|
 |
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
GET
A weekly commentary of the television showby Tricia Urlaub
3 - 16: One of Us
*This commentary contains spoilers. Do not read if you have not seen the above mentioned episode.*
How does someone whose education, ambition and life-goal it is to create life where it otherwise isn’t, turn into someone who lies and manipulates? In One of Us we learn more about Juliet, and her work on the island. We learn that she has, on several attempts, pleaded with Ben to be allowed to go home. Ben, in his usual Machiavellian fashion, denies her that wish.
Ben has a tumor, Juliet discovers, and she is so angry with him because of it, she calls him a liar. Nobody on the island is supposed to develop cancer, in fact, (and we’ve seen this with Rose) if anything, it will cure it. So why does Ben have it? Juliet no longer believes her sister is alive and well, as Ben told her he would cure her of her cancer, if Juliet promised to stay. So finally, we see proof positive (maybe?) that Juliet’s sister is alive, and gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
Another interesting tidbit is that the Others did not, in any way, plan the Oceanic 815 crash. After we see the plane descend from the sky, Ben and Juliet head to Mikhail’s base where Ben orders background checks be done on every passenger.
Juliet has now joined up with Jack, Kate and Sayid on their trek back to the beach. Sayid is particularly wary of Juliet (with good reason), especially after she divulges to him that, “If I told you everything, you would kill me.” But savior Jack tells the group, “She’s under my protection.” Read: Fuck with her, fuck with me.
When the group makes it back to the beach, Juliet stays behind while Jack reunites with his crash-mates. There is much hugging and smiling, of particular interest is the high squeeze-level between Kate and Sawyer, that is until, Sawyer spots Juliet in the distance.
She is not welcome by them, and Jack attempts to calm their nerves by insisting that they are all in the same boat (or so they would like!). Juliet, later, asks why she does not have to answer any of Jack’s questions, and Jack tells her that all he needs to know, he saw in her face when the sub blew up. She wants off the island just as badly as the rest of them, so in his eyes, Juliet is truly one of them.
Conveniently, Claire is ill at about the time of Juliet’s arrival. Dark circles beneath her eyes, blood from her mouth and nose, sleeping all day, things look pretty serious. Juliet convinces Jack that she can help, that Claire is having a delayed response to injections she was given when she was pregnant. Yes, sigh, it all escapes, finally, that Claire’s blood was being drawn and she was being injected with a substance that would, hopefully, allow her to live long enough to give birth. Because, it would seem, pregnant women on the island (lookout Sun) don’t quite make it to “labor day.”
Jack gives his consent for Juliet to head back to the camp where she will retrieve supplies to help Claire. Sawyer and Sayid follow and confront her. Juliet is able to convince them that she can, indeed help Claire, and that they are in no position to suddenly become the island’s “morality police.”
Question though – what’s a suitcase of medical supplies doing buried in the middle of the forest? Yes, we know now why it’s there, Ben had it dropped there, but shouldn’t Sawyer and Sayid be asking themselves this very question?
Claire is miraculously cured, and Juliet is in good standing with the islanders. She is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, however, as we learn at the end that she and Ben have constructed the details of the entire turn of events. And the million dollar question is – why?
Until next time, get LOST.
TO DISCUSS "LOST" IN OUR FORUM CLICK HERE
© Urlaub, 2007
All pictures are property of ABC Television and the Walt Disney Company
