Season 4: Episode 6 – The Other Woman

Hard Facts

1. After Juliet came to the Island she underwent "therapy" with Harper Stanhope.

2. Therapist Harper appears to the sound of whispers in the jungle. Jack is able to see Harper and then she once again disappears into whispers.

3. Harper was married to Goodwin.

4. Goodwin and Juliet had an affair notwithstanding his being married to Harper.

5. Ben has a crush on Juliet and considers her to be his babe.

6. There is a power station on the Island known as the Tempest.

7. There are sufficient chemicals at Tempest to kill everyone on the Island.

8. Ben used the gas in the Tempest had previously been used to kill everyone on the Island presumably at the time of the Purge.

9. Charlotte knows of Ben having killed the members of the DHARMA initiative using gas and that the Tempest was the source of that gas poisoning.

10. The Others attempt to prevent Faraday and Charlotte from disabling the gas at the Tempest.

11. Faraday succeeds at disabling the chemicals contained in the Tempest.

12. The Barge is financed by Charles Widmore.

13. According to Ben, Widmore wants to exploit the Island.

14. Locke allows Ben a measure of freedom.

Analysis

1. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Barge (and Widmore) are associated with DHARMA. After all Faraday/Charlotte know about the Purge and Ben’s machinations. They even have a map of the Island. This still does not fully explain why DHARMA made a food drop on the Island after the crash of Flight 815. It could have been done as a supply drop for the future Barge mission or, as many things with LOST appear to go, it may remain unexplained forever.

2. Hearing whispering prior to Harper’s appearance in the jungle suggests that she is a Hostile. There are basically three categories of Others: (1) Hostiles; (2) Ben; and (3) subsequent recruits. I believe that Harper falls in to the category of being a Hostile since the power to appear with whispers has been previously associated with Hostiles such as Richard. Another point is that whispers only appear to happen in the jungle.

3. The meaning of the whispers. I previously speculated that the whispers demonstrate that the Hostiles are not alive in the conventional meaning of the term (see Episode 4:1, Thesis 2). A possible problem with this thesis is the marriage of Harper (an apparent Hostile) to Goodwin (an apparent recruit rather than a Hostile). But, on the other hand, Charlie once dead can still muster a physical presence which would mean that a person who is dead in the conventional sense of the word could still have a marital relationship with a live human being. Given recent revelations on LOST, it is also possible that the whispers are associated with some as yet unexplained space/time travel that the Hostiles can engage in on the Island and, more specifically, in the jungle.

4. Ben being locked up does not mean that he is isolated from contact with the Others. If the Others/Hostiles can jump around the Island and the World, it would certainly seem as though they could jump around the Island and talk to Ben no matter where he might be.

5. Jack continues to exhibit horrible judgment. (See Thesis 6). Yes Jack follow Faraday/Charlotte into the jungle at night to try to pick up their trail -- give me a freaking break.

6. The Smoke Monster is conspicuously absent this season. This absence is unexplained and, at this juncture, unexplainable unless the smoke monster is "dead" or being operated out of a control station that has been disabled.

7. The identity of Ben’s man on the Barge. It was so shocking that Locke had to sit down to hear the information. There are two categories of people who would be shocking: (1) someone Locke knows already (i.e., Walt or Michael); or (2) someone who is a high officer on the Barge (i.e., the Captain).

8. The reason the Hostiles do not take it upon themselves to stop Faraday/Charlotte is unexplained. However, it may be that they are unable to do so which would dovetail with my previously expressed theory that they are not alive in a conventional sense and that somehow restricts their ability to act in certain circumstances.