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"The Other Woman" is the sixth episode of the American Broadcasting Company's fourth season of the serial drama television series Lost and seventy-fifth episode overall. It was aired on March 6, 2008 on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada. It was written by co-executive producer Drew Goddard and executive story editor Christina M. Kim and directed by occasional Lost director Eric Laneuville. The episode received mixed reviews, with some critics believing it to be the worst episode of the season. "The Other Woman" was watched by 13 million Americans.

Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies) and Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader) leave the survivors' camp without notice for the Dharma Initiative electrical station known as the Tempest. In flashbacks that depict events on the island, Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) discovers that Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) thinks that she belongs to him.

Plot

Juliet's life on the island is depicted in flashbacks. A week after she arrives in mid-September 2001, she begins to receive therapy with Harper Stanhope (Andrea Roth). Their first discussion is cut short when Ben presents her with a new home in the Barracks. Juliet later has an affair with Harper's husband Goodwin (Brett Cullen). Harper finds out and warns Juliet that Ben will deliver consequences because Ben has a crush on Juliet. Goodwin is eventually murdered after his infiltration of the tail section survivors was discovered. Ben leads Juliet to Goodwin's impaled corpse in October late 2004, where Juliet accuses Ben of wanting Goodwin to die, prompting Ben to shout that he owns her.

In late December 2004, Daniel and Charlotte sneak off during the night to find the Tempest. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) and Juliet pursue them. Juliet is approached by what appears to be Harper, who tells Juliet that Daniel and Charlotte are going to kill everyone on the island by deploying a lethal gas and that Ben is ordering Juliet to kill Daniel and Charlotte.

Kate comes across Daniel and Charlotte in the jungle on her way back from the Barracks and Charlotte knocks her unconscious. After Jack and Juliet find her, Jack cares for Kate and Juliet takes off for the Tempest. Inside the station, Juliet finds Daniel in a hazmat suit typing frantically at a computer terminal. Daniel and Charlotte explain that they are not trying to kill anyone; they are trying to save them by rendering the gas inert. Jack and Kate arrive and Kate examines the station. Juliet explains to Jack that there is going to be a war between the freighter crew and Ben. She thinks that Ben will win. She fears for Jack because Ben thinks she is his possession.

In the Barracks, Ben bargains with John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) for his freedom. Ben reveals that the offshore freighter called the Kahana is owned by Charles Widmore (Alan Dale)—the father of Desmond Hume's (Henry Ian Cusick) girlfriend Penny (Sonya Walger)—and that Widmore intends to exploit the island. After handing Locke a file containing information concerning Widmore, Ben tells Locke who his spy on the freighter is. Locke frees Ben from captivity, however, Ben continues to reside in the Barracks.

Production

Elizabeth Mitchell did not think that Juliet was too surprised that Ben has romantic feelings for her, but "it was horrifying under the circumstances" because she had just found out that Goodwin had died. Michael Emerson thought that Ben was childish when he shouted "you're mine!" to Juliet in that scene and Mitchell compared it to "a twelve-year old boy throwing a temper tantrum over … his first love". Mitchell said that "it was emotionally draining shooting this episode" because she was intimidated by Emerson and Matthew Fox's acting skills. A jungle scene with Mitchell and Fox was filmed until 4:00 a.m. with industrial sprinklers and Mitchell referred to this as her "most intense experience on the show". Before the episode was broadcast, Elizabeth Mitchell said "keep in mind, it is a little bit of a slowdown, but there's some good stuff in there with Ben. He will completely creep you out." Rebecca Mader said that she was "so excited" for the episode because she thinks that it is "even better" than the previous episode, which is regarded among many fans as one of the best episodes of the series.

The "Tempest" was first alluded to on Kelvin's blast door map in the second season. The writers wanted to explain some island history in the fourth season and decided that "The Other Woman" would reveal where the gas that Ben killed the Dharma Initiative came from and that Dharma had stations set up that could protect them from hostile forces and groups on the island, such as the Others. They also enjoy having Goodwin on the show and wanted to bring him back.

"The Other Woman" continues Jack and Juliet's relationship and features the pair's second kiss. Juliet was conceived by the writers as the next possible love interest for Jack after the second season character Ana Lucia Cortez (Michelle Rodriguez). Fans had generally hated Ana Lucia so the writers did not pursue the first planned romantic story arc. Mitchell guesses that her character was created because "they needed a bridge between Ben and everyone else, and they needed someone to come in and be a little salt in the oyster of Jack and Kate." She has felt that Juliet did genuinely fall in love with Jack, not knowing "her attraction to Jack or her willingness to do anything to get off the island" is more important to her. Juliet forms something of a "love quadrangle" with James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway), Jack and Kate. Mitchell "feel like a very grown-up relationship. They seem to really respect and like each other", whereas Sawyer and Kate are like "rambunctious teenagers". The couple has been nicknamed "Jacket" after gaining an Internet following.

Reception

"The Other Woman" was watched by 13.008 million viewers in the United States, ranking seventh for the week in viewers and achieving a 5.4/13 in the key adults 18–49 demographic.

A common claim by critics was that the episode was more heavily focused on Ben, instead of Juliet, which was not the writers' intention. Jensen of EW adored Emerson's acting and stated that "in the end, this was really a story about Ben and the lengths he will go to protect himself and the Island from his enemies." Carabott of IGN wrote that "This episode may be a Juliet flashback, but there is a great deal of focus on Ben's motives and whether or not he should be trusted is at the heart of the episode." Martell of TV Squad "learned a lot more about Ben than the intriguing Dr. Burke". Oscar Dahl of BuddyTV called Emerson a "god" and said that "The Other Woman" was "ostensibly a Juliet episode, Ben's presence made a far bigger impression on me".

Patrick Day of the Los Angeles Times called "The Other Woman" "the weakest episode of the new season so far", but pointed out that "even this so-so episode of Lost stood far above anything else being shown on network TV this season". He noted that the "most heartbreaking scene" was Claire Littleton's (Emilie de Ravin) appearance because it highlighted that the character has done little to advance the season's plot. Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger considered the episode to be the second weakest episode of the fourth season after "Eggtown", saying that the flashbacks were redundant and criticizing the Tempest storyline due to a lack of explanation for the station's original purpose. Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly described "The Other Woman" as "the first truly subpar episode of the season" with a "story was kinda all over the place" that "felt forced". Jensen was not fond of Juliet's love life or Andrea Roth's guest performance because Jensen felt that "she came off as too arch and unreal." John Kubicek dubbed "The Other Woman" "the worst episode of Lost season 4 so far" because it "followed the soap opera that is the romantic entanglements of the major players, which is not the reason most people love Lost."

Verne Gay of Newsday gave "The Other Woman" a much more positive review, referring to the episode as "yet another brilliant outing by TV's best drama keeps getting better". Nikki Stafford of Wizard "enjoyed" the "interesting" episode, although "not nearly as much" as the previous episode. She rejoiced at the return of her "favourite Other" Tom (M.C. Gainey) and wrote that "Locke used to be one of favorite characters, but now he's a tool". Bruce Fretts of TV Guide praised Roth's "suitably creepy" appearance. Kristin Dos Santos of E! thought that the fight scene between Juliet and Charlotte in the Tempest was "awesome" and suggested that Alan Dale receive a "lifetime achievement award for his parade of marvelously malicious patriarchs". Chris Carabott of IGN gave the episode 8/10, describing it as "a good episode of Lost that has all the action, suspense and excitement that this show consistently delivers". Carabott wrote that "seeing how twisted 'relationship' really is was fascinating". Erin Martell of AOL's TV Squad was "not impressed with Jack and Juliet's chemistry" and found their kiss "unconvincing". Martell commended Michael Emerson's acting, Ben's one-liners and and his "too funny for words" casual greeting to Hurley Reyes (Jorge Garcia) and Sawyer at the end of the episode after he is released from captivity.

References

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