s3e16: One of Us

AKA "Everybody Hates Juliet." Not that we can blame them.

Nice to see some stuff get resolved, or at least answered. We find out what Juliet was on the island to do, and some of what the Others were doing (although we still didn't really get a good sense for why, or how they manage to extend their tentacles so far - if they're not affiliated with Dharma, how do they manage all the mainland stuff?). We also found out about the Claire/Ethan business (thanks, helpful over-explanatory-for-newer-viewers flashbacks!). Frankly I think we were still left with more questions than answers about the Others - including, what are they hoping to use Juliet for, as we find out in a "gotcha" end scene that Ben and Juliet apparently planned the whole thing. Drew thinks Juliet is pretending to go along with Ben but won't really, and I think that may be right, but Ben thinks she is, and she did the first part of it. I thought it was a good episode up until that last scene, which kind of bugged me.

The teaser was all, "ZOMG last five episodes FTW," so let's do a quick bit of consideration.

1) We know Kate and Sawyer get down, AGAIN, so it's also likely that the writers make some attempt to hook Juliet up with Jack. This seemed to be the plan at the start of the season and then not much was really done with it.

2) Sawyer goes apeshit on Locke. So, why? Does Locke do something first? Does Sawyer think that Locke can get him something? Is this Sawyer actually taking some sort of "leadership" role? This will go a long way towards determining Sawyer's character, possibly for the rest of the show's run.

3) A helicopter? Sure sounds like it, but that barely makes sense, unless the Others have one stashed away. Which I guess is possible. The teaser gave us the old "salvation/annihilation" dichotomy, and based on a gun going off and what looked like some big jungle spear or trap, it's probably the latter. Also, I don't believe anyone but the Others could get a helicopter to the island, so, yeah.

4) Though we didn't see any hints of it, I gotta think the monster comes back. So far this season it's killed Eko and taken photos (I guess?) of Juliet and Kate, both of which are too weird for it to be left alone for another whole year. That could be one of the big late-season reveals. Although do you buy Juliet's claim that "we don't know what it is?" This means that Ben doesn't know what it is, and he's lived there for what, 40 years or so? Whatever the monster is, it sure seems like a bit of technology and certainly not a kind that existed in the 1960s. And how long has the "fence" been there? I don't know, the whole thing seems a little plot-holey to me.

5) Someone probably dies. The writers love killing people for little reason, but this is a good spot (as good as it could be) to bump off someone and have it be somewhat meaningful. I hope it's Charlie.