spicedogs | "Not in Portland" Summary and Review

When I started posting in Live Journal, my ultimate goal was to post summaries of all the LOST episodes. My intention is to use them as a reminder in case I need to go back to certain scenes. Lost came back with a vengeance. What a magnificent episode it was. It was a Julietcentric episode, which means that the flashbacks were about Juliet's life. For clarification purposes, the red italic type denotes my thoughts. The rest are the summaries.

Not in Portland
Season 3, Episode 7
Original air date February 7, 2007

Beginning with a Flashback

The story begins with Juliet sitting on the beach in front of a beautiful sunrise (it can't be a sunset, as she is Miami, FL) and she is crying. (Juliet and Jack seemed to have been made for each other, they are always crying.)

She walks to what seems to be a dreary corridor and the first words in the episode are uttered by Ethan Rom: "Hello." (Creepy) Juliet is apparently injecting her sister with something. Her sister is wearing a head wrap. Does she have cancer? (One significant scene here: Juliet draws the curtain, and we see Miami skyline and a plane is descending. Guess what the plane logo is. Of course, it is an Oceanic airplane. They fly everywhere. Are there any other airlines?)

The Cages
Jack is on the walkie-talkie telling Kate to run. It is the same scene at the end of "I Do." He screams, "Kate, damn it, run."

We see that Danny is distracted; Sawyer seizes the opportunity and disarms Danny.

The Lost sign comes up.

Flashback
The episode returns back to the Juliet's flashback. She enters a lab. It is a clandestine moment. She s hould not bet there. Her phone rings and it is about an appointment that she has with a Mr. Alpert of Mittelos Lab at 2 pm. She takes some vials and puts them into her purse. Those vials are probably the ones she needs to use on her sister. A creepy guy enters with another woman. Juliet hides, her cell phone rings again. The man finds here. He questions why she is there. She lies. It is apparent that she is afraid of him, and we find out that he is her ex-husband.

The OR
Juliet informs Jack that his plan will not get through. They are on another island, 2 miles off shore the castaways' island. Jack looks at Tom for confirmation. Tom tells him that Juliet is correct. Juliet asks him to come up with a peaceful resolution. Jack was backstabbed by Juliet, but he has a trump card. He asks her whether she calls asking him to kill Ben a form of peaceful resolution. Juliet is aware that she is in trouble and denies it. Tom is really baffled. He asks Juliet to get out. She tells him that Jack is lying. Tom tells that since she can't stitch him up, she has no business being there. She tells Tom, as she is leaving the OR, "Don't let him fool you. He will never let a patient just die." (Juliet knows that she is in trouble.)

The Cages and Then the Beach
Danny asks for help. Someone comes running and opens the cage. Kate and Sawyer get to the beach and Kate realizes that Sawyer did not lie: They are on another island. She looks for boat, she doesn't find one, and calls Jack on the walkie-talkie. (A funny instance, Kate talks to Jack as if nothing is happening, "Are you Ok? Sawyer, says, "Tell him I said hi" and annoyed "Get back to the point." Sawyer gets her back to reality.)

Danny shoots the walkie-talkie off of Kate's and they are chased. Out of nowhere, Alex comes on and helps them. She hides them inside this pit that looks awfully like the one Ana Lucia dug up.

The OR
Tom asks Jack whether Juliet did ask Jack to kill Ben. Ben wakes up from surgery. He asks for Juliet.

Flashback
Juliet's ex-husband wants in on Juliet's research. As she is behaving unethically and using her sister as a guinea pig, he informs her that he will not report her unethical and criminal behavior if she lets him on the research. He wants the glory, the money, and no work.

The Hydra

Juliet is pacing back and forth outside the Hydra. Obviously, she knows that she is in trouble. Tom tells her that Ben is awake. Jack is a spinal surgeon, not an anesthesiologist. Ben wants to see her.

Back to Sawyer, Kate, and Alex

Sawyer: Is that a hobby of yours, underdog, digging holes?
Alex: Yep and basket weaving.
Sawyer: Happen to have a tunnel to mainland.
Alex: No, but I have a boat.

But the only way she will let them have the boat is if they help her save Karl.

The OR
Jack tells Ben that he stopped the surgery. Ben tells him that he should have foreseen the clever act. Juliet enters. Ben asks for a private moment with Juliet. At first, Jack is not cooperating. Ben pleads to Jack to acquiesce "as a gentleman to another, it won't hurt you to give me 3 minutes, will it?" (Ah, wasn’t' there an episode called "Three Minutes"? Brilliant.) Jack acquiesces, but tells Juliet not to touch Ben in any shape or form. Tom introduces himself to Jack and informs him that Ben and Juliet have history. (What does that mean?) Juliet tells Jack to finish the surgery because she will help his friend's escape.

(At the Fuselage, someone who claims to be able to read lips, said that Ben told Juliet that he was driving the bus. Interesting, If it is true, the next episodes with Ben and Juliet should be doozies. )

(I'm able to lip read and he said, "Juliet, I was the one driving the bus.")

Flashback
Dr . Alpert is trying to sell the company to Juliet. Mittelos BioScience, which he claims is just outside of Portland. They want to her to research why a 26 year old woman has the uterus of a 75 year old. (It seems as if something is wrong on the island. The women cannot conceive.)Juliet is not willing to join. Her ex-husband has her by the barrel, she can't leave. Offhandedly, she mentions that the only way she could leave her current research facility would be if he was run over by a bus.

Juliet: My ex-husband wouldn't let me …
Alpert: He wouldn't let you have this opportunity?
Juliet: No, he wouldn't want me to have anything. He would never give his OK.
Alpert: Maybe we could reach out to him on your behalf.
Juliet: Don't bother,
Alpert: There must be something that he would respond to.
Juliet: If he were hit by a bus. How about that? That would work.

She abruptly leaves and says that she is not what she seems to be. She is not a leader, she is a mess

The Hydra
Juliet goes to the observation room and finds out that Kate and Sawyer are in the jungle with Alex. Somehow the fact that they are with Alex is upsetting to Juliet.
(I wonder whether we will find out why Alex is such a rebel.)

Kate, Sawyer, and Alex

The trio is in front of a compound; a guard is outside the compound. Later we learn that his name is Aldo. Strangely, Aldo is reading A Brief History of Time. The trio uses the old Wookie prisoner gag (a nod to Star Wars) trick on him by pretending that Alex found the castaways and is bringing them to the compound for safe keeping. Aldo tells Alex that her father would kill him if he'd let her bring the prisoners in. Alex responds that her father told her to bring the prisoners in. Aldo radios to Danny and Danny tells Aldo not to trust Alex. Too late, Sawyer knocked the rifle out of Aldo's hand. Aldo refuses to tell them which room Karl is in. Kate threatens to shoot him the knee. Sawyer at first thinks that Kate was conning the guard. Later on, he finds out that she wasn't conning. She is cold and calculating.

Karl
The trio finds Karl in room #23. Karl is being brainwashed. He is sitting on a chair wearing techno glasses that keep his eyelids open. On a screen fast subliminal messages are interspersed with photos and various pictures. This is straight out of Clockwork Orange. Karl is saved by the trio, and run to the beach.

The Compound
Danny gets to brainwashing compound, but so does Juliet. She informs Danny that the prisoners are to be let go, per Ben's orders. Danny doesn’t believe her. She tells him about Jack not finishing the surgery if the castaways are not freed. Danny says that Ben would rather die than free the prisoners.

Flashback
Juliet is back in her sister's condo. She finds out that her sister is pregnant. Then she meets her ex-husband outside their lab.

Suddenly, he is run over by a bus in front of her.
(It seems as if her wishful thinking with Dr. Alpert became their command.)

The OR
Tom is hyperventilating. He does not like the sight of blood. Jack teases him by showing him some bloody tumor he had just removed from Ben. Jack asks Tom that if they really can get off the island, why don't they take Ben to a real hospital. Tom says, "Ever since the sky turned purple… " Just then, Jack accidentally nicks another artery.

The Beach
Alex gets the boat. Sawyer tells Alex, "So you are the boss's daughter. Never saw that coming."

They put Karl in the boat, and as Sawyer is looking down at Karl, Karl calls him Danny. Sawyer is upset and tells shim that his name is Sawyer. Karl repeats "Danny." They realize that Danny is approaching them with a gun pointed at them. Just then, Juliet calls out to Danny and shoots him dead. (Juliet is no longer the meek and mild person she was. She is strong, cold, calculating, murderous. What did DHARMA do to her?)

The OR
Tom is recruited to help save Ben.

The Beach
Juliet doesn't allow Alex to go on the boat with Karl, Kate, Sawyer. Alex is reminded that Ben will only let Karl live if Alex remains on their side of the island. (Ben you are a rascal, aren't you?)

The OR
Jack makes Kate rehash the story when they first met and she was stitching him. Kate is emotional and Sawyer seems upset. He realizes that Kate still has feelings for Jack.

Jack: I need you to make me a promise Kate. Promise me that you will never come back for me. Don't come back, Kate."

Sadly, Kate agrees to leave the island on the boat.

Flashback
Juliet is at the morgue to id her ex.

The OR (observation deck)
Jack and Juliet are looking down and see Ben sleeping off the anesthesia. Jack wants Juliet to reveal what Ben said to her. She tells him that it is not important.

Flashback

Alpert and Ethan enter the room. They offer Juliet heir condolences and invite her to the island. Juliet is in disbelief that she says that if her husband were to be run over by a bus, she might have a chance to go to Porland. Alpert acts as if he didn't even recall her saying it. (I think it is here that Juliet realizes that she is facing people who have more power than her ex-husband ever had.) Juliet he realizes that she is now a prisoner of another kind.

The OR (observation deck)
Juliet tells Jack that she was on the island 3 years, 2 months, and 28 days. And Ben told her if he lives, then she will be able to go home. Jack gives her a real bewildered look. (I think that Jack realizes that he will never go home. Both he and Juliet were conned by Ben.)

Julliet's Vial and Lab Access	What Karl Saw During His Visual Torture

Disclaimers and Thank Yous: I usually make my own screen caps. My computer has been acting up, so I'd like to give credit to both Humpy at http://humpys.net/ and http://gallery.lost-media.com for the use of their screen caps.

REVIEW

My review that was originally posted in http://2guystalking.com/2gttrb/?p=172

LOST Is Back with a Vengeance

February 9th, 2007 by ESBaker

Lost came back with a vengeance. What a magnificent episode it was. It was everything that LOST used to before the miniseries (the first six episodes of Season 3). It was a Juliet-centric episode, which means that the flashbacks were about Juliet’s life before she lived on the island.

The show was full of action and some questions were answered. We learned how and when Juliet got to the island: She was recruited by some DHARMA people who even managed to have her ex-husband (who was holding her hostage to work on his research program) killed by a bus. Her arrival was September 11, 2001. Now we have a new question, ” What sort of meaning can the beginning of her new prison have to do with 9/11?”

We found out that Alex is Ben’s daughter. We still don’t know whether she is Danielle’s daughter and Ben stole her or whether Ben and Danielle are Alex’s biological parents. Or… the possibilities are endless.

We found out that Juliet was needed on the island because the islanders can’t bear children: The women have aged uteri. (Is that why they were stealing children?)

Before she came to live on the island, Juliet was considered to be a brilliant researcher who discovered a way to impregnate without the exchange of bodily fluids. She even managed to impregnate a male mouse. Think what she could do with aged uteri!

We found out that the Others use brainwashing methods to indoctrinate. Karl, Alex’s boyfriend was in the process of being brainwashed when Kate, Sawyer, and Alex saved him from the painful process. This scene was a nod to Clockwork Orange.

Juliet was adamant at having Ben killed. But she changed her mind. Ben woke up during surgery, heard about the plans to murder him, and requested that Jack allow him to speak with Juliet privately. We find out later on that Ben promised her what he had promised Jack: If he is allowed to live, she will be allowed to go back home. Do I believe Ben? I believe him as much as I believe that unicorns exist. The man is a manipulative liar. I just love it.

To make a long story short, Kate and Sawyer, along with Karl, use Alex’s boat to escape the island. Juliet helps them get to the boat and kills Pickett in the interim. Jack fixes Ben and lets him live. Juliet may be in trouble and Jack is still a prisoner. We have the rest of the season to find out what will happen to them.

Next week we will find out about Desmond. I can hardly wait. It isn’t so difficult anymore, we will have 15 more consecutive episodes.