Intro: Boxed Wine Isn’t So Bad
After all of the brain-tweaking caused by last week’s trip through space-time, this week’s episode, “The Other Woman”, served up more of a collective breather for us all. It was refreshing not to be reminded how I traded my physics education for art school. Though the title of the newly-revealed DHARMA station, “The Tempest” would seem to suggest otherwise, installment six was noticeably calmer, yet still not without the multiple layers that make LOST so wonderful. Let’s go storm chasing…
“You’re mine” (…and mine…and mine…)
I’ll just go ahead and get it over with. Juliette, you’ve just won the Award for “Island’s Bizarrest Love Triangle”. I mean, parallelogram. Trapezoid? (So I took art classes instead of geometry, too.) Anyway, we learn Juliette wasn’t just Goodwin’s lady but she was his “other woman” in what might just be one of the most uncomfortable love-affairs since Locke and Phone-Helen.
And just try keeping something like that from your shrink.
Oh, you mean your shrink is your lover’s wife, Harper?
As if that wasn’t stressful enough, we are brought to the even more uncomfortable realization that Harper wasn’t as concerned about Juliette breaking Goodwin’s heart as she was concerned about Ben breaking…Goodwin. Seems our little Ben has been pining for a certain perky blonde fertility specialist, who according to Harper, even looks like “her”. We are left to only assume to whom this “her” could refer to, but so far my bets are on an old flame named Annie.
Ben bestows upon Juliette only the best that an Other can offer – an island cottage, a job with benefits, ham - only to have his advances completely ignored. Whether or not Ben was taking a jealous gamble, or actually had some type of foreknowledge that Goodwin would be killed if he was sent to the Tail section is still left to be determined. What is for sure is that Ben taught Juliette – and reminded us all once again - why he is not one to be crossed, no matter how ridiculous he looks when he sashays back up the hill.
Enter suitor number three. To me, Jack and Juliette are an awkward couple at best, but the tender moment shared between them at the end of the episode served as an extra bit of contrast to Ben’s twisted idea of what love must be. Juliette explains to Jack in so many words that she might as well have a number on her back like one of his rabbits.
Which reminds me - she does have that very odd cross-like branding she received in season 3, but I’ll leave that for another time. All of this “relationship stuff” is making me…uncomfortable…
“It’s Stressful Being an Other”
Boy, I’ll say. Especially when your dead ex-lover’s wife who was also your ex-shrink appears out of the jungle from nowhere and in the pouring rain commands you to commit double homicide.
Was it really Harper? She appeared and disappeared with those unsettling whispers that we have heard so many times before when something is “brewing” in the magical forest. Could it have been some kind of mental projection from Ben, similar to what we have seen Walt do in the past? He knew that Harper would be just the right guilt-trip to coerce Juliette into just about anything. Or is Ben really so many steps ahead of everyone that he would even know exactly when and where to send Harper in order to intercept Juliette in time for her to reach the Tempest station and carry out his instructions?
I am not completely convinced, but I am leaning towards the idea that it was actually our pal the Smoke Monster who was taking the “form” of Harper instead. We have seen this before, such as when the Monster took the form of Eko’s brother, Yemi. In addition, the Monster has “scanned” Juliette in the same way that it did with Eko the night she was cuffed to Kate in he jungle. Why couldn’t the Smoke Monster have also learned that Harper was a thorn in Juliette’s subconscious and then use it against her in the same way Ben would?
For some time now I have wondered if the island does not somehow magnify one’s psychic abilities much like the Overlook Hotel did in Stephen King’s “the Shining”. In fact, it's really fitting that we have also been introduced the Tempest. However what I am referring to has little to do with Shake-a-speare.
Instead, the sci-fi geek in me is reminded of the classic film, “Forbidden Planet”, which I did not even know until this past week was actually loosely based on the Tempest. It also shares some interesting similarities to LOST.
The movie takes place on a planet where there once lived an advanced race of native beings named the Krell, who were mysteriously wiped out during some type of "incident". However, they left behind underground laboratories where they invented new and strange technologies, including a giant, self-preserving machine in the form of a cube, or BOX
"The huge machine was designed to let the Krell materialize anything they wanted at a mere thought. "But the Krell forgot one thing! Monsters, John! Monsters from the id!" Though the Krell considered themselves civilized, their subconscious minds were unleashed by the almost limitless power of the Machine. With this information, the Commander deduces that the race was wiped out in a single night of frenzied destruction, as their subconscious minds acted out their darkest urges, fueled by the Machine's power." -
Source: Wikipedia
This is the best metaphor I have found yet for what I am starting to think our Smoke Monster really is.
I also believe that no matter who or what Harper turns out to have been, Ben and the Smoke Monster could still have had the same agenda. If Daniel and Charlotte were actually disabling the island’s main defense system at the Tempest, this would in turn make it vulnerable to invasion by the freighter folks. I could see the motivation for both natives and all manner of metaphysical beings on the island to want to keep the weapon system in tact, as a failsafe of sorts.
“No wonder they think we’re hostile.”
We now have Charles Widmore, Penelope’s ultra-wealthy father, confirmed as the Boss of the Freighter now sitting off the coast of the island. I use the term “Boss” based on his very mafia-esque activities Ben had secretly recorded. No wonder the helicopter bunch gave each other suspicious looks when Desmond asked if anyone had heard the name “Widmore”. Charles likes to take matters into his own hands – literally - which I find somewhat refreshing for a rich guy.
There are so many questions that have opened up now that we know Widmore had been looking for, and has now found the island. Most of mine revolve around Desmond. Charles was once trying to pay Desmond to leave his daughter and even called him a coward in one of the show’s more emasculating moments. However, when Desmond “time-tripped” back to 1996 in “the Constant”, Mr. Widmore did not seem to have a problem giving him Penny’s address, even after she had moved in order to distance herself after their breakup. Either Daddy was overly confident that his daughter would not respond to Desmond’s attempts to contact her, or we might just have a setup on our hands.
What if Desmond has been Widmore’s pawn all along? Conspiracies already surround our old friend and ex-love of Hugo’s, Libby. She just happened to have the right boat at the right time that Desmond needed to sail around the world, regain his honor, and win back his girl. The contest itself was sponsored by Widmore if you remember. In fact, Desmond’s entire life may have been subtlety manipulated in order that he’d end up on that island. And if that’s the case, dare I say Pops Widmore might even be associated in some way with our mysterious Ms. Hawking.
I am not sure who Ben’s man on the freighter could be other than Michael at this point. Ever since Ben sent him off in a boat terribly unsuitable for ocean travel, on the bearing of 325 where he would “find rescue”, I have had a feeling things would not end up as planned for the Island traitor and his (Tall Ghost?) boy, Walt. At this point I am thinking that bearing led Michael and Son to a larger vessel…maybe even a freighter that just happened to be in the area…on a search for a “difficult” to locate island…
Sidestep: Symbol Watch - Birth and Death
This week’s episode was brimming with symbols of duality, most notably Birth and Death, often represented with White and Red. The episode centered about a fertility specialist whose lover met a tragic end. We learned through Juliette’s research that the reason why pregnant women died on the island was related to their white blood-cell count. Locke is shown preparing a dead, bloody rabbit for a meal, while rabbits are in turn symbols of fertility. Ben is seen using his Red Sox tape once again. When Juliette enters the Tempest there is both red and white lighting all around her.
One more thing I noticed – Locke is preparing not a white rabbit but a GREY one. This is the first time we have seen a “wild” bunny and not a white one. There is some meaning to this, I believe.
Conclusion: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
I think I am in agreement with the rest of the community that this story was really about Ben, and his role in this “game”. I must now give a nod to all of the Chess Theorists out there, as Ben seems to be both a prisoner and a King. On the chess board, the King is typically stationary, or only moves one space at a time. Meanwhile, he commands his players all around him. In chess, foresight is everything. Out-predicting one’s opponent’s moves is a key strategy to winning.
By the end of the episode, Ben once again had out-witted Locke and secured his release into “civilized” society, much to dismay of the rest of the camp.
If “Ben is exactly where he wants to be” and he “always has a plan”, I cannot wait to see how this checkmate plays out.
Until then…I have to go get the ham out of the oven before it dries out…
a.N
*I write about LOST because I love the challenge of deciphering the clues and adding the pieces together. My thoughts are based solely on the show, the LOST Experience, and random research, as I try to avoid spoilers, promos, and even future episode titles. I love to guess what is going on, but I also like to do so in a way that leaves some of the conclusions still up to you. I do not know the answers and am often wrong. Whatever the truth turns out to be, it has been the journey that has meant the most to me.*
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