Last night though... Granted, it was only two words, but in those two syllables, I think that I really got through to my tv. We seemed to come to a new understanding in that moment. Last night, after that very brief conversation, my television, and more specifically, Lost, did something that I've been begging it to do for months.
Nope, it didn't show me a better lit, topless version of last week's mud wrestling.
It gave me ANSWERS.
Not just questions dressed up in answer-ish clothing, although there were some of those too. Actual, "This is how..." answers. Not a lot of answers, but more than I expected.
I was so surprised that I forgot to talk to it about the mud wresting thing.
Oh, the two words I said to my television? Keep reading...
This week, we pick up some time after where we left off. The little group of Jack, Kate, Sayid and Juliette are trekking back across the island to the beach camp. Obviously, they've left the perimeter mystery fence behind. For everyone who wondered just how they'd get back over it on the return trip, we can only guess that Juliette let them through with her code. A lot of folks also wondered whether or not the beach gang would pull up stakes and move into Otherville once they learned about it and the fact that the Others have abandoned it. I'd say that Juliette will probably do her best to save her fence activation code as a hole card. Just a guess, but I'd say it's pretty likely.
After a while, Sayid suggests that they use the remaining light to set up camp. Jack offers to gather fire wood and Kate volunteers herself, leaving Sayid and Juliette alone. As they gather wood for the fire, Kate asks Jack about his week with the Others. He reminds her about the deal he made with Ben to get off the island.
"Kept my head down, did what I was supposed to, didn't ask any questions."
The Jack we've all come to know and love.
Back at the makeshift camp, Juliette feels Sayid's eyes on her.
"Okay. Let's have it."
"I want to know what you people are doing on this island. Why you're terrorizing us. Making lists. Kidnapping children. I want to know everything."
(*Conversations with inanimate objects side note. THIS was the moment I mentioned earlier. I actually spoke to my television. Along with probably a million or more other Lost fans, I actually said "ME TOO!" out loud. Really loud. With glee. Lots of glee. While dozens of other thoughts flashed through my mind right then, like "Why the Hell Jack never asked her that, the "ME TOO!" just ran over all the other thoughts and jumped out of my mouth. While I may not have convinced the tv to provide all the answers I'm looking for, I was just SO happy to have one of the characters ask the questions we all ask, and ask someone who might actually be able to answer some of them!*)
"But the first thing I'd like to know is: Who are you?"
Juliette and her sister drive up to a gated building, where Ethan and Mr. Alpert meet her. Turns out it's a little known airport, with high enough security that Juliette has to say goodbye to her sister at the gate. Her sister's cancer is in remission, she's pregnant thanks to Juliette's research and since the contract that Juliette has agreed to is only for six months, she should be back long before Rachel is ready to give birth.
The gate closes slowly as Juliette's sister watches from the other side of the bars.
No symbolism there.
Back at the campsite, Juliette composes herself and answers "If I told you who I was, if I told you everything that I know, you'd kill me."
"What do you think I'll do if you don't?"
I've never wanted to hug an Iraqi man so bad in my life.
(*Dialogue side note. "If I told you who I was", not "If I tell you who I am". I'm guessing that experienced interrogator Sayid will notice this odd word usage. It's odd enough that he'd take note of it and wonder about the person she used to be.*)
Just then, Jack returns with the firewood and warns Sayid to leave Juliette alone.
"Sooner or later, she'll answer my questions."
"She'll answer your questions when she's ready. And you'll wait until she is. She's under my protection."
Considering the look that Sayid shoots him, it looks like the predicted leadership struggle with Sawyer isn't the only challenge in Jack's future. Kate didn't seem very impressed either.
At the beach camp, Charlie hears Aaron crying and is concerned when Claire sleeps through the racket. When he gets her to wake up, she's under the weather, so Charlie takes Aaron and lets her get some rest.
Sayid leads the group through the undergrowth at a clip. Juliette hangs with her protector, and the two do their best to keep up with the angry interrogator. She is realistic about the amount of time it will take to change the hearts and minds of the group she's about to join.
"My people kept Sayid chained to a swing set for three days, then I dragged Kate into the jungle, handcuffed myself to her and lied about it. How much time do you think they need?"
"We'll be back to our beach in a couple of hours, they should be over it by then."
At the airport, we see a sign for "Herarat Aviation".
(*Anagram side note. The obvious, Her A Rat and the less obvious "Ah, I treat ovarian" were the best I could come up with*)
As Juliette has her vital signs taken by Ethan, Mr. Alpert pours a glass full of orange juice and makes no secret of adding a packet full of white powder to the drink. When he offers it to her, she asks what it is that she'd be drinking.
"That is orange juice with a considerable amount of tranquilizer mixed in."
It seems that the trip to the mystery destination can be "kind of intense."
When she tells the two men that she was "Fine with signing all of your paperwork, fine with agreeing to not talk to anyone in my life for six months, fine with the fact that no one in the medical community has ever heard of Mittelos Bioscience," implying that she isn't "fine" with drinking a big glass of date rape, instead of getting defensive about all the secrecy, Alpert asks simply "Why were you fine with all of those things?"
He figures that down deep, she knows that this isn't just a job opportunity, but a chance to be involved with something very special.
"You took a woman, your own sister, whose reproductive system was ravaged by chemotherapy, who was sterile and made her pregnant. You created life where life wasn't supposed to be. That's a gift, Juliette."
Um...that's the kind of gift Dr. Frankenstein had...
"You have a gift. Now don't you feel you're meant to do something significant with it..."
As he expounds on the virtues that he thinks that Juliette perceives, she proves him right by downing the entire glass of juice in one shot.
"Um...you probably shouldn't have drunk that so fast..."
When she wakes up, she's strapped to a cot, but it isn't long before Ethan comes along and releases her.
"Sorry I had to strap you in, but the last leg is always a little bumpy." Juliette discovers that she's actually in a submarine and that the submarine is tied to a simple looking dock, somewhere tropical. As she gets her bearings, Ben walks up and introduces himself. They shake hands and Ben leads her off the dock to her new life.
(*Head scratching side note. What could possibly make a submarine ride "bumpy"? I smell more ammunition for my oft mentioned "Island in a Bottle" theory.*)
On the beach, Claire, looking like death in a sweater, walks up to the group that is taking care of Aaron, looking for aspirin for her pounding headache. Sawyer in a seriously uncharacteristic moment offers to fetch her some, presumably from his own personal stash. As he heads off to the Dharmacy (*thanks LB*), he spots Jack emerging from the jungle, followed by Kate and Sayid.
A big, happy reunion takes place, with everyone dropping whatever they were doing to welcome the wayward castaways back to the beach. Hurley's in there, giving away those big, sweaty man hugs like candy and even Sawyer is happy enough to see Doctor J. that they share their very own man hug. I know girls who would sell their husbands for a chance to be the meat in that sandwich.
Speaking of community property, Kate shares a tender moment with Sawyer, which gets rudely interrupted when Sawyer notices Juliette standing outside the warmth of the group hug.
Later on, Hurley joins Juliette as she sits quietly on the beach.
"I don't remember you from the dock, where you put bags on our heads, after you shocked us."
"I had the day off."
Hurley's good nature slips just a little during their conversation.
"The last one of you guys that came over here, Ethan? He kidnapped Claire and Charlie got upset. We buried him over there." That's the closest the big man has ever come to saying something mean to anyone. He even managed to work in a veiled threat, although I'm not sure that threatening to sic Charlie on her is really the best way to intimidate her...
In an operating room, presumably in the "Staff" station, judging by the insignia on his scrubs, Ethan looses a patient on the table as Juliette looks on..
Goodwin does his best to comfort her. She leaves and Ben finds her staring out at the surf.
"It was Sabine's choice to get pregnant. She knew she was taking a risk."
Apparently, the women on the island can't carry a baby to term. Juliette's theory is that whatever the problem is, it happens at conception and the only way she can prove that it to take a woman off the island, back to Miami and start a pregnancy there. Ben absolutely forbids it. When Juliette plays the "My sister will be giving birth soon" card, he counters with the revelation that her sister's cancer has returned and she won't survive the pregnancy. He even has documentation with him to prove it to her.
Convenient, don't you think?
He promises that if Juliette stays and finishes her work, Jacob will personally cure Rachel's cancer.
"Jacob said that he would take care of it himself. Unless, of course, you don't have faith in him." Judging by the look on Juliette's face and the fact that we know that she stays, she obviously does have great faith in Jacob, whoever the list maker turns out to be.
In another shocking moment in Lost history, the entire group is meeting to talk about recent developments. Can it be? They're actually going to share information and experiences before something that one of them knows about turns up and bites someone else in the ass?
I don't believe it.
They're discussing the new addition to the camp, and what they should do about her. Sawyer has the "wacky idea" to "sic our resident Iraqi on her. Let him do what he does."
"No. I don't do that anymore."
"Well, ain't that convenient."
Jack tries to convince them to give her some time before hammering her with questions, but everyone else is distrustful enough that they want to press the issue.
"The fact that I trust her should be enough."
"It's not."
Dexter changes the subject before Jack and Sayid's disagreement can drive them to contest tribal leadership. He wants to know where Locke has gone. This leads to the revelation that Locke destroyed what might have been the only way off the island and that Jack was going to be allowed to leave as payment for saving Ben's life. Sawyer isn't impressed by the fact that Jack saved Ben at all.
"Should have let that bug-eyed bastard die."
Kate tries to diffuse the situation by reminding Sawyer that Jack performed the life saving surgery to keep both the her and Sawyer from being summarily executed.
"Something you want to ask me, Sawyer?"
"Yeah, Jack, I want to ask why you're fighting every single one of us and stickin' up for one of them."
Ooh, now Sawyer is getting on the "anyone but Jack for president" train. Is it possible? Are we about to see a coup d'island? Could my series long dream of someone other than Jack finally being put in charge be about to come true?
Nope. Claire shows up just in the nick of time and proceeds to faint and bleed all over the meeting before anything productive can happen, giving Jack a chance to regain some of his prestige by doing some doctoring.
Damn it, Claire. You just couldn't be more annoying if you were sand in my undies.
As they carry Claire back to her tent, Juliette asks "What happened to her?"
Sun translates Jin's response.
"He says: 'What do you care?'" Jin's English is improving. Sun's recently developed bitchy streak is keeping pace.
Juliette runs to Kate, begging her to go get Jack so she can talk to him.
"...I think I know what's wrong with Claire."
"Why?"
"Because I did it to her."
This last produces results. The newly formed Sawyer/Sayid Island Reform Coalition watches in disgust as Jack consults with the tribe's newest addition.
"Givin' you a bad feelin' in your stomach?" Sayid can only nod.
Juliette explains to Jack and Kate that Claire is suffering from withdrawal, as a drug that Juliette designed to keep her alive through the last stages of her pregnancy leeches from her system. According to the Other Dr. J., all the pregnancies on the island result in the death of the mother before the child can be born. Until Claire.
Here come some of those answers I mentioned.
Juliette explains how Ethan infiltrated the camp and started taking blood samples from Claire.
That sheds light on the "nightmares" that Claire had shortly before she was kidnapped. Ethan was responsible and she wasn't just dreaming.
The samples showed that Claire was suffering the same symptoms that Juliette had seen in other pregnancies, so they set about trying to save her, but Hurley's census uncovered the fact that Ethan wasn't originally on the plane, forcing him to improvise and snatch Claire out of the camp. He did it on his own, apparently without sanction from the Others, and despite the criminal means employed, Ethan saved Claire's life by making sure she got the injections of Juliette's magic serum.
The flashback that happens while she's talking sheds light on the fact that Hurley has somehow gained weight on the Dharma Diet.
If they let her, Juliette can save Claire, but they have to trust her.
"Jack, I can fix this, I just need the serum. Ethan kept a stash of medical supplies near the cave where he used to live. If I go, right now, I can be back before it's too late."
"Do it."
The next scene seems to answer the "Were Ben and Juliette intimate?" question some folks have been asking. Turns out that Juliette was intimate with a dish of ice cream. Oh, and Goodwin.
A knock at the door brings a set of x-rays to Juliette. The infamous spinal tumor has come to light just one day before Juliette will have been on the island for three years. She heads over to Ben's to break the news.
"I was just finishing 'Carrie'. Still don't know why you picked it, but boy, is it depressing."
Speaking of depressing...
"You have a tumor."
Considering that cancer is unheard of in their little community, Ben is understandably surprised when Juliette tells him he has a tumor.
"Well, you've just told me that I have cancer, Juliette, of course I'm surprised."
"No, I told you that you had a tumor."
She makes this semantic distinction because Ben told her that no one on the island ever had cancer. He made her believe that they had cured her sister of her cancer. Ben's cancer makes her think that he lied to her, which he vehemently denies.
"I told you the truth. I gave you my word."
Juliette begs him to let her go home, but he won't. Or can't. Or both.
Back in the jungle, Juliette finds a tree marked with a strange symbol.
(*Trivia side note. Thanks to Wesb for giving me the head's up that this symbol seems to be the Cyrillic letter "Zhe". Hmm...a Cyrillic letter? Was Ethan Russian? Are there any Russians on the island? Hmm...*)
(Continuity side note. Juliette and Jack had their "magic serum" talk by torchlight. Juliette finds the tree in full daylight. How frikkin' far from camp was Ethan stashing this stuff?*)
She finds a case at the base of the tree, but just as she's about to check the contents, the new SSIRC (Sawyer/Sayid Island Reform Coalition ) shows up and interrupts. The two men have her back away from the case as she tries to explain that it contains only medical supplies for Claire and that Jack knows all about it.
"Jack ain't here right now, is he?"
Sayid reminds her of her earlier statement. "You said earlier, if you told me everything you knew, I'd kill you. I'm going to test the validity of that statement."
"You know, it's interesting that you two are now the camp's moral police."
She side tracks the two men by bringing up their less than saintly pasts. She points out that Sayid's past is full of screaming torture victims and that Sawyer's last significant act before leaving Australia was to kill a man in cold blood.
(*Other omniscience side note. Seeing as how they know about Sawyer's run in with the unfortunate shrimp vendor that he was mislead into believing was the man who destroyed his family, and seeing as how Sawyer was deported by the authorities for brawling in a bar, rather than being tried by said authorities for murder, it follows that the Others know more about this incident than the cops. I sense the imminent return of Agent Doggett...er, the T1000, er...Sawyer's buddy there, the con man who brought him the info on shrimp guy. Either that or the whole thing was actually the fault of Proto-Sawyer, better known as Cooper and Juliette learned of it from him...*)
"I'm taking that medication back to Claire, and you're going to let me. Because if she doesn't get it, she's gonna die. And the last thing either of you need right now is more blood on your hands."
Isn't medication like this normally stored in a refrigerator? How long could a serum like this last, sitting in a case under a tree in the tropics?
Back in Juliette's home away from home, a familiar tune comes out of Juliette's cd player. We see her relive the moments leading up to the arrival of Flight 815 on the island. We again see Ben place Ethan and Goodwin as survivors among those fortunate enough to survive.
Ben takes Juliette on a walk, so they can talk about something important. He takes her to see Mikhail at the communications station.
At the station, they learn that Mikhail already has a number of details about the plane that "fell out of the sky" (*Odd choice of words, don't you think?*) and is working on detailed dossiers on all the passengers.
Since it's obvious that the communications station allows them fairly normal real time access to the outside world, now we have a pretty good idea how the Others knew so much about the survivors. Google!
Ben is also interested in uplinking to Richard in Acadia park. Richard sends them a real time feed, including a shot of that day's newspaper to show that the shot is live. The shot is of Rachel and a child, who she named "Julien". It seems that Ben wasn't a liar after all. When he cuts the feed, he instructs Richard to return, as they may have some new visitors.
When Juliette again begs to be allowed to go home, Ben reminds her that leaving is not part of their agreement. She is to stay until her work is complete.
"It's impossible. The mothers keep dying."
"Then we'll find more mothers. Who knows? Maybe there's even one on that plane."
Juliette returns with the medication. Charlie objects to Juliette injecting Claire. This from a guy who, after the Dharma food drop, gave the new mom a case full of unmarked and unidentified serum and an injector gun and suggested that it would be a good idea if she use it on her baby.
Jack forces Charlie to back off by playing on they Brit's trust of him and his good intentions. He warns the Other Dr. J. that if the injection doesn't work, he will no longer be able to protect her. She'll be on her own.
"I'm already on my own, Jack."
The injection is given and in reasonably short order, Claire comes around. Crown a new camp hero...
The group even offers a lean to that they've been using for shade for her to use for a temporary shelter.
"They're good people. They're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but eventually, they're gonna need some answers."
"Why don't you? You keep talking about them. Why don't I ever have to explain myself to you?"
"You were there. Standing right next to me when that submarine exploded. In that moment, I saw it in your eyes. You want to get off this island more than anything else in the world. That makes you one of us."
Jack is such a good judge of character.
Flash to Juliette and Ben sitting at a table.
"Let's go over it again."
"I know what to do."
"Let's go over it again, just to be sure."
"I drag Austen out into the jungle, handcuff myself to her, then tell her I was gassed just like she was."
"And if she catches you in the lie?"
"I'll admit to it. Tell her it was the only way to earn her trust."
"Good. What then?"
"They'll take me back to the beach. I know you want me to go there, but after everything we've done to them, it's going to be a problem."
"We've activated the implant in Claire. She should be symptomatic within the next 48 hours. By the time you get to that camp, you'll have a nice big crisis to solve."
So, now we know that Juliette actually is a mole after all. This particular answer comes with at least one question in the box with it though. Ben sent her as an agent for him, using the crisis with Claire as a way of helping his operative gain the camp's trust. Assuming his ploy works, we're still left wondering where Juliette's loyalties ultimately lie. Jack was right about her wanting to go home more than anything in the world. We have a pretty fair idea that she'd betray any of the survivors to fulfill that wish, but would she risk betraying Ben?
Ben's last words to Juliette before they part company?
"See you in a week."
Me and my tv need to have a nice long talk tonight.
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