Back Story: Juliet is with her sister Rachel, heading to her new job (see "Not in Portland"). There she's reunited with Ethan and
On the island, Juliet appears to be more of a hostage than an employee. Since she was able to help her sister get pregnant--Rachel was sterile from chemotherapy, as I suspected when she was introduced--they think she can help on the island. Apparently every woman on the island who's gotten pregnant has died, and Juliet was brought into the mix to try to fix this problem. But once she's there, she's not allowed to leave. After six months on the island, when she asks, Ben tells her Rachel's cancer has returned, and that she's dying, and hands over papers to prove it. But if Juliet stays on the island, he'll cure Rachel's cancer. Honestly, this job sucks.
After three years on the island, Juliet discovers Ben's tumor. No one on the island has ever had cancer. Juliet accuses him of lying to her about her sister, no longer believing that Ben cured her. Ben says he did, but again, Juliet isn't allowed to go home. We see the plane crash from the perspective of the Others--Ben sends Goodwin and Ethan to inflitrate the surivors even as the plane is going down. He tells them to go find out what they can, and to make lists. We still don't know what these lists are about. Maybe lists of people with super powers? Or of kids whose moms burned to death on their nursery ceilings? Have I made both those jokes before? I think I have. I apologize. Ben takes Juliet to see Mikhail. They show her a video feed of Rachel with her child, alive and well, cancer in remission. Juliet is deeply relieved, but she still can't go home.
Beach Story: Charlie hears Aaron crying. Claire is sleeping through it, so he goes to help out. Claire's not feeling well. Jack arrives as they're all hanging out having a meal, followed by Kate, Sayid and Juliet. There's a happy reunion with lots of hugging. Then they see Juliet and everybody gets a little tense. They leave Juliet sitting all by herself on the beach. Except Hurley, who comes to talk to her because he's been sent to keep an eye on her. He tells her about Charlie killing Ethan. Dude, Hurley's all scary here. In a really quiet, Hurley-like way.
Jack talks to the others about Juliet. Nobody wants to trust her. Jack thinks because he trusts her, everybody else should. Everybody else doesn't like this idea. I don't think Jack has half the power on this island that he thinks he has.
Claire starts bleeding from her mouth. Jack goes to try to tend to her. Juliet says she thinks she knows what's wrong with Claire, because she did it to her. It's a reaction to a medication given her to keep her alive through the end of her pregnancy. Juliet gave it to her to keep her alive. Previously, every pregnant woman on the island has died. The episode refers back to Season Two, where Ethan kidnapped Claire and gave her an injection at hte Others' camp. This impresses me, not only because they made an explicit reference to Weird Stuff that Happened a Long Time Ago, but because I actually remembered it.
Claire needs more of the serum to keep her immune system from killing her. Juliet wants to go to fetch more of the serum. Jack tells her to go. She goes, but is waylaid by Sayid and Sawyer. Juliet gets in their faces about their less-than-stellar pasts, since they're doing that to her. Same for Sawyer. Good on her. She heads back with the meds, and after receiving treatment, Claire recovers. The castaways begin to accept Juliet.
But then in a capper to our flashbacks, we find out Ben has coached Juliet on everything she's done. The Others didn't abandon her--they planted her. Claire's "sickness" was caused by an implant the Others put in her and activated deliberately so Juliet would have a ready-made way to get the castaways to trust her.
I like Juliet. I have a feeling, based on how Ben has played her, that she's got her own agenda, and she's not going to be nearly as reliable as Ben expects. But I suppose we'll see.
Downtown--Petula Clark
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