LOST The Other Woman, first thoughts

Let me start by saying that I double checked and Benry Gale does tell Richard to continue on with the Others to the Temple, not the Tempest.  As I was thinking about it last night, I also checked out what Shakespeare's play The Tempest was about, and wouldn't you know it involved people trapped on a dessert island.

I thought that the choice of title was interesting.  Obviously it makes sense in that Juliet was "the other woman" in regards to Goodwin and his wife, and also that there is the underlying Dr. Jack and Kate relationship in which Juliet is "the other woman", although at the end one could argue that Kate has become the other woman.  (Anyone else think that this is probably the best move Dr. Jack could have made to get Kate to stop thinking about Sawyer and back on the Dr. Jack bandwagon?)  But these aren't the things that I think the title was actually referring to.  I think the titular woman is actually whoever it is that Juliet reminds Ben of.

As I noted many times in my Thoughts As I Had Them post of this episode, the thing that struck me was Harper's line "You remind him of her".  The "her" to which she is referring has to matter, otherwise why keep it a mystery and try and sneak it in without shedding a lot of light on the question?  Also, I referred many times to the Purge, featured in the Benry flashback episode, The Man Behind The Curtain.  There is an obvious tie between these two episodes.  Last night's episode helps to answer some of the questions involved with the Purge, giving some idea at least of how something like that was accomplished.  Also in that episode, The Man Behind The Curtain, we were introduced to Annie, a childhood friend/sweetheart of Benry's.  Since there is such a thread (the gas and the idea of Purging the Island of all its inhabitants) running through the two episodes, I think it is logical to conclude that the titular other woman is actually the girl from the other episode, Annie.

We don't know what Annie looks like grown up, but she could look something like Juliet.  As to who Annie is, if you recall one crazy theory I through out in my questions and theories post prior to the start of this season I mentioned that I thought it possible that Diane, Kate's mom, is actually Benry's Annie.  (After all, now we know Kate's middle name is Anne).  Kate's mom, played by Beth Broderick, does have some similarities to Juliet.  Something to think about anyway.

I did want to point something out again that's in the Thoughts As I Had Them post, did anyone notice that along with the whispers, the black smoke appeared very quickly in the background right before Harper made her startling "out of nowhere" type entrance.  And although I didn't notice the smoke when she disappeared, the whispers where there again.  It was very similar to the way Richard appeared to Benry in his flashback in (surprise, surprise) The Man Behind The Curtain (see, lots of connections between these two episodes).  Can the Smoke somehow be used by the original inhabitants of the Island to travel?  Again, something to think about.

Finally, in regards to my "One of them is the Author of the Entire Situation" theory, I'm beginning to be sold on that person being Benry Gale.  After all, this episode showed him reading VALIS, and we were told by Harper that he is exactly where he wants to be.  How much of a stretch would it be to think that he was exactly where he wanted to be the last time the LOSTies held him captive?  After all, it gave him a chance to observe Dr. Jack and Locke up close and personal which has come in quite handy for him.  There is the theory, which I subscribe to, that Walt was a little too much for the Others to handle, and Benry's captivity helped them get rid of the Walt problem as well as apparently put Michael in position to become Benry's "man on the boat."  Then you have the fact that this episode shows Benry "authoring" the death of Goodwin in what I noted was a very David and Bathsheba way (it's a Bible story, look it up).  All in all, I'm liking the idea that everything is going according to Benry's plan, especially if you consider that the Oceanic 6 getting off of the Island sets Benry up with an assassin to take out undesirables on some sort of list.  (We really need some more info on these lists.)

Anyway, that's all I have for now.

Until Next Time, I look forward to finding out who the last of the 6 are next week.  Obviously from the preview Jin and Sun are the favorites, but if it isn't a flash forward episode for them, I'm betting I'll be correct with my Michael and Walt theory.