NOT IN PORTLAND

Or, Let's Make A Deal!

[Originally Aired February 7, 2007]

Juliet sits on the beach, crying. Is she upset about Ben, about Jack, what? She heads inside and passes Ethan in the hall. Ah, a flashback. Very clever. She enters her room and a woman is there. She's sick. The two talk and the sick woman reveals herself to be Juliet's sister, and before she is injected they ponder whether or not to continue with the treatment. Are they worried he will find out? Ben again? Juliet goes to the window and pulls the curtains open, and we see the Miami skyline. Very clever indeed. Back on the Hydra, Jack pleads with Kate to run. She and Sawyer pounce on Danny and his cohort and grab their guns and lock them in the cage. In the operating room Juliet sends one of her goons after Kate and Sawyer, telling him to kill the escapees if necessary. Then she tells Jack they'll never escape since they're on a different island. Jack then tells Tom how she asked him to kill Ben on the operating table. Jebus, this is one big back-stab-orama. Tom sends Juliet out of the operating room and asks Jack if he's telling the truth. In flashback Juliet is in a laboratory, and she sneaks some vials into her purse. Her theft is interrupted by an amorous couple who duck into the room to make out. Juliet hides. Then her phone rings. Busted! The man, played by Željko Ivanek, another former Homicide/Oz alumnus showing up on Lost, is a little shocked and embarrassed. He introduces his date as his secretary. He introduces Juliet as his ex-wife. She gives him some line about needed to ammend some numbers and as she leaves he asks her to turn out the lights in the lab. In the jungle Kate and Jack flee and there is a gunfight, until Kate runs out of ammo. She's about to get shot when Alex swoops in with her slingshot and rescues them, leading them to a dugout covered with a grassy façade. In the operating room Ben wakes up (oops!) and overhears Tom and Jack discussing Juliet's plot. He asks Tom to bring Juliet to him. Juliet's ex-husband and current boss confronts her about the missing vials, and asks her ifs she's been giving them to her sister. He says he won't narc on her if she cuts him in on the research. Speaking of deals, Alex agrees to lead Kate and Sawyer to safety if they help her rescue her boyfriend. Oh, hey, another deal: In flashback Juliet meets with Richard Alpert from Mittelos Bioscience (anagram alert!), played by Nestor Carbonell who either has really dark eyelashes or is wearing too much eyeliner, I can't tell which. He doesn't have a stupid accent like when he was on Suddenly Susan, so it's cool. He asks Juliet if she really impregnated a male field mouse. She did, but he was unable to carry it to term. Alpert asks her to come work for her in Portland, but she can't, saying her ex-husband would never allow it. Never? Only if he got hit by bus maybe, she jokes. Meanwhile Ben sends Tom and Jack from the room and speaks to Juliet privately. Outside the room, Jack and Tom can't hear what they discuss. Tom tries to flirt with Jack, but it's a pretty sad attempt. Elsewhere, Alex and Kate and Sawyer bluff their way into an isolated building and find Karl locked in a room getting his Clockwork Orange on. They free him and flee toward the beach. Back at the OR, Juliet asks Jack to finish Ben's surgery. Why the fuck should I do that, he asks. Because I am going to save your friends, says Juliet. In her flashback Juliet visits her sister again and finds out she's pregnant. Juliet meets with her ex-husband to share the news and he's kind of a douche about it, but it's okay because seconds later he is mowed down by a bus. Kate and Sawyer and Alex and Karl make it to the beach and for the first time Kate seems to accept they are really on a different island. Danny and his goons show up and there is more fighting. Danny gets the upper hand, and is about to shoot Sawyer when Juliet appears out of the jungle and puts a couple bullets into Danny. In flashback, Juliet is at the morgue and is visited by Alpert and Ethan. Alpert introduces his companion, and Juliet finds him vaguely familiar. Alpert again asks her to come work for him at Mittelos. She complains that Portland is too far away and Alpert confesses their operation isn't exactly in Portland. He also knows about her sister's pregnancy and it appears he's had Ethan spying on her. On the beach, Kate radios Jack and says they are being let go. She tells him about the story he told her, about beating his fear. Jack makes her promise to not come back for him. Juliet sends Sawyer, Kate and Karl on their way, but makes Alex stay. It's the only way her father, Ben, will let Karl live. They paddle their boat toward the other island. Meanwhile, Jack tries to stitch up Ben but accidentally nicks an artery. Oops! Jack forces squeamish Tom to assist him with the surgery. He manages to patch Ben up. Later, Jack demands to know what Ben told her to convince her to help Kate and Sawyer. Juliet says Ben agreed to let her leave if she talked Jack into saving his life.