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The Other Woman (Lost)
Encyclopedia
"The Other Woman" is the 78th episode of the serial
drama
television series
Lost
and the sixth episode of the show's fourth season
. It aired on March 6, 2008 on the American Broadcasting Company
in the United States and on CTV
in Canada. The episode was written by co-executive producer Drew Goddard
and executive story editor Christina M. Kim
, and was directed by Eric Laneuville
.
The narrative begins on December 24, 2004, 94 days after the crash of Oceanic Airlines
Flight 815. Recent island arrivals Daniel Faraday
(played by Jeremy Davies
) and Charlotte Lewis
(Rebecca Mader
) leave the survivors' camp without notice for the Dharma Initiative
electrical station called the Tempest. In flashbacks that depict events on the island, Juliet Burke
(Elizabeth Mitchell
) discovers that her boss Ben Linus (Michael Emerson
), the leader of the island's original inhabitants referred to as the Others, is in love with her.
The writers advanced several story lines with "The Other Woman". The episode furthers Juliet's back story and relationships, sheds more light on the season's new characters, and features the first appearance of Harper Stanhope (Andrea Roth
). The introduction of the Tempest further develops the series' mythology
, specifically the "purge". In the third season, the purge was mentioned in episode "Enter 77
" and seen in "The Man Behind the Curtain
".
"The Other Woman" was watched by 15 million Americans and received mixed reviews. Critics from the Los Angeles Times
, Entertainment Weekly
, and BuddyTV
deemed it the worst episode of the season, partially due to a flashback storyline that was seemingly recycled from the third season episode, "One of Us
". Another criticism was that audiences actually learned more about Ben than Juliet, despite the focus on Juliet. Emerson also received more praise for his acting than Mitchell, who plays Juliet; however, Mitchell won a Saturn Award
for her performance. Positive reviews commended the action in the episode's climax.
), who is married to therapist Harper Stanhope. Harper discovers the affair, and warns Juliet that their leader Ben will punish Goodwin because he has a crush on Juliet. Following the crash of Flight 815, Ben sends him to infiltrate a group of surviving passengers; Goodwin is murdered by one of them after they realize he is not a survivor. In October 2004, Ben invites Juliet to what he initially describes as a dinner party, but is actually a private date. Ben leads Juliet to Goodwin's impaled corpse, where she accuses him of having wanted Goodwin to die. Ben reveals his love for her.
On the night of December 24, 2004 (three months after the crash of Flight 815), two members of a science team from the Kahana freighter anchored offshore—Daniel and Charlotte—who landed on the island three days earlier with a hidden agenda, sneak off to find the Tempest. Juliet and the crash survivors' leader Jack Shephard
(Matthew Fox
) notice their absence from the beach camp and pursue them. After hearing the whispers, Harper approaches Juliet. She tells her that Daniel and Charlotte intend to kill everyone on the island by deploying a lethal gas at the Tempest and that Ben's orders are for Juliet to kill them. On a trek back to the beach in the morning, Kate encounters Daniel and Charlotte and is knocked unconscious by the latter. Jack and Juliet come across Kate and they split up: Juliet continues for the Tempest alone, as Jack minds Kate. Inside the station, Juliet finds Daniel in a hazmat suit
at a computer. After a standoff, Daniel and Charlotte convince Juliet that they are not going to kill anyone; they are neutralizing the gas in case Ben decides to use it again, as he had twelve years earlier in an Others-led purge of Dharma. Jack arrives at the Tempest and Juliet explains that those on the freighter came to the island to wage war against Ben and she expects him to win. She fears for Jack because Ben thinks that she belongs to him, but Jack shows no worry and kisses her.
In the Barracks, Ben bargains with 815 survivor John Locke
(Terry O'Quinn
) for his freedom. He reveals that Charles Widmore
(Alan Dale
)—the father of Desmond Hume
's (Henry Ian Cusick
) girlfriend, Penny (Sonya Walger
)—owns the freighter and hopes to exploit the island. Ben also tells Locke who his spy on the freighter is. Ben continues to reside in the Barracks following his release.
Co-executive producer and staff writer Adam Horowitz stated that "It's always interesting to pull back another layer on one of our characters, and to see another chapter in Juliet's story on the island and bring us to where she is now was great", while fellow co-executive producer and staff writer Edward Kitsis
thought that "the interesting thing about the episode is the way Ben looks at Juliet ... everything is informed by that look." Horowitz also enjoyed the juxtaposition of Juliet's character development with the revelations on the "freighter folk". Kitsis picked the episode's final scene where Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia
) and James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway
) discover that Ben has negotiated his release and will be dining with them that evening as his favorite of the episode. Actress Rebecca Mader, who plays Charlotte, said that she was "so excited" for the episode to air because she thought that it was "even better" than the previous episode
, which is widely regarded as one of the best episodes of the series. Charlotte knocks Kate unconscious with the barrel of her gun and asks "what?" to a speechless Daniel in "The Other Woman". Mader found this hilarious and described it as "the pinnacle of career".
Andrea Roth makes her first appearance as Harper in "The Other Woman". During casting in early October, Harper was described as "a tough, no-nonsense and beautiful overly controlling and obsessive." The character was also noted as a recurring role; however, Harper did not make another appearance in the season. The writers have since stated that she will eventually reappear. A jungle scene with Mitchell, Fox and Roth was filmed until 4:00 a.m. on October 27, 2007 with industrial sprinklers and Mitchell referred to this as her "most intense experience on the show". Harper's appearance and disappearance in this scene are sudden so fans speculated that this was actually an apparition or manifestation of the island's black smoke monster. This was refuted by Lost' s writers.
Named after William Shakespeare
's 1610 play of the same name
, the Tempest first appears in "The Other Woman" and is apparently alluded to on an unseen layer of the Dharma "Swan" station's blast door map of the second season. The writers wanted to explain some of the island's history in the fourth season and decided that "The Other Woman" would reveal where the gas that Ben used came from and that Dharma had stations set up for protection against hostile forces. They also enjoyed having Goodwin on the show and wanted to bring him back. "The Other Woman" had commenced filming by October 11, 2007 and was completed on October 30.
"The Other Woman" contains Jack and Juliet's second kiss. Juliet was conceived by the writers as the next possible love interest for Jack after the death of the second season character
Ana Lucia Cortez
(Michelle Rodriguez
). Fans hated Ana Lucia so the writers did not pursue the 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 believes that Juliet did genuinely fall in love with Jack, but not knowing whether "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 rectangle" with Jack, Kate and Sawyer. 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 gained an Internet fandom
and been given the portmanteau nickname "Jacket".
"The Other Woman" was watched live or recorded and watched within five hours of broadcast by 13.008 million viewers in the United States, ranking seventh for the week in television programs with the most viewers and achieving a 5.4/13 in the coveted adults aged eighteen to forty-nine demographic. Including those who watched within seven days of broadcast, the episode was watched by a total of 14.933 million American viewers; this number went toward the season's average. 1.439 million Canadians watched it, making Lost the eighth highest-rated show of the week. In the United Kingdom, 1.1 million people viewed the episode. The episode brought in 691,000 viewers in Australia, placing it as the twenty-second most watched show of the night.
A common claim by critics of Entertainment Weekly
, IGN
, SyFy Portal
, AOL
's TV Squad and BuddyTV was that more was learned about supporting player Ben, instead of Juliet who was centered on in flashbacks. Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly praised 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." SyFy Portal's Dan Compora said that "The more I hate Ben, the more I realize that Michael Emerson is just a very fine actor doing his job." Oscar Dahl of BuddyTV called Emerson an acting "god" and said that "The Other Woman" was "ostensibly a Juliet episode, Ben's presence made a far bigger impression on me". Despite Emerson's shadow, Elizabeth Mitchell received the award for "Best Supporting Actress on Television
" at the 34th Saturn Awards
in a tie with Summer Glau
, who plays Cameron Phillips in FOX
's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
"The Other Woman" has been cited as the weakest episode of Lost' s fourth season. Despite his claim, Patrick Day of the Los Angeles Times 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 reminded him of how little the character had done to advance the season's plot. BuddyTV's John Kubicek dubbed "The Other Woman" "the worst episode of Lost season four 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." Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly graded the episode as a "C–" and called it "the only true dud of the season". He thought that its "story was kinda all over the place" and that "the whole thing felt forced". Jensen was not fond of Andrea Roth's guest performance because he felt that "she came off as too arch and unreal." In contrast, TV Guide
' s Bruce Fretts praised Roth's "suitably creepy" appearance. Other critics also reviewed the episode as poor. Maureen Ryan of Chicago Tribune
said that "The Other Woman" "seemed somewhat pallid and predictable … several elements … felt like they'd been recycled from previous seasons and story arcs." The Star-Ledger
' s Alan Sepinwall considered the episode to be the second weakest of the fourth season after "Eggtown
". He criticized the Tempest storyline due to a lack of explanation for the station's original purpose and thought that Juliet's flashbacks were redundant.
"The Other Woman" was also the subject of mixed reviews. Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle
wrote that "I really liked this episode, but I liked it less than the … it seems that someone took their foot off the gas just a fraction and the reduction in speed was notable. Time
' s James Poniewozik had mixed feelings for the flashbacks, but enjoyed Ben's character development. Nikki Stafford of Wizard
"enjoyed" the "interesting" episode, although "not nearly as much" as the previous episode. She rejoiced at the return of her "favorite Other" Tom
(M.C. Gainey
) and wrote that "Locke used to be one of favorite characters, but now he's a tool". Digital Spy
's Ben Rawson-Jones stated that "the episode came together nicely in the end, with an expected twist and a snog
, although for a great part it bordered on tedium. Juliet is a character who simply isn't interesting enough to fully sustain one's attention over a flashback. She's been so peripheral and irrelevant over this season, and it felt like a token gesture to foreground her at last. There was a nice pay off though, with a long awaited smooch between her and Jack." Daniel of TMZ
graded the episode as a "C+"; however, he wrote that "the Ben/Locke scenes were great and Juliet in a bikini did not disappoint." TV Squad's Erin Martell was "not impressed with Jack and Juliet's chemistry" and found their kiss "unconvincing". Martell commended Emerson's acting, Ben's one-liners and his "too funny for words" casual greeting to Hurley and Sawyer at the end of the episode after he is released from captivity. The Huffington Post
's Jay Glatfelter thought that "this was another great episode could have lived up to last week's episode, but there was still a lot of solid character development."
Verne Gay of Newsday
referred to the episode as "yet another brilliant outing by TV's best drama keeps getting better"; she was not the only critic to give a positive review. E!
's Kristin Dos Santos 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", such as Widmore. Chris Carabott of IGN gave the episode a score of eight out of ten and described 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 [Ben and Juliet's] 'relationship' really is was fascinating". SyFy Portal's Dan Compora wrote that "this week's episode contributed to what is shaping up to be a pretty solid fourth season. … Fine acting carried the episode despite a few potholes in the plot." Compora also enjoyed the title and the "nice cat fight" in the Tempest between Juliet and Charlotte.
Serial (radio and television)
Serials are series of television programs and radio programs that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode by episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire television seasons or even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from...
drama
Dramatic programming
Dramatic programming in the UK, or television drama and television drama series in the US, is television program content that is scripted and fictional along the lines of √a traditional drama. This excludes, for example, sports television, television news, reality show and game shows, stand-up...
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
and the sixth episode of the show's fourth season
Lost (season 4)
The fourth season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing on the American Broadcasting Company Network in the United States, and on CTV in Canada on January 31, 2008 and concluded on May 29, 2008...
. It aired on March 6, 2008 on the American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in the United States and on CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
in Canada. The episode was written by co-executive producer Drew Goddard
Drew Goddard
Drew Goddard is an American film and television screenwriter and producer best known for his collaborations with Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams .Goddard joined the crew of Lost as a freelance writer for the first season in 2004...
and executive story editor Christina M. Kim
Christina M. Kim
Christina M. Kim is an American television writer. In the 2005-06 television season, she joined the writing staff of Lost for the series second season. The staff won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series at the February 2006 ceremony for their work on the second season. She...
, and was directed by Eric Laneuville
Eric Laneuville
Eric Gerard Laneuville is an American television director, actor and martial artist. His first prominent acting roles were in the science-fiction film The Omega Man with Charlton Heston and the ABC television series Room 222 . His role as Luther Hawkins in the television series St...
.
The narrative begins on December 24, 2004, 94 days after the crash of Oceanic Airlines
Oceanic Airlines
Oceanic Airlines and less frequently Oceanic Airways are fictional airlines used in several films and television programs.The most famous use of this brand is in the TV show Lost, where Oceanic Airlines is featured branded with a highly-stylized logo depicting an Aboriginal dot painting that...
Flight 815. Recent island arrivals Daniel Faraday
Daniel Faraday
Dr. Daniel Faraday, often referred to as Dan or simply by his surname, Faraday, is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Jeremy Davies. Faraday is introduced in the season four premiere as a physicist, suffering from memory loss, and is part of the team aboard the ...
(played by Jeremy Davies
Jeremy Davies (actor)
Jeremy Davies is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying the interpreter Cpl. Timothy E. Upham in the film Saving Private Ryan and the physicist Daniel Faraday on the television series Lost. He most recently appeared in the FX series, Justified, as Dickie Bennett.-Early...
) and Charlotte Lewis
Charlotte Lewis (Lost)
Dr. Charlotte Staples Lewis is a fictional character on the American Broadcasting Company television series Lost, played by Rebecca Mader. Charlotte is introduced in the second episode of season four and is a cultural anthropologist on a mission to the island where Oceanic Flight 815 crashed...
(Rebecca Mader
Rebecca Mader
Rebecca Leigh Mader is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Morgan Gordon on All My Children and Charlotte Lewis on Lost.-Career:...
) leave the survivors' camp without notice for the Dharma Initiative
DHARMA Initiative
The Dharma Initiative, also written DHARMA , was a fictional research project featured in the television series Lost. It was introduced in the second season episode "Orientation". In 2008, the Dharma Initiative website was launched. Dharma's interests were directly connected with fringe science...
electrical station called the Tempest. In flashbacks that depict events on the island, Juliet Burke
Juliet Burke
Dr. Juliet Burke is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Elizabeth Mitchell. Her character was introduced in the third season premiere.- Prior to arrival on the island :...
(Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell , is an American actress/modelwho is known for her roles as Dr. Juliet Burke on ABC's TV series Lost and as FBI agent Erica Evans on V. She has starred in such films as The Santa Clause 2, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, and Gia.-Early life:Mitchell was born Elizabeth...
) discovers that her boss Ben Linus (Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...
), the leader of the island's original inhabitants referred to as the Others, is in love with her.
The writers advanced several story lines with "The Other Woman". The episode furthers Juliet's back story and relationships, sheds more light on the season's new characters, and features the first appearance of Harper Stanhope (Andrea Roth
Andrea Roth
Andrea Roth is a Canadian actress. She is perhaps best known for her role on the FX television series Rescue Me , as Janet Gavin, the wife of main character Tommy Gavin.-Biography:...
). The introduction of the Tempest further develops the series' mythology
Mythology of Lost
The television show Lost includes a number of mysterious elements that have been ascribed to science fiction or supernatural phenomena, usually concerning coincidences, synchronicity, déjà vu, temporal and spatial anomalies, paradoxes, and other puzzling phenomena...
, specifically the "purge". In the third season, the purge was mentioned in episode "Enter 77
Enter 77
"Enter 77" is the 11th episode of the third season of Lost, and the 60th episode overall. It was aired on March 7, 2007. The episode was written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and directed by Stephen Williams. The character of Sayid Jarrah was featured in the episode's...
" and seen in "The Man Behind the Curtain
The Man Behind the Curtain
"The Man Behind the Curtain" is the 20th episode of the 3rd season of Lost, and the 69th episode overall. It was first aired on May 9, 2007 on ABC. The episode was directed by Bobby Roth and written by Elizabeth Sarnoff and Drew Goddard....
".
"The Other Woman" was watched by 15 million Americans and received mixed reviews. Critics from the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, and BuddyTV
BuddyTV
BuddyTV is an entertainment-based website based in Seattle, Washington, which generates content about television programs and sporting events. The website publishes information about celebrity and related entertainment news through a series of articles, entertainment profiles, actor biographies and...
deemed it the worst episode of the season, partially due to a flashback storyline that was seemingly recycled from the third season episode, "One of Us
One of Us (Lost)
"One of Us" is the 16th episode of the third season of Lost. It aired on April 11, 2007, making it the 65th episode of the series. The episode was written by Carlton Cuse and Drew Goddard and directed by Jack Bender...
". Another criticism was that audiences actually learned more about Ben than Juliet, despite the focus on Juliet. Emerson also received more praise for his acting than Mitchell, who plays Juliet; however, Mitchell won a Saturn Award
Saturn Award
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...
for her performance. Positive reviews commended the action in the episode's climax.
Plot
The episode opens with flashbacks to Juliet's life on the island following her recruitment in September 2001 by the Others. Juliet has an affair with an Other named Goodwin (Brett CullenBrett Cullen
Peter Brett Cullen is an American actor who has appeared in numerous motion pictures and television programs. Early in 2007, he was cast as the role of an estranged father to one of the American football players, Tim Riggins , in the NBC drama series Friday Night Lights.Cullen was born in Houston,...
), who is married to therapist Harper Stanhope. Harper discovers the affair, and warns Juliet that their leader Ben will punish Goodwin because he has a crush on Juliet. Following the crash of Flight 815, Ben sends him to infiltrate a group of surviving passengers; Goodwin is murdered by one of them after they realize he is not a survivor. In October 2004, Ben invites Juliet to what he initially describes as a dinner party, but is actually a private date. Ben leads Juliet to Goodwin's impaled corpse, where she accuses him of having wanted Goodwin to die. Ben reveals his love for her.
On the night of December 24, 2004 (three months after the crash of Flight 815), two members of a science team from the Kahana freighter anchored offshore—Daniel and Charlotte—who landed on the island three days earlier with a hidden agenda, sneak off to find the Tempest. Juliet and the crash survivors' leader Jack Shephard
Jack Shephard
Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and protagonist of the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Lost follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to survive and escape, slowly uncovering more of the much broader...
(Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox (actor)
Matthew Chandler Fox is an American actor. He is mostly known for his role as Charlie Salinger on Party of Five, and for portraying Jack Shephard on the supernatural drama television series Lost.- Early life :...
) notice their absence from the beach camp and pursue them. After hearing the whispers, Harper approaches Juliet. She tells her that Daniel and Charlotte intend to kill everyone on the island by deploying a lethal gas at the Tempest and that Ben's orders are for Juliet to kill them. On a trek back to the beach in the morning, Kate encounters Daniel and Charlotte and is knocked unconscious by the latter. Jack and Juliet come across Kate and they split up: Juliet continues for the Tempest alone, as Jack minds Kate. Inside the station, Juliet finds Daniel in a hazmat suit
Hazmat suit
A hazmat suit is a garment worn as protection from hazardous materials or substances. A hazmat suit is generally combined with breathing apparatus for protection and may be used by firefighters, emergency personnel responding to toxic spills, researchers, specialists cleaning up contaminated...
at a computer. After a standoff, Daniel and Charlotte convince Juliet that they are not going to kill anyone; they are neutralizing the gas in case Ben decides to use it again, as he had twelve years earlier in an Others-led purge of Dharma. Jack arrives at the Tempest and Juliet explains that those on the freighter came to the island to wage war against Ben and she expects him to win. She fears for Jack because Ben thinks that she belongs to him, but Jack shows no worry and kisses her.
In the Barracks, Ben bargains with 815 survivor John Locke
John Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
(Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
) for his freedom. He reveals that Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific. He is primarily portrayed as an older man by Alan Dale; Tom Connolly and David S...
(Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Alan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale developed a love of theatre and also became a rugby player. After retiring from the sport he took on a number of professions to support his family, before deciding to become a professional actor at the age of 27. With work limited in New...
)—the father of Desmond Hume
Desmond Hume
Desmond David Hume is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick. Desmond's name is a tribute to David Hume, the famous empiricist author and philosopher. Desmond was not a passenger of Flight 815. He had been stranded on the island three years prior to...
's (Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick is a Scottish-Peruvian actor of stage, television, and film. He is well-known for his role as Desmond Hume on the United States television series Lost, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination....
) girlfriend, Penny (Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger is an English actress known for her roles in the ABC series Lost as Penelope "Penny" Widmore, and as Olivia Benford on ABC's FlashForward.-Education:...
)—owns the freighter and hopes to exploit the island. Ben also tells Locke who his spy on the freighter is. Ben continues to reside in the Barracks following his release.
Production
When asked about what she learned about her character through "The Other Woman", Elizabeth Mitchell surmised that Juliet's "mistakes are morally questionable, if not morally wrong. But you do see that behind this is a human being who is struggling to live and have a life that makes sense to her." 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 his character Ben was childish when he shouted "you're mine!" to Juliet; Mitchell compared him 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.Co-executive producer and staff writer Adam Horowitz stated that "It's always interesting to pull back another layer on one of our characters, and to see another chapter in Juliet's story on the island and bring us to where she is now was great", while fellow co-executive producer and staff writer Edward Kitsis
Edward Kitsis
Edward Lawrence Kitsis, also sometimes credited as Eddy Kitsis, is an American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on the popular American television series, Lost and Once Upon a Time.-Life and career:...
thought that "the interesting thing about the episode is the way Ben looks at Juliet ... everything is informed by that look." Horowitz also enjoyed the juxtaposition of Juliet's character development with the revelations on the "freighter folk". Kitsis picked the episode's final scene where Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia
Jorge Garcia
Jorge García is a U.S. actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show Becker and later for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in the television series Lost. Garcia also performs as a stand-up comedian.-Early life:García was born...
) and James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway
Josh Holloway
Joshua Lee "Josh" Holloway is an American actor and model from Free Home, Georgia. He is best known for his role as James "Sawyer" Ford on the American television show Lost.-Early life:...
) discover that Ben has negotiated his release and will be dining with them that evening as his favorite of the episode. Actress Rebecca Mader, who plays Charlotte, said that she was "so excited" for the episode to air because she thought that it was "even better" than the previous episode
The Constant
"The Constant" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the American Broadcasting Company's serial drama television series Lost, and the 77th episode overall. It was aired on February 28, 2008, on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada...
, which is widely regarded as one of the best episodes of the series. Charlotte knocks Kate unconscious with the barrel of her gun and asks "what?" to a speechless Daniel in "The Other Woman". Mader found this hilarious and described it as "the pinnacle of career".
Andrea Roth makes her first appearance as Harper in "The Other Woman". During casting in early October, Harper was described as "a tough, no-nonsense and beautiful overly controlling and obsessive." The character was also noted as a recurring role; however, Harper did not make another appearance in the season. The writers have since stated that she will eventually reappear. A jungle scene with Mitchell, Fox and Roth was filmed until 4:00 a.m. on October 27, 2007 with industrial sprinklers and Mitchell referred to this as her "most intense experience on the show". Harper's appearance and disappearance in this scene are sudden so fans speculated that this was actually an apparition or manifestation of the island's black smoke monster. This was refuted by Lost
Named after William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's 1610 play of the same name
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
, the Tempest first appears in "The Other Woman" and is apparently alluded to on an unseen layer of the Dharma "Swan" station's blast door map of the second season. The writers wanted to explain some of the island's history in the fourth season and decided that "The Other Woman" would reveal where the gas that Ben used came from and that Dharma had stations set up for protection against hostile forces. They also enjoyed having Goodwin on the show and wanted to bring him back. "The Other Woman" had commenced filming by October 11, 2007 and was completed on October 30.
"The Other Woman" contains Jack and Juliet's second kiss. Juliet was conceived by the writers as the next possible love interest for Jack after the death of the second season character
Characters of Lost
The characters from the American drama/adventure television series Lost were created by Damon Lindelof and J. J. Abrams. The series follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island, after a commercial passenger jet crashes somewhere in the South Pacific...
Ana Lucia Cortez
Ana Lucia Cortez
Ana Lucia Cortez is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Michelle Rodriguez. Ana Lucia made her first appearance as a guest star in the first season finale, and became part of the main cast for season two. After Oceanic Flight 815 splits in mid-air, the tail section...
(Michelle Rodriguez
Michelle Rodriguez
Mayte Michelle Rodríguez , known professionally as Michelle Rodriguez, is an American actress. Following on from her breakthrough role in 2000's Girlfight, she is best known for playing tough-girl roles and starring in Hollywood blockbusters such as The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil,...
). Fans hated Ana Lucia so the writers did not pursue the 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 believes that Juliet did genuinely fall in love with Jack, but not knowing whether "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 rectangle" with Jack, Kate and Sawyer. 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 gained an Internet fandom
Fandom
Fandom is a term used to refer to a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of sympathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest...
and been given the portmanteau nickname "Jacket".
Reception
A common claim by critics of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
, SyFy Portal
SyFy Portal
Airlock Alpha, formerly SyFy Portal, is an entertainment news website focusing on science-fiction, fantasy and comic book television series and films.-History:...
, AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
's TV Squad and BuddyTV was that more was learned about supporting player Ben, instead of Juliet who was centered on in flashbacks. Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly praised 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." SyFy Portal's Dan Compora said that "The more I hate Ben, the more I realize that Michael Emerson is just a very fine actor doing his job." Oscar Dahl of BuddyTV called Emerson an acting "god" and said that "The Other Woman" was "ostensibly a Juliet episode, Ben's presence made a far bigger impression on me". Despite Emerson's shadow, Elizabeth Mitchell received the award for "Best Supporting Actress on Television
Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television
The following are a list of Saturn Award nominees & winners for Best Supporting Actress on Television:*1999: Justina Vail - Seven Days**Charisma Carpenter - Angel**Virginia Hey - Farscape**Heather Matarazzo - Now and Again...
" at the 34th Saturn Awards
34th Saturn Awards
The 34th Saturn Awards, honoring the best in science fiction, fantasy and horror film and television in 2007 were presented on June 24, 2008 in Universal City Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, California.Below is a complete list of nominees and winners...
in a tie with Summer Glau
Summer Glau
Summer Lyn Glau is an American actress, known for playing River Tam in the science fiction series Firefly and follow-up film Serenity, and for playing Cameron in the series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.-Early life:...
, who plays Cameron Phillips in FOX
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
"The Other Woman" has been cited as the weakest episode of Lost
Claire Littleton
Claire Littleton is a fictional character played by Emilie de Ravin on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the South Pacific. Claire is introduced in the pilot episode as a pregnant crash survivor. She is a series regular until her...
's (Emilie de Ravin
Emilie de Ravin
Emilie de Ravin born 27 December 1981)is an Australian actress. She is commonly associated with her roles as Tess Harding on Roswell and Claire Littleton on the ABC drama Lost....
) appearance because it reminded him of how little the character had done to advance the season's plot. BuddyTV's John Kubicek dubbed "The Other Woman" "the worst episode of Lost season four 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." Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly graded the episode as a "C–" and called it "the only true dud of the season". He thought that its "story was kinda all over the place" and that "the whole thing felt forced". Jensen was not fond of Andrea Roth's guest performance because he felt that "she came off as too arch and unreal." In contrast, TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
said that "The Other Woman" "seemed somewhat pallid and predictable … several elements … felt like they'd been recycled from previous seasons and story arcs." The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
Eggtown
"Eggtown" is the fourth episode of the American Broadcasting Company's fourth season of the serial drama television series Lost and 76th episode overall. It was aired on February 21, 2008 on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada...
". He criticized the Tempest storyline due to a lack of explanation for the station's original purpose and thought that Juliet's flashbacks were redundant.
"The Other Woman" was also the subject of mixed reviews. Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
wrote that "I really liked this episode, but I liked it less than the … it seems that someone took their foot off the gas just a fraction and the reduction in speed was notable. Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
Wizard (magazine)
Wizard or Wizard: The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture was a magazine about comic books, published monthly in the United States by Wizard Entertainment from July 1991 to January 2011...
"enjoyed" the "interesting" episode, although "not nearly as much" as the previous episode. She rejoiced at the return of her "favorite Other" Tom
Tom (Lost)
Tom Friendly, often referred to as Tom or Mr. Friendly, is a recurring fictional character portrayed by M. C. Gainey on the American Broadcasting Company television series Lost. The series follows the lives of around forty survivors from the crash of Oceanic Flight 815...
(M.C. Gainey
M. C. Gainey
Michael Connor "Mike" Gainey , better known as M. C. Gainey, is an American film and television actor whose distinctive mustache, 6'2½" height, and threatening look have given him supporting roles as Southern/Southwestern types, thugs, and criminals.Gainey attended the University of Southern...
) and wrote that "Locke used to be one of favorite characters, but now he's a tool". Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
's Ben Rawson-Jones stated that "the episode came together nicely in the end, with an expected twist and a snog
French kiss
A French kiss is a kiss in which one participant's tongue touches the partner's lips or tongue and usually enters his or her mouth. A French kiss is a slow passionate kiss which is usually considered intimate, romantic, erotic or sexual...
, although for a great part it bordered on tedium. Juliet is a character who simply isn't interesting enough to fully sustain one's attention over a flashback. She's been so peripheral and irrelevant over this season, and it felt like a token gesture to foreground her at last. There was a nice pay off though, with a long awaited smooch between her and Jack." Daniel of TMZ
TMZ.com
TMZ.com is a celebrity news website that debuted on November 8, 2005. It was a collaboration between America Online and Telepictures Productions, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. However, it is still affiliated with AOL News and has the AOL News logo affixed in...
graded the episode as a "C+"; however, he wrote that "the Ben/Locke scenes were great and Juliet in a bikini did not disappoint." TV Squad's Erin Martell was "not impressed with Jack and Juliet's chemistry" and found their kiss "unconvincing". Martell commended Emerson's acting, Ben's one-liners and his "too funny for words" casual greeting to Hurley and Sawyer at the end of the episode after he is released from captivity. The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
's Jay Glatfelter thought that "this was another great episode could have lived up to last week's episode, but there was still a lot of solid character development."
Verne Gay of Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
referred to the episode as "yet another brilliant outing by TV's best drama keeps getting better"; she was not the only critic to give a positive review. E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
's Kristin Dos Santos 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", such as Widmore. Chris Carabott of IGN gave the episode a score of eight out of ten and described 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 [Ben and Juliet's] 'relationship' really is was fascinating". SyFy Portal's Dan Compora wrote that "this week's episode contributed to what is shaping up to be a pretty solid fourth season. … Fine acting carried the episode despite a few potholes in the plot." Compora also enjoyed the title and the "nice cat fight" in the Tempest between Juliet and Charlotte.