That’s more like it. That’s the kind of episodes Lost fans are accustomed to, after last week’s snorefest. Unlike last week, the story looked good on paper, but also looked good on the screen. Also, unlike last week, this week we had to separate stories that moved side by side, with interesting developments and endings.
The first story revolved around Sun and Juliet (I won’t go into the flashback because it didn’t really give us any significant insight). We learned that one of Juliet’s motives for infiltrating the Lostaway’s camp is so she’ll be able to monitor Sun’s pregnancy. The big question there was whether Sun got pregnant off the island (meaning it’s not Jin’s) or on the island. The other repercussion is the fate of Sun and the fetus, as all the women who got pregnant on the island became sick and didn’t survive (as we learned two weeks ago). Juliet leads Sun to The Staff (Dharma’s medical station) where she performs an ultrasound on her and concludes that the baby was conceived on the island, meaning not only that Jin is the father, but also that Sun also has only two more months, tops, to live (But two months on Lost can stretch over two years’ worth of episodes, so don’t go writing Sun off just yet).
While this story seemed to revolve around Sun, it did more to enhance Juliet’s character. With each passing week, she becomes perhaps the most intriguing character on the show. Basically, the characters are divided into two kinds Lostaways (The good guys, even the “bad” ones, like Sawyer) and Others (The bad guys). Juliet is in the middle, a tweener, if you will. In a way Locke is also in the same position, but we haven’t seen him in a while, so we’ll talk just about Juliet now. She’s not a natural Other, because she was manipulated into getting to the island, staying there and helping The Others. But she’s not a Lostaway either, as she’s working against them. She might not do it wholeheartedly, but she’s doing it well. She learned from Ben how to manipulate other people into doing what she wants, and got Sun to come to her for answers, become a subject of her research without knowing, and share information that perhaps Juliet didn’t know before. After Juliet was done examining Sun and giving her the bittersweet news, she came back and left a message for Ben with the results. Now, my question is what If Juliet’s lying to both Sun and Ben? We already know that she’s her own person no side can truly trust her. She also constantly has a cold, tough look in her eyes, even when she tries to look compassionate. So what if she’s lying about the date of conception? I can see good reasons for that. If she lies to Sun that she’s about to die, she might be more open to receive her help and take part in her research. If she lies to Ben and tell her that Sun is a good candidate for the research, he might want her to stay on the beach longer than they planned (What about the meeting they’re supposed to have in two-three days?). I know it’s a long shot, but when it comes to Juliet you can trust her a lot less than you can trust any of the other characters, including The Others.
The other part of the episode dealt with Desmond, Hurly, Charlie and Jin, as they’re trying to save the mystery parachutist from last week. Following an accidental firing of a flare gun, they have some unwelcomed assistance in the form of Mikhail. Surprisingly, he doesn’t appear to be a zombie, so I guess he either never died or died and came back to life (Again, anything can happen on the island). Now, if we take the more logical assumption, that he never died, it raises a couple of questions. The first, and less important one, is how did he fake his death so convincingly. The more important question is whether Locke was already working with The Others at that point and did he help Mikhail fake his death? Did “Henry Gale” get to him while he was guarded by Locke? When Locke confronted Ben at The Others’ village, it seemed like Locke is making his heel turn just then, but was it just a swerve? But who were they swerving, as they were alone for at least part of the time? All this just adds more mysteries and thickens the plot. But for some reason, I like it.
And then came the real “Holy Shit” moment (Yes, even more than dead people coming back to life) the news that everyone on Oceanic 815 was found dead. Since every word matters on Lost, here’s the exact quote from Naomi (The parachutist): “Flight 815, they found the plane. There were no survivors, they were all dead.” If we take this literally, and I’m gonna do this, it means that the search crews have found bodies for everyone who was on board 815, including Jack, Hurly, Kate and all the Lostways and Tailies, as well as the plane itself. How is that possible? For this I have two theories, both of them, of course, have to do with The Others.
The first option is that Naomi is actually an Other and all of this is fake. The Others sent her (Just like Ben as Henry Gale) in order to infiltrate the camp. Her objective is to get the Lostways to accept the fact that they’re on the island for good and stop waiting for help. If it works, they won’t try to get rescued and there won’t be any chance of the island being discovered. Plus, it’s always good to have another spy in the Lostways camp. The second option is that Naomi is looking for Desmond, perhaps sent by Penny, and The Others faked the crash site. They somehow got remains of a jet to a remote site, with bodies that are made to look like the passengers of 815. They could have gotten burnt corpses and fake their teeth to match dental records of the passengers. When you think of everything The Others have managed to do, it’s not that farfetched. I see the same reasoning here also if search teams believe they’ve found the remains and bodies from Oceanic 815, they’ll stop looking and won’t find the island. Either way, The Others are involved.
Other than the flashback, this week’s episode was excellent. As the third season is nearing its end, Lost is on a roll. As someone who’s been complaining that we don’t get enough answers, the new questions we got this week have really got me hooked. I didn’t use to be one of those people that overanalyze everything that happens on the show, but lately I can’t help it it’s that intriguing. The next episode is rumored to be a Locke episode, so it might shed some light on his recent actions. I can’t wait.
