Episode Title: "One Of Us"

Flashback: Juliet

Episode Number: Season 3, Episode 16
Air Date: 04/11/07

Synopsis:

"Jack's joyous reunion with his fellow survivors is cut short when they realize that accompanying him is one of "The Others," and Claire is stricken by a mysterious, life-threatening illness.

Guest starring are Robin Weigert as Rachel, William Mapother as Ethan Rom, Brett Cullen as Goodwin, Andrew Divoff as Mikhail, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Joah Buley as other dude and Tyrone Howard as airport guard.

"One of Us" was written by Carlton Cuse & Drew Goddard and directed by Jack Bender." (ABC Press Release, 03/26/07)

Flashback: Juliet

OMG Moments:

The last scene, where, in a flashback, we see Juliet conspiring with Ben. Apparently her being "left behind" was a set-up, planned by Juliet and Ben, in order to facilitate Juliet's infiltration of the Losties beach camp. Why? What is she trying to find out? Claire's mysterious sickness that Juliet "miraculously "cured was caused by an implant put there while Ethan had infiltrated the camp. and then remotely triggered by Ben. All of this was a plot to make the Losties like and trust her.

New Clues:

Juliet's sister is still alive. The "Others" claim Jacob cured her of cancer.
They were able to have live video feed from Miami.
Apparently every pregnancy on the island, with the exception of Claire (and Rousseau) lead to the death of the mother and child.

Did anyone notice that the communication station still worked after the plane went down???

Note: The communication station did not stop functioning until after the sky turned purple when the hatch exploded.

At the end of the episode we see Juliet setting up her tent with the supplies Jack gave gher. He tells her that she can set up camp at the lean-to that the others have been using for shade and shelter. Then the camera focuses on the knot she tyes to a rod with splattered, dried blood on it. Who's walking stick and blood was that?

Questions:

• Why couldn't the "Others" cure Ben of his cancer?
  • Charlie killed their only surgeon in Season 1. mattGamer 7/9/07
    
• What are the others going to do when they see Juliet in a week?
• What does the news about all the pregnancies mean for Sun?
• Where did Rousseau give birth to Alex?
  • on the island
• Was that Michael that Juliet passed by just after she was unstrapped by Ethan in the submarine?

Trivia:

The title of this episode is a nice counterpart to "One of Them," during which "Henry Gale" was captured by Danielle and brought to our Lostaways.

Theories:

#1: I am not sure that they actually "cured" her cancer. She may never have had a remission in the first place. Ben has been known to lie to get people to do what he wants. I believe he was lying because if they could cure cancer, they'd be able to cure Ben.

#2: Jack may be in on the conspiracy for Juliet to infiltrate the Losties camp, due to the conversation he and Juliet had walking through the jungle. Juliet tells Jack that she indeed did drag Kate into the jungle and handcuff herself to Kate. That's enough to rouse a suspicion anyway.

#3: The Surreal of " One Of Us": Well,,its listed as an OMG moment. How did You feel as Juliette hung up her tarp with that wistful smile on her face reminiscing her last conversation with Ben? That moment of realization,,was You having a Surreal moment. The Magnificent Magicians of LOST did it again. They brought the viewer to experiencing the Surreal. I thought it was Great, Of course,,I believe Julie is Playing Ben. Julie's " arc" is about the "Future" she put her Trust in at the begining, what came of it,,and a " future" she now seems to want. As the story is told, just remember it begins with Sayid,, Mr Painful Truth, asking the ultimate surreal question,," Who are You?",,The answer appears to be ,,as Julie in surreal terms defines herself: At the beginning of her arc,,she attempts to realize her Potential,, be all that she can be,, by doing the Most Good for as many possible with her Genius. Her ego is manipulated by the Others. She guzzles the drug laced juice. But she is more than just ego,,and her human needs, her humanity begins to make demands. Ben isn't able to understand that,or " see" it. Its beyond his ability,,because hes been on the Island all his life. It is this blindness,,just like with Jack,,i suspect Ben will be saying,," I didn't see that coming". In other words,, Julie does want to get off the Island,,and is Playing Ben to get off the Island..

The Trust issue is central to a Major Player of Surrealism, Salvador Dali. His approach to the Surreal he coined, Paranoic Critical.,,yea..of course the Paranoid is the one who Trusts nothing real. In the Dali perspective.. Trust nothing real,, is meant both ways..as in..does not Trust Reality for Truth,,,and does Trust the Unreal,, dreams, hallucinations, etc,,for ones Personal Truth...kinda like what LOST left us with at the end of One OF Us..Its fascinating to know.. that when the general public is asked about Surrealism,, the first thing to pop in their head is Salvador Dali..Yet.. in real life,, he strained his relationship with the original surrealists by aligning himself with Hitler. And eventually was excommunicated by the Surrealists for his continued support of Franco...An interesting Parallel between Julie and Dali?...What one has to understand about Dali is.. that he did things during his whole life,,just for the outrageousness of it. He Trusted the Outrageousness.. to keep him in touch with his True self,..to keep his self, in touch with his Genius Potential.

#4: I still believe that Juliet's main objective is to get off the island. Everything we have seen and learned about her in flashback supports this. The scene of Juliet conspiring with Ben was most likely a result of one of these three things: a) she has been brainwashed (ala Karl), b) she is playing along with Ben as much as she has to in order to get away from him and the Others, or c) Ben has again promised her that he will get her off the island if she does this one last thing for him.

#5: Right in the end, when Juliet is looking at Jack and we see the little flashback of her "going over the plan again" with Ben, she is tying a knot. The director gave that such importance, that I couldn't help thinking this may be somewhat symbolical. She double crosses the knot (which actually makes it look like an '8'). That might mean she is not really going to do what the Others think she is, and that she is indeed double crossing them. Probably to get off of the islandm which we all know is what she wants the most. Or at least use what she learns against Ben (maybe to blackmail him).