Lost: Back in Business and Balance

One of the best Losts in years tonight, as we learn a lot about Juliet, and with her a host of details and answers to dangling questions.

Claire was kidnapped because women on the island cannot bring babies to term - mothers die because their bodies reject their babies as invasive organisms. Juliet was brought to the island to develop a cure. She administered it to Claire a few months ago island time (two years ago in our time on the other side of the television), and Claire had her baby - only to fall prey to some delayed reaction to the treatment in tonight's show. Juliet comes to the rescue, overcomes the suspicions of the Losties, and administers the antidote. She's proven herself - though Jack already trusts her-

Except that's by no means the complete story-

We see a great scene of the Others as the plane splits in the sky and crashes. Ben tells the Russian guy with the eye-patch to get all the details on the passengers - that's how the Others know so much about our heroes. Except - how does Juliet know that Sawyer killed someone the night before boarding the plane? Who had a record of that?

And is Jack right in his faith in Juliet? In a very convincing scene near the end, he says he saw in Juliet's eyes when the submarine blew up that Juliet was devastated, because she wanted to leave, and that in Jack's mind made Juliet one of the Losties-

Convincing - except Juliet turns out to have been part of Ben's plan to trigger Claire's reaction, just so Juliet could save her and win the Losties' trust. A fine twist, which my wife for some reason saw before I did ... (for some reason, I like Juliet)...

Meanwhile ... Desmond's still seeing things in the future ... And we still have huge unanswered questions ranging from Hugo's numbers to Walt's strange powers to the inexplicable coincidences in the back stories ... And, if pregnancy is really fatal, what's going to happen to Sun?

But Lost's back and on track. It's beginning to engage some of the really crucial questions. And if it still has a long way to go, that's beginning to become a lot of fun, again, and no longer a frustration. The indefinable ratio of answers and questions has been brought back into balance.

For the first time in a long time, I feel like we're thoroughly back in good hands on the show.

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essay: Lost: Keys to What's Really Going On