Without a doubt, to me, the worst episode of the season but still being able to score a 9.1 overall. Obviosuly not one of my favorite episodes of the show so far, but there were several moments in the episode that I did like.
Lets begin with the old fashioned flashback episode, which was a change in tempo from what we have been wacthing this season. Three of this seasons six epsiodes have been flash forwards, which I tend to watch with a more keen eye because I dont know the outcome. You know watching this episode that Juliet and Goodwin get together - you just dont know how it happens and why a lot of things happen. Juliet reminded me of Sun in this episode a lot. You think you know a character but the more times you get a flashback your opinion of her changes. Everyone felt for sun in "House of the Rising Sun" but by the time we got to "The Glass Balerina" everything about her backstory wasn't what we expected it to be. Same for Juliet in her transition from "Not In Portland" to "The Other Woman". A scene in "One of Us" seemingly so inicent with Goodwin and Juliet turns into this completly other thing that we didn't see coming. Overall the flashback was solid - with a lot of Michael Emerson lending a helping hand to Elizabeth Michell. She held her own in the flashbacks, but I always feel she will need someone else big to make her better. Which is why I think Kate episodes tend to be hard to watch - I feel she also needs a big name actor to help her out and when its centered around Lilly you don't often get that. The introduction of Harper was just kind of random to me. I almost don't want the writers to do anything more with her, but her character seemed so random and pointless to have in there for one episode. I could have come up with a half a dozen better flashbacks if the producers just wanted to stick with "Important Flashbacks" like they said. Scenes with Juliet and Harper lacked anything worth watching in the episode and being caught up in a triangle / love story not involving Desmond and Penny was a big mistake following up "The Constant". Overall - flashbacks were average, didn't feel the big "importance" of them - granted Ben got that much more complex and I like that.
On island scenes were stolen by the power duo of the show - Terry and Emerson. Putting those two together is so unfair and I dont think its just chance that those two often get scenes ranging from 2-4 minutes while everyone else gets the more old fashioned 45 seconds to a minute. A 42 minute episode could be made around those two talking and it would be amazing. The characters personalities mesh so well. Emerson talking about "Has the revolution begun" was perfect for getting inside the head of someone who is very much so new to the leader role. The reveal of Charles Widemore was very good and the spy on the boat - we know who it is, so I hope next episode doesnt hinge on that "big reveal". Juliet and Jacks portions of the epsiode were okay. The trip to the Tempest felt a little too forced to me. Nothing really happened once we got there. We do know now how the entire island can be purged, but other then that it was just Charlotte and Juliet wrestling for a minute and Juliet not pulling the trigger. Nothing much there. Jack and Juliets kiss felt right, I like the relationship between the two characters and I like how the writers waited over a season and a little more for it to really happen. The one in Through the Looking Glass was just kind of random. Overall - solid episode but it just lacked the tempo set up by a rolling season four.
9.1, complete miss in the top 25