Ahh, the familiar “Lost” flashback sound was back and we were off to a time when Dr. Juliet Burke was an Other. Dr. Burke was also quite the adulterer. She is apparently only wooed by beach picnics with bottled wine, not fancy dinners with ham and dinner rolls.

We previously had found out that Juliet was hooking up with long-dead Goodwin in season two. We didn’t know that Goodwin was married but we did get the impression that Juliet and Ben were hooked up. “The Other Woman” seems like it filled in the blanks from Juliet’s arrival on the Island up until she signed with the 815ers during free agency.

Juliet’s flashbacks didn’t reveal much as far as advancing any plot points, it just shed some more light on Juliet’s relationship with Ben and the Others. We also learned that the Others had a shrink named Harper and, whoops, Juliet doesn’t like her. So in order to repair that relationship, Juliet goes and sleeps with Harper’s husband, Goodwin. Harper lets us know that Ben is dangerous (no way!) and that he will hurt Goodwin because of his own jealousy. See, as Ben so quaintly put it, Juliet is for him.

So Ben sends Goodwin on a death mission to the tail section of 815. As we all know, Ana Lucia threw Goodwin on a stick and he died. Ben rubs Juliet’s nose in it and shows off his creepy side by taking her to the body. Gross stuff there.

Overall, the Juliet flashbacks were old school “Lost” flashbacks. We see a little bit more about Juliet and get a better sense of why she hates Ben so much. There is much more understanding behind her plan for Jack to let Ben die during his surgery. She really, really hates the guy.

The flashbacks weren’t the real meat and potatoes of this episode. Jack and Juliet find Daniel and Charlotte missing. They begin to follow them and who does Juliet find in the jungle? Why, Goodwin’s widow Harper. Of course, her appearance is preceded with some of the creepy jungle whispers. This leads me to believe that Harper is lying to Juliet. Ben did not want Juliet to catch and kill Daniel and Charlotte. The Others have left Ben and now have their own agenda. Maybe. I just don’t think Ben is behind this one. Here is even one better, what if Harper was really the smoke monster? Remember, Smokie “scanned” Juliet once, just like it did to Mr. Eko. Mr. Eko then got to see all kinds of people from his past on the Island. Think about that.

While Juliet and Jack run around in the jungle, Locke and Ben have a nice chat about the freighter. We get a finite answer to a question that we all knew the answer to: Charles Widmore owns the freighter. Ben tells Locke this information in exchange to be let out of his dungeon. So Ben and Locke sit down for some tea and watch a little tape of Mr. Widmore beating the hell out of some dude in a blindfold. That beating seemed to remind me of something Jin once did for Sun’s father…hmm…let’s put two and two together there…

Daniel and Charlotte run into Kate in the jungle and Kate starts questioning what they are doing. Charlotte gets the drop on Kate and performs the ever-popular one hit to the back of the head knock-out move. Jack and Juliet find Kate and she lets them know that Dan and Charlotte are heading to the Tempest Station. We think they are on their way there to gas the Island and kill everybody. Nope, it turns out that Daniel and Charlotte are there to destroy the poisonous gases that could kill everyone! These two freighter folk could be okay.

Then we get the big kiss with Jack and Juliet. Yes, they shared a peck in last season’s finale but this one was a “I really, really want on you”-type kiss. Jack is such a player. He could have hooked up with every girl on the Island by now, even Claire. Eww, gross…think about it.

Meanwhile, back in New Otherton, Locke and Ben finish up their chat with Locke asking Ben who his man on the boat is. Ben is going to let the cat out of the bag but he tells Locke to sit down first. I’m sitting…tell me! I am ready to know dammit!! ARRR!!! COMMERCIAL. You bastards. We then see Ben walking around the village with his sheets and stuff grinning like an idiot and he tells Hurley and Sawyer, “See you at dinner!” Ben is awesome. He is just one of the best love-to-hate characters of all time.

So what questions were raised last night? Does Penny know that her rich and devious Daddy is looking for the Island? Is that how she is aware of it? Did Mr. Widmore somehow arrange the 815 crash, Desmond’s crash, the Kennedy Assassination, just how deeply connected to all of this are the Widmore’s? Does Juliet own a sports bra? Is Ben really on the outs with the other, well, Others? Is Michael his man on the boat? Is the line “it’s stressful being an Other” one of the funniest in show history? Also, are polar bears more dangerous than the brown or black bear?

This was a good, not great episode. I really dig Juliet but after last week, well, it was just a tough one to follow. Every now and then, “Lost” has to tap the breaks and give us some character development and little nuggets of plot.

It looks like we get the remainder of the Oceanic 6 next week, along with Ben’s double agent. It is so much more fun watching “Lost” while remaining spoiler-free.