LOST: The Other Woman

The LOST episodes are still supporting my Grand Unified Theory, with Widmore revealed as Ben's oppenent and the person seeking to exploit the island. And although the last installment of LOST didn't feature a shocking twist ending, it did feature Elizabeth Mitchell, and that's plenty enough for me!

Her character, Juliet Burke, is simultaneously smart and naive, vulnerable yet dangerous, and friendly but lonely and rather sad. She usually wears an enigmatic expression that is almost impossible to read - a mask hiding her true feelings. It turns out that she has much to hide. She doesn't want to tell Jack about her past, saying "I'm sure there are things from your past that you'd rather not talk about." Jack answers "Yeah. You read about them in my file", to which Juliet responds "Trust Me, Jack. You don't want to know what's in my file."

One of those things is Juliet's affair with Goodwin, who is married to her therapist, Harper Stanhope. When Harper learns of the affair, she becomes concerned about Goodwin, because she knows that Ben has eyes for Juliet himself. Her worries were well-founded, as Ben sends Goodwin to infiltrate the tail section survivors, and to his doom at the hands of Anna Lucia.

Other than showing Ben's cruel streak and petulance, it also implies that Ben knew what Goodwin's fate would be, supporting my belief that Ben is not limited by space and time. Another clue is the appearance of Harper, in the middle of the jungle, accompanied by rain and the ghostly whispers. Harper tells Juliet she has a message from Ben. Daniel and Charlotte are going to The Tempest station, and she needs to kill them. If she is was sent by Ben, and he is"right where he wants to be" then being locked in the basement is not much of a constraint for him.

Of course, Harper may not have been Harper, but a manifestation of the Smoke Monster. Smokie has scanned Juliet before, and I'm sure Harper would have stood out in her memories. If it was Smokie, then is it acting alone or was it sent by someone - Jacob perhaps? Ben?