) but now is centuries later. The clip of the flight 815 on the news also could be from the years ago...and the plane just entered the island airspace at such a delayed time because of the islands powers or some other dimensional thingy.

I'm not a time theorist but just adding some support.

I don't think Juliet has any "secret" information about Sawyer. Perhaps he was a suspect when a dead body was found and it made the news, the news that Mikhail watches from the Flame....I've also been thinking back to the episode where all of the Losties send a message in a bottle on the raft. They probably either wrote to the person closest to them or just wrote something they wanted to get off their chest-maybe the others found the bottle and read all of their secrets? (of course Sawyer did read them first)

Great review as usual Mac ... I absolutely loved Point 3! LOL.

There's so much to be said here, but for the most part others posting are covering the bulk of what I am thinking. But here's a question: The Others know nearly everything (if not everything) significant about our Losties' lives. That being said, they absolutely have to know about Rose's cancer. This being the case, why isn't Ben as intrigued with her as he is with Locke? She's the one you would think he'd have greater interest in, seeing as how her situation is more parallel to his than Locke's. I know part of the reasoning may be that the actress who plays Rose has been unavailable, but even so, you would think you'd hear him at least speak of her. Is this an oversight by the writers or is there a reason? What does everyone think?

Also, it doesn't have anything to do with this episode really, but I recently realized that Losteria Lane definitely must have originally been inhabited by Dharma (I don't know if this has been said by others before, sorry if I'm just slow lol). Correct me if I'm wrong, but Sayid found a map in the Dharma materials in Flame that showed the "Barracks". This is how they found Losteria Lane, because when questioned, Mikhail said it was where they lived. If this is the case, I wonder what the function was of the Dharma employees who lived in the Barracks. I don't know if this is at all significant, but I just thought I'd put it out there.

@ hookedonlost - Sorry for the intrustion of your name. I've changed mine.

@Lostsplorer:

Thanks for correcting me. I was actually referring to any of the Others having had cancer, but I had completely forgotten about Rose. Maybe they should actually have her on the show once in a while... Ben and Juliet's conversation would have taken place prior to (even if only a few days) Rose's arrival to the island, so they would not have known the island cured her cancer until later.

I guess my point was that we can only ASSUME that the island either cured any Others of their cancer, or simply prevented any of them from getting it to begin with. From Juliet's point of view, she was led to believe that Ben had the power to cure her sister's cancer if she agreed to stay on the island. This would have had to involve bringing her sister to the island, which doesn't seem likely. And through characters like Rose and Locke, I think it's been made clear that the healing powers of the island won't work off the island. So I don't think Juliet's sister's cancer ever came back, and that Ben just made Juliet think it did to keep her on the island.

Now, if the powers of the island ARE able to be taken off the island and used elsewhere, well, then Ben is even more evil than we thought. He would have convinced Locke that he would lose his ability to walk if he left the island, knowing this wasn't the case. He must really have some dastardly plans for Locke to want to keep him on the island so badly.

We now know one other thing -- Ethan and Richard are at least two people who have been to the island, have left it, and gone back to it. And Richard must have returned to the island very recently if he was in Miami when 815 crashed on the island, but was back on the island by the time that Locke, Kate and Sayid invaded the barracks. And if he used their one and only sub, he would have had to have returned before the attack on Sayid, Jin and Sun on the sailboat as well, since the sub seems to have been present at the island since that time. Unless there's more than one sub...

@ hooked 2 - No problem! :) Great minds, right?

@ ealgumby - LOL. That was brilliant!

1. Ben could have easily lied about Rachel to keep Juliet around. Since Juliet isn't allowed to speak to her sister, she only has Ben's word that he cured Rachel. IMHO: Ben = Liar. That being said, I think Jacob is real but is more CEO than field general. Perhaps he'll make an appearance in a future episode.

2. I asked last week and I'll ask again: If Juliet REALLY wants to leave and be with her sister, why is she so loyal to Ben? He has prevented her from leaving the island at every turn. Does she not get that Ben will NEVER let her leave?

3. If Amelia Earhart shows up she better bring Fonzie and a pair of water skis with her.

Much like Juliet's faith in Jacob, my faith in the show had been shaken in the first several episodes this season, however, I must admit, Lost once again is AWESOME!

Something that no one has mentioned yet, but that I immediately thought of last night is what if Juliet is pregnant? We see her post-coitus in a flashback immediately preceeding the plane crash. This would also make her a candidate for her own medicine since the child was conceived on the island.

Two more thoughts-

When Juliet makes a comment about already being on her own to Jack, I think this was the first time she wasn't lying-she really is in it for herself now.

Did anyone notice that Ben made it a point to say the name of Rachel's son? Do you think "Julian" was a tribute to "Juliet"? Perhaps Rachel was led to believe that her sister was dead

To be fair about the cancer curing thing, Juliette never said Ben had cancer, she just said he had a tumor. It was never disclosed whether it was malignant or not. Perhaps the island doesn't prevent tumors, it just prevents/cures cancer.

@ Deep Cover: I'm not in agreement with the time conspiracy theorists. I'm in the camp that believes island time is the same as the rest of the world. I just thought it was an interesting comment by Alpert, given the many other time references.

@ mac: "Hurley says, nodding toward a blank patch of sand covered in Vincent's poop." LMFAO! One of the best macisms of all time, along with: "He pauses, snares a fly with his tongue, then flatly denies her request" and of course "These aren't the droids you're looking for."

I'm likin' all the new name anagrams, namely Earhart and "I go down." ROTFL!

Two very odd scenes in this episode.
First, when we see Ben at his home desk, there is a telephone! A regular, black household telephone front in center in the scene. I don't recall seeing any other telephones on the island (Others used walkie talkies). We were lead to believe that the Flame station was the center of all communications. With the telecom cable Sayid found on the beach going into the ocean, there is a link to the outside world.
Second, when Ben was "proving" that Juliet's sister had cancer, he gave Jules a medical file. What struck me at first was that the page was a EKG chart which I thought odd. I subsequently saw a screen shot of the medical file labeled Carlson, Rachel and the document was for an 187 pound male with a cardiac condition. Significant prop error (especially when Lost fans comb their screen shots for clues) or a cue that the characters are not really who they say they are?

Is anyone else having trouble with the travel rate on the island? Does it really take hours or days to traverse through the jungle? How big is this island? Even a fairly slow pace of 2 mph should get them here to there within a day. The island would have to be many miles across to keep them from being where they want to be quickly. Ethan and Goodwin did not seem to have any trouble getting to the crash sites 'within an hour'. Even if there are underground tunnels, wouldn't they be running?
And how about retracing your steps, Sayid? He's always hacking some vines away. They could not possibly grow back in 2 days could they? The return group (Jack, Kate, Sayid, Juliet) must have trusted Juliet enough to let her turn off the sonic fence. Why do they keep pressing her later?

I think Juliet must have been promised something and she believes Ben keeps his promises. Ben does keep his promises but he looks for a loophole to get out of them. Ex.) Jack can go home for saving his life. He doesn't want Jack to go home because he will try to come back. He tells Locke don't blow up the sub. (Knowing Locke will blow up the sub.) Locke blows up the sub. "Sorry Jack I really tried to get you off the island."

Last nights episode leads me to believe the following:

The sub has nothing to do with getting to the island. The others can come and go another way (space-time stuff). Juliet is drugged and wakes up in the sub thinking she traveled there in it, but its all a scam.

This also might explain what happened when Ben said "Bring me the man from Tallahassee." Locke's father was not even on the island when the command was given. The others simply stepped through their secret door to the outside, grabbed him and brought him back. His appearance of being tied up, beaten and gagged in the chair gives me the impression he had just been kidnapped. He looked scared too, which is how you would look if you had just been grabbed and thrown through a black hole into a closet on the other side of the world.

Makes sense to me. Do I win something?

Does someone out there have a screen snap of the newspaper shown to Juliet over the video feed? What was the exact date and headline again? Does it bear any resemblance to the "real" news that happened on that day? Don't have access right now, but in typical Lost fashion there's probably a clue there.

This is my third time trying to post this, so if you have seen it twice before or will see it twice again, I apologize...

Anywho...if they implanted Claire with something that activated 48 hrs ago, does this mean someone infiltrated the beach and implanted something in/on her? Timewise, wouldn't that be when the group "found" Losteria Lane and were captured there? And isn't that the same time as the discovery of the VW bus/Paolikki death/luau? Who did it then?

Would Juliet want revenge for Goodwin's death? I just knew she was in on it with Ben...

I noticed the symbol on the submarine (broken line over full line over broken line) reminded me of the I Ching...so I looked it up, and here is what I found...interesting, right????

http://tinyurl.com/37s239

WGNABB!

It cracks me up how Sayid was hackin' through those trees that weren't even in his way. He's mowin' a lawn over the exchange with Doctor "protective". Sheesh, what's Jack thinking ? He must have learned something about the Others or he's just a complete moron. Looks like Jacob has been solidified as the "Brilliant Man" behind Others club. Though it's possible Ben made up Jacob. How could Juliet / Others know that Sawyer shot that guy in Australia ? Is that why we saw Sawyer being hauled into the police station before ? Juliet doesn't sell as the "bad-ass villain" that I am assuming the writers have her cast as. Sure, she's a great actress but we'll have to see how that all pans out. I knew that was Juliet putting on a gas mask last week. i don't know why she would risk being seen doing that by Kate though.
Smokey sure is a lousy "security system" with all this activity traypsen through the jungle.

"we're gonna need a bigger boat"

Can't take credit for this one as I'm not up on my scriptures, but my brother points out that in the bible, "Jacob" is "Ben's" father. Coincidence? Connection?

@ealgumby:

IIRC, the date on the newspaper was September 22, 2004. That would be two days before the crash, which was on the 24th. Even if you account for the international date line, the earliest the paper could be is the 23rd. Again, this is from memory of the scene, but I noticed it instantly. I have no idea what the news was that day. Someone let me know if I am wrong.

@ealgumby: The "paper" is the Miami Journal, which as far as I can tell (and remember), isn't an actual paper. The Miami Herald is the big one.

A shot of the paper is available here:
http://tinyurl.com/3yw9w7

Hope that helps! -- mac

The crash was on Sept. 22, 2004. (NOT the 24th).

Probably over-analyzing, but ...

There was no transmission delay in Ben's supposed conversation with Alpert from Miami. Unless you believe in one of the spacetime-dilation theories, then the plane/island must be in the Pacific. A satellite comm link to the other side of the world will induce a couple seconds of delay back and forth, as you may have noticed watching live reports on the news from Iraq or any other place overseas.

Either an intentional clue showing that Alpert was really in the next hatch over playing a doctored tape, or just a technical oversight by the production staff.

abigerbang (symbol in the tree above her head that was shown twice it looked like a big * astreck circle)-- It was an image of a spider. I couldn't decide why it was there though. I am sure it will have some significance at a later time.

Personally I found this episode very thin. I thought last week that Juliet was a spy/worm/trojan horse. (Maybe because I recently saw The Departed.) I was starting to doubt myself when we see Juliet and Ben at the end. The only twists were the implant issue (brilliance) and that I think she is going to turn on Ben (she told Jack, "she's already alone"). She also shot Desmond a very odd look. I think she knew him previously.

Something about the Rachel/cancer thing didn't sit right with me, so I rewatched the episode (yes, me=dork) and I think it's possible that Ben made up the cancer report as a way of convincing Juliet to stay on the island. It seems that even after Juliet opts to stay, she still doesn't have contact with her sister, so, technically, it's possible that in the 2 1/2 years between Juliet's original request to leave and the arrival of the Oceanic castaways, she simple took Ben at his word.

But the catalyst for Juliet remaining was the original medical report. Ben claimed that Mikhail obtained the report, but isn't it just as possible that Ben *fabricated* the report?

And as for Ben's assertion that "he didn't lie" -- wouldn't a liar say this?

I know how Ben will die. In the series finale, his pants will light on FIRE...of course, cause he's a LIAR.

@Vikki:

Ethan is the one who put the implant into Claire. It has just been dormant inside her. Ben says they ACTIVATED the implant in Claire, which would make her sick in the next 48 hours, just as Jack and crew are arriving back at the beach.

@onelostdude:

The date on the paper was Sept. 22, 2004, same date as the crash. That's why there was all the news footage on the other monitors of the missing flight.

@gregzilla:

I agree, they definitely have some other way of getting to and from the island besides the sub and the small boats we've seen. I don't tend to agree with the whole space-time portal as some people do, but "bring me the man from Tallahassee" and poof, there he is, does have me thinking a little now to what you suggested...

Mac -
The newspaper url didn't seem to work. Can you recreate and post it?

BOHARPE/ THANK YOU....for commenting on my post of the "spider symbol" hidden in the tree above Juliets head while talking to sayid and sawyer i said astereck but thinking back and you saying spider symbol you are absolutly correct that is what it looked liked i just couldnt think of it at the time thanks again and yes I do think it will mean something later

Laughing @ Mac: "Oh, crap". You ain't got NO sense..None!

You know, each episode is better than the last! I KNOW the season finale is going to be stellar. Can't wait!

I'm pretty sure that Juliette is a Gemini w/ great coping skills. The woman has dual personalities. Anyways, I'm conflicted because it's pretty clear that if she follows Ben she'll get what she wants - off the island. If she takes the high moral ground and stand with the Losties, well, she'll be on Craphole Island until - whenever. What's a girl to do? ...stay away from Smokey, that's for sure..lol

How whipped can you get? Ask Jack. Ask Sawyer. Ask Sayid! Dang you, Sayid!

Loved this episode! How's your TIVO?

@onelostdude:

I called Mitchell Borg Queen because Susannah Thompson's Borg in the Voyager episodes is so very Juliet in nature.

@mac "Why doesn't Ben have any eyelashes?" HILARIOUS!

@mac "Point 3: Oh Crap" OUTSTANDING!!!

Great Review!

Jack needs to grow a pair!

If the Others have complete files on the castaways, does JULIET know that CLAIRE is JACK's half sister?

@ransomjackson: Harold Perrineau Jr. was credited for the entire season 2, even though he was not in many of the episodes. I think this is a contract thing with actors who are series regulars. Kiele Sanchez may be listed but never appear again.

For all ye who have so little faith in the leader of the losties: Jack is playing Juliette. He knows how bad she wants to leave the island and he realizes that her best chance is by remaining in contact with Ben. I'll give 3-1 odds that Jack knows she is a mole.

@hookedonlost: I just gave it a try and it worked. Apologies for being a bit obvious, but you need to copy the url and paste it into the address bar of your browser. It's not a live link.

@mac:

That was exactly my point in one of my earlier posts: Juliet simply took Ben at his word, for both her sister having Cancer, and then for curing it. For those 2 1/2 years, Juliet could only hope Ben was curing her sister (as far as she knew anyway -- I don't believe that her cancer ever came back), and Rachel probably assumed that Juliet had died (why else wouldn't she have come home as she promised, esp. in 2+ years), and thus named her son after her. Ben is truly a VERY evil person AND a liar... He keeps his promises, but they are based in fabrication so he doesn't actually have to honoe them when the time comes (as someone else said, they always have a loophole that will let him off the hook).

Thanks Mac -

I got it after I posted back to you. It just took several tries for some reason. Might be problems with our server here at work. Anyway - thanks!

GRAA!

@snow: Thanks for the clarification. That makes sense now.
@stocky: Thanks for the clarification as well. My memory is failing me. Oh crap!

Was the symbol on the tree the same as the brand on Juliet's back?

Also, could Jack, Kate, and Sawyer have been injected with something like sodium thiopental (truth serum) - ergo the Others knowing deep secrets about their past dealings?

Len

Point 1: what if jacob is not one person, but an entity? Maybe a group or even another acronym? (ie.e you know sometimes how groups of people or departments can take on a singular feel -- like "tell corporate about it" or "we don't have clearance from legal on this.")

Point 2: I think that the whole preggers thing isn't about conception, but about carrying to term. If we look at the evidence -- Claire and Danielle both arrived on the island already PG and gave birth on the island. Why would this be? Why them and not the Others? Is there something in the genetic make-up of the Other women (as opposed to outside women) that is different? What does this imply about Sun?

Point 3: "Why doesn't Ben have any eyelashes?" Tee hee ...that cracked me up, Mac! That and the second set of eyelids comment. You da best!

One continuity error from last night: Juliet is awakened in the submarine by Ethan and when she gets out of the bunk she is barefoot. She picks up her purse and jacket. She then follows Ethan to the ladder leading out of the sub and VOILA! She's wearing her pumps. Does the island also have mysterious shoe creating abilities?!?!?

By the way, one of the guys sitting at the table in the sub does kind of look like Michael although we never get a good look.

@mac: Thanks for the link to the shot of the paper.

For what it's worth, checked the White House press releases, and Bush did in fact speak to the UN on September 21, 2004. Probably irrelevant, but actually read the transcript of his speech, and didn't see a thing about any life-changing plans.

LEN good point and kudos for the observation but I hate to admit it but I dont recall symbol on Juliets back. Does the symbol look like a spider on her back and if yes then I believe there is definatly significance to that scene. thanks again!!!!

Re: The men in the submarine.
I just had an inspiration for a new Lost nursery rhyme: "Rub-a-dub-dub, 2 men in a sub."

The sub was small enough. Now only if it had been... yellow.

Maybe Jacob is Ringo Starr?

angram for earhart

her a rat

Herarat, which is an anagram for Earhart, as in Amelia Earhart, the famous aviator who went missing in the 30s.

Herarat Aviation is an anagram for "a variation Earth."

hmmmmmm...

@Stocky: Sorry about that! You posted the exact same point re: the cancer report.

And here I was thinking I was all cool and stuff ;) You beat me to the punch!

"Home is where I want to be but I guess I'm already there..." - it seemed somewhat painful that they had to recap the misuse of the 'downtown' song in the season opener, as I reacall, they were showing the Talking Heads album cover and perhaps the podcast covered why they couldn't get the rights. A damn shame as now it seems the perfet musical clue for Juliet's personality. Perhaps in the DVD they can switch it out?

One last comment on the paper ...

"New Glitches May Need New Fixes" is a reference to problems with the new Florida voting system, reported by CNET on September 22, 2004. I don't think there are any plot references here, but perhaps a little political commentary?

That satellite dish was moving in the scene where Ben and Juliet walked up to Mikhaels pad. But obviously it was working at that point.

"we're gonna need a bigger boat"

Couple running theories on Jack right now:

1. He's truly turned into an idiot. Now that may seem funny but follow me for a sec. Jack has spent his whole life as a man of science, not believing in faith or destiny. The last 90 days have provided him countless opportunities to change his way of thinking. Locke seemed to want to pound this into his skull whenever possible. Maybe he's believing more, having more faith, trusting that he DOES have a destiny. Maybe his new thought process is filled with as much conviction as his previous ways. He doesn't understand how to cope with these new feelings so he relies on 'blind faith' to get him through. I mean really! In the past, had a lone coconut hit the ground, Jack would have investigated it to no end until he had a full and rational answer as to why it happened. Now, he just let's anything slide as if it were meant to be. What's up with that?? That could explain why he's an idiot now and not before..no?

2. He found something out from Others that blew his mind and he understands that if his crew knew what was REALLY up, they'd pull-a-Patchy and spontaneously combust. There is no way that the info Juliette finally revealed (no-preggers-island) is what Sayid would have 'killed her' for. We all know we didn't get full disclosure from her. So maybe Jack is in it with her ('They're gonna need some answers soon'..not ALL the answers, just some.. or 'I can't protect you forever') with each having the same ultimate goal...play along = go home and make babies.

3. He is aware that Juliette is playing them and is just playing along. It makes sense because he knows that the only way to get off this island is through Ben. If he aligns himself with Jules, he'll eventually get another opportunity to leave. Why not screw the other survivors of 815, he was gonna screw them a couple days ago by bolting on the sub.

4. *add all of #3 here* ...and he also wants to find Locke, cut his kidney sac, shove bamboo shoots under his fingernails, gas him, then ask why in the hell he'd blow up the sub!

@MAC
Someone mentioned this a few weeks ago, but can you number each post? It gets hard to keep track. I do like that you changed your color though.

I know it's a pain, but I just jot down (or remember) the data and time of the last time I was reading and then scroll down to there when I return.

Mac I love your blog. This is my first time posting and after reading much of the feedback (I apologise if someone else already picked up on this) I noticed something huge last night that I did not see mentioned in your blog.
For numerous reasons, including the story Mikhail told Sayid about a psuedo war between DHARMA and the OTHER, we the audience (well, I) still believed the Others and the DHARMA were mutually exclusive organizations. But during the flashback in last night's episode the scene where the patient dies in surgery (labor??) all the medical staff wear DHARMA medical lab coats. If these Others can import a hot infertility specialist, Stephen King novels, and World Series footage couldn't it also be reasoned they would wear their own medical uniforms? This may seem like an insignificant detail, but if the function of the Others is to deal in some cancer/fertility specialty I can't imagine them donning DHARMA surgical hand-me-downs. I am now convinced there is no difference between the Others and DHARMA. If everyone else figured this out last season I aplogise for boring you with my light bulb moment.

I've been doing a bit of thinking about the preggo-problems on the island and Juliet's attempt to cure it. Here's some of my interpretations and theories:

Juliet's hypothesis is that something happens at conception and she wants to test the hypothesis by taking a woman off the island, getting her preggers, then bringing her back. (Yay, scientific method!)

The plane crashes, and she gets what she needs: a woman who conceived off the island now on the island.

It is possible that Juliet is only lying about part of Ethan's claire-napping. Ethan may have been taking blood samples for Juliet, then they found the signatures for the "problem." Juliet (or Ben) then orders Ethan to kidnap Claire so they can use Juliet's therapy. It works, Claire goes to term, and viola - turnip head.

Now, here's a thought: Maybe Jule's figured out a way to put her therapy in as an implant, so they don't have to keep injecting. Ben "activated" the implant by turning it off, thus requiring injections again.

Anyway, that's my idea about the pregnant stuff and Juliet.

Oh, and for gregzilla: The doors between dimensions was in one of my favorite Stephen King novels, the dark tower book 2 The Drawing of the Three.

@Jon: I looked into it, but there's no easy way to implement the number functionality (it's pretty lame, actually). Sorry!

I just rewatched the episode and what I first thought was poker face in the last Juliet-Ben scene is actually abject hatred.

Juliet is planning Ben's demise.

She may have even faked his tumor.

Maybe Jack didn't find a tumor when he was operating and knows what Juliet is up to.

@Red...Neck...Man

Liar, liar, pants on fire!
Cracked me up!

Ok, so the island cures cancer. (well, until Ben) and they want to bottle that up and share with the world (Hence being "good people") but the flip side is no babies can be born. Is this the work of the Others in a nutshell? Help me here.

All that stuff with Juliet's info about Ethan was a Lie, lie, lie! So easy to beleive, and put peices together for the viewers. But with the implant business--turns out to be just another lie of Juliet's.

And last thought--the Book Club. How is it that this island happens to have 15 copies of Steven King's Carrie sitting around? Does Amazon.com deliver, or do they have a rediculously well-stocked library?

So was anyone else surprised that Juliette's boyfriend was Goodwin, not Ben?

Okay, just a thought. Is it possible that Saywer has also been injected with some type of device that they can activate at their will(if you remember he was subjected to a procedure of some sort)
And as far as I am concerned, the writers can send Jack to the fate of Pauliki. He has become such a bore. Really either he has a great plan ior he lost his back bone while operating on Ben.
Another note, which may already have been mentioned, a tumor does not necessarily equal cancer.

Jacob is REAL. When we finally find out who he is we will be very suprised....Its to good of an opp. for the writers to let slide and be nothing

@mac...SWEET FRANCIS ON TOAST

Keep em' coming ;)

A couple more things: Juliette is not trying to avenge Goodwins death because it was Anna Lucia who killed him. One thing that never made sense to me was the fact that Ben and his gang have all or at least most of the weapons. So why don't they just storm the beach and take everyone. Why play the "lets send Juliette to the beach" game. There must be a reason for this cat and mouse game....

Oh my gosh, Juliet did do it with Goodwin, which could possibly lead to a pregnancy. What a great observation.
I haven't seen enough emotion to make me think she would seek revenge for his death.

I think Jack is up to something too. If he isn't in cahoots with Juilet, then he has some plan of his own.

You guys take Lost to whole 'nuther level!!!! I love it!

Death toll of Others...

Ethan, Goodwin, Danny, Mikhail, Bea, Colleen...

Six so far that I can think of.

So the Losties aren't exactly "not a threat"

Oh, yeah and Kelvin. So, seven, kind of.

I only got through half of last week's posts so don't know if this was mentioned.

I noticed in the scene where Locke says good-bye to Kate, that his right hand was all bandaged up. Could he have hurt his hand beating the crap out of his father?

Also, in the previous episode, Locke looked fine when he was caught at the docks, but then when brought before Ben, the whole left side of his face was bruised like he had been beaten up.

oh...and the couple that Eko killed.

Any more?

Herarat = A.R. Earth (as in Artificial Reality)... Maybe Juliette took the red pill... like in matrix... Or maybe more like total recall... Thats how they know all the information etc....

Death toll of others (continued)...

Eko killed the two guys trying to drag him off. Ana Lucia killed one in another of their raids (she found the list on that one). When Michael was leading their 5-person Walt rescue party, Sawyer shot one who was shadowing them on the other side of the river. Juliet killed one in allowing Kate and Sawyer to escape.

@I_am_turd Great catch!

@Everyone who think Jules is "with child"
The last time Jules did "it" with Goodwin was three months ago, if she got preggers, she would be showing by now. More likely that Kate could be preggers - you'd only need two weeks to tell.

Welllll...

During the scene when Ben and Juliet were walking up to the Flame, Ben made sure his presence was known, and specifically said, "Dont shoot..."

This was during the immediate aftermath of flight 815, so I am sure Mikhail was not concerned about any of THOSE people coming to get him...

Which would lead me to believe that there IS another group of people on the island. Otherwise, why would Mikhail shoot at his own people? Right? Right?!

PS I really hope that Juliet is seriously considering her options and is realizing that being on the side of the 'Losties' is her best bet.

Mac,

To the issue of "numbering" the postings" problem. Perhaps a simple solution is to insert "bookmarks" every 25 postings or so. Something simply like a empty block in a distinctive color.

Depending on the website perimeters, this might be automatically generated.

DRH

I would also like to know (someone else mentioned it) how Ben "cured" Rachel of her cancer without her coming to the island, because s