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« Roush Dispatch
Juliet: Lost's First Lady of Mystery
But, soft! What light on yonder island breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun.
Apologies to Shakespeare. OK, apologies to everyone. But how can anyone who's watching Lost these days not have fallen under the spell of Juliet Burke? So alluring, so enigmatic, strangely both warm and chilly beneath that elusive Mona Lisa smile, forever challenging our assumptions about her ultimate motives. Is she good? Is she bad? Probably both, right? Is she, as Jack declares (and which provided the title of Wednesday's excellent, twisty episode), "one of us"? Oh, Jack, you deluded, trusting, overprotective fool.
Whatever she is, Juliet's one for the ages. Even in last fall's much-derided "pod" of episodes that introduced us to her and the Village of the Others, Juliet stood out, an object of fascination as she asserted control over her captives, while betraying an underlying sense of desperation. Elizabeth Mitchell nailed it from the start, but she really came into her own as a full-fledged Lost-ie this week. I agree with Michael Ausiello. She deserves serious Emmy attention.
Juliet is both manipulator and one of the manipulated, and even when she's calculating you can see in her eyes that she's trapped. That's some powerful acting. The one thing Jack said that is ultimately correct about her: "You want to get off this island more than anything else in the world." She is one of them, except when she isn't. (The fact that her infiltration was planned, and the Claire health crisis was rigged, propels the show into loony sci-fi land again, but still, an effective emotional reversal.)
The episode also delivered plenty of answers, or at least provocative new theories, about what's happening on Mystery Island and certainly about what brought Juliet there: to research and hopefully fix whatever it is that's killing all the pregnant women. (What an arbitrary island: It cures cancer, heals the lame, but somehow disallows new life, until Claire arrived, to emerge?) What does this mean for Sun? Now there's a great story to take to the end of the season.
I also loved the flashbacks more than usual, especially as they pertained to life on the island that was happening while we were looking elsewhere. Once again, as in the season opener, I was floored by the sequence in which the Village of the Others watched in amazement as Oceanic Flight 815 broke apart in the sky above. How unnerving to see Ben jump immediately into action, ordering immediate infiltration into the camp of the survivors and for lists to be made, then zipping over to Mikhail's amazing comm center to start compiling info on the passenger manifest. That led to the wrenching moment in which Juliet was shown via satellite remote that her sister Rachel and nephew Julian were still alive (as of September 22, 2004, the historic day of Lost's premiere). In Juliet's hysteria, Elizabeth Mitchell didn't just rise to the occasion. She was an occasion.
We all know what happens when Lost introduces new characters that feel out of place or distracting from our primary focus and enjoyment. (R.I.P., Nikki and Paulo.) Juliet Burke is not one of those characters. She really is "one of them," or better yet, "one of those." In other words, a keeper. Whatever Ben has in store for our beloved beachcombers in the "week" to come, Juliet's actions and reactions will be something to watch, to ponder, to enjoy. To me, she's no longer just an Other. She's other-worldly.
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Apr 12, 2007 10:14 AM
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Spot on analysis, Matt.
I look forward to your (almost) weekly analysis of Lost, and I am so grateful to see someone at TV Guide love the show as whole-heartedly as you do.
It's interesting to note that Juliet has become the most complex character on the show, right up there with John Locke. I loved her throughout the entire episode, but then within a few short minutes, hated her with ever fiber of my being. I've since cooled down (she's just too rad to hate), but man alive...the next 5 eppys are going to be fantastic...One cannot disagree with that.
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Apr 12, 2007 11:09 AM
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I gotta agree, Elizabeth Mitchell is fantastic!!
...Of course I've had a crush on her since I saw her in Frequency, but that shouldn't diminish my praise.
Last night was a great episode, I definitely didn't see the twist coming...and yet I was still thinking Jack was a fool for trusting her (after the reveal...like he somehow should have known, because I know he saw the same flashbacks we did...wait..no). Then Sayid's distrust gets vindicated...and I was thinking he was a a** for not trusting her. Of course he doesn't know that, but still!
Well played gentlemen, well played. I was confused, excited, not willing to watch the commercials (love my DVR), emotionally..tugged, pissed, overjoyed, and bitter all in the same 42 minutes. Now that's a riveting show as far as I'm concerned.
Keep it up Matt, you rock too!
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Apr 12, 2007 11:30 AM
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Spot on. Juliet is Love. I don't care if she's One of Us, One of Them, or On Her Own...she's awesome!
However, his name's Paulo, not Paolo.
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Apr 12, 2007 12:02 PM
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Truly one of the best episodes of this series. I agree with everyone in praise for EM's acting. I was totally mesmerized last night and the fact we're not sure of Juliet's true motives only adds to my enjoyment.
Also, many answers were provided, but many more questions arose.
An outstanding episode.
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Apr 12, 2007 12:50 PM
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Now the first six episodes of the season are "much-derided"? Why is it every time you mention them their level drops another notch? And why is it whenever you speak of the show in any context you mention those episodes? It's as if you're fixated on them, which is strange, because you didn't even see them for what they were: not much different quality-wise than any other Lost episode you could pick out of a hat. Watch them again; they don't deserve to be singled out this way.
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Apr 12, 2007 1:24 PM
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Bonasi - It is Paolo. He is Brazillian - that's how you spell his name.
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Apr 12, 2007 1:44 PM
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Lost is one of the most unfairly derided shows I've ever seen. The quality on Lost, since the beginning, has been amazingly consistent. If you ignore those "fans" who seem to want some simple-headed episodes where Kate, Jack, and Sawyer merrily ride off in the sunset on a bicycle-built-for-three while birds fly by with banners that say "The numbers mean this" and "The secret to the island is that," you find a show that's been much more consistent in quality through three seasons than something like "Heroes" has even been in one. I agree with the last poster about the first few episodes of the season: if you go back and watch them, not only are they actually good, but they do a bang-up job setting up a number of big things that have happened since "Lost" got back. I sometimes see "fans" lumping "Lost" with "24" this year as shows that have lost their edge. That's so completely unfair, I don't know where to begin. "24" has been a disaster this season, like watching a slow-motion train wreck. With "24" this year, I not only feel like I'm watching repeats of the show, but really bad repeats. "Lost," on the other hand, has had many interesting twists that, by devices such as exploring the Others and great characters like Juliet, added new elements to the show, rather than just resting on its laurels.
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Apr 12, 2007 1:54 PM
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Yes, it was a good episode. And about d*mn time, too. But it occurred to me that Juliet still has to take Ben's word for it that her sister is OK and her baby was OK. Her sister could have been babysitting for all we really know. (I know, I know-- that WAS her kid, but I'm makin' a point here.) And as for showing the newspaper with "today's date": that could have been totally bogus. It's not like Juliet can check the newspaper to see if that was real.
I've been bothered in the past by having too many flashbacks--and most of them irrelevant, too--but as Matt said, tonight's were different, as they directly reflected life on the island and even the lives of the Losties.
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Apr 12, 2007 6:12 PM
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I wonder when the guy said at the end during the previews for next week that this is the beginning of the end.. did it mean end of season or end of series next year???? I would hope it just meant beginning of the end of this season.....
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Apr 12, 2007 6:25 PM
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Getting a bit repetitive, but I totally agree with you Matt, Juliet has revived my interest in the show, and this episode was great in that we actually got some answers. So we know why she is there, but why is she still working for Ben now he can't get off the island with the sub gone? Has he promised her another way off if she manages to solve the pregnancy problem? Or does she now consider herself on his side as he kept his word about saving her sister? Elizabeth Mitchell is a brilliant actress, and I look forward to more Juliet on the show. She has been a terrific addition to the cast.
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Apr 12, 2007 8:54 PM
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Juliet is a pimp!! She is playing all of the islanders, and poor Jack is gonna feel like such a fool for allowing her to infiltrate their camp. The way she shut Sayid and Sawyer down was CLASSIC!!
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Apr 12, 2007 8:55 PM
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Actually, it's not inconsistent that the island would both cure cancer AND disallow pregnancy, since both can be seen as 'growths' - cancer, after all, is an overabundance of cellular production. It's all about protection against foreign bodies - an interesting metaphor for the island itself and the ways of the Others.
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Apr 12, 2007 11:32 PM
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Elizabeth Mitchell is brilliant. She has that cold stare and yet can break your heart when grieving the loss of her real life. Last night's flashbacks were the best, showing us in a whole new light what we'd seen in part before. I loved it.
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Apr 13, 2007 12:43 AM
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