Review: Lost (Season 4, Episode 6)

Thursday's airing of Lost just re-confirmed to me how much I love this show. Well, I shouldn't say Thursday's, because our local ABC affiliate was showing the state basketball tournament, I wasn't able to watch the show until 1:05am Friday. I wasn't able to watch the last five minutes of the show until Friday afternoon online, because of technical problems with the show during the 1:05am airing! It's not that big of deal, I still got the same Lost fix everyone else did, but man, was that a tough wait.

It was worth it though, with another strong episode from a very strong season. I think season four has only encompassed about five or six days of storytelling, but so much as been covered. Right now, there are a lot of characters in a lot of different places, which means screen time is limited for many (Although, as was the case with Sawyer and Hurley in this episode, they sure do know how to make the most of it). But everyone is getting their due, and episode six was Juliet's turn.

I talked last week about how when things happen in this show, you can tell they were planned and not just made up on the go. That's why I loved the fill-in-the-blank backstory of Juliet this week. A relationship with Goodwin! Who knew! And yet, this relationship makes perfect sense, and it's awesome to see a scene we've seen three or four times now (the plane crash) from a completely different perspective. When we first met Goodwin, we thought he was just another Other sent to infiltrate the tailies, but we've learned that he was actually sent by Ben for a different reason, to die.

You see, Ben is deeply in love with Juliet. Not just in love with, but obsessed with. He truly believes he is meant to be with this woman, and that's a scary thing for Juliet to deal with (also guys, never tell that to a woman unless you're already married. Trust me from my personal experience. It really is as creepy as Ben made it look. Too much?) But accoridng to Harper, the Other's therapist, Juliet looks like "her". We can only assume "her" to be Annie, the love of Ben's life dating back to his childhood days (If you want to read more on the Ben / Annie relationship, I'd check out the review at tv.zap2it.com, but make sure you come back here!) When Ben shouts, "YOU'RE MINE!" to Juliet, as she is crying over Goodwin's dead body, clearly Juliet realizes she's in for more than she bargained for. And it's a moment that has her scared to death, even as he's being held prisoner, and she's smooching with Jack.

Well, Ben was being held prisoner. Ben is right when he continually calls out Locke for not knowing what to do next. But because Ben wants real linen sheets and the use of utensils, he is willing to use his last bargaining chip to Locke. That chip would be a tape labeled Red Sox. Now, we know it's December 2004 on the Island right now. And we know that "Red Sox" is the tape Ben showed Jack when they won the 2004 World Series, which was in October. That means for that game to have been taped over, as Ben says he did, that scene with Charles Widmore would have had to have taken place sometime between October 2004 and Decemember 2004. But how did Ben get it? There is increasing speculation that Ben can get off the Island whenever he so pleases. This would be one example, his playing doctor to future Sayid would be another.

I think the whole mystery of Ben is one of my biggest questions right now. He seems to be in a position to get what he wants and to manipulate people no matter where he is. He's a prisoner, sure, but how did he get Harper to tell Juliet to go after Faraday and Charlotte? And what's the deal with Harper anyways? She has to be one of those black smoke type mysteries of the Island, since she quickly appeared and vanished at whim. And her appearance was preceded and followed by the whispers of the Island. I'm still very curious about these mysteries, especially because of how much they were apart of season one and two. The smoke monster even killed the pilot of Oceanic Flight 815, and Mr. Eko. Yet since this, it's been few and far between. That whole part is the most confusing part of the show for me. How did Jack see his father on the Island? How did Kate see a horse? How did Hurley see Jacob's house? How did Juliet (and Jack) see Harper? I'm betting all of these occurances are thanks to one thing, and what this is I'm sure we won't know for a long time. But it seems Ben has tapped into that power, whatever it may be.

I'd also like to take this time to personally thank the ABC promo department. They manage to give you clips of next week's show, without spoiling anything. This is in sharp contrast to FOX, which would basically give away the entire episode of 24 in a 30 second promo. I've brought up 24 a lot in these Lost reviews, only because I have annointed 24 as my all-time favortie show. However, Lost has been incredible, and I've convinced myself to finally go out and buy the DVD's. Thursday's episode not only re-confirmed how much I love this show, it may have also made me realize it could be my favorite show of all-time.