Excellent recap, GB, as usual.

I was hoping in that last scene that we would find out whether Juliet's flashcards-on-the-TV scene with Jack was actually planned -- I mean, I don't think so, but one never knows.

Ideas?

I also said two words to my tv last night, shouted them actually. "YOU BITCH!!"

And, still, I love her.

My hatred for Jack grows stronger each week. Just because Juliet wants to go home, he's going to put blind trust in her? After everything the Others have done to him and the rest of the survivors? How quickly he forgets how willing he was to give Ben the benefit of the doubt when he was still trapped in the hatch, saying his name was Henry Gale. And look where that got him. The depths of his idiocy amaze me.

I LOVE that Sawyer and Sayid are now BFFs. Hopefully they can restore order and beat that bitch's ass.

Wonder how many episodes it's going to take for us to learn what exactly she's supposed to be doing in that week at the camp??

Also, it seems like next week's episode is Desmond-centric. Maybe we'll finally get some answers about the two guys who called Penny at the end of last season...

Just a quick note.
I found a couple of anagrams elsewhere on the net after posting this.
Herarat anagrams to "Earhart" as in Amelia.
Herarat Aviation anagrams to "A variation Earth".
Never claimed "wordsmith" on my resume...

Best episode in quite awhile.

Here is my theory about Juliet's sister
Her cancer never came back. Ben took a calculated risk that the cancer would not come back so he could then claim that he (or Jacob?) cured it. Voila - Juliet stays on the island and you have the proof of a promise kept when the sister is "cured" of her returned cancer.

Here is what I think of Jack's idiocy
If Jack knows how badly Juliet wants off the island, his dumb ass should probably realize that she would do *anything* to achieve that goal. And since the 815 survivors aren't going to help her off the island, her allegiance will always lie with those who have the power to give her what she wants. Silly Jack - you are a complete self-righteous dumbass.

First of all, I like that Sawyer has grown into somewhat of a leader and has gained (at least temporarily) some sort of moral compass. He can still be an ass at times, but a likeable ass.

Also, I figure that Juliette will slip up and we might be seeing a return of Sayid's dark side. At least, that's what I hope. Go torture!

Another thought that occurs is about Rousseau.
If every pregnancy results in the death of the mother how did Alex happen?
Perhaps something to do with the "incident" or the "purge" is responsible for the pregnancy problem?
Either that or maybe she actually miscarried and really is completely off her postpartum rocker...

i'm so glad they answered the question of whether or not juliette was sent to be with the losties or not.

i think i saw locke in the previews for next week (i could be wrong on that) but if he is there then hopefully we'll see juliette's reconnection with the others and why she was sent to the beach.

As usual, another great recap, Greybishop!

This episode provided lots of meaty things to chew on, ponder and discuss. Hopefully, there will be more of this in future episodes....

The first thing that jumped out at me is what was the point of showing Juliete being intimate with Goodwin (other than titilating the males in the audience)? Was this a nod to the viewers who have been speculating that Juliete was married to Ethan and seeking revenge or that she was once married to Ben? Or is there something else to it that I missed?

Another thing I wondered about is, if they were hoping for young women of child bearing age on the plane, why didn't they keep Kate? Or have they already used their fertility treatment on her and Juliete is going to the Lostie camp to keep an eye on her progress?

And lastly, why did the Others implant something in Claire two months ago to activate at a later date......?

OK. I have a headache now. Time to go.

Wasn't the symbol on the tree the same thing that was branded on Juliet's back?

Claire was able to safely birth Aaron because the baby was conceived off the island. Juliette said the problem was conception and that her "subjects" needed to conceive off the island. Claire is no exception to the rule -- she doesn't fit the rule.

The problem for Sun is whether her baby was conceived on the island (by Jin) or off the island (by her bald lover). I suspect this issue is what will drive the Sun/Jin-centric episode in a couple of weeks.

It was made very clear that the woman died b/c of the CONCEPTION on the island.
If the woman was pregnant before she got onto the island then she should be ok.
That's probably how french lady survived, b/c she was either already pregnant or just plain already had her baby when they got to the island.
As for Sun... we still don't know if she conceived on or off the island. So she may be screwed, she may not be.. we're gonna have to wait and see :D

Juliette is becoming one of my fav chars. She's just so awesome. I love her little speech to Sayid and Sawyer. Would've loved it more if she had kicked their asses (not that I hate either of them.. it just would've been great seeing them get beat up by this nonassuming woman).

I think Ben sent her to our group of Losties to investigate more 'miracles' to hopefully gain some knowledge as to why the island isn't curing him of his tumor.
I think Locke might've told Ben about Rose and how the island cured her.

Sorry for the follow-up, but the person who is screwed is Kate, if she got knocked-up by Sawyer.

a few thoughts:

1) This was one of the best episodes so far this season. I think it was pretty obvious that Juliet is working with the other's and it's unfortunate that Jack's fallen in love with her and refuses to see it.

2) I'm going to be really, really upset if that whole communications scene was supposed to be the explanation as to why the Others know EVERYTHING about the losties. Some things you can't just type into Google...like the fact that Sawyer murdered someone in Australia.

3) Where the hell are Rose and her husband? They've been gone so long I've forgotten his name. Considering a bulk of this episode was about the Island's magical healing powers (nobody gets cancer here), squeezing Rose in somewhere would have been relevant even though she's otherwise useless.

4)Speaking of missing cast members, does anyone think we're going to see Michael and Walt ever again? The fact is, the kid that plays Walt is going to start looking older and older the more seasons this is on the air...I have a feeling we'll see them in the finale but who knows.

I think Juliette was definitely close to Ethan. ... This would be the only way that I could see Juliette doing something really nasty since I feel she is a better person than people think.

Goodwin didn't survive his encounter with the Losties either. It's just as likely she is avenging him, especially since, you know, she was in bed with him.

In the previous comment, the first paragraph is a quote from another user. Supposed to be italicized. not working so well?

I'm rewatching the episode right now... and just got to the part where Juliette woke up in the sub and the camera went over the 2 guys sitting at the table.
The black guy does look ALOT like Micheal... can't really tell though b/c it's just a quick shot and you only see the side of his head very slightly.
But he has a symbol on his back.
And the symbol looks alot like one of the symbols that appears on the South Korean flag.
I just researched what those symbols mean... and according to one site, the symbol that's on the Mike lookalikes back is called Kam which means water. All 4 of the line symbols on the flag represent a different state of movement.
Quote from this website
http://www.nationaltangsoodo.org/korean%20flag.htm
"The symbols, called Kwae, in the four corners, mean the principle of movement and harmony. These are Kun meaning heaven, Yi meaning fire, Kam meaning water, and Kon meaning earth. Each of them symbolizes a different state of movement.

To conclude, the symbols, Yin, Yang, Kun, Yi, Kam, and Kon, express the principle of the movement of all objects in the universe and the movement of the universe itself."

Just thought it was interesting considering that they're in a sub.. and the guy is wearing a symbol that comes from symbols meaning movement and his meaning water... and blahblahblah...

It's probably nothing though and I'm looking too much into it hehe

Ok... It can't be just mere coincidence.... I should've watched a bit more before I posted.... the symbol appeared on the sub when she climbed her way out.
Also... if you want to believe that the producers are taking the korean flag symbols... the one meaning Heaven 'Kun' is 2 solid lines... watch the part where they're in the airport building..the airport symbol is definitely 3 solid (if somewhat swishy) lines.

There are still 2 more symbols... Yun which is solid, broken (--), solid that means fire
and Kon all 3 lines are broken which means Earth. I'll keep watching the episode to see if these symbols pop up as well.

Ok, so here's my theory. Apparently the season finale is now going to be a Jack-centric episode. Season finale flashback always have a huge baring on the island story so it won't be some more boring crap about Jack's wife.

There seems to be a bit of missing time between Jack saving Ben and Jack and Juliet being allowed to leave on the sub. So I think the finale will focus on those missing days in the Others camp when Jack makes a deal with Ben and when the Others gas everyone and leave.

During this time I think we'll find out that Jack somehow found out about Juliet's duplicity and that he knew all along that she would betray them. This is why he wasn't surprised when Kate told him that the Others had left Juliet behind, he already knew they would.

Jack is far too good a judge of character to believe all of Julia's crap, it seems far too suspicious that he's willing to ingratiate her into the 815ers camp without having a reason. I think he's planning something and all will come to a head in the finale.

Any thoughts?

Man, what a bad week I chose to go to bed at 10:30.

Isn't Jin sterile? Or are we to believe the island cured that? If it did and he impregnated Sun on the island, then Sun would probably be showing some of the problems that occur at conception. Don't think Jin's the father of her baby. But that said, she should be showing very soon if she was pregnant when the plane crashed.

Also, the others know Kate and Sawyer got busy in the cage, and Juliet is at the camp to keep an eye on Kate (among other things).

This episode answered a lot of questions about Ethan too. He was acting on his own when he kidnapped Clair and made his threats to kill a member of the beach group every day, and Scott's death was his fault not an Others mandate.

Great episode! I had chills during quite a few scenes.
And so many comments already!

We still don't know how Ethan got his super strength, do we? I have a feeling that little dangling plot thread will be forgotten.

I like how the entire episode was spent making Juliet into an extremely sympathetic character, and then it's all undone in the last few minutes. She sure got over being mad at Ben fast though. Or maybe she's grateful for him sparing her life.

I can't wait to find out more about Jacob. Do you all think he's on the island?

And Ben really trusts Richard (the guy who recruited Juliet). He must be pretty important.

Great recap.

Jack might be using Juliette too. He knows for sure she wants to get off the island more than anything, so he can use that to his advantage later. Afterall, Jack knows that she is up to something secret and he is in on it to some degree.

I love how Sayid and Sawyer are taking bigger leadership roles now.

It gave me ANSWERS.

So now in addition to being the "stalling show", it's become "Jacksus Christ, Superstar"? Ugh.

Great episode! I knew she was a plant. I think she's there because of Sun, but who knows. Something tells me that after she does whatever she's going to do to the losties, Jack will be the ex-leader. He tried too hard to protect her, and Sayid, Sawyer, and the rest won't forget that.

Great recap of what to me was the best episode since the season 2 opener when we got to go down into the hatch for the first time.

Greybishop, I think you may be reading too much into the comments that the last leg of the journey to the island was "bumpy". Obviously to transfer someone unconscious/asleep from an airplane, down the hatch into a submarine, would be bumpy and would require the person to be secured somehow.

It's nice to see everyone excited about the show again and not just complaining. The writers have really regained their mojo imo.

I took the pregnant women dying thing as a problem with Juliet's baby making serum. Maybe her sister was a rare case (we already know she had chemo, so maybe the other drugs in her system fought off whatever problem that's killing the women on the island). Women who conceive naturally seem to be fine (Danielle, Claire, Sun.. possibly Kate). Ben said the implant would be activated in Claire so the whole "Claire's sick because of our meds" plan is fake.

I know a lot of people have been bothered by Jack in the past, but he was never that bad to me. But this episode changed that.

I'm also hoping for another Sayid interrogation.

As for Russian people on the island, is Mikhail Russian? I can't even remember.

Merick, Goodwin & Juliet seem to have super strength, too. Maybe there's a really great Others gym?

Don't forget they did some things to Kate when her, Sawyer, and Jack first arrived at the Others place. Remember she had a lot of marks on her hands, and appeared to have gone through a rough time that she didn't want to talk about. Perhaps they implanted her with something as well knowing that they would have her and Sawyer set up for some baby making?

I don't think Juliette was sent to find out about Sun, more than likely Ben realizes Jack is sympathetic to Juliette and uses his knowledge of Clair to make Juliette become the new "Ethan". Also I don't think the others know that Sun is pregnant because they are under the assumption that she is sterile since that is what the Doctor diagnosed. The doctor only told Sun the truth and we the viewers know but no one else. I definitely think a Sun/Jin finale is in the work with the realization that she is pregnant and Jin is sterile. I'm thinking immaculate conception sorta deal with the Island mysteriously impregnating Sun (I know that sounds far-fetched) which would give more storyline for the next season.

I also don't think Jack is that dumb, he definitely has a back-up plan, since that is what he always does.

I have a question.

How good did Juliet's boobs look in this episode?

Sorry, I had to ask that. It was one of the first things that popped into my head when I started watching the other night (I'm actually kinda surprised that they weren't mentioned in the recap).

OK, that's out of the way. This was a great episode. I'll admit I was a bit surprised by the reveal at the end, that everything was so meticulously planned out. Next week's episode looks intense. I'll probably have more to add later, but great recap as usual GB!

What could possibly make a submarine ride "bumpy"?

It was actually a spaceship and they're all on The Moon. Don't question it! It's the moon.

Previously I didn't have an opinion one way or the other about Juliet, but now that I know she's devious and tricksy, I love her. I hope she murders all of the Losties except Sayid.

Great recap, as always, GB.
You probably figured this out, but the serum wasn't buried since Ethan; it was only buried since, maybe, the day before, when Ben et al planted it.

I had to sort out what we learned from flashbacks and what we "learned" by Juliet telling Jack. I don't trust what she said about Ethan acting alone. She was definitely making some stuff up because she hasn't invented the cure for pregnant mothers yet; therefore, they couldn't exactly have been trying to save Claire. They haven't been able to save anyone.

jb196—Love the theory about keeping an eye on Kate and her maybe baby.

I definitely love that we got some answers. All in all, a good episode.

Jordan (18), I dont think that the shots of Mikail's computers, etc. was a cop-out to make us think he simply Googled for info. on the losties. He probably somehow hacked into Oceanic's website and got the passenger list; the Others are pretty powerful so from there it wouldn't have been to hard to contact other members of their organization still living/working in the US, Korea, Australia who could access databases and find out pertinent information about the castaways... why do I think so much about these things? I don't know.

Anyway, I am really bothered by Jack's line to Juliet that most of the people at the camp "are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt." WHAT?! Given everything that has happened, that the Others have done, WHY THE HELL would they give her the benefit of the doubt? I can accept such stupidity from Jack but from the majority of the group? Something's not right here. I really hope Jack's playing her and has let some of the other castaways in on it so as to give her a false sense of security. Cause just throwing that line in there makes NO sense given the history of this show.

2 things: Has it already been mentioned that Richard Alpert is also a real person who was working with Timothy Leary on his LSD experiments, and he is now known as Baba Ram Dass, an author and lecturer on spiritual matters?

Secondly, is the sub really a sub> Reference to "bumpy" and "intense" in the dialog, and the thing just looked weird. I don't know if it was a cheap TV prop, or if it was meant to look that way, i.e., some sort of transporter device. How long was that tranquilizer supposed to last? How long would a sub ride be?

Maybe Ethan meant intense and bumpy b/c of the transfer between a plane and a sub...

When Juliet first said all the mothers were dying, I thought it had something to do with morals and the island - premarital sex is bad, just like killing your stepfather or torturing people. But then Juliet was clearly postcoital with Goodwin, so I'm wondering what kind of contraception they have on the island. I think I read this on another site - maybe Juliet was trying to get pregnant as a way to get off the island - by dying?

Ben said the next few weeks or days will be rough for Kate, why, because she underwent Juliette's treatment and then Sawyer impregnated her. Why else would they reveal Sawyer has a daughter in flashback? Kate is so preggers! Kate probably made a deal for her freedom with Ben, get pregnant and get off the island. Sun will die from her pregnancy. That or she'll go with the Others as some wimpy excuse to save Jin.

i posted this a couple weeks ago but rose and bernard are still on the island but the people that play rose and bernard are busy doing other work outstide of LOST, i also read that they are going to have a pretty big storyline next season so hopefull that will make up for the lack of them this season. and walt and his dad might be back next season, the producers were going to bring them back but couldnt get it done in time.

Sun may not have conceived on the island, therefore she may be safe. If Jin did not father the baby, she'd be in the same boat as Claire...who did not die due to pregnancy.

I have a theory. I think Charlie is a mole for the Others. When they kidnapped Claire, they did something to Charlie and he has been working with them the whole time. Somehow, the whole murder of Ethan was part of the plan. Hell, the Russian dude shot Klugh and then said thank you when Locke pushed him to his death. It must not have been a big deal for Charlie. That could also be why he randomly gave her the medicine at the end of Season 2. Maybe the Others did something to him, which is why it was his mission in the Fire and Water episode to "Save the Baby, Charlie!" Perhaps he was the one who even implanted whatever Ben was talking about into Claire. Maybe Desmond's flashes of him dying have some connection to Ben's big plan. Also, Charlie was singing a Kinks' song called "He's Evil" in an episode last season. On top of that, Charlie has his own flashback episode coming up, I believe the episode before the finale. Coincidence?
I'm sure there must be some holes in my theory, but oh well.

Someone asked about contraception on the island. If anyone knows how to use the rhythm method, I'd think it would be Juliet.

great recap GB, this recap had me laughing out loud about the "big glass of date rape" and the caption about ethan's breath.

you're really hitting your stride(even the side notes were cool) ;-).

lady-in-gray #10
seeing juliet in bed with goodwin tipped me off that she really was a mole.

there's no way she could be on the losties' side after they killed off both her friend (ethan) and her lover (goodwin).

as someone else said, it would have been really great to know if the whole video flashcard message that she showed jack was also a setup.

the previews made it look like sun is going to get attacked next week.

Great recap, Greybishop. I haven't laughed at a Lost recap in a long while. (Ah, I treat ovarian! Fantastic.)

One small, slightly picky thing: the spelling and punctuation errors really detract from the nice flow you have going. "You're" when it was supposed to be "Your", "Looses" instead of "loses"...sometimes it's just an extra letter at the end of a word: "They Brit's trust" instead of "The Brit's trust"...I know I am going to get criticized for mentioning this, but it really does take away from the otherwise excellent recap.

Thanks!

No problem Beatriz.
I am always happy to hear constructive criticism. It's a tough balance between speed and edits when I'm writing these.
I wish I could take a few hours and comb through the text for errors that spellcheck doesn't catch, but I also like to get the thing posted by the end of my workday so it gets posted for everyone by dinner time Thursday. Any editors out there want to volunteer their services?

what a great ep. I felt like I was part of the reunion on the beach hugging my island buddies, celebrating the return of my favorite show!!

great reacap

Greybishop, I volunteer! I am a magazine editor, and I would love to!

BTW, I forgot to mention in my previous post that I completely appreciate your speediness in regards to recap posting and I really, really hated to mention the errors, but just couldn't help myself.

Beatriz -
That'd be fantastic.
Probably the simplest way to do it would be for me to post it as normal and then have you e-mail me the required changes.
That would maintain the speed factor and still get TVGasm readers the most error free recap possible.
Sound good?

Sounds good.

See you in a week. ;)

Beatriz -
I'll post an address for you in the comments next week and we'll go from there. Thanks for volunteering!

Oh, for pete's sake! I read the recap so fast that I never even see the errors! I am glad it gets out quickly so I can p/u on what I missed--Thanks for the speedy work!!

Rose and Bernard must've gone to hang out with the Other kids who we never get to see, either....still waiting for them to turn up looking like "Children of the Corn" or something freaky. Anyway, I digress. Juliette is the kind of girl you love to hate. She has the absolute perfect facial expressions, ESPECIALLY that small, one-sided smirky smirk. It's nice to see she's still sided with her Other Brothers.

BTW it seems there's a Barnes and Noble store on the island, or the Others use Mikhail's computers to order books from Amazon.com to read for their book club. They should tell Sawyer so he doesn't have to scrounge around dead passengers' luggage for reading material ^_^

So since they use Mikhail and his computers to dig up info on the passengers, is that how they decide who is "good" and who is "bad"? Obviously, Kate is an ex-con...so she goes into the "bad" pile. But...is that it?

So since they use Mikhail and his computers to dig up info on the passengers, is that how they decide who is "good" and who is "bad"? Obviously, Kate is an ex-con...so she goes into the "bad" pile. But...is that it?

Was it just me...or did anyone else notice Juliet's facial expression in the last 3 seconds of the episode? She was tying the roof of her shelter and she looks out (I guess towards the water) and her "smile" (aka smirk) changes into a look of suprise/horror/ohmygod...was it just me that saw that? Any thoughts? Am I reading too much into it?

I believe the purpose for the tranquilizer wasn't for the "bumpy ride", but it was because they brought her to the island by a different method and wanted her to believe it was by submarine. If Juliet thinks the submarine is the only way off the island - she will be more likely resigned to being stuck there.

The only way for Ben to convince Juliet to go undercover at the Lostaway camp was for him to tell her that there was another way off the island since the submarine got blown-up. Of course, he won't tell her that other way off the island until Juliet does what Ben wants.

way more comments once I actually read the recap, but did anyone else notice that when the plane exploded, Ethan came out of a doghouse? so weird.

Jordan: I agree with all your comments

Cody M.: Really? I thought she looked weird and lumpy, it bugged me all episode, I really think it kills part of the 'Jack being more loyal to Juliet than to Kate' thing that Kate is like, waaayyyy hotter.

Juliet blows, I hate her.. I never thought for one second that she was even possibly good. And Jack is so stupid, go team sawyer and sayid.

Anonymous #62 -
I think you're 100% correct and I caught the same change of expression as well. Juliette has the most telling expressions - even just this episode, think back to all of them....my favorite was her 'holy shit, it worked' expression after she convinced Sawyer and Sayid to let her have the briefcase. I definitely think she purposely had that look on her face because she looked out/over and saw *something* that worried her and might disrupt whatever assignment she's on.

Oh - I forgot to mention that this was also the first episode where I shouted something at my television. I believe I screamed "YOU DUMBASS" at Jack when he saved Juliette from answering Sayid's questions. I don't care if he trusts Juliette or not - who WOULDN'T want to know the answers to those questions. Which lea